Vul Yourself Together: A Halls of Arden Vul DCC Campaign Log

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 13 Notes

Jan 19, 2022

If you are a member of this campaign, you should not read this.

Player Name	Character	Sessions Survived	XP	Level
Brad	Waldorf	13	519	1
Jake	Pif	13	519	1
Earl	Everet	10	417	1
Bill	Shogun	4	92	1
Mark	Hildi	4	92	1
Bronson	Wicktrimmer	3	92	1
Collin	Bjorn	2	92	1

I was a bit bummed out when I realized there was no lawful character in the group with proficiency in halberds. As a result, I decided to introduce a new house rule for switching alignments. Basically, the player will need to declare the intention to switch alignments, then commit a difficult task or action that is exemplary of the alignment they intend to switch to.

I absolutely love that the group has decided to purchase a Guild Hall (this was originally suggested by Mark several sessions ago, but they just go around to it). This will allow them to have their steward find and interview hirelings while they are away, provide a free place to sleep overnight, as well as equip new members of the guild with better arms and armor.

The group came so close, again, to finding a treasure room. This room contains enough treasure to level up half the group to three, and the rest up to two, but they walked right by it. It was hard for me to keep a straight face when Jake said he wanted to go down the hallway (that they don’t know leads to the treasure), but then Earl said he wanted to head north, and that’s where they went instead!

The decision to lift up the portcullis and head west was very puzzling to me. After the portcullis slammed shut, several of the players said they thought it was a bad idea to be there, but they just kept marching west. It was towards the end of the session, so I think they may have just been tired.

There’s a large group of ghouls through a door to the south of the party now. I rolled to see if they would hear the party fighting the imps, and the dice determined that they did not. The group really got lucky, as they would likely lose such a fight, and their escape would be made very difficult by the closed portcullis. We shall see!

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 14

Jan 25, 2023

Players:

1. Hildi, Level 1 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Mark)
2. Wicktrimmer, Level 1 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (NPC)
3. Pif Feldman, Level 1 Thorcin Cleric of Demma, Lawful Goddess of the Harvest (Jake)
4. Shogun, Level 1 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
5. Waldorf, Level 1 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
6. Everet, Level 1 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
7. Bjorn, Level 1 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (NPC)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: Jake
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad
Others: None

Everet deduced that the magic that shocked him had drained from the ivory coffer and decided to pick it up again. As he did, the lid fell open and two large acorns fell out. They did not appear magical, but they were unnaturally large. He placed them back in the coffer before stowing it in his backpack. The coffer was judged to be worth about 250 gp if sold.

Pif healed some of the wounded but was forced to dedicate some of the proceeds of his planned apothecary business to the poor to stave off his deity’s disapproval. While this was occurring, the rest of the group discussed making the pentagram room a base of operations within the Halls because it was naturally defensible.

Everet experimented with the ring of paving stones and guessed it to be a teleportation circle of some kind, though it seemed to only briefly teleport whoever stepped in the circle back to where they stood. Rearranging the squares seemed to only deactivate the circle.

They decided to leave the glass squares in the square inlays next to the circle and go back east to the anti-magic room. Pif grabbed the ebony coffer with the disturbing carvings and brought it back to the pentagram room, and was able to determine that the anti-magic field was not focused on the coffer, but was localized to the room instead.

Suddenly, hooting and hollering from the east was heard. A group of four baboons started flinging defecation-covered rocks at the group from the other side of the portcullis. The party fired back and eventually drove them off.

From the anti-magic room, the group opened the door to the south and found eight sleeping ghouls who were slowly waking from their slumber. Though the group considered fleeing, they knew the portcullis would make this difficult, so they decided to charge in and hope for the best.

Despite the party’s advantage in surprising the ghouls, the fight was extremely difficult. Everet was paralyzed in the second round while Pif, Bjorn, Wicktrimmer, and Hildi all went down at various points in the fight. However, the clerics were able to roll high when they needed to on their Lay on Hands checks, and no one died. Unfortunately for him, Pif took the lingering injury of post-traumatic stress, incurring a permanent -4 penalty to all future WILL saves. Also, because he incurred her disapproval, his recently-purchased banded mail (250gp) was turned into worthless “grass mail” by his deity, Demma.

After the ghouls were slain, the Fingers were able to find a jade bracelet worth 100gp, a large diamond worth 1,200gp, and 2 magical crossbow bolts with Hot Wheels flames etched onto them. Wicktrimmer listened at the door to the east, and heard the clinking of a hollow, brittle substance against the ground coming from the other side of it. The party decided to open the door anyway, and found six animated skeletons on the other side.

The skeletons were swiftly dispatched and the group found a red potion with sinuous streaks of white, a viscous, deep red potion, five holy symbols of Thoth collectively worth 400gp, and 334 gold coins.

The party next opened the southern door, revealing Jhentris, the ancient Ghoul King, sitting on his throne of bones. Wicktrimmer, deciding that they were in no shape to win this fight, quickly poured his potion of Ward Portal on the door, and rolled a natural 20! This caused the door itself to vanish for 90 days, leaving only the wall in its place. On top of this, after the door reappears, it will remain magically locked for over two years!

Finally, the Fingers ended the session by heading through the northern door from the anti-magic room. It was spiked shut from the inside, so they had to bust it down. Inside, they found two desiccated corpses wearing orange robes worth 100gp each, an unidentified Cleric scroll, and a small emerald worth 150gp.

End time: 2993 AEP, Horasday, the 28th day of Basilembrios, the 10th month, 4:30pm

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 15

Jan 2, 2023

Players:

1. Hildi, Level 1 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Mark)
2. Wicktrimmer, Level 1 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (NPC)
3. Pif Feldman, Level 1 Thorcin Cleric of Demma, Lawful Goddess of the Harvest (Jake)
4. Shogun, Level 1 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
5. Waldorf, Level 1 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
6. Everet, Level 1 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
7. Bjorn, Level 1 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (NPC)
8. Hector, Level 0 Retainer (NPC)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: None
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad
Others: None

The session began with the group heading east to cross back through the portcullis. They went north from the room with the four mirrors and listened at the door and heard nothing. An attempt was made by Shogun to pick the lock, but he was interrupted by a troop of nine albino baboons who came charging from the south. After a brief exchange of feces-covered rocks and the various missiles of the party, a few baboons were felled, causing them to retreat in a noisy panic.

