Delvers Guild – Arc 2, Session 14 – Last Crypts

[December 14 – 6th (and last) session for December 14.  The last of the lower crypts are looted while the Delvers form a plan to deal with the blue flame skeletons.]

[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement.  This session happened May 16, 2022.]

Player Characters:

Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studier of Pact Magic with a focus on shadows

Ozrel Runeweaver – human male – Pugilist and Rune Magician

Zarek the Red – fox male – Golem-mancer

Vorgand – human female – Guildmaster and Chief Combatant for the Delvers Guild

Ricky the Astrologer – human male – Newly-minted specialist in Magic Circles and Teleportation Gates

Non-Player Characters:

Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild

Yggsday, December 14th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Late Afternoon

After storing the three looted sarcophagus lids on the moon, the Delvers returned to the Stone Halls through the portal.  They descended the Slanted Gallery to the lower crypt area.  At the Hall of Elven Heroes, the group turned right, having looted all the tombs down around the corner on the left.  At the right end of the Hall of Elven Heroes they took the corner.

[I provided the names of all the elven heroes depicted on the walls here and which names also had crypts.  There were 14 heroes in the main hall but only 11 crypts.  The elves depicted but without crypts were: Hefhauer of the Many Shadows (a.k.a.: Jerk-face), Garabed of the Six Rings, and Oroitz of the Cloud Sea.]

This passage had six more potential crypts to loot, but they learned on a previous trip that at least one of them had been looted already.  They examined the plaster artwork over the represented doors.  Two of the six unopened door artworks had plasterwork that was shallower than the surrounding surfaces, indicating that the doors behind the plaster had been replastered after being uncovered previously.  Combined with the other previously looted crypt on this side the Delvers opened on their previous excursion, this left 4 crypts as undisturbed.

The group decided to start opening crypts with the first one on the left wall, the crypt of Zuzen of Ochevyog, and work their way around clockwise.  Using the method they developed raiding the other crypts, they quickly and safely opened and cleared Zuzen’s crypt of the two void skeletons inside it.  The walls of the crypt were decorated to show a countryside with rolling hills.  Off in the middle distance was an elven town.  Ricky speculated it was Ochevyog, where Zuzen was from.  The plant life shown was more of the strange plants the Delvers had seen in some of the oldest elven crypts and tombs, so they were not certain where Ochevyog might be.  The gem covered sarcophagus contained Zuzen’s corpse, another of the magic amulets with the odd rune, and three other pieces of jewelry [another necklace, a gold chain, and a gold goblet].

The Delvers proceeded to the next crypt on the left wall.  This claimed to be the crypt of Berooz of Apheshra.  The adventurers repeated their method of opening and clearing the crypt of enemies and set to looting the sarcophagus.  The wall murals showed rolling grasslands.  When they opened the sarcophagus, it appeared to be empty, which surprised the Delvers.  Zarek cast Detect Magic and saw no telltale auras.  Jala cautiously reached in to search for concealed spaces, instead feeling an invisible corpse!

Carefully running her hands over the corpse, Jala determined it was wearing a cloak of some sort.  She carefully searched for any jewelry, finding a gold chain, a jeweled goblet, another magic amulet with the strange rune, and lastly a lapel pin.  When she removed the lapel pin, the corpse suddenly became visible again.  Zarek checked again with his Detect Magic spell and verified that the pin was magical, not the tattered cloak the corpse wore.

[There was discussion here about whether or not his Detect Magic spell should have “seen” the pin of invisibility while its power was active.  I knew why this was, but could not quote the Simulated Sense Group Rule at the time or point to its location at the table, which caused some confusion with Detect being an Unusual Sense.  We have since resolved the issue.]

The Delvers were feeling the effects of their efforts and took a rest at this point.  The next two tombs on this side of the hall appeared to have been opened and resealed, so they decided to skip them.  On the right wall, they opened the last crypt and discovered it was looted some time in the past and then resealed.  The crypt adjacent to it showed the same signs of being previously opened and resealed, leaving only two crypts on that wall.  The two crypts appeared to hold Kurush the Dry and Assim of the Three Fires.  The Delvers discussed which to open next and settled on Kurush’s.

Once the rest was over, the Delvers approached Kurush’s crypt and put their plan into action, quickly opening the crypt and defeating the two void skeletons inside.  The interior walls of this crypt were decorated to show a rolling seascape.  After removing the jeweled lid of the sarcophagus, they found the corpse of Kurush with two pieces of jewelry that radiated magic and two that did not.  The two magical pieces were the rune amulet found in all the [non-looted] crypts and a belt buckle that Zarek eventually identified as a belt buckle of water walking.  Ricky was immediately interested in it.  [Ricky being physically unable to swim.]

Ricky brought up an idea of using the void skeletons to de-power the blue flame skeletons up in the Stone Forest.  The positive would be that the Delvers would no longer be subjected to the explosive attacks.  The negative would be that Vorgand and Ozrel would be the only ones able to fight effectively against the mass of skeletons.  The question of how to transport the void skeletons was discussed and use of the rope of entangling that Jala carried or even normal rope to tie down the lids of the spirit jars would allow transportation of the skeletons.  Jala or Ricky could teleport with the jars into the room, remove the rope, and flee before the blue flame skeletons arrived and the void skeletons established their magic suppression field.

The Delvers discussed this plan at length, including asking the Torchbearers if one of them would help hold a spirit jar closed until they could get it tied up.  The trio held a short huddle, played a quick round of Rock-Paper-Scissors [which Fish clearly lost], and Fish stated he would do it for an extra 5 gold coins.  The Delvers Readily agreed to this.  After some further discussion, they decided they were not certain it was entirely viable, but they were willing to give it a try.  They took another rest to let Zarek prep some spells and get everyone fully ready for the last crypt.  They decided that the second spirit jar would be the one to keep and put their now standard crypt opening plan into motion.

The plan went well, up to the point where they let the first spirit jar open so they could quickly defeat the skeleton inside.  When Vorgand let the lid open, instead of a void skeleton standing up a skeleton with orange flames engulfing its skull stood up.  It being a skeleton still triggered Zarek’s prepared lightning burst spells.  One missed completely, but the other hit the orange flame skeleton twice for minimal damage.

Ozrel continued to hold down the lid on the second spirit jar while Vorgand swept and hit the skeleton three times for no effect.  The skeleton threw its flaming skull at Vorgand, missing widely and hitting the wall behind her, where it splashed and kept burning.  Jala stepped in with the ready rope of entanglement and entangled the spirit jar Ozrel was holding and the active skeleton [the ropes entanglement is Area of Effect, Selective, and Does Not Block Attacks].  Ricky cast Dark Leaching on the active skeleton, withering it significantly.  Zarek altered his spell [to make it Armor Piercing and Half Endurance] and hit the skeleton with it to noticeable effect.

Ozrel, no longer needing to hold the second jar closed, stood and punched the skeleton to no effect.  Vorgand struck at the skeleton with her sword and hit but to no effect.  The skeleton attempted to break free of the rope and failed, which sealed its fate.  When Ricky hit it with Dark Leaching again, the skeleton crumbled to dust.

After everyone caught their breath, they prepared to attack the skeleton remaining in the last spirit jar.  Zarek reconfigured his lightning spell [to be Armor Piercing and Burst, which would spend a whopping 21 Endurance when cast].

Once everyone was ready and in place, Jala dis-engaged the rope of entanglement.  When the orange flame skeleton formed up, they all attacked it with Zarek getting in the final hit with his spell, destroying the skeleton.

