Dwimmermount Campaign Restart - The Village People

[quote="Alex"]

I love the spell signatures you or your players have come up with. I've only had one player ever really use the spell signature rules, even though I would write them up for my NPCs.

 

[/quote]

Spell signatures are one of the coolest parts of the ACKs magic system.  Along with the templates in the Player's Companion, it really helps to differentiate between mages.  I think there are 2 main reasons they continue to come up with them:

  1. The mages are played by brothers, and there is a sense of competition to see who can come up with the best one.
  2. Before they can cast the spell for the first time, I make them explain what the signature is.  The whole table pauses until we figure it out as a group.  Play does not continue until we do.

The pcs also know that they will be able to use the signature creatively to their advantage - kind of like 'special effects' of the Hero/Champions system.  The fire mages magic missiles can catch things on fire.  The spectral armor of the necromancer's Necromantic Potence may help scare some peasants, etc.  It also causes add'l complications - the necromancer has to explain to the town militia that he shouldn't be burned at the stake when he summons undead berserkers. 

The party began the session in the dungeon.  They wanted to take out the orcs, and came up with several alternative plans, all of which included turning Varazes over to the orcs and throwing him in the pool of life if he was killed.  After several minutes the decision was made to just have Tariq summon some berserkers and wing it. 

They returned to some orc guards rebuilding their barricade.  They stated they were coming to see Segur (the orc leader) and one of them ran ahead.  The party pushed past to the door of Segur’s makeshift throne room, finding the door barred from the other side.  After several minutes of pounding the door opened. 

The orcs were lined up in formation in the room, with Segur on his throne and a shield wall of orcs with swords in the front line and a row of orcs w/ spears directly behind.  There were 6 orc archers in the back of the room.  Segur was wearing the platinum earrings, and jeweled broach from the treasures of the IX legion. Most of the party couldn’t fit in the room, so the zombie berserkers, Illyrio, Dave, and Tariq went in the room. Negotiations for treasure in return for Varazes began in earnest.  During negotiations, Tariq lost his patience and began casting, and combat broke out.

Dante won initiative and quickly wiped out 4 orcs, cutting his was through to the line of archers. Illyrio was able to kill a few as well.  Then it was the orcs’ turn and the party realized why Segur was king.  He carved through 3 berserkers before hitting Illyrio with a natural ‘20’, doing 25 points of damage in a single blow and reducing him to zero HP (crits = max damage + weapon damage, re-roll all max rolls, weapon focus roll 1 more extra die).  Luckily Tariq hit Segur with a skeletal choking grasp, which didn’t really hurt him much but prevented him from reeking any more havoc. 

The hallway orc guards, and a large remaining group came around the corner to attack the party in the hallway.  After a few rounds of combat, Ukla, Jace, Eduardo, and the dogs managed to take them out.  A group of giant rats, attracted by the noise, was satisfied eating orc carcasses and were picked off one by one by Shemp.

Inside the throne room, Dave rushed to heal Illyrio.  He was alive, but had suffered severe head trauma and was a little adle-brained.  The orcs morale held strong, despite continuing losses, and Segur eventually broke free of the skeletal grasp.  He started to attack Dave, when Tariq unleashed the fear wand.

Dave, Dante, and Segur fled.  Dave and Dante were subdued by the other party members.  Segur had to force his way through the war dogs (made a successful overrun) to get away.  Tariq and Dante’s dogs followed after him.  Segur managed to have some of the guards still watching the halls delay the dogs long enough to run past the final guards.  The last surviving orcs poured oil on the floor and lit it on fire, doing some damage to Tariq and the dogs.  The dogs were unwilling to  chase the orcs through the fire and they returned without their prey. 

All in all the party had killed 26 orcs in the battle.  They began to pile up the bodies when Shemp and Eduardo noticed someone coming down the stairs to the guardroom.  It was the rival adventurer party the ‘Fist of Zeus’.  As they started their greetings, Tariq quickly killed Varazes to make sure he didn’t talk to them.  The party directed the Fist towards the pool of life.  The PCs burned all of the bodies and made it out of the dungeon and back to Muntburg without any further encounters.

Session 3 part 2  - The Mayor of “Mudburg”

The party returned to Muntburg on Saturday, October 7th.  Eduardo made sure to give Peiru Danthan, the Corporal of the Watch who greeted visitors to Muntburg, a little cash to direct visitors to his tavern.  Illyrio was still under the effects of his head injury (-10% xp), and needed 2 weeks bed rest.  Unfortunately, he received notice from Madam Selena that the meeting with Boss Horner of the Dock Boys was scheduled within a week, before he was fully recovered. 

Illyrio, Dave the Hermit, Tariq came to the meeting in the brothel.  The caretaker of Hera’s temple, Jimmy, came along to see if he could identify the person who extorted the church.  Boss Drake Horner started by asking about Illyrio’s interest in part ownership of the brothel, explaining that Muntburg was an ‘open’ town, but that the Dock Boys were moving in and always had room for a new crew of ‘earners’.  It wouldn’t stay an open town for long.  Illyrio stated that the Boss must have misunderstood a simple interest in a business opportunity.

They were taken to a torture room in the basement of the brothel.  Two hooded men were strapped in heavy chairs.  Boss Horner removed their hoods, and Jimmy identified them as the men who extorted the church.  The Boss apologized profusely on behalf of ‘Don’ Othon LeFeyd, offering 500 gp worth of silver and gold candelabras for use in the Temple of Hera.  The two men, black and blue, later delivered the goods to the Temple of Hera.  Dave healed them, but failed to persuade them to join his congregation.

After Illyrio rested, the party traveled to Adamas.  Jace paid for Illyrio to be cured of his head injury resulting in him becoming infertile.  While they waited for Illyrio to be heathy enough to travel, Eduardo earned some money gambling, Dave earned some money providing miracles, and both Tariq and Jace both found hawks.  The mages also exchanged spells and wands. 

Before leaving Adamas, the party rolled well and Isaac’s man Murray was able to find a buyer for the Ring of Protection +1 for 30K GP.   Tariq sought, and found, a large henchman, an ex-legionnaire from Adamas named Lenny.  He wasn’t bright or wise, but was immensely strong and towered over him.  He equipped him with plate armor and commissioned a special backpack he could use to ride on his back.    David commissioned custom Plate mail and a shield with Hera embossed on them, and a staff with Hera’s face for his henchman Julia; Tariq commissioned expensive (with a cloak to cover the skulls on the shoulders) and an expensive staff. 