Despite being low on HP and resources (Pif had a disapproval range of 1-7, and Bjorn 1-5), the group decided to press on and explore the two rooms abutting the hallway to the east of the four-mirror room. In the northern room, they discovered a mechanical raven, which they determined to be magically capable of speaking pre-programmed phrases when approached. It was judged to be worth 800gp.

In the room to the south, they found nothing. A few moments later, they heard the sounds of more baboons coming, and this time, the group heard the sounds of a very large, gorilla-sized ape as well as about a dozen of the smaller ones. The group wisely beat a hasty retreat back down the stairs to return to the ancient halls of Thoth.

When they passed the catacombs, they heard the sounds of dozens of walking dead, shuffling or running down the hallways towards them. Leaving the portcullis closed, the Fingers quickly went east, back towards their only known exit.

Passing through the room with the four carved pillars, the group heard the sound of more undead banging against a wooden door. It seemed as if all the undead in the area were rising solely to give chase to the Fingers. Rounding the corner to go north, they heard what sounded like a halfling say “to arms, boys! The dead are risin’!” The party paid no attention to this, and quickly exited up the spiral staircase to reach the vermin-infested basement.

At the top of the staircase, they did not find Heraclion and the mules as they expected. Instead, they saw that part of the wall had caved in, evidently crushing two bedrolls that were packed onto one of the mules in the process. They checked to see if he had gone to stay with Lankios, but they were not in his room. Again, the party heard the sounds of numerous undead on the other side of various walls, apparently trying to break through to reach them.

Reaching the exit of the basement to the surface, the party was relieved to see Heraclion and the mules standing there waiting. After the cave-in at the spiral staircase, the trio had retreated to this location and, miraculously, did not encounter any creatures on the surface during the six hours (!) they spent there.

The group rested with the kobolds, who mentioned again that their numbers had been reduced by the “bad cavemen.” The party vowed to avenge them (again) on their return. On the way back to Gosterwick the next day, the Fingers encountered four baboons jumping and hollering over a bloody corpse. After the party quickly drove them off, they deduced that it belonged to a merchant whose mercenaries had run off, owing to the various discarded weapons littering the area. They took 100gp off his corpse and went on their way.

Back in town, the proceeds of the last expedition were totaled up: 6,847.5gp worth of items was found and returned to town by the party! This meant that everyone gained 913xp, which was enough to take everyone to level 2!

Some of the items were identified, revealing a ring of Cleric spell storing, a scroll of Divine Symbol, a potion of Strength III, a potion of Healing III, two crossbow bolts of exploding, and a carved ebony coffer the Arcane Practitioner’s Club said was the legendary “Coffer of Zox.” The Coffer was said to have the ability to transport users to a “realm of chaotic energy and darkness,” as well as capture and store certain corporeal undead creatures, with the additional ability to release those undead as allies of the user. These incredible abilities did not come without cost, however: the user has a chance to become corrupted by chaos when the item is activated, and the Coffer continually attracts all corporeal undead within 150’, who become compelled to find and seize the Coffer at all costs. Before the session ended, there was much debate as to whether to ever take it back to the dungeon. We will see…

End time: 2993 AEP, Basilsday, the 30th day of Basilembrios, the 10th month, 7:00am

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 16

Feb 8, 2023

Players:

1. Hildi, Level 1 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Mark)
2. Wicktrimmer, Level 1 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (NPC)
3. Pif Feldman, Level 1 Thorcin Cleric of Demma, Lawful Goddess of the Harvest (Jake)
4. Shogun, Level 1 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
5. Waldorf, Level 1 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
6. Everet, Level 1 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
7. Bjorn, Level 1 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (NPC)
8. Hector, Level 0 Retainer (NPC)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: Jake
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad
Others: None

In town, Waldorf studied the Mithric language, Everet recovered from his wounds, Wicktrimmer, Shogun, and Hildi gathered rumors, and Bjorn and Pif prayed to their deities. Bjorn also spent some time convincing drunks at the tavern to try out whatever new mushroom strains the party brought back from the Halls, essentially pitching it as free narcotics. Unsurprisingly, a few of the drunks expressed interest.

The group purchased supplies, including rations, torches, new armor for Pif, and several items that could be used to fashion traps. They also bought padded and leather armor for the kobolds, as well as more slings and sling stones. The group noted that Heraclion and the mules narrowly escaped capture or death during the last expedition, so Bjorn hired a mercenary company with the procedurally-generated name of The Banner of the Shining Whistle. The company included two light infantry, two medium infantry, and four bowmen. They would be tasked with guarding the party’s base camp with Heraclion and the mules.

On the frigid morning of the 7th day of Dikaios, the party set out on their next expedition to the Halls. On their way, they encountered a patrol of Ovis (sheep-headed humanoids), and attempted to speak with them. Upon seeing the large group (about 16 strong now), the servants of Dieno quickly ran away. The group did not pursue them.

Upon reaching the base of the falls, the party went west to meet up with the kobolds at their ruined tower base. Grimblegrom, leader of the kobolds, suggested a joint operation against the “bad cavemen” cave near the Long Stair. The Fingers agreed, and distributed new weapons and armor to the kobolds. 10 kobolds including Grimblegrom traveled with the party to the cave.

About 200’ from the cave, a patrol of six men with unkempt long hair, hide armor, and stone axes spotted the advancing force now totaling 26 armed individuals. They let out a battle cry, and the largest pitched battle of the campaign began. The first hill folk patrol was cut in half by the bows of the mercenary archers, the slings of the kobolds, and the assorted ranged weapons of the party. The rest of the patrol fled, but behind them ran two more waves of cavemen charging out of the cave, a force of 15 warriors in total.

Most of the second wave was cut down by ranged fire, but the final wave, led by a battle-crazed chieftain, crashed into the front line of the Six-Finger Discount and their allies. In the chaos, two of the mercenaries were hacked to pieces by the stone clubs of the hill folk. Waldorf wove through the battle, targeting critically weak cavemen, and stabbing them with Historia. Historia, a Lawful magic short sword with the goal of punishing murderers, reveled in the battle, and seemed to be fulfilling its purpose, as the cavemen had murdered several of the kobolds over the past few weeks. Wicktrimmer attempted to sneak behind the enemy chieftain for a backstab but was detected and clubbed to the ground by the sharp-eyed barbarian chief after he missed with his dagger attack. The daring goblin was healed by the clerics, but suffered the lingering injury of a concussion, resulting in a permanent -4 to REF saves in the future.