While Zarek panted from the effort, Ricky inspected the sarcophagus.  The lid depicted an elf holding a gold bowl in one hand and a spear with a flaming blade in the other [I should have also put the elf in a Grendel mask (from the comic Mage) but I only now thought of that].  Notable jewelry was a ruby covered cloak clasp and the rune amulet.  Inside the sarcophagus they found the expected elf corpse with the spear, bowl, clasp, and amulet.  Zarek inspected the spear and found a command word in Ancient Elven on it [“Burn”].  He asked Ricky how the word was pronounced and tested it out.  The spear’s blade lit up with orange fire, the same color as the flames on the two skeletons the Delvers had just defeated.  Further testing would need to wait until later.

Out of a sense of completeness [and not wanting to leave any potential loot behind], the Delvers spent the next hour breaking into the remaining three crypts to verify they had been looted in the past.  They had been, but a small gold cup was found in one where it had fallen behind the stripped lid of the sarcophagus.

Tired and hungry, the delvers finally decided to call it a day and return to the Moon Manor.  They made their way up the Sloped Gallery to the portal room at the top, set it for Moon Manor, and stepped through.

7:00 PM

After an exhausted 30-minute climb back to the surface, they discovered that the sun had long set.  Vorgand asked Torsten what supplies the Torchbearers needed.  Torsten requested a small keg of tar to finish waterproofing the repaired rooves, 20 feet of gutters, more fresh food and goats, and chicken wire to make a proper area for the chickens to graze.  Vorgand agreed to bring those back inside the next week, depending on how long it took to gather it all up.  Torsten also suggested getting the outer walls of the ruins repaired for better security, something Vorgand agreed with.

While the Torchbearers returned to old chapel to make their dinner and rest, the Delvers went back under the ruins to Ricky’s gate room and used the gate to return to the Guildhall in Aegea City.  Very tired and very hungry, the Delvers made their way over to The Library for drinks and dinner.

After the meal, Zarek asked Ricky for advice on researching elven magic items.  Ricky told him where the relevant books were in the University Library [an actual library, as opposed to The Library, which was a student drinking place].

After the rest went to sleep, Ricky spent the evening studying the various orbs and scrolls the group had looted from the crypts for useful information.

End of Session

Guild Postings

[Sorry this was late.  It’s been a week where focus has been hard to maintain, especially today.]

Delvers Guild

Guild Organizational Document

Arc 1

Arc 1 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 1 sessions

Arc 2

Arc 2 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 2 sessions, as they post

Last Session: Arc 2, Session 13

Next Session: Arc 2, Session 15

Delvers Guild – Arc 2, Session 9 – R and R Wrap-up and back to the Stone Halls

[December 13 and 14 – Last of the Advancement Guidelines set down and then back to Delving!]

[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement.  This session happened April 4, 2022.]

Player Characters:

Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studier of Pact Magic with a focus on shadows

Ozrel Runeweaver – human male – Pugilist and Rune Magician

Zarek the Red – fox male – Golem-mancer

Vorgand – human female – Guildmaster and Chief Combatant for the Delvers Guild

Ricky the Astrologer – human male – Newly-minted specialist in Magic Circles and Teleportation Gates

Non-Player Characters:

Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild

Lars – Chamberlain of the Delvers Guild

Unit: Z0-E – Zarek’s first golem, looks like a fox made of iron

Freysday, December 13th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Later the same day, the founders of the Delvers Guild [the player characters] finished setting out the Advancement Guidelines and some supplemental bylaws.

Advancement Guidelines (Conclusions)

Expert Delver to Master Delver

• Demonstrate proficiency in [60%] of Expedition Competencies [specified in game, but TBD out of game]
• Participate in a minimum of 20 expeditions as an Expert Delver
• Lead a minimum of 3 supervised expeditions with endorsement
• Each endorsement from a different Master Delver

Guildmaster

Guildmaster is an elected office, held for life or until relinquished.  A No-Confidence vote by 80% of the current chapter Master Delvers may compel relinquishment.

To run for the office:

• Candidate must submit a Letter of Interest to the Grand Master
• Candidate must receive a Letter of Approval from the Grand Master
• Candidate must win an election by the chapter Master Delvers with the grand Master breaking ties.

Grand Master

To run for the office:

• Candidate must be a current or retired Guildmaster
• Candidate must win election by all current and retired Guildmasters with a simple majority

Torchbearer to Senior Torchbearer

• Minimum of two years in service as a Torchbearer
• Submit Letter of Interest to your assigned master Delver
• The Master Delver will take the letter to the Guildmaster
• The Guildmaster must approve the appointment

Random Bylaws

1. Expert Delvers forming an expedition need a minimum of 3 Expert Delvers signed on before approval.
2. The Guildhall the Grand Master works at does not need an additional Guild Master – the Grand Master meets that need.
3. The Grand Master and all Guild Masters meet every 5 years to examine and adjust territory boundaries where needed.
4. [New] Any candidate running for election to become either a Guildmaster or Grand Master may vote in the election they are running in.
5. [New] If there is no majority in the Grand master election, the top two candidates participate in a run-off election.

Yggsday, December 14th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

8:30 AM

The founding Delvers met at the gate in the Guildhall basement and used it to teleport to the receiving gate under the Moon Manor ruins.  Vorgand went up to the surface and picked up Torsten, Fish, and Harek.  When she returned to the corner office that was acting as the gate room under the ruins, they other Delvers put on the various elven magic items they were concealing from the elves back in Aegea City.  Zarek played a prank on Ozrel, who had not used the magic earrings before, by barking loudly through the connection.  It startled Ozrel but only for a moment.  [I ran the prank as a Presence Attack to refresh the players memory on how those work.]

Zarek cast his Stoney Skin spell on himself, Vorgand, Ozrel, and Jala.  [He could only place it on 4 people and Ricky specifically avoided getting into combat, so he was left out.]  Zarek then handed out potions of speed to all the group.  [In addition to being a wizard, the fox is also an alchemist and regularly keeps a stash of potions available: +1 Speed for 1 Minute, 4 doses.]

The group then spent the next 30 minutes carefully making their way down through the [mostly] empty dungeon to the Portal Room at the bottom.  [See Arc 1, sessions 6 through 8 for the Portal Room’s location.]  Once there, the Power Gem was placed on the console and the Portal activated.  Vorgand set the control cubes to 5.2.2 and the portal blinked before showing the entry area of the Stone Halls [see Arc 1, Session 31].

Ricky cast Nightvision on himself and stepped through the Portal.  The air on the other side was cold enough to make his breath visible.  He put on the warm coat he brought and gave the all-clear signal to the rest of the Delvers.  They put on the coats they brought and stepped through to join Ricky.  Zarek, having no coat but his own fur, cast Cool Canine [Life Support: resist extreme heat and cold] on himself before following.  [Zarek, despite being a fox, does not know the proper reference term, hence the inappropriate spell name.]

The Delvers made use of the safety ropes they left here back in November [Arc 1, Session 31] and eased their way down the sloped gallery to just past the second stone bracket supporting the ceiling.  There hung the climbing ropes up into the small chimney-like passage in the ceiling.  Zarek flew up through the chimney and the others followed by climbing the ropes.

At the top, the chimney opened as a small well in a 20-foot square room.  The last time the delvers were here, Ricky had used a sledgehammer to smash through the immense granite slab that sealed the doorway to the next chamber.  After 20 minutes of hard work, he had broken through enough for Zarek to squeeze through into the next chamber, see many blue flame skeletons, and flee.  The slab was still missing the chunks Ricky had broken away and the chamber on the other side was dark.

