Who's looking out into the cold, arid geography from the Temple of the Pass?
- Chris: Thorn, dwarf Wizard
- Dan: Kiara, elf Ras Godai
- Rick: Bjorr, 1/2 orc Paladin
- Seana: Zanegar, 1/2 orc Sea Wolf
- Dave: Darkmist, elf Thief
- Michael: Lubach, 1/2 orc Basilisk Warrior
- Bob: Opchel, human Thief
Michael has joined on and off to one-shots in the past, so is familiar with my flavor of chaos. Bob was a first timer at my table, and to Shadowdark, and picked a PC off the pile.
The party looked out over the rocky outcrops, scrub, and sand. The cold, arid wind blew sand into their faces. The basilisk warrior wondered what the problem was.
Before departing, water skins were filled, and Sigwald was questioned regarding possible old streambeds. Sigwald pointed northwest, as he'd found some while exploring.
Off they went.
Riding northwesterly, the party left the Badlands behind, entering more distinctly open desert. Cresting a rise into the sand, they found a basin filled with sand fused into shattered green glass. They cautiously investigated. Darkmist had heard of a similar glass before, and understood it to be created from great heat and energies. He wrapped some up for later study or trade. In the meantime, Zanegar became nauseous, and appeared to be suffering a slight sunburn. Better move on.
 |
| shiny! |
As the party traveled on, they were ambushed by a serpent-folk patrol from their foxholes (snakeholes?). A couple of PCs took arrow damage before the party was able to identify the threat. Some strong initiative rolls, and a Nat20 spell roll by Thorn, and the survivors of the initial clash were webbed. Most serpent-folk refused to surrender to the "monkeys" although two were swayed... They were protecting their territories from the trespassing monkeys, who had become more numerous recently. Although they weren't familiar with any lost cities, they were sure it was also part of their territory.
These two serpent-folk were secured, while the party recovered some supplies and a "nice sword." Zanegar, recovering from her nausea, was gifted it.
The surviving serpent-folk were employed to guide the party away from other patrols and hazards. This worked fairly well until a pair of hazards found them, slaying Opchel's horse Buttercup, and nearly Opchel, himself.
 |
| yep |
(Un)fortunately, the party was gifted with excellent rolls, and were not hampered significantly by the two displacer beasts' abilities. They were able to defeat them without much more damage, and recover a pair of hides for later trade.
Opchel saddled up a mule (Buttercup II, ornery disposition), and was escorted in a protective cordon by the other PCs until he could rest and recover.
And somehow the two serpent-folk had slipped their bonds...
Oh well. The party managed to find a streambed, and by some dead-reckoning, backtracked, hoping to find a larger drainage that it may be tributary to. The lost city of interest is/was bisected by a river, and the party hope that tracing a riverbed may prove fruitful. Night passed safely by a found oasis. Surrounding tracks included displacer beast paw-prints, wildlife, humanoid tracks, and hoofprints, indicating other parties traveling the area.
Another cold, windy dawn, and the party broke camp. The drainage became more indistinct, fading into a salt flat and shallow, brackish lake. Darkmist thought it a good time to collect some salt for cooking and preservation.
 |
| So, that happened. |
(Yes, I know they are typically found in fertile lands, but c'mon, Ankheg!) Anyway... bitey and acid spitty, then Lubach found his footing, petrifying one. The critter rolled Nat1 to resist, so there is now an ankheg sculpture on the salt flat. Its companion was killed, and while the PCs debated about the palatability of ankheg legs, Darkmist and Opchel crawled into the burrow. Because thieves. Opchel was immediately half-buried in a collapse, but dug out. The burrow was slim in recovered treasure: a partial chain mail, some loose change, and a silver false tooth...
Emerging, Darkmist recovered some acid from one ankheg corpse. Opchel carved "Monkeys were here, suck it, snakes!" in serpent-folk script on the petrified ankheg. Graffiti complete, the party circumnavigated the salt flat in search of more traces of the drainage.
Nightfall, and another serpent-folk attack... Those buggers are everywhere! More stabbing, webbing, petrifying, and at least one violation of the (Lake) Geneva Convention. The sole survivor was "amicable" in sharing information on the local Serpentfolk HQ - a pyramid a day's walk away. He said that they serpent-folk had claimed it, and that the "wise ones" were investigating it while patrols were sent out. The number of serpent-folk was not clear, but there were at least a couple of "wise ones" (pointing at the mage) guarded by some "strong ones." Normal patrols cycled in and out, with a varying number in camp.
The party conferred - avoid it or try to neutralize? And what are the serpent-folk investigating? Well, we've been able to best the ones we've met so far. Let's take out the base....
And, Drom (not in attendance tonight) has been ranting about ziggurats...
GM Notes:
Heh.
This session was somewhat pre-planned, in the random encounters department, at least. I'd also prepared a handful of features or items for the party to find, including the trinitite. As they poked around, I rolled added finds from a new D66 table for Cold Desert features.
Zanegar, with a CON of 7, was temporarily affected by the trinitite. But did get a magic bastard sword as a consolation prize.
The party's travel, particularly under the "assistance" of questionable captive guides, there was a bit of zigging and zagging. A couple of reaction rolls confirmed that the original captives would lead them off-route and/or towards hazards. I wonder where they got themselves to after the displacer attack?
An ok session, taking a bit of time to warm up. Mostly exploration and descriptive world-building. With the party moving into "deep desert," there weren't structures or other complexes discovered this time through. But we have something sitting on the horizon...
I'll be running the open table again this coming weekend, as Dragonflight fills the following weekend. So I'd better figure out what those "wise" serpentfolk are poking around at.
In the meantime, last night was our 11th Hyperborea session. Find out here what happens when the party sends the mage with poor social skills and a pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Strength to negotiate payment for some chimera parts...
No comments:
Post a Comment