After the battle finally finished, the motley coalition of mercenaries, kobolds, and adventurers stood victorious, having only lost one light and one heavy mercenary infantry in the melee. 18 hill folk warrior bodies littered the ground, with the remaining three having fled into the woods. Their lair, and its treasures, was laid open before the party…

End time: 2993 AEP, Lunday, the 8th day of Dikaios, the 11th month, 2:10pm

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)

 

[Haiku Elvis]

Bah a cliffhanger!

Thanks for the updates I'm enjoying them.

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 17

Feb 22, 2023

Players:

1. Pif Feldman, Level 2 Thorcin Cleric of Demma, Lawful Goddess of the Harvest (Jake)
   1. Bjorn, Level 2 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (Controlled by Jake)
2. Shogun, Level 2 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
   1. Hildi, Level 2 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Mark is in India or something so Bill is controlling her for now)
3. Waldorf, Level 2 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
4. Everet, Level 2 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
   1. Wicktrimmer, Level 2 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (Controlled by Earl)
5. Hector, Level 1 Wizard (Retainer)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: Jake
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad

Searching the cave, the group found eight rolls of red silk in what looked to be a merchant’s cart that had been half hacked to bits for firewood. The total value of the silk was 3,200gp, and it was dyed the exact shade of red that the party saw the Set Cultists wear. They also found a +2 hand axe head (+3 vs. demons) that was being used by the hillfolk in food preparation, and a soapstone statuette of a squatting salamander-man with a malign look that the tribe appeared to worship.

The kobolds agreed to let the Fingers have the stuff in the cave if they got to keep the cave itself, and the party quickly agreed. In the back of the cave, Shogun found several dried lizardfolk heads impaled on stakes. Just as he did so, a group of six lizardfolk emerged from the east, outside of the cave.

The group spoke with their leader, who identified himself as Trusk. He thanked the group for dispatching one of his people’s enemies, and promised that lizardfolk patrols would not attack the group or their kobold allies in the area. Trusk also told the group of a place called the Forum of Set. This forum is run by the Set cult, but welcomes all who abide by the rules to come and participate in trade and commerce. The lizardfolk leader also pointed the way for the group to reach the Forum, which was to climb about 20’ up the cliff face on the west bank of the river, and then move an additional 40’ up a small ledge in the side of the cliff to reach a hidden cave entrance. When pressed, Trusk refused to reveal the location of the lizardfolk clan’s home, saying that it was “too dangerous” to allow that information to become public knowledge.

After the meeting, the Fingers decided to return to Gosterwick. On the way back, 6 goblins were encountered, but they quickly fled as the group still had their mercenaries with them. After reaching the city, the group each gained 427xp for the silk. Pif and Waldorf both became very close to level 3.

Waldorf studied his Mithric, while the others either rested or searched for rumors. The hand axe head was affixed to a pommel and given to Waldorf. The party took the soapstone idol to Astableon the Bookseller, who revealed that it was a depiction of the demon-prince Kauket, as well as the following from some of his yellowed texts:

“The lord of the 497th lair of the abyss, Kauket, resembles an unholy fusion of a salamander and an elephant. The sorcerers of Marius Tricotor’s era claimed that the Heqeti were attempting to summon Kauket to this plane. They further claim that Arden Vul, with its source of arcanum, was a magnet for magically adept races. Most sages claim that this is what drew the salamander-folk “Heqeti” from their subterranean lairs. Others claim that their demon-prince, Kauket, drove them to do so.”

The party decided that the kobolds new cave base at the foot of the falls would need to be reinforced if they were to survive long, and so they hired a foreman to supervise construction of a 150’-long wooden palisade wall (200gp) and a 2-story wooden tower (500gp) outside of the cave. A mule-drawn cart, climbing gear, an iron chest with a steel anchor, 30 rations, and mining tools for the kobolds were also purchased.

Before leaving, the group tracked down Godric the dye merchant from before, and told him they would provide seed capital at zero interest if he could lead them to the Forum of Set in the future. Godric agreed, but said he could only do it after he completed a six-day roundtrip delivery to Newmarket.

On the morning of the 12th, the party paid the mercenaries for the previous expedition and decided to keep them on for the present one. They encountered no random encounters on the way back to Arden Vul. When they reached the cave, Grimblegrom introduced them to his 20 cousins (including 10 combatants) who had heard about the new space and decided to move in.

End time: 2993 AEP, Horasday, the 12th day of Dikaios, the 11th month, 11:00am

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)

 

[S'mon]

Your hame looks really hardcore. Running Arden Vul in 5e D&D, I thought it looked too brutal to start at 1st, so I began my groups at 3rd. Still killed a couple Paladin PCs pretty fast! I'm guessing your players must be pretty skilled to have only lost a couple PCs after 17 sessions at 1st level.

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Your hame looks really hardcore. Running Arden Vul in 5e D&D, I thought it looked too brutal to start at 1st, so I began my groups at 3rd. Still killed a couple Paladin PCs pretty fast! I'm guessing your players must be pretty skilled to have only lost a couple PCs after 17 sessions at 1st level.

Ha! I think they'd be pretty pleased to hear you say that. They're definitely pretty experienced and have played 2-3 years worth of high-lethality games with me before. They are also extremely cautious - they ask me a lot of questions and tend to stay away from areas that contain hints of risk or high danger. As a consequence, they've probably gained experience at a slower rate than risk-taking parties, but that's a very classic tradeoff.

I also think they've made good use of their money as they've hired mercs and have equipped a small kobold army to help them travel to and from the Halls and have a safe place to rest nearby.

Still, though there have only been a few deaths, three PC's have taken one lingering injury, and poor Everet has three. If we were playing B/X, with death at 0, those four would all be dead.

Also, after a slightly rocky start, they've basically stumbled into what is probably the most level-appropriate area. Looking forward, they're probably not going to be able to access the Baboon Caves again through the route they took in the past, as Gerrilad (the leader of the Baboons) has had plenty of time to reinforce and fortify that stairway after the last two incursions. As a result, they're going to be forced to explore different areas that may or may not be more dangerous than what they've been exploring over the past few expeditions.

