Shadowdark: Bloggah's Blog Part 4, Poking the Bear

Saw some movement from my office. "Hello? Oh, it's you..."

A goblin wearing what looked like a tattered bathrobe stomped in. "Here's you magic tablet thing. Fukking Columbo..." He tossed it on the couch and stomped out. 

"Yo, what's up?"

"Read about it..." he grumbled over his shoulder, slammed the door, and disappeared into the night. Ok then. Let's see what we've got here.  

***

Hi. Been a week. We been hanging around Hound's Head, getting resupplied and rested. I got my fancy silver dagger, plus found that I could read that scroll Rig-Rot found out by his magic tree. Lets me see magic stuff. Could be handy.

Elinar kept trying to talk to the voices in her head, but they don't really seem to be answering. 

Columbo got his fancy ring from some dwarf god, but wants to get rid of it. I don't get that. Never satisfied, that guy. 

Jer-Jom and Elinar's orphans are itching to get out, and we got a map to a Northman barrow. Sounds good. Talked to Blake. He likes curiosities. Turns out the map is a copy of one of his. He points out a couple of landmarks, might save us some trouble. Or not. But Blake's eager to learn what we learn, so gives us a couple of healing potions. After all if we don't get back, he don't learn nothing.

Time to head out. We got a good wagon road to follow, so easy walking, and no killer deer, as far as we see. But someone had some bad luck in front of us. Find a couple of stinky bodies. Human and halfling. Looks like something killed them and rifled their pockets. I poke at them with my pole. Some flies rise up, but at least the dead don't. 

Dremond decides to poke at them more directly. My granduncle Moldgut always said to watch to things that eat dead things. Dremond didn't have an uncle, I guess, as he screamed like a little girl when a rot grub latched onto him. Roll eyes. Burn it off (and him too a little, oops). I take my pole to remove a necklace from one of the bodies. See? No rot grubs. It looks liks a holy symbol to Delaquain. Didn't help them.

artist's rendition

Saint Sephaton's Wine Garden (a quick-and-dirty encounter)

As I mentioned in the prior entry, Slick and Orzu took care of a little bit of necromantic housekeeping on behalf of the local temple. but not until after enjoying a bit of wine and cheese. 

The encounter was built on the fly, using a spare map in hand, as well as a necromancer's spell list and a few lightly modified undead. It's pretty bone-simple, but perhaps a useful side hook for a few adventurers trolling about in a city. So I'm sharing a lightly edited encounter for anyone's table. Enjoy.

source

Download Saint Sephaton's Wine Garden

(Edit: added sewer access option for PCs who don't mind getting their feet dirty)

Campaign Journal: Odd Jobs

Well, it looks like everyone got into a bad batch of hydra meat. It's getting a bit ripe. Well, except for:

• Slick: thief
• Orzu: gnome

With their comrades laid low or otherwise indisposed, the two PCs were left twiddling their thumbs. Casting about town, there was news of an attack on a patrol by Opharel forces. Concerning, as the two duchies had been in detente for some time. 

The two decided to visit the Temple of Garond, as the party had a writ of support from Proctor Armin, thanking them for their support of the temple in Neuforde. Prior Jaume Magrans was happy to chat with them and offer the temple's support while they were in town. That said, he did have a task of a sensitive nature that a pair of idle adventurers might be interested in. Although the problem of the Chaos mutants was one many leaders' minds, other nefarious things were afoot. Namely, necromancy. One of the local merchants, wine-seller Zadok Meir, may have a side gig going...  Sounds good. We like to keep the dead dead. 

But first, they needed some muscle. Orzu has Torvald to absorb some damage, but Slick's hench Flick is back at Cobalt Lake, helping the naga Queen Adra's crew.

Let's talk to Akreos. He has spare bodies. Particularly, Dukan Dildran, a flamboyant warrior from the northern tundra. A business call to Akreos. What would it take to free him? We could use his skills. Akreos is a businessman, willing to entertain an offer. Or more importantly, entertain his audience. And, in contrast to some of the criminals that end up in the arena, Dildran is a free man captured by the duchy's patrols. Ok, we can fake his death, I'll make some anonymous side bets to offset the loss. But you need to get his agreement. He's a proud one. Down to the gladiator pits, and cells of incarcerated combatants. Some negotiation and gaining of trust, and the northern nomad agreed to freedom in exchange for some help putting down the dead.

