They Met at a Tavern 18: Stealing Dolls from the Stonewills

New month, new brewery. They are trying to get some traction for the Sunday game night, so posted up for a table.

• Will: half orc Ras-godai (pointy helmet with plume)
• Roderick: Human witch (shaved head, scorpion tattoo on scalp)
• Tim: halfling fighter (short, curly hair)
• Seana: Human fighter (bald)

The party disembarked from their anonymous freighter, looking for work. The Ras-godai caught the eye of a stevedore, who flashed a sign. A sibling organization, a thieves guild... The Ras-godai (with stocky halfling backup) stepped into an alley to get a lead. The stevedore gave them a wooden token and told them to ask for Solange at the Hidden Hand for work...

(Both my readers know the trope - party talks to hunchbacked serving girl, go into back room, serving girl drops disguise, revealing head of local guild of independent acquisitions...) 

But not after the 18CHA witch had made sure everyone had drinks. 

Anyway, they were offered two jobs - Get an idol from the Stonewill estate or see what's going on in the basement of the wine garden. Brief discussion, and idol recovery was elected.

They decided not to get their feet dirty in the sewers, and reconnoitered the surface routes of entry. The front was too well-trafficked for entry, so perhaps a side route. While the witch and halfling staged a lover's spat to distract the street traffic, the Ras-godai scouted the alleyway, finding the entry to the back courtyard. Good enough, wait until dark.

At the appointed hour, the party convened at the alleyway. The witch kept watch while the party attempted a B&E. As they tested doors and finally lofted a rope and grapple over the back wall, the witch intercepted a couple of hapless city guards, distracting them from the party's efforts.

something like this

Once inside, they attempted to unlock the back gate. The Ras-godai claimed to be able to pick locks (using a bent clothes hanger), but to no avail. OK, we'll just throw a rope back over. 

D66 Magical Armors

Well, radio silence. The writing is being sluggish, as Transcription Project '25 rapidly becomes Transcription Project '26. I think that, with the end of the campaign, I've had less urgency to write. Not to mention those Real Life(tm) elements that dominate one's attention and energies. 

Anyhoo... Thought that I'd ginned up a dozen D66 tables for the third compilation, but found that I'd only come up with eleven. So - here's Number Twelve. 

Armor!

source

Like a few other entries, a magic item with simply a bonus is boring. So all of our armors have a little (or lot) something extra. Plus a few are cursed, because that's fun.

Download the Defense!

source

Now I can get to that 13th bonus table for the third collection. Any suggestions?

Ok, now that The Plague has passed, we can get back to brewery games this Sunday... More to come.

D66 Beers on the Wall ....

Well, been offline for a bit. Out visiting the relatives on the Plains, you know...

I always have the intention to get some writing done while I'm back at the homestead, but the time gets filled with sorting things to dispose of, and family history to keep (like records of those no-nonsense fellows, above).  

As well as hanging at the local watering holes. Like your PCs may do between bouts of killing monsters and taking their stuff. And, in our campaign, the halfling Fulvus was on a quest to find interesting ale formulations, and made a habit of talking with local taverns and alewives, with the hope of taking back a "secret recipe" to his own alehouse.

So, what might he have found in his travels? And - perhaps one or more of those "Secret recipes" may have included a bit of a side effect, whether intentional or not. So what's on tap at the tavern, and did your PC get a bit more than they bargained for? ...

Have a Drink

Speaking of which, setting up a game at a new brewery location tonight as part of their Sunday game night.  (Cancelled due to the appearance of plague at Leicester HQ)

Campaign Journal: Final Entry

Who made it through all this nonsense:

• Jax-barbarian
• Slick-thief
• Frederick-thief
• Rondel-elf

This will be a long one. Buckle up.

We set the scene:

The smoke cleared from the battle. Forces bandaged up and counted their dead. Militia dispersed, back to protect their own town walls. The Acroria forces considered their situation – their city destroyed, their people refugees, their leadership dead or scattered. Out of this, the Librarian offered to help them solidify this new network, and journey to the Ha-Tak Pyramid to connect it to the Barrier.

Half the Khanate cavalry was returning north, and would escort the Librarian against harm.

That left the party, half the cavalry, and a handful of knights. There was still the root of the Chaos to be eliminated. Dukan Dildran and his contingent of cavalry would join, as well as Benedikt. And Serafina, who has been spending some time with Slick, will join on this final crusade. Oh yeah, and Kavderac, because dragon. After all, dragons may sense another dragon's horde location and size. It is how they assess the strength and age of their potential competitors, and whether it is wise to confront or give them a wide berth.

West toward the mountains and the blighted lands. First, the lair of Eorvalth, the doomed dragon. Consistent with the elven rangers' report, the lair was found to have been the site of a battle, with the dragon missing, as well as their loot. Kavderac sniffed around, disappointed. The dragon equivalent of couch cushion change was found, as well as a couple of overlooked scrolls. The company rested and considered next steps.

While they paused, Kavderac scouted the foothills and mountains for Eorvalth's missing hoard. Successful, he returned.

The dragon guided the party and their cohort into the mountains, with assurances that Eorvalth's hoard was found, and the mutant stronghold assumed to be close by.

They Met at a Tavern 17: Visiting the Zombraire's Estate

Happy Halloween!

It's been about three years since I ran The Zombraire's Estate, so time to dust it off again, this time for a Shadowdark crew....

• Brandon: Halfling Bard
• Matt: Dwarf Priest
• McKenna: Human Fighter
• Mike: Human Witch
• Jema: Elf Knight of St. Ydris (late arrival, see below)

We Rolled For Hats and got moving. I kept to the stock game plan from the module, and had the players hired to root out and purge the old manor of its curse... 

The initial four PCs approached the manor. Spotting the skeletons arrayed by the front gate, the dwarven priest approached to give a blessing to the dead. The dead woke up and were having none of that. Stabbing and smashing and failed Turn Undead rolls commenced (even with a luck point - Madeera was not answering calls today).

source

The party then circled around the compound, finding the Wrenwald family crypts. As they waffled about checking them out, Luacia the Dryad's raven found them and asked for assistance. The raven recognized the witch with their mouse familiar as a kindred soul. The mouse was sent with the raven to assess the dryad, returning to confirm their veracity. Luacia explained the blight from manor's curse and begged the PCs to help. They agreed. She healed the priest in thanks. Her bless attempt failed though, a sign of her fading powers.

Entering the compound, the fighter checked out one of the animal pens, finding the zombie chickens... After poking a stick at them, she decided that checking for eggs in the coop wouldn't be a good idea. 

The witch found the poisoned well, and recovered a magic short sword from the doomed adventurer. The bard took the sword for later use. 

More poking around and avoiding the other animal pens and zombie gardeners. This party was way too cautious...