 

[S'mon]

Ha! I think they'd be pretty pleased to hear you say that. They're definitely pretty experienced and have played 2-3 years worth of high-lethality games with me before. They are also extremely cautious - they ask me a lot of questions and tend to stay away from areas that contain hints of risk or high danger. As a consequence, they've probably gained experience at a slower rate than risk-taking parties, but that's a very classic tradeoff.

One of my players lost her Paladin in session 1 when she charged a Beastman patrol in the above ground ruins - I was using 5e Gnoll stats, so a bit of a power boost (I think the 1e Beastmen are 1+1 hd, more like hobgoblins), but level 3 PCs. After that she got more tactical. When the same group was exploring the Halls of Thoth and was attacked by a guardian air elemental (I think it was) she called for an immediate retreat, but one guy insisted on staying behind to melee it and got smushed. I have seen some good tactical play though, in the above ground ruins' gladiator school the group got ambushed by a pack of giant cave lizards that were way above their pay grade - I used a Kobold Press giant lizard stat block to reflect how nasty the 1e stats looked - and they used overwatch tactics & some concealment magic ('Pass Without Trace') to effect a successful retreat without losses, a hard trick to pull off.

Campaign page https://www.blogger.com/blogin.g?bl...22/08/arden-vul-and-gosterwick.html&type=blog

It took that group a long time to enter the dungeon. They initially had the erroneous assumption that the above ground ruins would be safer than the upper dungeon levels. The giant lizard pack seemed to cure them of that.

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

One of my players lost her Paladin in session 1 when she charged a Beastman patrol in the above ground ruins - I was using 5e Gnoll stats, so a bit of a power boost (I think the 1e Beastmen are 1+1 hd, more like hobgoblins), but level 3 PCs. After that she got more tactical. When the same group was exploring the Halls of Thoth and was attacked by a guardian air elemental (I think it was) she called for an immediate retreat, but one guy insisted on staying behind to melee it and got smushed. I have seen some good tactical play though, in the above ground ruins' gladiator school the group got ambushed by a pack of giant cave lizards that were way above their pay grade - I used a Kobold Press giant lizard stat block to reflect how nasty the 1e stats looked - and they used overwatch tactics & some concealment magic ('Pass Without Trace') to effect a successful retreat without losses, a hard trick to pull off.

Campaign page https://www.blogger.com/blogin.g?bl...22/08/arden-vul-and-gosterwick.html&type=blog

It took that group a long time to enter the dungeon. They initially had the erroneous assumption that the above ground ruins would be safer than the upper dungeon levels. The giant lizard pack seemed to cure them of that.

Nice. I'll definitely give that a read.

Also, I wanted to hop on having just finished Session 18. Ironically, right after I finished saying the party was so cautious and stuff, we had a death this session! I should have the summary written up soon.

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 18

Mar 1, 2023

Players:

1. Pif Feldman, Level 2 Thorcin Cleric of Demma, Lawful Goddess of the Harvest (Jake)
   1. Bjorn, Level 2 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (Controlled by Jake)
2. Shogun, Level 2 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
   1. Hildi, Level 2 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Mark is in India or something so Bill is controlling her for now)
3. Waldorf, Level 2 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
4. Everet, Level 2 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
   1. Wicktrimmer, Level 2 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (Controlled by Earl)
5. Hector, Level 1 Wizard (Retainer)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: Jake
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad

On their way up the Long Stair, the group met the Society of the Beehive carrying a large amount of treasure back to town again. The players briefly debated attempting to take them down, but they decided against it. They came up with a general goal of attempting to bring all of the other adventuring parties in Gosterwick over to their side in the future by paying them better and organizing everyone into one large adventuring company, but one that was controlled by the PC’s, of course.

At the top of the Stair, the party met some Lizardfolk, who simply let them pass when they mentioned Krusk’s name. After this, they went straight for the four-storey tower they had originally explored on Session 1. Entering through the secret door on the ground floor, the Fingers carefully explored each level, but found nothing new. At the third floor, they saw the wall abruptly end in two places, with only a sheet of impenetrable darkness in its place. Shogun blew some feathers into the darkness only to see them disappear as soon as they hit the black wall. At this point, the party decided to turn around and try to reach the top floor from the outside with a grappling hook.

Shogun managed to affix the hook after a few attempts, and swiftly climbed up to the top. Peering into the room, he saw three recently-deceased bodies and a large, ornate statue of an ibis head with two large silver disks for eyes. The giant head appeared to be able to rotate on a central pole and gaze, so to speak, out the windows. Shogun carefully looted the bodies, but left the ibis head intact. On the bodies, he found a set of shimmering leather armor, a bandolier with seven throwing daggers, a club, a small gold head depicting a barbarian, an unidentified cleric scroll, two sets of banded mail, and a note written in Mithric.

Hector cast comprehend languages on the note, and was able to read the Mithric. It said:

In answer to the pious inquiry of Kel Bormol, Overseer of Thoth, Uriel Basileon, most humble archon, offers this reply. Your assistant, the Second Overseer, has not dared show himself since of his cowardly retreat before the Sortian onslaught. He cowers within the Tower of Scrutiny, refusing entry to all. Should conditions improve, and should the Sortian dragons depart, I shall smoke him out of his lair, and deliver him to you for punishment. I should warn you, furthermore, that my agents have noticed a messenger from Hithra Paleologos obtaining entrance to the Tower of Scrutiny. I know not what this portends, but it cannot be good. Be warned.

The group wasn’t sure what to make of most of the note, but reasoned that the “Tower of Scrutiny” referred to the tower they took the note from. They also inferred that Arden Vul was likely destroyed by dragons, as this would line up with the ancient scorch marks in various parts of the ruins above ground.

Though some in the group were a little leery of continuing to explore the tower, a few others, including Pif's player, Jake, wanted to open the trap door on the ground floor to see what was down there. Shogun returned to the ground with the others, and they entered the room with the trap door. Pif opened it, revealing a small storage closet choked with dust containing a door leading out to the north west. A noxious stench of death rose from the room below. He affixed his Elven rope and carefully climbed down it, though it was difficult as he only had one good arm. Wicktrimmer then accompanied him, carrying the lantern with him.