For game purposes, "NPC Jax" agreed to fake a few blows with the flat of her blade at the appropriate time, while Orzu cast an illusion of a convincing mortal wound. Slick and Torvard would wait in the wings as stretcher bearers to whisk the "dead" combatant away. All set.

But first, the wine-seller for a bit of recon. And snacks. Slick and Orzu ordered a couple of glasses and a charcuterie board. After a bit, Slick excused himself to hit the head. A quick twist of his ring, and invisible Slick checked out the back areas of the establishment. Kitchen, check. Servers, check. Stairs down, check. Slick slid down the steps to confirm a wine cellar. But there was a subtle undercurrent of decay. Not the most attractive bouquet. Hmm... Recon done, he slipped back upstairs and visibility to exit the place.

Source

Dragonflight 2024, Part the Third: OSE and Wrestling with Kabrel's Tower

 Sunday morning found me at the head of the table once again. Let's get the roll call:

• Travis: Cedric - cleric, mohawk (Travis is a member of a group of us who play periodically at Around the Table Games)
• Ben: Gobble deGook - halfling, wide-brimmed hat (returning after yesterday's game)
• Daniel: Garvin LeBoul - fighter, helm, human image faceplate
• Pete: Fenzig - elf, short hood
• Van: Boffin - dwarf, bald, with topknot
• Zegan: Grim Greycastle - fighter, pointed helm

I remembered to write down the headgear today. 

Full table. My habit is to have five slots for game seats, but I always have a mental 'extra' seat available for waiting list folks, etc. Today, I had a no-show (last day of a 3-day con, fatigue happens), and Van and his son Zegan stopped by to see if I could spare a seat. Certainly.

Today, we're revisiting Kabrel's Tower, the objective of a pair of excursions early in the campaign. I had written up a synthesis of the two prior adventures for the purposes of the convention or other one-shots.

Of course the party is starting at Neuforde, with conversations with various NPCs in town - the mayor, , the priest, the halflings, and the elves. The group also got to see the snake map, as well as the spiel about Chaos mutants raiding the area. Off to find the nearest Node on the map...

Sometime into their journey, the party was set upon by a Chaos mutant raiding party - about six mooks and a leader on horseback. 

Here horsie...

Dragonflight 2024, Part the Second: OSE and Return to Ha’Tak Temple

Saturday afternoon, I hosted the first of two B/X-OSE games. 

First of all, I gotta figure what to run. My usual M.O. is to have a selection of adventures, and depending on the number and vibe of the group, I'll pick something. One thing I had this year that I didn't have prior years is a set of pre-run abandoned fortifications and other structures for the party to clear - the "Nodes" of my campaign. So a few of those maps ended up in my bag, as well.

Who showed up?

• John: "Ahairak" - dwarf (John is a repeat offender)
• Mike: "Ward" - Magic user 
• Wayne: "Lefty" - thief
• Sean: "Elbolas" - elf (Sean has also played in a con came with me before)
• Ben: "Brother Bartholomew" - cleric

We got everyone equipped from the "Random Headgear" table and set off. I forgot to write down the headgear, but I know that the mage ended up with an open-faced samurai helm. 

It just so happened that I had a copy of the campaign's "Snake Map" tucked into one of my rulebooks. Well, that's a sign.

We're going to clear a Node. And, yes, it's going to be the Ha'Tak Temple. Because I want to mess with a party using Cormac MacGiobhan!, bomb-throwing hermit.

Brief scenario intro - the map is provided as a rubbing taken from a standing stone, and the party being recruited by the local temple to investigate the suspected location near the "tail" as a location within a string of fortifications or watches. Oh, and twisted things have been raiding in the wilderness.

Off they go.

Twisted thing. Of course it's a Tumorous Spider. 

A crippled, lurching spider should be easy prey for a crack adventuring party, right? Not based on the number of whiffs that occurred. Thankfully, the spider sucked just as bad.