Barrowmaze OSE Campaign 2022: Session 0

Identities hidden to protect the not-so-innocent!

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Last December, I lamented about wanting to run a Barrowmaze campaign, and declared that "someday" I will see the look of apprehension in the faces of players!

That day has arrived! Yes, yes, I know that I've run bits of Barrowmaze before in other campaigns, but now I'm attempting an ongoing, at least once-a-month (twice a month if I can swing it), open-table style campaign. I'll run a session if there's at least two players (who will be able to run multiple characters). That's what happened this weekend: I had two players show up, and they ran two characters each, and also hired three retainers to supplement their numbers. 

The players rolled up characters before the session, and I was able to explain some things to them before the session. So it was partly a session zero, which became a session "0.5" of sorts because we got some actual play in. I'll try to do a session recap soon! But in the meantime, I'm celebrating meeting some new players as well as bringing old friends into the mix. I'm also celebrating making my gaming aspirations a reality once again! 

Game on! 

Cold Dread Hand Campaign: Session One (5/14/22)

The Cold Dread Hand campaign begins in 1489 Dalereckoning during the ninth month, known as Eleint or The Fading. As the first session opens, the characters find themselves on a trading ship called Icedancer. Their destination is Icewind Dale, the harsh and frigid lands north of the Spine of the World mountains. 

The party is travelling north because of growing rumors of a supernatural cold that has settled over Icewind Dale. Varhauth (Player Jim) of the Wolf Tribe of the Reghedmen barbarians seeks to discover the fate of his people in the face of the rumored unrelenting eternal winter. Also, there are tales that the people of Ten Towns (a cluster of settlements in Icewind Dale) are eager for brave and capable souls to help free them from some strange supernatural power that has engulfed their homeland. This means they are willing to pay handsomely for those who will aid them. 

(Note: the party has come together within the last six months, having met as adventurers on the Sword Coast. They’ve developed some semblance of group cohesion and perhaps some trust, but there is still much they have to learn about each other.)

Traveling with Varhauth are Darvalla the half-orc ranger (Player Derek, who was absent but his character was played by Jim's son), Dresmorlin the half-drow monk (Player Dan), Kelxim Fiddlelob the gnome rogue (Player Jay), Faeron the elf wizard (Player Pat), and Dorian Stonewright the dwarven cleric (Player Sean, who was absent, so Dorian was incapacitated for the session by sea sickness, true to dwarven stereotypes).

The Icedancer is slated to stop at Luskan before heading on to the oceanside settlement of Fireshear, which is the party's ultimate destination. They intend to travel overland from Fireshear to Brynn Shander, the largest settlement in Icewind Dale. From there, they will seek news of the Wolf Tribe.

The captain of Icedancer is a human male named Geth Helder. He is a sullen, ill-tempered man, tall, thin, paunchy, and unimpressive overall. As the ship comes within sight of the cliffs and walls surrounding Luskan, the PCs notice four small specks in the sky flying toward the ship from the direction of the city. They alert the crew, who begin to shout "It's the Iron Legion! Iron Legion! Prepare for battle!"

As the specks in the sky get closer, the PCs see what look like four kite-like contraptions in the air, with two humanoid figures hanging underneath each contraption. Faeron casts acid arrow at one, damaging one of the flying devices (the acid eats away at the material of its wings until it eventually crashes into the water). As the gliders pass over the Icedancer, one of the riders throws a device onto the deck. The device turns out to be a bomb of some sort, and it explodes with great gouts of flame and smoke. Then, four of the riders drop onto the deck (one from each glider, as if each still needs a pilot). 

The PCs attack the boarders, who wear head-to-toe armor and masks made of leather and bronzed iron plates. The PCs attack with weapons and spells, quickly getting the upper hand. However, the Iron Legion seems intent on getting into the hold of the ship. One of them manages to do so. After the PCs either kill or immobilize the three other boarders (immobilization thanks to Faeron's web spell), they rush to the entrance to the hold.

Looking down into the belly of the ship, they see an unexpected sight: the fourth Iron Legion boarder is on the back of a wyvern! The huge, monstrous flying lizard leaps up out of the ship, the fourth boarder clinging to its scales. Varhauth grabs onto the wyvern's tail and is carried into the sky! The three remaining gliders turn and fly after the wyvern (the fourth having crashed into the sea, with no sign of the pilot).

Meanwhile, Captain Helder cries out, horrified by the wyvern's escape. He confesses that the creature was meant for the Arcane Brotherhood, the powerful mage's guild of Luskan! They will be angered by the loss of the beast, and the consequences will fall on the captain! The PCs on the ship unmask the attackers, who turn out to be two relatively young humans (a male and female) and an elven woman. The two humans are dead, but the elf was captured in the wizard's web. As they attempt to question her, the elf says "glory and victory to the Iron Legion" before chomping down hard on her teeth. Moments later, a white foam (flecked with red blood) floods from her mouth, and she dies. She had a false tooth filled with poison!

Meanwhile, Varhauth attempts to injure the wyvern, but it whips its tail and he is unable to hold on! He tumbles from the sky and smacks into the cold water of the sea! His strength and toughness save him from taking fatal injuries from the fall. The sailors of the Icedancer pick him up as the ship sails by Varhauth. 

When they finally arrive at the docks of Luskan, the party encounters three mages of the Arcane Brotherhood. The trio are clothed in dark robes lined with gold runes, and their faces are hidden under dark cowls. They are attended by five heavily-armed guards, whose armor is also lined with runes. They are most displeased with Captain Helder. Faeron attempts to engage the mages in conversation, but they are dismissive and disdainful. They make the mocking suggestion that they will speak with the party if they PCs can find and bring the wyvern to the Brotherhood. As the Brotherhood's guards attempt to board the ship and seize the captain, Helder slits his own throat with a dagger rather than be taken into custody!

Kelxim, meanwhile, encounters some young toughts from the Coinspinner gang, one which is entranced by something called a dreamsphere (a small crystal ball that he clutches in one dirty hand, and stares into dumbly as lights swirl inside the sphere).  One of the toughs accidentally reveals the gang is based at Clearlight Temple.

Dorian, the seasick dwarf, finally comes out from below decks, still clutching his stomach from sea sickness. Under control by the GM (me!), he mentions he heard someone else moaning on the Icedancer. The party eventually heads to The Cutlass at the suggestion of one of the sailors. They mean to find a place to rest for the evening, and in the morning they plan to seek out another ship to take them to Fireshear, as the Icedancer will be docked for repairs for some time. 

At The Cutlass, the party meets the proprietor, a middle-aged human woman named Shivanni. They also witness the performance of Alton Willowsboon, a halfling bard. The crowd seems restless at one point as he sings a dirge-like, serious song with ominous lyrics. The last line is particularly grim:

"And I say unto you, oh travelers of this land: beware the icy grip of winter's cold dread hand."

As the PCs sit, drink, eat, and discuss the day's events and what they should do next, they see a man in visible pain at a nearby table. The human male is well-dressed, and appears to be a merchant. He clutches at his chest as he leans over his uneaten food. Dorian swears he recognizes the moans as the ones he heard on the ship! 

Dorian, Varhauth, and Darvalla approach the man, who can barely speak from the pain. The merchant manages to tell them he has a room at The Cutlass, and they take him to the room to lay down so that Dorian can attempt to diagnose and help the man. 