Opening the door, the pair saw a truly grisly sight: dozens of skeletons were strewn about on the floor before them. They also saw thousands of coins of various kinds, including large amounts of platinum and gold. Pif slowly took a few steps into the chamber, and suddenly he heard the thunderous sound of something very heavy stomping towards him. Before he could turn to see it, a hideous Greater Wraith flew through the wall in front of him and grabbed him, draining him of 8 maximum hit points, taking him down to 2 total. Pif and Wicktrimmer immediately attempted to flee, noticing over their shoulders a large stone golem also emerging from the darkness. Wicktrimmer was able to quickly toss up the lamp and climb the rope, but Pif struggled with his lame arm. Reaching the top, he managed to close the trap door behind him, but it was unable to stop the incorporeal wraith from flying through it to attack. The wraith grabbed the pious Cleric’s throat, and drained the last bits of life out of him. As they ran, the rest of the group saw their companion shrivel and die before he could even let out a final scream.

The wraith did not pursue the group outside of the tower, and the rest of the group continued to flee until they felt they were a safe distance away. Jake continued playing as Bjorn the neutral Cleric.

The Fingers then approached the large pyramid, as they heard there was an entrance to the Halls through it. As they climbed the steps, they saw various depictions of Thoth and human worshipers engraved on them. Reaching the top, they saw a statue of an ibis-headed Thoth peering down at them from a tall altar, as well as several screaming baboon statues, but no apparent entrance into the pyramid. The statue’s arms seemed to rotate on pinions manually, and, putting two and two together, Everet remembered that one of the depictions on the stairs showed Thoth with his arms outstretched parallel to the ground. He manipulated the arms of the statue to mimic that pose, and part of the roof of the pyramid slid away to reveal stairs leading downwards into darkness.

The group descended 350 feet down the ancient stairs before reaching an entrance to a large chamber that contained another statue of the ibis-headed god of knowledge. Before they could get a chance to examine it in detail, however, they heard someone yell out from a hallway leading east from the chamber, and a group of seven heavily-armed halflings entered the room. The leader identified himself as Roskelly Winterleaf, and said he was put in charge of guarding this room by Phlebotomas Plumbthorn, an infamous gang leader. He told the Fingers that they would have to pay about 100gp for an adventuring license for the group, and agree to surrender 10% of whatever they hauled out of this region, including an accounting of the worth of any magic items they found.

The group balked at the nerve of Roskelly to make such demands, but also realized they didn’t even have 100gp on them at that moment. Shogun stepped forward and offered to give the halfling gang a map of a “secret” entrance they found to the Halls in exchange for a waiver of the initial fee. Roskelly agreed, and Shogun promptly drew him a map leading to the wraith/golem basement where Pif died, though he left those “minor details” out, of course. After the session ended, a few of the players immediately started scheming other ways to screw the despised halflings over…

End Time: 2993-11-12, 1:20pm

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)
Pif, level 2 Cleric, drained of life by a Greater Wraith (Session 18)

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 19

Mar 22, 2023

Players:

1. Bjorn, Level 2 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (Controlled by Jake)
   1. Cedric, Level 1 Cleric of Thrufor, Chaotic God of Trade (Jake)
2. Shogun, Level 2 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
   1. Hildi, Level 2 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Mark is in India or something so Bill is controlling her for now)
3. Waldorf, Level 2 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
4. Everet, Level 2 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
   1. Wicktrimmer, Level 2 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (Controlled by Earl)
5. Hector, Level 1 Wizard (Retainer)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: Jake
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad

After Shogun handed over the map to Roskelly, a new character who was looking for the Six-Finger Discount adventuring party came down the stairs from the pyramid: Cedric, a level 1 Cleric of Thrufor, the Chaotic Thorcin God of Travel and Trade. He joined the group and there was much rejoicing.

Next, the party went north and discovered that they had already been to this level of the dungeon before. The four-way intersection they found themselves in connected to the hallway south of the spiral staircase to the vermin-infested basement, as well as west to the catacombs and the stairs to the albino baboon level. Before they were able to investigate the eastern passage, they heard footsteps and saw light coming from the north.

From around the corner the Fingers spotted what looked like another adventuring party of six individuals, the human leader of which identified himself as “Dalton of Dalton’s Darlings.” The ensuing conversation was amicable, and led to an exchange of information. Dalton informed the group of albino baboon sightings in a tower on the eastern part of the ruined wall on the surface, as well as the power of Phlebotomas Plumbthorn’s “Mortality” poison, only one drop of which is needed to enter the most hale and hearty man’s bloodstream to kill him in a minute or less. In exchange, Evert informed Dalton of what the party had explored to the south and west.

Dalton and his darlings kept watch over the party’s rear while they checked the eastern door. It opened into another passage that terminated in another locked bronze door with a very large keyhole like they had seen before. Wanting to avoid the halflings, Dalton and his crew left to explore the north further, while the Fingers decided to head south back into the main chamber where they met Roskelly.

The halflings watched as the group approached the south western door. On the other side, they found a passage that went south, then west, ending at a closed wooden door reinforced with iron. As the party got closer, they noticed a taught metal wire extending from the door to a crack in the floor. The party figured out a way to use a rope knot and some other items to detach the wire from the door while still keeping it taught. This allowed them to open the door without triggering what they believed to be a trap. However, the door was a false one, opening to reveal only a stone brick wall. In keeping with their smear campaign against the Society of the Beehive rival adventuring party, Everet wrote “You’ve been got by the Bees” on the brick wall.

The group returned to the main chamber and went down the southern passage. Taking the eastern fork, the group searched a rubbish-filled room and found a glass square which looked like the ones they found before next to the stone-ring teleport circle on the baboon level. Unlike the other glass squares, they decided to take this one with them.

Stepping into the next room, they found it to be filled with a gray-green mist that rose three feet off the ground. After checking to ensure it was not flammable, the party noticed no ill-effect from breathing it in. This room was shaped like a trapezoid, and contained some stone pews and an obelisk protruding from a recess in the floor. They also spotted an inscription written in Mithric on the wall above the obelisk. Waldorf couldn’t make any sense of it, and Hector’s Comprehend Languages spell failed, so the group decided to leave.