The XP helped everyone except the mages gain a level.  Luckily for them the party came across a 5 headed hydra on the way back from Adams.  There were able to surprise it while it was snacking on some cows, and it was no match for 4 sets of summoned berserkers. 

The party returned to Muntburg (with 2K GP each worth of lab and library materials for the mages being delivered). The henchmen were given raises and bonuses and remained with their employers.  The party gathered supplies for their next expedition to recover the treasures of the IXth Thulian Legion.

The fist of Zeus had been successful, bringing back thousands of GP worth of crystal.  There were also two additional adventuring parties in town, both from Adamas: the “Crimson Band’ and the “Seekers”.  The Village People did not have any contact with them prior to going into the dungeon.

Muntburg was outgrowing its original walls.  Illyrio arranged to meet with the Bailiff Lambert Cooper of Muntburg about obtaining land for the building of an orphanage outside of the walls.  He rolled poorly during his negotiations and the bailiff wouldn’t let him build a walled compound close to the walls unless he would be willing to have the entire party join the Muntburg militia. Illyrio became frustrated with the negotiations and left after making an enemy of the bailiff.  He moved outside of the gates into a neighborhood of mud huts outside of the town gates.  Illyrio promised that he would see Muntburg burn to the ground. 

Illyrio convinced Dave that the bailiff was corrupt and asked for something he couldn’t possibly deliver.  Dave reached out to meet with the Legate to discuss the issue, but was unable to meet prior to the next planned expedition. They left for Dwimmermount the morning of November 3rd

I love how good reaction rolls are always “situation normal” while bad reaction rolls indicate some sort of corruption, defect, or nefarious purpose. This is true even when all rolls are in the open.

I hadn't noticed that, but that's hilarious.

Session 3 Part 3 -Dwimmermount Expedition 3 - search for the spoils of the IXth legion

Village People:

  • Tariq the Harvester – Lvl 4 Mage (Necromancer) – Black Lore of Zahar, Alchemy (x2), Healing, Soothsaying – INT +3, CON -1, WIS +1, CHA +1. New Spells – Magic missile – (Cackling skull of force) - Extremely short necromancer wearing expensive black robes with skull on the shoulders (covered by a cloak in town) – has wand of magic missiles.
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Trained Hawk #2</strong></li>
    	<li><strong>Lenny Davos </strong>– Lvl 1 Fighter – (Legionary) – FS (Weapon +Shield), Siege Engineering – STR+2, INT -1, WIS -1, DEX +1, CON +1, CHA +1 – Heavily muscled former soldier from Adamas, wears Plate +Shield, fighting w/ spear or a silver short sword.&nbsp;</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    
  • Eduardo aka ‘Keyser Soze’ – Lvl 5 Thief (Cat Burglar) – Cat Burglary, Gambling, Precise Shooting, Lip Reading - DEX +2, CON -2, WIS +1, CHA +1 – Budding real estate tycoon and mastermind. Wears leather and armed with Imperial Legion X-Bow
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Ukla the Quick</strong> – Lvl 2 Barbarian (Pit Fighter)–Running, Combat Reflexes, Gambling – STR +1, CON +2, CHA -1 – Ex-gladiator turned adventurer – fights with net and trident.</li>
    	<li><strong>‘Shemp’ Fellippe</strong> – Lvl 1 Thief (carouser apprentice) – Labor (cook), Craft (brewer), Eavesdropping – WIS +1, DEX +3, CON -1, CHA +1</li>
    	<li><strong>Boy</strong> – War dog</li>
    	<li><strong>Girl</strong> – War dog</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    
  • Dave ‘the Hermit’ Carrin – Lvl 5 Cleric (Hermit) of Hera – Laying on Hands, Naturalism, Command – STR +1, DEX -1, INT -1 CON+1, WIS +1, CHA -1. Wears custom made plate (with symbol of Hera) + large shield with Embossing of Hera on the front (+2 AC and enc.)  Simple, uneducated, but intuitive.
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Julia Feny – </strong>Lvl 2 Priestess (Medican) of Hera – Laying on Hands, Healing x2 – WIS +1, CON +1, CHA +2, ambitious, charismatic novice with a good heart (in town)</li>
    	<li><strong>Jimmy Bakerson –</strong> lvl 0 Laborer – Endurance, Labor (janitor), Animal Husbandry, Labor (farmer), caretaker of the temple of Hera (in town)</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    
  • Jace – Lvl 4 Mage (Elementalist) – Elementalism (fire), Naturalism, Alchemy, Magical Engineering – STR+1, DEX -1, INT +2. Spells – New spell -  Mirror Image (smoke resulting in copies) – has wand of fear and wears flame red robes with a ruby tipped staff.  Quiet pyromaniac.
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Red Hawk</strong></li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    
  • Illyrio Sicarus – Lvl 4 Assassin (Bravo) – Fighting Style (two weapons), Intimidation, Acrobatics – STR +2, DEX +1, CON +2, CHA +1 - Wears leather
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li>‘Ghost’ - Guard Wolf – white w/ blue eyes.</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    

Armed with 500 ft. of rope, the party decided to tackle the elevator shaft in to find the remains of the spoils of the IXth Legion.  The party soon found out that although the treasure was good, the dangers were signiciantly increased in the Halls of Lesser Secrets.  

They made it to the elevator shaft without any problem.  Eduardo managed to scout at the base of the elevator before helping everyone except for Shemp and the donkey climb down.  They opened the door to find 3 giant tropical spiders approaching down a 20’ wide hallway.  They were able to dispatch them, but the noise attracted a minotaur patrol, who opened a nearby door and attacked.  The party took them down as well (Illyrio managing to successfully tumble behind one for a backstab), stopping to remove the minotaur horns.

