[{"content":"Got a question about the games, want to contribute session notes, or interested in joining a campaign? Drop a note below.\nName Email Subject Message Website Send ","date":"15 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/contact/","section":"Old School Gamers","summary":"Got a question about the games, want to contribute session notes, or interested in joining a campaign? Drop a note below.\nName Email Subject Message Website Send ","title":"Contact","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/anister/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Anister","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bancroft/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bancroft","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/gaming/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Gaming","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/irulan/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Irulan","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/roll20/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Roll20","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/shadowmaze/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Shadowmaze","type":"tags"},{"content":"The last twenty minutes of the dig went like the first three hours had gone, which was to say it went slow and steady and without anyone dying. Bancroft worked the trench with Irulan. Anister kept the watch above. Clarice was not with them today. The note she had left in the morning had only said gone south, back in a week or two, and the part of Bancroft that liked to know things had asked Bolo whether he knew more, and Bolo had shaken his head with the careful look of a man who knew exactly what he was not telling, and Bancroft had let the matter drop. People came and went on the moor. You did not pry.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re senior,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft told Anister, when the rolls were done and the day\u0026rsquo;s leader had been chosen the way the day\u0026rsquo;s leader was always chosen now \u0026ndash; by who could move quickest if the moor took a sudden notion. They had tied. Anister had moved a hair faster.\n\u0026ldquo;Everything is my fault,\u0026rdquo; Anister had said, which was the thing he always said when it fell to him. He had said it once, in a booth at the Strumpet, six or seven sessions ago, and the joke had stuck the way certain jokes will when they happen to also be true. \u0026ldquo;Bancroft, if I have to step out for parenting duty, you are sworn in as vice.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Sworn in to what?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;To leadership. Everyone repeat after me. I, Bancroft Barleychaser, do solemnly accept \u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Yes, fine, I accept.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You did not say the words.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I accepted. That\u0026rsquo;s the same thing.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;It is not. But we are on a moor and I will allow it.\u0026rdquo;\nInitiative for the day\u0026#39;s leader: Bancroft Dex 17, Anister Dex 17 (tied) — Anister wins on dexterity. Irulan 9. Anister is senior again, by the breadth of a bootlace. \u0026#x1F3B2; The dig finished cleanly. The last of the dirt came out in spadefuls. The slabs at the entrance came up and stayed up. By the time Anister called the hour, the way was open. Final dig — Anister d6=3 wandering monster check, all clear. It was a smaller chamber than Bancroft had been expecting. One room. Stone-cut, not very deep. A single sarcophagus in the middle of the floor.\nThe sarcophagus was the part that gave him pause. It was not the rough granite of the other barrows. It was a darker stone, polished, almost glassy under the light of Anister\u0026rsquo;s torch \u0026ndash; a stone like the inside of a deep pool, with little flecks of paler grain in it that caught the light and threw it back. He had seen marble once or twice in his life. He had never owned anything made of it. This was finer than marble. He could see his own reflection in it, smeared and dim, looking back at him out of the slab.\nAbove where the keyhole was \u0026ndash; and there was a keyhole, plain and round and rimmed in iron \u0026ndash; there was a small carved insignia in the stone. A scarab beetle. About the size of a thumbprint. Carved very neatly.\n\u0026ldquo;Huh,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\n\u0026ldquo;Huh,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft agreed.\nA polished black marble sarcophagus stands in the middle of a small barrow chamber, lit by Anister\u0026#39;s torch. Above the central keyhole is a small carved scarab insignia. Bancroft and Irulan stand in plate at one end; Anister at the other with the torch held high. The chamber is otherwise empty.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; They searched the room for traps and for the obvious thing that they were not going to find, which was the key. Anister was good at the search. Irulan was less good. Between them they did the thing properly, and at the end of ten minutes the room was as empty as it had looked at the start. There were no traps. There were no secret doors. The scarab key was not kicked under a stone. Anister Wisdom (\u0026#43;2): 16. Irulan Wisdom (-1): 13. Trap search 10 min — no traps, no secret doors, no scarab key in a corner. \u0026ldquo;Of course it\u0026rsquo;s not,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. \u0026ldquo;That would be too easy.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Anister offered the leather off his belt, which was a thing they had done before \u0026ndash; you put a scrap of soft leather between the chisel and the stone, to dampen the ring, in case the ring carried farther than you liked. Irulan took the sledgehammer. She lined the chisel. She put her shoulder into a swing that would have cracked a millstone, and she brought the hammer down with her whole back behind it.\nThe chisel rang. It rang like a tuning fork that someone had struck on purpose to teach a child the note. The ring went up Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s arm and into the back of his teeth. He could feel it in the iron rivets of his plate.\nThe slab was unmarked. There was not even a chip of stone on the floor. The chisel had not bitten. Irulan, panting, lowered the sledgehammer slowly and looked at the slab as though it had insulted her.\n\u0026ldquo;It didn\u0026rsquo;t scratch,\u0026rdquo; she said.\nIrulan Strength advantage 20 with chisel \u0026#43; sledgehammer \u0026#43; leather damper from Anister\u0026#39;s belt. Best-effort hammer blow. The chisel rings like a tuning fork; the slab is unscratched. \u0026ldquo;No,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. He had his hand flat on the slab, near where the scarab was. \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t think this opens for hammers.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Right key, right hand,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. He surprised himself with the certainty in it. He had a farmer\u0026rsquo;s view of locks \u0026ndash; if a lock was on a thing, the thing had been put there by someone who had a key, and if you wanted what was inside, you went and found the man who had the key. You did not break the door. Breaking the door was for armies. Armies had more men than locks. Three of them, in a small room under a moor, were not an army.\n\u0026ldquo;We could keep at it,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\n\u0026ldquo;We could. But that thing is not going to give. Look at it.\u0026rdquo; Bancroft tapped the slab himself, lightly, with the back of one knuckle. The stone did not even sound like stone. It sounded the way a struck bell sounded when the bell was cast in something that had never been a bell. \u0026ldquo;Magic. It\u0026rsquo;s magic stone. We can hit it all day.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;So what, then?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We find the key,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\nAnister exhaled through his nose. \u0026ldquo;All right,\u0026rdquo; he said, in the slow way he said things when he was conceding a thing he would rather not concede. \u0026ldquo;All right. We close this back up, and we go ask.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; They got back to Helix in the late afternoon. The walk was clean. Nothing rattled. Nothing croaked. The moor was quiet, the way the moor sometimes was, for no reason Bancroft could find. He did not trust it \u0026ndash; the quiet always meant something was moving, somewhere \u0026ndash; but he was grateful for it all the same. Wandering monster d6=3 on the walk back: all clear. A clean afternoon on the moor. The Rosie Quartz was on the corner of the high street, two doors up from the Strumpet, and they did not normally go in it. Bancroft did not have the kind of money that the Rosie Quartz catered to. The sign over the door said \u0026ndash; in letters small enough that you had to be at the door to read them \u0026ndash; Harold Hugh Reginald, jeweler, moneylender, and purveyor of ancient antiquities. The man under the sign was a halfling, no taller than Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s hip, with a head of brown curls and a smile that started somewhere and ended somewhere else and seemed to take up the whole space in between.\n\u0026ldquo;HHR,\u0026rdquo; he said, when they came in. \u0026ldquo;Huff and Puff, jeweler, moneylender, and purveyor of ancient antiquities. How may I be of service?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Keys,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\nHHR\u0026rsquo;s eyebrows went up. They were thick eyebrows, given how small the rest of him was. \u0026ldquo;Keys,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;Yes. I have a key. Allow me.\u0026rdquo;\nHe brought it out from somewhere under the counter \u0026ndash; a long fussed-looking thing of iron and silver, with rubies and small diamonds set in the bow of it where the fingers would grip. He laid it on a square of red velvet. He smiled at it the way a man smiled at a thing he had owned for a long time and never sold.\n\u0026ldquo;One hundred gold,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;A bargain.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft looked at it for a long beat. He did not have a hundred gold. He was not sure he had ever had a hundred gold all at once.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s not the right shape,\u0026rdquo; he said.\n\u0026ldquo;You have a particular shape in mind?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;A scarab,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. \u0026ldquo;Or a key with a scarab on it. Anything with a scarab.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Ah.\u0026rdquo; HHR drummed his fingers on the velvet. \u0026ldquo;I have scarabs. I do not have a key with a scarab. But I have scarabs. May I show you?\u0026rdquo;\nHe brought out two from a tray in the back \u0026ndash; a smaller one, gold and silver, perhaps an inch high; a larger one, two inches, in something pale and pearled that caught the light in milky bands. Both had pins on the back. They were brooches.\n\u0026ldquo;Lovely things,\u0026rdquo; HHR said. \u0026ldquo;Sold from estates of the noble women of Ironguard Mott. The small one is fifty gold. The large is two hundred. There are three more on consignment at my sister\u0026rsquo;s shop in the Mott, but I cannot say whether they are still available \u0026ndash; noblewomen are fickle, and a nobleman who has bought back his wife\u0026rsquo;s brooch out of pride is not a creature anyone can predict.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft turned each one gently. There were no moving parts. There was no place a key would emerge from. They were brooches and only brooches. He set them back on the velvet.\n\u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re beautiful,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re not what I\u0026rsquo;m looking for.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Few things in this life are what we are looking for,\u0026rdquo; HHR said agreeably. \u0026ldquo;But you are a man who looks. I respect that. Tell me what shape your shape is.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;A keyhole shape,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. \u0026ldquo;Iron. Round. With a scarab carved in the stone above it.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Mm.\u0026rdquo; HHR\u0026rsquo;s smile did not flicker. \u0026ldquo;I shall ask after it. Where may I find you, when I find you a thing? \u0026ndash; yes, of course.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Brazen Strumpet,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. \u0026ldquo;Room eight. Anister Gallient.\u0026rdquo;\nHHR nodded, as if filing it. He looked at Bancroft \u0026ndash; a long even look that took in the plate, the symbol of Sylvanus on the chest, the boots that had been cobbled twice \u0026ndash; and his eyes flickered with a quick honest amusement.\n\u0026ldquo;You I know,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;You I have done business with before. Through certain\u0026hellip; intermediaries. Gems. Jewelries. From the barrows, I should imagine.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You should not imagine anything,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said politely.\n\u0026ldquo;No,\u0026rdquo; HHR agreed, in the same agreeable tone. \u0026ldquo;I should not. I do not. There is a reason Helix exists, sir, and it is not the scenic beauty.\u0026rdquo; He waved one small hand at the window. The window showed the swamp moor sloping away to the south, brown and grey, under a sky the color of an old saucepan. \u0026ldquo;It is what comes out of the ground. And what comes out of the ground passes, in due course, through here. I do not ask. I do not need to ask. I have built a small contentment on not asking. Pass me a key with a scarab, if you find one, and we shall make a profitable arrangement.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Fair,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\n\u0026ldquo;Fair,\u0026rdquo; HHR agreed.\nOutside, walking back to the Strumpet, Anister said, \u0026ldquo;He is not on our side.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;He is not on anyone\u0026rsquo;s side. He is on the side of his own coin. That is its own kind of honesty.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You like him.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I do not like him. I respect him. The two are different.\u0026rdquo;\nThey spent the night at the Strumpet. Bolo\u0026rsquo;s stew was, as ever, more of a concept than a meal. Bancroft sat in his usual booth by the window and watched the high street and thought about scarabs. He thought, too, about Clarice. He hoped she was well, wherever south was. He said a small private word to Sylvanus on her behalf and did not say it aloud, because it would have embarrassed Anister.\nIn the morning they ate, and they paid, and they went to the Grey Company mercenary guild.\nThe man who answered to the inquiry was a human, leather-armored, a spear in one hand and a dagger on the belt, a helmet under his arm that he held the way a man held a hat in a place where hats were expected to come off. He was younger than Bancroft. He was older than Bancroft would have liked. He had teeth.\n\u0026ldquo;Sparrow?\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\n\u0026ldquo;Willow,\u0026rdquo; the man said. \u0026ldquo;Willow. Two gold a day. Finest man-at-arms you could have.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Hopefully you\u0026rsquo;re flexible and strong,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\n\u0026ldquo;I thought we were adventuring, sir.\u0026rdquo;\nAnister liked him at once. Bancroft could see it in the small smile that came onto the side of Anister\u0026rsquo;s mouth when Willow had said the line. Anister was a man for whom a quick reply paid most of the rent of a person\u0026rsquo;s first impression.\n\u0026ldquo;We need you to carry this,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, and pointed at the rope ladder.\nWillow looked at the rope ladder. The eagerness went out of him in a slow visible exhale.\n\u0026ldquo;Oh,\u0026rdquo; he said.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s the finest rope ladder you have ever seen,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\n\u0026ldquo;It is, in fact, the finest rope ladder I have ever seen,\u0026rdquo; Willow said. \u0026ldquo;I will carry your fine rope ladder.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The rope ladder had taken Anister most of the previous evening and into the morning. It was a tumbler\u0026rsquo;s piece of work \u0026ndash; knots like nothing Bancroft had ever tied in his life, the kind of knots that pulled tighter when you stood on them and looser when you wanted them loose. Two ropes\u0026rsquo; worth of length. Forty feet. Heavy, in a coiled way that did not seem heavy until you tried to walk a hundred yards with it on your shoulder.\nIt was for the pit, of course. The pit was the way down into the deep dungeon under the moor \u0026ndash; the place they had not been to in months, the place where Bancroft, the first time he had ever gone down it, had gotten cozy with a spider on the wall (Anister\u0026rsquo;s words, and Bancroft would carry the words to his grave) and had been chased from corridor to corridor by something that ran on too many legs and had not, by the grace of Sylvanus, eaten him.\nThey had decided to go back to the deep dungeon, because the surface barrows had been telling them, in the patient way the moor had of telling things, that they had been looking in the wrong place.\nAnister Tumbler — dexterity advantage check earlier that morning to build the 40-foot rope ladder from two ropes. Success. Five inventory slots; Anister\u0026#39;s rope and Irulan\u0026#39;s rope are both spent. Hireling 5gp upfront for the day plus 2gp pay. The walk to the pit went without incident. Willow carried the rope ladder without complaint. Bancroft tried two or three times to draw him out \u0026ndash; where was he from, what had he done before the Grey Company, did he have family \u0026ndash; and Willow gave the kind of answers a man gave who had told them many times before, and Bancroft did not press. There was a kind of hireling who lasted a season and was gone; there was a kind of hireling who became a friend; you did not know which kind was which on the first day, and pressing made the wrong kind disappear.\nAt the pit they tied off the ladder to one of the old pillars at the rim \u0026ndash; Anister\u0026rsquo;s rope did the tying, lashed twice and triple-knotted, and a spike driven into a crack as a second hold \u0026ndash; and lowered the ladder down into the dark. Forty feet was a long way to look down. Bancroft, who did not love heights, did not love the look down.\n\u0026ldquo;Anister first,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;You built it. You test it.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s just,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, \u0026ldquo;and I accept it.\u0026rdquo;\nHe went down first with the torch held in his teeth. He went the way Anister always did the climbing-things \u0026ndash; not fast, but in a way that made it look as though anyone could do it, which was the trick of the trade. Bancroft followed, more slowly, with Willow above him on the lip of the pit and Irulan behind Willow. They all got down. The ladder held.\nAt the bottom Bancroft straightened his back and looked at the corridor he had been chased down nine months ago, and the corridor looked the same. The torchlight smelled the same. The dust smelled the same. He had not missed the smell.\n\u0026ldquo;All right,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;Where to.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;North first, I think,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. \u0026ldquo;There were doors up here last time we didn\u0026rsquo;t open.\u0026rdquo;\nThere was a door, in fact, north \u0026ndash; closed, with a disabled floor trap visible in front of it, a flagstone that someone had once pried up and then put back unstrung. They stepped around the disabled trap. Anister opened the door.\nThe room beyond was empty. A dead end. A dusting of rubble in the corners. They searched it for twenty minutes, in case the moor was hiding something in the corners that it had hid the last fifteen times, and the moor was not hiding anything in the corners.\n\u0026ldquo;South,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. They went south.\nThere was a door with a knobbed iron handle, which Bancroft did not remember from the last time but which he had not, in fairness, been paying close attention the last time, on account of the spider. He opened it.\nThe room beyond was larger. It was strewn \u0026ndash; and this was Anister\u0026rsquo;s word, applied carefully \u0026ndash; with debris. Not corpses. Not yet. Just broken things: chunks of stone, the dry brown remnants of what might once have been a wooden chest, a long curve of rotted leather that might have been a strap or a belt or a strangling cord, depending on what your mind wanted to do with it. The walls were stone. The floor was stone. There was a corpse in one corner, eyes gouged, a long-ago thing, with the black tatters of a robe still hanging off the ribs.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;Just a second,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. He brought out a small green-glass vial \u0026ndash; one of the herbalist\u0026rsquo;s brews he kept in the inside pocket of his jerkin \u0026ndash; and he unstoppered it, and he sniffed it sharp and short the way a man took a thing he was going to need to be quick for. His eyes went very wide. He blinked a number of times. He squared his shoulders.\n\u0026ldquo;Stimulant,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;Means I won\u0026rsquo;t be surprised.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;How long?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Until I run it out. Don\u0026rsquo;t waste me. I\u0026rsquo;m on the clock.\u0026rdquo;\nAnister stimulant: rolled, takes effect. Cannot be surprised for the next ~10 actions. Marked off. \u0026#x1F3B2; They searched the room for twenty minutes. They found nothing. Bancroft looked at the corpse\u0026rsquo;s tattered robe and did not touch it. There were no rings, no purse, no symbol. Whoever this had been, he had been picked clean a long time ago, and the picking had been done in pieces, by something that did not like to leave any of the picking unfinished. 20-minute search — Bancroft Wis 15, Anister Wis 12, Irulan Wis 5. Nothing found. There was a door at the far end of the room. There was an open passage south of it. Bancroft, who was leading because he had the plate and the longsword and the elvish steel, went to the door first. He set his hand on the handle.\n\u0026ldquo;Ready,\u0026rdquo; he said.\nHe opened it.\nThey were waiting for him on the other side, the way the dead always seemed to be waiting \u0026ndash; not in ambush, exactly, just waiting, the way a thing waited when it had no plans and no calendar and nothing better to do than stand in a dark room and breathe through teeth that were no longer attached. There were four of them. Zombies, not skeletons \u0026ndash; still some grey rotting meat on the bones, eye sockets full and dark. Bancroft, in the half-second before he knew what to do, smelled them, and the smell was the same wet stale smell that had come off the toad\u0026rsquo;s mouth on the day of Lulldun, and he knew them by smell before he knew them by sight.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He had the holy symbol off his chest before the door was all the way open. He held it up. He said it the way he had said it the day in the crypt with the five zombies \u0026ndash; not loud, just plain:\nSylvanus. Be gone.\nThe green light came off the holy symbol. The dead in the room saw it. The dead in the room did not care. He felt, in a way he had only ever felt once before, the refusal of the thing \u0026ndash; the way a stone refused water, the way a wall refused a pickaxe. The light went out around the edges. The zombies came on.\nThe third zombie, the one nearest the door, did something with the bones of its face that was not exactly a sneer, because a face with most of its lips gone could not exactly sneer, but it was something the dead could only have done deliberately. Bancroft would not, afterward, remember what the gesture had been. He would only remember that it had been rude.\nBancroft Turn Undead (\u0026#43;4): 13/7 → effective DC vs three zombies. Zombie Charisma saves: 18, 15, critical success. NONE turn. Last one \u0026#39;flips Bancroft off\u0026#39; (GM). That\u0026rsquo;s a first, he thought, putting the holy symbol back. That\u0026rsquo;s the first time you didn\u0026rsquo;t answer.\nHe did not have time to think about it more.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan went past him on the right. She did not wait. She had the longsword out already and she was moving the way she moved when she had made the calculation already and her body was just catching up to the calculation, and she put the first cut across the leading zombie\u0026rsquo;s shoulder and down through what had been its collarbone, and the zombie staggered. Not killed. But hurt. Irulan Longsword (\u0026#43;6): 18/18 hit, 5 damage on the front zombie. Bloodies it. \u0026#x1F3B2; Willow came in past her \u0026ndash; past her, which was the thing that Bancroft would remember about Willow afterward, that he had not waited to be told, and that he had moved like a man who actually liked his work \u0026ndash; and he put the spear in under the bloody collar that Irulan had opened, and he twisted, and the zombie came apart in two pieces at the waist and went down in a wet pile.\n\u0026ldquo;Number one zombie killer,\u0026rdquo; Willow said, in a small private voice that was just for himself. \u0026ldquo;Of my old company.\u0026rdquo;\nWillow Spear: 13 hit, 5 damage. KILLS the first zombie. \u0026#39;Number one zombie killer of my old company.\u0026#39; Bancroft would, later, find out that Willow had served two years in the militia of some village two valleys north and that number one zombie killer of my old company meant something between two and four, depending on how generously one counted. He did not yet know that. He knew only the way the second part was said, which was number one, and that the boy had moved like he meant it, and that was all he needed.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; From behind Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s left shoulder an arrow came, low and fast and at the angle of a thing that had been loosed by a man who was already drawing the next. The arrow took the second zombie \u0026ndash; the one that had been turning toward Bancroft \u0026ndash; through the eye, and the zombie came apart at the neck, and the head and the body went down on different sides of the door, and Anister was already reaching back for another arrow. Anister Long Bow (\u0026#43;4): 21/18 hit, 3 damage. KILLS a second zombie. Loses an arrow. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft brought the elvish longsword across. The cut went into the third zombie\u0026rsquo;s flank and did not, this time, do what the elvish longsword usually did, which was take something off in one. It only grazed. He felt the metal jar in his hand, and he felt his footing go a half-step wrong, and he thought, I am tired. I am tired and I am not as good today as I usually am.\nThe zombie staggered but did not fall.\nBancroft Elvish Longsword (\u0026#43;4): 15/14 hit on the third zombie (\u0026#39;purple\u0026#39;). 1 damage. Scrape, no kill. \u0026#x1F3B2; He stepped back. He needed light at the back of the room, because there was a fourth zombie shuffling out of the deeper dark and he could not see it well enough to read its hands. He raised the holy symbol again. He spoke the word he had been taught at the temple as a boy \u0026ndash; a small word, a candle of a word, the kind of prayer that lit a peasant\u0026rsquo;s barn for a man working a calf out of a cow in the dark.\nNothing.\nNot even the green flicker. Not even a glow at his fingertips. He felt the word leave him and he felt it fail to land, and there was a moment in which he could feel the absence of Sylvanus the way a man feels the absence of a watchman who is supposed to be on the corner and is not.\nHe tried again. He had heard, somewhere, that you tried again. He put the word out a second time \u0026ndash; harder this time, the inside of his head a little tighter \u0026ndash; and the second time the word also did not land.\nHe stopped trying. Later, he thought. Later we are going to have a word, you and I. Not now.\nBancroft Light spell (\u0026#43;3): 6/22 disadvantage — FAILS. Mark one Light expended. Tries again: 8/5 — FAILS AGAIN. Two casts burned, no light. \u0026#x1F3B2; The zombie that Bancroft had grazed turned, decided he was too much, and went past him at Anister. Anister, who had been backing toward the door with the bow up, saw it too late. The slam came in low and tore a long shallow strip down Anister\u0026rsquo;s forearm. Anister made the small sound he made when a thing surprised him, which was the word asshole delivered with great dwarvish dignity in the back of his throat.\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re scratched,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s worse than scratched,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. \u0026ldquo;These ones leave a mark.\u0026rdquo;\nZombie slam on Anister AC 14: hits, 1 damage. Zombies have a lingering claw effect. \u0026#x1F3B2; The other one came at Bancroft. He got the longsword up. He took the slam across the breastplate \u0026ndash; a wet smacking blow, the dead hand impacting with a force that was not quite living-man force but was close enough \u0026ndash; and the plate took most of it and his ribs took the rest of it, and he grunted and stood and did not go down. Zombie slam on Bancroft: 18 hit, 4 damage. Solid blow across the breastplate. \u0026#x1F3B2; Anister\u0026rsquo;s next arrow came in just over Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s left pauldron and into the throat of the zombie that had hit him, and the zombie\u0026rsquo;s head went one way and the body went the other, and Bancroft was suddenly, briefly, free. Anister Long Bow (\u0026#43;4): 22/15 advantage, 4 damage. KILLS another zombie. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft put the elvish longsword across the body of the one he had been grazing at, this time properly, this time with his feet under him, and the cut went where it was meant to go, and the zombie came apart at the chest in a way that no living thing came apart, and was still. Bancroft Elvish Longsword (\u0026#43;4): 23/19 advantage hit on purple, 4 damage. KILLS. \u0026#x1F3B2; The fourth one Irulan took. She took it the way she always took the last one \u0026ndash; without any ceremony at all, with a long horizontal cut at hip height that the zombie did not so much as flinch at, and the zombie came apart at the hip and went down on both sides of itself, and Irulan stepped over the parts of it without looking. Irulan Longsword (\u0026#43;6): 10/16 advantage hit, 11 damage. KILLS the fourth zombie. It was over. The room was quiet. Bancroft, who was bleeding under the plate and could feel the wet of it down his side, sat down on a chunk of fallen stone and breathed.\n\u0026ldquo;Willow,\u0026rdquo; he said, after a moment.\n\u0026ldquo;Sir.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;That was well done.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Two of them,\u0026rdquo; Willow said, almost shyly. \u0026ldquo;I got two.\u0026rdquo; He had not, in fact, gotten two, but Bancroft did not feel like correcting him. He had only gotten one, but he had gotten the first one, and the first one was the one that made the rest of them possible. Bancroft, in his head, gave him the credit for two and a half.\nThe door bursts open into a stone chamber strewn with debris and a corpse in robes; four shuffling zombies advance through dust and torchlight. Bancroft in shining plate stands at the threshold with the elvish longsword raised, Irulan beside him with a longsword, Anister behind with longbow drawn, and Willow the young hireling lunging forward with his spear, a small fierce grin on his face.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Anister tried to brew a curative. He carried the makings of one in a small leather pouch at his hip, and he could, on a good day, put a healing of sorts into a man with a paste of herbs and water and what he called intention, though Bancroft suspected the intention was the part he had paid the most for at the herbalist in Helix. He worked the paste between his palms. He set it on a strip of linen. He frowned.\n\u0026ldquo;Just shy,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s not going to take.\u0026rdquo;\nHe held the strip of linen out to Irulan anyway. Irulan, who had taken nothing more than a bruise across the ribs from the second zombie, sniffed at it politely, and shook her head, and Anister wrapped it in the linen and dropped it into a corner of the room where it would rot in its own time. It was a thing he did. The herbs did not always work. The herbs that did not work did not become any more useful for keeping.\nAnister Curative (\u0026#43;1) herbal: 14 raw — fails by one point. Lumpy herb mess; Irulan declines; it rots. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft did the praying instead. He laid his hand on Anister\u0026rsquo;s forearm, where the claw-strip had opened the skin, and he said the small old words he said over wounds in the field \u0026ndash; the same words his mother had said over his own wounds when he was a boy, before he had known they were holy words \u0026ndash; and the green light came into his hand and into Anister\u0026rsquo;s arm and the strip of skin pulled together. There you are, he thought to Sylvanus. There you are after all. Bancroft Cure Wounds (\u0026#43;3): 12/16 → effective cast 16. 7 hp on Anister. \u0026#x1F3B2; He did Irulan next. There was a bruise across her ribs that was going purple already; he laid his hand over the breastplate where the bruise was and prayed it small. Then he did himself \u0026ndash; which he had never quite gotten used to doing, because a healing for yourself felt to him like a man taking the first portion at his own table \u0026ndash; and the cut under his plate stopped bleeding, and the ache went out of the ribs, and he sat for another long beat in the silence and thought about the Light spell.\nThe Light spell had not gone. Twice. Twice in a row.\nCure Wounds had gone twice, easily.\nHe did not know what that meant. He did not, in that moment, want to know.\nBancroft Cure Wounds (\u0026#43;3): 20/16 → 9 hp on Irulan. 16/21 → 10 hp on Bancroft. The next door was south. There was a passage past the bodies of the zombies, a long narrow corridor that ran down into a wider area, and at the far end of the passage was another door, this one half open. Bancroft, who was now leading because Anister was conserving the stimulant, walked toward the half-open door.\nHe smelled it before he saw it.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The smell came out of the half-open door the way a smell came out of a slaughterhouse in summer \u0026ndash; but worse than that, because a slaughterhouse smelled of one dead thing at a time, and this smelled of dead things that had been left to be dead in each other\u0026rsquo;s company, and to become something more than just dead. Bancroft, who had grown up on a farm and had thought he knew every bad smell a body could make, found out that he did not. His stomach turned. He clamped his mouth shut, and he breathed through his teeth, and he was, narrowly, not sick on the floor.\nAnister, behind him, was not so lucky. There was a hard fast retching sound. Then a wet one. Then another one. Anister went down on one knee. He stayed there for the better part of a minute, retching at the wall, while the rest of them stood in the corridor and tried not to breathe.\nBancroft Constitution (-1): 13/12 — passes by holding his breath through his mouth. Anister Constitution fails. He starts vomiting. Wandering monster d6=4 during the vomiting — all clear. \u0026ldquo;Close it,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, in between heaves. \u0026ldquo;Close the door.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft closed the door. The smell did not fully go, because the smell had got into the corridor now and was not going anywhere, but it lessened enough that Anister could finish bringing up his breakfast in peace.\n\u0026ldquo;I am sorry,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, when the heaving had stopped. He spat. He wiped his mouth on the back of his glove. \u0026ldquo;I am sorry. That is the worst thing I have ever smelled.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s not the worst thing I\u0026rsquo;ve ever smelled,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. \u0026ldquo;But it\u0026rsquo;s close.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;What is in there?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Something dead. Not a small something.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We have to go in there.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I know.\u0026rdquo;\nThey jury-rigged masks. Bancroft had a burlap sack in his pack \u0026ndash; the kind of sack a farmer kept for everything, oats and onions and once, memorably, a piglet on the way to the market \u0026ndash; and he tore it into two long strips. The cloth was rough. It was thick enough to filter, a little. It was not going to be enough on its own. But it would be enough with held breath, and with the will to keep going.\nHe offered one to Irulan. She took it. He kept the other for himself.