Dragonflight 2024, Part the First: Deathbringer Among the Barrows

Yes, I'm backed up on play reports. 

Ran three games this year at Dragonflight, held in Bellevue, Washington. The total attendance this year over three days was 1050 souls, a few of whom sat at my table.

The first of the three games was Professor DM's "Deathbringer," which I've run as a one-shot a few times. Who showed up?

• Mystic: "Morgue" - scoundrel
• Nick: "Grunk" - deathbringer
• Eric: "Larry" - plague doctor
• Christian: "K" - grimscribe
• Don: "Jerry" - plague doctor

As before, I ran Tim Shorts' "Requiem for Atticus Stumps" mini-adventure. I had booked a two-hour slot for this session, so used the scenario for its flexibility. I warmed up the players for play with a few questions (Who in the party owes you money, how did you get in trouble in the last town, why are you far from home, etc.).

The party, desperate from whatever "miseries" they had rolled up in chargen, took the bait.

Travel and negotiation with Harlow went smoothly, and the halfling took up spear and lantern to lead them to the selected barrows. The grimscribe cast dancing lights to provide some illumination in the forest and keep people from tripping over tree roots. Harlow avoided any encounters.

Barrow #1: The flowers surrounding the barrow remained unidentified (although Jerry did place several in his mask). Removing stones went without a mishap, someone noticing about halfway through the process the warning runes carved into them....

Harlow, as usual, lit the lantern with a flinch, refusing to explain or yield it to the party. He illuminated the barrow from the entrance. 

Morgue was suspicious of the metallic urn but urged Grunk to break it open anyhow (scoundrels...). So Grunk took the brunt of the gas trap. Morgue thanked him and recovered a silver dagger and some coin.  

Grunk and Jerry easily tossed the stone slab. Larry poked at the coffin, causing the spectre to rise. The fight was on. Morgue failed to get a good sneak attack in, but other characters made the best of it. The spectre was able to drain some strength from Morgue. K attempted to magic missile the thing, but rolled a crit failure. Doh! Thankfully the outcome dice were merciful, and the spell merely fizzled away.

source

Finally, Larry bombed the thing with a potion, and it faded to darkness. A scroll and some jewelry were recovered, but no death coins. The PCs dusted themselves off and asked Harlow about other options.

Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Parts 2&3: Bugbears and Beat Downs

My tablet disappeared overnight. I thought I'd left it at the brewery, but found it under the couch. Funny. I don't remember writing this document. Hmm...

...

Taptaptap. Is this thing on?

Sorry, been out doing stuff. The dwarves I met earlier wanted to get an old mine cleared out so they could use it. Called it the Stone Toad Mine. Promised to pay us some coin, so they could call it Happy Fun Dungeon for all I cared. After all, the goblin camp needs some winter supplies.

So I met up with a few other layabouts in Hounds Head (Elinar, Dermont, and Columbo) to go out and do the deed. We'd gone and checked it out, but some sketchy stuff was going on. Columbo said he could lead us back to town, but kept getting us lost. I don't know about that guy.

Anyway, we eventually got back to Hounds Head and gathered some supplies. Columbo stepped into the woods to take a leak (that guy does it a lot. I think he should talk to a witch-doctor about that) and disappeared. Probably got lost again.

Left the three of us and a few mooks to check out this mine. Cass-Crow agreed to come along. She's a good shot and has my back. Elinar, a witch, has a couple of orphaned boys she found in the woods. I hear witches do that a lot. The boys tend to get a bit stabby. Can be helpful in certain situations...

Got back to the mine good. Found the trail this time. It was pretty obvious.

Damn. Bugbear guarding the mine. Must be why the dwarves were sketchy about it. Maybe we can get him out of the way. Elinar has one of her boys be bait, I mean, distraction, to get the bugbear close to us. It sorta works. We end up attacking him. My finger dart thing fizzles. Bugbear runs back to the mine, so we gotta chase.

Well, that's when things go bad. More bugbears. Of course. They got some goblin kin mining for them. The kin look pretty rough. I imagine the funny shapes that make someone your friend, but it doesn't work on bugbears. Things get bad. The boys are really bad with spears. They need practice. One gets knocked down, but his brother saves him. Dremont can't hit anything with his bow. Even Cass-Crow is missing. Not like her. My fire-hands trick smolders away too. Even I'm going to have to start stabbing! 

We're getting our butts kicked! 

Campaign Journal: Ocean's Five

I've got about six play reports to fire off. I've been negligent, on top of extra sessions. More incoming.

First, more Shenanigans in Chirath:

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

(Slick was absent due to spoiled hydra)

First of all, the party was approached by members of the City Guard, in a friendly fashion, at least. They were invited to speak with Legate Mildiani, the city's military commander, as well as Velthur Lecne, a sage researching the Chaos mutations. The party (e.g. Jax and Fulvus/Wene) had drawn attention for their defeats of the Chaos creatures in the arena, as well as other rumors of the party's exploits in the wilderness.

The two officials questioned the party as to their explorations and findings with respect to the Chaos forces. The party recounted general information, and discussed their experiences in Acroria. Mildiani was aware of Acroria's position, partially from the city's intelligence personnel in the town. He was curious if their may be other internal contacts, and the party suggested that the two remaining expedition survivors may be amenable to contact.