The party hit a wall when they were unable to decipher the meaning of notes on the map near an area that turned out to be part of a teleportation maze/trap.  They backtracked and explored a corner of the level.  They discovered:

  • The frog like Ranine - Jace charmed one,  the party was scared  away by the threats of a Ranine Priest
  • Strange floating blue spheres
  •  A Termaxian mummy, the sight of which struck Eduardo and Ukla dumb with fear.  
  • A magically dark/lit  room with writing all over the walls.
  • Conufsion causing frescos - causing Illyrio to speak gibberish before attacking the party
  • shadows drawn by the sounds of intra-party conflict; a significant problem as they were immune to normal weapons.

Only the combination of Jace's desperate last stand with his fear wand and bad rolls by the shadows avoided a total team wipe.  They managed to get back to town with a decent haul (6K EP, +1 ring of protection, a treasure map, and a high quality shield), but with Ukla and Eduardo down for the count.  They also learned the extent of the face's knowledge, which should be helpful in crafting questions in the future.  

The Village People finally realized the importance of magical weapons.  The value of a skilled thief was also magnified when the mummy's curse took him away.  We ended the session as they walked into town.  

 

 

Yeah,bad rolls = omg unfair, good rolls = business as usual.  In this case the PC rolled.  In fairness to the pcs, they knew that it was fair, but Dave the Hermit is gullible, and Illyrio was exaggerating " in  character."

 

Interlude – Rufus’ Raiders Spring Break Mission

  • Rufus Hypnol– Lvl 3 Barbarian Death Dealer – Ambushing, Survival, Running, Armor Training STR +2, CHA -1, Switching to plate mail and armed with a two handed sword – Would be gangster
  • Dante – Lvl 4 Assassin (Assassin-For-Hire) – Precise Shooting, Bargaining, Fighting Style (two weapons), Weapon Finesse, Intimidation – STR +1, INT +2 WIS -2, DEX +3, CON -1, wearing custom skull helmet, Plate mail, short sword, war hammer +1, unearthly appearance (corpselike skin, black and red eyes) – death worshipping assassin.
    • War dog - Finn, Hunting dog - Scout, Guard Wolf - Balto
    • Murphy aka Telemachus – 1st lvl freed slave fighter – Labor, (others TBD), STR +2, WIS -2, CON +1
  • Lazarus Deathbrood – Lvl 1 Cleric Exorcist – Sensing Evil, and Intimidation, INT -1, WIS +1, DEX +2, CON +1 CHA +1 Wears Banded Plate under a black cassock, armed with shield and sickle or a scythe, Budding Cleric of Death.

The session began with character creation for a new player.  For the first time, both characters rolled by a player had over -3 or more total attribute bonuses.  I allowed him to re-roll.  He choose a cleric and rolled up the exorcist template. 

Since it had been a while since Rufus had played and Rufus had not yet received his share of the sale of a +1 ring of protection, we ret-conned what he had been doing.  Rufus met with Boss Horner of the Dock Boys, who praised him as a good earner.  Boss Horner agreed to talk to his Capo into allowing Rufus to invest 1800 gp in one of his casinos in Adamas (for a 200 gp ‘finder’s fee).  Rufus also spent some time in Adamas learning how to be a gangster (spent days towards learning Profession-Gangster).

Meanwhile Dante and Lazarus wanted to build a temple/fortress of Death in Muntburg.  They arranged a meeting with Bailiff Cooper with Corporal Peiru.  However Lazarus rolled a 3 on his reaction roll, and the Bailiff (probably tired of adventurers bugging him), immediately threw them out of his office.  Lazarus urged Dante to try to intimidate him, but Dante thought better of starting a fight with the entire town. 

The Raiders prepared to enter the mountain.  Isaac told them of a need to investigate a stairway near the moon pool operation, as there were undead coming up from below.  Despite Rufus and Dante having skills geared towards being lightly armored, they both decided to go into the dungeon heavily armored.  (Dante forgot he had a wolf, so the wolf remained outside.)

       The Raiders decided to use the main entrance into the mountain (to ask the stone head a question).  When they entered they found a mercenary company, the Crimson Band, led by the Chandler brothers (and their adventuring group).  Daniau Chandler demanded proof of a permit to enter the dungeon, which they provided.  They found out that the Crimson Band received their authorization from the Despot of Adamas, not the local legate from Muntburg.  The party tried to hire some additional men to travel with them, but the smallest group he would hire out (10 men and a member of the Crimson Band), were more meat shields then the party wanted to handle.  Additional questions from Daniau were cut short from a growling intimidation check from the red-eyed, death mask wearing Dante (total intimidation roll of 13). 

They travelled to the stone head and asked about the current residents of level 2b (by showing the head their map of the stairs).  The head replied that it didn’t know.  They made it to the unexplored portion of the 1st level without any wandering monsters.  They ended up at a door where they heard voices complaining about guard duty.  They opened the door to find spirit guards talking.  They ignored them and found their bones.   Lazarus left the bones instead of collecting them for burial. 

They entered the next room and found several marble pedestals. In front of each were metal plates.  There was also a stairway going down and many fire beetles. As combat ensued, it was clear what a difference a few levels make.   The one-time party killer beetles was merely a speed bump for the party.  After experimenting a little, they were able to figure out that the pedestals contained visions of the past, telling a story of the taking of Dwimmermount by the Thulians, later showing mages commanding armies and a group standing around a giant metal head of Terms Termax and speaking. 

The party found the stairs to the Reliquary (as the head called the level).  They found the scene of an old battle at the bottom of the stairs.  Lazarus used his sense evil power and sensed an evil presence WSW from their location.  The party agreed to head that way.  They travelled through a room filled with six columns, each covered with a letter or symbol and an abstract sculpture at the end.  Dante pressed the letters in sequence, spelling out a word.  As he pressed each letter, it lit up. As he completed the word he felt divine energy flow through his body.  Luckily, he was able to handle the energy (rolled a 17 on his save vs. spells) and found himself imbued with the power to cast detect magic 1x daily.  Lazarus tried the same and found himself with the ability to cast sanctuary 1x daily.  Rufus decided not to press his luck and didn’t touch anything. 