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s bad,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft warned her.\n\u0026ldquo;My mother\u0026rsquo;s cooking was bad,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said, tying the strip around her mouth and nose. \u0026ldquo;If I survived that, I\u0026rsquo;ll survive this.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan Constitution check with mask \u0026#43; advantage: passes. Steels herself by \u0026#39;thinking of her mother\u0026#39;s cooking.\u0026#39; \u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;Willow,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. \u0026ldquo;You stay at the door.\u0026rdquo;\nWillow, who had been looking at the doorway the way a man looked at a thing he was glad he had not been ordered into, did not argue.\n\u0026ldquo;Sir.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Guard the way we came. If we yell, you come. If we don\u0026rsquo;t come back in two hours, you come for us. Otherwise you hold the door.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Sir.\u0026rdquo;\nIt was a kindness, and Bancroft did not say so. Willow took it the way a young man took a kindness he had not earned yet but was going to: with a small straightening of the back, and a tightening of both hands on the spear, and a glance at the door that said he was going to do the small job he had been given as though it were the large one.\nWillow stays at the door — declines to enter the smell-room. He\u0026#39;ll guard the corridor and the party will pick him up on the way out. Anister, who had recovered, took his stimulant again \u0026ndash; he had not burned much of the first dose, in the end, between the smell and the vomiting \u0026ndash; and squared up and made himself ready. Bancroft drew the elvish longsword. Irulan tightened the mask. They stepped through the door.\nThe room was a columbarium.\nBancroft did not have a word, at the time, for what he was seeing. He learned the word later, from a priest in Helix who had been to a temple in a southern country. What the room was was the same thing that the room did: it stored the burnt remains of the dead, in clay jars, in stacked alcoves cut into the walls, hundreds of jars, going up twenty feet to the ceiling and back along the wall as far as the torchlight reached. Each jar was sealed with wax. Each jar was the size of a small loaf of bread. There were hundreds.\nIn the back of the room, where the floor turned down toward a deeper alcove, there were two bodies.\nThe two bodies had not been the source of the smell. The smell came off them, but the smell had come from somewhere else too \u0026ndash; from the urns, from the dust, from something in the air that the room had been making for years. But the two bodies were what the eye found, because they were what the eye was meant to find. They were two men. They had been adventurers. They were impaled on rusted spears \u0026ndash; one through the chest, one through the gut \u0026ndash; and the spears were driven into the wall behind them, and the bodies had been there a long time. Most of them had been eaten.\nOne of them had a backpack.\nA subterranean columbarium with stacked alcoves of clay funerary urns rising twenty feet to the ceiling. In the foreground Anister hunches retching against a pillar; Irulan stands with a burlap cloth tied around her nose and mouth, her shield held tight, peering toward the back. In the deeper shadow at the rear of the room two long-dead adventurers are impaled on rusted spears against the wall, half-eaten, the source of part of the smell. Torchlight is dim and yellow.\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said quietly. He did not finish the prayer. He did not have a prayer for it. He just said the name.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft went to the bodies. He did not look at them more than he had to. He got the backpack off the impaled man \u0026ndash; it took some pulling, because the strap was crusted into the shoulder \u0026ndash; and he opened it, and he looked, and he did not speak. He handed it across to Irulan without a word. Irulan slung it over her own shoulder. Two hundred silver. Thirty gold. It was a fortune, in the way the moor made fortunes \u0026ndash; on the backs of the unlucky.\n\u0026ldquo;They had ropes,\u0026rdquo; Anister said quietly, beside Bancroft. \u0026ldquo;Look. They had everything we have. They had bows.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I see.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;How long do you think?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;A year. Maybe two. The flesh would tell, but it\u0026rsquo;s been picked too clean.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, \u0026ldquo;did not protect them.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus does not promise to protect anyone,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus promises to be there. That is a different thing.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft recovers bloody backpack from impaled adventurer: 200 silver pieces \u0026#43; 30 gold pieces. Hands it to Irulan to carry. \u0026#x1F3B2; The urns, they checked. They had to. They were going to be checked by someone in any case, eventually, and Bancroft would rather it be them than someone else who might do worse with the takings.\nBancroft did the shaking. He went jar by jar through the lower rows, sliding each urn out of its alcove with both hands, giving it one slow careful shake the way a man checked for a seed in a dried gourd, putting it back if nothing rattled inside. Irulan did the same on the row above him. They did this for an hour. The shaking sound was very small, in the room with the smell and the bodies. Anister kept the watch and worked the corners, his dwarvish eye on the seams of the stone.\nEvery urn had cremated remains in it. Every one. Bone dust and ash and nothing more. There were people in these urns \u0026ndash; hundreds of people, going back generations \u0026ndash; and there was not one trinket among them. The dead, in this place, had not been buried with anything.\nIt was, Bancroft thought, more honest than most burials he had ever seen.\nHundreds of urns — Bancroft \u0026#43; Irulan shake-test all the reachable ones. Wisdom checks 12, 15. All cremated remains. After an hour: nothing of value. \u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan went up the alcoves for the top rows. She climbed the way you climbed a stone bookshelf, hand over hand, one foot on a lower lip and the other reaching, and somewhere about three-quarters of the way up her hand slipped on dust and she came down on a lower alcove harder than she meant to. She held on. She did not fall. But she gave a sharp small grunt, and Bancroft saw her face change in the way it changed when she had decided, in some private place, that the day had used up its margin of forgiveness on her.\n\u0026ldquo;You all right?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Wrenched it,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m fine.\u0026rdquo;\nShe finished the top row anyway. Nothing.\nIrulan climbs the alcoves for the top rows: Strength check 4 (fail) → golden grit luck token → 17 (success). Wrenches her arm, takes 1 hp. Worth the climb? No: top urns also all just cremated remains. \u0026#x1F3B2; On the bottom row, half-buried behind a row of urns that had been pushed in front of it for someone\u0026rsquo;s reason, Irulan found something. She called Bancroft over without raising her voice. Bancroft came. She had her hand flat against the stone, the way Anister had had his hand on the sarcophagus that morning, and she pointed \u0026ndash; silently \u0026ndash; at a vertical seam in the wall that was not, when you looked at it, the kind of seam a wall ought to have.\n\u0026ldquo;A door.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;A door,\u0026rdquo; she agreed.\nShe pointed at the floor, too. There were tracks. Bancroft looked at them. He had grown up on a farm; he knew tracks. He knew dog and he knew sheep and he knew the small forked prints of a deer in soft mud. These were not any of those. There were too many kinds. He saw a cloven hoof, like a goat\u0026rsquo;s. He saw a flat soft pad, like a cat\u0026rsquo;s. He saw a print that did not look like a foot at all, and he had no name for what had made it. There was a long wavy line through the dust like a tail. Maybe a tentacle.\n\u0026ldquo;Mongrel-men,\u0026rdquo; Anister said softly, from behind them. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve heard of these. They\u0026rsquo;re a kind of \u0026ndash; you don\u0026rsquo;t want to know what they\u0026rsquo;re a kind of. They eat what they kill. They drag bodies here. This is their pantry.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;That is grim,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\n\u0026ldquo;It is.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Are we going through the door?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Not today. Not in this smell. Not with Willow on the floor.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Tomorrow.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Tomorrow.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan Wisdom 18 in the bottom alcove: finds a SECRET DOOR in the back wall and mixed tracks (cloven, feline, tentacular, wolf-like) — likely a mongrel-men food cache. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft, while they were finishing the search, found one more thing \u0026ndash; a small bag tucked into a niche in one of the higher alcoves, the way a man tucked a thing he meant to come back for. It rattled with coin. He did not open it. He brought it across to Irulan and held it out to her without a word. She took it. She slid it in with the rest of the takings. They would count it later. Bancroft finds a small bag in a niche on the far side: 45 silver. Hands it unopened to Irulan, who slides it in with the rest of the takings. He did not know it, at the time. There was no flash of light. There was no thunder. There was only \u0026ndash; somewhere in him, an hour or two later, on the climb back out of the urn room \u0026ndash; a small settling, the way a stone settled in a wall when the wall was finally true. A clicking-into-place, very quiet, of a thing he had been carrying since the day on Branding Hill.\nHe had been thinking of Willow when it happened. Of Willow stepping past Irulan to put the spear in under the bloody collar she had opened, and the zombie coming apart in two pieces at the waist. Of Willow at the door of the smell-room afterward, the spear in both hands, holding the door because Bancroft had asked him to and doing the holding as though it were the large job and not the small one. The moor took young men. The moor had taken plenty. The moor had not, today, taken this one, and the not-taking of him was a thing Bancroft had not known, until now, how badly he had been wanting.\nHe sat down on the floor of the corridor when it happened, and he put his hand on his chest, and he breathed for a long time.\n\u0026ldquo;You all right?\u0026rdquo; Irulan said.\n\u0026ldquo;Yes,\u0026rdquo; he said.\nHe did not know how to say it any plainer than that. He felt, faintly, that he could call on Sylvanus for one more thing per day than he had been able to that morning. He felt that the inside of his head was, in some small way, roomier. He did not feel different in the body. He felt different in the room of him, the way a house felt different after a long-needed repair.\n\u0026ldquo;All right,\u0026rdquo; he said again, and he stood up.\n\u0026ldquo;You sure?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m sure.\u0026rdquo;\nHe thought about the Light spell, that had failed twice. He thought: Maybe I had to grow into the next one. Maybe that\u0026rsquo;s why. He did not, in the moment, fully believe it. But he allowed it.\nAnister found one more secret door before they left \u0026ndash; in the corridor outside the urn room, in the dust by the wall, his sharp dwarvish eye catching a seam that did not match the rest.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He pried it open just far enough to see. Bancroft stood behind him with the torch. The torchlight went past Anister\u0026rsquo;s shoulder and into a small dark room beyond, and what was in the small dark room was a slab, and on the slab was a body, and on the body was webbing \u0026ndash; a dense layer of grey cobwebbing, knee-deep over the body, hanging from the ceiling in long pale curtains, fuzzed with dust as deep as a winter snow on a moor.\nThe body was dressed. That was the part Bancroft would remember. The body was dressed \u0026ndash; not naked, not bones, not picked at \u0026ndash; and the body had been there long enough that the webbing had made a small landscape over it. Whoever had been laid out on the slab, in whatever clothes they had been laid in, no one had disturbed for a long, long time. Generations, perhaps.\n\u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t bring the torch any closer,\u0026rdquo; Anister said quietly. \u0026ldquo;The webs would go up. The whole room would go up.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Close it.\u0026rdquo;\nAnister closed it. The seam went back into the wall. He brushed the dust over it with the side of his boot.\n\u0026ldquo;That stays for another day,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\n\u0026ldquo;That stays,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft agreed.\nAnister Wisdom 19 finds a second secret door — to a webbed shrine. They crack it open enough to look: a body on a slab covered in dust and cobwebs. Open flame would set it alight. They close it. To revisit. They came back up the rope ladder in the slow careful order of people who had been below ground for too many hours. Willow first, because Willow had carried the ladder. Then Irulan, with the backpack. Then Anister. Then Bancroft, who came up last in the plate, breathing hard at the top.\nIt was three in the afternoon. Sun on the moor. The light was not quite the white it had been at noon \u0026ndash; the long shadow of the ridge was coming in \u0026ndash; but it was good light. He had been below for too long; the light hurt his eyes.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; They had not gotten ten steps from the rim of the pit when something rose out of the long grass on their left.\nThree skeletons. Chainmail, not the corroded leather rags Bancroft had got used to. These were armored. They had short swords. They had been waiting for someone to come up out of the pit, the way crows waited at the edge of a field for a plowman to turn up a mouse. They had been waiting a long time. They were as surprised as the party was. Both sides stood for one long beat staring at each other.\nThen everything moved at once.\nWandering monster check at the surface: surprise on both sides. Three skeletons in chainmail rise up 30 feet from the party. Three skeletal warriors in rusted chainmail rise up out of the long moor grass with corroded shortswords drawn, late-afternoon sun behind them. In the foreground the party turns to flee across the moor: Bancroft in shining plate, Irulan in plate, Anister with longbow, and Willow with the coiled rope ladder on his back.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Anister\u0026rsquo;s first arrow went off Anister\u0026rsquo;s bow before Bancroft had even drawn the longsword. It went clean off the chest of the lead skeleton, off the chainmail, with the small tink sound that meant the arrow had hit good steel and lost. Anister\u0026rsquo;s curse came right after the arrow.\n\u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s chain,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;We don\u0026rsquo;t have time for chain.\u0026rdquo;\nAnister Long Bow (\u0026#43;4): 11 — MISS. Skeleton chainmail too good. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft brought the holy symbol up. He said the words. He felt the green light try to come, and the green light came small and pale \u0026ndash; not the dense hungry green of the crypt, but a thin sun-bleached version of itself \u0026ndash; and the skeletons did not even look at it. They came on. He felt, again, the small clear no of Sylvanus that he had felt that morning over the zombies in the doorway.\nAll right, he thought. All right. You want my feet under me. You want my hand on the sword. You are not going to push the dead off the field for me every time I ask, and you are right not to. You are teaching me to grow to it.\nIt was a thing to learn. He was learning it.\nBancroft Turn Undead (\u0026#43;4): 12 — fails. Sylvanus declines a second time today. The lesson is consistent: face it yourself. \u0026#x1F3B2; The skeletons came in fast. Two for Bancroft, because Bancroft was the closest and the slowest. One for Irulan, who was the next-closest. The two on Bancroft swung. The first sword went off his shield with the bell-sound that meant the shield had done its work. The second went past his hip into the air. The third caught the breastplate flat at chest height and skipped \u0026ndash; a long cold shallow grinding noise \u0026ndash; across the front of him without finding skin.\nHe felt the hit in his sternum like a man feeling a heavy hand laid on his chest. He kept his feet.\nSkeleton attacks: three shortsword swings on Bancroft (11 hit/miss, 4 miss, 16 hit for 1 damage). Shield holds; one cuts a long shallow line across the breastplate. \u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan came past him. She was faster than him in plate, which Bancroft had never been quite willing to admit out loud, and she put the longsword into the one that had cut him \u0026ndash; a cross-body swing, low to high, with her whole shoulder behind it \u0026ndash; and the chainmail did not save the skeleton from getting opened across the ribs. The skeleton staggered. Did not fall. But went down to one knee.\n\u0026ldquo;Run!\u0026rdquo; Anister said behind them. \u0026ldquo;We run. We are not winning this one.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We are not,\u0026rdquo; Irulan agreed. She stepped back. She did not pursue.\nIrulan Longsword (\u0026#43;6): 22/22 advantage hit, 8 damage. Bloodies one skeleton clean across the ribs. \u0026#x1F3B2; They ran. Bancroft ran in plate, which was the slowest a man could run and still call it running, with the breath coming hard in him and the rim of the pit at his back. He could hear the skeletons on the moor grass behind him \u0026ndash; not loud, not fast, but steady, the way the dead were always steady. The dead did not get tired. The dead would chase you for an hour at a walking pace and they would be no more tired at the end of the hour than they had been at the start.\nWillow ran beside him with the rope ladder still on his back. Anister ran ahead, weaving, the way a hunter wove. Irulan ran beside Anister with her sword out \u0026ndash; and once, when one of the skeletons closed up on her flank, she stopped, turned, struck, drew blood-that-was-not-blood, and went on running, all in one motion.\nEvasion d100 = 92 — FAIL. Skeletons pursue. One more round of running combat, Willow double-moves with the rope ladder still on his back; Irulan strikes again on the move. \u0026#x1F3B2; They lost them on the long ground. The skeletons could not, in the end, outwalk a party that did not stop running. Bancroft could not, by then, feel his calves. He kept running anyway, because Anister did not turn and tell him to stop, and as long as Anister did not turn, the skeletons were still behind them.\nIt was a long while before Anister did turn. When he did turn, he looked at the moor behind them for a long beat, and then he straightened up, and then he said, in a voice that was almost embarrassed at having had to say it:\n\u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re gone.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft sat down on the grass. He did not even look to make sure it was not a thorn-patch first. He just sat. He breathed.\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus,\u0026rdquo; he said, in a small voice that nobody but Sylvanus heard, \u0026ldquo;I owe you a long sit-down. Not now. But soon.\u0026rdquo;\nSecond evasion roll: clean. They pull away and lose the skeletons over the long ground. They got back to Helix in the blue hour. Bolo fed them stew. The fire in the common room was low. Willow sat with them at the booth by the window, which was a thing Bancroft had not been sure Willow would do, because hirelings did not always sit with the people who had hired them. Willow sat with them. He ate stew. He told them, with great solemnity, that he had killed at least two zombies, that he might in fact have killed three if you counted the one whose final blow had been Irulan\u0026rsquo;s but whose softening blow had clearly been his, and that he was therefore unequivocally the number-one zombie killer of the Tuesday adventuring party of Helix, no matter what certain people might claim.\n\u0026ldquo;By god\u0026rsquo;s green shoots, Willow,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. \u0026ldquo;You survived.\u0026rdquo;\nIt came out a little more from the chest than he had meant. Willow blinked at him, and did not seem to know what to do with it.\n\u0026ldquo;You were good,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, after a beat.\n\u0026ldquo;Was I?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You were. You did not run. You stepped past Irulan to take the cut. Most men do not do that on the first day.\u0026rdquo;\nWillow ducked his head. He drank the stew. He did not say anything for a long beat.\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;d like to come back tomorrow, sir,\u0026rdquo; he said finally. \u0026ldquo;If you\u0026rsquo;ll have me.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll have you.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;All right then.\u0026rdquo;\nThe loot they split four ways \u0026ndash; Bancroft, Anister, Irulan, and Willow at a half share, because Willow was the hired man and a half-share was what custom gave a man-at-arms on the day\u0026rsquo;s work. Seven gold and sixty-five silver each. It was a long way from the best share Bancroft had ever taken on a day\u0026rsquo;s work \u0026ndash; there had been days, in the early months, when a single barrow had paid out triple this \u0026ndash; but it was a good sight better than the lean run he had been having. He put his in a small drawstring pouch in the room and he did not count it twice.\nHe went up to the room early. He sat on the bed in his shirt and looked at the ceiling beams. He thought about the impaled adventurers in the back of the urn room. He thought about the cobwebbed body on the slab they had not opened. He thought, longest, about the failed Light spell, and the failed Turn at the surface in the daylight, and the small new room he could feel in the inside of his head where one more prayer would fit, tomorrow, when he prayed in the morning.\nSylvanus, he said, in the inside of him, I am not angry. I was angry for a minute and I am not anymore. You answered when it mattered. You did not answer when it did not. I think that is what you do. I think I am learning.\nTomorrow I will choose a new spell. Tomorrow I will know which one. Tonight I am going to sleep.\nHe blew out the candle. He lay down. The Strumpet, outside, was getting noisy in the way the Strumpet got noisy in the late evening, and Bolo was shouting at someone about a tab. The town was, in its small ordinary way, going on.\nHe slept.\nHe dreamed, very briefly, of a scarab made of dark stone, and of a hand that was not his hand reaching toward the keyhole with a key in it that he could almost, but not quite, see.\n","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-05-12-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"The last twenty minutes of the dig went like the first three hours had gone, which was to say it went slow and steady and without anyone dying. Bancroft worked the trench with Irulan. Anister kept the watch above. Clarice was not with them today. The note she had left in the morning had only said gone south, back in a week or two, and the part of Bancroft that liked to know things had asked Bolo whether he knew more, and Bolo had shaken his head with the careful look of a man who knew exactly what he was not telling, and Bancroft had let the matter drop. People came and went on the moor. You did not pry.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 61 - Bancroft","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/tuesday/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tuesday","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"12 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/willow/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Willow","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"5 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/clarice/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Clarice","type":"tags"},{"content":"Bancroft came up the moor road late, a half-hour after the others, because the cobbler in Helix had needed an extra hour to put the new sole on the left boot and Bancroft was not going to dig in a wet boot if he could help it. By the time he came around the long shoulder of the ridge that hid the dig from the road, the others had already finished some short business of their own. He saw it in the trampled grass and in the streak of blood drying on Anister\u0026rsquo;s pickaxe handle and in the way Clarice was wiping her dagger on a strip of moss. He did not ask. The kind of business that left grass trampled and dagger blades wet was the kind of business he was glad to have missed.\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re late,\u0026rdquo; said Irulan.\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m late,\u0026rdquo; he agreed. He set the pack down. \u0026ldquo;How far in?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Far enough,\u0026rdquo; said Anister, who was leaning on the pickaxe. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ve got the corner of a slab. Maybe four hours and we\u0026rsquo;re through.\u0026rdquo;\nIt was the new entrance they had picked out three days ago \u0026ndash; a different barrow from the one the rubble had sealed Riyou behind, on a different shoulder of the moor, marked on Anister\u0026rsquo;s map as a low mound with a depression in the top where the earth had settled into a roof. They had decided in the Brazen Strumpet, over Bolo\u0026rsquo;s stew, that they would not spend any more weeks chasing what was on the other side of a wall they could not move. They would dig where the digging had a chance of paying out. The barrow they had picked was small. The slabs at the entrance were shallow. By the look of it, two days of work would put them inside.\n\u0026ldquo;All right,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. He took the sledgehammer off his shoulder. \u0026ldquo;Whose watch?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re senior here,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. \u0026ldquo;Used to be me when Irulan was gone. Now Irulan\u0026rsquo;s back and you\u0026rsquo;re the one with the most sense. Be the senior.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft did not feel senior. He felt forty and tired and eager to be useful. But he nodded, and slung the sledgehammer over his shoulder, and said, \u0026ldquo;Two of us dig. Two of us watch. We rotate every hour and we rotate the watch position too, because the eyes go funny if they look at the same patch of moor for too long.\u0026rdquo; He looked at the others to see if any of them would correct him. None of them did. Anister gave a small approving nod, the way he did when one of his hounds did a thing right.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;All right,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said again, quieter. \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s start.\u0026rdquo; Bancroft Initiative for the day\u0026#39;s leadership: nat 20 = 21. Highest in party. Voted leader. The first hour was clean. He dug with Irulan \u0026ndash; two shovels working from opposite ends of the trench they had started \u0026ndash; and Anister and Clarice took the two corners of the watch with the longbow and the shortbow. The dirt at the top of the mound was soft, settled, full of small white roots, and came out in spadefuls. Underneath the roots was clay. Underneath the clay, after a while, the top corner of one of the slabs.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Anister called the all-clear once an hour, and Bancroft made a small joke about something every time the all-clear came, because if he did not he was going to start brooding about Riyou. Hour 1 wandering monster checks (5d6 = 6,6,5,5,5): all clear. The second hour was less clean. He was on watch by then \u0026ndash; shield up, eyes on the moor \u0026ndash; when Anister stopped digging and held up a hand and said quiet, and they all heard it: a faint dry rattling, far off, the kind of sound a pile of bones might make if something walked over it. Bancroft had the longsword half drawn before Anister shook his head.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;Going past,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. \u0026ldquo;Whatever it is. It\u0026rsquo;s not coming for us.\u0026rdquo; Hour 2 wandering monster check (d6 = 2): close call. Rattling sounds in the distance moving past. It was one of the things Bancroft had learned, slowly, in the months since Branding Hill: the moor was full of things going past. Something rattled. Something croaked. Something ran on four legs through wet grass at the edge of the firelight and did not come closer. You learned to hear the difference between coming and going past the way a farmer learned to hear the difference between a sheep with a lamb in trouble and a sheep just complaining. Most of the noises were complaints. The ones that mattered, you learned to feel in your teeth before you heard them with your ears.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The rattling moved off east. Bancroft counted to a hundred. Then he went back to digging, and Anister went back to the watch, and after a while he could see the tops of two more slabs \u0026ndash; a side-piece and what might have been the keystone \u0026ndash; coming up out of the dirt under his sledgehammer. Hour 2 finishing rolls (5d6 = 6,6,6,2,2,6): one more close call as the rattling moved away. Two stone slab tops now visible. By the third hour the entrance was mostly evacuated. Three slabs visible: two side-pieces and the long horizontal stone over the top, the way old barrow doorways were always built. Maybe an hour of dirt left in the mouth of the thing, and then they could go in.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; There was one more close call \u0026ndash; a low croaking out somewhere on the far side of the ridge \u0026ndash; and then the third hour was done, and Bancroft sat down on a stone and looked at the sun, and the sun looked back at him from a position that was not entirely comforting. Hour 3 wandering monster checks (d6 = 4,2,6,5,3): a second close call, no encounter. Daylight running low. \u0026ldquo;Four-ten,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. He had a small brass thing he carried that he could read the time off if he held it level. \u0026ldquo;Push to five and we\u0026rsquo;re inside. Stop now and we get back to Helix in the blue hour.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft considered it. He considered the rattling that had gone past in the second hour, and the croak from the far side of the ridge, and the fact that whatever was going to come down out of those barrows in the dark was going to come down whether or not they were standing in the doorway when it did.\n\u0026ldquo;We go back,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;We finish in the morning.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s my vote too,\u0026rdquo; said Anister, \u0026ldquo;for what it\u0026rsquo;s worth.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re senior, Bancroft,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said, and there was something in her voice that was almost amused. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s worth what you say it\u0026rsquo;s worth.\u0026rdquo;\nClarice, who had been turning the pickaxe in her hands like she had not yet decided what relationship she wanted to have with it, said: \u0026ldquo;Thank god. I was going to fall over.\u0026rdquo;\nThey got back to Helix in the blue hour, the way they had the day after Riyou. Bolo fed them stew and did not ask. The fire in the common room was low. Clarice \u0026ndash; who had become, in the few days since she had introduced herself, the kind of presence around the table that Bancroft had not realized he had been missing \u0026ndash; went to the bar to ask after Myrta the seamstress, and came back saying that Myrta was making something and the sisters would not say what, which made Clarice smile in a private way that Bancroft did not pry into.\nHe did not go up to the room until late. He sat at the booth by the window and watched the dark come down outside, and he thought about Riyou, and he thought about the wall, and he thought about how the wall had been still and quiet for ten days now, which was about as long as he could remember not visiting it. Sylvanus, he said, in the inside of his head, I am sorry I have not come back. I am going to be busy tomorrow. I will come when I can. He did not know if the forest god heard prayers from inside an inn. He said it anyway.\nIn the morning they walked back out under a high pale sky. The dig was as they had left it. The slabs were still half buried. The trench they had cut was already starting to fill with windblown dirt around the edges \u0026ndash; a thing that did not surprise Bancroft, because that was what trenches in soft ground always did \u0026ndash; and they spent the first half-hour just clearing what the night had put back. Anister whistled while he worked. Irulan did not. Clarice held the watch and seemed grateful for the change of duty.\nIt was during the second hour of digging that the toad came.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The first thing Bancroft knew of it was the splash. He had been digging. He had been listening to the spadefuls coming out of the trench, and to Anister and Clarice who were supposed to be on watch and should have called it a hundred yards out, and the next sound he heard was a heavy flump of something the size of a calf landing in shallow water, and the smaller wet rustling of a great deal of small splashing afterward.\nHe turned. He brought the elvish longsword half out of the sheath before he had even seen what made the sound.\nRandom encounter (d6 = 1): Giant Toad on approach. Anister Wisdom (\u0026#43;2): 4 fail / Clarice Wisdom (\u0026#43;0): 9 fail. Both watchmen miss it; the toad clears the moor and the lip of the dig before either registers the lumbering. Surprise round goes to the toad. What had made the sound was a toad.\nIt was huge. It was six feet from broad green nose to wet green hindquarter, and it was that broad again across the back, and it had jumped clean past the watch and into one of the holes the party had dug. Bancroft had not, until that moment, given any thought to those holes. They were wide, and shallow, and they had been filling overnight with the brown swampy water that the moor produced any time you cut into it. He had assumed the water was only annoying. He had not noticed \u0026ndash; because none of them had been looking, because they were watching the moor and not the ground \u0026ndash; that the bottom of the dig had become, at some point in the previous twelve hours, the home of an absolutely staggering number of tadpoles.\nThe toad was sitting in the middle of them. The tadpoles were swimming around it, and clambering up its sides, and latching to its skin in small fat black clusters. The toad was making a low satisfied wet noise, the kind of noise a thing makes when it has finally arrived where it had meant to be all along.\nIt was, Bancroft realized, the same kind of toad that had eaten Lulldun the day after Riyou had been sealed in. He had spent three nights since not sleeping well. The smell of toad-mouth came back to him in a wave \u0026ndash; sour, vegetable, warm. He brought the rest of the elvish longsword out of the sheath.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;Wait,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, beside him \u0026ndash; already, somehow, with the longbow off his back, but not drawn. He was crouched, the way he crouched when he was watching a deer come into a clearing, his eyes on the toad and not on Bancroft. \u0026ldquo;Look at it. It\u0026rsquo;s not looking at us. It\u0026rsquo;s looking at the babies.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft looked. The toad was, in fact, not looking at any of them. Its huge gold eyes, set high in the wet skull, were tracking the small motions of the tadpoles around its flanks with a patient, almost tender attention that Bancroft would not have thought a toad capable of.\n\u0026ldquo;Tadpoles,\u0026rdquo; Clarice said quietly, from where she had crept along the trench-wall to look. The note in her voice was the small pleased surprise that came over her any time a thing she had not expected turned out to be kinder than she had assumed. \u0026ldquo;Hundreds. Look at them.\u0026rdquo;\nAnister Wisdom (\u0026#43;2) 19/20: now that the toad has settled, reads its posture and motive — protective of the tadpoles, here for the holes, not for the party. It was true. The hole the toad had jumped into was thick with them. The toad was not looking at the party. The toad had come a long way, very deliberately, to the place where its children were waiting.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Anister put the longbow down. He took two small slow steps forward \u0026ndash; the way a man stepped when he was approaching a horse he did not yet know \u0026ndash; and he made a low rumbling sound of his own in the back of his throat, the kind of sound Bancroft had heard him make at hounds and at half-broken mules and at the kinds of animals that did not need words to understand intentions.