Jala attempted to use her Shadow Veil spell to peer through the shadows in the chamber beyond, but all was darkness there and there were no shadows for her to peer through.  [Her spell requires shadows, not darkness to work.]  Ozrel lit a spare torch off the one Fish was carrying and popped it through the small opening in the slab, into the next chamber.  This provided shadows for Jala to peer through.

The chamber was very large – larger than the 30-foot diameter the torch lit, with many pillars supporting the ceiling.  The pillars were carved to resemble trees with the ceiling being covered by their branches, a stone forest.  Jala saw no sign of the blue flame skeletons that had driven away Zarek the last time and reported this.

Zarek cast two triggered versions of his Lightning spell on himself.  They would discharge as soon as he saw the first blue flame skeleton.

Once Zarek was ready, he squeezed through the gap in the granite slab and entered the Stone Forest.  Ozrel and Ricky used their teleportation magics [Ricky Shadow Jumped, Ozrel Fire-Walked] to enter the Stone Forest while Jala Shadow Walked, bringing along Vorgand.

The Delvers looked around to see what there was to see and Ricky noticed a set of stairs at the edge of the light on the left wall, going down.  Then the adventurers heard the distinctive sounds of skeletons approaching from the darkness, just before 10 skulls lit up with blue flame.

End of Session

Guild Postings

[We were running just long enough that after I set out the battle map, we realized there was no way we could start and finish the fight before it got very late.  So we took a picture of it and called it a night.  Next session starts with the combat, the one I really messed up.]

[I’ll update the Guild Organizational Document later this week with the roles and responsibilities, the Advancement Guidelines, and the associated bylaws.  I should also be able to get Session 10 typed up and posted this week as it looks to be a slow week at the Dayjob.]

Delvers Guild

Guild Organizational Document

Arc 1

Arc 1 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 1 sessions

Arc 2

Arc 2 Landing Page – Links to all Arc 2 sessions, as they post

Last Session: Arc 2, Session 8

Next Session: Arc 2, Session 10

Delvers Guild – Arc 2, Session 1 – Quietly doing business

[December 1 through December 8 – The Delvers lay low and learn what they can about the sudden Elf presence in Aegea City.]

[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement.  This session happened January 10, 2022.]

Player Characters:

Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studier of Pact Magic with a focus on shadows

Ricky the Astrologer – human male – Newly-minted specialist in Magic Circles and Teleportation Gates

Zarek the Red – fox male – Golemancer

Vorgand – human female – Guildmaster and Chief Combatant for the Delvers Guild

Ozrel – human male – Pugilist and Rune Magician

Exiting, Stage Left

Nick Stalwart – human male – Taking a Stalwart Family ship to track down his lost younger brother, Les, somewhere in the eastern Opal Sea.

Clarence – human male – Freshly promoted to Journeyman status and sent to visit obscure temples by the senior clergy [who were not envious of his growing status and Staff of Creation at all, really]

Non-Player Characters:

Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild

Konrad Moonclub – Stalwart family factor in Little Wytheford

Orm Oxdriver – driver of the guild’s over-sized, double-decker vardo

Lars – Chamberlain of the Delvers Guild Guildhall

Ferragus – Seller of fine antiquities

[Clarence’s player was not happy with his character due to his limited understanding of the Hero System rules when we started the campaign, so he switched to a new character, Ozrel.  We ret-conned that Ozrel has always been one of the guild’s founding members, but for various reasons has always stayed in town.  He is now available for expedition work – just in time for the Guild to stay in town.]

[Nick’s player needed to drop one of the many games he was involved in and the Monday Night group was the one that provided the greatest return on time, letting him do other RL things he needed to take care of.  He might re-join when some of his other, longer-standing campaigns wrap up.  As I’m reaching my own maximum capacity for games I can be involved in and still have time for non-gaming stuff, I totally sympathize with him on this.]

Sunday, December 1st, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Ricky completed the week-long job of inscribing and inlaying a magic circle in the ruins under Moon Manor.  He then cleared away the debris and started casting the lengthy spell to connect this magic circle with its twin in the Delvers Guild guildhall basement.

Once the ritual was complete, Ricky initiated the gate by placing one of the Key Tokens in the appropriate place on a small stand that was part of the magic circle.  This caused a phantom arch of stones to appear, outlined in a cold blue light.  Through the arch he could see the basement of the guildhall…

Meanwhile, in the guildhall, Vorgand was approached by Lars, the chamberlain, who urgently reported that something strange was happening in the basement.  Vorgand and the Guild Founders present [the other PCs] went down to see what was happening, concerned the elves were making a move against them.  What they found instead was a phantom arch of stones, outlined in a cold blue light, standing in the magic circle Ricky had inscribed in one of the basement side rooms.  As they arrived at the door, Ricky stepped through the arch from the Moon Manor side, slightly surprised to see the rest of the group there and ready for battle.

Ricky explained that the gate was now functional and handed a Key Token to each of the founding members present, with three extra tokens left over.  [One each would have gone to Clarence and Nick, while the third was for the next person authorized to use the gate, whoever that turned out to be.]  Ricky then explained how the others could activate the gate.  They each did so, to verify the tokens all worked.

Vorgand then brought Ricky up to speed with the current situation in the city.  The tension caused by the elves suddenly returning to the city, claiming ownership of several pieces of property and one of the Guild Docks, and generally stationing small groups at major intersections in the city had lessened over the last week.  The deeds of ownership the elves presented were over 500 years old and the Kingdom of Aegea was only 350 years old, meaning the Court took the position that they were not under any obligation to honor deeds issued prior to the founding of the kingdom.  The elves argued, rather elegantly, that this was the first they had heard of the Kingdom of Aegea and they were willing to recognize the kingdom, surely the kingdom would be willing to recognize their prior claims.  The fact of this discussion reassured the people of the city that an actual war was not going to happen.  That said, small teams of elves [2-3 elves each] were still “coincidentally loitering” at key intersections in the city, even though they were not heavily armed nor wore visible armor.

Vorgand gave the mithril set of magic earrings to Ricky to wear and listen in on the elves using magic earrings to stay in communication across the city.  [Ricky understands Elven, Vorgand does not.]  Jala asked Ricky to teach her Elven and he agreed to do so when she had time.

Zarek started the lengthy process of crafting a fox out of iron.  It will take him the week to finish.

Cromsday, December 5th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Rather than staying at the guildhall, Jala instead spent several days locating the concealed observation points the elves had set up across the city, up on the rooftops where they normally would not be easy to find nor observe.  Jala’s spell for peering through shadows gave her an edge here.  The concealed observation points contained food stores, a barrel or two of crossbow bolts, and magical crossbows.  Jala was unable to determine what kind of magic was on the crossbows.  To counter the elf observation points, Jala started recruiting street kids to form an information network, paying good coin when they brought her information she sought.

At the guildhall, Lars continued supervising work to refurbish the guildhall’s exterior.  The front door had already been replaced with a new, stout door with a high-quality lock on it.  The large warehouse doors were chained closed with new chains and padlocks, both greatly increasing the security of the Guildhall.  The location of the Guildhall deep in the Student’s Quarter meant that none of the elven observation teams had direct eyes on the Guildhall.  All the Guild Founders agreed they would like that to continue for as long as possible.

Ricky had spent the last several days listening to the sporadic communication between the elves via magic earrings.  It helped greatly that the elves assumed no one could listen in on their communications and were therefor lax at communications security.  On this day he overheard one of the roving teams of elves report they had located the source of many of the recent elven antique sales, the shop of Ferragus, the guild’s ally and intermediary for the sale of elven artifacts and antiques.  They advocated an evaluation team question the shop’s owner about any recent source of antiquities.  Ricky immediately reported this information to Vorgand via courier.