They entered an empty chamber with exits to the north, where they assumed the evil sensed by Lazarus was waiting behind a closed door, and the west.  They checked the passage to the west to clear it before battling the evil and found a room filled with many ruined books.  They spent several turns searching and found a book in surprisingly good condition on one of the shelves lining the wall.  Pulling on the book caused the entire bookshelf to open revealing a small room containing several ancient books and scrolls in good shape.  Dante used his newly found power and found that one of the books was magical; a book that explained a way to gain inner wisdom.  They snatched it up.  They decided that the remaining 300 lbs of books were valuable but decided to come back after they took care of whatever evil lay near. 

As they backtracked to face the evil to the north, several members of the party (other than the Rufus, whose barbarian instincts served him well) were surprised by 2 horse sized segmented worms.  They attacked, paralyzing Dante and Lazarus.  Rufus and the dogs attacked.  Murphy dragged Dante’s body to safety before attacking.  The worms moved on to Murphy and one of the dogs, paralyzing them as well.  Rufus briefly thought of fleeing (he was almost 4th level after all and didn’t want to start over) but changed his mind when he realized he would not be able to get past the worms.  Rufus and the last dog became paralyzed, but not before killing one of the worms.  Luckily Lazarus was able to beat the worm’s initiative roll and his paralysis wore off before the worm could ingest anyone.  Lazarus was able to survive long enough for Dante to awaken and they killed the last worm. 

Shaken but unhurt from the encounter, they rested for a turn before opening the door to the north to find a winged demonic statue on a large pedestal in the middle of the room.  As they approached the statue, it came to life (a gargoyle) and they attacked.  It was able to fly, making it difficult to fight.  They also found that it was unaffected by their missile weapons (they bounced off).  Dante had Murphy use his shield to boost his jump, leapt up, and attacked the monster with his magical hammer.  It worked, injuring the beast.  Unable to affect it with weapons, Rufus changed tactics as well.  He jumped up and grabbed the creature, throwing it to the ground.  After taking a few blows, he and Lazarus were able to hold it down for Dante to smash it with his magical hammer.  

Finding no treasure, the party decided to get some help from Issac’s men near the moon pool to bring the books back to town.  They made it back up to the first level, but on the way through the hallways they barely escaped a falling patch of green slime.  They threw a flask of lit oil on it and turned away, making it safely through a series of rooms to Fabricio, the leader of Issac’s moon pool garrison.  He agreed to lend a few men to carry the books for a small fee.  They retrieved the books and made it back to Muntburg without any trouble. 

The Raiders took the books, along with the first season’s shipment of moon pool water and azoth lined flasks to Adamas for Issac’s henchman Murray to sell.  The sale of the recovered books resulted in enough XP for everyone to raise in level.  The party also decided to sell the magical book, which was valued at 25,000 gp, but they were not able to sell it the first month. 

 

(For the first 2 hours, all we did was non-combat, non-exploration, campaign activities.  I never imagined that the players and I would remain engaged, but it was awesome.  I must figure out how to better address multiple player interactions and include everyone. I might move some of the campaign stuff to email or forums.) 

Session 4 – Part 1

Village People:

  • Tariq the Harvester – Lvl 4 Mage (Necromancer) – Black Lore of Zahar, Alchemy (x2), Healing, Soothsaying – INT +3, CON -1, WIS +1, CHA +1. Extremely short necromancer wearing expensive black robes with skull on the shoulders (covered by a cloak in town) – has wand of magic missiles. New Spell – Deathless Minion – (no spell signature yet)
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Trained Hawk #2</strong></li>
    	<li><strong>Lenny Davos </strong>– Lvl 1 Fighter – (Legionary) – FS (Weapon +Shield), Siege Engineering – STR+2, INT -1, WIS -1, DEX +1, CON +1, CHA +1 – Heavily muscled former soldier from Adamas, wears Plate +Shield, fighting w/ spear or a silver short sword.&nbsp;</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    

 

  • Eduardo aka ‘Keyser Soze’ – Lvl 5 Thief (Cat Burglar) – Cat Burglary, Gambling, Precise Shooting, Lip Reading - DEX +2, CON -2, WIS +1, CHA +1 – Budding real estate tycoon and mastermind. Wears leather and armed with Imperial Legion X-Bow
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Ukla the Quick</strong> – Lvl 2 Barbarian (Pit Fighter)–Running, Combat Reflexes, Gambling – STR +1, CON +2, CHA -1 – Ex-gladiator turned adventurer – fights with net and trident.</li>
    	<li><strong>‘Shemp’ Fellippe</strong> – Lvl 1 Thief (carouser apprentice) – Labor (cook), Craft (brewer), Eavesdropping – WIS +1, DEX +3, CON -1, CHA +1</li>
    	<li><strong>Boy</strong> – War dog</li>
    	<li><strong>Girl</strong> – War dog</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    

 

  • Dave ‘the Hermit’ Carrin – Lvl 5 Cleric (Hermit) of Hera – Laying on Hands, Naturalism, Command – STR +1, DEX -1, INT -1 CON+1, WIS +1, CHA -1. Wears custom made plate (with symbol of Hera) + large shield with Embossing of Hera on the front (+2 AC and enc.)  Simple, uneducated, but intuitive.
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Julia Feny – </strong>Lvl 2 Priestess (Medican) of Hera – Laying on Hands, Healing x2 – WIS +1, CON +1, CHA +2, ambitious, charismatic novice with a good heart (in town)</li>
    	<li><strong>Jimmy Bakerson –</strong> lvl 0 Laborer – Endurance, Labor (janitor), Animal Husbandry, Labor (farmer), caretaker of the temple of Hera (in town)</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    

 

  • Jace – Lvl 4 Mage (Elementalist) – Elementalism (fire), Naturalism, Alchemy, Magical Engineering – STR+1, DEX -1, INT +2. has wand of fear and wears flame red robes with a ruby tipped staff.  Quiet pyromaniac. New Spell – Hands of Stone Strength (Ogre Power) – Target becomes imbued with the power of an earth elemental – Skin hardening and turning the color of polished granite and hands becoming stone.  
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Red Hawk</strong></li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    

 

  • Illyrio Sicarus – Lvl 4 Assassin (Bravo) – Fighting Style (two weapons), Intimidation, Acrobatics – STR +2, DEX +1, CON +2, CHA +1 - Wears leather
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li>‘Ghost’ - Guard Wolf – white w/ blue eyes.</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    

The Village People ended the last session with two of their members struck dumb with terror.  Their first priority was to travel to Adamas to return them to normal and spend their hard earned treasure. 