\nThe toad watched him. Anister did not stop. He raised one hand, very slow, and gestured at the far end of the dig \u0026ndash; at a hole the party had cut on the first day, deep, wide, already half full of the same brown water \u0026ndash; and he made the rumbling sound again.\nThe toad did something Bancroft would not have believed if he had not seen it. It heaved itself, with a great slow sloshing, up and out of the entrance hole, leaving a wide wet smear of mud across the slabs they had spent two days uncovering, and it lumbered past the party at a dignified slow waddle, and it slid \u0026ndash; with the same heavy slow grace it had used to arrive \u0026ndash; into the far hole. The tadpoles in the entrance hole, which had clearly chosen the wrong neighborhood, made what passed for a small black migration after it. The toad sank in the new hole almost to the eyes. It exhaled, long and satisfied. It was, again, in the place where it meant to be.\nAnister Charisma (\u0026#43;1): 7 fail / 21 advantage success. Coaxes the toad over to a different hole at the far end of the dig — deep, full of bog water — where it can settle with the tadpoles and leave the entrance trench clear for the party to keep working. It was, Bancroft realized, nothing but a tired animal that had wanted a soak in a hole the four of them had dug for it without knowing they were digging it. He put the longsword away. He felt \u0026ndash; foolishly, he thought, but he felt it \u0026ndash; a small hot prick of shame. Sylvanus, I would have killed it. It only wanted the water.\nA giant green toad sits in a brown swamp-water hole at the dig site, surrounded by black tadpoles, while Anister, Bancroft, Irulan and Clarice stand at a respectful distance and watch\n\u0026ldquo;Forest god,\u0026rdquo; Anister said quietly, beside him, like he had heard the prayer. \u0026ldquo;Sometimes the moor takes care of itself.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft did not say anything. He went back to the trench. He picked up the sledgehammer. He thought: that is the right answer. The moor is full of things that are just trying to get to their pool. Some of them eat boys. Some of them only want the tadpoles. The trick is knowing which.\nThe trick, it turned out, was knowing which, and they had not been knowing for very long when the second thing came.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;Five,\u0026rdquo; Anister hissed, low, from the trench-corner where he had crouched without Bancroft seeing him crouch. \u0026ldquo;Five of them. Skeletons. Coming across, north-east, two with bows. Hide.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft heard the word hide and looked at his own plate mail and at Irulan\u0026rsquo;s plate mail and felt his heart do the small unhappy hop that it did when a thing was a problem and he was the one wearing the answer.\n\u0026ldquo;We can\u0026rsquo;t,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said, beside him. She had heard it too. \u0026ldquo;Not in this. Not in time.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We can\u0026rsquo;t,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft agreed. He looked at Anister, who had already gone effectively invisible behind the corner of the trench. He looked at Clarice, who was already low and already sliding behind the broken throne of dirt the dig had thrown up, and was already gone too. Of course they can. It was the lightly armored ones who could choose.\n\u0026ldquo;Then we make them come to us,\u0026rdquo; Anister whispered. \u0026ldquo;They don\u0026rsquo;t know we\u0026rsquo;re here yet.\u0026rdquo;\nAnister Wisdom (\u0026#43;2) 19/20: spots a column of five skeletons coming across the moor — two with shortbows, three with corroded shortswords. Clarice Wisdom 9: misses the same approach. Anister moves to cover and warns the others by whisper before the skeletons see the party. He was wrong about that. They knew. The skeletons came on across the moor with their dry corroded heads already turning, and the first thing they did, when the angle was right, was look \u0026ndash; at the dig, at the men in plate standing by the dig, at the shining porcelain plate of Bancroft Barleychaser, who in his entire farming life had never once stopped to consider how visible he was \u0026ndash; and then they did the thing that mattered, which was that they kept coming.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; There were five of them. Two with the rotted shortbows, three with the corroded shortswords. They had come across the moor at the slow steady walk of the dead, jaws not entirely attached, eyes empty in a way that ought to have been blind and was not, and they had been heading toward the toad before they had been heading anywhere \u0026ndash; because the toad was the closest big thing, and because the dead, Bancroft would learn, did not have the kind of mind that asked which.\nThey saw the toad first. They saw, a beat later, two men in shining plate at the toad\u0026rsquo;s elbow. And they came open in their walking, the way a flight of crows comes open and lets some of them peel off in a different direction.\nTwo stayed on for the toad. One came on for Irulan. The two archers nocked their rotted shortbows and started looking for a clean shot.\nRandom encounter (d6 = 1): five skeletons coming across the moor (HP rolls 8,8,4,5,4). Initial intent: head for the giant toad. After registering the plate-armored Bancroft and Irulan they re-prioritize: 2 toward the toad, 1 melee toward Irulan, 2 archers picking shots at Irulan and Bancroft. Anister \u0026#43; Clarice remain hidden for round 1. Five skeletal undead approach across the moor toward the dig, two carrying rotted shortbows and three with corroded shortswords. Bancroft and Irulan in plate stand exposed near the trench; the giant toad rears up out of its tadpole hole nearby; Anister and Clarice are off-screen in cover.\nThe toad knew before the rest of them did. Bancroft saw it \u0026ndash; afterward, when he could put it together \u0026ndash; as a low thrumming vibration that came up out of the toad\u0026rsquo;s whole body, low and dry and felt rather than heard, the kind of sound a great log made when it began to roll. The toad was not happy. The skeletons did not care. The dead, again, did not have the kind of mind that asked which.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He did the only thing he could think to do that did not involve standing still. He took the sling off his belt \u0026ndash; because the longsword was for closing, and the things he most wanted dead were forty yards away with bows \u0026ndash; and he stepped sideways across the dig until he was shoulder to shoulder with Irulan, and he wound the sling, and he loosed at the farther of the two archers. The stone went a yard wide and bonked off a stone slab and skipped into the moor grass.\n\u0026ldquo;That,\u0026rdquo; he said, of his own throw, \u0026ldquo;was awful.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Try again later,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said. She was already dropping the shovel and reaching for the shield slung on her back.\nBancroft Initiative 21 — first to act in combat. Single move toward Irulan to bracket. Sling (\u0026#43;1): 10 raw to-hit on Purple (archer skeleton): MISS. (Mark off rock used.) \u0026#x1F3B2; The toad rumbled. The water in its hole shook. The skeletons, who had no ears, kept coming. Giant Toad initiative 20: rumbles a low warning, deep enough to vibrate the water in its hole. The dead don\u0026#39;t care. \u0026#x1F3B2; From Anister\u0026rsquo;s corner came a small dry curse and the sound of a wax stopper coming out of a small green-glass vial. Bancroft did not see it. He had seen it before, on the bad day in the crypt with the toads. Foe Bane. The herbalist\u0026rsquo;s skill \u0026ndash; a brewed-down something Anister had been perfecting in the back room of the Strumpet, that worked the way certain rare poisons worked, and that you used the way you used a poison: you chose your enemy when you opened the bottle.\nA second curse came after the first. Bancroft knew that one too. Failed it. Then another curse, sharper, and a small clinking sound that Bancroft had learned to recognize as the sound a man made when he was burning a thing he had been saving for later.\nThe third sound, after that, was the small triumphant grunt Anister made when an attempt that had failed once finally took. Bancroft heard him sniff \u0026ndash; the faint hard sniff a man made when he was breathing in a thing the wind would not blow away easily \u0026ndash; and then, low, the word that mattered: \u0026ldquo;Skeletons.\u0026rdquo;\nAnister Foe Bane skill roll: rolled below DC 13 (fail). Burns a luck token to reroll: 13\u0026#43; success. Names skeletons as the chosen creature type; rolls 1d6 = 6 rounds duration. Sniffs Fobain stim. Anister remains hidden. It was a thing Bancroft had never quite understood. Anister had told him, once, in a booth at the Strumpet, that the lighting-up was just the eye seeing what the brewer had taught it to see \u0026ndash; trust the work, brother, it\u0026rsquo;s only herbs \u0026ndash; and Bancroft had nodded and not pressed. He did not need to understand the herbs. He only needed to know they worked, and that they worked on the things that walked at sundown.\n\u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re lit up,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, very quietly, almost to himself, from his corner. \u0026ldquo;Every one of them. I can see them.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan, beside him, took the entire round of her own to put down the shovel, get the shield off her back, get the longsword off her hip, and stand up squared. She did not attack. There were no actions left to attack with, when you had spent them all on equipment. Irulan: drops shovel, takes the round to grab shield and switch out for sword. (Three actions = full round.) \u0026#x1F3B2; From behind the broken throne of dirt where she had hidden, Clarice took a shot, and Bancroft heard the shot a half-second before he heard her muttering \u0026ndash; now, no, now, no, now \u0026ndash; the small private sound of a thief threading a needle that did not want to be threaded. The arrow took longer to come out than an arrow should have. When it came out, it took the melee skeleton coming for Irulan \u0026ndash; the orange one, the one closest \u0026ndash; in the side of the breastbone, and the skeleton staggered and lost half a step.\nIt was not, Bancroft would learn afterward, a free shot. She had taken something for it. Some piece of luck or speed or the day\u0026rsquo;s good order. Whatever it was, it had cost her her place in the line: she would be last from now on, behind everyone, all day, until the next day or the next fight. Bancroft saw the small wince she gave when she paid for it. He did not yet know what she had paid.\nClarice Short Bow (\u0026#43;3): aims sneak attack on Orange (the melee skeleton coming for Irulan). 12 to-hit raw fails — TAKES A CONSEQUENCE to convert to a hit. 9 damage on Orange = bloodied (and bumped down to dead-or-near-dead). Consequence: her initiative drops to last for the rest of the day. \u0026#x1F3B2; The skeletons closed.\nThe melee one came at Bancroft, swung, missed \u0026ndash; the corroded blade went past the breastplate and rang off a stone \u0026ndash; and stayed planted to swing again. An arrow from Pink went past Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s helm and stuck in the dig pile behind him. Another arrow from Purple came in low at Irulan and Irulan, in the same gesture she had used to settle the shield in front of her, took the hit dead in the middle of the boss with a sound like a bell falling on a stone, and the shield itself broke \u0026ndash; split clean down the front, like a clay pot dropped on a hearth \u0026ndash; and Irulan, who had paid for it with the breaking of a thing she had carried for two years, was unhurt.\nBehind it all, the toad. The toad came up out of its hole with a slow heavy thrash, and it came at the nearest melee skeleton \u0026ndash; blue, Bancroft would say later \u0026ndash; and its mouth closed on the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s leg below the hip, and there was the dry crack of bone and the wetter sound of bone going into something soft and not coming back out. Blue, unbothered by the fact that it was now also being eaten, swung the shortsword at the toad and put a long ugly cut across the broad green back. The toad bellowed \u0026ndash; a deep wet sound, half rage and half complaint \u0026ndash; and bit harder.\nSkeleton turn (round 1): one melee swings on Bancroft, miss; Pink shoots at Bancroft, miss; Purple shoots at Irulan, would hit — Irulan burns a \u0026#39;golden shield\u0026#39; luck token to break her shield negating the damage; toad bites Blue (4 dmg), Blue hits toad in return (4 dmg). \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s fighting with us,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, half disbelieving.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s fighting for its hole,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, from his corner, dry. \u0026ldquo;We just happen to be in the same direction.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll take it.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft put the sling away. The melee one in front of him was still in front of him, and the longsword was the right tool for that job, and he drew it and he chopped, and the rotted shoulder joint of the skeleton came apart on the first cut and the head came apart on the second, and the skeleton went down in three pieces and stayed down. One. Round 2 — Bancroft draws the elvish longsword on the melee skeleton in front of him. Elvish Longsword (\u0026#43;4): 19 to-hit, 3 damage. KILLS it. \u0026#x1F3B2; Anister came out of his corner the way Anister always came out of cover \u0026ndash; not running, not even fast, just moving, the way a man moves when he has decided that one shot is going to make him visible and so the shot had better be worth it. He drew. He loosed. The arrow went forty yards across the dig and into the chest of the farther archer \u0026ndash; pink, the one Bancroft had missed with the sling \u0026ndash; and pink came apart at the ribs the way a barn comes apart in a hard wind. Anister, no longer hidden, moved another twenty yards before the rest of them noticed he had moved at all. Anister Long Bow (\u0026#43;4) with Fobain advantage on Pink (archer): 21 to-hit (advantage), 7 damage. Shatters Pink (HP 4). Anister no longer hidden; moves to triangulate from new cover. \u0026#x1F3B2; The skeletons came on. The shortbow at Irulan went wide. Two of the melee skeletons \u0026ndash; the ones that had not committed to anyone yet \u0026ndash; decided collectively that the toad was the more pressing problem, and they closed on it from two sides, and the second of them got the corroded sword across the toad\u0026rsquo;s flank in a slow ugly drag of a cut, and the toad bellowed again, deeper this time, and a long slow trickle of blood came down its broad wet flank and pooled in the bog grass. Skeleton attacks (round 2): one shortbow at Irulan, miss; two melee skeletons converge on the giant toad — first miss, second hit for 5. Toad bloodied. The toad keeps biting. \u0026#x1F3B2; Clarice put another arrow into the second archer \u0026ndash; purple, Anister called it from somewhere, the names of the colors becoming the names of the dead in a way that Bancroft would not later forget \u0026ndash; and purple staggered and went down on one knee. Clarice Short Bow (\u0026#43;3): 17 to-hit, 6 damage on Purple (the remaining archer). Bloodies Purple. Loses an arrow. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft, who was now done with the melee skeleton in front of him, took two long strides into the open and wound the sling again and put a stone into purple\u0026rsquo;s wounded shoulder. Two damage was not, by itself, much. But it was enough, with what Clarice had already done, to make purple sit down properly. Not dead yet. Close. Bancroft Sling (\u0026#43;1): single move toward Purple, 17 to-hit, 2 damage. Helps put Purple down further but doesn\u0026#39;t kill. The toad, by then, had made its decision.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; It had been bitten and slashed and had a long red trickle running down its flank, and somewhere in the great dim animal mind of the thing it had decided that the hole was no longer worth it. It hopped backward, once, over the slab. It hopped backward again, over the lip of the trench. And then \u0026ndash; with a sound like a heavy wet sack going through a hedge \u0026ndash; it was gone. Off into the moor. Toward another hole, Bancroft hoped, though he never did see whether it found one. Giant Toad morale check: fails (Wisdom save vs. damage threshold). Toad disengages, double-moves out of the fight, hops back across the moor toward... whatever it had decided was now safer than its hole. \u0026ldquo;Run,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, under his breath, \u0026ldquo;you stupid wonderful thing.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Anister, from his second corner, put one more arrow into purple \u0026ndash; a slow careful shot, taken with the kind of hand that only stopped shaking once a man was hopped up on Fobain and the dead were lit up like lanterns \u0026ndash; and purple came apart in the air, the way a thing comes apart when the only thing holding it together is unholy magic and somebody has cut the magic. Two archers down. Two melee left. Anister Long Bow (\u0026#43;4) with Fobain advantage on Purple: 23 to-hit, 6 damage. Shatters Purple. Two archers down, two melee skeletons left. He did not have long to mourn the toad. The two remaining skeletons \u0026ndash; the ones the toad had been wrestling with \u0026ndash; looked around for the next nearest thing, and the skeletons did not pursue the toad, and so the next nearest thing was Clarice, and Bancroft, and the ones with no shields up. They split. One came at Clarice. One came at him.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The one on Clarice got past her bow-arm and put the corroded edge of the shortsword across her ribs \u0026ndash; not hard, not deep, just enough to split the cloth of her bodice in a long shallow line. She screamed, but it was not the kind of scream Bancroft had heard out of her before, which was not really screaming at all, mostly an elaborate professional cursing. I just got this! she howled. Myrta MADE this for me! And she came down off the rubble with the dagger out and a look on her face that Bancroft had only ever seen on women who had decided that something was about to die for personal reasons. Skel vs Clarice (AC 11): 11 hit, 1 damage. Slight cut — RIPS HER BODICE. Clarice the elven thief examines the long shallow tear across her bodice with an outraged sour expression, her dagger held in her other hand, ash and broken bones at her feet.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The other one came at him.\nHe got the longsword up too late. The skeleton\u0026rsquo;s stroke came in low and hard and it should have gone in under the breastplate\u0026rsquo;s bottom edge, into the meat of his hip, and Bancroft \u0026ndash; in a half-second that seemed at the time like all the time in the world \u0026ndash; twisted his shoulder and brought his hip back and the blade went across the plate instead of under it, with a noise like a hammer hitting a dropped pail. The shock of it went up his arm and into his teeth. But the edge did not find skin. Not this time. Sylvanus, he thought, and his voice in the inside of his head was the voice of a man who has just discovered that he is going to live another minute, you do me a kindness sometimes. Thank you.\nSkel vs Bancroft (AC 15 without shield raised): hit on a 20 — would do 5 damage. Bancroft turns his shoulder at the last instant and the corroded blade glances off the breastplate\u0026#39;s edge with a hard ringing scrape. \u0026#x1F3B2; Clarice was on her skeleton already. She had crouched the way a noblewoman crouched when she had decided to forget she was a noblewoman, which was very low indeed, and she came up under the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s hip-bone with the dagger and drove it in and up and the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s knee bent the wrong way and the skeleton fell.\n\u0026ldquo;If I\u0026rsquo;d known that was your favorite bodice,\u0026rdquo; the skeleton said \u0026ndash; it did not, of course, it could not speak, the dead did not speak, this was Anister doing the voice from his cover, deadpan \u0026ndash; \u0026ldquo;I would not have attacked you, my dear.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;It is my ONLY bodice,\u0026rdquo; Clarice snarled, \u0026ldquo;you JACKASS.\u0026rdquo;\nClarice Dagger (\u0026#43;2) advantage: 22 to-hit, max damage 4. Bloodies Blue with a vicious upstab. Bancroft laughed. It came out of him without permission. He was bleeding \u0026ndash; a little, from the scrape \u0026ndash; and he was on his feet and he had a longsword in his hand and there were two skeletons left and one was on the ground and one was looking at him, and he was laughing.\nIt was, he realized, the right time.\nHe took the holy symbol off his chest. He held it up in the afternoon light. He said, in the plain voice he had used the day he turned the zombies in the crypt:\nSylvanus. Be gone.\nBancroft the cleric stands in front of an open trench with his holy symbol of Sylvanus raised, green divine light pouring from it, two skeletal figures recoiling — one dissolving into ash, the other turning to flee\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The green light came off the holy symbol \u0026ndash; the same green light that had taken the five zombies in the crypt the day after Riyou \u0026ndash; and it was, as before, hungrier than green light had any right to be. Bancroft Turn Undead (\u0026#43;4): 24 → corrected to 23 (after a -1 mod). Effective save DC for the remaining skeletons. Both were AC-irrelevant — this is a Charisma save check vs. fail-by-X. \u0026#x1F3B2; The skeleton on the ground \u0026ndash; Clarice\u0026rsquo;s skeleton, the one whose hip she had broken with the dagger \u0026ndash; did not get up again. It went the rest of the way down, into the dirt, and the dirt around it went pale, and then grey, and then the skeleton itself was grey, and then it was a grey shape in the grass that was not skeleton-shaped anymore, and then it was a small drift of ash that the moor wind took apart in front of Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s eyes. Blue skeleton Charisma (-1): 2/3 — fails by 10\u0026#43;. DISSOLVES TO ASH on the spot. \u0026#x1F3B2; The other one \u0026ndash; the one that had come at Bancroft, the one whose blade had skipped across his plate \u0026ndash; did not dissolve. It got up off its feet at a kind of tilted angle that nothing alive could have managed, and it looked at the holy symbol in Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s hand, and it turned, and it ran. It ran the way bad things ran in the daylight when they were no longer welcome. It went over the lip of the trench and into the moor grass and it was, very quickly, gone.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t come back, Bancroft thought. Don\u0026rsquo;t ever come back.\nGreen skeleton Charisma (-1): 15/12 — fails by 5. TURNED. Forced to flee, may not pursue. He held the holy symbol up for another second. Then he put it down. His hands, when they were no longer holding the holy symbol, were shaking a little. They had not done that in the crypt, the first time. He decided not to think about why.\nClarice, on the ground, was stabbing the ash where the blue skeleton had been. She was doing it methodically, with an expression of concentrated outrage, as though she were trying to make sure the idea of the skeleton was also dead.\n\u0026ldquo;Clarice,\u0026rdquo; Anister said gently, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s done.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;It RUINED,\u0026rdquo; Clarice said, \u0026ldquo;my BODICE.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I know. We\u0026rsquo;ll get you a new one.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Myrta,\u0026rdquo; Clarice said, \u0026ldquo;is going to kill me.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Myrta is going to be delighted to make you another,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, and then \u0026ndash; because he could never quite leave a thing alone, for which Bancroft was both fond of him and frequently sorry \u0026ndash; he added: \u0026ldquo;And while she\u0026rsquo;s at it, dear, I could use a lady-in-waiting myself, if you know any.\u0026rdquo;\nThere was a silence. Bancroft looked at Anister. Bancroft looked at Clarice. He recognized, in the way Clarice\u0026rsquo;s shoulders went very still, the same kind of stillness he had once seen in a barn cat that had decided it was about to be a barn cat that committed murder.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Clarice stood up. She walked, calmly, across the trampled grass. She made an excellent fist for a noblewoman. And she punched Anister in the side of the face with a wind-up that started, Bancroft would later swear, somewhere in her left hip.\nAnister, who had seen it coming \u0026ndash; because Anister always saw it coming \u0026ndash; did not raise a shield. He did not duck. He did the dwarvish thing of standing very still and accepting the blow with the dignity of a man who had earned it. The blow landed. He gave a small grunt. Then \u0026ndash; with the same kind of slowness he used when he was reaching for an arrow \u0026ndash; he reached out and gave Clarice a slow open-handed slap on the side of the head that was less a slap than a punctuation mark.\nClarice, having received it, sat down. Anister sat down too. They did not look at each other for a while.\nClarice Strength (0): 13/6 — punch lands on Anister (AC 14, no shield raised). Mutual slap consequence on a follow-up d6. Irulan, who had been watching this entire proceeding from where she was leaning on the shortbow at the edge of the trench, said: \u0026ldquo;Are we done?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We are done,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\n\u0026ldquo;Good. We are ten minutes from being inside this thing.\u0026rdquo;\nHe was right about the ten minutes, and Bancroft made him take the time anyway. He went around to each of them and looked at them. Clarice had a long shallow line across her ribs that had stopped bleeding on its own and would scar. Anister had a red mark on the side of his face from Clarice\u0026rsquo;s fist. Irulan was untouched. Bancroft himself had the scrape from the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s blade \u0026ndash; a long shiny mark across the breastplate, the metal slightly bent, the leather underneath unbroken. Nothing they could not walk home with.\nHe did not pray over any of them, because none of them needed it. He sat down, instead, on a stone, and looked at the trench, and at the slab they were ten minutes from breaking through, and at the small pool out beyond the trench where the water was \u0026ndash; he checked, he looked, he had to know \u0026ndash; still moving in the small busy way that meant tadpoles. The toad was not in it. The toad had not come back. He hoped the toad was somewhere else, in some other pool, with some other tadpoles. He hoped the arrow had come out clean.\nSylvanus, he thought, if you can see him, give him a soft place to soak.\nHe did not say it aloud. He never said this kind of thing aloud, because he could imagine perfectly well how Anister would tease him about it, and Anister had earned the right to tease him about most things but not the right to tease him about a frog.\n\u0026ldquo;Tomorrow?\u0026rdquo; he said.\n\u0026ldquo;Tomorrow,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\nClarice, who had pulled the torn edges of her bodice together with one hand and was holding them there with what dignity she could find, said: \u0026ldquo;Tomorrow. And on the way back to town we are stopping at Myrta\u0026rsquo;s, and she is going to look at this and she is going to cry, and I am going to feel very good about it.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;That seems fair,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\nThey walked back to Helix in the long late afternoon light. Anister walked at the back. Irulan walked in the middle, the way she did when she wanted to think. Clarice walked at the front holding her bodice together, with the kind of straight-backed offended posture that was, Bancroft thought, almost certainly the way her mother had taught her to walk. He brought up the rear with the sledgehammer.\nThe sky behind them was the color of a bruise that had been there a few days. The sky in front of them was clear.\nHe thought: one more day. One more morning. We finish this hole, and we go inside, and whatever is there is there.\nHe thought: I hope the toad makes it.\nHe thought: I do not know how to be senior. But I think today I did not do badly.\nThe lights of Helix came up out of the dark a long while later, and Bolo had stew, and the stew was, as ever, more of a concept than a meal, and they ate it without a great deal of conversation. Clarice went up to her room and did not come down again. Anister went out to the stable to see to the mules. Irulan and Bancroft sat in the booth by the window and did not talk much.\nAfter a while, Irulan said: \u0026ldquo;You did all right today.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I felt out of my depth.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You were out of your depth. You did all right anyway. That\u0026rsquo;s most of being senior.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft did not know what to say to that. He nodded. He looked into his stew.\nOutside, on the Helix high street, somebody was laughing at somebody else\u0026rsquo;s joke, and somebody else was singing the kind of bad song that drunks sang at this hour, and the town was, in its small ordinary way, going on.\nHe thought of the pool with the tadpoles in it, out on the dark moor, and he hoped it was still alright.\nThen he went up to the room and took his boots off and slept, and dreamed \u0026ndash; briefly, peacefully \u0026ndash; of a frog bigger than any frog had ever been, sliding very slowly into a pool of water that was full of the small busy shapes of its children, and not minding the dry men at all.\n","date":"5 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-05-05-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft came up the moor road late, a half-hour after the others, because the cobbler in Helix had needed an extra hour to put the new sole on the left boot and Bancroft was not going to dig in a wet boot if he could help it. By the time he came around the long shoulder of the ridge that hid the dig from the road, the others had already finished some short business of their own. He saw it in the trampled grass and in the streak of blood drying on Anister’s pickaxe handle and in the way Clarice was wiping her dagger on a strip of moss. He did not ask. The kind of business that left grass trampled and dagger blades wet was the kind of business he was glad to have missed.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 60 - Bancroft","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"They went back in the morning because no one could think of anything else to do.\nBancroft was the one who wouldn\u0026rsquo;t let it go. Anister had said, at breakfast, in the flat voice he used when he was trying to be kind, that there wasn\u0026rsquo;t anything to go back for. She\u0026rsquo;s behind a wall we can\u0026rsquo;t move, Bancroft. She\u0026rsquo;s been behind it all night. Whatever\u0026rsquo;s happened has happened. And Bancroft had looked at his bowl of porridge and said, then at least we owe her the work of trying. Which was the kind of sentence that ended conversations rather than winning them, and so by the time the sun was properly up they were on the moor road again, Anister with a pickaxe over one shoulder, Bancroft with a sledgehammer across his own, and a new hireling walking behind them with a torch in either hand.\nIrulan was not with them. She had ridden south two days ago on some errand of her own that she had not volunteered the details of \u0026ndash; a letter from somewhere, a name Bancroft did not recognize, the kind of private business a half-orc who had been wandering a long time had a right to keep to herself \u0026ndash; and she had said she would be back when she was back. Bancroft missed her more than he had expected to.\nThe new hireling was Lulldun. He had been loitering at the Grey Company offices the night before, looking for a posting, and had been willing \u0026ndash; for a silver a day and a share of any gold they found \u0026ndash; to carry torches into a hole in the ground for people he\u0026rsquo;d just met. He was maybe nineteen. He had a nose that had been broken once and set poorly. He said yes sir to Bancroft and yes sir to Anister and didn\u0026rsquo;t say much else.\nGrig was not with them either. Grig had made his decision the morning after the Outriders \u0026ndash; a short conversation at the door of the Brazen Strumpet, eyes on the ground, the kind of conversation where the word sorry does most of the work \u0026ndash; and had taken the silver he\u0026rsquo;d earned and walked off down the high street toward whatever came next for a man who had learned he was not built for this. Bancroft had not begrudged him.\nTwo men and a boy, then. Two men and a boy walking out to a crypt to dig for a body they would not find.\nThey took Lulldun down into D28. The crypt was exactly as they had left it. The broken throne. The scattered skeleton. The corpse the Outriders had gutted on their way out. And at the back, behind where the throne had been, the long slow wall of rubble \u0026ndash; floor to ceiling, wall to wall \u0026ndash; that had closed behind Riyou the day before. Bancroft put his hand on it. The stone was the same cold it had been yesterday. Nothing had changed.\n\u0026ldquo;All right,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. He spat in his palms and lifted the pickaxe. \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s start.\u0026rdquo;\nThey had been digging for half an hour when the zombies came down the stairs.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Five of them, shuffling in that drunk-legged way zombies shuffled, drawn out of whatever upper level of the barrow network the sound of pickaxes had reached. They came down the stone steps at the rate of men who had all the time in the world, which was fair, because they did. Wandering monster check at 30 minutes (d6 = 1): 5 zombies from the upper barrow, drawn by the noise of digging. Anister saw them first and said a word Bancroft did not reproach him for. Bancroft put the sledgehammer down and reached for the holy symbol on his chest. Lulldun dropped one of his torches and did not pick it back up.\nBancroft did what clerics did. He held the holy symbol up and said: Sylvanus, turn these abominations from our path. Let us protect the small one. Let her live and grow, the way growing things grow.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The god answered. A green light came off the holy symbol like smoke off a wet fire, and then it was not smoke, it was something hungrier than smoke, and it went into the zombies the way sunlight goes into dew. They burned where they stood. All five of them. No sound, no lurching attempt to close the distance, just a slow combustion from the inside out. Bancroft channels Turn Undead: roll 22 -- exceptional success, all 5 zombies destroyed. Bancroft the cleric stands at the head of a ruined crypt staircase with his holy symbol raised, a torrent of green divine fire pouring from it and consuming five shambling zombies, Anister watching from behind with his bow\nThe smell was awful. Bancroft would not have been able to describe it to anyone who had not smelled it.\nOne of them was small.\nHe saw it in the moment before the fire took her \u0026ndash; it, he told himself, he insisted, it, because the alternative was a thing he could not carry \u0026ndash; a figure that came only to a man\u0026rsquo;s waist, shuffling near the back of the group, the hair wrong and the clothes wrong and the face already too far gone to read. He looked away before the fire finished. He did not want to see. He did not want to know. He told himself the barrow was full of the reanimated dead of every size and shape, which was true, and that many of them were the bones of children buried long before Riyou had been born, which was also true, and that the small one could have been any of those things, which was possibly true. And he put the holy symbol back inside his cloak and did not look at Anister and did not look at the place on the floor where the ash still smoldered.\nAnister was the one who said, eventually: \u0026ldquo;Loot?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Look if you want,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, and his voice came out steadier than he expected. \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t think there\u0026rsquo;s anything left to look at.\u0026rdquo;\nThere wasn\u0026rsquo;t. The fire had been thorough. The five zombies had become five handfuls of grey powder, already drifting in the air currents of the crypt, and whatever rags or knives they had carried were not in any condition to carry anything now. Anister toed one pile and grunted and came back. He did not mention the small one. Bancroft was grateful for that.\nThe elf walked down the stairs about two hours later.\nBancroft had gotten used to looking up every ten minutes \u0026ndash; old habit from the moor, where you looked up whenever you weren\u0026rsquo;t actively using your hands, because that was how you didn\u0026rsquo;t die \u0026ndash; and the third or fourth time he looked up, there was a woman on the steps where there hadn\u0026rsquo;t been one before. She came down the way cats came down, one stair at a time, without hurry, without any particular attempt to make her presence known.