Vorgand had spent the last several days attending lectures at The Blooded, the kingdom’s military academy where she was a student.  At the military academy she heard talk from other students boasting about having genuine elven antiquities on display, a hot new trend amongst the elite.  When Vorgand received Ricky’s warning, she immediately headed over to Ferragus’s shop.

While waiting for Ferragus to finish with some other clients, she observes another new trend – the inclusion of elven articles of clothing or accessories into one’s outfits.  Most items worn by the other patrons of the shop were recent copies, unlike the sash and sword Vorgand wore openly [perhaps unwisely].  With this new clothing trend, she felt she would not stand out as much.

Once Ferragus was available, they talked elliptically about the elven antiquities they had been trading in.  Ferragus reported interest was up and he had sold most of the items the Guild had brought to him so far.  Vorgand assured him they had more to sell, but he should expect a group of elves to visit him in the next couple of days and ask questions about his sources.  Both agreed it would be easier to answer questions if there wasn’t a fresh shipment of elven items in the shop, despite the active market for them right now.  Ferragus agreed to send a message to the Guildhall after the elves have been and gone, after which the Guild would send over a shipment of objects d’art and some books.  Vorgand then bought a random item of jewelry from Ferragus as cover for her visit [in case she was being followed already] and left.

Evening

The Guild Founders met after dinner at The Library to drink and discuss business.  It was clear that the elves were searching for the source of elven antiquities in the city.  Jala brought up the possibility of spreading out where the Guild sold its finds.  After discussion, the group decided that the fewer people who knew the Guild was the source, the fewer opportunities there would be for someone to sell the Guild out to the elves.

Freysday, December 6th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Vorgand, Ricky, and Ozrel spend the day ferrying things to sell to Ferragus from the Moon to the Guildhall via the portal under the Moon Manor and Ricky’s new gate.  They moved 12 objects d’art and some of the books retrieved from the base on the Moon.

While passing through the dungeon under the Moon Manor Ruins, Vorgand went up to the surface to talk with the Torchbearers to see if they needed any supplies.  Torsten suggested they add a door to the old chapel they were housing in so they will have a more direct access to the tower being used as a storage room.  He needed a door, some timber for a frame, carpenter’s tools, and, if possible, some additional fresh food.  With winter having arrived, hunting around the manor has become poor and they had to eat one of the goats and a couple chickens.  Vorgand agreed to all of it and told them the supplies would be dropped off the next day.  Once back at the Guildhall, Vorgand passed the list of supplies to Lars and asked that he arrange for the supplies the next morning.

Yggsday, December 7th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Morning

Lars spent part of the morning purchasing the supplies requested by the Torchbearers.  As it was well know that the Guild was in the process of restoring/upgrading the previously abandoned building that was now the Guildhall, this raised no suspicions at all.  Once he had all the supplies delivered to the Guildhall, Vorgand and Ozrel delivered them to the Torchbearers via Ricky’s Gate.

Afternoon

Ricky started getting more systematic with his eavesdropping on the elven communications [he decided to use Deduction to work out how many elves there were in the city].  With Jala’s help he placed the locations of the surveillance points the elves were using on a map and worked out the code names assigned to each location.  Ricky worked out there were 21 teams working 7 observation points in the city, 2 at ground level, making use of convenient shops and cafes, and the other 5 concealed away on the rooftops.  Another 6 teams patrolled the city, observing the people or specific shops.  Jala reported what she had found inside their outposts earlier in the week.  When she decided to look inside their ship now, but discovered she was blocked from doing so by a ward of some sort.

Yggsday, December 7th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Zarek, having spent the last week crafting a fox out of iron, spent six hours using his recently learned golemancy skills to animate it.  At the end of the arduous process he succeeded and the iron fox animated.  To test it out, he had it deliver a message to the blacksmith who taught him his ironwork skills.  Three hours later, the iron fox returned with the blacksmith’s surprised response.

Afternoon

Late in the afternoon, Vorgand received a message from Ferragus that simply stated, “Well that was interesting.”  It also indicated that the next delivery time should be 8:00 PM, Sunday, at his back gate.

End of Session

Guild Postings

[The Delvers Guild campaign resumes!  We eased into the campaign with this session for a couple reasons, not the least of which was me being not entirely ready to start running.  That said, we got a lot done and started things off with a small dose of paranoia.]

[I'm doing something differently with the links to other sessions.  Rather than add new links each session, I'm going to have the link to the last session, the next session, the Guild Organizational Outline, and links to the landing pages for each campaign arc.  This will reduce the number of links I need to incorporate each post to no more than 5 links and speed up the posting process.  Let me know what you think.]

Delvers Guild

Guild Organizational Outline

Arc 1

Landing Page

Arc2

Landing Page

Last Session – See Arc 1, Session 33, accessible through the landing page

Next Session [Not Yet Typed Up]

Delvers Guild – Session 33 – Last Looks and then…Elves?

[In-game November 23rd (yet again) and 24th – The Delvers investigate the deeper area a little more and then head back to Aegea City where unexpected things have happened.]

[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement.  This session happened December 14, 2020.]

Player Characters:

Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studying aspects of the Law [to avoid them] at the Dusk Academy

Ricky the Astrologer – human male – has a thirst for knowledge but doesn’t know what he’s searching for, currently studying Astrology at Monarch University

Zarek the Red – fox male – a cerebrally-unfettered spell researcher [read: Mad Scientist] turned into a talking fox, studying Natural Philosophy at Monarch University to find a way to become human again

Vorgand – human female – professional porter and Adventurer’s Aide, irregularly attends classes at The Tested military academy, practitioner of Steel Serpent martial arts, and Guildmaster of the Delvers Guild

Via Roll20

Nick Stalwart – human male – part of the Stalwart family of merchants, studying Mathematics at The Interesting Institute of Profitable People, a college at Monarch University

Clarence – human male – studies Religion in Temples district, coincidentally the group healer

Non-Player Characters:

Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild

Konrad Moonclub – Stalwart family factor in Little Wytheford

Orm Oxdriver – driver of the guild’s over-sized, double-decker vardo

Lars – Chamberlain of the Delvers Guild 

[We started out with some adjustments to the characters.  When I started this campaign, I expected it to be relatively short, almost a one-shot, so I allowed several things to slide, following the Rule of Fun.  As we seem to be switching over to a longer term campaign, I’ve needed to reign in a few things.  Zarek wants to make golems and I’ve established he needs to do research and spend time in-game learning the skills.  I also realized I was not doing that for the other players developing new spells, so I’ve enforced a requirement that PCs need either a teacher or to have the skill Spell Research before adding new spells to their repertoire.  Nick’s player doesn’t see Nick as a “research type” but wanted a spell for recharging wands.  We retconned his wand recharge spell as having been on one of the scrolls recovered from the elven tombs.  This fit in story as well as mechanically.]

Yggsday, November 23rd, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Evening (around 7:00 PM)

Having plundered the small tomb hidden down the left-hand passage [see Session 32], the Delvers decided to investigate the right-hand passage.  As they went to leave the small tomb, most of them noticed that the previously still air in the main corridor now had a breeze flowing through it.

Ricky stuck his head out of the tomb’s narrow entry passage to look and determined that the breeze seemed to emanate from the statue at the end of the main corridor, to his right.  He also noticed that the breeze was slowly getting stronger and colder.  Zarek flew past Ricky and over to the statue to determine the source.  He first cast Detect Magic to locate the source but found nothing magical.  He next searched the alcove the statue was in and discovered several concealed air vents hidden behind decorative molding.  Zarek reported this to the rest of the Delvers.