Once in the room, Dorian attempts to heal the man. Suddenly, the man arches his back and screams in acute pain. Then, something bursts from his chest, covered in the man's red, steaming blood! The thing is wormlike, and has a mouth full of small, sharp teeth. The creature evades the three stunned PCs and slips under the door of the room. The three PCs chase after the creature, calling out to their companions in the common room. 

The rest of the party runs to the bottom of the stairs, just in time to see the gore-covered thing leaping down the steps! The common room erupts in panic as patrons flee! Dresmorlin is able to launch a well-placed punch that causes the foul thing to literally explode in a shower of guts and acidic blood! 

Meanwhile, the ever-enterprising Kelxim slips upstairs to the unfortunate merchant's room. There, he finds a journal of the man, whose name is Turgig. The man hailed from Brynn Shander in Icewind Dale. His journal tells the tale of how the man sailed with a party of explorers to the mysterious, jungle-choked land of Chult far to the south! The man was on this journey for many months, and they braved perils such as giant lizards and other hazards until they found a strange, ancient temple complex. Turgig and his party investigated the central ziggurat of the complex. They slept in the ziggurat one night, and were ambushed in the middle of the night by a number of lizard people. The creatures were defeated, but many in the party were slain. Turgig was able to escape to the safety of the ship with a few of the other explorers. The merchant was also able to take a large, strange crimson-colored egg with him. Turgig believed the egg to be that of a slaad.

Kelxim was also able to retrieve some of the larval slaad's acidic blood before we ended the session!

Cold Dread Hand Campaign: Session Zero Reference

So, yeah, got a new campaign going! Feels good to be back in the GM's chair, after pandemic and such have kept me away. But now is the time to begin anew, and I'm eager for a good, long campaign ahead! My players are as well, my group of old friends who I've adventured with both at the table and in the wide world beyond. 

But enough of waxing poetically nostalgic! In lieu of a face-to-face session zero, I'm laying out some initial considerations here for player (and public) reference:

• We're using the Castles & Crusades rules.
• Characters are starting at 3rd level.
• We have at least six players, with the chance for one or two others joining in at times.
• As busy adults, it's hard for all of us to get together. But to try and establish some consistency of play (rather than only get together very infrequently, which can kill campaigns), we've agreed to settle on the best date possible for the most people once a month. As long as we have a majority of players (i.e. at least four) able to make it to a session, we still have the session. This will give us at least 12 sessions a year for the campaign (with the hope that we can add in more over the course of the year)
• Sessions will be as long as we can make them, to make the most of our play time.
• Those who are unable to make a session still earn XP for their characters. However, the present players are in charge of how (if at all) they divvy up any coin, treasure, items, etc. gained during play to absent players.
• Save the fudge for the Jersey shore (sorry, colloquial joke)! Seriously, though, there will be no dice fudging. If PCs die, they die. New characters start at the same level as the dead character, but at the minimum XP for that level. The rest of the PCs in the party must decide what to do with the dead character's remains and personal effects.

The campaign takes place in the Forgotten Realms, and starts in the fall of the year 1489 Dalereckoning (in the ninth month, Eleint/The Fading). The party has come together at some point in the recent past, as they were all adventurers in the Sword Coast region. They’ve probably been together as a group for about six months, or at least long enough to have developed some semblance of group cohesion and mutual trust. The events of their meeting and prior adventuring are up to them to elaborate as they see fit. They can elaborate as much or as little as they want on their shared and individual backgrounds. 

The PCs are travelling north from their unspecified prior adventures along the Sword Coast. They are headed for Icewind Dale, because there are growing rumors of a supernatural cold settling over the region. One of the PCs, the barbarian Varhauth, is of the Wolf Tribe of the Reghedmen, and he seeks to discover the fate of his people. Also, there are rumors that the people of Ten Towns are eager for brave and capable souls to help free them from the strange supernatural power that has engulfed the region in unrelenting cold. It is said the Ten Towns folk pay handsomely for those who will aid them.

This post will be updated as needed during the campaign. I'll be posting session recaps as well!

Dragonlance - After the Dawning: Adventures 2 & 3

Here's the highlights from the last two sessions:

Varhauth (the barbarian of the Qlettaar tribe in Estwilde played by Jim), Auger Tambac (a hill dwarf from the Palanthas foothills played by Jay), and Raph Knotwillow (a kender played by Dan) were asked by the Knights of Solamnia (specifically Sir Nigel, an old knight) to head south and investigate the whereabouts of a caravan from Abanasinia. The caravan, including a good number of refuges, is overdue for arrival at Palanthas. 

The party agrees to take the journey south on recon. They are accompanied by Valen, a newly anointed Cleric of Paladine who seems very young and unready. Also along for the journey are Solamnic squires Boras and Horot. 

Once equipped, the group heads south through the mountain passes. Eventually, they come to a village called Goodheart, a relatively young settlement that straddles the pass south of Palanthas. The party heads to the village inn (as you do) and they receive a relatively chilly reception from the innkeeper, not to mention the cold stares of the locals (and not just because the party brought a kender with them). 

The party was still settling in when the inn door burst open and in strode a fat man in red robes, flanked by several large men with clubs. The fat man introduced himself as Highseeker Eldridge. It seemed the village of Goodheart was still steeped in the Seeker religion, even after the return of the old Gods.

The Highseeker demanded that the party leave the village immediately. The PCs didn't take well to being pushed around or threatened, and they launched into attack mode! The ensuing fight resulted in a chaotic scene that amounted to a fighting retreat. The took out the Highseeker and several of his henchmen (most likely killing them) and managed to set a portion of the village market on fire.

The party managed to flee the town and continue south. They had almost reached the High Clerist's Tower when they saw a red dragon in the distance, flying over a small stand of trees in the pass. The dragon breathed flame over the trees before flying off to the east. 

The party approached the trees and saw a figure in robes laying in the grass beyond the burning trees. The figure was a Qualinesti elf named Faeron (Player Pat's elven wizard) who had narrowly escaped being incinerated by the dragon. He told them he had been camping in the trees with the remnants of the caravan from the south that the party was sent to find! Now, he was the last of them...the rest having been burned by the red dragon!

The party decided to continue to the High Clerist's Tower to alert the garrison there about the red dragon attack. But, the party had barely been allowed entry into the fortress when a shadow loomed overhead. They looked up to see a massive flying citadel, one of the few that were used by the Dragonarmies during the War of the Lance!

The knights and the party scrambled to prepare for battle as flights of draconians (baaz and bozak) leaped from the citadel and dropped from the sky to attack. There was a desperate battle, with the knights being overwhelmed. The party fought well beside the knights, but they ultimately were forced to flee the fortress and escape back north, to bring warning to Palanthas...if they are able to make good their escape!

Dragonlance - After the Dawning: Adventure 1

It is six months after the end of the War of the Lance, and Krynn is still recovering. Representatives of the free peoples of Ansalon are converging on Palanthas, perhaps the brightest beacon of light in a time of chaos and lingering darkness. Three such ready souls are Varhauth (a barbarian of the Qlettaar tribe in Estwilde played by Jim), Auger Tambac (a hill dwarf from the Palanthas foothills played by Jay), and Raph Knotwillow (a kender played by Dan).