\nShe was an elf. Not the street-elf kind that Bancroft saw in Helix, hungry around the markets. The other kind. Tall \u0026ndash; taller than him \u0026ndash; with hair cut to a blunt shoulder-length bob, dark as a wet crow, and the long face and almond eyes and graceful fingers that Bancroft had learned to associate with the elves who had names longer than the songs about them. She wore leather armor over something that had been expensive before it had been made practical. A slender short bow rode on her shoulder. A dagger hung in a sheath at the small of her back. She carried a pickaxe in her left hand between thumb and forefinger, the way a woman carries a dead mouse to the door.\n\u0026ldquo;Excuse me,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;I am looking for Bancroft Eddowes and Anister Thamaren. I was told at the Brazen Strumpet that you might be in need of another hand.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; She extended her right hand. Bancroft shook it before he thought to wonder why she needed her left hand free. Then he felt the small weight go missing from his belt, and a heartbeat later she was holding up his coin purse, which contained the one gold piece he had to his name, and smiling \u0026ndash; not cruelly, just professionally, the way a carpenter smiles when he wants to show you how the joint works. Clarice de Castillagero, Jenni\u0026#39;s new PC: elven noble thief, HP 4, \u0026#43;2 Strength talent, sneak attack d6, starting gold 30gp, signet ring she refuses to sell. Pickpockets Bancroft in the opening handshake -- Dex success. \u0026ldquo;Forgive me,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;It is how my people greet each other. You may call me Clarice.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Clarice what,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, from the rubble.\n\u0026ldquo;Clarice de Castillagero.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Of course it is,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, and turned back to the rubble, and did not appear to hold it against her.\nHer story, such as she volunteered it, was simple and probably half true. An elven noble, younger daughter of a house Bancroft had not heard of and so did not press about, new to Helix, looking for a purse and an education. She had heard at the Brazen Strumpet that a small party working out of that inn had lost a member the day before and might be short-handed. Bolo the innkeeper had written her a note of recommendation, which she handed to Bancroft, and which was in Bolo\u0026rsquo;s awful handwriting and said, this one seems fine, she paid for her room, she stole the pen I am writing this with.\nBancroft laughed for the first time that day. It surprised him.\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;ll want a share,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\n\u0026ldquo;Of what I earn,\u0026rdquo; said Clarice. \u0026ldquo;Nothing more.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s the right answer,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, without looking up from the rubble.\nClarice nodded, slow and courtly, and then looked at the pickaxe in her hand with genuine sorrow and said: \u0026ldquo;I suppose I should make myself useful.\u0026rdquo;\nShe swung it. She was not good at it. She was better than Bancroft had expected, and worse than any of them except Lulldun, and she took the pickaxe in the way that nobles took pickaxes, which was with a small private look that said I will remember this later, when I tell the story of how I was ever brought so low.\nBancroft liked her. He hadn\u0026rsquo;t meant to. But he did.\nThe toads came about two hours after the elf did.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Two of them, full-grown, the wet-green kind that got to be the size of a yearling calf and could swallow a man whole if the man was small enough. The first one landed on what had been the throne and cracked the stone of it. The second one landed on the floor and turned sideways with its mouth already opening. Wandering monster check (d6 = 6): 2 giant toads drop down the stairs into the throne chamber. \u0026#x1F3B2; Clarice was the one who saw them coming. She had been leaning on her pickaxe with the weary elegance of a noblewoman taking the first break of her life, and she straightened, and in the motion of straightening she slid sideways behind a piece of the broken throne that was tall enough to hide most of her, and nocked an arrow to the short bow, and took the shot before the first toad had finished turning around. The arrow went into the toad\u0026rsquo;s shoulder meat \u0026ndash; not a killing hit. A hurting hit. Clarice Wisdom (surprise) 17 success -- party not surprised. Stealth 17 -- hides behind broken throne. Short bow surprise shot (\u0026#43;3 ranged): 14 hit, sneak attack d6 \u0026#43; base = 7 damage, bloodies toad 1. \u0026ldquo;Move,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, already moving himself, already dropping the pickaxe and pulling the longbow off his back in one motion. Bancroft dropped his own pickaxe and drew the elvish longsword, and saw the first toad, and the light around its belly, and the way the tongue came out of its mouth so fast the air made a sound.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The toad ate Lulldun in the first round. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t the one Clarice had hit. It was the other one, the unwounded one, and it came down the room in two leaps and its tongue came out in a long pink arc and wrapped around Lulldun\u0026rsquo;s torch arm, and Lulldun made a small surprised sound, like a boy who had just stepped on a nail, and then the toad pulled him in and the mouth closed and then there were not two torches in the room anymore. Toad 2 tongue-grabs Lulldun (AC 12, bite hits). Damage 6 -- Lulldun had 4 HP. Killed and swallowed whole in round 1. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft saw it over his shoulder. He was already busy \u0026ndash; the first toad had gotten its tongue around his sword arm and had yanked, and he had gone forward a yard and a half and cracked the crown of his head on the edge of the broken table hard enough that the helmet rang like a small church bell, and the toad had tried to bite him and had missed, and he was close enough now to smell the sour wet vegetable rot of the thing\u0026rsquo;s mouth. Toad 1 tongue lash on Bancroft: Dex save DC 12, Bancroft rolls 11 -- fail, yanked forward, cracks head on table. Follow-up bite vs Bancroft AC 16: miss. By the time he got himself upright again and turned, Lulldun was a lump inside the second toad, and the second toad was chewing, and the torches Lulldun had been carrying were on the floor, one still burning and one guttering.\n\u0026ldquo;The torch,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, urgent, because Anister was a dwarf and a dwarf thought about light before he thought about most other things. \u0026ldquo;Somebody get the torch.\u0026rdquo;\nThe guttering one went out before anyone could get it. The other one kept burning, flickering on the floor, throwing the shadows of the two toads on the wall in huge moving shapes.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t think about Lulldun, Bancroft told himself, because there was nothing he could do for Lulldun, and there was still the first toad in front of him.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Anister sniffed something out of a small tin he kept in his pouch \u0026ndash; one of the herbal things he\u0026rsquo;d been collecting on the moor, powdered and preserved, the kind of preparation a ranger learned to make when he\u0026rsquo;d been in the wilderness long enough to stop trusting his own reflexes \u0026ndash; and his eyes went bright and his shoulders came up and he moved the way a man moves when he has stopped being tired. Anister sniffs Fobain (herbal remedy): advantage on attacks vs. toads for 5 rounds. Repositions behind the broken throne. Clarice, from her hiding place behind the broken throne, did not attack. Bancroft could see the calculation on her face: if she shot again, the toads would notice her, and if the toads noticed her, she had four hit points and a leather jerkin and a short bow that was not good at piercing toad hide. She stayed still. It was the right call. Bancroft knew it was the right call. He also knew that watching a thief make the right call while a friend bled was one of the more specifically infuriating experiences a cleric could have.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The first toad\u0026rsquo;s tongue came out again. Bancroft tried to duck. Bancroft failed to duck. The tongue wrapped around his thigh this time and yanked, and he felt a rib do something unpleasant on the way down, and the toad\u0026rsquo;s mouth came down on his shoulder and closed, and he got a piece of the elvish longsword up in the gap between the jaws before the bite could finish, and the blade held and the jaws did not close all the way, but it was close. It was very close. Toad 1 tongue lash on Bancroft again: Dex save 10 -- fail. Bite (advantage): near-crit, 4 damage. Bancroft HP 4 of 9. \u0026#x1F3B2; Clarice\u0026rsquo;s lantern came on behind him. She had taken the heirloom lantern out of her pack \u0026ndash; the filigreed elven thing her mother or her father or some earlier Castillagero had pressed into her hand when she was small \u0026ndash; and she had tried to light it, and fumbled the flint with shaking hands, and then tried again and got it, and the lantern bloomed green-white in the gloom of the crypt. Clarice relights her heirloom elven lantern: Dex 1 (nat fail), retry succeeds -- light restored to the chamber. The toads were suddenly visible. All of them. Every wart, every fold, every strand of Lulldun still showing through the belly of the second one.\n\u0026ldquo;Now, Anister,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft gasped. \u0026ldquo;Now.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Anister put the arrow in the thing\u0026rsquo;s eye. It was the shot he had been waiting for all fight \u0026ndash; the one he couldn\u0026rsquo;t make in the dark, the one he had burned a dose of his own tincture for \u0026ndash; and the light from Clarice\u0026rsquo;s lantern lit the toad\u0026rsquo;s flank and Anister let the bowstring go and the arrow went in at the waterline of the eye socket and kept going. The toad convulsed. Its tongue shot out spastically and wrapped around nothing. Its legs went stiff. Anister longbow with herbal-remedy advantage: 17 hit, d8\u0026#43;1 = 9 damage into toad 1\u0026#39;s eye. \u0026#x1F3B2; Clarice was out from behind the throne before the body finished twitching. She crossed the room in five quick strides and drove her dagger up under the toad\u0026rsquo;s jaw \u0026ndash; the throat, where the hide was thinnest \u0026ndash; and the toad fell sideways onto the scattered bones of the skeleton that had once sat on the throne, and it was dead. Clarice sneak attack dagger with advantage: 2 \u0026#43; d6 sneak = 9 total -- kills toad 1. \u0026#x1F3B2; The second toad was slower to die. Anister put arrow after arrow into its flank from behind the broken throne, each shot a little better than the last as the herbal remedy did its ugly work on him; and Bancroft, once he had his own toad on the floor and bleeding out, came around with the elvish longsword and chopped at the second one\u0026rsquo;s hind leg until the tendons gave out; and eventually the thing put its huge wet head down and exhaled once, long and slow, and stopped. Anister continues archery on toad 2 (herbal-remedy advantage still active): crit \u0026#43; second hit, 8 \u0026#43; 3 damage. Bancroft moves to support, chops toad 2\u0026#39;s hind tendons with elvish longsword. Toad 2 dies. Lulldun spilled out of it when Anister cut the belly open with his hand axe. There was nothing to be done for Lulldun. There was, in fact, barely enough of Lulldun to tell anyone he had been Lulldun. Anister found the dagger the boy had been wearing at his hip and the two torches, one of which had burned in the fight, one of which was still whole and dry. He put them in his own pack. He said, to no one in particular: \u0026ldquo;He didn\u0026rsquo;t last long, did he.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;No,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\nSylvanus, Bancroft thought, and his hand went to the holy symbol before his mind caught up, there\u0026rsquo;s a boy in this toad. He had a mother. Would you look for her and tell her. He knew it was not the kind of prayer the forest god would answer. He said it anyway.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He healed himself next. Sylvanus, mend me, and the green light came easily this time, and three of the worst inches of damage along his shoulder closed back up. Bancroft Cure Wounds on self: roll 17 = 3 HP recovered. \u0026#x1F3B2; Anister had tried, first, to put one of his own herbal salves on the cut, and had been so tired that he had fumbled the preparation and the berry had come apart in his hand into something that smelled like bad breakfast, and he had cursed and wiped it on his pants and stood still while Bancroft prayed over him instead. Anister attempts a herbal salve on his own graze: roll 10 -- fails. Bancroft Cure Wounds on Anister: success, restored to full. No gold. No gems. No anything. Two giant toads and five burned zombies and one dead hireling, and the total weight of treasure pulled out of the morning was a dagger and a torch.\nTwo enormous green giant toads fight the party in the crypt, one with its tongue wrapped around Bancroft\u0026#39;s leg while he braces his sword in its jaws, the other swallowing the hireling Lulldun, Anister firing a longbow from cover and Clarice hiding behind the broken throne with her short bow\nThey dug the rest of the day.\nIt was ugly, slow work. The rocks in the rubble fall were not the kind of rocks you could roll out of the way \u0026ndash; they were the kind that had to be broken with a sledgehammer into smaller rocks and then carried, one by one, back out through the crypt and up the stone stairs and out onto the moor, where they piled them into a low berm to keep the spill out of the entrance. Anister did most of the breaking. Bancroft did most of the carrying. Clarice, who had the lightest frame and the cleanest hands, took the watch at the foot of the stairs and traded off on the pickaxe when one of them needed to sit down.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Three hours. Three hours, plus the hour they\u0026rsquo;d already spent in the morning. Four hours of work, once you didn\u0026rsquo;t count the zombies and the toads, and when Anister finally put down the pickaxe and sat on an overturned stone and wiped his face with a rag that had gone black, and looked at the hole they\u0026rsquo;d cut into the rubble, the hole was maybe three feet deep. Remaining wandering checks for the day (d6 = 1, 2, 3, 4, distant voices on one roll but no encounter): no further monsters. ~3 hours of useful digging, roughly 3 feet of pathway cleared. Module text estimates days to clear the rest. 1 XP each at end of session. Three feet.\nThe rubble went on for \u0026ndash; no one knew how far. Ten feet. Fifty. Whatever length of passage Riyou had squeezed through had been made into a solid brick of broken rock, and the three feet they had cut through had been the easy part.\n\u0026ldquo;Days,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. \u0026ldquo;Maybe a week. More than a week if we don\u0026rsquo;t bring more hands. And we don\u0026rsquo;t have more hands.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We could hire more,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, without conviction.\n\u0026ldquo;At what a day? Two silver each? For a week? For no treasure at the other end?\u0026rdquo;\nHe did not answer, because there was no answer. Anister sat down on another stone and drank from a skin and handed it to Clarice, and Clarice drank and handed it back. Bancroft sat down too. He looked at the three-foot hole and at the rubble behind it and at the dark on the other side where the lantern light did not reach and he thought: there is nothing in there for us. There is nothing on the other side of this rock that we can carry out. Not her body. Not her dagger. Not her whistle. Not the scar on her arm. Not a single thing that any of us could put in a pack and bring back to Helix and bury under a stone with her name on it.\n\u0026ldquo;Has there been any sign,\u0026rdquo; he said finally, aloud, because he could not keep it in, \u0026ldquo;of \u0026ndash; of anything. On the other side. Any noise. Any movement. Anything at all.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;No,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. \u0026ldquo;None all day.\u0026rdquo;\nClarice, who had not known Riyou, said nothing, and was right to say nothing.\nBancroft let his head rest against the stone behind him and closed his eyes.\nAll right, he thought. I tried, Sylvanus. I came back. I turned the dead off her. I made the hole three feet bigger. I prayed for the boy in the toad. I did what I could do. And it wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough. And it was never going to be enough.\n\u0026ldquo;We should head back,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;Before dark.\u0026rdquo;\nThey got back to Helix in the blue hour. Clarice walked in the middle of the line, quiet, matching the pace of the short-legged members of the party without any apparent effort. Anister brought up the rear with the mules. They saw nothing on the moor road except a pair of distant figures at the top of a ridge who did not come closer, and by the time the torches of Helix\u0026rsquo;s outer wall came into view, Bancroft could not remember what color the sky had been an hour ago.\nThe Brazen Strumpet was warm. The Brazen Strumpet was always warm. Bolo fed them stew that had been stew for three days and was, by now, more of a concept than a meal, and Anister paid for it with one of the silver coins he had left, and they sat in the booth by the window and did not talk for a long time.\nBancroft, Anister, and the new elven thief Clarice sit around a booth at the Brazen Strumpet at evening, firelight on dark wood, an empty halfling-sized gap left at the table where Riyou used to sit\n\u0026ldquo;I could ask around,\u0026rdquo; Anister said finally. \u0026ldquo;Rumors. A gold a head. Something might turn up.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Go ahead.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He went. He came back forty minutes later and sat down with a small disgusted smile. \u0026ldquo;One rumor. Same rumor I heard three weeks ago. Some high-level party of evil warriors using the Barrow Maze as a hideout. Not a cult \u0026ndash; a hideout, which is apparently different. Same man, same words, same pause before he held out his hand.\u0026rdquo; Anister rumor check, 1gp: d20 = 4 -- rolls a rumor he\u0026#39;s already heard. \u0026#39;Powerful evil warrior and his band use the Barrow Maze as a hideout -- not a cult, a lair.\u0026#39; \u0026ldquo;What did you tell him?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I gave him the gold. I\u0026rsquo;m not a barbarian.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We have twenty rumors in this town,\u0026rdquo; Clarice said, conversational. \u0026ldquo;In my experience of towns, twenty is, in fact, a rather large number. Bardstown had seven. Helix is practically cosmopolitan.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft laughed again. Two laughs in one day. It was unseasonable.\nThey talked, quietly, about what to do next. Clarice was in favor of turning around and going back to the Barrow Maze proper \u0026ndash; the main entrance, the one the Outriders had not yet gutted, the one they had been meaning to try for weeks. Anister agreed. A week of rubble-breaking for no treasure, he said, was not an adventurer\u0026rsquo;s plan. It was a stonemason\u0026rsquo;s plan.\nBancroft did not commit. He looked at his bowl of stew and let the silence do its work.\n\u0026ldquo;The rubble isn\u0026rsquo;t moving,\u0026rdquo; he said eventually. \u0026ldquo;And she isn\u0026rsquo;t coming back through it. And if she were \u0026ndash; if by some chance she were still down there and she were going to come through \u0026ndash; she would take longer than we have to wait here eating Bolo\u0026rsquo;s stew. So. We leave the hole. We go back when we have better tools, or more hands, or a reason. And in the meantime we do what the rest of you are paid to do.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Barrow Maze,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\n\u0026ldquo;Barrow Maze. When Irulan is back.\u0026rdquo;\nClarice raised her cup of watered wine. \u0026ldquo;To new holes in the ground.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;To new holes in the ground,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\nThey drank. Bolo, from behind the bar, rang the bell for closing.\nBancroft went up the stairs to the room and sat on the edge of the bed and took off his boots and did not pray, for once, because he did not know what he would have said. He laid the elvish longsword across his knees and looked at his hands \u0026ndash; the new calluses on the palms, the smear of toad blood that had dried into the creases of the knuckles, the small spot on the thumb where the pickaxe handle had rubbed a blister and the blister had broken \u0026ndash; and thought: I am learning a new set of calluses for a new kind of work, and I am not the man I was when I left Branding Hill, and Riyou is not coming back through a wall of rocks, and Sylvanus does not reach into places where the forest cannot follow, and tomorrow I am going to put my boots back on and walk into a hole in the ground.\nIt was enough of a thought to sleep on. It had to be.\n","date":"14 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-04-14-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"They went back in the morning because no one could think of anything else to do.\nBancroft was the one who wouldn’t let it go. Anister had said, at breakfast, in the flat voice he used when he was trying to be kind, that there wasn’t anything to go back for. She’s behind a wall we can’t move, Bancroft. She’s been behind it all night. Whatever’s happened has happened. And Bancroft had looked at his bowl of porridge and said, then at least we owe her the work of trying. Which was the kind of sentence that ended conversations rather than winning them, and so by the time the sun was properly up they were on the moor road again, Anister with a pickaxe over one shoulder, Bancroft with a sledgehammer across his own, and a new hireling walking behind them with a torch in either hand.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 59 - Bancroft","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"7 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/riyou/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Riyou","type":"tags"},{"content":" \u0026#x1F3B2; The first thing Riyou did was throw fire.\nShe had a flask of jellied oil \u0026ndash; the kind of thing you carried for weeks without thinking about and then needed in one specific second \u0026ndash; and she lit it and chucked it underhand at the man at the front of the wedge. It caught him across the chest. The flame went up his shirt and onto his face and the two men flanking him took the splash and started slapping at their own arms. The lead man started screaming and didn\u0026rsquo;t stop.\n\u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t come any closer,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said, taking three steps back. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll call for backup.\u0026rdquo;\nIt was a good lie. There was no backup. There were six of them and nine of the bandits and the only thing on their side was that Irulan was Irulan.\nContinuation of cliffhanger from Session 57. Initiative: Irulan 18, Riyou 16, Anister 12, Bancroft 8, Tomb Robbers 6. Riyou is party leader. Riyou throws jellied oil flask -- Dexterity check 14 vs lead bandit, hit. 1d4 = 1 fire damage to lead, 1 splash to two adjacent. Riyou backs up 30 feet. Bandits \u0026#39;desperate quality\u0026#39; -- leather scraps, clubs, slings, no leader. \u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan walked into the wedge.\nShe crossed the ground in three strides and brought the longsword down on the burning man with both hands and the steel went through him at the collarbone and came out somewhere lower. He fell apart. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t really a body left, just the parts of one.\n\u0026ldquo;I suggest you run,\u0026rdquo; she said, loud enough that the rest of them could hear. The half-orc voice carrying across the moor like a bell.\nThe bandits did not run. They came in. Eight of them now, spreading wide, the slingers peeling off to find a stone to crouch behind. One of them landed a club on Irulan\u0026rsquo;s shoulder before she shrugged him off the way you shrug off a mosquito. Another swung and missed. A third would have caught her across the temple \u0026ndash; would have, except Irulan twisted at the last instant and the swing went wide, and Bancroft heard her grunt the small grunt that meant that was close.\nHe was already moving. He came in from the far side of the burning man \u0026ndash; the green one, Irulan had said, go for green \u0026ndash; and swung the elvish longsword and felt the blade glance off something hard. Bone or buckle. The man stayed up. Bancroft hated this part. He was a farmer with a cleric\u0026rsquo;s hands and a sword that was better than he was, and the gap between what the sword could do and what he could do with it never closed.\nIrulan longsword (\u0026#43;6): natural 20 crit, 13 \u0026#43; 5 \u0026#43; 1 = 19 damage on burning lead bandit -- kill. Irulan calls out \u0026#39;I suggest you run.\u0026#39; Anister Long Bow (\u0026#43;3): 20 hit, 1 damage. Tomb robbers attack Irulan: 22/1 (fumble), 13 miss, 19 hit for 4 damage. Irulan luck token reroll on second hit -- miss. Bancroft Elvish Longsword (\u0026#43;4): 12 glancing blow, doesn\u0026#39;t kill. \u0026#x1F3B2; The trouble started with Berger.\nHe was the new hireling \u0026ndash; the one with the longsword and the half-finished play about Sir Robin in his scroll case. The bandits, for whatever reason, decided they hated Berger more than anyone else on the field. Three of them broke off from Irulan and came at him at once, swinging clubs, snarling something about Carl \u0026ndash; apparently Carl had been the burning one \u0026ndash; and Berger, who had dragged his sword out of its scabbard with the slow deliberation of a man who\u0026rsquo;d never killed anyone and now badly didn\u0026rsquo;t want to start, took two missed swings on his shield and then a third that found a gap in his armor.\nIt was barely a wound. A nick along the ribs. Any other day Berger might have walked it off, cursed, kept fighting. But Berger was already running on nothing \u0026ndash; too tired, too thin, too soft for this work \u0026ndash; and the small cut was the one his body had no answer for. He sat down. Then he lay down. Then he stopped breathing, the play in his scroll case spilling out into the grass \u0026ndash; pages of dialogue between Sir Robin and his minstrels, ink running where the rain had touched it, ending mid-line.\n\u0026ldquo;Before he died,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said quietly, to no one in particular, \u0026ldquo;the leader said does anyone want to go get a Burger?\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou snorted. It was the kind of joke you made because the alternative was thinking about a man who\u0026rsquo;d carried poetry into a place that didn\u0026rsquo;t have any.\nBerger gets targeted by 3 bandit attacks (orange/purple/orange). Berger AC 13, \u0026#43;1 melee bonus. All 3 attacks roll 5 -- three 5s in a row miss, except one crits with 1 damage. Berger had 1 HP -- dies. Anister sarcasm: \u0026#39;Carl was my friend.\u0026#39; Bancroft joke: \u0026#39;before he died, the leader said hey does anyone want to go get a Burger?\u0026#39; \u0026#x1F3B2; After that, the fight broke their way.\nBancroft killed a bandit who was already staggering from a cut to the leg \u0026ndash; clean stroke, a good one, the kind he wished he could trust himself to make every time. Irulan killed two more in quick succession. Riyou\u0026rsquo;s arrows mostly missed but she didn\u0026rsquo;t care, she was working on the slingers from the cover of a bush, picking at them, keeping their heads down. Anister did the same from a different bush. Eventually the bandits did the math and came up short, and the four still standing turned and ran across the moor and didn\u0026rsquo;t look back.\nGrig had run, too. The morale had broken in him as soon as Berger went down, and he\u0026rsquo;d dropped his hand axe and fled \u0026ndash; or tried to flee. Bancroft caught up to him at a jog and put a hand on his shoulder.\n\u0026ldquo;Come back, Grig. They\u0026rsquo;re done. They\u0026rsquo;re running.\u0026rdquo;\nGrig came back. He looked at the ground the whole way, mortified, his mouth working around an apology that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t form. My knees started to buckle, he said when he finally got the words out. I thought they had us.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s all right,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. He healed Irulan first \u0026ndash; Sylvanus, mend her, the prayer easier than it had been in weeks, the old well full again \u0026ndash; and the green light closed the worst of the gashes on her arms. Then he turned to Grig and said: \u0026ldquo;I can keep you alive. But only if you\u0026rsquo;re still here.\u0026rdquo;\nGrig nodded the way frightened men nod, and stayed.\nThey buried Berger as well as they could in the hard moor ground, took the longsword and the shield off his body for the rest of the band to use, and went back to the dig. The dig was almost done. Another hour of shovels and they\u0026rsquo;d be inside.\nCombat continues. Bancroft Elvish Longsword (\u0026#43;4): 22 hit, 11 damage -- kills bloodied bandit. Riyou shortbow (\u0026#43;1): 3 miss. Irulan kills another with longsword. Anister moves to bush cover. Tomb robber morale check fails -- 5 fight, 4 flee. Grig morale check after Berger dies: Riyou Charisma (-1) 8 fail -- Grig flees. Bancroft Cure Wounds (\u0026#43;3): 9/19/11 -- 11 HP heal to Irulan. Bancroft Charisma (1) 16/12 success -- calls Grig back, he returns \u0026#39;ashamedly.\u0026#39; \u0026#x1F3B2; The Outriders showed up an hour in.\nFive of them, coming over the rise from the west \u0026ndash; five that Bancroft could see, anyway. The leader was a half-orc the size of a small barn, plate mail polished to a hard shine, a warhammer at his hip and a holy symbol on his chest that Bancroft recognized after a moment as belonging to Krom. A dwarven fighter walked at his right shoulder. An elven woman in spell-robes walked at his left. Behind them, two men with the deliberate quietness that Bancroft had learned to read \u0026ndash; henchmen, Irulan said under her breath, and the kind that don\u0026rsquo;t carry your bags.\nThese were not desperate men with sticks. These were a real adventuring party. Leveled. Equipped. Confident the way only people who had won fights before could be confident.\n\u0026ldquo;Looks like someone is about to open up a new barrow,\u0026rdquo; the half-orc said. He had a pleasant baritone \u0026ndash; the voice of a man who didn\u0026rsquo;t have to raise it. \u0026ldquo;Mind if we get first crack at it?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Yes,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said.\nBancroft kicked one of the bandit corpses still scattered around the dig site. \u0026ldquo;Somebody else thought of that first.\u0026rdquo;\nThe half-orc smiled with one side of his mouth. \u0026ldquo;Yeah, they\u0026rsquo;re like rats, those ones. Listen \u0026ndash; the name\u0026rsquo;s Grak Bloodshield. I\u0026rsquo;m not an unreasonable man. Let me pay you for your time digging. Then you can let us in. You can go off and dig another barrow.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;How much?\u0026rdquo; Riyou asked.\nGrak whispered to the dwarf. The dwarf whispered back. \u0026ldquo;Ten gold.\u0026rdquo;\nAfter bandits, party returns to digging at D28. Random encounter d6 = 3, safe. Outriders of Ulrich arrive -- leader Grak Bloodshield (half-orc, plate mail, warhammer, Krom holy symbol), dwarven fighter, elven mage in robes, two henchmen \u0026#39;just watching and waiting.\u0026#39; Irulan Wisdom check -- recognizes them as a leveled adventuring party (probably 3rd-4th level). \u0026#x1F3B2; Three days of digging. Two henchmen dead. A man burned alive in front of them this morning. Ten gold.\n\u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s way too low,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said, \u0026ldquo;for the amount of work and the bullshit we had to do to dig this up.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;The people who dig don\u0026rsquo;t usually get first dibs on the spoils,\u0026rdquo; Grak said. He said it the way a man states a fact he doesn\u0026rsquo;t expect to be argued with. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve watched you dig for, what, days now? We just stepped in at the very end. Are we really going to come to blows over this? I\u0026rsquo;m giving you ten gold.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;No, bro,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said. \u0026ldquo;If you want to do us a favor, you give us a hundred.\u0026rdquo;\nGrak laughed once and didn\u0026rsquo;t bother to laugh twice.\nWhat followed was the kind of conversation that Bancroft had been in before and would be in again, where two groups of armed people stood twenty feet apart and pretended for a few minutes that words might still solve it. They wouldn\u0026rsquo;t. Anister tried to bluff. Irulan threw insults that were mostly accurate but didn\u0026rsquo;t help. Bancroft, looking at the half-orc\u0026rsquo;s plate and the elf\u0026rsquo;s robes and the way the two henchmen had drifted slightly apart from the main group, did the same math Irulan had already done and came to the same answer.\nThey could not win this fight.\n\u0026ldquo;How about this,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said finally, with the elaborate calm of a woman who had decided she wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to die today. \u0026ldquo;You let us open it. Give us half an hour. Then you can take whatever we can\u0026rsquo;t handle.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;No deal, sweetheart. This was more of a formality. We\u0026rsquo;re coming to get it regardless of whether you\u0026rsquo;re there or not.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan turned and walked away.\nAnister followed. Bancroft followed. Grig, who had developed an instinct for which way the wind was blowing, followed too. They left the half-finished barrow behind them and started across the moor toward town, and behind them the Outriders moved in to take what they hadn\u0026rsquo;t earned.\nRiyou had a different plan.\nShe caught Anister\u0026rsquo;s elbow as they walked. \u0026ldquo;Give me your whistle.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;What for?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll go back,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;Invisible. Get close. Blow it loud. The whole moor will hear it. Maybe a wandering monster turns up before they get the door open. Maybe it eats them. Either way.\u0026rdquo;\nIt was the kind of plan Riyou made when she\u0026rsquo;d been pushed too far \u0026ndash; clever, spiteful, riding the edge of something dangerous. Bancroft opened his mouth to say don\u0026rsquo;t, and didn\u0026rsquo;t, because Riyou wasn\u0026rsquo;t asking permission. She was telling them what was about to happen.\nShe took the whistle. She went invisible \u0026ndash; a small ripple in the air, a halfling-shaped absence \u0026ndash; and she went back.\nNegotiation fails. Riyou demands 100 gold. Grak refuses. Standoff escalates. Outriders threaten \u0026#39;we\u0026#39;ll knock you out and string you up and then we\u0026#39;ll loot the place.\u0026#39; Irulan disadvantage Charisma check -- fail. Party decides to leave to avoid TPK. Anister blows whistle (plan: attract monsters to Outriders). Riyou turns invisible (one charge of invisibility, 3 rounds), takes whistle, plans to sneak back and blow it close. \u0026#x1F3B2; They made it two hundred feet before they heard the whistle.\nIt was loud \u0026ndash; louder than Bancroft had expected, a thin shriek that cut across the moor and echoed off the low hills. Long blast. Then nothing.\nHe stopped walking. So did Anister. Irulan kept going.\n\u0026ldquo;Wait.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;For what?\u0026rdquo; Irulan said, without turning. \u0026ldquo;She did her stupid thing. She\u0026rsquo;ll catch up. I\u0026rsquo;m not going back to die for a stunt I told her not to pull.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft looked at the place where the whistle had come from. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t see Riyou. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t see anything \u0026ndash; there were hills between them and the dig site now, and the half-mile of moor in between. He heard no second whistle. No shouting. Nothing.\nHe took his holy symbol off the inside of his cloak and prayed Sylvanus, do you want me to do this, and felt the answer that had been coming more often lately \u0026ndash; not warmth, but a kind of attentive yes, the way a master craftsman nods when an apprentice picks up the right tool. The shield of faith bloomed around him like a thin film of green water and clung to his skin and the prayer had cost him nothing.\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m going back,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;Halfway. Just to see.