With nothing to be done about the strengthening breeze, the Delvers backtracked down the main corridor to the fork at the bottom of the slanted corridor.  Here they discovered the right-hand path also had air flowing from it and both streams of air went up the slanted corridor.  Their torch was starting to flag from the rush of air at this point.

The Delvers headed down the right-hand corridor, into the noticeably-cooling breeze.  The corridor on this side mirrored the left-hand corridor, turning left after thirty feet, and then ending in another sixty feet at an alcove with an identical statue in it.  Suspicious, Zarek quickly flew back to the other corridor to see if the first statue was still there.  It was.

The Delvers paused at the corner.  Ricky cast his Night Vision spell upon himself and then cautiously advanced down the corridor.  At the point where the small tomb was down the left-hand corridor, Ricky looked for a potentially hidden door, possibly behind a door painted in the frescos on the wall.  There was a painted door in that spot and Ricky could tell that the plaster covering it was thinner than the rest as there was a shallow depression in the plaster over the door area.  When he reported this, Vorgand suddenly realized that there might be more tombs hidden behind painted doorways.  She examined the frescos, looking for doors or doorways in the painted scenery.  She quickly saw there were many doors, evenly spaced down the corridor, suggesting there were six or seven tombs hidden along this corridor.

The rest of the Delvers walked down the corridor to join Ricky.  After searching for an easy way to open the plaster covered tomb door, Ricky and Vorgand broke out their sledgehammers and started smashing the tomb entrance while the wind moving through the corridor got colder and faster.  Twenty minutes later, they broke the stone slab protecting the tomb.  Just as Ricky announced this, the torches lost their fight with the wind and blew out.  [At this point, the air flow was up to “strong wind” and had dropped the air temperature at least 20 degrees (Fahrenheit).]

Ricky could still see due to his Night Vision spell, but none of the others could.  Zarek pulled out a charged power crystal from his backpack.  This provided a little light for everyone else but plenty of light for the vision granted by the magic eyepatch he wore to function fully.  [Zarek’s eyepatch grants UV Vision and needs a source to work.  The Delvers previously discovered that the power gems emit the correct light for Zarek to see through the eyepatch.]  Jala decided this was the last straw for her and announced that she was heading back to the portal and did anyone want to go back with her?  No one took her up on the offer and so she went back alone, her left hand on the left wall so she would not get lost.  When she reached the bottom of the slanted corridor, the portal at the top produced enough like that she could find the rope and climb up the slanted corridor.

Back at the newly opened tomb, Ricky announced he could see into it.  What he could see was a broken funerary urn and a wooden sarcophagus that looked damaged.  Zarek handed the power gem to Vorgand in case he needed to cast spells.  Ricky took one of the torches into the small tomb and attempted to light it, out of the wind.  There was a breeze in the tomb from the wind in the corridor, so it took him two tries to get the torch to light, but he did.

With a lit torch, Vorgand, Ricky, and Zarek started investigating the sarcophagus.  Nick took position in the entrance, getting out of the cold wind and blocking the wind off so the torch would stay lit.  Vorgand drew her sword to help lever the sarcophagus open and remembered that it glowed, adding to the light in the small tomb.  She handed the power gem back to Zarek.

The sarcophagus showed signs of having been previously looted and the Delvers found nothing of value in it.  Tired and somewhat chilled, the Delvers took a rest in the small tomb, enjoying the torch-warmth of the enclosed space out of the wind.  The Delvers discussed this tomb while resting.  They were confused about several things.  The tomb had been looted in the past, but they had to break the stone slab to get in.  The plaster over the stone slab had appeared poorly and insufficiently applied, leaving a shallow area that Ricky was able to see.  It was very perplexing.  [The GM knows why it was as it was, but he’s not sharing at this point.  There are clues, but they are not obvious yet.]

Wondering if there is another way to easily open the doors, Zarek and Ricky attempted several magical phrases and words, including calling out the names of the elves in the frescos and the statue’s name.  None of it worked.  Discouraged and cold, the Delvers decided that it was time to head back to the Moon Manor.  They walked back to the slanted corridor, using the power gem as a light source as the wind immediately blew out their torch once they left the small tomb.

On the way up the slanted corridor, Zarek did some experiments and discovered that the power gem did not glow while inside the anti-magic zone between the third and fourth brackets.  The Delvers also noticed that the airflow partially diverted into the chimney behind the second bracket and they could hear a whistling sound up there, possibly from the breach they made.  They did not investigate, wanting to avoid the Blue Fire Skeletons up there.

Jala and the Torchbearers had already gone back through the portal and were sitting on the couch in the Moon Manor portal room.  On the way back up to the surface, Zarek diverted the group into the flooded warehouse to look at the secure area in the back corner.  He asked Jala to try picking the lock again, now that she was more familiar with elven lock techniques.  She was willing to do so and started a slow, methodical attack on the lock with her tools.  [She took an extra hour of time before making the roll.]

While she did that, Zarek, Ricky, and Clarence re-investigated the physical properties of the anti-magic bars the caged area was made of.  They verified that they could not reach very far through the bars due to the narrow gaps between them and that spell effects extended between the bars were suppressed.  He also used his attack spell to blast out some of the stone walls adjacent to the secure area, only to discover the bars extended into the stone walls.

An hour later, Jala's attempt to pick the lock failed.  It did give her some ideas for another attempt, but she needed to eat first as her hunger was starting to be a distraction.  The group returned to the surface and found Orm sitting in the chapel with a stew beside the fire keeping warm.  The sun had set several hours previously, so he made the stew and then kept it warm, waiting for the group to return.

After the late dinner, Jala, Zarek and Ricky went back down to the flooded warehouse.  Jala made two more extended attempts on the lock, breaking her lockpicks in the process but with the plans for a new tool specifically for ancient elven locks in her mind.  Zarek and Ricky spent the time working out a design for a tool to fit in between the bars near the door to pop the hinge pins out.  Zarek would need to spend the next week at a forge in Aegea City to make it.  The trio returned to the camp near midnight.

Sunday, November 24th, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Dawn

The Delvers loaded themselves, one of the trunks from the moon ship, and the remaining elven objects d’art into the vardo.  Ricky waved at the group as Orm drove it away as Ricky was staying at the Moon Manor to inscribe and pour the receiving circle of the teleportation gate he wished to establish between the Moon Manor and the Delvers Guild Guildhall.  It snowed the entire day.

11:00 AM

The vardo made good time back to Little Wytheford, not being as heavily laden as the trip out.  While discussing what supplies Nick wanted Konrad to acquire to take to the ruins the following week, Konrad told Nick he had a letter from Aegea City.  Konrad retrieved the letter from his office in the Stalwart family warehouse and gave it to Nick.  Nick opened it.  It was in the family cypher and warned Nick that the family had heard inquiries were being made “by a foreign power” about elven items sold in Aegea City, items the family knew Nick had sold.  Nick shared with the Delvers that “a foreign power” was making inquiries about the stuff the guild had sold off.  To play it safe, Zarek decides to act more like a normal fox and stop flying all the time.

Noon

The Delvers Guild boarded the ferry back to Aegea City.  Most dozed during the trip, having stayed up late the previous night.