In the next room, also filled with the gray-green mist, they saw a circular stone basin filled with a vile brown sludge. The mist seemed to emanate from the basin, and the group decided to leave it alone for now.

On their way to the next room, a magically-animated mouth appeared and said “The followers of the ibis are dead and gone; their power is faded and their secrets lost. Neither power nor knowledge is to be shared. Beware!” Walking a little further down the hallway revealed another magical mouth, which babbled something in a language that the rest of the group did not recognize.

From here, the group traveled south down a hallway and opened a door to a room that contained a shoddy barricade made from smashed furniture and other debris. The group took their time and carefully cleared a passage through it, making sure not to cut themselves on the numerous rusted weapons within the barricade.

Heading east from the room, the party found another chamber filled with refuse. It contained six stone columns. After taking some time to search, the group found something written on the base of one of the columns: “I found him! Ptoh-Ristus rests some 130’ east and 80’ north. Be wary!”

Moving cautiously, the group entered the next chamber, which was filled with the bloody bodies of two halflings, four Canaii Children of Dieno, and a human wearing tattered robes. As the group began to search the bodies, six pale, flying octopus-like beings with sharp beaks descended from the darkened ceiling, lashing out with their tentacles from above.

Within seconds both Shogun and Hector were struck down by the flying cephalopods. Though the vile creatures were eventually slain in melee, the clerics’ Lay on Hands failed to heal Hector. Shogun was healed but sustained a lingering internal injury, resulting in a -4 to all future FORT saving throws.

On the bodies, the party found a fish-shaped metal rod that looked like it fit into some kind of mechanism, a luscious red potion, a billowy white potion with flecks of gold, 68 gold pieces and 20 silver pieces. In a trashed room to the southeast, they also found a scroll containing an unidentified wizard spell. The group returned to the bloody pillar room to head down the northeast passage, the darkness stretching out before them…

End Time: 2993-11-12, 4:10pm

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)
Pif, level 2 Cleric, drained of life by a Greater Wraith (Session 18)
Hector, level 1 Wizard, eyes pecked out by a Small Chasm Cephalopod (Session 19)

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 20

Apr 5, 2023

Players:

1. Bjorn, Level 2 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (Controlled by Jake)
   1. Cedric, Level 1 Cleric of Thrufor, Chaotic God of Trade (Jake)
2. Shogun, Level 2 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
   1. Hildi, Level 2 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Bill)
3. Waldorf, Level 2 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
4. Everet, Level 2 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
   1. Wicktrimmer, Level 2 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (Earl)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: Jake
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad


In the next room, the group saw a low dais and a 4’-tall alabaster book stand, on which were found some scraps of parchment. The walls featured a midnight blue paint with hundreds of small flecks of silver. They also saw two doors to the north, and a hallway stretching east.

Heading east first, the party saw a large stone chair with an unfamiliar glyph carved on the seat. Everet was about to sit down, but before he did, the glyph sparked and flickered with a strange light, and he thought better of it. Past the chair, the group saw an incredible sight: a vast chasm falling into unknown depths. The players lit an arrow on fire and shot it across the chasm, revealing it to be about 30’ across. On the other side of the chasm, the arrow fell upon the ground and illuminated another room. In the room, they saw a giant-sized version of the stone chair in their current room.

They returned to the previous room and opened the northwestern door to reveal a narrow hallway packed with about a dozen visible bodies. As some of the bodies seemed to have valuables on them, Cendric used his Elven rope to lasso all those in reach after about an hour or so. On the bodies, the group found a glowing incandescent blue stone, a shimmering longsword and shield, six wizard scrolls, a gold ring (75gp), 147pp, 710gp, 364sp, and 261cp.

Turning around from the dead-body hallway, they tried the other door to the northeast. Behind it stretched another long hallway, but at least this one was clear of any bodies. The party marched forward, noticing strange grooves in the floor. They decided to step over the cracks while heading north down the hallway, and found a door at the end which Everet opened after some debate. When he opened the door, he discovered it was actually a false one, and the grooves were revealed to be the edges of pit traps, causing Waldorf and Bjorn to burn 6 and 4 luck, respectively, to keep Bjorn from falling into one.

After that close call, the group decided to return to town. They rested with the Kobolds and encountered no major resistance on the way back. In town, they identified the following items: wizard scrolls of Haste, Paralysis, Turn to Stone, Polymorph, Wizard Sense, and Mind Purge, a longsword +1, a shield +2, an Ioun Stone (+1 to PER), a potion of Blessing III, a potion of Healing II, a non-magical Fish-shaped metal rod, and leather armor +1. They had collected 2,247gp worth of treasure, causing Waldorf and Everet to reach level three. A new wizard named Valerian was taken on as a retainer.

End time: 2993-11-16, 7:00am (after three days of rest in town)

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)
Pif, level 2 Cleric, drained of life by a Greater Wraith (Session 18)
Hector, level 1 Wizard, eyes pecked out by a Small Chasm Cephalopod (Session 19)

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 21

Apr 26, 2023

Players:

1. Waldorf, Level 3 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
2. Everet, Level 3 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
   1. Wicktrimmer, Level 2 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (Earl)
3. Bjorn, Level 2 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (Controlled by Jake)
   1. Cedric, Level 1 Cleric of Thrufor, Chaotic God of Trade (Jake)
4. Shogun, Level 2 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
   1. Hildi, Level 2 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Bill)
5. Valerian, Level 1 Archontean Wizard, Lawful (retainer)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: Jake
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad

The party paid the mercenaries for the last expedition and agreed to hire them on for the next one. The journey to Arden Vul was uneventful and the group soon reached the top of the Long Stair. After a lengthy debate, the party decided to enter the halls through the vermin-infested cellar, as they have been doing recently. Worried that the Halflings would attack them for reneging on their deal to provide 10% of whatever they looted in the previous expedition, the group proceeded cautiously. They saw a flickering of torchlight in the intersection to the north of the room where the halflings had been encountered before. The group reasoned that the gang may have set up a forward post there, and decided to turn around instead of picking a fight.

Reaching the surface, they next decided to investigate an island in the middle of the river to the west of the Great Pyramid. Crossing a bridge, four ancient, towering stone golems animated and moved aggressively towards the group. The party responded by promptly running away. Crossing back over the bridge, they decided to investigate a ruined tower with a commanding view of the area built into the northern city wall. As it turned out, the tower was occupied at the time by none other than the Society of the Beehive, the much-despised rival adventuring party.

