What Happened to Brother Eustice, the Scenario

Per my prior recap, the party managed to rescue the wayward acolyte, as well as slay the lurking beast with some stupid good rolls and cheaty use of an envenomed blade. Don't worry, Frederick, there will be more bitey, venomous things in your future, too....

Ahem. 

So here is a quick writeup of the scenario itself, useful for a quick drop-in as needed for low-level characters. Based on the session's play, I've revised it a bit to increase the challenge and better round out the cavern space. Also, I noted that the entrance cavern that I had interpreted to be a pool is actually depicted as a ledge area, so the critters have been swapped appropriately. 

Original map here

All of the monsters, excepting the chitin drake, are familiar central casting foes. The chitin drake's stats and abilities are included at the end. 

Enjoy!

What Happened to Brother Eustice?

Well, better figure out what I'm going to put them through this week...

Review: Trilemma Adventures Compendium Bestiary

I followed Michael Prescott's blog during the G+ days (Note to self - restore blog onto reader feed). The guy has the one- to two-page adventure down to an art, with compact perspective maps, terse but flavorful descriptions and enough theme variety and weirdness to make them more than a bog-standard crawl (I mean, you have stuff like I write for that...). So when Michael Kickstarted a compendium of 48 of his blog/Patreon adventures, with expanded descriptions and supplemental material, I threw in my support. The product won multiple Ennies in 2020. I realize the book has been waiting quietly on my shelf, and I need to do another read-through to find some seeds and locales to borrow. I highly recommend it as a resource for drop-in locations and one-shots, as it is an overlooked gem and does not get mentioned enough when folks ask for one-shot materials. The compendium is available on DriveThru for those interested in perusing further. 

With the Kickstarter, I apparently received the companion bestiary as a pdf, which compiles all of the custom beasties and foes included in Michael's adventures. I had forgotten about this collection until I was recently procrastinating, err... reorganizing files... Scrolling through the pdf, I realized needed to order a print copy to pore through more closely, since dead-tree reading materials work best for me. 

Book in action. Note post-it bookmarks for future hijinks.

The book was immediately filled with bookmarks and notes made for both set-piece monsters and wandering encounters. Last week, my group made the acquaintance of a Chitin Drake while rescuing a wayward acolyte, defeating the creature after one PC was paralyzed, and a second char-broiled.

The book (B/X version) clocks in at around 150 pages, and contains 112 creatures to encounter. The range of foes is of the usual types, including beast, humanoid, undead, mechanical, and infernal (I think the only major category missing is the ooze/slime). Creature HD ranges from <1 to 20 (If you want to interact with a god-tortoise trundling along with a hive of giant wasps living in its shell).

Emperor Tortoise with tenants

Rescuing Brother Eustice, or, Flying Fire-breathing Centipedes, Oh My!

Oops - a week, and no brewery game recap? My dozen readers are disappointed... 

Last session, we were joined by:

• Slick - Thief
• Mareth - Elf
• Frederick - Thief
• Skuli - Cleric
• Bonk - Fighter

I started out with a bit of world-building, sharing a in-process map of the inland sea and surrounding region where the characters are currently residing. There was a brief overview of the powers in the area, and how they may be encroaching on the frontiers surrounding Neuforde and its environs. Patrols from two competing duchies had been seen in the area, making probing explorations of the locals' attitudes and dispositions. That said, several new settlers and craftspeople had come to town, expanding its labor and skill base. Fixing that bridge had some benefit, after all...

World so far - PCs located about 1/3 way up
the west coast of the inland sea.

The PCs checked in on their friend Victor Matui, who was restoring his family stronghold off the main road. Victor shared a bit about his family's persecution at the hands of a competing religious faction, and his hopes to restore the family name. But strong walls in the meantime...

And, in the most-awaited part of the session, we determined Bonk's real name: Waegstan the Bo'sun. Recognized by a former crewmate, he was called out. (a few random rolls from a prepared table later) Waegstan had most recently served on a cog named the Gallarita hauling cargo around the inland sea. He had disappeared in port, and had been assumed a deserter. Obviously we still have a few gaps as to the incident leading to his amnesia, but we have something to start from.

OK, it was time to go explore.

The Black Labyrinth of Lord Greywulf - the party gets randomized

Okey dokey - Sunday again, folks, and we had a few repeat offenders, and a couple of new folks at the table.

• Jax, barbarian
• Fulvus, halfling
• Rondel, elf
• Mareth, another elf

and introducing:

• Skuli Bodvarsson, cleric
• Slick, thief (of course)

Skuli rocking his randomly-generated hairdo and 15 CHA

The party convened in Neuforde, with a wandering band of performers arriving in town to entertain and fleece the locals. I did this mostly to practice a bit of improv and to wait and see where the evening was going to go... 

Slick won a few gold in a game of chance, Rondel narrowly lost a knife-throwing contest, and Mareth and Skuli had their fortunes read by "Madame Grebe." Mareth also paid some good coin for "protective incense." Jax and Goober thought the whole affair was sketchy and gave the carnies a wide berth.

Slick also partook in a bit of five-finger discount work and garnered a few gold coins and "written directions to the Black Labyrinth of Lord Greywulf" (thank you, Donjon).

Well, I guess that's where we're going tonight...

<Pause for behind-the-curtains moment>