4:00 PM

Most of the way through the ferry trip back to Aegea City, Vorgand started hearing snippets of whispered conversation in a language she did not know.  At first she thought it was some of the other passengers, but then she realized it was coming from her magic earrings.  She asked the other Delvers if they too were hearing the whispers, but they were not.  They talked about what might be happening and realized Vorgand was hearing elven voices on a different network of earrings!  Additionally, the voices got louder the closer the ferry got to Aegea City, suggesting there were elves operating in the city.

Nick, Zarek, and Ricky took off their magic earrings and hid what elven items they had visible, which requires Zarek to remove the very identifiable magical eye patch he was wearing.  Vorgand decided she would not be removing any of her elven gear, but she would wear her winter coat in such a way that the gear would not be as obvious.

5:00 PM

As the ferry approached Aegea City, the Delvers could see a large elven ship at the Guild Docks [the better set of docks, restricted to ships operated by guilds in the city].  The ship was covered in plant life, clearly growing in beds that lined the railings all over the ship.  Zarek asked Nick if he knew anything about that kind of ship.  Nick confirmed it was an elven merchant ship, able to hold a crew of 100 elves and possibly elven troops.  Nick suggested that the elves might know about the Moon Manor ruins and they should warn Ricky and the Torchbearers.  Zarek cast his flight and water breathing spells on himself, put his earrings back on, took possession of the magic net Nick had that grants ease of movement in water, and flew off under the water like a fur-bearing torpedo.

Once the ferry docked, the Delvers got off it with the other regular passengers.  There were some elves loitering in the area, so Nick led most of the group through some side alleys out of the City Docks district where the elves would not see them.  Nick, Vorgand, and Clarence split up at this point, agreeing to meet at the guildhall later, if it was safe to do so.

Jala loaded up a cart the guild regularly used with the crates of elven objects d’art and the elven sea chest [covered by a tarp] and calmly drove the cart to the guildhall, hiding in plain sight.  Along the way, she noticed the elves loitering in many street intersections and on some of the rooftops.  They appeared to be watching the streets.  When she arrived at the guildhall, she turned over the crates and chest to Lars, the guild chamberlain, to be securely stored.  She then went straight to her room and checked all the locks to verify they had not been tampered with.

Nick made his way over to the Craftsmen district and to a tavern where employees of his family congregated.  There he swapped pieces of clothing with several employees, so he was no longer wearing his normal clothes and none of his people were wearing a full set of his.  He then bought drinks and asked what was the story with the elves.  He learned that the elven ship arrived two days previous and unloaded a little cargo.  They took over a building in Old Town, kicking out everyone living there while claiming the elves were the original owners.  Quite the commotion.  There were also rumors the elves were in the king’s court, claiming to have title to other parcels of land and wanting to re-establish their rights.  Several hours later, Nick made his way to his family’s home using back alleys and side streets.  Along the way he noticed that there were city guards unobtrusively monitoring places where there elves were loitering.

Vorgand walked across the city to the campus of The Blooded [the military academy she attends – think Westpoint].  Along the way she also noticed many elves loitering at major intersections.  They were not interfering with anything, just watching and possibly looking for someone.  Vorgand did her best to keep crowds between herself and the elves, but otherwise walked like she belonged there.  At The Blooded, she noticed security was significantly tighter and she actually had to show identification papers to get in, even though the guards knew who she was.

Inside the academy, Vorgand found some of her friends [and her rival] and asked what was going on.  She learned that the elven ship arrived two days ago, just before Noon and took over an entire pier, claiming it as their right by way of a 500-year old treaty.  The elves then evicted people from some buildings in Old Town, presenting deeds that declared the elves as the owners of the land and everything on it.  Things were tense in the city, but the courts would be open tomorrow and things would start getting resolved.  Maybe.  Vorgand went to her quarters and changed clothes before going back out into the city, heading to the Delvers Guild guildhall.

Clarence made his way from the Craftsmen district to the Temples district.  There he gossiped with the other acolytes and learned that the elves were generally avoiding the temples.  A delegation from some of the major temples had spoken with the elves and learned that the elves had shrines to their gods on the ship and would not need the services of the local temples.

7:00 PM

Vorgand arrived at the guildhall and found Lars, the guild chamberlain.  Lars reported that cleaning of the first floor of the guildhall, including the “party room,” was complete.  Further, he had bids for restoration work on the exterior of the guildhall.  Lars gave Vorgand a quick tour of the interior areas still needing repairs.  He also informed her that he had taken the liberty of hiring some bonded mercenaries to act as guards for the guildhall, considering the unrest the elves were causing.  Vorgand thanked him for his foresight and authorized another 150 gold coins for further repairs, the exterior restoration, and, most importantly, securing the entrances to the guildhall.  Until further notice, elves were not allowed inside the guildhall.

Jala found Vorgand during this time and they compared notes.  Jala left the guildhall and found some local street urchins that she hired to watch the elves in the University district [the Delvers Guild guildhall was deep in that district, in the student housing area].

8:00 PM

Zarek arrived at the Moon Manor, having flown the whole way.  Zarek saw Fish on watch and startled the man when he greeted him.  Zarek called together the Torchbearers and Ricky, explaining the situation in Aegea City.  Ricky was very upset to be missing a chance to meet actual elves, until Zarek explains the elves were there tracking down the elven stuff the guild had sold off.  Zarek asked what the group would need to defend the ruins if the elves decided to show up.  Torsten, Harek, and Fish immediately started walking around the ruins and calling out defense options to each other.  The three quickly put together a list of fortification supplies they needed, including a large supply of arrows, spare bow strings, and, if possible, some extra bows.

Zarek took their list and flew over to Little Wytheford, landing at the Stalwart family warehouse.  Konrad was gone for the day, so Zarek talked with Penrith, the night clerk.  Zarek provided the list of supplies to Penrith to give to Konrad in the morning.  Penrith looked over the list and asked if Zarek would need any workers or a delivery driver.  Zarek was not certain and flew back to the Moon Manor to consult with Ricky and Torsten.  They decided that extra workers would be extra people talking about the ruins and make it more likely that the elves would learn about the ruins before defenses were ready.  They decided to decline the workers and have Orm deliver the supplies in two days, on Hernesday.

Zarek flew back to Little Wytheford and updated Penrith.  Penrith took notes and promised to deliver the information to Konrad in the morning.  Satisfied with the situation, Zarek turned and flew back to Aegea City.

11:00 PM

Zarek returned to Aegea City, doing his best to avoid elven lookouts on their ship.  He flew low over the city and discovered two camouflaged staging areas the elves had set up on some abandoned roof tops.  He proceeded to the guildhall and met Jala there.  They exchanged information.  Jala updated Zarek on the guild’s security and that Lars had hidden the elven objects d’art in one of the basement vaults for the time being.

End of Session

[This is where we pause the Delvers Guild Campaign until we can all physically be in the same place again.  The elves showing up in Aegea City was a planned event based on player character actions and I’ve been slowly counting down the time until they arrived.  It gave the players quite a jolt and will kick off some political intrigues in the campaign.]

[The switch back to the Shattered Star Adventure Path campaign paused due to a Covid exposure over the Christmas weekend, as I wrote about in an earlier post.  Long story short, my wife and I were exposed to Covid by a friend who convinced himself he knew more than doctors about his health, despite repeated proof he was wrong.  I tested positive a week later, my wife negative.  I became ill, but luckily not majorly ill, and I’m feeling much better as of this writing.  We took a second set of tests on January 8 and should have the results January 10th or 11th (after I finish writing this but before it actually posts).  My concern at this point is being pretty much over it but remaining contagious, keeping me in isolation for an extended period.  I’d like to get a negative result back, but until I do, no one gets to see me and I get to see no one.]