After planning how they were going to lead the dumbstruck Ukla and Eduardo to Adamas, they took it slow and sure.  After a quick trip to the Temple of Hera, both were returned to their senses.  Ukla briefly considered leaving Eduardo’s service, but he remained loyal. 

Eduardo’s first act was to look for a dwarven brewer to hire to improve his tavern’s business in Muntburg.  Lucky for him it was Dwarven Beerfest in Adamas (had him roll % to see how many dwarven brewmasters were in town.  He rolled in the 90s, hence Beerfest!).  He was able to secure a long time contract with a prominent Dwarven Brewing Clan from the dwarven city of Vol Darul  to the south.  This deal provides him with a permanent +10% to his profit roll every month! (a 3d6 roll).  He and Ukla spent most of their time gambling, although he did find out the potential cost of commissioning living panther statues with true seeing to serve as silent guardians for the tavern. 

The two mages had never studied after advancing to 4th level.  Jace went to the leader of his the Elemntalist College in Adamas, Mage Angelica Ancel.  After making arrangements to purchase additional books and lab materials for shipment to Muntburg, Tariq travelled with Lenny to Yethylreom to study with his teacher, a necromancer Enchanter.  

Dave was busy.  He had business back in Muntburg with Legate Verodart, but that wasn’t for a few weeks.  Before Dave left Muntburg, he had spoken with his henchperson Julia about expanding his church to the neighboring villages near Muntburg.  She travelled with him to Adamas to try to recruit 3 priests/priestesses of Hera to join his church.  She was successful, and 3 preistesses joined the growing church.  He also hired every free engineer in Adamas to quickly build small chapels in all 7 villages under the authority of the Legate of Muntburg.  He only had 3 weeks before the harvest festival of Hera.  He spent extra gold, but was able to have them finished in time.  The plan was that the 4 priestesses would rotate to cover the various chapels around the area. 

Meanwhile Illyrio decided to invest some money into a trading venture.  He did a little market research and decided to trade between Adamas and Yethlereom.  He spent 3 weeks finding merchants, renting barges/wagons, and travelling.  Making only approx. 150 gp profit, he decided to hire a smuggler, merchant, or venturer henchman before his next venture.

Dave travelled back to Muntburg to meet with the Legate on behalf of Illyrio.  He also brought back Julia and her 3 new henchwomen priestesses.   Legate Verodart welcomed Dave, thanked him for the free miracles for the town, and apologized for his Bailiff’s paranoia (‘it’s his job to be suspicious’).   He agreed to let Illyrio and Dave build their orphanage (AKA Illyrio’s school for wayward assassins) and they could have the land for free.  He had 2 conditions, 1) they had to agree to come to Muntburg’s defense if attacked, and 2) they had to pay 500 to 1000 gp towards improvements to the area outside of the gates, which he would match out of his personal funds.  The money would be used to pave roads, build wells, etc.  Dave agreed.    Finally, Dave arranged to provide plenty of food and drink for the harvest festival (using Eduardo’s tavern to cater the event).    He travelled back to Adamas to meet the rest of the party.

              The party had planned to give the (likely magical) shield to the Despot of Adamas as a gift to gain favor.  Unfortunately, they had no direct connection.   Illyrio spent a week and 80 gp (we did a single roll determining the time and the cost) and managed to get a spot in line while the despot was holding court.  Despot Cheron was attended by Bishop Saidon of Zeus and Mage General Renfred Fidlo. They presented not only a shield from the fabled IXth Legion, but also a Thulian crossbow.  The party (minus Tariq, who was still studying in Yethlrreom) made a favorable impression.  The despot was interested in their tale of the dungeon (although they left out the part about their treasure map).  As a result, they received payment for their gift (5,000 GP).   The despot told them of another party that had purchased the right to plunder the dungeon and form a mercenary company, the Crimson Band.  The party told them of Isaac’s deal with the Legate and the Despot made it clear that he approved the Village People’s exploration of the dungron and recognized Isaac’s deal with the Legate of Muntburg (both in writing). 

              Bishop Saidon spoke briefly of his days as an adventurer before asking about any spoons they may have found.  Brother Dave also talked to him of the friction between the church of Hera in Muntburg and Curate Louys of Zeus.  The bishop assured them that he would talk to the Curate and the party was invited to a royal feast later that night (at a table in the back of course). Eduardo managed to use his skill in reading lips to pick up some valuable information regarding an illicit affair between a (female) senator and another senator’s adult son.  Eduardo decidide to keep the secret in reserve to use at a later time. 

              The entire party managed to make it back to Muntburg in time for the harvest fest (Tariq having no encounters on the road).  The festival was a big success, except for a suspicious fire and a few fights that broke out.  The party prepared to head into the dungeon two days later. 

I love how you've managed to really get the party embedded in the world around them - that's awesome! My own group has (sort of) two main parties, affectionately known as the A-team and the B-team (they're a creative lot). A-team was the first group chronologically, with the highest level characters as a result, and they've mostly been a wandering (often fleeing) band of deadly vagrants. Admittedly, they pissed off some pretty nasty people, which has required the ability to relocate on short notice, but I'm seeing the far newer B-team (which includes some new players) getting much more involved in the surrounding world, even going so far as trying to set up shop in a bandit stronghold they captured. There's something deeply satisfying about one's players buying in enough to put down roots, and your party appears to be doing so in spades...anyway, your campaign sounds great! Really enjoying the write-ups. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

[quote="bobloblah"]

Really enjoying the write-ups. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

[/quote]

Thanks.  I was inspired by the other campaign write-ups here (yours included).  It also helps to remember what happened if there is a gap between sessions (and in my attempts to weave all of the random stufff into some kind of narrative).

BTW are both your parties actually seperate groups of players, or the same core of players choosing to play a different group depending on who shows up that night?