\u0026rdquo;\nAnister came with him. Irulan stopped where she was and stood, arms folded, refusing to take another step in either direction. Grig drifted between them, miserable.\nIt took a few minutes of fast walking to get within sight again. By the time they could see the dig site, the Outriders had already done it.\nThere was a tight knot of figures on the far side of the barrow \u0026ndash; five of them, and now two more appearing from the bushes Bancroft hadn\u0026rsquo;t known had anything in them. Hidden rogues, Bancroft thought, with the dull recognition of a man learning a lesson he was too late to use. Of course there were hidden rogues. They had something in the middle of their circle. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t see what. He could guess.\n\u0026ldquo;Excuse me,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft called, walking forward at a casual pace. A hundred feet was a long way to make conversation. \u0026ldquo;Have you seen a small child? We seem to have mislaid her.\u0026rdquo;\nGrak\u0026rsquo;s voice came back across the distance, half-amused. \u0026ldquo;Give us a few shakes of a lamb\u0026rsquo;s tail and we\u0026rsquo;ll tell you for sure.\u0026rdquo;\nA heartbeat, Bancroft thought. He means about as long as it takes to swing a sword.\n\u0026ldquo;Have you found our missing halfling or not?\u0026rdquo; he called.\n\u0026ldquo;I suggest you stop walking.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t think we want to fight,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, and kept walking, slowly, the elvish longsword sheathed on his hip, his hands open at his sides. \u0026ldquo;I just want to see her. Let us see her, and we\u0026rsquo;ll go.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;If you keep moving, we\u0026rsquo;re going to shoot.\u0026rdquo;\nHe kept moving. Anister stayed at his shoulder. They got another twenty feet closer before Grak whispered to one of his people and Bancroft saw two of the figures slip behind the bushes again and stop being figures at all.\nParty walks 200 feet away. Riyou sneaks back, blows whistle. GM 1d20 4, 18, 15, 3d6 = 15 -- Outriders catch her. Likely a Hold Person from the cleric followed by spell damage. Bancroft Shield of Faith (\u0026#43;3): 22 success. Bancroft Wisdom (1): 3 fail then 16 success -- pinpoints location. Anister Wisdom (2): 5 fail then 17 success. Bancroft Charisma (1): 15 success -- \u0026#39;have you seen our halfling?\u0026#39; Grak responds with countdown threat. \u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;Yep,\u0026rdquo; Grak called, almost cheerfully. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a halfling.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;d like our halfling back,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\n\u0026ldquo;No.\u0026rdquo;\nThe elven mage said something low and quick, and one of the rogues \u0026ndash; visible or not, Bancroft couldn\u0026rsquo;t tell \u0026ndash; said something back. Then Grak again, the tone shifting into something Bancroft had heard from auctioneers and tax collectors and men telling farmers what their wheat would sell for this year:\n\u0026ldquo;Listen. I know what kidnapping is. This isn\u0026rsquo;t kidnapping. Let\u0026rsquo;s just say she\u0026rsquo;s going to do some work for us, and you can mosey off. You\u0026rsquo;ll find her in the town sometime. Just leave. Unless you want to help work also.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft stood at a hundred feet and looked at the place where Riyou was supposed to be and could not see her at all. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t reach her. Not in time. He could close the distance in a long sprint and the rogues would be on him before he was halfway, and even if he made it there would be five of them and the elf had spells and Grak had plate, and Anister was a thief with a longbow and a body that couldn\u0026rsquo;t take more than a club\u0026rsquo;s worth of trouble, and Bancroft was a cleric who couldn\u0026rsquo;t outrun a child.\nHe thought about Sylvanus and how the god had answered the shield of faith and wondered if the god would answer anything else. He didn\u0026rsquo;t try. He could feel the answer already. That\u0026rsquo;s not what I do.\n\u0026ldquo;Can we just see her?\u0026rdquo; he called. \u0026ldquo;Real quick. Just to know she\u0026rsquo;s all right.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;She\u0026rsquo;s not in a position to talk,\u0026rdquo; Grak said. \u0026ldquo;If I don\u0026rsquo;t see you turn around in the next breath, things are going to happen.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Whenever you guys decide to go do some adventuring,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, very flat, \u0026ldquo;just wake me up.\u0026rdquo; And he turned and started walking back.\nBancroft looked at the half-orc one more time. We\u0026rsquo;ll remember your faces, he thought, in case you don\u0026rsquo;t remember ours. He said it out loud for good measure. Then he turned and walked back to where Irulan was waiting.\nThe halfling thief Riyou kneels small and defiant in the center of a circle of leveled adventurers on the open moor, the half-orc Grak Bloodshield in plate mail looming over her with his warhammer at the ready\nOutriders confirm they have Riyou: \u0026#39;yep, it\u0026#39;s a halfling.\u0026#39; They demand party retreat. Bancroft cannot reach them in time. \u0026#39;You\u0026#39;ll find her at the town sometime, just leave unless you want to help work also.\u0026#39; Party retreats helplessly to Helix. Riyou is forced to dig the barrow open and is held captive offscreen. \u0026#x1F3B2; They got back to Helix without trouble. It was the only mercy of the day.\nAnister took them to the Grey Company first \u0026ndash; the mercenary guild that registered adventuring parties and pretended to keep the peace between them, or at least kept records when peace failed. The clerk at the front desk was a young woman named Petronella who had a stamp the size of a fist and an air of complete bureaucratic neutrality. Anister told her about the dig, and the bandits, and the Outriders, and the demand for ten gold, and the kidnapping. She wrote it all down in a careful, square hand. She nodded in the right places. She put the stamp on the report and slid it into a stack of other reports that, Bancroft suspected, would never be read by anyone who could do anything about it.\n\u0026ldquo;I will speak with Grak Bloodshield,\u0026rdquo; Petronella said. \u0026ldquo;He is the leader of the group.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;He\u0026rsquo;s not going to tell you the truth.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;No,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;Probably not. But it gets put in the file.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft asked about consequences. Petronella said there were none, really \u0026ndash; there had been some cases in past seasons, fireballs through windmills, that kind of thing \u0026ndash; but no formal way for the guild to do anything other than make a note. The Outriders had a file. The file was getting longer. This is what we do with bad neighbors, her tone said. We write it down.\nBancroft watched her work and thought of Oscar.\nHe had never met Oscar. Nobody who walked into the Grey Company office for the first time ever did. But you heard the name within a few minutes of being inside, the way you heard the name of any saint. Oscar was the priest of paperwork \u0026ndash; somewhere in the back of the building, behind a door nobody pointed at, presiding over the files and the stamps and the tall ledgers in which every grievance ever lodged against an adventuring party in the region was preserved in its proper column. People said he could smell a freshly stamped report from across the building. People said the rustle of new paper was his favorite hymn. Bancroft had no way of knowing if any of it was true. He looked at Petronella\u0026rsquo;s small, square handwriting and her perfectly aligned stamp and decided that wherever Oscar was, in his back room or on his lunch break or off filing something else, he would have looked at this report and approved.\nThey went to the Brazen Strumpet to wait. Bolo charged a gold for the three of them, and Anister paid for Bancroft because Bancroft was down to one gold to his name and Anister had the gemstone he\u0026rsquo;d been carrying since the carousing. They sat in the common room and didn\u0026rsquo;t talk much. Irulan watched the door. Anister stared at his hands. Bancroft prayed quietly, the formal way and then the informal way, and got nothing back either time. Not because she doesn\u0026rsquo;t want to be heard, he thought. Because there\u0026rsquo;s nothing here for me to do.\nRiyou came in at ten.\nShe\u0026rsquo;d been in the rain. Her clothes were torn at the shoulder and the hem, her hair was a wet ruin pulled to one side, and there was a darkening bruise the size of a man\u0026rsquo;s fist around her left eye. She walked the way you walked when something hurt that you weren\u0026rsquo;t going to mention. She came over to their table without a word and sat down.\n\u0026ldquo;Great,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;I hate everything. I hope they die. I hope there\u0026rsquo;s ghouls in that damn barrow. Also, good news \u0026ndash; barrow\u0026rsquo;s open. Bad news \u0026ndash; it\u0026rsquo;s a fucking normal barrow with no door.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;They made you dig,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said.\n\u0026ldquo;Of course they made me dig. They knocked me out, put me in manacles, stole sixty gold off me, and gave me back thirty. Said I had to finish digging the rest of the hole and they\u0026rsquo;d let me go. And I did.\u0026rdquo; She touched her cheekbone with two fingers and winced. \u0026ldquo;Then they let me go. And kept the gold.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Anister already paid for your room,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said.\nRiyou closed her eyes. \u0026ldquo;Thank you.\u0026rdquo;\nShe didn\u0026rsquo;t drink anything. She picked at a piece of bread for a while and then asked to go to bed, and Bolo showed her up the stairs. Bancroft watched her walk and tried not to count the limps.\nParty returns to Helix without incident. Lodge complaint with Grey Company mercenary guild. Outriders of Ulrich are known -- all members branded as criminals on left hands, marking past convictions. Wait at Brazen Strumpet for Riyou. She returns at 10 PM beaten -- black eye, ripped clothes, manacles removed. Robbed of 60 gold, only half returned. Forced to finish digging the barrow. Reports D28 has no door -- just an open entrance, suggesting low-level crypt. \u0026#x1F3B2; They slept. The bruises faded the way bruises always faded in this place \u0026ndash; too fast to be earned, just slow enough to feel real. By morning Riyou was on her feet and the black eye was a smudge instead of a wound, and Bancroft had a full reserve of prayers and Irulan\u0026rsquo;s grip on her longsword was steady again.\nRiyou wanted to go back to the barrow.\n\u0026ldquo;They left an hour ago,\u0026rdquo; she said over breakfast. \u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;ve already had their crack at it. Whatever they didn\u0026rsquo;t take is ours. And I want to see what they didn\u0026rsquo;t take.\u0026rdquo;\nIt was a halfling answer to a halfling problem, and Bancroft could not argue with it. They took Grig \u0026ndash; who, after some quiet persuasion from Riyou, agreed to keep going for another day\u0026rsquo;s pay \u0026ndash; and they walked east across the moor.\nD28 was empty when they got there. The entrance had been dug out the rest of the way and propped open with a flat stone. No guards. No watchers. The Outriders had gone in, taken what they wanted, and gone somewhere else.\nThe crypt inside was a small one. A throne in the back, cobwebbed and spilled \u0026ndash; a skeleton that had once sat on it now scattered across the floor in a wide circle, as if someone had kicked the bones for the satisfaction. A corpse near the door, torn apart in the way that didn\u0026rsquo;t suggest a sword. Tables that had once held things and now didn\u0026rsquo;t. Dust disturbed everywhere. Someone had been thorough.\n\u0026ldquo;They cleaned it out,\u0026rdquo; Anister said.\n\u0026ldquo;They tried,\u0026rdquo; said Riyou. She crouched by the throne and ran her fingertips along the back of it the way she ran her fingertips along anything she didn\u0026rsquo;t trust.\nThe four of them spread out and searched. Riyou checked for traps first \u0026ndash; a slow ten minutes, watching her work the way Bancroft had learned to watch her work, with the patient respect you gave a craftsman who knew her tools. Nothing. Then a wider search of the room. Anister picked at piles of dust. Irulan stared into the corners with the methodical patience of a half-orc who had been told corners were where things hid.\nBancroft went around the back of the throne.\nHe almost missed it. He was looking at the wall above the throne \u0026ndash; at the painted plaster, at the cracks where damp had crept in \u0026ndash; and he glanced down at the right moment and saw it. A small lever, set into the stone behind the throne where a sitting king\u0026rsquo;s left hand would never have reached. Pushed sideways to the left. Designed to slide right.\n\u0026ldquo;I have something.\u0026rdquo;\nSleep and recovery -- full HP restored. Next morning: party heads back to D28 to investigate the cleared-out crypt. Random encounter d6 = safe. Grig\u0026#39;s morale charisma check (Riyou): success -- Grig stays on. Riyou re-tells the story to Grey Company in detail next morning. Notices Outriders all branded as criminals. Reaches D28: barrow looted, corpse torn apart, throne with scattered skeleton, tables ransacked. Group Wisdom search for hidden things. \u0026#x1F3B2; Riyou checked the lever for traps \u0026ndash; another patient ten minutes, hands moving over stone the way a doctor\u0026rsquo;s hands moved over a wound \u0026ndash; and pronounced it safe. Bancroft put two fingers on the lever and pushed it sideways, slowly, the way you\u0026rsquo;d push a stuck door.\nThe wall behind the throne rumbled.\nA panel of stone slid open from the left to the right, dragging across something gritty, and a small avalanche of rocks and broken brick spilled out into the room around their feet. The party stepped back. The opening kept opening until it stuck. Bancroft put his hand on Riyou\u0026rsquo;s shoulder to keep her from walking forward.\nThe passage beyond was packed with stone. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall \u0026ndash; a deliberate fill, the kind that someone had spent weeks putting in place to keep something on the other side from being reached. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t dirt. It was rocks the size of Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s fist and bricks the size of his head, mortared in places, loose in others, the whole mass leaning forward into the room and threatening to settle further if anyone touched it wrong.\n\u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s a week of work,\u0026rdquo; Anister said. He was a dwarf. He knew. \u0026ldquo;Sledgehammers. Pickaxes. Two people working at once, and you can\u0026rsquo;t fit more than two abreast. A week. Maybe more.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Or,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said, \u0026ldquo;I could squeeze through.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft felt his stomach do a small, slow turn.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a bad day for that,\u0026rdquo; he said.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a bad day for everything,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;But I\u0026rsquo;m small. There are gaps. Halflings and goblins, that\u0026rsquo;s it \u0026ndash; nothing else fits. I just want to see what\u0026rsquo;s on the other side. Then we know if it\u0026rsquo;s worth a week of digging or not.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Riyou.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll be careful.\u0026rdquo;\nShe was already shedding her pack \u0026ndash; dropping flasks, dropping the iron rations, dropping anything that would catch on a rock. She kept the lantern. She kept the candle Anister handed her. She kept the flint and steel, and one short blade, and the brass whistle she\u0026rsquo;d taken back from Anister and hadn\u0026rsquo;t given up.\n\u0026ldquo;If you come back,\u0026rdquo; Anister said, \u0026ldquo;you can have this.\u0026rdquo; He held up the gemstone \u0026ndash; the sardonyx, the forty-five gold piece gem he\u0026rsquo;d been carrying since the carousing. Real reluctance in his voice now, finally. \u0026ldquo;You come back, the gem is yours.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Hold it for me.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I will.\u0026rdquo;\nShe turned to the gap in the rocks. She went in.\nThe halfling Riyou squeezes between massive stones in a tightly packed rubble passage by lantern light, leaving the party behind in the crypt\nGroup Wisdom check finding lever: Anister 11, Riyou 2, Irulan 3, Anister 8, Bancroft 21 -- only Bancroft succeeds. Hidden lever behind throne, sideways slide. Riyou 10-minute trap check on lever -- no traps. Bancroft slides lever -- secret door opens, revealing rubble-filled passage. Floor-to-ceiling stone and brick. Estimated week of work to clear with sledgehammers. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft sat down on the broken throne to wait.\nAnister stood by the rubble line for a while and then sat down too. Irulan paced. Grig hovered at the door of the crypt with a torch and tried not to look like he\u0026rsquo;d rather be anywhere else.\nThe first ten minutes were the easiest. The lantern light from the gap in the rocks moved a little \u0026ndash; Riyou working her way in, finding the angle, the grunt of small effort that meant she was past the first squeeze. Then the light steadied. Then it dimmed. Then it was gone.\nAfter that, there was nothing to listen to.\nBancroft tried to listen anyway. He heard Grig breathing. He heard Irulan\u0026rsquo;s boots scuff. He heard the wind on the open moor outside the crypt and the slow drip of rain that had started somewhere up there and was finding its way down through cracks in the stone above them. He did not hear Riyou.\n\u0026ldquo;How long has it been?\u0026rdquo; Anister asked, eventually.\n\u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t know.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Should we call?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;She\u0026rsquo;d hear us. She isn\u0026rsquo;t answering, so either she\u0026rsquo;s too far in or she\u0026rsquo;s busy.\u0026rdquo; Bancroft tried to keep his voice level. \u0026ldquo;We don\u0026rsquo;t want her looking back at the wrong time.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Yeah.\u0026rdquo;\nTime worked strangely in the dark. He did not have a clock. He had a sense, the farmer\u0026rsquo;s sense, of the sun moving outside and the slow weight of an hour passing \u0026ndash; and he thought maybe twenty minutes had gone, and then half an hour, and then he was certain it had been longer than that, and then he was certain it hadn\u0026rsquo;t been long at all and he was just panicking.\nAnister talked, in fits and starts, the way people talked when they needed to fill silence and didn\u0026rsquo;t know what else to put in it. About other thieves he\u0026rsquo;d known. About a dungeon he\u0026rsquo;d been in once where someone had been separated from the party in the dark and had run alone for two whole sessions, the kind of detail you remembered when you were trying not to remember a worse one. Irulan said almost nothing. She paced and stopped and paced again.\nBancroft prayed without forming words. He just held the holy symbol and held the silence. If you\u0026rsquo;re there. If she\u0026rsquo;s still down there. Just enough for her to find the gap back. No answer came. He hadn\u0026rsquo;t expected one. Sylvanus did not reach into rocks. Sylvanus was the forest and the field and the slow turn of seasons \u0026ndash; the god of things above the soil, not below it. If Riyou was below the soil now, she was in a place his god had no claim on.\nRiyou begins squeezing through rocks. STR (2): 3 -- natural 1, gets stuck. Multiple subsequent STR checks: 5, 10, 14 -- barely makes progress. Eventually frees herself by greasing with oil flask. WIS exploration checks fail. DEX checks fail. About 30 in-game minutes pass while party waits outside. Other players sit through long offscreen sequence. \u0026#x1F3B2; Anister was the one who heard it.\nA faint noise from the rocks \u0026ndash; a scrape, maybe, or a stone settling. He stood up. Bancroft stood up. Irulan crossed the room in two strides and put her hand flat against the rubble.\n\u0026ldquo;Riyou?\u0026rdquo;\nNothing.\n\u0026ldquo;Riyou, can you hear me?\u0026rdquo;\nThe rubble didn\u0026rsquo;t answer. It never had. It was rock.\nBancroft did not know any of what came next. He would imagine it, in the days that followed \u0026ndash; would build a version of it in his head out of the faint sounds that had reached him through the rubble and the things Riyou had said before she went in and the awful familiar shape of how halflings died in places they shouldn\u0026rsquo;t have been. He built the story because not building it was worse.\nShe had gotten through the squeeze. He was sure of that \u0026ndash; the long minutes when nothing had moved, the silence stretching, then the small renewed scrape of her working her way deeper. He guessed she\u0026rsquo;d had to grease herself with the last of her oil to get through the worst of it. He guessed she\u0026rsquo;d been pinned for a while at the tightest point and had nearly given up.\nThere had been a passage on the other side. She had walked it. She had been looking for treasure or a door or some sign of what the rocks were hiding, and the lantern in her hand had been throwing weak light against weak walls, and she had stepped wrong.\nThere had been a pit. The kind a halfling sees too late.\nShe had fallen, and at the last possible second something \u0026ndash; the small mercy she\u0026rsquo;d been hoarding, the one favor she\u0026rsquo;d been saving for a worse moment \u0026ndash; had caught her hand on the lip of the stone. She\u0026rsquo;d hung there. She\u0026rsquo;d been about to climb. The noise of the fall had reached down whatever was on the other side of the dark, and what was on the other side of the dark had been giant scorpions, and they had come fast.\nThe rest was venom.\nBancroft did not see any of that. He sat in the throne room and waited and watched the gap in the rubble. When enough time had passed that enough time had become a different kind of word \u0026ndash; a word that meant too much \u0026ndash; he stood up and walked to the rubble and put his hand against it the way Irulan had. He felt the faint, slow chill of stone that had been undisturbed for a long time.\n\u0026ldquo;Riyou.\u0026rdquo;\nHis voice fell into the rock and didn\u0026rsquo;t come back.\nHe prayed, finally \u0026ndash; not for an answer, just to mark the moment. Sylvanus. She was a friend. The forest god heard him in the way a forest hears anything. With the great impartial silence of a thing that has seen this happen before, and will see it happen again, and grieves for none of it because grief is not in its language.\nRiyou the halfling thief hangs by one small hand from the lip of a stone pit deep underground, her fallen lantern lying broken beside her, two giant scorpions emerging from the dark passage above\nRiyou tries to climb out of stuck spot. Encounters something in the dark. Wisdom checks fail repeatedly. Walks into pit trap. Falls. Golden luck token spent -- barely catches the ledge. Sound of fall draws giant scorpions. Giant Scorpion initiative 20, attacks: Claw 17 hit (5 dmg), Sting 9, Claw 12 hit (3 dmg). Riyou Constitution save (1) vs poison: 10/19 -- fails one of two saves, poison fully takes hold. DM declares: \u0026#39;She passes out. She is dead.\u0026#39; Third scar, no resurrection. Body is not recoverable. \u0026#x1F3B2; There was no body to recover.\nThat was the part that took the longest to settle. Not the death itself \u0026ndash; they had all watched companions die before, in the ordinary ways. But the unreachability of it. Riyou was in a place none of them could go. Dwarves were too stocky to fit through the squeeze. Half-orcs were out of the question. Bancroft was a man with a man\u0026rsquo;s shoulders and there was no version of the next hour where any of them could follow her down to where she had stopped.\nShe was just there. Past a wall of rocks they couldn\u0026rsquo;t move in less than a week. Past a pit they couldn\u0026rsquo;t see. With creatures around her that the party had no way of fighting from this side of the stone. Whatever Riyou had been carrying \u0026ndash; the dagger, the lantern, the candle Anister had pressed into her hand, the brass whistle she had used to try to ruin a bandit\u0026rsquo;s day \u0026ndash; was hers now, in the way that things in a tomb belonged to the dead.\nThe tattoos on her arms, too. The cult information she had been carrying around like a folded letter she would not open. The thing the wizard Mazzah had wanted from her so badly that he had been willing to threaten what he was willing to threaten. All of it was gone. Sealed in.\n\u0026ldquo;Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s going to be furious,\u0026rdquo; Anister said quietly, after a long time.\n\u0026ldquo;Yes.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;He\u0026rsquo;s going to come asking.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Let him ask.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft pulled his hand off the rubble. It was cold. He turned and walked back across the crypt past the broken throne and the scattered skeleton and the corpse the Outriders had left behind, and out into the rain that had started in earnest now, drumming on the moor in long gray sheets.\nAnister still had the gem in his hand. He looked down at it once and put it back in his pouch.\nThey walked back to Helix in the rain. Three of them and a hireling and the longsword on Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s hip and the empty space at the front of the line where the small one had always been. Bancroft thought about Riyou\u0026rsquo;s face when she had asked for the whistle yesterday morning \u0026ndash; clever and angry and sure of herself \u0026ndash; and could not get the picture to settle. He thought about the oath he hadn\u0026rsquo;t been able to keep about keeping people alive. He thought about Sylvanus and the silence and the dark under stone.\nThe forest god had no jurisdiction down there. The forest god had never claimed otherwise.\nHe walked. It rained. Helix was a long way off and he had nowhere else to go.\nSession ends. Riyou is confirmed dead -- character permanently lost. Body unrecoverable behind wall of rubble. Jenni will roll a new character next session to replace Riyou. Anister (Graham) levels up at the end of session, taking Ranger as his class. Everyone except Riyou earns 1 XP. The 45gp sardonyx remains with Anister, never delivered. ","date":"7 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-04-07-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" 🎲 The first thing Riyou did was throw fire.\nShe had a flask of jellied oil – the kind of thing you carried for weeks without thinking about and then needed in one specific second – and she lit it and chucked it underhand at the man at the front of the wedge. It caught him across the chest. The flame went up his shirt and onto his face and the two men flanking him took the splash and started slapping at their own arms. The lead man started screaming and didn’t stop.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 58 - Bancroft","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft got to Helix three days behind the others. The disease from the Huecuva had taken longer to shake than the priests of St. Ygg had promised, and by the time he walked through the gates he was light on coin, heavy on fatigue, and already behind on what mattered.\nThe others had been busy. They\u0026rsquo;d been digging at one of the sealed barrows \u0026ndash; the one they\u0026rsquo;d marked on their map as D28, out on the moor \u0026ndash; and had been at it for days between interruptions. Two of the hirelings had had enough. Rollo and the other Anister \u0026ndash; not their Anister, but the hireling they\u0026rsquo;d picked up cheap \u0026ndash; had looked at the work remaining and the pay being offered and decided their futures lay elsewhere. Bancroft couldn\u0026rsquo;t blame them. The barrows ate people, and smart hirelings knew when to walk.\nNew faces at the table. Grig was a slight man with a hand axe and leather armor who hummed the same tune over and over and wanted to know if anyone had seen gnolls. He asked it the way a man asks who\u0026rsquo;s already decided on the answer he wants. Berger was older, carried a longsword and a shield, and had scroll cases of poetry strapped across his chest like bandoliers. An armed poet. Bancroft had seen worse.\nBancroft arrives in Helix. Party has been digging at barrow D28 for several days. Hirelings Rollo and Anister (hireling) fail morale -- Charisma check 15/8, 19/10 with advantage -- both leave. New hirelings recruited (5gp): Grig (hand axe, leather, hates gnolls) and Berger/Burgar (longsword, leather\u0026#43;shield, poetry scrolls). Bancroft still banned from the Brazen Strumpet. \u0026#x1F3B2; The Brazen Strumpet was still off limits. The innkeeper had a long memory and a longer grudge about the arm-wrestling damage, and Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s purse was too thin to argue the point. The Church of St. Ygg would have taken him in, but the thought of sleeping under their roof \u0026ndash; their prayers, their rules, their particular brand of charity \u0026ndash; sat wrong. So he walked north, past the last houses, to the statue of Herne the Hunter.\nIt was a good spot. Quiet. The stone figure of Herne stood with his bow drawn against the treeline, and the offerings at his feet \u0026ndash; dried flowers, a set of antlers, bundles of herbs \u0026ndash; smelled clean and honest. Bancroft wrapped his weatherproof cloak around himself and settled against the base of the statue and decided he\u0026rsquo;d eat what he could catch.\nHe couldn\u0026rsquo;t catch anything.\nHe\u0026rsquo;d grown up on a farm, not in the woods. Planting he understood. Harvesting he understood. Tracking something through scrub brush at dusk with a crossbow he barely knew how to aim \u0026ndash; that was someone else\u0026rsquo;s skill, and he didn\u0026rsquo;t have it. He blundered through the undergrowth for the better part of an hour, flushing nothing, finding nothing, until he saw movement low to the ground about thirty feet out.\nBancroft banned from inn. Decides to camp near Herne the Hunter statue. Weatherproof cloak only -- no tent. Attempts to hunt for food. Intelligence check (-3): natural 1 -- result -2. Catastrophic failure. Encounters giant spider at 30 feet. \u0026#x1F3B2; He shot. The bolt went wide, skipping off a root and vanishing into the dark. And the thing he\u0026rsquo;d shot at moved \u0026ndash; not away from him, but toward him, fast, low, legs working in a horrible fluid scuttle that covered the distance before he could reload.\nGiant spider. He knew it the way you know a horse kick is coming \u0026ndash; too late to dodge, just soon enough to understand what\u0026rsquo;s about to happen.\nIt was faster than him. His shield was on his back because he\u0026rsquo;d had the crossbow out, and the spider found the gap like it knew it was there. One bite, quick and surgical, two points of pressure on the side of his neck. The pain was small. A pinch. Nothing.\nThen the venom hit.\nIt started in his neck and spread outward like cold water poured down his spine. His fingers stopped answering. His legs went. He was on the ground and he couldn\u0026rsquo;t move, couldn\u0026rsquo;t shout, couldn\u0026rsquo;t do anything but lie there with his eyes open while the spider began to wrap him in silk.\nBancroft lies paralyzed on the forest floor as a giant spider looms over him, wrapping him in silk\nBancroft fires crossbow -- Dexterity check (1): 12 vs unknown, miss. Giant Spider Initiative (3): 19.16 beats Bancroft Initiative (1): 19. Spider closes to melee. Bancroft has no shield (crossbow equipped) -- AC 15 instead of 16. Spider attack: 16 vs AC 15, hits. Bite damage: 1. Poison -- Constitution save (0): 11 -- fail. Bancroft paralyzed. \u0026#x1F3B2; He saw everything.\nThe spider wrapped him in webbing \u0026ndash; efficient, practiced, the way a farmer wraps a bale \u0026ndash; and dragged him backward into the trees. The Black Forest. He\u0026rsquo;d heard the warnings. Irulan had told them, more than once, that the forest was death. He\u0026rsquo;d nodded and filed it under things that happened to other people.\nThe tree was enormous. Old growth, thick-trunked, branches reaching out over a clearing that stank of silk and rot. Web sacks hung from every limb \u0026ndash; dozens of them, human-shaped, motionless. Some were fresh. Some had been there long enough that the shapes inside had stopped looking like people. Bancroft was hauled up and added to the collection, another sack on the line, and the spider that had brought him settled in to feed.\nHe felt it starting. Something drawing out of him \u0026ndash; not blood, or not only blood, but something deeper. Warmth. Weight. The substance of being alive. His body tried to fight the venom and couldn\u0026rsquo;t. The rot from the Huecuva was barely out of his blood. The priests of St. Ygg had cured the disease, but the weeks of it had hollowed him out, and what was left wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough to resist what the spider was doing to him now.\nHe prayed.\nNot the formal prayers \u0026ndash; the ones with structure and words and the weight of ritual behind them. Just the raw thing underneath. Sylvanus. I\u0026rsquo;m dying. Help me.\nNothing.\nHe tried again, harder, the way he\u0026rsquo;d tried in the barrow when the Huecuva came and the god had refused to turn them. The same silence. The same empty well. But this time, in the space between the prayer and the nothing, he felt something \u0026ndash; not an answer but a presence, vast and indifferent, the way a forest is indifferent to a single falling tree. And he understood.\nThe spider was natural. It was doing what spiders did. Sylvanus wouldn\u0026rsquo;t strike down one of his own creatures to save a man who\u0026rsquo;d walked into its territory and shot at it with a crossbow. The forest didn\u0026rsquo;t owe him anything.\nBancroft lay in his web sack and felt himself going and thought about that. Fair enough. The spider had a right to eat. But Bancroft had a right to argue.\nMy friends tracked down a priest of Nergul. They killed him. Whatever he was doing in your barrows, in your ground, with your dead \u0026ndash; they stopped it. And I am hanging in this tree because I would not take charity from Ygg. I walked out of his church and I slept under your statue because I thought you were worth the inconvenience. If you let me die here, that\u0026rsquo;s your business. But you should know why I came.\nThe presence shifted. Not warmth \u0026ndash; nothing so generous. More like a reconsideration. The way a farmer looks at a draft horse that\u0026rsquo;s gone lame and decides it\u0026rsquo;s worth one more season.\nA massive tree in the Black Forest draped with web-wrapped victims, spiders lurking in the canopy\nSpider webs Bancroft and drags him into the Black Forest. Multiple spiders present. Bancroft hung from a large tree among other web-wrapped victims. Spider begins feeding. Constitution saves -- (0): 2 fail, (0): 8 fail. Bancroft uses golden luck token on final save -- Constitution (0): natural 20 / natural 1. Survives. New scar: two puncture wounds on neck resembling vampire bite, green ichor. Loses 1 Constitution (now 9) and 1 maximum hit point (now 12). \u0026#x1F3B2; Between the prayer and what came after, there was a space.\nHe was floating. On his back, in water, in the dark. Not cold \u0026ndash; not anything, really. The water held him the way a hand holds a sleeping child, and he drifted. A lazy current carried him, bumping gently against things he couldn\u0026rsquo;t see. Somewhere above or around him, a faint sound \u0026ndash; a tinkling, like a small bell struck once and left to ring.\nThen a voice. Not his. Not anyone he knew. Alarmed, flustered, the way someone sounds when they find a thing where it shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be.\nOh no. You\u0026rsquo;re not supposed to be here. No, no, no \u0026ndash; this will never do.\nSomething long \u0026ndash; a foot, a stick, a shepherd\u0026rsquo;s crook \u0026ndash; pushed against his side and dragged him toward what might have been a shore. The voice kept muttering. The water got shallow. And then a scream \u0026ndash; distant, animal, the sound of something large and terrified crashing through the undergrowth \u0026ndash; ripped him back into his body and into pain.\nThe spider had pulled away. Something out in the forest had flushed prey toward the clearing \u0026ndash; something large enough to be worth abandoning a half-finished meal. Bancroft didn\u0026rsquo;t know what it was. He didn\u0026rsquo;t think it was coincidence.\nHe was alone in his web sack with feeling returning to his hands in the worst possible way. He found his dagger. Cut the silk strand by strand, fingers barely working, each motion costing something he couldn\u0026rsquo;t afford. He fell. Hit the ground. Crawled. Found darkness that didn\u0026rsquo;t have spiders in it, curled up in it, and stopped.