They Met at a Tavern 20: Ignoring the NFC Championship Game

Besides running Shadowdark, I'll get further onto BXBlackrazor's pariah list by ducking out of various Seahawks viewing opportunities to run another one-shot. 

Because The Ridgecrest doesn't sport a TV. 

Anyway. Off we go:

• Chris: Thorn, Dwarf Wizard
• Seana: Katwaen, Dwarf Sea Wolf
• Michael: Rango, Dwarf Knight of St. Ydris
• Patrick: Nix, Kobold Thief
• Daniel: Maven, Elf Witch

Three dwarves, two miscellaneous others. Dwarf-themed misadventure, it is.

I've always wanted to see how Dwarves With Worms runs at the table. PCs bumped to 3rd level, plus some random magical items, just in case.

Rango's "cousin" Ugraen had headed out with some followers to reconsecrate or expand some old temple. Trouble is, he'd gotten excommunicated from the local temple for some questionable practices and beliefs. Anyway, better go check up on him.

The party found the complex, showing signs of recent excavation and expansion. Upon entering, the dwarves were disappointed to see shoddy excavation and stonework. I mean, humans could do this...

Listening at a door, they heard nothing. Deciding to explore in the opposite direction, they spiked the door and headed deeper into the complex.  

Well, that noise called up something:

arrrrr.....

A trio of vacant-eyed dwarves accosted them. The party sussed that they weren't quite undead, as something seemed to writhe under their flesh. 

Many poor rolls occurred. Finally, the wizard was able to web them up for easy disposal. Upon slaying them, large worms burst from their bodies, and swarmed the party, intent upon infecting them. Much worm stomping and stabbing, and possibly one Knight of St. Ydris screaming like a little girl. The wizard quaffed their sole potion of healing. 

Fortunately, around the corner, the explorers found a stash of ale, which went a long way to cure shaken nerves.

Onward!

Bollixing Up the "Shrine of the Mother" by Tim Shorts

So Tim posted up this excellent little scenario on his Patreon. It includes a small hexcrawl, a novice deathcult, and halflings. Always good. I ganked the map of the "Shrine of Dedragoria" for a quick bar writeup:

work in progress

The map is a good space, essentially a five-room dungeon. A place to hide the McGuffin, a side passage, something causing some structural damage. I can work with this.

Stuck with the shrine idea, because it fits. And shrines need a relic. Preferably hidden away. So our heroes get assigned a simple snatch-and-grab by my campaign's favorite thieves' guild boss, Solange. Nothing to it.

Without further ado: The Shrine of Dhena

(Note: I realized that Tim used a map from a previously-posted set of small adventure/encounter area maps. Which are also part of my languishing Project Transcribe(tm). Curses.) 

Added for no reason whatsoever.

Foxtail Grotto, revised

After last week's shenanigans, I gave Foxtail Grotto a revision to (hopefully) improve usability and play. I revised descriptions to clarify placement of encounters, and added a small introduction on playing out the discovery of the pirate cove. Monster stats have been updated and consolidated at the end of the scenario, more consistent with my current format. I also bumped the format to two column, which I've been using and seems to read better. 

New and Improved!

And apropos of nothing, found this while image searching:

source

Finally, some validation! I always knew that princess was up to something sketchy.... We knew all along the dragon was unfairly incriminated!

They Met at a Tavern 19: Visiting Foxtail Grotto

Set up at the brewery on Sunday night, and found a full table. Excellent. I had a few choices in my folder, but with a table of meat, er, PCs, it was time to take on Foxtail Grotto. 

The cast: 

• Freya, Seawolf
• Durl Snuggs, Priest
• (forgot name), Bard
• Eswald, Seer
• Rand, Fighter
• Gilden, Wizard
• Holbarn, Fighter

We started at a small coastal settlement that had been plagued by pirates. The garrison's sergeant didn't have the resources or talent to root them out. But look! A seawolf and a handful of "talent." The party was equipped with a small sailing ship and basic supplies, given a map, and enough rumors to point them in the right direction. A day or so of sailing along the coast and poking around in coves, and they were rewarded with signs of activity, such as harvesting of timber for ship repairs.

Carefully navigating shoals, and they found the pirates' ship, the Meteor (mis-heard as 'meatier'). But it was in sad shape, holed on a rock. The party carefully navigated toward the ship to investigate, and got themselves hung up on the doomed ship's rigging. While clearing the snarl, one of the gaff hooks was snapped off, and a rotting, undead shark made its appearance.

duh-DUHN...duh-DUHN

It got turned away, and in spite of the hazard, three of the PCs hopped over to investigate the damaged ship. It was found to have been stripped of loot, and they were able to return to their ship without incident.

D66 Winter Carousing Happenings, Part II

As a follow-up to my last D66 Winter Carousings list, I recognized that Solstice/Generic Midwinter Holiday/New Years is a field ripe for harvest (bad analogy) and ginned up a second D66 list, complete with more frigid happenings, mishaps, and boons.

Hey, watch where you're driving!

So put on some thick socks, warm that mulled wine, and beware snowdrifts speaking Finnish:

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