These three companions head to the great southern gate of Palanthas, seeking to lend their aid to the post-war recovery efforts. They see a ramshackle settlement growing outside the shining white walls of the city, built by an ever-growing tide of refugees seeking sanctuary. The beleaguered Solamnic knights are doing their best to keep peace and order.

Our party encounter a group of knights outside the gate. The knights were stopping would-be adventurers and assigning tasks to them. The Solamnics included three young men who are no more than squires, but treated the characters with disdain and acted as haughty as if they had been with the order for years.

These young squires are put in their place by a veteran Knight of the Crown. This older knight then tells the characters they can earn ten steel pieces each if they can find some evidence of four missing merchant women who have not been seen for several days. The party agrees and looks for a place to settle in for the coming evening.

As the autumn sun sets, the three companions find themselves wandering the shantytown outside the walls. Suddenly, there are screams nearby. The party runs to find people being attacked by robed assailants. The three run into the fray and begin to fight. Soon, the identity of the attackers is revealed: draconians! The characters are able to dispatch three of the creatures. Several Solamnic knights arrive to investigate as the characters find a place to bed down for the night.

The next morning, they set out in the direction of the foothills. There were only two leads the knights were able to give them: the women had been headed to a hill dwarf village to sell some wares, and they were last seen being approached on the road by robed figures.

The party comes across some caves, and they're scaling a rubble-strewn hill when they knock loose some boulders. The sound of the rockfall brings an ogre out of one of the caves. The creature spots them and begins to throw boulders at them. They avoid getting crushed, and Varhauth bravely attacks the ogre. Auger joins him as another ogre comes out of a cave.

Raph does his part by running into the cave to investigate, and he finds several goblins crouched over the prone figures of four women! The kender is able to attack and kill one of the goblins, causing the rest to rush him. Raph discovers that the two caves are connected, and decides to use that to his advantage. He begins to lead the humanoids on a chase, running out and through the legs of the ogres, causing distractions and disorder. The party is able to dispatch the creatures and rescue the women.

The characters bring the women back to Palanthas and turn them over to the knights. The party gets their steel, and the session comes to an end!

Dragonlance - After the Dawning: Introduction

I've waited a long time to get a proper Dragonlance campaign started. I tried once years ago (in OMG 2011!), but it never panned out. A big reason for that abortive start is my own rampant gamer ADD (with which I still struggle to this very day). But also, I remember feeling that I wanted to run the campaign with old friends, those who were around in my youth when I was in my roleplaying heyday and formed my deep and abiding love for Dragonlance through the novels.

Now, it seems that day has come, finally! I have reunited with my old friends at the gaming table, and we roleplay as much as busy adults can these days! I'm using the excellent Castles & Crusades rules for the campaign. I may use the Obsidian Portal page I created for the campaign almost nine years ago (!) if I can find the time and the energy (getting...old).

The campaign starts six months after the end of the War of the Lance (in the year 353 AC). The characters are a cross-section of the free peoples of Ansalon. Those of strong will and body have been called to Palanthas to aid the resurgent Solamnic knights in restoring peace and order to the world. 

This should be fun! Can't wait to share what we're doing on Krynn! Onward!

Salton Seekers - Session 4: Killing Cosmic Horrors

We picked right back up from the end of session three, with the party fighting a horrific creature that looks something like this:

They finally succeeded in killing the thing, then carried the remains back to the adventurer's guild house. Guildmaster Agnar was unable to identify the thing, and suggested the group consult one of the scholars at the Academy. Since the disappearance of the Archmage Lasseras and his apprentices almost a decade before, the scholars are the only remaining seat of knowledge in the town.

The party was also told by Agnar that Guildmaster Sonya and her two retainers still had not returned. He suggested they investigate the chandler's shop in the Market next. The party decided to rest a bit before heading to Chandler Binke's house.

In the meantime, Nikolaus went back to the One True God's temple and tried to get someone to listen to his news, but fellow cleric Byron was gone, his chamber cleared out. The rest of the clergy gave Nikolaus a chilly reception. It seemed as if Prime Deacon Teos was expanding his influence on the temple! 

The group went to Chandler Binke's shop. There, they encountered the chandler himself, who seemed to be a bit...off. His skin was pale, his eyes unblinking, and his speech stilted. When they continued to question the man, he attacked them. During the fight, they discovered that one of the bizarre creatures was attached to the man's back. The thing eventually ripped away from the chandler's body (of course, taking the man's skull with it) before escaping down a large drain into the sewers. The party found the body of the chandler's wife as well. She was also missing her skull.

Next, the party went to consult the scholar Goran at the Academy, and he identified the creatures as "star-things" using an old tome of arcane knowledge. These creatures had appeared periodically in the time of the ancients, who for some reason sealed the "seeds" of the dormant creatures in the crypt that was found under the chandler's house.

Onward to session five!

Salton Seekers - Session 3: Blessings of the Cosmos

Session three picked right back up in the Barrowmaze (with me running Gideon the elf as temporary NPC in the absence of player Pat), in the aftermath of the specter attack on the cleric Nikolaus. The group decided to head deeper into the maze. Xander the thief heard a voice moaning "help me" behind another door along the same corridor as the specter attack. Varhauth the fighter forced open the door and came face-to-face with a man with rotting skin in ragged clothes and armor. The flesh on the man's face was pulsing, as is something was moving underneath. There were several other men crawling along the floor of the room, moaning. 

Before anyone could stop him, Varhauth lopped off the head of the man. The body fell to the floor, and from the stump of the neck writhed many small tendrils. As he delivered a blow aimed at chopping the tendrils, one of them shot out of the neck and embedded itself in the fighter's face. Before the worm-like thing could wriggle into Varhauth's face, Nikolaus the cleric grabbed the tail in a mailed fist and yanked it free. 

Xander doused the men on the floor with lantern oil and lit them on fire. Devalla the mage used her spear to mercy kill them. More of the worm-like parasites began bursting from the bodies, so the party decided to beat a hasty retreat after picking up a few pouches of gold they found in the room. They surmised the poor souls infected with the parasites were an unfortunate adventuring party. They closed the door to the room and ventured deeper into Barrowmaze.

They came upon several more crypts sealed behind bas reliefs and a few more rooms. They also heard the sound of faint chanting from somewhere. Undeterred, the party found a room with two doors: an outer door of wrought iron bars, and an inner door of steel. The door was unlocked, and they went inside cautiously. Within they found two parallel stone altars on which lay two shriveled mummified bodies. Between the altars, on the floor, rested a tablet covered in ancient Thulian script, flanked by two stone bowls filled with rubies and diamonds. 

There was also a mural on the wall opposite the door that depicted people worshiping a gigantic black door. Ancient Thulian script was also written then, proclaiming the two bodies in indeed the room were heretical worshipers of "the Black Gate."

Devalla read the tablet on the floor, which carried a curse of blindness. She failed her saving throw, and went blind. As the group decided this signaled the need to return to Salton, Nikolaus and Varhauth decided to scoop up the gems in the bowls. This instantly awoke the mummified bodies, which moved preternaturally fast and attacked the group. Xander helped the blinded Devalla aim her magic missiles at the animated corpses, which proved to be too strong for the clerics to turn. The group struck several blows with ordinary weapons but they seemed to do little damage. 

Xander remembered the dagger he picked up from the priestess of Khepri in session one and threw it at one of the creatures. This embedded the dagger in the mummy's chest, which began to crumble into ash. A few more magic missiles and attacks, and both creatures were defeated. In the aftermath of the fight, the group heard that the chanting had stopped. In it's place was the sound of alarmed voices shouting "death to heretics," and the echo of running feet. 