Delvers Guild

Guild Organizational Outline

Session A, Character Creation Part 1

Session B, Character Creation Part 2

Session 01

…

Session 10

…

Session 20

…

Session 30

Session 31

Session 32

[Campaign Paused]

Delvers Guild – Session 30 – The Moon Boat and the Blue Sun

[In-game November 23rd – The Delvers investigate the strange boat on the moon, then back to the Underruins.]

[I was running behind getting this posted because my life was busy this past week, so it still needs a good edit.  I’m posting it now to get it out there – I’ll edit it later this week.]

[This game uses the Fifth Revised Edition of the Hero System rules along with the Fantasy Hero supplement.  This session happened November 16, 2020.]

Player Characters:

Jala – human female – a person of discretion, studying aspects of the Law [to avoid them] at the Dusk Academy

Ricky the Astrologer – human male – has a thirst for knowledge but doesn’t know what he’s searching for, currently studying Astrology at Monarch University

Zarek the Red – fox male – a cerebrally-unfettered spell researcher [read: Mad Scientist] turned into a talking fox, studying Natural Philosophy at Monarch University to find a way to become human again

Vorgand – human female – professional porter and Adventurer’s Aide, irregularly attends classes at The Tested military academy, practitioner of Steel Serpent martial arts, and Guildmaster of the Delvers Guild

Via Roll20

Nick Stalwart – human male – part of the Stalwart family of merchants, studying Mathematics at The Interesting Institute of Profitable People, a college at Monarch University

Not Appearing in this Session

Clarence – human male – studies Religion in Temples district, coincidentally the group healer

Non-Player Characters:

Torsten, Fish, Harek – ex-bandits, now The Torchbearers for the Delvers Guild

Konrad Moonclub – Stalwart family factor in Little Wytheford

Orm Oxdriver – driver of the guild’s over-sized, double-decker vardo

Yggsday, November 23rd, 1st year of the reign of King Vladik the Gamesman

Noon-ish

The Delvers, having hauled the “Billiards” table up from the lower level of the moon base, parked it in the hub.  Getting it through the airlocks was time consuming and they were not certain if they were just going to store it with the other loot or take it back to the Moon Manor ruins.  In the meantime, they wanted to explore the strange boat.  Clarence cast Sense the Unholy to verify there were no undead lurking in the boat room.  Once he declared the area safe, the Delvers went through the airlock doors from the hub to the boat room.

Having time to actually look at the boat and not fighting for his life, Nick recognizes the boat as elven in general.  It had lateen sails and additional rigging on each side of the hull that looked like additional sails, which confused Nick until he realized they were folded back against the hull.  Nick estimated that the ship could be handled by two trained sailors or four to five people who could take orders.  He was not certain if the rest of the Delvers counted.

Zarek cast Detect Magic and looked around.  The walls of the base structure detected as magical, as did the boat itself.  Two panels on the walls, one near the large folding doors that made up the back wall of the chamber and one near the airlock doors.  Zarek investigated the panel near the airlock doors and discovered it controlled the lights for the chamber.  He then flew over to the panel near the backdoors of the chamber.  These appeared to open and close something.  He shared this information with the rest of the group.  Vorgand walked over and pressed what she guessed was the “open” button [< >].  The back wall started folding onto itself in sections until most of it was open to the outside.  Zarek then flew up to investigate the catwalks above the ship.

At the same time Zarek and Vorgand were investigating the panel that opened the back wall, Nick and Ricky climbed aboard the ship to investigate it.  The main deck had a door at either end, one leading to the forecastle area, the other under the aft-deck.  Shallow steps flanked the doors, leading up to each deck.  A large hatch in the center of the deck appeared to offer access to the cargo area below decks.  There were planters full of dead plants along the all the railings on all three decks and flanking the doors.  Jala attempted to use her Shadow Veil spell to look around inside the ship, but there were no shadows for her to make use of.

While Zarek investigated the catwalks, Vorgand joined the others on the ship.  The group on board decided to look for the captain’s quarters.  The door to the area under the aft-deck seemed most likely so they opened that door.  It opened on a narrow hallway that ran left and right the width of the ship, the walls of which were ornately carved.  There were three doors on the opposite wall, equally spaced along that wall.  Nick suggested that the center door was most likely to lead to the captain’s cabin.  It had a panel on the wall that suggested they needed the card key to open it.  Jala was called for as she had the group’s only key card.  She checked the door for traps and then unlocked it with the card key.

Behind the door was a small room, about ten feet by ten feet.  A fold down table was on the left wall.  Ricky recognized the design and carefully lowered it.  Behind it was a set of pigeonholes containing a half-dozen or so rolled up documents that Ricky was certain/hoping were maps or charts.

By this time Zarek had completed his investigation of the catwalks and found nothing of interest.  He flew down to the ship while his Detect Magic spell was still active.  He saw additional magics around the steering mechanisms.  Once he was in the map room, he saw preservation magics on the various rolled up documents.  Zarek randomly selected one of the rolled up documents and told Ricky to open it.  Ricky, making use of his recently acquired knowledge on preserving ancient books carefully pulled it out and set it down on the table.  He attempted to carefully roll it open…and broke off a slice two to three inches in width.  [Everyone cringed.]  Luckily the slice contained most of the map’s legend and part of the map itself.  The map appeared to be of a city and the legend gave its name as Galad Othrond, which none of the Delvers had heard of before.  Ricky recognized it as matching one of the names on the malachite orb.

With little to do in this room, Jala and Vorgand opened the door in the back, which opened to the captain’s quarters.  The quarters took up the entire width of the ship and half the depth of the aft-deck area.  Large windows made of stained glass made up the back wall and every wooden surface was beautifully carved.  The stained glass windows showed a woodland scene with strange trees that the Delvers had only seen once before – painted on the walls of a elven tomb.  A large comfortable bed was on one side of the room, anchored to the floor, and a large desk and some chairs on the other.  Two large sea chests with locking mechanisms in the shape of rose blossoms were also latched down to the floor.  Jala took some time attempting to unlock one of the sea chests, but the lock was exceptionally complex and of a type she had never seen before.  Five minutes later she thought she had it, but she triggered a mechanism that sealed the lock off for a period.  Jala switched over to the other chest and started to pick its lock, taking her time.

Zarek, Ricky, and Nick made their ways into the cabin and the group started searching the entire room.  Zarek noticed one of the pillows on the bed had preservative magic on it and was still fluffy.  He immediately claimed it as his new bed.  Ricky pulled out the two drawers under the bed and found an old sock, two luxurious blankets for the bed, and a single elven playing card.  He also found a single earring with 5 pearls on it while searching the bed sheets.  Zarek checked the earring and it detected as magic, so it went into the loot bag.  Vorgand examined the desk.  It had two drawers on each side, all of which were locked.  [Somewhere around here the notes lose track of Nick, so I’m not certain exactly what he was doing from this point on.]

Zarek detected locking magic on the first sea chest and determined it would remain locked for several hours.  He warned Jala of its presence.  She grunted back at the fox and then failed to pick the lock on the second chest, activating the locking magic on it.  She cursed much.  Ricky suggested she try the card key to see if it worked on the locks.  At her wits end, Jala gave it a try.  The card key deactivated the locking magic, granting Jala access to the mechanisms again.  She thanked Ricky for the suggestion.