The party further shared some information on the presence of the fortifications, although they withheld some information on the Barrier, and mentioned a few allies, such as the druids and community at Cobalt Lake. The Keepers of the Light were also discussed in their past role guarding the frontier.

Lecne was quite interested in the creation of the Chaos mutations, and his research and autopsies indicated that the beings had been changed by some combination of alchemical means and a form of magic he wasn't familiar with. Perhaps this knowledge could be used to create soldiers of their own (members of party shudder).

Satisfied, the two officials bid them adieu, and the party departed. 

D66 Intelligent Swords

Been a bit since my last post, plus it's time for another D66 list...

If magical swords are the bread and butter of enchanted items, then Intelligent ones are definitely the German chocolate cake. Or some bad metaphor like that.

Joethelawyer recently described giving one of his players an irascible intelligent magic sword, and of course, our own campaign has Jax being occasionally goaded by Faith Perpetual. 

Which reminded me it was time to make another list. So here's a list of swords, with names and personalities. They are, after all, NPCs in their own rights. Have fun with Troll-bane, a +3 broadsword that detects alignment and crusades against the undead....

source

D66 Intelligent Swords:

D66 Name
11 Scorn
12 Althazar the Sharp
13 Fellblade
14 Agananthus
15 Circe
16 Hellbion
21 Mr. Pokey
22 Giant-Killer
23 Excelsior
24 Viriaicus
25 Killmonkey
26 Aethelred's Thegn
31 Troll-bane
32 Big Prick
33 Skolmander
34 Jesry's Grip
35 Skewer
36 Dúngail
41 Fell Mangler
42 Battlemouse
43 Steelheart
44 Ironblood
45 Call-Me-An-Angel
46 King Ulaf's Knight
51 Malice and Venom
52 Ranger's Leaf
53 Hattusamuwa
54 Faith Perpetual
55 Odo's Hand
56 le Griffon Isolé
61 Hofnarggaganufus
62 Xelendria's Shield
63 Frank
64 Glamandoridian
65 Excitable Boy
66 The Artist's Edge

New Monster: Xegamian Servant-Manikin

Well, last session the PCs found that the Stonewills' household "help" was of the creepy doll variety. Particularly Frederick, who got gang-tackled by several of the automaton servants twice, taking significant bite and scratch damage each time. Not to mention everyone feeling a bit wigged out by the whole thing.

Source

Xegamian Servant-Manikin:
Crafted in the alchemical research-crèches tucked away in the outskirts of the city-state of Xegam, servant-manikins are desired by customers who prefer their help to be silent and unlikely to pick up rumors or pilfer the silverware. Not to mention requiring no wages and limited upkeep.

Although they were developed primarily for domestic duties, for a bit more coin, the manikins can be imbued with attributes to guard the master's household while they are away or asleep.

Although the exact components and mechanisms for crafting such automatons is a closely-held secret, disassembly of the manikins has revealed them to be composed of a variety of articulated wooden and metal limbs joined to a ceramic torso and topped with a crafted doll head. Many owners with particular tastes and a bit extra coin order custom-crafted heads that are whimsical or artistic. 

Breaching the torso releases a number of preserved organs and nervous system elements in a galvanic fluid. Rumors and espionage into the creation of the manikins indicates that the organs are mostly harvested from accident victims or the condemned, and preserved in such a way to "program" the doll for its future duties. While not admitted by their creators, there is a limited (5%) chance that the harvested organs may cause an individual doll to retain some memories or personality of its prior life.

Each manikin is "taught" its normal tasks by inscribing a "code-leaf," a strip of thick parchment, with a combination of sigils and punched holes, which are then inserted into a slot in the back of the head. Most owners keep a small library of code-leaves available to cover miscellaneous tasks or particular recipes for their servants to prepare.

Basic stats:

1HD, AC 6/13, Atk: 1d2, able to perform normal housekeeping or domestic tacks, understands verbal commands. Automaton/artificial being, immune to sleep and mind control spells.  

Modified servant-mankins come in four flavors:

1. Stabby: 2HD, Atk: 1d4x2, a stouter servant-manikin equipped with a pair of extendable dagger blades in its forearms for home defence.

2. Sleepy: 2HD, Atk: 1d4+poison (save or slowed, 1d4 turns), each manikin is equipped with a hollow blade containing four doses of poison.

3. Screamy: 1HD, Atk: nil, alarm call to alert household. Summons 1d4+1 random manikins in 1d3 rounds (up to household maximum). 

4. Swarmy: 1HD, Atk: 1d6+2 manikins will appear and drag down an opponent, causing 1d2 points per round per manikin. Escape via penalized contested STR roll (d20+bonuses-1 per manikin) 

Source

Edit:

Recent "inquiries" in the city-state of Xegam have indicated that the manikin fabricators have attempted to create stronger servant manikins, hoping to solve the material cost barrier of golem creation. However, such attempts have so far failed, with the mental/command instability of higher hit die manikins increasing markedly with each hit die greater than two. (Chance of past memories/general homicidal tendencies increases to 15% per hit die greater than 2).

Stabby 2: 3HD; AC 5/14; Atk: 1d6x2dmg; An upgraded servant-manikin equipped with a pair of extendable forearm blades for defense. Used for security and guard purposes. Ceramic masks of various designs conceal what lies beneath. Automaton/artificial being, immune to sleep and mind control spells.