The group began a hasty retreat toward the exit, with the cries of "stop them!" and "we will sacrifice them to Set!" following them down the corridors. Suddenly, a figure stepped out from around a corner in front of them: one of the beast men who they had encountered in session two (the one who they had freed from the grasp of the Cultist of Orcus and had fled). The creature beckoned them forward, and once the party had passed, he slammed a door shut behind them. It seemed the beast was going to slow their pursuers as long as he could. Perhaps the creature had some sense of honor, and was repaying them for their assistance? 

The party had no time to contemplate, however. They made it to the entrance and began climbing one-by-one back up the rope to the surface. Behind them, they heard the sound of fighting, and the concussion of spells. The death roar of the beast man followed, and a Necromancer of Set entered the entrance chamber and cast a magic missile at Nikolaus, who was the last to climb the rope. Though he was hit, he was able to join his fellows on the surface. Nikolaus hurriedly pulled up the rope so they could not be easily followed. 

Within the relative safety of the central mound, their horses still safe within, Xander peeked outside. Unfortunately, there were now dozens of zombies wandering aimlessly across the barrowlands! Clearly, the imbalance between death and undeath had increased. The party formulated a bold plan, and burst from the mound entrance with their horses at a gallop. Devalla, who was still blind, had her horse lead by Gideon. Nikolaus and the other cleric, Byron (an NPC), successfully turned fourteen of the zombies, enough to clear their path just outside the mound so they could get their horses up to a good speed and barrel their way out of danger. 

They reached Salton by nightfall. Byron and Nikolaus took Devalla to the Temple of the One True God, which the rest of the party went back to the adventurers' guild. At the temple, Nikolaus and Byron found a cleric to remove Devalla's blindness curse. Then they tried to find a deacon who was not the creature of Prime Deacon Teos, but unsuccessfully. Finally, Nikolaus decided their only recourse was to talk to Teos himself. The imperious Prime Deacon received Nikolaus in his opulent private chambers. He demanded to know what was so urgent. Nikolaus and Byron got right to the point, and told of their latest encounters in the Barrowaze. 

Teos was alarmed that they brought a runic tablet bearing a curse to his chambers, and ordered them to leave his presence. Nikolaus and Byron decided to keep trying to find a deacon who isn't under Teos's thumb, in order to find out more about the tablet. 

Meanwhile, at the guildhall, Varhauth submitted himself to some nubile healers for, well, some healing while Xander sought out Guildmaster Agnar to tell him of their latest adventures. The Guildmaster was troubled to hear about the many zombies in the barrowlands, and became determined to pass the information on to Lord Brereton. 

Suddenly, a young mage burst into the hall, coughing and choking. He fell to the floor convulsing, and yellow dust flew out of his mouth. A crowd gathered around him and could only watch helplessly as he died. This made the third death of a magic user by mysterious circumstances in two weeks. 

The crew came back together after they had time to heal up and do a little shopping (Nikolaus and Varhauth had the gems from Barrowmaze appraised and traded them in for over 700 gold pieces each, then bought themselves some shiny new armor...they did eventually give over some gold to their other companions as well). They discussed their options, and decided it was best not to return to the Barrowmaze for the time being. They decided to see if they could find out more about the disappearance of Guildmaster Sonya, who had taken two retainers to investigate a mysterious sealed door recently uncovered in the basement of a minor merchant's home. 

They made the short trip across Southtown to the candle merchant's home. Careful not to linger too long at the front door after their knocks went unanswered, they slipped around back, where Xander picked a basement door lock. They entered, and found the ancient sealed doorway in question had been broken open. Around the door frame was written "Within Lie the Blessings of the Cosmos." All the party found within was an empty bronze bowl on a stone pedestal. Xander, inspecting the walls for secret doors, found a mural of a strange creature under ancient layers of dirt.

They decided to investigate the rest of the house, to see if they encountered anyone in the strangely quiet place. They went up a spiral staircase to the main floor, which was fairly opulent and scattered with various valuable statues. The group resisted the urge to pillage the place. They found no one on the main floor, so decided to go up to the second floor. There, they found three bedrooms. The first two were empty except for lavish furnishings. In the third, however, they found the body of what seemed to be a maid laying face down, a pool of coagulating blood pooled around her head. When they flipped over the body, it appeared that the woman's skull had been ripped from her head, the remains of which collapsed inward on itself like an empty hood. 

The only other place left to explore was the attic. Varhauth pulled down the trapdoor and ladder to access the space above the second floor hallway. As he looked around using a lantern, his shield on his other arm, something leaped out of the dark to wrap itself around his shield arm. The impact drove him off the ladder, and he fell on his back in the midst of his fellow adventurers. 

The party proceeded to battle a creature similar to the one they had seen in the mural they had found in the basement: a thing with a snakelike body and a membranous sort of halo tipped with claws. At the center of the membrane was a skull covered in dried blood...which looked small enough to be that of the dead maid. The party began to attack the thing, until it released Varhauth's arm and sprang away, over the second floor railing to land on the main floor below. 

That's where we stopped for the night, since it was well after midnight and we're not as young as we used to be! On to the next session!

Salton Seekers - Session 2: Back to the Barrowmaze!

It's been months since my Old Friends Gaming Group had our D&DBQ, but we finally gathered for session 2 of our Salton Seekers campaign. Damn you, adult responsibility! 

ANYway, since all the undead shenanigans in the barrowlands south of the city are presumably being caused by a divine conflict between Nergal (god of death) and the evil deities Orcus and Set, the cleric Nikolas reported to his superiors at the temple of the One True God. 

Access to Salton's archpriest, Paulus, is restricted, however. The journeyman clerics report to the order of deacons, lead by Prime Deacon Teos, a disagreeable fellow who generally reserves lots of disdain for his flock. He responds to Nikolas's report with cool aloofness, and instructs him to delve further into the situation in the barrowlands. 

The group went on a shopping spree after earning their reward from the adventurer's guild (50 gp apiece). Then, they decided to head back to the infamous Barrowmaze. Back among the barrows, they encountered no undead on the daylit surface. After considering breaking open some of the sealed barrows and balking at the prospect of such mundane work, they decided to head back down into the Barrowmaze.

They group explored the tunnels, encountering several more of the mongrelmen. But this time, the twisted creatures were bound hand and foot. They were being led by three bald, pierced, and scarred shirtless men with teeth filed to points, and wearing black breeches. The bizarre bald men attacked with short axes and whips. The party overwhelmed them. One of the men, still clinging to life after the battle, screamed out the name of Orcus before splitting open his own head with his ax.

Suffice to say, the party found more evidence of something very wrong afoot beneath the barrowlands!

As the session was winding down, the group went a bit deeper into the Barrowmaze. The party's cleric, Nikolaus, was attacked by some sort of specter as they were inspecting a corridor lined with crypts. Then, we packed things in for the night. On to the next session!

Salton Seekers - Session 1: Into the Barrowlands (and 1st Annual D&DBQ)

We kicked off our reinvigorated Salton Seekers campaign in grand Summer style last Friday! We decided we would hold our inaugural D&DBQ! Props to my boy Jim for granting the event its name!