\nBut the price was real. He could feel it \u0026ndash; something taken permanently. A capacity reduced, a ceiling lowered. Two puncture wounds on his neck leaked green where the fangs had been, and the skin around them had already started to scar in a way that would never fully heal. He looked like he\u0026rsquo;d been bitten by a vampire. He hadn\u0026rsquo;t been that lucky.\nNear-death vision: Bancroft experiences floating on water in darkness. Tinkling sound. A voice says \u0026#39;you\u0026#39;re not supposed to be here.\u0026#39; Something pushes him to shore. A distant scream wakes him -- the spider feeding on him is startled away by prey driven toward it by something in the forest. Bancroft cuts himself free with a dagger and crawls out of the web tree. Passes out on the forest floor. New scar: two puncture wounds on neck resembling vampire bite, green ichor. Loses 1 Constitution (now 9) and 1 maximum hit point (now 12). \u0026#x1F3B2; Morning. Light through branches. His body was a single bruise that had learned to breathe.\nHe\u0026rsquo;d made it back to Herne\u0026rsquo;s statue somehow \u0026ndash; whether he\u0026rsquo;d walked or crawled, he couldn\u0026rsquo;t say. The stone hunter still stood with his bow drawn, indifferent to the wreckage at his feet. But there was something new at the base of the altar. Food. Nuts, berries, a strip of dried meat laid out on a broad leaf. Simple trail rations, the kind any woodsman might carry.\nIt was wrong for an offering. People left flowers for Herne, or herbs, or the antlers of a kill. Not food. Not the kind of thing a hungry man would need the morning after nearly dying.\nBancroft looked around. No one. The treeline was empty, the path back to town undisturbed. He tried to read the thing for what it was \u0026ndash; a gift from the god, or someone\u0026rsquo;s abandoned lunch, or a trap with poison he wouldn\u0026rsquo;t survive twice \u0026ndash; and couldn\u0026rsquo;t make sense of it. His mind was mud.\nHe ate. It tasted like the best meal he\u0026rsquo;d ever had, and the fog in his head lifted, and the grinding ache in his bones retreated to something he could carry. He stood. He walked south toward Helix, slowly, filthy, covered in dried webbing and his own blood, looking like something the forest had chewed on and spat out.\nWhich was about right.\nMorning: Bancroft wakes near Herne the Hunter statue. Finds unusual food offering -- nuts, berries, dried meat -- at the shrine. Normally offerings are flowers, herbs, animal kills. Wisdom check (1): 7 -- uncertain whether it\u0026#39;s meant for him. Eats the food. Negative penalties removed. Staggers to town. \u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan was the first to see him. She didn\u0026rsquo;t say much \u0026ndash; she never did when it mattered \u0026ndash; but she looked at the puncture wounds and the webbing and the green ooze drying on his collar and she walked into the Brazen Strumpet and put a jade gemstone the size of a walnut on the innkeeper\u0026rsquo;s counter.\n\u0026ldquo;He\u0026rsquo;s coming back in,\u0026rdquo; she said.\nThe innkeeper looked at the jade. Looked at Bancroft, who was standing in the doorway like a scarecrow that had given up. Pocketed the stone.\n\u0026ldquo;He won the arm-wrestling competition,\u0026rdquo; Irulan added. \u0026ldquo;Consider it reparation.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I wish you\u0026rsquo;d come sooner,\u0026rdquo; the innkeeper said, already envisioning what forty-five gold pieces of jade could do for the common room. \u0026ldquo;This\u0026rsquo;ll do nicely for the expansion.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft tried to say thank you. What came out was a croak that might have been words in a language that included consonants. He sounded like he\u0026rsquo;d been gargling gravel.\n\u0026ldquo;No more camping,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said. \u0026ldquo;No more spiders.\u0026rdquo;\nHe nodded. That much he could manage.\nOver drinks he couldn\u0026rsquo;t taste, the tavern talk turned to rumors. Someone had heard of a powerful evil warrior \u0026ndash; a real one, leveled and dangerous \u0026ndash; who used the Barrowmaze itself as a hideout. Him and his band. Something to add to the list of things down there that wanted to kill them. The list was getting long.\nIrulan bribes innkeeper with 45gp jade gemstone -- Charisma check with advantage, success. Bancroft unbanned from the Brazen Strumpet. Rumor gathered (1gp): a powerful evil warrior and his adventuring band use the Barrowmaze as a hideout. \u0026#x1F3B2; The next morning they went back to the barrows. Bancroft was on watch \u0026ndash; he wasn\u0026rsquo;t fit for digging, and nobody argued the point. Riyou watched with him while Grig and Berger and Irulan worked the shovels at the barrow. The entrance was taking shape now, the outlines of stonework emerging from the packed earth.\nThe Boon Companions found them again.\nSly the Medium walked up with his hands on his hips and a smile that said he\u0026rsquo;d expected to find them exactly here. He had fighters at his flanks and porters behind him carrying empty chests \u0026ndash; optimistic packing for wherever they were headed next.\n\u0026ldquo;Well, I figured you\u0026rsquo;d be here,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;Can\u0026rsquo;t wait to see what\u0026rsquo;s in there. We\u0026rsquo;ll get sloppy seconds on this one. I\u0026rsquo;m okay with it.\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou tried to send him to another entrance \u0026ndash; the one where the things they\u0026rsquo;d accidentally released were still loose. Anister played along with a joke about friendly harpies. Sly saw through both of them without breaking stride.\n\u0026ldquo;Oldest trick in the book,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve done it myself. Leading people to certain death.\u0026rdquo;\nHe mentioned that someone had gone and made a mess of that same entrance \u0026ndash; opened a door that shouldn\u0026rsquo;t have been opened, let something out that was now making the whole area unusable. The party kept their faces neutral. Bancroft thought about the door and the things behind it and said nothing.\nSly gave them finger crossbows \u0026ndash; the adventurer\u0026rsquo;s equivalent of a wink \u0026ndash; and left with his people. Bancroft watched him go and had the distinct feeling that Sly the Medium was filing every word of this conversation away for later.\nProfessional rivals. Not enemies. Not yet.\nNext day: party travels to D28 -- d6 encounter roll 3, safe. Bancroft on watch with Riyou. Grig, Berger, and Irulan dig. Anister on watch. Boon Companions (Sly the Medium) arrive again. Banter about D10 and broken doors. Text over Sly\u0026#39;s head: \u0026#39;Sly the Medium remembers this.\u0026#39; Companions depart. \u0026#x1F3B2; The digging continued. Another hour. The stonework grew clearer \u0026ndash; a real entrance, sealed and waiting, close enough to touch if they could clear another few feet of earth.\nThen Bancroft saw them.\nNine figures, coming across the moor from the east. Not the Boon Companions \u0026ndash; these moved differently. Spread out. Quiet. The way people move when they\u0026rsquo;ve already decided what they\u0026rsquo;re going to do and conversation isn\u0026rsquo;t part of it.\nBandits. Nine of them. They\u0026rsquo;d seen the shovels, the dig site, the small party bent over the work, and they wanted what was underneath.\nBancroft called the warning. Irulan dropped her shovel. Grig\u0026rsquo;s hand went to his axe. Berger set down a scroll case and drew his sword with the careful deliberation of a man who understood that the next few minutes were going to be very different from poetry.\nNine against six, and the six had been digging all morning.\nThe bandits didn\u0026rsquo;t slow down.\nAdventurers at a barrow dig site on an open moor as armed bandits approach across the grassland\nContinued digging at D28. Random encounter d6 rolls: 1, 2. Nine bandits approach -- not surprised, but intent on attacking. They see diggers and want the spoils. Session ends on cliffhanger. ","date":"31 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-31-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" 🎲 Bancroft got to Helix three days behind the others. The disease from the Huecuva had taken longer to shake than the priests of St. Ygg had promised, and by the time he walked through the gates he was light on coin, heavy on fatigue, and already behind on what mattered.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 57 - Bancroft","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" \u0026#x1F3B2; Four new faces at the entrance to the barrow. Bancroft sized them up the way his father had sized up hired hands at harvest \u0026ndash; which ones would last the day, which ones would wander off, which ones would break something expensive. The halfling was interesting. Small, careful hands, a crossbow that looked recently oiled, and a leather case of bottles and powders that marked him as an apothecary. The others were what they were: bodies. Warm ones, for now.\n\u0026ldquo;Stay behind us,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. \u0026ldquo;Shoot at anything that moves and isn\u0026rsquo;t one of us.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;What if it\u0026rsquo;s hard to tell?\u0026rdquo; the halfling asked.\n\u0026ldquo;Then don\u0026rsquo;t shoot.\u0026rdquo;\nAnister, the archer, had a steadiness about him that the others lacked. He carried a longbow and wore the expression of a man who had already decided he was coming back out. The other two \u0026ndash; Jack and Ghalf \u0026ndash; had the look of people who had been told what was down there but thought it was exaggeration. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t.\nParty gains 4 zero-level recruits: Anister Gallient (archer), Driah Plegparg (halfling apothecary), Jack Tonee, Ghalf Wendrew. Initiative: Irulan 18, Riyou 16, Anister 14, Bancroft 8. Heading into Barrowmaze, Friday April 19th. \u0026#x1F3B2; The barrow tested the new ones early. Bad air in a low passage \u0026ndash; the kind that sat heavy in the lungs like breathing through a wet cloth. Ghalf made it through. The halfling and Jack came out the other side gray-faced and retching, bent double, wiping their mouths with shaking hands. Bancroft remembered his first time. He\u0026rsquo;d been sick too. The barrow didn\u0026rsquo;t care about your resolve. It cared about your lungs.\nIrulan worked the doors. The first one fought her \u0026ndash; stone on stone, ancient hinges that had rusted shut and didn\u0026rsquo;t care that someone needed them to move. She braced her shoulder against it and pushed until something gave. The second was worse. She lost it on the first try, the stone grinding back into its frame, and had to set herself again, lower this time, legs driving, and force it open with a sound like teeth being pulled.\nShe didn\u0026rsquo;t complain. She never complained. She just moved to the next door and waited for it to be difficult.\nGhalf CON(-1): 16 pass, Driah CON(-1): 8 fail, Jack CON(1): 6 fail. Irulan STR(2): 9 fail/16 success, then 5/4 fail, 15/18 success -- forcing doors. \u0026#x1F3B2; The zombie was in a side chamber, standing in the dark the way they did \u0026ndash; not waiting, not thinking, just present in the way that a stone was present, until something living came close enough to matter.\nBancroft\u0026rsquo;s blade found it first. The cleansing light along the steel hissed where it touched dead flesh, and the thing flinched \u0026ndash; if you could call it flinching, that mechanical recoil of a body that remembered pain without understanding it. Then Irulan was past him, one stroke, and the zombie came apart at the seams. The sound it made was wet and final.\nRiyou put an arrow through it from behind while it was still falling. Professional. Unnecessary. But Riyou didn\u0026rsquo;t leave things to chance, and a zombie that was mostly dead was still partly dangerous.\nIt tried to hold itself together. Its hands groped at the floor as if the stones could anchor it to the world. They couldn\u0026rsquo;t.\nRavenous Zombie encounter. Bancroft Cleansing Weapon(\u0026#43;3): 16 hit, 3 dmg. Irulan longsword(\u0026#43;6): 19 hit, 17 dmg. Riyou longbow(\u0026#43;1): 13/16 hit, Sneak Attack 17/7, 5 dmg. Zombie CON(2): 9 -- stays up. Bancroft Cleansing Weapon: 16 hit, 7 dmg. Zombie down. \u0026#x1F3B2; The room beyond was wrong.\nBancroft knew it before he crossed the threshold \u0026ndash; a pressure behind his eyes, a wrongness in the air that had nothing to do with smell and everything to do with what had happened here. He tried to read it. His mind slid off the feeling the way a hand slides off wet stone, finding no purchase, no edge to grip. He knew something terrible had occurred in this place. He could not have said what.\nAnister, twenty feet behind them, said: \u0026ldquo;People died here. Recently.\u0026rdquo;\nThe archer was right. There were signs \u0026ndash; blood dried to black on the flagstones, a scatter of equipment that had been dropped rather than set down, the particular disorder of a fight that had gone wrong fast. Another party had come through this room. The Monday group, maybe, the ones who ran a different schedule through the same corridors. They had found something here that they couldn\u0026rsquo;t handle.\nBancroft looked at the blood and thought about the people it had belonged to. He always thought about the people. It was the farmer in him \u0026ndash; the part that counted heads at the end of the day and noticed which ones were missing.\nWisdom checks entering death room: Riyou WIS(1): 7/12, Bancroft WIS(1): 5/2 FAIL, Anister WIS(2): 7. Room where Monday group nearly died. \u0026#x1F3B2; They came through the door.\nNot shambling, not slow \u0026ndash; purposeful, the way living things moved when they wanted something. Undead priests in rotted vestments, their faces wrong in the way that faces got wrong when whatever had animated the flesh had no interest in making it look alive. Huecuva. Bancroft had heard of them but never fought one. They were worse than the stories.\nIrulan hit the door. She braced against it with her full weight, boots sliding on the flagstone, arms locked, and for a moment the door held \u0026ndash; stone against dead strength \u0026ndash; and then it didn\u0026rsquo;t. The Huecuva pushed and she lost ground, six inches, a foot, the gap widening enough for a clawed hand to reach through. She slammed it back. The hand withdrew. The door held.\n\u0026ldquo;Now would be good,\u0026rdquo; she said through her teeth.\nBancroft swung the Elvish longsword. The blade connected with the first one through the gap \u0026ndash; a hard, clean hit that would have killed anything that was alive. The Huecuva staggered but didn\u0026rsquo;t fall. Irulan\u0026rsquo;s blade followed, biting into something that had once been a ribcage. The recruits fired from the back. Anister\u0026rsquo;s arrows went wide \u0026ndash; twice, both times, the shaking in his hands visible even at distance. The halfling apothecary leveled his crossbow and put a bolt through a Huecuva\u0026rsquo;s skull.\nIt was the shot of the night. The kind of shot that experienced fighters missed and a man who\u0026rsquo;d never killed anything made look easy. The bolt punched through bone and the Huecuva dropped.\nDriah Plegparg looked at his crossbow as if it had done something surprising. It had.\nHuecuva Initiative(0): 17.1 -- ambush. Irulan STR(2): 12/3 fail, 12/3 contest, 17/4 success -- holding door against Huecuva. Bancroft Elvish Longsword(\u0026#43;4): 23 hit, 14 dmg. Bancroft Cleansing Weapon(\u0026#43;3): 10/9. Irulan longsword(\u0026#43;6): 14/11 hit, 9 dmg. Anister Long Bow(\u0026#43;3): 13/0, 9/2 miss. Driah Crossbow(\u0026#43;1): 13/4, then 20/5 -- NAT 20. The halfling apothecary Driah Plegparg fires a crossbow bolt through a Huecuva\u0026#39;s skull while Bancroft fights with his glowing longsword and Irulan braces against the door\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Riyou\u0026rsquo;s arrow caught the next one in the shoulder. She followed it with a second shot that found a gap in the vestments and sank deep. The Huecuva kept coming.\nThey swarmed. Three of them at once, pressing through the gap Irulan couldn\u0026rsquo;t hold shut, and the room became what the barrow wanted it to become \u0026ndash; close, dark, and full of things that wanted to touch you.\nOne of them touched Bancroft.\nNot a claw. Not a strike. A touch \u0026ndash; deliberate, almost gentle, the dead hand pressing against his arm where the plate didn\u0026rsquo;t cover. He felt it immediately. Not pain. Something else. A wrongness spreading through him like ink dropped into clean water, curling outward from the point of contact, finding the channels of his blood and following them inward. His body tried to reject it. He felt his body rise against the invasion the way a wall rises against a flood \u0026ndash; and fail. Completely. The sickness took hold as if it had been waiting for permission, deep and certain and familiar.\nHe knew what it was. The Church of St. Ygg had cured him of disease before. Rat bites, the last time. He knew what it cost. He knew what it felt like to walk into that church with empty pockets and ask for something only gold could buy.\nSixty gold pieces. He could already feel the weight of them leaving his purse.\nRiyou longbow(\u0026#43;1): 17 hit, 6\u0026#43;3 dmg. Sneak Attack: 14/18, 4 dmg. Huecuva attacks: 5/12, 13/22, 21/9. Huecuva Touch: 4. BANCROFT CON(0): 1 -- NAT 1 DISEASED. CON(0): 3/2 fail -- disease takes full hold. Bancroft recoils in horror as an undead Huecuva priest in rotted purple vestments touches his arm, dark corruption spreading visibly from the contact\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He called on Sylvanus.\nIt was the prayer that had worked before \u0026ndash; the one that pushed the dead back, that made them flinch and retreat, that reminded them they had no right to walk. He raised his hand and spoke the name and felt the prayer go out into the dark and come back empty.\nHe tried again. Harder this time, reaching deeper into whatever well the faith drew from, the well that had once been full and now returned nothing but echoes. Sylvanus was not here. Sylvanus was somewhere else, tending green things in a place where the dead stayed where you put them.\nThe Huecuva didn\u0026rsquo;t care about failed prayers. They kept coming. Disease touches rained down on the party \u0026ndash; hands reaching, pressing, finding skin. The recruits fired from the back. Anister\u0026rsquo;s arrows hit nothing. Driah\u0026rsquo;s bolt went wide. Ghalf\u0026rsquo;s sling stone sailed past everything and struck a wall.\nThen the Huecuva reached the back line.\nIt happened fast. Three of the four went down \u0026ndash; Jack, Ghalf, the halfling who had made the shot of the night \u0026ndash; in the way that untested fighters went down, which was quickly and without the kind of resistance that experience taught you. The barrow ate the new ones first. It always ate the new ones first.\nAnister survived. He\u0026rsquo;d been further back, and he\u0026rsquo;d been moving, and he\u0026rsquo;d learned in the space of three minutes what most fighters took months to understand: stay out of reach and keep shooting.\nAnister Long Bow(\u0026#43;3): 13/4. Driah Crossbow(\u0026#43;1): 5/6 miss. Ghalf sling(-1): 15/0. Bancroft Turn Undead(\u0026#43;4): 6/13 FAIL. Bancroft Turn Undead(\u0026#43;4): 11/8 FAIL. Huecuva attack wave: 15/8, 19/4, 12/18, Touch: 5, 5/6, 15/16, Touch: 4, 16/11, Touch: 4. Graham\u0026#39;s zero-levels take casualties -- d6: 1, 2, 1. \u0026#x1F3B2; The light went out.\nNot Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s shield \u0026ndash; someone else\u0026rsquo;s torch, kicked over in the press of bodies, and suddenly half the room was darkness and the other half was the thin green glow of Sylvanus on steel, which wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough. Not enough to see. Not enough to fight by. Not enough to tell the living from the dead in a room where the dead outnumbered the living and looked enough like them to matter.\nBancroft called for light. The first prayer failed \u0026ndash; the words leaving his mouth and dissolving in the dark like smoke. The second one caught. Green light bloomed on his shield and the room came back, and what it showed was worse than the darkness: Huecuva everywhere, the recruits down, Riyou dodging a claw that caught her shoulder and spun her sideways.\nShe twisted free. The halfling apothecary\u0026rsquo;s body was at her feet and she stepped over it without looking down because looking down was how you died.\nIrulan\u0026rsquo;s blade found a Huecuva and opened it from collar to hip. The thing kept moving for two more steps and then fell.\nRiyou DEX(0): 8/9 fail, Huecuva STR(2): 15/20 hit. Riyou DEX(0): 7/6 success. Driah WIS(1): 4, 4 double fail. Bancroft Light(\u0026#43;3): 4/6 FAIL, 16/10 success. Nikki d100: 47 evasion pass. Irulan STR(2): 8/10, 18/22 hit. \u0026#x1F3B2; The fight went on longer than any fight should. Rounds bled together. Bancroft lost track of time the way you lost track of time in the barrow \u0026ndash; completely, helplessly, the minutes becoming a single sustained moment of violence and fear.\nRiyou took hits. She dodged when she could and absorbed what she couldn\u0026rsquo;t, her small body twisting between claws that reached for her like branches in a wind. Anister fired from the back and hit nothing. His hands were steady but his targets moved wrong \u0026ndash; the dead didn\u0026rsquo;t flinch where the living flinched, didn\u0026rsquo;t lean where the living leaned, and his arrows passed through spaces where bodies should have been.\nIrulan carried it.\nShe had always carried it \u0026ndash; the fights that lasted too long, the ones where Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s prayers failed and Riyou\u0026rsquo;s arrows ran short and the hirelings died. Irulan was the reason they came home. Her longsword found the Huecuva again and again, each stroke doing the kind of damage that mattered, the kind that made dead things stay dead. The blade rising and falling with the mechanical precision of a woman who had decided this fight was over and was now implementing that decision.\nThe last Huecuva fell and did not get up.\nThe room was quiet. The kind of quiet that followed violence \u0026ndash; not peaceful, just empty, the air still ringing with things that had already stopped.\nHuecuva: 10/11. Riyou DEX(0): 13/10. Huecuva: 21/5 hit, Touch: 1. Huecuva: 13/9, STR(2): 11/20. Riyou STR(0): 3/1. Anister STR(0): 9. Nikki d100: 98 evasion FAIL. Irulan longsword(\u0026#43;6): 9/17 hit, 9 dmg. Nikki d100: 45 pass. Irulan longsword(\u0026#43;6): 8/23 hit, 9 dmg. Nikki d100: 2 exceptional. Huecuva: 12/10, 5/12. Anister Long Bow(\u0026#43;3): 6/1 miss. \u0026#x1F3B2; They left the death room with nothing. No treasure, no relics, no gems pried from the walls. The room had taken three of their four recruits and given back only the knowledge that it could be survived, which was not the kind of knowledge you could spend.\nBack in Helix, Bancroft walked to the Church of St. Ygg.\nHe knew the way. He had been here before \u0026ndash; after the rat bites, after the infection that had nearly killed him, after every time the barrow put something in his blood that Sylvanus couldn\u0026rsquo;t or wouldn\u0026rsquo;t clean out. The priests received him with the expression of men who saw a lot of wounded adventurers and had stopped being moved by it. They had a cure. The cure cost sixty gold pieces.\nIt was nearly everything he had.\nHe paid it. A farmer understood debts. You paid what the seed cost or you didn\u0026rsquo;t plant. You paid what the healer charged or you died slow. There was no middle ground and no negotiation and no amount of righteous poverty that changed what things cost.\nThe disease left him like water draining from a cracked jug \u0026ndash; not all at once, but steadily, the wrongness thinning and fading until his blood felt like his own again. He stood in the nave of St. Ygg\u0026rsquo;s church with empty pockets and clean veins and thought about the tree.\nThe priests of Ygg worshiped a god who had been crucified on one. Nailed to living wood and left there to suffer, and they had built their faith around the suffering \u0026ndash; the nails, the weight, the dying. They had not, as far as Bancroft could tell, given much thought to what the tree had done. The tree had held him. The tree had grown around him. The tree had done what trees did, which was endure, which was support, which was the green patient work of something rooted and alive.\nSylvanus would understand the tree. Sylvanus might even understand the god who\u0026rsquo;d hung on it.\nThere was common ground between a god of growing things and a god who\u0026rsquo;d died on one. If neither side screwed it up. If the priests stopped counting coins long enough to notice what was growing in their own story. If Bancroft stopped getting bitten by things that required their help.\nHe walked out into the daylight. Broke. Alive. The halfling\u0026rsquo;s crossbow bolt still rattling around in his memory \u0026ndash; that perfect, impossible shot from a man who hadn\u0026rsquo;t survived long enough to make another one.\nThe barrow took his health, his prayers, his hired hands, and his savings, and gave back nothing but another day alive.\nSome days that was enough.\nBancroft CHA(1): 9/19 success -- negotiates cure at Church of St. Ygg. Pays 60gp -- nearly all his gold. No treasure from the death room. Three zero-levels dead: Driah Plegparg, Jack Tonee, Ghalf Wendrew. Anister Gallient survives. Bancroft in battered plate armor pays coins to robed priests at the altar of St. Ygg, a great wooden tree dominating the wall behind them in candlelight\n","date":"24 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-24-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" 🎲 Four new faces at the entrance to the barrow. Bancroft sized them up the way his father had sized up hired hands at harvest – which ones would last the day, which ones would wander off, which ones would break something expensive. The halfling was interesting. Small, careful hands, a crossbow that looked recently oiled, and a leather case of bottles and powders that marked him as an apothecary. The others were what they were: bodies. Warm ones, for now.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 56 - Bancroft","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"We headed out to the skull door barrow (D10). As soon as I opened the door, a stack of skeleton heads tumbled loudly down the stairs. Somebody\u0026rsquo;s homemade alarm. I saw torch light at the bottom of the stairs, and let the others know. Nobody went through the door, so I closed it. It was raining out, so we just hung out, to see if they came out. After 20 minutes, I opened the door again. The light was gone and it was quiet, so we decided to give it a try. All was quiet until we got to the mongrel den, and there was the usual wolf growls and old lady yelling asking for help. We ignored them and went to listen at the doors to the west.\nAs we were doing that, we heard shuffling and moaning from the south. Where we just were. Where the hell were they hiding. What did we miss? Gross bloody zombie came around the corner. I whacked at it, and it looked worse for wear. Riyou\u0026rsquo;s arrow flew past me, and took it out. It erupted blood everywhere, started to get up, and flopped over. Bancroft stabbed the wiggling tongue with a flaming weapon, and it turned to ash. Everyone was distracted by that, and didn\u0026rsquo;t hear anything when listening at the three doors. Bancroft decided to open the middle door for some reason I can\u0026rsquo;t fathom. I told him what Morrigan said about those rooms. Four black cloaked undead crawled out of the alcoves of the room and attacked before he could shut the door.\nSo I did, and pulled on the handle to keep the door closed. I kept it shut through two of them trying to pull the door open. Bancroft said to open the door, so I reluctantly did. He hit one with the flaming weapon. I missed it and backed up. Anister and Driah shot and missed. The undead floated out, blue eyes blazing, and surrounded Bancroft, disliking his flaming sword. Riyou yelled they were worse than the necromancer and we needed to run. Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s turn undead failed. All our shots just hit cloaks. I ran. They hit Jack and Ghalf and they collapsed into piles of rotted flesh. Those were the companions holding torches, so the torches went out. I was at the corner, so I knew if I hugged the wall, I\u0026rsquo;d get to the stairs. Driah and Anister joined me. Riyou vanished.\nBancroft cast light and started around the corner, and with him running, we tried to evade. They stuck to us like glue. I struggled with the door, and held it for the others to run out if the floating bastards didn\u0026rsquo;t kill them first. Driah got hit and died. Riyou and Anister ran out. Bancroft ran by and pulled me out. One made it out before the door shut. And it still stuck to us. I yet again missed. It missed me. The others ran past. We tried to evade and again failed. I again missed, and it also missed. This time, exhausted, we finally lost it in the barrows. We slogged towards town through the rain, avoided some hunched figures rising out of the bog, and finally made it. I\u0026rsquo;m surprised any of us made it out of that. Bancroft headed straight to the St. Ygg priests to heal him of the rot spreading across his neck where the creature touched him. He came back fully healed, but much lighter of purse.\n","date":"24 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-24-irulan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"We headed out to the skull door barrow (D10). As soon as I opened the door, a stack of skeleton heads tumbled loudly down the stairs. Somebody’s homemade alarm. I saw torch light at the bottom of the stairs, and let the others know. Nobody went through the door, so I closed it. It was raining out, so we just hung out, to see if they came out. After 20 minutes, I opened the door again. The light was gone and it was quiet, so we decided to give it a try. All was quiet until we got to the mongrel den, and there was the usual wolf growls and old lady yelling asking for help. We ignored them and went to listen at the doors to the west.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- March 24 - Irulan","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"17 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/seacrock/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Seacrock","type":"tags"},{"content":" \u0026#x1F3B2; The necromancer fled north through the barrow, and the cleric followed.\nThe cleric had been dizzy since the last fight. He felt as if his head were filled with something thin and wrong, like air that had been breathed too many times. The barrow would occasionally shimmer at the edges of his vision, the walls going soft and then hard again, and he could not tell if it was the blood loss or the dark or just the way this place worked on a man after long enough inside it. His faith felt like a well that someone had drawn from too often. Once, not so long ago, it had answered every prayer. Now it was the barrow, where nothing answered but the dead.\nHe was a man named Bancroft, and he was the last cleric of Sylvanus \u0026ndash; a farmer from a small holding who had walked away from his life because a god told him to. He was a cleric, a knight of a different sort, and he was hunting the necromancer Hendrix. He didn\u0026rsquo;t know how many corridors he had followed, or how far he had come from the others. He only knew that Hendrix had killed people he was responsible for, and that the pursuit was not optional.\nThe darkness was a physical weight, pressing against his eyes, making every step a guess. The green light on his shield threw shadows that jumped and swung against the walls, and beyond the light there was nothing \u0026ndash; no horizon, no sky, no distance that could be measured by a man looking ahead of himself. Only corridors that bent and narrowed and opened into junctions where all choices looked the same, and the smell of stone and old death, and the faint wet sweetness of things that had been buried and were no longer content to stay that way.\nBut he didn\u0026rsquo;t stop. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t stop.\nHe pushed harder, stumbling through the passage. Something flickered at the edge of the shield-light \u0026ndash; a side room, a huddled shape in dark robes, small and still. He registered it and kept moving. The door ahead was more important. Hendrix was ahead, not behind. Hendrix was always ahead.\nHe reached the door, hauled it open. A room beyond \u0026ndash; pillars, open space, empty. No Hendrix. No footprints in the dust. No sound of retreating boots. Nothing.\nHe stopped. Leaned against the doorframe because his legs were not entirely reliable. Cast a healing prayer on himself, felt Sylvanus knit the worst of the bruising back together, and in the brief clarity that came with the easing of pain, he understood.\nThe robed figure in the side room. The one he\u0026rsquo;d stumbled past without stopping. The one that had been too small and too still and too convenient. That had been Hendrix. Crouching in a fold of the dark, waiting for the relentless man to walk past him, because in a place without horizons that was all you had to do \u0026ndash; hold still and let the pursuit go by.\nIt had almost worked.\nBancroft double-moves north pursuing Hendrix. Finds small robed figure hiding in side room. Cure Wounds (\u0026#43;3): 12 → heals 4 HP. Opens door to pillared room -- no sign of Hendrix. \u0026#x1F3B2; Then the light died.\nNot a flicker, not a warning \u0026ndash; just gone, the green winking out the way a candle does when a door opens somewhere you can\u0026rsquo;t see. Complete dark.\nSomewhere behind him, Irulan swore and struck flint. The spark caught nothing. Her hands were steady enough \u0026ndash; Irulan\u0026rsquo;s hands were always steady \u0026ndash; but in the dark, fumbling blind, the torch wouldn\u0026rsquo;t take. She tried again. The same nothing.\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll hold the doorway,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;If he comes through, I\u0026rsquo;ll know.\u0026rdquo;\nFrom the south \u0026ndash; from the room where the robed figure had been \u0026ndash; a gray bolt streaked through the dark and caught Irulan dead center in the chest. She grunted \u0026ndash; hit hard, from a man they\u0026rsquo;d thought was a cowering prisoner.\n\u0026ldquo;I very much resent being injured for your god\u0026rsquo;s mission, Bancroft,\u0026rdquo; she said through her teeth. \u0026ldquo;This is your fault.\u0026rdquo;\nHe couldn\u0026rsquo;t argue with that.\nBancroft\u0026#39;s light goes out. Irulan Dex (1): 3/3 FAIL lighting torch in dark (disadvantage). Hendrix magic missile from south: hits Irulan for 4 dmg. \u0026#39;I very much resent being injured for your god\u0026#39;s mission, Bancroft.\u0026#39; \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft heard the scream. Distant, echoing through stone, the kind of sound that carried because the barrow wanted it to.\nLerwin told the rest of it later, when they found each other again. SeaCrock had woken \u0026ndash; barely, hurt, the sword wound still bleeding \u0026ndash; and killed the zombie with his last spell. He\u0026rsquo;d lit a candle, looked for Riyou, found nothing but blood on stone. Then he\u0026rsquo;d sent Lerwin north to find them.\n\u0026ldquo;Go find the others,\u0026rdquo; he\u0026rsquo;d said. \u0026ldquo;Meet me back here.\u0026rdquo;\nThe sapphire skeleton had reformed behind him. The gems pulled them back together \u0026ndash; bone finding bone \u0026ndash; and SeaCrock hadn\u0026rsquo;t heard it coming. It hit him once and he went down.\nKolix hadn\u0026rsquo;t lasted much longer. Lerwin didn\u0026rsquo;t say what happened to Kolix. The look on his face said enough.\nSeaCrock wakes at 1 HP. Kolix shaking him awake. SeaCrock Magic Missile: 19\u0026#43;1=20, 3 dmg → zombie dead. Lights candle from Lerwin\u0026#39;s torch. WIS check fail -- can\u0026#39;t find Riyou. Sends Lerwin north. Sapphire skeleton reanimates, hits SeaCrock → unconscious (4th time). Kolix killed by zombie. A sapphire-skulled skeleton looms over the fallen dwarf wizard SeaCrock by dying candlelight, Kolix\u0026#39;s body visible in shadow\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Riyou had her own story. She told it later, in pieces, the way she told things \u0026ndash; grudgingly and out of order.\nShe had woken in total darkness, badly hurt, with something furry near her face. The something was a mongrelman called Flip-Flop, and Flip-Flop had packed her neck wound with moss and what might have been bird dung and was offering her a dead rat as a meal.\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m kind of on a diet,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said.\nFlip-Flop was not offended. He was not offended by anything. He was simply glad to be alive and glad she was alive and wanted very much for them both to remain that way in the dark, where the dead things couldn\u0026rsquo;t see you.\nShe asked about light. \u0026ldquo;Light evil,\u0026rdquo; Flip-Flop said. \u0026ldquo;Darkness all around. Can\u0026rsquo;t hide in light. Can only hide in darkness.\u0026rdquo;\nShe asked about her friends. \u0026ldquo;Dead now,\u0026rdquo; Flip-Flop said, with the certainty of someone who had seen a lot of people die. \u0026ldquo;Bad necromancer. Bad him.\u0026rdquo;\nShe asked about a way out. Flip-Flop communicated with his people \u0026ndash; a warbling sound, like rats talking to rats \u0026ndash; and returned. \u0026ldquo;Skeletons gone. We lead you to exit.\u0026rdquo;\nHe took her hand. It felt like a lizard and a raccoon at the same time. She followed the tug through passages she couldn\u0026rsquo;t see, up stairs she counted by feel, to a door that took her full weight to open. Beyond it, sixty feet of corridor, and at the end \u0026ndash; sunlight. Blinding, distant, real.\nShe walked toward it and did not die.\n\u0026ldquo;How can I thank you, Flip-Flop?\u0026rdquo; she said at the threshold, but there was no answer. He was already gone.