The group negotiated with them, and agreed to tell them of the “new entrance” to the dungeon through the cellar of the Tower of Scrutiny. In exchange, the Bees allowed the party to climb the tower and get a view of the surrounding area. From this view, they were able to see a ruined structure to the north of the wall. They went to investigate, casting wary glances over their shoulders at the Bees, and found several ancient documents that looked to be blueprints of some kind in the rubble.

Next, the group dug out some rubble to the southeast of the tower and found a cellar containing three broken statues worth 1425gp in total if repaired. They also found the marble right leg of the colossal statue to the south. Cedric and Everet agreed to stay behind while the rest of the group went to fetch the mules. After the mules got back, the group decided to load them up with the statue pieces and rest before continuing to explore the ruins.


End time: 2993-11-18, 2:10pm

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)
Pif, level 2 Cleric, drained of life by a Greater Wraith (Session 18)
Hector, level 1 Wizard, eyes pecked out by a Small Chasm Cephalopod (Session 19)

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 22

May 4, 2023

Players:

1. Waldorf, Level 3 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
2. Everet, Level 3 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
   1. Wicktrimmer, Level 2 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (Earl)
3. Bjorn, Level 2 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (Controlled by Jake)
   1. Cedric, Level 1 Cleric of Thrufor, Chaotic God of Trade (Jake)
4. Shogun, Level 2 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
   1. Hildi, Level 2 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Bill)
5. Valerian, Level 1 Archontean Wizard, Lawful (retainer)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: Jake
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad

Heading east, the party searched some more rubble and discovered tracks leading towards a loose mound of stones. Removing the stones revealed stairs going down into a large storage room. In the room, they found several boxes of recent make labeled with the seal of a consortium of liquor merchants from Narsileon as well as the decaying bodies of eight humans lying on the ground. When the group approached the bodies, they began to moan and slowly stand up before attacking the party. The zombies were swiftly put down, allowing the group to continue their search.

Nothing was found in the crates, though it looked like they had been used to store things recently. Heading through a door to the west, the group found a chamber supported by large marble pillars that contained a ruined staircase to the north, a plaster heraldry sculpture on the wall to the west, and eight more bodies to the south. The bodies were cautiously investigated, and it was determined that they were just normal corpses, not zombies. A coil of elven rope was found amidst the debris by Everet.

Hildi recognized that the heraldry belonged to an ancient society of egalitarian knowledge-seekers called the Sortians. This group started a civil war over 1,000 years ago which tore the empire apart and ultimately led to the destruction of Arden Vul. The group could find nothing else, and it was getting late, so they decided to barricade the door with some elven rope by tying it between a marble pillar and the door handle.

Shortly after they started resting, the group heard footsteps coming from the east. The door was blocking sight, but they were able to clearly overhear members of the Society of the Beehive chatter amongst themselves as they searched the room the Fingers had just been in. A Beehive member then tried to bust the door down, but failed, and they left. The party just silently let them go.

The night passed uneventfully until the morning, when loud scratching was heard on the door. It turned out to be four ghouls who, after a few minutes of effort, were able to claw open a hole in the door. Waldorf stabbed Historia through the hole, killing one of the ghouls and sending the rest fleeing.

Leaving the room, the group went east and investigated a ruined tower, finding nothing. Continuing past the walls, they came across a large ruined structure that looked to perhaps once be the villa of a wealthy noble. A cellar was found in the rubble, and the group smelled a rank animal stench coming from within. Shogun deployed a bear trap at the entrance, and Wicktrimmer baited it with some smelly undergarments. After a short time waiting, an “Exceptionally Large Giant Wolverine” (that is the real name for this creature) charged out and was caught in the trap. The rest of the group surrounded it and quickly put it out of its misery. Entering the cellar, the group saw a row of several old wine casks along the wall. The casks seemed uninteresting to all but Shogun, who was able to notice that one of the casks was actually an illusion blocking a wall with a circle of orange glowing glyphs. Among the debris on the floor, one wizard scroll, one cleric scroll, a bright red and blue potion, a billowy orange potion, and a purse containing 254gp was found. WIth this treasure acquired, the group had enough for Wicktrimmer, Bjorn, Shogun, and Hildi to all reach level 3 if they could make it back to town.

The glyphs were identified by Valerian (the new wizard retainer) to correspond to letters spelling out “ORCUSAIDSPAIRS”. Wicktrimmer studied the glyphs and pressed a few of them in order: “RRAAII”. As each glyph was pressed, it faded from orange to a dim gray, but nothing else appeared to happen. Frustrated, the goblin ran his hands over the circle in a clockwise motion, causing all of the other glyphs to turn gray. Shortly after this, they began to flash red for a few moments before resetting to orange.

From behind them, the party heard footsteps of something large and imposing, but they saw nothing, save for footprints being made in the dirt rushing quickly towards them…

End time: 2993-11-19, 8:00am

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)
Pif, level 2 Cleric, drained of life by a Greater Wraith (Session 18)
Hector, level 1 Wizard, eyes pecked out by a Small Chasm Cephalopod (Session 19)

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Note: Jake had a kid recently, and work and other responsibilities have been piling up for all of us, so we've fallen back to a roughly twice a month schedule, even though we try to play every week if we can. I always manage to get session notes written up after each session, and I'll continue to try to post those here when I have time. Hope folks are enjoying!

 

[Haiku Elvis]

Definitely enjoying it though I notice You've left us with a bloody cliffhanger!

One thing though- you know the rival group the Society of the Beehive.

I'm guessing they have a spokesperson to do negotiations, who could perhaps be referred to as the Voice of the Beehive...

If they cross paths again you couldn't find a way to make them work the phrase "Don't call me baby" into the mix at all, could you?

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Definitely enjoying it though I notice You've left us with a bloody cliffhanger!

One thing though- you know the rival group the Society of the Beehive.

I'm guessing they have a spokesperson to do negotiations, who could perhaps be referred to as the Voice of the Beehive...

If they cross paths again you couldn't find a way to make them work the phrase "Don't call me baby" into the mix at all, could you?

Haha, and why would I do that??