So, before the gaming started, we gathered up some barbecue staples, everything from burgers and dogs to kielbasa and chicken. We also had a bevy of sides, and even a cheese and cracker plate! We're not barbarians, folks (especially because we're playing Labyrinth Lord)! No, we have class (or rather, classes...seven of them, to be exact)! And of course, the beer flowed freely!

After fueling up, we headed to the gaming table! Here's the characters and the players:

• Devalla of the Mountains, level 2 magic user (Derek)
• Nikolaus, level 2 cleric of the One True God (Jay)
• Xander Darkwood, level 2 thief (Dan)
• Varhauth Chainsman, level 2 fighter (Jim)
• Gideon Silverleaf, level 2 elf (Pat, who arrived toward the end of the session)

Just a note: I love the names of these characters! And a well-balanced party. All the characters except for Nikolaus were pregenerated at Wizardawn.

To set the scene: On the planet Æarth, at the northern tip of a continent ruled by the New Thulian Empire (which arose from the ashes of the Old Thulian Empire), lies the frontier city of Salton (known as Salt Town when it was founded as a humble fishing village hundreds of years before).

So, the session started with the gang (minus Pat's elf because he was running late for the game) gathered at the adventurer's guild. One of the guildmasters made some announcements of adventuring opportunities in the area. The party decided to head to the barrowlands, to investigate the rising of the dead (for the promise of a reward of 50 gold apiece if they could bring back some good evidence of what is causing the dead to rise).

The rumor is that something is amiss with the neutral god of death, Nergal, who hates undeath for obvious reasons (he wants the dead to stay dead). There are two gods who are in constant conflict over the domain of undeath: Set and Orcus. The Church of the One True God doesn't like any of these opposing deities!

A half-day's ride on rented horses brought the party to the eerie expanse of burial mounds south of Salton, a place eternally drifting with mist and strangely quiet. As the group began to explore and investigate, they found a trail of somewhat fresh blood, as if someone had been dragged through the calf-high grass after being killed.

The gory trail led to the entrance of a smaller barrow, which had been opened some time in the past. They were met with a grizzly sight: the half eaten remains of some human limbs. There was a strange darkness within the barrow entrance that neither daylight or lantern light could illuminate. Xander the thief detected wet sounds emanating from the barrow...

After a lot of cautious planning, the group moved into the darkness of the barrow. Within, they found a sarcophagus, behind which hid several ghouls finishing a gory feast of human flesh. The cleric cast Light, bringing the illumination of the One True God to the chamber, which finally banished the unnatural darkness that their torches and lamp could not.

The party made short work of the ghouls, then studied the sarcophagus. The lid sported a carving of a strange-looking beetle. Actually, evidence pointed to the fact that the lid once featured a different carving, one that was reworked into the shape of the beetle for some reason. They decided to open the sarcophagus. Pushing open the lid, they saw a body wrapped in bandages, adorned with magnificent jewelry and with an ornate silver dagger on its chest. There was also a scroll resting above the head of the wrapped body, with a wax seal bearing the eye symbol of Nergal, god of death.

Nikolaus the cleric decided to break the seal. The scroll was written in ancient Thulian, which the magic user Devalla can read. The scroll was a blessing for one called Sheeara, a priestess of a god called Khepri. Nikolaus knew that Khepri is worshiped in the deserts far to the south. The scroll praised her for her sacrifice in the struggle against the vile servants of Set and Orcus. The group cut open the corpse's bandages to reveal the recently deceased Sheeara herself. Out of respect, they resealed her sarcophagus.

Though the party had enough evidence to obtain their rewards, they decided to check out the central barrow in the vicinity, surrounded by a ring of standing stones and rumored to be the entrance to a maze of tunnels below. They noted much evidence of other adventurers having come and gone from the area: broken arms and armor, signs of old blood, cast-off equipment.

Entering the central barrow, they saw a old, much used tripod with a pulley system and rope hanging down into a pit at the center of the chamber. The group used one of their own grapples and rope to lower themselves down. They saw more evidence of many past adventurers in the form of graffiti, some crude and some ominous, mentioning the deaths of comrades.

The party found passageways that seemed well-constructed, not the rough tunnels they were expecting. They turned down a short passage and inspected a door. Moving through it, a trap was triggered that brought down a heavy stone slab in the doorway. They group had no choice but to throw themselves into the room beyond the door. Another door, on the opposite side of the small 20' x 20' room, burst open, and five grotesque humanoids ran in, armed with crude but wicked-looking weapons. The beings themselves were strange hybrids of man and animal, and some looked like mutated humans.

The party slew two of the creatures, causing the rest of the hideous humanoids to retreat back through the door from which they entered. Then, the stone slab that had trapped the adventurers raised back up, allowing the group to escape. It was then they encountered Gideon the elf (Pat arrived after work), who had just come down from above, on a mission from the elf king of Dolmenwood, Atanuwe.

The group, with Gideon now joining them, decided to head back to Salton before night fell. They were able to return to the city before too late in the night. They promptly returned to the adventurer's guild, and showed their evidence to one of the guildmasters, who suggested that the scroll be taken to the temple of the One True God for study. The party decided to rest for the night at the most notorious inn in Salton: the Wanton Cockatrice. That's where the session ended, well after midnight in the real world!

Thanks for reading this recap! I hope I wasn't too cheesy...

Session two will, hopefully, happen very soon!

Salton Seekers: My Frankensteinian Labyrinth Lord Campaign

Okay, so I'm doing a soft reboot of the Basic D&D campaign I started earlier this year. My group of old friends and I sorta stalled on the roleplaying for a while. But we're all basically back on a more normal adult responsibility schedule, so I'm deciding to kick things off again.

Also, while I love the pure nostalgia factor of using the B/X rules, I have so much stuff for Labyrinth Lord, from the referee screen to game supplements, that it made sense to shift over to using LL. As any OSR follower worth their salt knows, there's enough differences between B/X and LL to necessitate moving from one rule set to the other.

I'm still using the city of Salton I created as the foundation of the campaign. I'm letting players keep characters or create new ones, with all characters moving up to level 2 (based on prior play and XP gained). Just need to transfer characters to LL sheets!

As for the campaign world itself, I was primarily using the Dwimmermount world of Telluria as the basis for the campaign, and using some homebrew stuff tacked on (including Stonehell Dungeon). I've decided to move things over to a world I call "Æarth." I know, clever aren't I?

To pull back the curtain a bit, here's a list of older and new OSR products I'm using so far to cobble together my Frankensteinian campaign:

• Dolmenwood (from the pages of the Wormskin zine)
• Barrowmaze
• Isle of the Unknown
• Frostbitten and Mutilated
• Blackmarsh (and possibly the larger Points of Light campaign setting)
• Stonehell Dungeon
• Maybe Dwimmermount again, if the characters head far enough south...

Okay, that's all for now! I'll be posting some session recaps as we go along! Happy gaming, y'all!

Tales of Telluria Session 1: The Adventures Begin!

Identities hidden to protect the not-so-innocent...

So, here's the scenario: we got the old gaming band back together. These guys are good friends I've known since my youth, and include gentlemen that were around in the early days of my gaming career.

We decided at last that it was a crime we haven't roleplayed together in ages. This had to be remedied ASAP. So, we set a date and got together. Me? Well, I got into my traditional role as DM. 