\nRiyou wakes at 1 HP. Mongrelman \u0026#39;Flip-Flop\u0026#39; healed her with poultice. Charisma (-1): 6/9 fail -- Flip-Flop won\u0026#39;t give candle but offers to lead to exit. STR check success → opens door. Sees distant sunlight 60-70ft away. Exits barrow. Riyou the halfling rogue is led through darkness by Flip-Flop the mongrelman toward distant sunlight at the top of stone stairs\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Lerwin arrived from the south with the last working torch. Irulan lit hers from his \u0026ndash; a moment of warmth and cooperation in a night that had been short on both \u0026ndash; and the corridor filled with orange light again.\nBancroft cast Light on his shield. This time Sylvanus answered. The green glow spread across the metal like dawn on water, and he could see again \u0026ndash; the corridor, the open pit between them and Hendrix, Irulan bleeding from two hits but standing with the particular stubbornness of a woman who would not sit down until the problem was resolved.\nHendrix was on the far side of the pit. He fired another bolt \u0026ndash; gray, precise, the same spell that had hit Irulan twice now. She staggered but kept her feet. She was running out of body to damage.\nThen Hendrix held up a gem. Fifty gold pieces, catching the torchlight.\n\u0026ldquo;I will give you this,\u0026rdquo; he said across the pit, \u0026ldquo;if you behead that stupid Sylvanus cleric for me. Right now.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Not good enough,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said.\n\u0026ldquo;Cow,\u0026rdquo; Hendrix said.\n\u0026ldquo;My services come at a higher price than that.\u0026rdquo;\nHe fled. Door opening, footsteps fading, and then the particular silence of a man who knows you can\u0026rsquo;t follow because there\u0026rsquo;s a ten-foot pit between you and him.\nLerwin reaches Irulan with torch. Irulan lights torch from Lerwin\u0026#39;s. Bancroft casts Light on shield. Hendrix magic missile: 4 more dmg to Irulan. Hendrix offers 50gp gem to behead Bancroft. Irulan: \u0026#39;Not good enough.\u0026#39; Hendrix flees through door. \u0026#x1F3B2; The pit was ten feet wide. Irulan was barely standing \u0026ndash; two bolts of necromantic energy and nothing between her and death but stubbornness.\n\u0026ldquo;Bancroft, this is your mission from God,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;If you want to keep going after him, he went through that door. I will not be joining you. Because if I stub my toe, I die.\u0026rdquo;\nShe looked at the pit. She looked at Bancroft. She looked at the pit again.\n\u0026ldquo;Fine,\u0026rdquo; she said, and jumped.\nHer boots hit the far edge. She teetered \u0026ndash; one awful moment where the outcome balanced on the lip of the stone \u0026ndash; and then her weight went forward and she was across, breathing hard, alive.\nShe dropped the torch. It clattered on the stone and \u0026ndash; by whatever grace watches over women who jump pits when they\u0026rsquo;ve no right to be alive \u0026ndash; stayed lit. She pulled her shortbow in the same motion, nocked, drew, and shot down the corridor into the dark where Hendrix was running.\nThe arrow found him. Not a killing shot by any measure \u0026ndash; a glancing hit, barely enough to drop a rat \u0026ndash; but Hendrix was already bloodied and it was all he had left. He clutched the shaft in his chest and sank to his knees.\nIrulan looked back toward Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s shield-light. She regarded his holy symbol.\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;On behalf of your priest, I was his hands in this matter.\u0026rdquo;\nA pause.\n\u0026ldquo;Can we stop being God at him now? Because we need healing.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft felt it \u0026ndash; a lightness in his chest, the lifting of a weight he\u0026rsquo;d carried since the divine mission began. The penalty was gone. Sylvanus was satisfied. A half-orc mercenary with a shortbow had killed the necromancer by torchlight across a pit, and that was enough.\nIrulan standing leap across pit: STR (2): 8/17 → success (needed 11). Drops torch, pulls shortbow. d6 torch: stays lit. Shortbow: uses luck token → 2 dmg. Hendrix dies. \u0026#39;Sylvanus, on behalf of your priest, I was his hands in this matter.\u0026#39; Bancroft -2 penalty removed -- Sylvanus pleased. Irulan the half-orc warrior leaps across a dungeon pit, dropping a torch and firing her shortbow at the fleeing necromancer Hendrix, while Bancroft watches from behind with his glowing green shield\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Hendrix\u0026rsquo;s body held a 50-gold-piece gem, a symbol of Nergal etched into his robe, a wicked black dagger, and a belt with severed fingers worked into the leather. Irulan picked up the gem with the corner of her cloak and dropped it into a sack without touching it. She left the rest.\n\u0026ldquo;Bancroft, you don\u0026rsquo;t need his head or anything, do you?\u0026rdquo;\nHe didn\u0026rsquo;t. Sylvanus didn\u0026rsquo;t work that way.\nThey left the body where it fell, in a room of pillars that had no other purpose. Somewhere far off, the sound of booted feet \u0026ndash; many of them, moving south \u0026ndash; and the clatter of skeletons following. The mongrelmen, maybe, drawing the dead away. A kindness from people who lived in the dark and knew how to move through it.\nLoot Hendrix: 50gp gem, Nergal symbol, wicked black dagger, finger belt. Irulan takes gem with cloak corner. 1 XP each. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft jumped the pit. He cleared it without thinking, which was good, because if he\u0026rsquo;d thought about it he might have thought about Irulan doing it half-dead and felt something complicated.\nHe healed her first. Sylvanus answered \u0026ndash; warm, generous, the prayer working the way it should. Color returned to her face. She moved like a person instead of a wound.\nThey found SeaCrock at the bottom of the southern corridor. Irulan turned him over. Bancroft knew before he knelt \u0026ndash; had known from the stillness of it, the particular heaviness of a body that isn\u0026rsquo;t holding itself up anymore.\nHe tried to bring him back. Prayed. Shook him. Nothing worked. SeaCrock Hufferpants \u0026ndash; three scars from three brushes with death, and one final encounter that no prayer could fix. Gone in the dark.\nBancroft said the words you say. They were not enough. They never were.\nLerwin was alive but hurt. Bancroft offered healing, which meant offering Sylvanus, which meant explaining to a man-at-arms who worshiped St. Yig that there was another option.\n\u0026ldquo;I grew up on a farmstead,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus helps the plants grow. The green things. The things in the woods.\u0026rdquo;\nLerwin looked at him with the expression of a man considering a new idea for the first time in years. \u0026ldquo;I used to tend farmlands,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;When I was young.\u0026rdquo;\nHe took the healing. It was the strongest Bancroft had managed all night \u0026ndash; the prayer rolling out like it had been waiting for someone who would appreciate it. Lerwin stood straighter.\n\u0026ldquo;A man of God,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t recognize that symbol. But it seems good.\u0026rdquo;\nThey collected what they could. Kolix\u0026rsquo;s dagger and flint and steel. Tarsil\u0026rsquo;s longsword. Gallo\u0026rsquo;s body, which had been fed upon. They put Lerwin under SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s weight and moved south to the exit, where Irulan worked the mechanism with a dagger \u0026ndash; the chisel was gone, but a blade fit well enough \u0026ndash; and the door ground open.\nSunlight.\nRiyou was sitting in it. Bloodied, scarred, a poultice of moss and something worse plastered to her neck, squinting at the sky like she\u0026rsquo;d never seen it before.\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re alive,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m alive,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;Can I get help?\u0026rdquo;\nHe healed her. Dug deeper than he\u0026rsquo;d dug all night, reached for whatever Sylvanus had left to give. The wound on her neck closed partway. Not much. Enough.\n\u0026ldquo;You all were helpful,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;You stood by me. One of you got the final blow in, at great risk to yourselves.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan said nothing. She was looking at the swamp and thinking about the walk home.\nBancroft jumps pit (STR 16, no check). Bancroft heals Irulan: Cure Wounds (\u0026#43;3): 7/22 → 7 HP. SeaCrock CON check: 2/4 with luck → FAIL → dead. Bancroft heals Lerwin: CHA (1) 13/19 success, Cure Wounds: 20/16 → 9 HP (golden ticket). Lerwin hears about Sylvanus. Irulan opens exit mechanism: STR (2) 8/17 success. Meet Riyou outside. Bancroft heals Riyou: golden ticket → 4 HP. \u0026#x1F3B2; The swamp tried to finish what the barrow started.\nThey were halfway back to Helix \u0026ndash; bruised, slow, carrying a dead dwarf \u0026ndash; when Bancroft felt the wrong kind of attention. Eyes in the ferns. Movement that tracked them. Four shapes resolved out of the undergrowth: human, or something that had been human once. Filed teeth, matted fur clothing, hair like rope. Wild eyes that didn\u0026rsquo;t blink.\nThey did not look interested in conversation.\nFour feral humans with filed teeth and matted furs emerge from swamp undergrowth to ambush the wounded party of Bancroft, Irulan, and Riyou\n\u0026ldquo;Evade?\u0026rdquo; Riyou said.\n\u0026ldquo;Evade,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said.\nThey threw copper on the ground \u0026ndash; sixty-eight pieces between them, the universal language of desperation \u0026ndash; and ran. It didn\u0026rsquo;t work. The feral things didn\u0026rsquo;t care about copper. They cared about meat.\nThe first one reached Irulan, who had readied her sword. She killed it mid-stride \u0026ndash; one clean cut, the kind of swing you make when you\u0026rsquo;ve been practicing since you could hold a blade. It split open and she didn\u0026rsquo;t look at it.\nRiyou\u0026rsquo;s arrow went wide. Bancroft tried to raise a shield of faith and felt the prayer bounce back empty. Not tonight. Again.\nThen the second one got behind Irulan. Filed teeth, angled for the neck \u0026ndash; the same neck that already had a zombie bite healing on one side and a magic missile burn on the other. A savage bite, deep into the muscle. She staggered but didn\u0026rsquo;t go down, because Irulan didn\u0026rsquo;t go down, she just got angrier, and she killed the one that bit her with the return stroke.\nBancroft took the third. The elvish longsword found something vital and the thing collapsed in the ankle-deep water.\nThe fourth \u0026ndash; the last \u0026ndash; went for Lerwin.\nLerwin went down and did not get up.\nBancroft stood over the body of the man he\u0026rsquo;d healed twenty minutes ago, the man who\u0026rsquo;d listened about Sylvanus and found something in it, the man who\u0026rsquo;d carried SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s body without being asked. He tried the healing prayer one more time. Sylvanus did not answer.\nThe future of Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s first convert sank into the swamp with everything else.\nRandom encounter d6: feral humans. 4 feral humans -- filed teeth, furs, wild-eyed. Evasion attempt: throw copper, d100 fail. Irulan readied action: kills one. Riyou longbow miss. Feral nat 20 on Irulan: 6 dmg bite to neck. Bancroft Shield of Faith: 4/10 FAIL. Irulan kills another. Bancroft Elvish Longsword: 16/15 hit, kills one. Riyou dagger: glancing blow 1 dmg. Last feral kills Lerwin (exact HP). Bancroft kills last. Cure Wounds on Lerwin: FAIL. Lerwin dead. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft said the rites. Ten minutes, the Sylvanus way \u0026ndash; returning the body to the earth that grew it, the swamp that would take it apart and make something green from the pieces. It was the right thing. It felt like nothing.\nWhile he prayed, something rose from the water behind him.\nRiyou saw it first. Whatever instinct she had \u0026ndash; the cult-trained paranoia, the halfling\u0026rsquo;s sense for when things were about to go wrong \u0026ndash; fired before anyone else\u0026rsquo;s. She screamed, which was not dignified but was effective.\nThe thing was humanoid. Swamp-rotted, moss-covered, bony fingers reaching for the living with the patience of something that had been waiting in the water for a very long time. Not a ghost \u0026ndash; no cold, no translucence. Something that had died in the swamp and refused to stay down.\nIt clawed at Bancroft. The plate armor earned its weight \u0026ndash; the fingers scraped across steel and found nothing.\nRiyou ran. Irulan ran. Bancroft ran. They failed to lose it on the first try \u0026ndash; the thing was slow but tireless, tracking them through the ferns with the relentless certainty of the dead. On the second attempt, they cut around stones and trees and put enough distance between themselves and it that the tracking broke.\nIt was still out there somewhere. Searching.\nBurial rites for Lerwin (10 min). Random encounter d6 → swamp wight rises. Riyou WIS: 20/7 → not surprised. Wight claws Bancroft: miss (AC 16). Evasion d100: fail, then succeed on retry. Party escapes. \u0026#x1F3B2; They got back to Helix looking like people who had been through something that words wouldn\u0026rsquo;t cover. Riyou was bloodied and limping. Irulan was holding her neck. Bancroft was carrying a dead dwarf and the memory of a dead henchman and the knowledge that the swamp held at least one thing that wanted to eat him.\nThey drank.\nTwenty-five gold apiece at the Brazen Strumpet, which bought a day and a night of the kind of oblivion that adventurers paid for because the alternative was sitting quiet with what they\u0026rsquo;d seen.\nBancroft heard too much talk about St. Yig. The local god, the town god, the one everyone worshiped because everyone else did. He\u0026rsquo;d been quiet about Sylvanus \u0026ndash; had always been quiet \u0026ndash; but the ale stripped the quiet off and left the farmer underneath, the one who\u0026rsquo;d walked away from everything comfortable because a god told him to. He started a fight. Not a good fight. The kind where tables break and someone gets thrown and the authorities show up.\nSeven gold in fines. Banned from the Strumpet for a couple of weeks. He\u0026rsquo;d apparently goosed one of the barmaids, which he didn\u0026rsquo;t remember, and which was unlike him, and which he chose to believe was slander.\nIrulan woke up two days later in a room that wasn\u0026rsquo;t hers, clutching a greatsword she\u0026rsquo;d never seen before. She did not take it. She walked back to her own room and said nothing to anyone.\nRiyou arm-wrestled some rough men with filed ambitions and lost badly enough to wrench something. Her strength would be three less for the next few days \u0026ndash; the kind of injury that happened when you were a halfling who said yes to the wrong dare.\nReturn to Helix. Riyou levels to 3 (thief): \u0026#43;1 HP, \u0026#43;1 melee/ranged talent. Carousing 25gp each (\u0026#43;1). Bancroft: tavern brawl over St. Yig, fined 7gp, banned from Brazen Strumpet. Irulan: wakes in stranger\u0026#39;s room clutching greatsword. Riyou: arm wrestling, STR fail, -3 STR for 3 days. \u0026#x1F3B2; Mazzah had the potion identified. The dull gray liquid was Detect Thoughts \u0026ndash; useful, dangerous, the kind of thing that made Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s skin crawl because of who wanted it and why.\nThe gems were clean. No magic. Just money.\nAnd then Mazzah turned to the real business, which was Riyou and the tablet she carried in the tattoos on her skin. He wanted that information the way a man in a desert wants water \u0026ndash; not casually, not as a preference, but as a necessity that crowded out everything else.\n\u0026ldquo;You will see the error of your ways,\u0026rdquo; Mazzah said to Riyou, wagging his finger. \u0026ldquo;And then I will get the information from you, and together we could do good in this world.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Prove it,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said.\n\u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s nothing to prove, my dear. I am not an adventurer. Away with you.\u0026rdquo;\nAfter she left, Mazzah leaned close to Bancroft and whispered. There would be extra gold, he said, if Bancroft could bring back her body. After she died. Because the information couldn\u0026rsquo;t die with her. Because the tattoos held something singular, something that could be read from flesh whether the flesh was breathing or not.\nBancroft said: \u0026ldquo;I talk to her every day.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Yes,\u0026rdquo; Mazzah said. \u0026ldquo;But convince her otherwise.\u0026rdquo;\nAcross the room, Irulan caught the tone if not the words. She would ask about it later. Bancroft would have to decide how much to tell her.\nFive people entered the barrow that night. Three came out. The necromancer was dead. The mission was complete. And the wizard in the tower wanted Bancroft to think about what happened to Riyou\u0026rsquo;s body when Riyou was done with it.\nIt had been that kind of night.\nBancroft pays 10gp Detect Magic: potion glows, gems don\u0026#39;t. Irulan pays 20gp Identify: potion = Detect Thoughts. Mazzah pressures Riyou about tablet -- she refuses. Mazzah raises prices. Whispers to Bancroft about Riyou\u0026#39;s body. Irulan WIS 10: catches clandestine tone but not details. ","date":"17 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-17-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" 🎲 The necromancer fled north through the barrow, and the cleric followed.\nThe cleric had been dizzy since the last fight. He felt as if his head were filled with something thin and wrong, like air that had been breathed too many times. The barrow would occasionally shimmer at the edges of his vision, the walls going soft and then hard again, and he could not tell if it was the blood loss or the dark or just the way this place worked on a man after long enough inside it. His faith felt like a well that someone had drawn from too often. Once, not so long ago, it had answered every prayer. Now it was the barrow, where nothing answered but the dead.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 55 - Bancroft","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Bancroft and I chased the necromancer up the hallway to the north. Then Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s light spell died and I heard the necromancer cast a spell to the south, then it hit me. I yelled at Bancroft that this was his damned mission from god I was being injured for, and he walked right by the necromancer. I heard the necromancer grunt, so I figured he jumped over the pit trap down the west hallway. Lerwin came up the hallway and I lit a torch off of his. He said Seacrock was dead.\nI went after the necromancer. He offered me a job as their mercenary, starting with a 50gp gem to behead Bancroft, but I said my services were worth more, hoping to keep him talking so Bancroft could get down here. The necromancer hit me with the spell again, and I was barely standing. Bancroft came too late - the necromancer had run through the door past the pit trap. I jumped the pit, dropped the torch, which miraculously stayed lit, and shot the bastard through the door. He cursed me and dropped. I looked at Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s holy symbol, and told Sylvanus that I was acting as his priest\u0026rsquo;s hands and the kill was on his behalf. Bancroft looked relieved and said he felt lighter, so maybe it helped.\nSince I was on the that side, I looted the body of the 50gp gem. He had a creepy holy symbol and nasty black dagger, and an even more creepy belt with fingers embroidered to it. I didn\u0026rsquo;t touch those. We started back and found Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s body. We checked him, but he was dead. We wanted to bring the body back for proper burial. I shoved a dagger in the mechanism and opened the door. Lo and behold, we found Riyou outside the barrow. Happy we didn\u0026rsquo;t lose everyone, we headed back to town.\nOn the way back, we were followed by a group of beastmen trying to sneak up on us. We threw coppers down to distract them and tried to run away, but they weren\u0026rsquo;t interested in coin and they kept after us. I killed one, another one bit me, and I killed that one too. Bancroft killed one on Riyou, after I refused healing so we could clear the ones on Riyou. The last one killed Lerwin. We almost got a henchman out alive for the first time. Bancroft said burial rites for Lerwin. While he was doing that, we were attacked again by a wight rising up out of the swamp. Riyou yelled and ran. We tried to follow her, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t distracted by the two dead bodies and came after us. We eventually managed to lose it and get to town safely.\nFeeling conflicted at accomplishing a mission from god, but losing our companion and all the henchmen, we decided we needed many drinks. In order to pay for a night of drinking, we went to Mazzah to check if any of the gems are magic. They\u0026rsquo;re clean. I paid to have the grey potion identified. We settled in at the Brazen Strumpet for the night, telling tales about our adventures with the necromancer and his monsters, and the bravery of our lost companion and hirelings. Bancroft got in his cups and started a brawl and got himself banned for a while. Riyou tried to arm wrestle some toughs, failed miserably, and had an arm injury for a few days. I blacked out, and woke up two days later, in a room and bed not my own, clutching a greatsword in a scabbard. I didn\u0026rsquo;t notice anyone looking at me funny, so I can\u0026rsquo;t tell whose sword I was sleeping with. I didn\u0026rsquo;t take the sword. I\u0026rsquo;m not a thief.\nIn the morning, the card was the the king of swords - a leader focused to the point of being unemotional and unfeeling. Riyou seemed more focused after her ordeal. Hopefully almost dying didn\u0026rsquo;t make her unfeeling. We met four new recruits from the Grey Company. Turns out the grey potion was one to detect thoughts. Mazzah had a temper tantrum and said he\u0026rsquo;d raise our prices every time Riyou refused to tell him something about the tablet. We\u0026rsquo;ll just have new people go to him as a different group.\n","date":"17 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-17-irulan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft and I chased the necromancer up the hallway to the north. Then Bancroft’s light spell died and I heard the necromancer cast a spell to the south, then it hit me. I yelled at Bancroft that this was his damned mission from god I was being injured for, and he walked right by the necromancer. I heard the necromancer grunt, so I figured he jumped over the pit trap down the west hallway. Lerwin came up the hallway and I lit a torch off of his. He said Seacrock was dead.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- March 17 - Irulan","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Nine of them at the skull door. Four who had been here before, five who hadn\u0026rsquo;t. The five were men from the Gray Company \u0026ndash; Gallo, Larwyn, Tolm, Tarsil, and Kholix the torchbearer \u0026ndash; and they stood at the entrance with the expression of people who had been told what was down there but hadn\u0026rsquo;t believed it yet.\nIrulan braced the crowbar into the stone frame and pulled. The door gave with a grinding protest and wanted to close again, heavy and slow, like something that didn\u0026rsquo;t want to be opened and would fix the problem on its own if you let it. Inside, the mechanism had been packed with rocks. Someone had been here since last time. Rocks, and at the center of the pile, a dead rat arranged with its teeth bared at whoever reached in \u0026ndash; taxidermied, posed, someone\u0026rsquo;s idea of a joke.\nThe dagger that had held the mechanism was gone. Irulan put her chisel in its place. It fit well enough.\nDistant sounds while Irulan worked: the rattle of bone, a scrape of steel on stone, far off and directionless. The barrow talking.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The room inside was a meeting of dead gods. Bancroft counted six statues in the lantern-light \u0026ndash; Orcus, Set, Archon Trill to one side, a northern Valkyrie he didn\u0026rsquo;t know the name of, a robed figure with its face chiseled off. The altar in the center had been smashed by something heavy \u0026ndash; mace or hammer \u0026ndash; until whatever it had been dedicated to was unreadable. Just a slab now. Bloodstained.\nSeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s eyes glowed blue as his detection spell took hold. He turned slowly, scanning, and said: \u0026ldquo;Nothing. There\u0026rsquo;s nothing magical in this room.\u0026rdquo;\nThe pit was ten feet deep and open. Bones at the bottom \u0026ndash; gnawed, scattered, the remains of someone who had fallen in and never gotten out. Or been pushed and never gotten out. The barrow didn\u0026rsquo;t distinguish.\nSeaCrock Detect Magic (\u0026#43;1): 20/14 success. Room: statues of Orcus, Set, Archon Trill, Valkyrie figure, defaced robed figure. Broken altar. Open 10ft pit with bones. Bancroft recognized the gods. The ones he knew were not comforting.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He went into the pit on a rope. The hirelings held the line above while he searched, and searching was the generous word for what he did. Forty minutes in a ten-foot hole with gnawed bones and a skull that had two protruding front teeth \u0026ndash; half-orc, maybe, or something else that grew teeth like that. He turned over every stone and found nothing. Turned them over again. Still nothing. On the third pass, moving the skull itself, he found a dagger underneath. Someone else\u0026rsquo;s last possession.\nHe climbed out with it and held it up.\n\u0026ldquo;A treasure,\u0026rdquo; Kholix said, hopefully.\nNo one felt better.\nBancroft WIS (1): 3/10, 8/11, 4/18, 13/10 -- all fail. Riyou WIS 6 fail. SeaCrock WIS 2 fail. 40 minutes searching. Dagger found under skull. \u0026#x1F3B2; North. A taller chamber with burial alcoves \u0026ndash; fifty or a hundred of them, square openings in the walls, all emptied. Mummified remains were scattered on the floor in the way of things that had been searched and discarded by people who didn\u0026rsquo;t care about the dead. SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s detection spell fizzled once, then again, and the blue left his eyes for good. Twenty minutes of searching found nothing. The burial alcoves had been emptied by someone thorough.\nThe hirelings reported bone on stone, getting closer. Then the four guards backed up and said there was a glint in the darkness.\nTwo skeletons walked out of the dark with sapphires in their skulls.\nSeaCrock Detect Magic (\u0026#43;1): 16/7 fail, 4/3 fail -- spell burned out. Burial alcoves: 50-100, already looted. d6 = 1 -- sapphire skeletons approach. Two sapphire-skulled skeletons emerging from the darkness of a burial chamber, facing a knight with a green-glowing sword\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft had turned undead before. It was one of the things Sylvanus gave him that worked \u0026ndash; the prayer, the force of it, the way the dead flinched back. He raised his hand and called the name and nothing happened. He tried again, harder, reaching deeper into whatever well the prayer drew from. Nothing. Sylvanus was somewhere else tonight.\nThe skeletons hit the front line. Lerwin took a sword and stayed upright, which said something about Lerwin. Tolm took one and staggered back with blood on his armor and fear in his eyes. The hirelings were looking at the sapphires \u0026ndash; actually looking at them, calculating \u0026ndash; and Bancroft wanted to tell them that the gems were the reason the skeletons wouldn\u0026rsquo;t stay dead, but the words came out as a shout about smashing things that no one heard over the steel.\nBancroft Turn Undead (\u0026#43;4): 9/7 fail. Luck token reroll: 8/5 FAIL. Sapphire Skeleton Sword: 18/14 hits Lerwin (survives), 16/5 hits Tolm (bloodied). \u0026#x1F3B2; Riyou climbed the wall. Ten feet up, into one of the empty alcoves, bracing her legs against the stone like she\u0026rsquo;d been born in a place where the floor was optional. She drew her bow and shot from above \u0026ndash; clean, steady, the arrow punching through the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s ribcage and sending it stumbling sideways. Bone chips flew. The sapphire in its skull flickered. Riyou DEX 15 success (climbs into burial alcove). Riyou longbow (\u0026#43;2): 20/21/8 -- hit for 8 dmg, skeleton bloodied. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft tried to tell the front line to swap \u0026ndash; Tolm and Lerwin were hurt, Gallo and Tarsil were behind them, the obvious move was to rotate the wounded out. He was too slow. The idea formed, traveled from his brain to his mouth, and arrived after the hirelings had already committed. Then he fired the crossbow he had owned for months and never practiced with. The bolt sailed past the skeleton and struck Tolm in the back of the head.\nTolm turned around. \u0026ldquo;Hey!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Sorry,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. He handed the crossbow and remaining bolts to Tolm. \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;ll do better with this than I did.\u0026rdquo;\nTolm accepted this with the expression of a man who had just been shot by his employer.\nBancroft INT (-3): -1/4 FUMBLE -- too late to direct hirelings. Bancroft DEX (1): 3/15 -- crossbow miss, hits Tolm in the back. \u0026#x1F3B2; Gallo died in the next exchange. The skeleton\u0026rsquo;s sword went through him and he fell without a word, his club clattering on the stone beside him. Irulan stepped into his place before the body settled.\nRiyou killed the first skeleton from her perch. It discorporated \u0026ndash; bones scattering, the sapphire dropping to the floor with a small, bright sound. Everyone knew what would happen next. They had fought these before. The gem would rebuild itself. The question was what to do about it.\nSkeleton kills Gallo. Riyou longbow: 7 dmg -- kills skeleton #1, discorporates. Sapphire drops to floor. \u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan tried to smash the gem with her longsword. The blade struck the sapphire and sheared off. The gem sat there, whole and bright, and Bancroft could feel it pulling itself back together.\nHe called on Sylvanus for a cleansing blade \u0026ndash; something to make the sword work against the undead, something to end this. The prayer went out and came back hollow. Not tonight.\nHe moved to the front line instead. If nothing else, he had plate armor and the hirelings didn\u0026rsquo;t. They could stand behind him and live a little longer.\nThen the torch went out.\nIrulan longsword: 15 -- miss trying to crush sapphire gem. Bancroft Light (\u0026#43;3): 9/18 fail. Torch goes out -- total darkness. \u0026#x1F3B2; Darkness. Complete, thick, the kind of dark that presses against your eyes.\nSeaCrock fumbled for his flint and steel in the black. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t find anyone. He called out \u0026ndash; \u0026ldquo;Marco\u0026rdquo; \u0026ndash; and from the southwest, Kholix answered: \u0026ldquo;Polo, sir?\u0026rdquo; The absurdity of it. Two grown men playing a children\u0026rsquo;s game in a barrow full of walking dead. SeaCrock found him by sound and pressed the flint and steel into his hands.\nKholix tried to light the lantern. His hands were shaking. The flint sparked and caught nothing. The dark and the fear made his fingers useless.\nSomewhere in the room, steel hit bone. Tarsil made a sound that ended, and the sound of his body hitting the floor was different from the sound of a man falling down \u0026ndash; it was the sound of a man who wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to get up.\nTolm screamed. His nerve broke in the dark \u0026ndash; understandable, human, the thing that happened when you couldn\u0026rsquo;t see what was killing the man next to you. He ran blind through the party, slamming into Bancroft on the way past, and kept going south into the passages.\nSeaCrock DEX fail (light candle in dark). SeaCrock finds Kholix -- \u0026#39;Marco!\u0026#39; \u0026#39;Polo, sir?\u0026#39; Kholix light lantern (disadvantage): 14/4 = 5, FAIL. Skeleton kills Tarsil (5 dmg). Tolm morale: FAIL, flees. \u0026#x1F3B2; Something hit Bancroft from behind. Wet, heavy, the wrong kind of strong \u0026ndash; a zombie\u0026rsquo;s arm, finding the gap between his pauldron and his neck. The pain went straight down his spine.\nHe prayed for Light. It didn\u0026rsquo;t come. The words went out and nothing answered.\nHe tried again: Please. We are in extremis.\nA mote of green appeared in the center of his holy symbol. Tiny. It flickered and began to fade.\nIrulan was somewhere in the dark behind him. Whatever reserve she had left \u0026ndash; luck, will, the unreasonable stubbornness of a woman who refused to die in the dark \u0026ndash; she poured it toward him. He could feel it. Not magic. Something older than magic. The green light caught, held, and spread down the blade of his longsword like fire running along a fuse.\nLight.\nThe room came back. A zombie stood right beside him, arm still extended from the blow. A sapphire skeleton had a bow drawn. Tolm was gone into the south. Gallo and Tarsil were dead on the ground. Kholix was clutching a cold lantern. Lerwin was asking for instructions.\nZombie hits Bancroft from behind: 3 dmg. Bancroft Light (\u0026#43;3): 9/18 FAIL. Golden luck token → 16/4, takes 16 -- success (DC 12). Light on longsword. \u0026#x1F3B2; From behind the zombie, a voice he knew:\n\u0026ldquo;Ah. It looks like we meet again.\u0026rdquo;\nHeinrich stepped into the edge of the light. Gaunt, silver goatee, the skull-and-ivy symbol at his throat. He was gesturing at the undead with both hands, directing them the way a man directs horses \u0026ndash; small movements, precise, the kind of control that comes from years of practice.\n\u0026ldquo;Do you like my little pets?\u0026rdquo; He studied Bancroft with an expression of mild curiosity. \u0026ldquo;I feel for some reason you\u0026rsquo;re hunting me. This is the second time within two days. I don\u0026rsquo;t know if this is on purpose or not.\u0026rdquo;\nHe pointed at Bancroft. \u0026ldquo;My pet \u0026ndash; I need him to be alive. He knows what the girl is.\u0026rdquo;\nThe zombie turned toward Bancroft. It did not look reluctant.\nNecrolyte of Nergal Initiative: 17.12. Heinrich enters from east. \u0026#39;Ah, it looks like we meet again. Do you like my little pets?\u0026#39; Directs zombie: \u0026#39;I need him alive. He knows what the girl is.\u0026#39; A gaunt necromancer in dark robes commanding undead, facing an armored knight in a torchlit barrow\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Heinrich cast a spell. It washed over the room \u0026ndash; a heaviness in the air, the pull of unnatural sleep \u0026ndash; and Lerwin dropped like he\u0026rsquo;d been struck. Just folded, mid-sentence, the way a man does when consciousness is taken rather than lost. Everyone else stayed on their feet. The spell didn\u0026rsquo;t reach them.\nHeinrich looked at his hands. \u0026ldquo;What? That usually works better.\u0026rdquo;\nFrom across the room, a crack of purple light \u0026ndash; SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s magic bolt finding the necromancer squarely. Heinrich stumbled half a step and turned.\n\u0026ldquo;Oh. I see you back there.\u0026rdquo; A pause. \u0026ldquo;I remember you.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I remember you too,\u0026rdquo; SeaCrock said.\n\u0026ldquo;The great Huffer Pants, wasn\u0026rsquo;t it?\u0026rdquo;\nSeaCrock did not correct him.\nHeinrich casts Sleep: only catches Lerwin (PCs too high level). \u0026#39;What? That usually works better.\u0026#39; SeaCrock Magic Missile: hit for 2 dmg on Heinrich. \u0026#39;Oh. I see you back there. I remember you.\u0026#39; \u0026#x1F3B2; Riyou disappeared.\nBancroft saw it happen from the corner of his eye \u0026ndash; one moment she was there, braced in the alcove with her bow; the next, just empty stone. She climbed down silent and crossed the room like a rumor.\nHer first approach, Heinrich heard her. He cocked his head to one side \u0026ndash; the gesture of a man listening for something just below the threshold of certainty. \u0026ldquo;Oh. I remember this one.\u0026rdquo;\nShe pulled back. Repositioned. Tried again. This time, nothing. Heinrich didn\u0026rsquo;t turn.\nThe arrow came from behind him. It should have been a clean kill \u0026ndash; the kind of shot you make when you\u0026rsquo;ve been invisible and patient and the target doesn\u0026rsquo;t know you\u0026rsquo;re there. It grazed him instead, barely, the shaft deflecting off something beneath his robes.\nRiyou\u0026rsquo;s face did something complicated. She drew again.\nThe second arrow didn\u0026rsquo;t graze. It went deep, finding the space between his ribs where there was no deflection, no protection, nothing between the arrowhead and the man. Heinrich went to one knee. The sapphire light in the room seemed to flicker.\n\u0026ldquo;What?\u0026rdquo; He turned and found her. \u0026ldquo;Oh, there you are, my dear. I\u0026rsquo;ve been looking for you.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You will not hurt my friends,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said, \u0026ldquo;and you need to die or leave us alone.\u0026rdquo;\nHeinrich straightened. He was bleeding in a way that suggested organs. \u0026ldquo;I will kill you next,\u0026rdquo; he said. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve told people about you. They are on the lookout. If I die, people will raise my corpse to find out the information.