More the latter, although until recently there were players who were really only in one or the other. Unfortunately, the group has experienced a real-world rupture for a variety of reasons, so for the recent past it has basically been the same players. On the plus side, it means I’m recruiting again.
:slight_smile:

Session 4 – Part 2

On their way out of town, Peiru Danthan of the watch told Eduardo that there was a white haired adventurer who came back from the mountain who had symptoms like Eduardo and Ukla had when they exited the dungeon.  The party entered the dungeon with their animals, Ukla, Lenny, and Shemp.  They entered the mountain through the front door and ran into the Crimson Band.  When confronted, they showed them the order from the Despot of Adamas.  They also offered to sell their map of the first level to the band once they got a chance to make a copy. 

They made it to the elevator without issue.  They used the key to lock the door after entereing, leaving the animals and Shemp to guard the door and went down the shaft.  They finally figured out the teleportation traps.  On the way to the hidden treasure room on the map they found a room filled with webs (avoided), a temple to death, and a room with a giant Terms statue.  Right before they reached their destination, Tariq waited at a door to see what happened if they waited in a teleporting trap room.  They were actually surprised when they were teleported to a strange room.  By amazing luck, they were all teleported to the same room (that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.  Not DM error, nope, just luck). 

They heard battle to the west.  They found minotaurs fighting a group of short sword wielding humans.  They choose to aid the humans.   During the fight, a summoned zombie struck a human figure, seemingly with no effect.  Fearing they made the wrong decision, they helped finish off the minotaurs anyway. 

After the fight, the party discovered that the leader of the group, Kriska, was willing to meet them and ask for assistance against the minotaurs.  They also found out that they could see in the dark and had lived their entire life in the dungeon.  A second group appeared, however they were ratmen!  The party realized that the ‘humans’ were actually wererats.  They told them they would meet later.  They waited for the teleportation room reset and ended up in 3 groups all over the level.  By tracking light sources, and yelling, they were able to meet.  As they neared  their goal, Ukla noticed a group approaching from a side hallway. (Despite raising chance of a random encounter to 3 in 6 and several rolls, the party eas lucky and had NO encounters during this perios).

There was a group of 2 armed men, a lightly armored woman in the back, and two men and a woman dressed in clothing in the middle (apparently mages). One of the fighters matched the description of the person Corpoal Danthan of the Muntburg Watch identified as the person struck dumb with terror.  A red headed female mage was the apparent leader, who introduced the group as the Heralds of the Silver Dawn.  With them was Shemp. 

Seeing Shemp, the party knew that their animals were unlikely to have survived.  The mage identified herself as Alina.  After some initial parley, she goaded her party to attack, but Shemp begged her not to fight.  As they settled down and agreed to go their separate ways, one of the mages suddenly cast a spell without making a sound!  (silent casting) The party was surprised and several members, including some casters, went down (I had decided at the beginning of the campaign to allow saves vs. sleep (-1 per lvl of caster) when the party cast it against monsters, so I used the same rules here).  Luckily Tariq made his save and managed to win initiative for the next round.  He summoned undead berserkers which kept the fighters from slaying the sleeping party members.   

The Heralds rolled incredibly badly (all in the open), and the party rolled well.  The party managed to awaken before anyone was slain.  Making things worse for the Heralds, Tariq was able to summon a ghostly spirit which possessed one of the mages (charm person spell).  The fighters were slain, Shemp was wrestled down, and the remaining 3 heralds fled (in the middle of the battle). 

The sounds of the battle attracted the attention of many frog men in a nearby room, who immediately attacked, surprising some.  The party handled those creatures relatively easily, as there were several elemental and undead berserkers remaining from the last fight.  Although Lenny was hit with a fear spell, the party ended up wounded but victorious with two shaman frogman prisoners.  (We ended the session there, but the next session immediately picked up the round after the frog-man fight).

Interesting that you added a saving throw for Sleep. What made you decide to do so (other than it being the "tactical nuke" of old-school play)?

My own players are utterly terrified (and rightly so!) of that spell.

[quote="bobloblah"]

Interesting that you added a saving throw for Sleep. What made you decide to do so (other than it being the "tactical nuke" of old-school play)?

[/quote]

I ran ACKs as a series of one-shots.  There were 3 mages in the party.  At first it was for a sense of balance netween spells.  It was o.k. that 1st level spells had different strenths, but sleep was SO much more effective. (Spells based on templates or random rolls).   I felt bad for the mages who DIDN'T have sleep, so I decided to give it a save mechanic - save vs. spell - caster level. 

I figured that the most common foe that sleep was used on (1 hd creatures who save as fighters) had only a 10% chance of a save.  The players, coming from 5e and Castles and Crusades, didn't know any better.  Sleep still was a tactical nuke, but now maybe 1 foe would save.   It was the spell of choice, until one of the players managed to learn summon beserkers . . .

Indeed! Kudos to Alex for coming up with a spell comparable to Sleep, i.e. Summon Berserkers (I actually think Charm Person is in the same ballpark).

I'm guessing making wererats immune to attacks in human form was to give the players an early tell that something was up?

I didn't remember exactly (I'm a little behind in my summaries) but I 'm pretty sure one of the mages intentionally had a berserker attack one of the 'humans' for one round, in case they decided to wipe everyone out.  

As for weapon immunity in human form, that's just a house rule (all lycanthropes have weapon immunity in human form).  The players assumed they were all undead until after the fight.  

Session 5 – part 1

The session began with the party still in the dungeon.  After a round spent talking, Illyrio, Jace, and Ukla tried to head off the Heralds before they made it out of the dungeon, Jace taking Tariq’s wand.  They ran to the elevator, taking a different route than the path of the Herald’s retreat.  While they were gone, Tariq spoke to the charmed mage.  His name was Nantier, and he made it clear that there was no love lost between he and Alina, the leader of the Heralds that Illyrio was hunting.

Illyrio’s group made it to the elevator and could see 3 figures climbing up the rope; about 60 feet up.  The lead climber, the thief, had a hooded lantern hanging from her waist.  Alina was next and the remaining mage followed up the rear.  Jace targeted Alina, she was struck, and she fell.  (I used the climbing rules from Veins of the Earth).  She also caused Betan (the mage beneath her) have to roll.  He didn’t fall, but slid 10 feet down and was frozen in fear at 50 ft. up.  After initiative was rolled, before the party could act, Betan suddenly fell as the rope was cut by the thief, who managed to climb to safety in the dark (after dousing her lantern).  Rolling damage (1d6 x 1d10) for the fall for both mages resulted in vastly different results.  Alina landed on her head, her brains splattering all over the floor (48 damage), while Betan’s fall was cushioned by landing on the corpse of Alina (6 damage).  (this severly limited Illyrio’s plans to bring Alina back to life using the pool of life on the second level, only to repeatedly kill her for vengeance for his dead wolf).  Betan immediately surrendered.

