Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Part 5

Damnit, where's my tablet? Oh, there it is, under the couch. And why does it smell like sulfur?

***

...this card game on this magic book is clearly rigged...

Oh hi. 

So we left the shrine after not being attacked by undead, bears, or anything else. The forest around the hills was pretty thick. We looked at the map we had. It's pretty vague, but we figured out where we should? be... After a lot of armwaving and pointing, we decided to go north, or what we though was north. 

It wasn't north.

Fine. We found a small cave to huddle in, the day lost. At least nothing was living in it. We had Columbo sleep by the entrance so he could block it up... He said he saw some flash of light that night, but I think he was just lighting his farts.

We got back at it the next day. Travel was uneventful. Thankfully. We saw some deer, but left them alone. They're scary.

click

The ground was marshy, and we noticed some gray tendrils of fog in the trees. Best to avoid. The trees opened up and we found a grassy area with a bunch of half-buried stones. Elinar tried to read the scratchings on them, but no luck. Turns out Jer-Jom had some book-learning, too, but he skipped class that day. Columbo dug around, and found a line of stones, with their flat sides facing east. At least we have our directions figured out. It was getting late, so we retreated under the trees to camp in the drizzle. I was on watch when something moved around in the grass. 

Campaign Journal: To the Smoking Isles

Full house tonight:

Jax - Barbarian
Fulvus - Halfling
Rondel - Elf
Frederick - Thief
Orzu - Gnome
Slick - Thief 

Anyway, with Beladon the elf reportedly raging and on the hunt for those who cleaned out his vaults (and killed his mimic), it was time for a bit of a vacation of the marine kind the the Smoking Isles and the Sea Dwarves. 

A communique to Yornick, and a message back to be at the docks near the fishmonger's at midnight. The party made their silent way to the docks, to see a familiar fishing caravel, the Wolverine, and Captain Albergati. The captain welcomed them aboard, and the lightless boat sipped from the dock. The captain had ferried people and material to the sea dwarves before. It wasn't the most comfortable interaction, but he was up for it, recognizing a favor.

The journey was fortunately uneventful, but for some squalls and a few patrolling sharks. None of which were swept up in a tornado. As the boat neared shoals between a pair of great curved seamounts, Meiffo and Siti, a second ship approached and hailed the Wolverine. Fortunately, it was simply another merchantman, its captain warning of some hazardous winds and currents. Albergati shared his gratitude, and sailed on. The Wolverine dropped sails to maneuver the the shoals, and was nearly through when the watch called another ship on approach emerging from a fog bank. 

Another merchantman? Nope, the catapult stone holing the deck said otherwise. Time to cowboy up. Jax took the ship's scorpion and fired off a bolt, going wide. As the attacking ship neared, the various bowmen took shots, attempting to set sails on fire. Slick had some explosive paste from Hugo, and focused fire on the opposite's catapult, causing it some damage. The opposite ship's members began to fire at Jax and the two spellcasters, once they revealed themselves.  

Albergati and the opposite ship raced one another, sometimes pulling apart, sometimes closing. Occasionally, the party found a opposite combatant or spellcaster among them, whether by teleport, swimming, or flight. Damn mutants. Somewhere in this, Jax got webbed, putting the scorpion out of commission. Orzu handicapped the other ship with a convincing sharknado, and others caused enough fire damage to slow its pursuit.

The Stonewill Estate: Another Quick-and-Dirty Encounter

I feel like I've just been recounting and documenting my various campaign moments, and owe the world some creativity that's more than a grumpy goblin mage ranting...

So returning again to my campaign to provide a bit of content that someone may find useful for their sessions. Another Breaking and Entering, as happens in cities now and then. This one is the space developed for my "Repossessing the Possessed" session, where the party dealt with a horde of creepy dolls, but especially the one they were sent to retrieve.

I filled out the rooms with brief descriptions, and distributed the treasure that I had originally rolled up for the session. I added a few details to make the location more generic and flexible (hopefully) and fixed a couple of inconsistencies from play.

Additionally, I provided info for multiple avenues of access, whether street-level or subterranean.

source

So find your way into Stonewill Estate here...

Hope you all are having an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. I was planning on running a Shadowdark one-shot, but had to cancel due to a sick dog. Family priorities.