Yeah, I said DM, not GM. Because we're playing D&D, baby! Moldvay/Marsh/Cook Basic/Expert D&D, to be precise! Yeah boy! It was beyond awesome to have the old crew around the table again! It's been far too long, criminally so! 

But all regrets aside, here's what I'm doing with the old crew: I'm running an episodic campaign. Whoever can jump in during the sessions, that's who's there. Players/characters can pop in and out on the fly. If a guy can't make a session, his character gets "separated from the group," whatever. The excuse doesn't matter. 

I printed out 70 pregenerated characters before the session (generated from this excellent site). Ten characters of each class. The guys decided to pick characters at random. Here's who they got:

• Derek is Devalla of the Mountains, second level female magic-user
• Dan is Eam the Spiritual, second level male halfling
• Pat is Nufar the Searcher, second level female cleric
• Jim is Cope, second level female fighter

The campaign is set on the world of Telluria, the setting for the Dwimmermount megadungeon. The campaign has started out in the town of Salton. A day's ride west is none other than Stonehell dungeon.

Oh yeah, I'm throwing it all into the pot, folks!

ANYway, three ladies and a halfling walk into a tavern after checking in at the adventurer's guild. The tavern is The Wanton Cockatrice, and the crew is there for a good time.

Cope the fighter puts her high Charisma to immediate work, looking to fleece some poor sucker out of some gold. She puts the moves on Finz the veteran fighter (an NPC), who she convinces to buy drinks for everyone in the place. 

Eam the halfling earns some gold plucking on his mandolin, while Nufar and Devalla drink up (Devalla does so in a disgruntled manner, because she is generally disgruntled... by the way, she's a magic user with 18 Strength, 18 Intelligence, and 18 Dexterity... what can I say, that's how the character generator created her...)

Well, suffice to say the usual roleplaying tavern shenanigans ensued, interrupted by sudden iridescent flashes of light and rumblings from outside. The party scrambled outside to see flashes of rainbow-colored lighting emanating from the red crystal dome of a wizard's tower across the river to the north. The place has been the dwelling of a powerful magic user who has hermited himself there for years. 

As the artificial lighting struck the surface of the river, a great bubbling arose from the depths. Then, pale, grotesque humanoid fish creatures pulled themselves from the water onto the docks.

The group sprang into action, entering into combat with the monstrous, disgusting things! Once the creatures were dispatched, the proprietor of the Wanton Cockatrice, a beefy fellow named Dirk, told the group that the wizard in the tower, the former adviser of Salton's Lord Brereton, had holed himself up in the tower years ago. During that time, events such as this would plague the town. The party resolved to get some sleep and investigate the tower in the morning. 

Ah, but in the middle of the night, there were more screams of terror! The party awoke to see dark, hulking forms running through the streets outside the Wanton Cockatrice. Whatever the creatures were, they had broken into homes and murdered local citizens before disappearing.

The group suited up and headed out, and spoke with some members of the town guard, who led the party to a collapsed well in a nearby public square. The well had caved in not long after the shockwaves emanated out from the wizard's tower. The party, worth their adventuring salt, decided to head down to investigate. The town watch lowered them into the collapsed well. 

The group found themselves in a winding passage, lined with burial niches. Perhaps they had stumbled upon an ancient Thulian Empire burial chamber? They lit up torches and lanterns and headed forward into the dark...

They eventually came to a larger chamber with several columns carved with bas-reliefs depicting scenes of conquest. None of them being Thulian scholars, they weren't sure if the carvings were from that empire, but the supposition was likely, given the fact that Salton is located at what would have been the eastern frontier of that old kingdom. 

There were eight niches in the walls of this chamber, filled with bodies wrapped in ancient linens, and adorned with ceremonial costume jewelry. These were more elaborate burials than those found in the niches in the passageway they had just left, though the fake jewelry spoke of pretended nobility. 

The group decided to cut open one of the "mummies" to see if there was greater wealth inside. The action of slicing open the wrappings exposed the group to a noxious, powdery substance. Saving throws were rolled, and a few of the group failed. Those who didn't make their saves began to cough up blood!

Then, the desiccated corpses in the wrappings began to stir, and ripped free! The cleric turned a few of the undead abominations, and the remaining things were defeated with a combination of weapons and magic!

We decided to stop there, after a long night of gaming and drinking! Overall, the group felt good to be back at the table! I, for one, felt great! After years of gaming with "strangers" who became friends, it was wonderful to be roleplaying with my original crew!

Session two of the campaign will happen next month! Can't wait!

P.P.S. One complaint I have is regarding the Labyrinth Lord screen I was using during the session. Now, I know there's some minor differences/modifications from B/X, but that's not my problem. Here's my gripe: I really wish DM screens had reminders of rolls for demihuman detection skills (hidden doors, etc.) and other abilities like what you have to roll to open doors, etc. But maybe that's just me. It makes me miss the unified SIEGE Engine mechanic of Castles & Crusades.

The Campaign is your backstory, and your future...

While perusing my old unpublished posts, I came across some musings that arose from reading a post over at the venerable Beyond the Black Gate. This particular post was entitled "What is a Character?"

One key line in that post reads: "Their backgrounds aren't something I wrote down on a piece of looseleaf paper before rolling up the character - their backgrounds are what happened from 1st level to 10th level, or even higher."

I couldn't agree more.

I think this is part of what old OSR grognards are getting at when they rail against the "storyteller" type of RPGs. Yes, we don't like being railroaded in slavery to a GMs story for their campaign. And yes, we as players don't want to play the part of "frustrated novelist" by writing up a huge backstory for our characters.

There was a time back in my youth that my friends and I did slave away on deep, complicated backstories before/while rolling up characters. But after a time, this became onerous indeed. And restrictive. In RPGs, characters really don't become three-dimensional beings until they're LIVED, so to speak. Or should I say, PLAYED? Really, it's both. For a character to come to life, it MUST be played. 

A cursory character background outline can, and often will, inform what a GM throws at a character, and a good GM will weave some of that cursory player-created background into a campaign. But also, as one play's a character, ideas will occur to the player that can be incorporated into the background, i.e. the character's past.

Simultaneously, as suggested in the Beyond the Black Gate post, the player is creating the story, the LEGEND as it were, of their character as they progress through levels.

Backstory doesn't have to be dreamed up whole-cloth before playing a character. Yes, you can come up with an outline for what your character was up to before a campaign starts. But the real meat of a character comes from the exploits that evolve through play. Those experiences are always going to be more tangible, more meaningful, than the story you make up for a character's background. Because you LIVED it!

What do you think? Agree, disagree? How do you use background/backstory in your roleplaying?

Lost Post: I love Dragonlance, and I don't care who knows!

I'm about to wrap up the least productive writing year this blog has ever seen. Don't really feel great about it, but it is what it is. I have my reasons for my lack of attention. Long story short: I'm doing other things with my spare time other than gaming.

But gaming will always be on my mind and in my soul. Rest assured of that. Which means I will continue to occasionally haunt the roleplaying blogosphere and will post now and then here.

As for this soon-to-end year, I have some final plans: just for the proverbial shits and giggles, I'm going to post 40 posts this year, the year I turned 40. Please believe me when I say I didn't plan this out. That would just be too corny, even for me.

As one of my final 2015 posts, I've decided to dig out a post I started writing this year but never published. Call it a "lost post." I started it early in the year, and rereading it reminds me how one's priorities can change over the course of 365 days.