The party tied up the mage, searched him, and striped Alina’s body.  They asked Betan what everything did, which matched Jace’s Magical Engineering rolls. The loot included a ring of protection, a cloak of protection, a magical demon headed dagger, and a potion of ESP.  They made it back to the party.

Meanwhile Tariq and Eduardo found out from Shemp and the charmed mage (Nantier) more about the Heralds and their equipment:

  • One of the fighters and the thief were just mercenaries, the other fighter was a true believer in the vision of Terms Termax. 
  • The merc fighter (Philippe) had a very strange broad sword without a point and a split in the middle.  Per Nantier it was apparently a magical sword called ‘Swordbreaker’ (which Illyrio claimed).
  • The fire in the church of Hera during the harvest festival was set by Alina.
  • They used magic to open the door to the elevator, put the animals to sleep, and killing the dogs, wolf and hawks. 
  • Nantier was looking for his opportunity to get rid of Alina anyway.
  • There were 2 magical shields (Dave got one), magical chain (Ukla), and Nantier’s scroll of Clairvoyance (which they let him keep).

The party went into the room where the frog men were, finding 4 pools of water.  The water was potable but tasted bad.

*** Spoilers ahead *****

 They opened the secret door marked on their map and found the remains of the treasures of the IXth Legion. There were various trinkets, some chests with gold silver and copper, several empty chests, and a smaller coffer containing a humanoid reptilian skull.  When the box the opened, the skull turned in its velvet lined box to face Eduardo.   He immediately closed it and gave it to Jace. 

The party spoke to the frogmen shaman they had captured.  They spoke rough common.  They explained that the party had already met their leader.  The party released them, telling them to return to their group and let them know they would agree to non-aggression.  The larger shaman demanded some of the treasure in return.  The party gave them some silver in a small chest and they agreed to leave (their luck continued as rolls went their way and the ranine didn’t come back in force to take it all). 

Jace had to use up an elemental strength spell (ogre power) but the party managed to get the treasure to the elevator.  They had to figure out how to get it up the elevator shaft. (Forgot to mention in the past summary, the PCs found a secret room near the elevator with instructions in a strange language.  Unable to read them, they took some paper and charcoal to make a rubbing of the raised letters, planning to take it to Adamas for translation.)

*** End spoilers

Eduardo took his time and was able to climb back up without a problem.  Luckily most of the rope was still there at the top (another lucky roll).  One more spell later resulted in everyone getting up safely. 

In Muntburg, the party went to the local lawyer to draft a non-compete/peace accord between the Village People and Rufus’s Raiders.  They also met Richal, a member of the Seekers, one of the competing adventurer bands.  They asked him to translate the rubbing from the elevator.  He could not, but suggested that they take it to the Azure tower in Adamas, where they could find someone to cast read languages. Richal did ask about the dungeon and inquired about maps or other info.  Dave also asked a young mage working as a scribe to make a couple of copies of their map of the first level (one to sell to the crimson band and one to sell to the seekers).

The end of the month resulted end of month expenses and income.  They Village People each received their share of Isaac’s Moon Pool operation.  Eduardo had a lot of bonuses to his roll and rolled well.  The Dwarven ale contract with the paid off in a major way, as taverns and Inns on nearby towns of Gloris and Duros set up purchasing agreements for the basic dwarven ale, effectively doubling his investment value in the business.

Legate Verodart asked to meet with Dave.  He offered his thanks for the miracles provided by the church of Hera for free.  He also told of his appreciation for the Harvest festival.  As a result, the Legate offered the church of Hera a 25% share of the tithe from his personal lands.  Dave thanked the Legate for his generosity. 

Eduardo asked Madam Selena Cooper to set up a meeting with Boss Drake Horner of the Dock Boys.  One was set for Friday December 1st.  The party delivered the maps for a fine fee.  On Friday, Eduardo met with Boss Horner, agreeing that the Dock Boys would leave the inn alone in return for a valuable secret that Eduardo had learned in Adamas (one worth a fair amount of gold).  He agreed to give the Dock Boys any info in the future for a share of the return.  Boss Horner agreed. 

Jace and Tariq identified the magic items (100 gp gem, identify spell, and a roll), finding out that the skull was an ancient lizard man descendant imbued with the spirit of an ancestor.  It spoke an unknown tongue, but had knowledge of certain facts.  It also could indicate directions to a certain location.  The sword was “Swordbreaker”, a +2 sword that gave the user the sunder proficiency for free, and a bonus to break swords and daggers.

In Adamas, Illyrio interviewed Charles Waverman (aka Chucky Wave) a Venturer, but ended up hiring Leo Geotz, a merchant traveler Venturer instead.  Jace purchased a black furred guard wolf with custom barding named ‘Cinder’ and Tariq purchased yet another hawk.  Tariq took on Nantier as a henchman, and Tariq and Jace traded spells with him to obtain sleep (a gas) and knock (hands of force appear to force open check or door).  Tariq agreed to pay for the cost for Nantier to change his repitoire to add choking grasp.  

The party bought some horses and travelled to Adamas to resupply and sell their gains.  They met with the Despot in a much more relaxed setting of an office in his palace.  There they gave him the gifts of the IXth Legion they had recovered.  He paid them the value and invited them to a state dinner on Sunday.  The party attended, however Eduardo was unable to turn up any rumors. 

The Village People made it back to Muntburg.  The prepared for a trip back into the dungeon with the intent to get the elevator to work.