 

[JG_WENTWORTH]

Session 23

May 17, 2023

Players:

1. Waldorf, Level 3 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
2. Everet, Level 3 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)
   1. Wicktrimmer, Level 3 Imperial Goblin, Lawful (Earl)
3. Bjorn, Level 3 Cleric of Gna, Neutral God of Travel (Controlled by Jake)
   1. Cedric, Level 1 Cleric of Thrufor, Chaotic God of Trade (Jake)
4. Shogun, Level 3 Wiskin Thief, Lawful (Bill)
   1. Hildi, Level 3 Wiskin Warrior, Neutral (Bill)
5. Valerian, Level 1 Archontean Wizard, Lawful (retainer)

Caller: Earl
Mapper: Jake
Treasurer: Bill
Tactician: Brad

Acting fast, the group was able to flee from the invisible creature, and beat a hasty retreat back up the stairs to the surface. Taking stock of their loot, the group decided to return to town. On the way back, the party met a shady-acting merchant and his six heavily-armed guards. He introduced himself as Samdurag and asked general questions about the dangers of the Halls and what the Fingers had encountered so far. Only vague generalities were exchanged, and the merchant was soon on his way.

Upon reaching town, the Fingers banked 2,283gp worth of items. When the xp gain from gold was combined with the 2,000xp gain from the blueprints they found in the northern ruins of Arden Vul, each PC gained 571xp, which was enough for Bjorn, Wicktrimmer, Hildi, and Shogun all to reach level 3!

Shortly after their return to Gosterwick on the 20th, the group took the heraldry to Astableon the scholarly book merchant, who revealed that the heraldry was modified to have a knot that is used by a group who call themselves Priscians. The Priscians are a society of magic-users who highly value knowledge and see themselves as the heirs of the ancient Sortian society. After the group told him where they found the heraldry, Astableon did some research on the property records of the area. He was able to determine that the building where the group encountered the glowing glyphs and the invisible creature was owned for over 700 years by a succession of women whose names always began with the letter “i”: Ianthe, Isabella, Iola, Irene, Isolde, and finally, Isadora.

Astableon was also able to identify the blueprints for the party. The ancient blueprints, thought to be 1,000 to 2,000 years old, described how to construct eight different structures that were said to have wondrous magical powers. Six of them promised to increase various physical and mental abilities of individuals, one claimed to be able to heal even the most debilitating of injuries, while another was said to be able to replicate any potion placed within it. The group decided to hire Astableon at 250gp/month to procure the necessary materials to build what the blueprints called the “Varuda Chamber” in hopes of curing some of the party’s lingering injuries.

The party spent four days recovering and gathering rumors in town. They were able to learn that the Children of Dieno was a faction made up of multiple types of beastfolk all aligned under a witch named Dieno. It was said that this faction has a desperate need for a rare type of subterranean mushroom called “cloud caps,” which can be identified by their mottled blue-and-white caps. The party also learned that the Halflings in the gang of Phlebotomus Plumbthorn had a local cell of roughly fifteen to thirty members in Gosterwick, and that their operation in the Halls was likely an offshoot of that. Shogun talked to an apothecary who said that he could work on an antidote for Plumbthorn’s Mortality poison if the party could bring him a sample of it.

On the 24th day of Dikaios, the group began their journey back to the Halls. It was uneventful, and they soon arrived at the kobold cave at the base of the Long Stair. The fortifications, including a wooden palisade and a wooden tower, were almost complete, needing only three more days according to the engineer the party had hired before. After this, he was instructed to order the kobolds to mine out a 30’x30’ chamber in their cave (the party planned to construct the Varuda Chamber in it). Additionally, the kobolds mentioned that it was becoming more difficult for them to find food, as competition for game and other food sources in the local forest was fierce. Other factions hunting in the forest included lizardfolk, goblins, and the Children of Dieno.

The group left the kobolds and began to ascend the Long Stair up to the ruins. Along the way, the party ran into the Society of the Beehive again. Neither side could talk as their voices were drowned out by the roar of the falls. It was a rather awkward engagement, and the Fingers considered pushing the Bees over the cliff as they walked by, but the Bees seemed to notice this and let the Fingers pass first. Wicktrimmer laid a trap of slippery oil for the Bees a little ways down the trail, but it must’ve been washed away by the falls as it seemed to have no effect.

Reaching the ruins, the group went to the Tower of Scrutiny to see if they could find the Ring of Spell Storing off PIf’s corpse. Finding his body, it appeared as if someone had already looted it. Wicktrimmer decided to explore further and opened the trap door leading into the basement where they encountered the Greater Wraith that killed Pif. Below, the door was closed (the party had left it opened earlier) and there was the drained corpse of a Halfling with leather armor that matched the designs of Plumbthorn’s gang. Wicktrimmer hopped down and searched the body, finding some mundane weapons and a vial of a transparent green substance.

Next, the party went back to the cellar where they found the circle of orange glyphs and the invisible creature. Wicktrimmer hopped on top of Cedric’s shoulders to affix a trap to the ceiling, but as soon as they crossed the threshold of the door into the cellar, they were attacked by the creature. Wicktrimmer was almost choked to death, but was eventually able to escape with the rest of the group, who promptly ran away.

End time: 2993-11-25, 1:20pm

The Honored Dead:

Spine, level 1 Dwarf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 9)
Battista, level 1 Elf, slain by a crossbow bolt fired from a Set Guardsman (Session 10)
Pif, level 2 Cleric, drained of life by a Greater Wraith (Session 18)
Hector, level 1 Wizard, eyes pecked out by a Small Chasm Cephalopod (Session 19)

 

[yukiomo]

JG_WENTWORTH Out of curiosity, how long is per-session prep taking you at this point in the campaign, and how firm a mental model do you have of the dungeon's structure and factions as a whole?

For comparison, I've skimmed and highlighted most of the easily-accessible areas of levels 1, 2, 3, and 5, as well as the city ruins. That took a bit of time, but it's let me get by on ~30 minutes of re-skimming for each ~3 hour session. I have a very poor mental model of the lower levels of the dungeon though and those factions. Also, my group has really only interacted with the halflings and beastmen, and neither faction interaction has required nontrivial planning of orders of battle or complex forecasting, e.g.

 

[Longfingers]

JG_WENTWORTH Just been reading the thread. Love session reports like this, thanks for doing them. Been a few months since the last one - still playing?