Ricky crawled under the desk to see if there was a hidden catch and found one!  He triggered it and a concealed lap drawer popped open.  In it was an ornate lightning pistol.  Ricky handed it over to Zarek to examine.  Zarek asked Jala for the other one so he could compare the two.  Jala grudgingly handed it over and then waited to get it back as soon as he was done.  After a quick inspection of the two pistols to verify they seemed to have the same functions, Zarek handed the original one back to Jala.  Jala then went and started working on the desk lock.  She inspected it for traps and found one, which she disabled.  The she started working on the lock, taking her time.

Having finished searching the captain’s cabin, Ricky, Zarek, and Vorgand left Jala there to work on the lock.  They went and investigated the door to their right (starboard-side of the ship).  This door opened to a smaller, but just as well decorated bedroom.  They searched the room and the bed, finding a dark opal broach in a platinum setting, another solitary elven playing card, and more bedding.

The last room on this hall was a very small kitchen with odd cooking surfaces and an oven with no firebox.  Zarek cast Detect Magic and all of the appliances were magical!  Zarek immediately started investigating them, taking notes and pondering their working principles [major Psychological Limitation triggered].  As Zarek started muttering to himself and making arcane notes in his notebook, Vorgand and Ricky descended either a wide-stepped ladder or the shallowest set of stairs ever.  This led to a narrow pantry with cabinets on the inner wall and shelves on the outer wall.  Investigating the cabinets turned up the remains of dried goods in stiff paper boxes [think cardboard boxes, but the characters have never seen cardboard].  One of the cabinets is noticeably cooler inside it and there is the residue of long spoiled food inside.  There was a carved wooden area in front of the stairs/ladder that caught Ricky’s eye.  Investigating closer, he discovered that pushing on one of the carvings caused the entire panel to open!  Behind the panel was a small but rich collection of elven alcoholic beverages.  Ricky grabbed two of the fanciest looking bottles to take with him while Vorgand took a bottle of wine.  Vorgand noticed that the wine rack was very slowly rotating the bottles, so she had some hope the wine might still be drinkable.

[Ah, the notes catch up with Nick again.]

Nick, being of a practical mind, decided that Zarek, Ricky, and Vorgand would be enough to search the rest of the aft-deck area.  He went back out onto the main deck and opened the cargo hatch.  The majority of the lower deck was for cargo.  The area under the aft deck was partially walled off, as was the area under the forecastle, but there was a door to under the forecastle area, so he investigated that way.  Behind that door a hallway to the front of the ship, with a single door on each side.  Those doors opened onto small barracks with bunkbeds [firmly anchored to the floor].  At the end of the hall was a ladder up to a hatch.  Nick climbed the ladder and through the hatch.  This area was a single chamber with posts and mounts for hammocks.  The single door here led back to the main deck.

Having checked below decks, Nick headed to the aft deck to investigate the controls for the ship.  There he found a ship’s wheel, but it appeared to be mounted in such a way to be able to lean forward and backwards.  Additionally, there were several large levers to either side of the ship’s wheel.  Nick speculated they connected to the retracted masts and sails mounted on either side of the ship’s hull.  He used the Wand of Winds to vibrate the various lines on those masts to work out which lever or levers connected to which mast and sails.  After a while he feels he has an idea of what they do, but there isn’t enough room in the building to test his ideas.

In the meantime, Ricky realized that it was getting close to 3:00 and the portal would stop working soon.  He returned to the captain’s cabin to find Jala cursing at the lock on the desk.  She failed to unlock the desk and triggered another time lock.  Ricky said it was time to go and helped her carry one of the sea chests off the ship.  Vorgand picked up the second chest herself and followed the two of them out the back of the building [which was still open] and over to the front airlock.  Zarek closed the hangar folding doors after they left after discussing it with Vorgand over the magic earrings.  He then followed Nick and Clarence out through the airlock doors to the hub and then to the loot room.  The entire group picked up the elven objects d’art from the behir loot and rushed back to the portal.  Vorgand also had some scrap paper found on the ship to see how it reacted to the air at the Moon Manor.  Ricky had the desk drawer full of papers from the office desk.  As the last Delver returned to the portal room under Moon Manor, the portal flickered and then blipped to the cavern that makes Zarek uneasy.  Zarek promptly pulled the power gem from the control cabinet, deactivating the portal.

After catching their breath, the Delvers discussed what to do next.  They decided that there are two things they need to do immediately: recharge more of the power gems and get additional card keys.  They decided to start with recharging the power gems.

Based on the power arcing off the blue sun in the Blue Sun room [where the power gems are recharged], the Delvers decided that anyone going in needed to have magical protection.  Zarek cast his Stoney Skin spell on himself and Vorgand and Clarence [in NPC mode] cast Shield of Faith on them as well.  Vorgand, Zarek, and Ricky entered the airlock doors to the Blue Sun room.  Ricky stayed in the airlock to watch the happenings while Zarek and Vorgand entered the room itself.

The entire room was lit with a strong blue glow from the blue sun hovering over the power machine.  Vorgand approached the machine and placed three of the empty power gems on matching indentions atop it.  Zarek observed the behavior of the device and the blue sun itself.  The gems started glowing brighter and brighter.  Zarek noticed that, as they charged, the blue sun slowly reduced the amount of arcing it was doing.  When the gems started giving off sparks, Vorgand removed them.  They were quite warm to the touch.  Zarek found the whole process fascinating and drifted closer to get a better view.  When Vorgand noticed, she threatened to grab his tail and smack him against a wall if he started tinkering with the device.  Zarek stated he could not deny it was very tempting.  He handed over the last uncharged gem to Vorgand for her to recharge.

Once the gems were recharged and Zarek, Vorgand, and Ricky exited the airlock, the Delvers pursued getting more card keys.  As they got their first one by taking it from one of the cleaning golems on the upper level, Zarek and Ricky went back up using Ricky’s Shadowstep spell.  Jala used her Shadowjumping spell to take one of the sea chests up.  Her spell does not have quite the range of Ricky’s, so she teleported part way up the stair shaft and then teleported the rest of the way to the chapel, nearly giving Orm a heart attack when she appeared with the chest.

Ricky and Zarek when to the small room where the cleaning golems recharge or rest or whatever they do when they are not cleaning.  There are four golems there.  Zarek cast Detect Magic and looked for the card keys.  Three of the golems still had their card keys, but only two still radiated magic.  After a quick debate, they took only one of the magical card keys.  Instead of heading back down immediately, Zarek and Ricky went to the room in the southeast corner.  This room required a card key to get in, so it allowed them to test the card key they had just stolen.  The card key worked.  While they were there, they checked the desk in this room for a concealed lap drawer like the desks on the moon.  They found one!  Inside it was a wand [mostly charged], an amulet [octagonal with eight stacked lines enameled on it], and an armband [with an odd helix pattern], all three of which detected as magical.  Ricky and Zarek quickly made their way to the corner room in the opposite corner of the Underruins.  The desk in that room also had a concealed lap drawer, but it was empty.

Zarek and Ricky reported their findings over the magical earrings.  Vorgand told them to make their way back down to the portal room.  Jala reported that she had stashed the sea chest for later examination and would be back down shortly.  By 3:30 all the Delvers were back down at the portal room.

End of Session

[So, Clarence’s player fell asleep after getting off work and missed the game.  His work is super busy right now and he’s working 12-hour days, so it is understandable.  I’d rather he get the sleep he needs so he is safe driving to and from work.  We faded Clarence into the background, which is our standard response when a player is unable to make a game and their character is present.]

Delvers Guild

Session A, Character Creation Part 1

Session B, Character Creation Part 2

Session 01

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Session 10

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Session 20

Session 21

Session 22

Session 23

Session 24

Session 25

Guild Organizational Outline

Session 26

Session 27

Session 28

Session 29

Session 31