 

Moss Massacre

Session 5 Part 2 - Expedition 5

Village People:

  • Tariq the Harvester – Lvl 4 Mage (Necromancer) – Black Lore of Zahar, Alchemy (x2), Healing, Soothsaying – INT +3, CON -1, WIS +1, CHA +1. Extremely short necromancer wearing expensive black robes with skull on the shoulders (covered by a cloak in town) – has wand of magic missiles. New Spell – Sleep – (shoot gas into area). Wears Ring of Protection +1.
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Nantier</strong> – Lvl 3 mage – Quiet Magic, Collegiate Wizardry, Leadership – INT +1, CON +1, DEX +1.&nbsp; Former member of the Heralds looking for power and prestige.&nbsp;</li>
    	<li><strong>Trained Hawk #3</strong></li>
    	<li><strong>Lenny Davos </strong>– Lvl 2 Fighter – (Legionary) – FS (Weapon +Shield), Siege Engineering – STR+2, INT -1, WIS -1, DEX +1, CON +1, CHA +1 – Heavily muscled former soldier from Adamas, wears Plate + Shield, fighting w/ spear or a silver short sword.&nbsp;</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    
  • Eduardo aka ‘Keyser Soze’ – Lvl 5 Thief (Cat Burglar) – Cat Burglary, Gambling, Precise Shooting, Lip Reading - DEX +2, CON -2, WIS +1, CHA +1 – Budding real estate tycoon and mastermind. Wears leather and armed with Imperial Legion X-Bow
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Ukla the Quick</strong> – Lvl 2 Barbarian (Pit Fighter)–Running, Combat Reflexes, Gambling – STR +1, CON +2, CHA -1 – Ex-gladiator turned adventurer – fights with net and trident.</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    
  • Dave ‘the Hermit’ Carrin – Lvl 5 Cleric (Hermit) of Hera – Laying on Hands, Naturalism, Command – STR +1, DEX -1, INT -1 CON+1, WIS +1, CHA -1. Wears custom made plate (with symbol of Hera) + large shield with Embossing of Hera on the front (+2 AC and enc.)  Simple, uneducated, but intuitive.
  • Jace – Lvl 4 Mage (Elementalist) – Elementalism (fire), Naturalism, Alchemy, Magical Engineering – STR+1, DEX -1, INT +2. has wand of fear and wears flame red robes with a ruby tipped staff.  Quiet pyromaniac.
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Cinder – </strong>Black guard wolf with custom red leather barding<strong>.</strong></li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    
  • Illyrio Sicarus – Lvl 4 Assassin (Bravo) – Fighting Style (two weapons), Intimidation, Acrobatics – STR +2, DEX +1, CON +2, CHA +1 - Wears leather
    <ul style="list-style-type:circle">
    	<li><strong>Leo Getz</strong> – Lvl 1 Venturer – Merchant Traveler – Animal Husbandry, Alertness, Riding. Budding tycoon looking for profit.</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
    

The Village People planned a quick trip into the mountain to get the elevator working.  All of the other henchman and hirelings were left in town.  (Shemp was busy with hijinks, Julia with performing miracles. Illyrio wanted to bring Leo into the dungeon to try to get him up to 2nd level ASAP). 

The party made it to the elevator without a problem.  They managed to use the translated rubbings from the metal plates near the elevator to make the elevator work.  After some experimentation they managed to take the elevator platform back up to the 1st level.  They decided to take it up from there.  Using their elevator key to open the strange circular doors, they were hit with a wave of damp fetid air.  The entire level was dimly lit from slowly blinking panels glowing with red light. 

The party reached a door.  Opening it, they found an oddly shaped room with patches of black moss.  The patch of moss nearest the door formed a humanoid shaped and pointed toward Lenny.  He suddenly charged into the room, drawing his weapon.  Ukla was also affected, standing still, speaking gibberish.  one of the mold patches formed a humanoid shape and cast a magic missile spell!  As combat ensued, the party contemplated just closing the door, but Tariq did not want to leave Lenny behind, so Dave and Illyrio entered the room. Ukla, confused, also moved in to attack.  The party found that the mold were easy to kill, but only made an effort to kill the patches near the door, fearful of being attacked and losing their mind.

That was a fatal error, as one of the patches formed a humanoid shape and cast a fireball, killing everyone except for Illyrio, Jace (who made his save), and Tariq (who rolled well on his mortal wounds chart and ended up with his genitals burned off, but with one HP).  They slammed the door.  Tariq and Jace summoned some berserkers who managed to go in, cleared out the room and collected the bodies.  In order to get everyone back to the elevator, Jace cast Elemental Strength on himself and Tariq, and the standing members of the party took the fallen members back to the elevator (except for poor Leo who was incinerated).  They took the time to use the elevator key to reseal the level as they left. Luckily they did not run into any wandering monsters on the way.

Getting back to the 1st floor, they managed to get help from the troops in the moon pool operation and managed to get back into Muntburg.  They quickly healed up at the temple of Hera, got a wagon, and headed over the snowy roads to Adamas.  There they headed to the temples for some quick restore life and limb spells.  Unfortunately, there were only 4 spells available, and they choose to wait a week to raise Nantier.   None of the risen party members were unscathed:

  • Ukla found that his sword arm was possessed with an evil spirit.
  • Eduardo needed a long recovery but awakened to find a small imp whispering dark secrets into his ear.
  • Lenny also needed a long recovery, and other noticed him speaking to an invisible friend (a mischievous sprite familiar).
  • Dave found that all of his hair (including body hair) turned stark white.  Whenever Dave speaks to someone, he inspires a feeling of discomfort as sentient beings feel shame for their past wrongs, hence the -2 to reaction roles.  As I ruled with Dante, there is also a corresponding +1 reaction roll in certain situations (dealing with those of pure heart (e.g. unicorns, virgins, true innocents, certain other members of the clergy, etc.)).
  • Nantier’s spirit did not respond to the call from the mortal plane.  Tariq decided not to try again. 

While they waited for Eduardo to heal, they received great news.  The Ring of Protection +2 for sale in Adamas finally sold on December 24th, 4th months after being offered for sale!  Most of the party leveled up and we ended the session there.

(I had initially ruled that Dave his ears covered with fine white hair (like a horse) and a long flowing mane (as a unicorn) resulting in a -2 to reaction rolls.  I also offered the chance for him to gain feathers around his eye (as an owl) and a slightly beaklike mouth.  He choose the horse option. As I was writing the summary I looked over the tampering with mortality chart and decided that the effect I originally ruled didn’t match the chart listing. I amended my ruling to match the chart and to ensure consistency between parties.)