Here's the post:

I've put things off for too long.

I want to pay homage to the world of Krynn in campaign form. Not just from nostalgia, though that is part of it. No, I am truly inspired by the setting. I think it is definitely viable. And being inspired by a setting is what I need, to engage my full attention as a GM. Because as any long-term reader of this blog will tell you, I'm nothing if not riddled with Gamer ADD!

I tried to start a Dragonlance campaign once a few years back but didn't feel ready. But I feel it is now time.

Krynn needs a champion on the blogosphere, and I will take on that mantle!

So, how's this for a declaration: My choice for system mastery is Castles & Crusades! My choice for setting mastery is Dragonlance!

End post.

Wow, that was some hyperbolic stuff. How do I feel now? Well, I still love Dragonlance, and have since I was a kid. I won't ever apologize for that fact. The world may be a much-despised one among the grognard set, and perhaps the creative teams behind the setting did it a disservice over the years.

But I still want this blog, if and when I do write here, to be a haven for Dragonlance love.

As for C&C system mastery, well, I think I've had that for some time now. Even having not actually played using the rules for over a year, I'm very confident I could jump right back on that horse, no problem. I still think I would use that system to run an eventual Dragonlance campaign. It upholds the character archetypes that I still love to this day, and which are the solid backbone of the Dragonlance world.

Anyway, there you have it. A glimpse into the mind of this blogger. See you soon for another post!

Basic D&D and Greyhawk, anyone?

 

OK all you Greyhawk fanatics out there. Is it blasphemous for me to say that I'm thinking about using Basic D&D to run a Greyhawk campaign? Should Greyhawk, in your minds, only be run using Advanced D&D? I mean, I know that the most famous D&D modules set on Oerth were for AD&D, right? But weren't at least some of the Basic D&D modules placed originally in Greyhawk (or retconned to be so)? 

 

Keep in mind I'm a poor D&D history scholar when it comes to this stuff. That's due in part to laziness and also because of limited time that I'd rather use for other activities. So, therefore, I'm putting it out to the organic computing hive mind that is the blogosphere!

 

Anyway, no matter what you all have to say out there, I personally am thinking that Greyhawk could be just fine as a setting for some Basic D&D action. I suppose one could argue that any setting could be a Basic D&D setting...but for some reason, considering the use of, say, Forgotten Realms with Basic D&D seems, well, not so good! I guess that's just me.

 

In the recent past, I used Greyhawk as a setting for some sessions of a Castles & Crusades campaign I dubbed "Altered Oerth." The "altered" part came in the form of some changes to the setting, such as a trimming down of the pantheon of gods, and other modifications. That campaign, like others I had going, is on an indefinite break, of course. Ultimately, I found Greyhawk to have a lot of potential, even though I've always had more of a liking for Forgotten Realms over the years.

 

So, I'm looking forward to your thoughts, if you care to share!

 

A HUGE CAVEAT related to all of the above: I'm still forging ahead with my gaming hiatus in 2014/the foreseeable future, so these "plans" I have for another campaign are sooooo so very theoretical. I just can't stop my mind from running over scenarios for roleplaying. It's the ongoing addiction, people. I'm sure you can relate.

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 4: Favorite Gameworld

If I had to pick a campaign world that I've used in my campaigns - in other words, a world I've actually experienced at the game table - I would have to say the Forgotten Realms. Yes, warts, baggage, and all. Say what you will about the Realms, but it's got a lot of good stuff to it, a richness and depth from decades of existence. I know, Drizzt is a Mary Sue, the Time of Troubles was a bit ridiculous, etc. But I love the Realms in all it's iterations.

 

Well, perhaps the recent Spellplague iteration is where I draw the line.

 

But, I'm hoping for some Realms "redemption" with the new Sundering "reboot" coming out in the (near?) future. 

 

I never owned the legendary "Grey Box" version, but when I ran my recent Realms campaign I used the 3E version. And I consider that campaign to be my most successful effort, at least when it comes to my return to the table-top within the last few years.

 

However...all that said, I have some of the old TSR materials for Fritz Leiber's Nehwon that I've been dying to use for the longest time! It is very intriguing to me when I think about running a campaign set in the city of Lankhmar and the world beyond! That's definitely on my RPG bucket list.

Beyond the Westwall: Sessions 4 and 5 (7/3/13 & 7/10/13)

Note: the following recap of sessions 4 and 5 was composed by the master bard Sir Charles Bakerson, a legend in the Grand Kingdom.

Mightily the adventurers strove against the giants, foul and two-headed,
With metal forged sharp but with wits all the sharper!

Muscle and mind the heroes combined in equal measure, and using
Weapons both metal and mental they slew the murderous ettins outright!

The band followed the trail of the abominations they'd killed,
Tracing it back to a scene of bloody slaughter.

The ettins had made an abattoir of the woodsmen's encampment,
Turning the snow on the ground to crimson ice.

The party turned their eyes and minds to the west, from whence
The trail of the two-headed giants appeared to have come.

Their path took them into the depths of Lanisdown Forest, where
They sought for some sign of an origin, a lair.

The group came upon a party of Dunbury halflings, lead by
A doughty sheriff and seeking some sign of the ettins as well.

After holding palaver with the small-folk but gaining little knowledge,
The adventurers chose to press north to the mystery of White Watch.

In due time they came within sight of the Westwalls, and there
They had their first glimpse of the long-abandoned fortress.

The once pure white walls of that Bright Empire ruin were now
The color of charcoal from time's ravages and scars of ancient battle.

Approaching the mist-shrouded fortress, the party saw a vast field of mud,
Strangely unfrozen despite the harsh winter.

The elf Umitsu, clever to the last, devised a way to cross the morass,
Using a spell to conjure a disk of floating metal on which to sit.

During their efforts to ferry themselves to the forbidding walls, they
Were attacked from below as things formed of mud erupted upward!

Once again by their wits did the adventurers prevail, foiling
The plot of the mudmen to drown the band in the murky depths.

The band then crossed into White Watch through a breach in the walls,
And looked on with wariness as mountain mists writhed in the courtyard.

As the heroes began their searchings, out of the swirling whiteness
Came a host of undead, long-perished victims of a conflict of old.

As the band sought safety in White Watch's gatehouse towers, it was
Umitsu who once again struck off alone to explore.

The elf-woman made her way stealthily through the mist, nimbly avoiding
Contact with the walking dead until she came to the walls of a keep.

Meanwhile her comrades fought to hold back the outnumbering undead horde,
Barring the doors of the gatehouse towers before seeking a means of escape.

The party fought back against the gathering undead, striking some down
While the Jarith the cleric drove some off with the power of faith.

But there's was a skirmish fought in retreat, as the tide of abominations
Grew into a flood that threatened to crush life in skeletal hands.

And while they fled before the relentless unliving, it was Umitsu who
First detected a new threat from the sound of beating wings above.

As Umitsu hid as best she could in the shadow of the keep,
A hulking, winged beast landed nearby in the courtyard.

She heard it sniffing the mist-filled air, as if seeking the elf by scent,
And she caught a glimpse of a grey-skinned creature with leathery wings.

The rest of the party also heard the beating of wings and inhuman screeching
As they made their way from the gatehouse to the top of the fortress wall.

The adventurers were attacked from above by the winged beasts, which were
Terrible to behold, with ember eyes and horned heads and taloned hands.

