Well, look who showed up...
- Roger: Drom, dwarf Desert Rider
- Rick: Bjorr, 1/2 orc Paladin
- Chris: Thorn, dwarf Wizard
- Dan: Kiara, elf Ras Godai
- Seana: Zanegar, 1/2 orc Sea Wolf
- Adam: Ad Ratter, halfling Wizard
Drom has returned from his sojourn, or pouting...
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| Don't listen to them sweetie, you're lovely. |
That's Trixie, by the way. Continuing with the excellent mount names.
Ok, to begin. Ad Ratter was discovered among the baggage, or curled up in someone's bedroll. Sort of like shaking out your shoes in the morning to check for scorpions. There might be a halfling. He was abandoned by his peers while exploring the Badlands. What do you expect for a CON 3 halfling?
The party mounted up and headed onward, checking out the canyons and ridges. An obelisk was spotted, and investigated. The tall obelisk was of a bluish metal, and warm to the touch. It was covered with odd runes. Zet was called up to translate. He pulled out a crumbling book and gingerly turned pages. The runes were a challenge, at best he could sense it was a border marker or milepost. He made notes and the party moved on.
Bjorr and Drom noted what appeared to be old wagon tracks worn into the stone of the canyon floor. Perhaps this was an old thoroughfare to the old cities.
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| ruts |
Later, Kiara and Ad heard a rumbling in the distance. Then at less of a distance. Everyone rushed to get themselves and their mounts to higher ground. Their suspicions confirmed, a flash flood ripped through where they had recently stood.
That was exciting...
Night fell and camp set. In the middle of the night, a commotion among the horses. Torches lit, and one was found dead (Kiara's "Thunder"). Nat 20. The horse didn't have a chance. A pair of eight-legged threats were seen retreating. They were magic missiled and shot at, taking wounds for their mischief. You knew they'd show up again...
Kiara shifted to one of the pack horses as a ride. A couple of deer were picked off for party sustenance.
With the new day, new exploring. A small figure with a flag was spotted on the canyon rim. Bjorr rode ahead, and waved a greeting. The figure appeared to signal to unseen comrades, and waved the party along. A column of smoke was soon visible, and sounds of activity.
Kobold miners, working an old mine. Holpa, their leader, greeted the party. They were working an old copper mine (not cobalt), especially for veins of elemental copper favored by some mages and artificers, as it hadn't been "touched by fire." They were also smelting down some mined ore and collecting copper minerals for sale.
The party shared some of their deer with the group and asked about other features in the area. Were they aware of other obelisks or mines? Yes, the kobolds had found other abandoned mines in the area, but hadn't explored them, and they knew of another odd obelisk a day away.
The party asked if they had had problems with serpent folk or spiders. The kobolds, regarding the serpent folk, "oh the old ones. They are more active. We don't worry much, if they show up, we just seal up the mine and lay low."
Some negotiations, and the party received two guides, Igra and Rogs, to lead them to the next obelisk location.
The kobolds led them onward, chattering and chittering. Some distance on, they halted the party cautioning them of a hazard ahead. One tossed a rock at a stand of brush. A root exploded from the ground, attempting to spear the rock. Yep, vampire bushes. Give them a wide berth.
Soon, they found another mine. Igra crawled into the collapsed entrance. Definitely smelled of metal. Wasn't sure what kind. Could be interesting.
Not interesting enough for the party to clear the entrance and explore (GM puts away his prepared scenario).
Another camp, another night time attack. Not the spiders this time at least. Four massive, spiny wolves. Kiara smoke-stepped behind one, but failed to connect with a backstab. Zanegar hit one hard, and Drom and Bjorr focused on a second. Ad magic missiled one, but Thorn's web failed. One of the wolves went down, with others taking enough damage that the party just wasn't worth the effort. The wolves retreated into the night in a hail of arrows and javelins. Those horses sure are tempting...
Some more ruts were found, indicating more heavy travel in the past. A shimmer, and the party found themselves staggering through an anomalous hot zone. A few did not have the constitution to endure it and took minor damage.
Another point of interest – a pair of doors guarded by an ancient statue. The statue was wind-scarred and its features worn smooth. Likewise, the door was corroded, its hinges rusted and frozen. Another small mined out cavern was spotted close by. Perhaps these were connected. Trixie smelled water within. Ok that's interesting enough to explore. Entering into the cavern, several of the PCs were knocked back by a concussive blast. The “trap” revealed itself to be a boulder-like plant. "Bomb lithop," pointed out one of the kobolds. It can't move. The PCs threw and shot things at it until it deflated.
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| Boom! |
Inside, a junction and empty chamber. Of course it was empty, that plant kept campers out. Locating a downward sloping passage and humid air, the party found a pool populated by languid, pale fish. As they watched, one of the fish rose into the air on a thin line. Several legs and eyes were spotted at the edge of the light. A large fishing spider. It retreated away from the light with its catch, and since it didn't cast spells at them, the party left it to enjoy its meal.
Further snooping around, Kiara entered another side cavern. Oops, the floor was moving... Back out slowly. Snake nest. Apparently the serpents were inconsequential enough to avoid the lithop's attention. But dead adventurer, with pack! There was a suggestion to stick Ad on the end of a pole to retrieve. Someone else threw in a grapple and dragged the body from among the snakes.
Some generic loot recovered, including supplies and a bastard sword. Someone else noticed a brass door about that time. Ooo, let's open it. Dead scorched snakes around it. Ooo, let's not. Some sluething about, and Bjorr recognized it as an eletrical trap of some sort. The bastard sword was stood on end and tilted at the door, causing the trap to discharge. The handle was tapped open and door safely opened.
Sarcophagus and grave goods. Thorn and Drom collected some goods that hadn't collapsed to dust. Yes, of course the sarcophagus opened. Big angry dead dude with life draining damage. The party beat feet.
Outside, they caught breath and continued their trek. The kobolds found the second obelisk. This one was made of similar metal, and hummed. Zet pored over his notes and squinted at the runes. Yep. These are numbers. And they're smaller. We don't know the units. But we're closer to somewhere...
DM Notes:
More fun with random tables. Of the encounters and locations, only the nocturnal spider attack was a set-piece. You know, consequences of letting vengeful, intelligent enemies escape.
Everything else was randomly rolled. Ok confession, the random feature rolls were generally prerolled, rather than at the table. As well as a couple of the creature features. The wolves showed up "at the table." The rest was seeing how the various connections played out. Yes, both obelisks were random, as were the two mines. But now they are something that the party can hunt for. Having hired local guides in the form of the kobolds allowed them to bypass at least one hazard, the vampire bushes.
And now the party has found two of the Badlands creatures. More flora and fauna on the horizon...
Off to the Plains and farm this week, where this will likely be an encounter...
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