The band was able to find shelter in another tower along the wall, and found the
Bodies of long-dead defenders within, while threatened by the flying things without.

And Umitsu, who avoided the winged creatures, found a door to the old keep, and
Stepping inside, saw a mummified warrior in armor, sitting upon a wooden throne.

As the elf watched, the dessicated corpse stirred with life, shifting in its seat as it
Opened its eyes, to reveal glowing points of light in deep sockets.

Shriveled hands, more bone than flesh, gripped tightly the hilt of an archaic sword,
As dry lips cracked and opened to speak in a voice harsh with untold centuries:

"You dare to enter this place? The living are not welcome in White Watch!" The elf
Fled, but not before glimpsing the corpse-warrior rising slowly from its throne!

Beyond the Westwall: Session 3 (6/26/13)

We had a more-than-packed house for session 3, as we were joined by a blast from the past! Our fellow gamer Wes has made his triumphant return to Wednesday night RPG action at All Things Fun! So, he took control of Gerard the fighter, bringing the current party total to five (including Pam's thief Vela, Bill's halfling Bogo, Josh's cleric Jarith, and Mark's elf Umitsu).

 

The party gathered again in the common room of the Wailing Banshee inn (including a shaken Umitsu, fresh from her psychic battle against...a tiny tentacled brain). Not long after they came together, a young boy ran in from the street, screaming about a "monster." The party investigated and saw a white figure shambling through the frozen mud of the street. Upon closer investigation, they saw that it wasn't a monster but rather a frost-covered young man. The group quickly ushered the young man into the Wailing Banshee, where they wrapped him in a blanket and gave him warm wine to drink.

The young man turned out to be Thomas, one of the three people who had been missing for nearly two weeks. As the party tried to communicate with him, Thomas slipped in and out of a catatonic stupor, and occasionally whispered the words "white watch." When he had moments of lucidity, the youth tried to relate the tale of where he had been for the previous days. All he could remember was going to sleep one night, and then waking up to find himself wandering in a snow-shrouded forest. Then, he remembered being "taken" by a strange force, after which he had only memories of darkness and terror until waking up just outside of town.

The group pondered what Thomas had told them, and surmised that he might have been lured by some sort of dark magic into the Lanisdown Forest, not far to the north of Westguard. The also considered paying a visit to Martha, the elderly woman who had also disappeared and then reappeared in town. Martha was reportedly still in a coma-like state.

Vela the thief considered asking Westguard's very small network of rogues for information. While the town is not large enough to support a true thieve's guild, there is a mysterious "crime lord" that has gathered a loose confederation of thieves and muscle, most of whom have "day jobs" in the small community. Vela is, thus far, not a member of this network. She made contact with someone, but when she was told that the price of information would be a "favor" that could be requested of her at any time, she decided to pass on the offer.

The group then decided to try and track down a sage, with the hope that they could learn more about where Thomas was held. They remembered once again the rumors of an ancient Bright Empire torture dungeon somewhere in the area, and wondered if there was a connection. However, the Lord Protector of Westguard, Tormund, is very hostile toward sages. He considers them troublesome sources of information that propagate rumors concerning ruins that contain lost treasure. Thus, many "adventurous fools" have met their demise when they've gone out into the countryside to seek riches. And, in general, Tormund believes that an educated population is prone to disobedience. So, as the leader of a frontier town surrounded by harsh wilderness, the last thing Tormund needs is dissidents questioning his method of rule.

Because of the Lord Protector's stance on sages, the handful in Westguard are secretive and hard to find. There is only one, a sage named Anton, who open advertises his services. Suffice to say that he is an object of harassment by Tormund's men. The group experienced this first-hand when they made their way to Anton's shop in the town's market square. As they knocked on the door to the sage's shop, they noticed two town guards watching them from across the square. Finally, Anton called through the barred door, telling the group to go away. Then, the guards confronted the party and told them to be on their way.

On their way back to the Wailing Banshee, the group heard an urgent whisper from a nearby alley. It was Anton, who had decided to follow them in secret and ask them what they wanted from him. The party discovered quickly that the sage was more than a bit pompous. When they told him of the sketchy details from Thomas, he mocked them. It was only when they mentioned the Bright Empire tomb and the mysterious cylinder they had found that Anton agreed to speak with them further at the inn...as long as they also agreed to buy him dinner.

While the rest of the group plied the arrogant sage with food and drink in an attempt to get information out of him, Vela and the fighter Gerard decided to sneak back to Anton's shop and break in, so that they could dig through whatever scrolls and tomes he might possess. Vela tried to unlock a window at the rear of the shop, but only succeeded to break the glass. The thief decided to go ahead with her mission and crawled through the window into Anton's bedchamber. But before she could do much searching, she heard a deep voice call out from beyond the bedroom door. She quickly crawled out of the window before someone entered the room. Vela and Gerard caught a glimpse of a huge figure enter the room and investigate briefly.

Gerard decided to go to the front door and knock, in order to distract whoever was inside the shop so that Vela could continue her investigations. This is how the fighter came face to face with Robar, Anton's brother. The sage's massive sibling towered over Gerard, and the two soon began a very confused conversation (Gerard has an Intelligence of 8, and player Wes decided he was a bit slow on the uptake most of the time).

In the meantime, Vela climbed back into the back bedroom and continued her search. All her efforts yielded was the fact that the majority of the books in Anton's bedroom discussed either the bizarre, decadent, and sometimes perverse exploits of ancient emperors or the properties of various fungi, especially mushrooms. She decided to chance sneaking into the main part of the shop, and was chagrined to discover that Anton did not have a very extensive collection of tomes. She signaled to Gerard that it was time to leave. The fighter gratefully broke off his repartee with the dim-witted Robar, and the pair made haste back to the inn.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group was having no real luck in dealing with Anton. In fact, the sage was about to leave the inn in a huff when the party mentioned that Thomas had muttered the words "white watch." Anton spun back to the group and began to relate the legend of a lost Bright Empire outpost called White Watch. It was supposed to be somewhere north of Lanisdown Forest, in the foothills of the Westwall. Anton himself had made the journey to that location, but had not been able to find the ruins of the outpost. After relating this information, the sage expressed doubt that the group could succeed in finding White Watch and left the inn. The party, of course, thought differently. They resolved to leave the next morning.

The following day, the party was traveling north through the forest. The Lanisdown Forest had long ago been "tamed," and is home to small outposts of loggers who supply timber to Westguard. However, the group came across a scene of carnage in the woods. The found bloodstains in the snow, and saw hastily abandoned saws and other tools. As they investigated, the party heard loud, inhuman shouts echoing through the still forest. Bogo the halfling used his wilderness stealth to investigate, and saw three ettins stomping through the forest toward his friends. He rushed back to warn them, and the party decided to set an ambush.

The party set up a crude trap involving rope and two long two-man saws, took positions along the road, and waited. Soon, they saw the ettins stride into view. Each of the two-headed giants was wearing the skin of a human tied around their necks, the boneless flesh flapping against their chests like grisly aprons. Lucky for the adventurers, the first ettin didn't notice their trap. The creature fell directly onto the saw blades, which tore into its belly. The second ettin stared in disbelief at its brother writhed in agony and blood spread out across the icy dirt road. The third ettin, however, was more wary than the others, and prepared to do battle.

At this point, we ran out of time for the night and had to end the session. The battle with the ettins continues in the next session...