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Not if I burn your body first.\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou invisible (2 rounds). Stealth DEX ADV: first attempt detected -- Heinrich: \u0026#39;Oh, I remember this one.\u0026#39; Second attempt: success. Riyou longbow: 13 -- exactly AC, glancing blow (miss). Luck token → NAT 20 CRIT. 8 \u0026#43; 6 sneak = 14 damage. Heinrich BLOODIED. A small rogue drawing a bow from the shadows behind a wounded necromancer in a dark dungeon corridor\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He could see it.\nNobody else could. Just Bancroft. A green light around Heinrich \u0026ndash; not the necromancer\u0026rsquo;s own magic, but Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s mark, painted on the man like a sign that said here, this one, finish what I sent you to do. The same pull he\u0026rsquo;d felt for weeks, the same certainty. Heinrich was two steps away.\nBancroft had his sword in his hand. His sword was glowing. The man he had been sent to kill was wounded and within reach and marked by his god.\nHe was barely standing. The zombie\u0026rsquo;s blow was still ringing through his spine. One more hit \u0026ndash; a spell, a slap, anything \u0026ndash; and he would be face-down on the barrow floor for the last time. He was one bad moment from dying in a hole he\u0026rsquo;d been in too many times, and the god who had sent him here was barely answering prayers.\nHe chose to heal himself.\nThe prayer barely worked. The weakest healing he had ever channeled \u0026ndash; Irulan spent her own luck to make it happen, whatever reserve she carried for the moments when stubbornness alone wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough, and even then Sylvanus gave him almost nothing. The wound closed. Barely.\nThe green light around Heinrich faded.\nBancroft watched it go. He knew what it meant. Sylvanus had shown him the target and he had chosen his own survival instead. There would be consequences for that. There were always consequences.\nHeinrich ran.\nBancroft at 2 HP. Sylvanus glow visible around Heinrich (only to Bancroft). Bancroft Cure Wounds: FAIL. Irulan golden luck token → reroll: 2d6 = 1\u0026#43;1 = 2 HP healed. \u0026#39;Meh.\u0026#39; Glow around Heinrich fades. \u0026ldquo;These are not all the playthings I have at my disposal,\u0026rdquo; the necromancer called back as he disappeared into the dark. Three versions of him split from his body as he went \u0026ndash; mirror images, laughing, each one identical and mocking.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft cast Light again. The third time that night. It worked the way it always worked \u0026ndash; barely. The green glow returned to his blade and he ran after the necromancer in the corridor, plate armor clanking, the sound of a man who had given up on subtlety.\nHe found Heinrich \u0026ndash; or one of him \u0026ndash; and drove the longsword through the image\u0026rsquo;s chest. It burst like a soap bubble. Two Heinrichs left, both grinning.\nHeinrich tried a spell. It fizzled in his hands. \u0026ldquo;Why?\u0026rdquo; he said, genuinely aggrieved. \u0026ldquo;Why, when I\u0026rsquo;m around your heathens, do all my spells go out?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;False god,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. \u0026ldquo;You called him a false god. He\u0026rsquo;s just petty.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft Light (\u0026#43;3): 12 success (DC 11, barely). Moves 6 squares, hits Heinrich -- pops mirror image #1. Heinrich spell at Bancroft: FAIL. \u0026#39;Why do all my spells go out when I\u0026#39;m around your heathens?\u0026#39; \u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan caught up. She swung in the dark at where Heinrich should have been \u0026ndash; blind, accepting whatever price the barrow extracted for the attempt. Her sword found him. The blow landed solid.\nEvery light in the corridor went out.\nHeinrich screamed. \u0026ldquo;You bitch!\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan: \u0026ldquo;I told you I was going to kill you.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan swings at Heinrich in dark (disadvantage): miss → takes consequence for hit. 6 damage. Consequence d6: all light sources extinguished again. \u0026#x1F3B2; Behind them, in the dark, things fell apart.\nA skeleton found SeaCrock. The blow was sudden and final \u0026ndash; he went down without a sound, the kind of quiet that meant consciousness was gone before the floor arrived. Kholix stumbled through the darkness and found the body by touch.\nThe zombie struck Riyou. She fell \u0026ndash; but slowly, the way people fall in stories, holding the lantern steady as her legs gave way. She placed it on the ground. Carefully. The glass didn\u0026rsquo;t break. The flame held. Her last act before the dark took her was to leave a light for the people who would need it.\nThe zombie began dragging her east.\nSkeleton crits SeaCrock (ADV, dark): 6 dmg. SeaCrock DOWN, 3rd death/scar. Zombie hits Riyou: Riyou DOWN. Golden luck on damage: still lethal. Riyou DEX 18 -- places lantern gently on ground as she falls. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft cast Light.\nThe fourth time. The sword glowed green and he went after Heinrich again \u0026ndash; through the dark, through the corridor, past the sounds of fighting behind him that he couldn\u0026rsquo;t help with yet. He found another image and destroyed it. One left.\nHeinrich ran. Sixty feet of corridor, gone before Bancroft could close the distance. The necromancer tried one more spell over his shoulder. It fizzled.\n\u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t even know who you are,\u0026rdquo; Heinrich said to Irulan, who was behind him and getting closer, \u0026ldquo;but I\u0026rsquo;m annoyed.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You keep attacking my friends,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said, \u0026ldquo;and you piss me off.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Friends?\u0026rdquo; Heinrich sounded genuinely confused. \u0026ldquo;Who is friends with traitors? That woman is a traitor to the cause.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t make deals with necromancers,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said.\nBancroft Light (\u0026#43;3): success (4th time tonight). Reaches Heinrich, pops mirror image #2. Heinrich has 1 image left, double-moves 60ft. Heinrich spell: FAILS again. A knight with a green-glowing sword and a half-orc woman warrior chasing a fleeing necromancer through dark barrow corridors\n\u0026#x1F3B2; From the east, behind the fighting, behind the dead and the dying \u0026ndash; yipping. Small, fierce, the sound of creatures who lived in the barrow\u0026rsquo;s deeper places and had their own reasons for being angry at the things that walked through their territory.\nThe mongrel men had come. Bancroft could hear it: bone shattering, the high yelps of attack, the sound of creatures who were not afraid of skeletons because they had lived beside them for longer than any of the party had been alive. They weren\u0026rsquo;t saving the party. They were solving their own problem. But the effect was the same.\nKholix found SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s body. Lerwin, still alive, still standing, picked up a torch and walked into the light to relight it.\nMongrel men attack from the east: GM rolls 18, 13, 14, 15, 19, 3. Shattering of bone. \u0026#39;Not a Hail Mary -- circumstances dictate this.\u0026#39; The session ended there.\nThe party was in three pieces. Bancroft and Irulan, chasing a necromancer into the dark with nothing but a glowing sword between them and whatever was down that corridor. SeaCrock and Riyou, unconscious in different parts of the dungeon. The mongrel men, fighting things that didn\u0026rsquo;t belong in their territory.\nTwo hirelings dead. One fled. Two still standing.\nBoth SeaCrock and Riyou survived their wounds. SeaCrock earned a new scar \u0026ndash; a vertical line through the center of his chest where the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s blade had just missed his heart. Three scars now. Riyou lost a portion of the muscle on the left side of her neck where the zombie had bitten through. Her silhouette would be different from here on out.\nHeinrich was still alive. Still running. Still one step ahead.\nBancroft walked through it in his mind on the way home \u0026ndash; or he would, when there was a way home, when this was over, when the corridor ended somewhere. He had been shown his quarry and he had chosen himself. Sylvanus would remember that. Bancroft would remember it too. The green glow was gone and it was not coming back until he earned it.\nHe kept walking. Irulan beside him. The sword still lit.\nThat would have to be enough.\nThis session report was written with the help of AI. For details on the process, see Transcribing D\u0026amp;D Sessions with WhisperX and Speaker Diarization.\n","date":"10 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-10-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Nine of them at the skull door. Four who had been here before, five who hadn’t. The five were men from the Gray Company – Gallo, Larwyn, Tolm, Tarsil, and Kholix the torchbearer – and they stood at the entrance with the expression of people who had been told what was down there but hadn’t believed it yet.\nIrulan braced the crowbar into the stone frame and pulled. The door gave with a grinding protest and wanted to close again, heavy and slow, like something that didn’t want to be opened and would fix the problem on its own if you let it. Inside, the mechanism had been packed with rocks. Someone had been here since last time. Rocks, and at the center of the pile, a dead rat arranged with its teeth bared at whoever reached in – taxidermied, posed, someone’s idea of a joke.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 54 - Bancroft","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"We went through the no longer secret door, which is now disabled, by levering it open with a crowbar. We checked the statue room to the south, now blessedly rat free. Bancroft insisted in climbing down the pit for some reason, and found a dagger under the bones. We headed north. As we were checking previously looted burial alcoves, we were accosted by two gem skeletons. Sylvanus abandoned Bancroft, and he wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to turn them. Riyou downed one with two mighty bowshots from ten feet up, clinging to the burial alcoves with her feet. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to hit the gem to crush it, too small a target on the ground.\nThe lantern went out. What\u0026rsquo;s the point of hiring torch bearers if they don\u0026rsquo;t monitor the light? Then, because we didn\u0026rsquo;t have enough trouble, zombies were attracted by the noise. Tolm ran, knocking Bancroft over. The two remaining henchman both tried to light the lantern and failed, so we remained in the dark with two gem skeletons and an unknown amount of zombies. Finally, Bancroft cast light so we could see and I wasn\u0026rsquo;t swinging at nothing. The skeleton in front of me reconstituted despite Seacrock cracking the gem with a spell. The other skeleton backed off, but it had a bow, so it might just be making room to shoot.\nWe heard the necromancer say \u0026ldquo;Ah, we meet again. Do you like my pets?\u0026rdquo; He told the undead to attack Bancroft. We both missed the skeleton. Bancroft pushed through and moved towards the necromancer. The necromancer unsuccessfully cast a spell and backed off like a coward. Bancroft and I started making our way towards him. Bancroft managed a hit, and Seacrock kept taking pot shots with magic missile. Riyou snuck up and shot him, dealing a good deal of damage. Bancroft and I gave chase.\nThe zombie downed Riyou, who had just lit a lantern. Luckily it didn\u0026rsquo;t go out. I moved up and hit the necromancer, but shadows took the lights out. Bancroft cast light again. The necromancer yelled to the zombie to take Riyou somewhere. I heard Seacrock yell, so he might be hurt or dead. Then we heard yips and sounds of battle as mongrels entered the fray. I guess the mongrels were fighting either the zombie or skeletons. Hopefully they save Riyou and Seacrock too. Bancroft and I kept chasing the necromancer into the dark, hitting him when we could get close enough.\n","date":"10 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-10-irulan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"We went through the no longer secret door, which is now disabled, by levering it open with a crowbar. We checked the statue room to the south, now blessedly rat free. Bancroft insisted in climbing down the pit for some reason, and found a dagger under the bones. We headed north. As we were checking previously looted burial alcoves, we were accosted by two gem skeletons. Sylvanus abandoned Bancroft, and he wasn’t able to turn them. Riyou downed one with two mighty bowshots from ten feet up, clinging to the burial alcoves with her feet. I wasn’t able to hit the gem to crush it, too small a target on the ground.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- March 10 - Irulan","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/monday/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Monday","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/morgan/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Morgan","type":"tags"},{"content":" Vrak # The sword was right there. You could see it glowing from across the room \u0026ndash; white, steady, the kind of light that says valuable in a language anyone can read. All we had to do was cross a room full of animated stone lizardmen, climb a ten-foot statue, and swap it for a different sword before anything went wrong.\nLooking back, I can see where the flaw might have been.\nWe\u0026rsquo;d come for the flooded section. Morgan had heard there was something down there worth having, which in my experience is the kind of reasoning that ends with someone at the bottom of a hole, but she holds the purse, so here we were.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Siri touched her staff and it came up glowing. Nice trick. Better than torches, better than lanterns, and it didn\u0026rsquo;t eat into supplies. The stone door was already cracked open from some earlier group\u0026rsquo;s adventure \u0026ndash; not ours, but the barrow doesn\u0026rsquo;t really distinguish between parties. We went in.\nThe room had three lizardman statues in it. Stone things, clawing at the feet of a carved elven warrior who stood looking up at a glowing sword clutched in his raised hands. We\u0026rsquo;d been warned about those statues by people who\u0026rsquo;d survived them, which is a short list. We gave them a wide berth.\nPast the statues, stairs descended into the dark. The water had beaten them there.\nSiri Light spell: success -- staff glows soft blue. Stone door to D9 is cracked open from a previous visit. \u0026#x1F3B2; Siri went in to scout. She can hold her breath longer than the rest of us, or at least she\u0026rsquo;s more willing to try. She came back up dripping and reported: mural work covering the walls, elves and forest animals and dryads and fae, all arranged in procession toward the north wall. At the center, one big figure. Rangerish. Clearly important to whoever carved it.\n\u0026ldquo;One of mine,\u0026rdquo; she said.\nShe also mentioned there was a mummy down there on a stone slab.\nSiri INT check on elven murals: partial success -- recognizes the figure as important. Name unknown. Morgan said, \u0026ldquo;Treasure.\u0026rdquo;\nI said that the mummy itself probably wasn\u0026rsquo;t treasure.\n\u0026ldquo;What\u0026rsquo;s in it is,\u0026rdquo; she said.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; We tied a rope around Thrain\u0026rsquo;s waist and he went in without hesitating, which is either brave or the particular kind of stubborn that looks like bravery from the outside. He came back hauling something that had once been an elf and was now \u0026ndash; after several hundred years of swamp water \u0026ndash; more of its own outline. Long. Squishy in places bones shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s squishy,\u0026rdquo; he said, when he surfaced.\n\u0026ldquo;Yes,\u0026rdquo; I said.\n\u0026ldquo;It really shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;No,\u0026rdquo; I agreed.\nMorgan was already unwrapping it.\nThrain WIS: grabs the body without much examination. Surfaces immediately. They dragged the mummy out into the sun and it steamed. Swamp water and time burning off in the noon heat. I stood upwind.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Thrain searched it properly, which meant putting his hands into places that were going to need a long wash. He turned up nothing. The elf had been buried with dignity and then soaked for three centuries until the dignity mostly dissolved, and he was not carrying anything we could sell.\nSiri had several feelings about this. She kept them mostly to herself, but they were visible on her face.\nThe glowing sword was still sitting in the statue\u0026rsquo;s hands.\nThrain WIS 18: thorough search -- nothing found. The body is centuries old. The wrappings hold nothing. This was Caleb\u0026rsquo;s idea, technically, in the sense that he\u0026rsquo;d been staring at the sword since we entered and I\u0026rsquo;d been the one to make a plan around it. Clean enough: he climbs the statue, pulls the sword free, passes it to Thrain, Thrain passes it to me, I walk out fast. A relay. Logical.\nCaleb had always wanted to be a hero. He said so once.\nI gave him my longsword to use in the swap.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He made it halfway up before his grip failed. He didn\u0026rsquo;t fall noisily \u0026ndash; just an absence of upward momentum, and then a sound, and then Caleb was not going to be wanting anything anymore.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Pippin said.\n\u0026ldquo;Yes,\u0026rdquo; I said.\nCaleb STR: fail -- loses grip halfway up, falls, cracks his head on a lizardman\u0026#39;s tooth. Dead. \u0026#x1F3B2; Pippin is a halfling. Shorter than expected, more practical than most people give him credit for. He stepped on Caleb, reached the sword, got the rope tied around it.\nThe statues started moving.\nYou could hear it \u0026ndash; stone finding angles of motion it hadn\u0026rsquo;t used in a long time. Three lizardmen, coming loose.\nPippin STR: success -- climbs the statue using the foothold available. Statues begin to animate. \u0026#x1F3B2; The first claw took Pippin across the chest. A halfling doesn\u0026rsquo;t have much chest to spare, and the claw found all of it. He went still with the rope still in his hand.\nThe other two went for Thrain. He\u0026rsquo;d been standing back, which at that moment was exactly the wrong place to be standing. Stone came down on him and the torch went out and I heard a sound that meant Thrain was finished.\nThe rope had weight on it.\nSomething was pulling.\nInitiative: lizardmen 13, party 6 -- statues act first. Claw hits Pippin: dead. Claw hits Thrain: dead. Torch gutters out. \u0026#x1F3B2; I dug in. Whatever was on the other end had leverage and both hands and more patience than I had. Morgan was pulling at my arm. Siri was shouting. The thing pulled back hard enough to start moving me toward the door we were trying to leave through.\nI let the rope go and ran.\nThis was the correct decision. I made it while already in motion.\nVrak STR vs rope -- something pulls with real force. Luck holds: braces and wins, then releases and runs. They followed us to the entrance and stopped. Two of them came out into sunlight, stood there with their stone eyes, and went back inside. Apparently we weren\u0026rsquo;t worth leaving the barrow for.\nI decided not to be insulted.\nWe waited twenty minutes in the ruins outside, at a distance that felt respectful of what had just happened. Morgan asked if I was all right. I was missing a longsword and three people, which I mentioned. She didn\u0026rsquo;t have anything useful to say about the longsword but offered to buy me a new one in town, which was something.\nSiri wanted to go back and bury the elf.\nI pointed out this meant returning to the place where the golems were. She pointed out she was going to do it anyway. Morgan said she\u0026rsquo;d help. I volunteered to stand watch, which is a post that requires watching things and not being underground \u0026ndash; two areas where I currently excel.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The entrance was clear when we came back. The statues had gone back inside. The mummy was still there, substantially more decomposed than when we\u0026rsquo;d left it, doing what things do in the sun when they\u0026rsquo;ve been preserved in cold water for three centuries. Thrain\u0026rsquo;s wood was scattered \u0026ndash; a golem had stepped on it leaving \u0026ndash; but usable. We piled stones and wood into something that looked deliberate.\nSiri carved a marker.\nMorgan stealth -- entrance clear. Mummy remains still present. Cairn materials scattered but usable. \u0026#x1F3B2; She got halfway through before Morgan spotted them \u0026ndash; five zombies coming from the northwest at the steady, patient pace of things that don\u0026rsquo;t need to hurry. Not running. Just coming.\n\u0026ldquo;Siri,\u0026rdquo; Morgan said.\n\u0026ldquo;Noticed,\u0026rdquo; Siri said. She jammed the marker in \u0026ndash; a board with something carved on it quickly, something Elvish. Here lies a great hero, she told me later.\nWe ran.\nRandom encounter during burial: five zombies sighted 60 feet northwest, moving toward the group. \u0026#x1F3B2; They didn\u0026rsquo;t follow far. We looked back and they had found the mummy and decided that was sufficient. An ancient elven hero, and five zombies, and the zombies won. That\u0026rsquo;s the barrowmaze summed up neatly. Evade roll: low -- zombies stop to feed on the mummy remains rather than pursue. Four hours back to Helix. The road was quiet. Once, from deep in the swamp, we heard something that might have been moaning. We didn\u0026rsquo;t stop to find out.\nMorgan bought me a longsword at nine gold, which is an oddly specific price. It\u0026rsquo;s a solid blade.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Siri found an elf in town \u0026ndash; Valerian, who runs a bow shop directly in front of the mage\u0026rsquo;s tower and apparently nobody has gone to visit him in months. He knew the figure, or knew of him.\nAn ancient hero, Valerian said. Old as the barrowmaze, maybe older. The lizardmen had held the whole region once, and this ranger had driven them back \u0026ndash; stood between the dead ground and the living, and eventually lost. The statue was his monument. The murals were his tomb. Without some physical relic, he said, it was difficult to confirm anything for the historians.\nHe looked at us with the careful expression of a man who deals in things that require authentication.\nSiri did not mention we\u0026rsquo;d hauled the body up and let zombies eat it.\nSome stories improve by what you leave out.\nSiri speaks with Valerian the Boyer about the elven murals and the figure in the tomb. Three people down. My sword in the barrow. A glowing blade still sitting in that statue\u0026rsquo;s hands, waiting for whoever figures out the right approach.\nCaleb had wanted to be a hero.\nHe almost made it to the middle of the statue.\nThis session report was written with the help of AI. For details on the process, see Transcribing D\u0026amp;D Sessions with WhisperX and Speaker Diarization.\n","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-09-vrak/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Vrak # The sword was right there. You could see it glowing from across the room – white, steady, the kind of light that says valuable in a language anyone can read. All we had to do was cross a room full of animated stone lizardmen, climb a ten-foot statue, and swap it for a different sword before anything went wrong.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 53 - Vrak","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/siri/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Siri","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/vrak/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Vrak","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/morrigan/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Morrigan","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/serie/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Serie","type":"tags"},{"content":"The next day, I got together with a new group from the Grey Company after getting myself checked out by a St. Ygg priest for piece of mind. An elf mage, Serie, and four newbies: Pippin (halfling), Thrain (dwarf), Caleb (human), and Vrak (half orc). I quizzed them all on their dedication to be adventurers, and warned them that it was not a walk in the park. They insisted they were prepared. I oped for an easy start, and we went to the barrow (D9) with the golems and stairs down to an altar. We can check out the stairs and see if we can find a way to drain the water.\nOpening the secret door, we say the statue holding Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s sword, glowing white, and the three lizardmen golems. Having warned the others not to go near the statue, we edged along the wall to the door. There were stairs going down, but the stairs were flooded. So anything down there would be underwater. There didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to be any lever or anything to drain water. There were pictures on the stairway walls of elves and nature things. Serie thought it was some important elven ranger, but she didn\u0026rsquo;t know who. The water was boggy, so Serie ducked under with her glowy staff to see how far we\u0026rsquo;d need to hold our breath to get into the room below. She said there was a stone slab with a mummy to the northwest. No air pockets. I tied a rope around the dwarf at his insistence, and swam with Serie to the spot. With her light, he dove down to grab the mummy. They got back and we went outside to see if there was anything in the wrappings.\nIt smelled really bad, but Thrain searched thoroughly and didn\u0026rsquo;t find anything. So if there is any treasure, we\u0026rsquo;d have to dive and grope around for it blindly. Or try to grab the glowing sword, like Caleb wanted to do. Serie wanted to bury the remains, so I helped pile dirt. Thrain and Caleb wanted a torch and rope, so I gave them my rope and lit them a torch and wished them Fortuna\u0026rsquo;s blessing as they went in to try to get the sword. From their muttered planning, the idea was for Caleb to climb the statue and switch the magic sword for Vrak\u0026rsquo;s longsword, put the magic sword in a loop in the rope, and the others will pull the rope and magic sword out.\nIt went awry immediately as Caleb fell from the statue and died. Pippin went up in his place. He dropped the loop over the magic sword, and as he went to switch the swords, the golems animated under him and clawed him to death. Thrain pulled the rope, but the golems got to him first. I heard the screams and told Vrak to pull on the rope, and told Serie we had to leave the remains.. Vrak backed up onto the remains while pulling on the rope. But the golems pulled back.\nAs the golems started to come after us, we ran. They didn\u0026rsquo;t give chase very gar, since they had two swords now. Serei still wanted to go back to bury the remains. I compromised with both, so we could pile Thrain\u0026rsquo;s wood over the remains, and Vrak would come with us if I bought him a sword back to town. I helped Serei with the cairn while Vrak guarded. Halfway through the cairn, we saw five zombies coming. We left them to the stinky remains, and they didn\u0026rsquo;t really chase us very far either. We got back to town. I bought Vrak a sword and gave him a gold to sleep in the inn with us. I mourned the lost companions that we barely got to know, who died in an act of foolhardy bravery. I hope Fortuna takes their souls rather than that stuck up prick St. Ygg.\nI never thought when I left Threshold to go adventuring that my actions and choices would affect anyone but me. But they do. I lost everyone before because I opened that door. Three from this new group because I wasn\u0026rsquo;t a good enough leader and didn\u0026rsquo;t explain better what I knew about the golems. When I tell stories at the Brazen Strumpet after being out, I should tell them about those we lost. I\u0026rsquo;ve got a damned good story this time. Those three\u0026rsquo;s attempt at the sword - that was epic.\n","date":"9 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-09-morrigan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"The next day, I got together with a new group from the Grey Company after getting myself checked out by a St. Ygg priest for piece of mind. An elf mage, Serie, and four newbies: Pippin (halfling), Thrain (dwarf), Caleb (human), and Vrak (half orc). I quizzed them all on their dedication to be adventurers, and warned them that it was not a walk in the park. They insisted they were prepared. I oped for an easy start, and we went to the barrow (D9) with the golems and stairs down to an altar. We can check out the stairs and see if we can find a way to drain the water.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- March 9 - Morrigan","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Bancroft was lying on the stone floor.\nHe had been lying there since the spider. He knew this in the abstract \u0026ndash; the spider bite, the paralysis, Irulan cutting him down from the web, the floor coming up. He hadn\u0026rsquo;t planned to land face-first. That was just how things went.\nThe stone was cold against his cheek. He could see the grain of it \u0026ndash; the fossil-something embedded in the limestone, the dust settled into the low spots over a few hundred years of quiet. The skeleton\u0026rsquo;s bag was two feet from his outstretched right hand. He\u0026rsquo;d been staring at that bag since Irulan cut him down. It hadn\u0026rsquo;t moved.\nHis shield was still glowing green. Steady, the same as it had been since the prayer. Sylvanus hadn\u0026rsquo;t taken that back.\nSolix was beside him. He\u0026rsquo;d found a candle in Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s pack without asking, which was fine \u0026ndash; it was the pack of a man who couldn\u0026rsquo;t say no \u0026ndash; and lit it off the shield\u0026rsquo;s glow. It burned at the level of Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s face. Solix kept talking: about the flickering, about whether Bancroft could hear him, about whether there was something he ought to be doing. He sounded young in a way he hadn\u0026rsquo;t sounded before the spider. Maybe eighteen. Maybe younger.\nBancroft couldn\u0026rsquo;t move his jaw.\nDistant sounds came through the far door \u0026ndash; boots on stone, shouts, something that might have been a door swinging open in a corridor he couldn\u0026rsquo;t see. He could hear Riyou\u0026rsquo;s voice at one point. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t make out words.\nHe tried to wiggle his right hand.\nNothing.\nHe thought about Ertz, whose feet were still in his line of sight. Not moving. He thought about the prayer book Ertz had kept marked in his kit \u0026ndash; passages in a different god\u0026rsquo;s language, the bow the man made every morning, brief and sincere. He thought about how Ertz had refused the healing, and how Bancroft had tried to give it anyway, and how Sylvanus had gone quiet on that one. You couldn\u0026rsquo;t heal a man who had already decided against it.\nHe listened. The barrow was still. No scraping, no footsteps beyond what he could account for. Clear, for now.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; What Bancroft heard, at the time: shouts in the dark passage beyond the door. What he pieced together later, on the walk home:\nRiyou had woken up.\nShe\u0026rsquo;d been out since Heinrich\u0026rsquo;s enchantment \u0026ndash; carried over Slouch Ribs\u0026rsquo; shoulder in absolute darkness, her weapons gone. But the bone-handle dagger was still there. They\u0026rsquo;d searched her and missed it. She was upside-down when she found it. She drew it anyway, in the dark, without light or leverage, and got it into her hand before Slouch Ribs knew she was awake.\nShe\u0026rsquo;d been pretending to be asleep until she wasn\u0026rsquo;t.\n\u0026ldquo;Methinks she be awake,\u0026rdquo; Slouch Ribs said.\nSo much for that.\nRiyou CON save: 16/8 pass -- wakes from Heinrich\u0026#39;s Sleep. Finds bone-handle dagger still hidden in her clothing (INT 22/19). Draws it upside-down in the dark (DEX 9/7, barely). \u0026#x1F3B2; She stabbed him before he could react. Both strikes true in the dark, aimed at the soft places. Slouch Ribs didn\u0026rsquo;t go down. He bled, and kept walking, and didn\u0026rsquo;t even curse at her.\nFrom the other end of the passage, SeaCrock tried to put Heinrich to sleep.\n\u0026ldquo;Such simple spells.\u0026rdquo; Heinrich\u0026rsquo;s voice was clear and dry and patient. \u0026ldquo;You used it on me earlier \u0026ndash; unsuccessfully. Unlike you, I am immune to such realities.\u0026rdquo;\nHe said it like something already settled.\nRiyou Bone Handle Dagger (\u0026#43;2): 22/22 DOUBLE CRIT, max damage. Bloodied but holds on. SeaCrock Sleep (\u0026#43;1): 21/17 -- no effect on Heinrich. \u0026#39;I am immune to such realities.\u0026#39; Back in the spider room, Bancroft heard muffled shouting and what he thought was Riyou swearing. He listened for the barrow itself \u0026ndash; the walls, the passages, anything moving that shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be. Nothing. Still clear.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan ran into the dark after them.\nSeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s Magic Missiles followed \u0026ndash; the crack of each one sounding down the passage, brief light under the door. One mirror image gone, then another, then a third bolt that found the real Heinrich and changed the quality of his voice.\nIrulan hit him with her sword. He should have been done.\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;ll be next for the pit,\u0026rdquo; he said, anyway.\n\u0026ldquo;You mentioned something about cold hard steel,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said. \u0026ldquo;Didn\u0026rsquo;t I.\u0026rdquo;\nSeaCrock MM (ADV): 2/19/3 -- strips Mirror Image #1. Luck token: 4→7 -- strips Image #2. Nat 20: 5/20/3 -- hits real Heinrich, 3 damage. Bloodied. Irulan longsword (\u0026#43;6): 21/20/11 -- 11 damage. Very bloodied. \u0026#x1F3B2; Riyou broke free. She ran south, hands finding walls by touch, and then Slouch Ribs hauled her back \u0026ndash; bigger, enough to pick her up again. She stabbed him twice more blindly. The first missed. The second found something, barely.\nHeinrich tried two spells in a row. Both fizzled. He looked at his hands.\nIrulan found her flint and steel and the torch caught. First light in that corridor since the chase began. Bancroft saw the thin yellow line under the door brighten, and he knew.\nRiyou STR 15 vs Mongrelman STR 14 -- breaks free. Mongrelman STR 20 -- grabs her back. Riyou Dagger: 7/14/2 miss, then 20/10/4 glancing. Heinrich spells fizzle (GM d20: 2, then 6). Irulan DEX 12/16 -- takes 12, exactly what she needed. Lights torch. \u0026#x1F3B2; He listened again and went very still.\nSomething was moving in the walls. The dry scrape of legs on stone. Not here yet. He knew that sound by now.\nHe tried to move his fingers again.\nNothing.\nBancroft d6: 6 -- scuttling sounds in the passages. Not close. Not yet. \u0026#x1F3B2; SeaCrock opened the door.\nBancroft could hear it \u0026ndash; the creak of the hinges, the changed sound of the space. Solix drew a sharp breath beside him. SeaCrock walked into the corridor with the torch and found them: Riyou, struggling; Slouch Ribs, still carrying her toward wherever he was going in the dark.\nThe bone-handle dagger found Slouch Ribs through the gap in his ribs \u0026ndash; the place where the bones were outside the body, where there was no armor, where a blade could go all the way in. He went down slowly.\n\u0026ldquo;I just wanted to see the pit one more time,\u0026rdquo; he said.\nRiyou said: \u0026ldquo;You should have let me go when I asked.\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou drives the bone-handle dagger between Slouch Ribs\u0026#39; exposed ribs in the torchlit corridor\nIrulan cut through the doorway and hit Heinrich again. He scooped SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s dropped dagger from the floor without breaking stride, picked his way through the scattered ball bearings, and ran.\n\u0026ldquo;I have my quarry regardless,\u0026rdquo; he called back. \u0026ldquo;The barrow maze has secrets only we know about.\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou threw her dagger after him in the dark. Missed. The sound of his footsteps faded north.\nSeaCrock opens door with torch. Riyou Bone Handle Dagger (\u0026#43;2): 20/12/3 -- finds Slouch Ribs\u0026#39; exposed ribs. Kills him. Irulan longsword: 26/11 -- hits Heinrich. Ball bearings. Heinrich DEX 10 -- barely, scoops dropped dagger, runs. \u0026#x1F3B2; The party gave chase.\nBancroft contributed to this by lying on the stone floor.\nHe was, technically, still the party\u0026rsquo;s navigator. He was also face-down on the floor.\nHe heard the sound of boots, receding. Then nothing.\nBancroft d100: 92 -- pursuit evasion roll. Low = catch him. 92 is very bad. Heinrich escapes into the dungeon. Solix sat very quietly. The candle was burning lower.\n\u0026ldquo;Do you suppose,\u0026rdquo; Solix said, \u0026ldquo;they\u0026rsquo;ll find him?\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft could not answer.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; They came back from the chase disoriented \u0026ndash; three-way junction, three cowering Mongrel Men who wanted nothing to do with any of them. SeaCrock attempted to negotiate. The Mongrel Men pointed south and scattered.\n\u0026ldquo;I think we go southwest,\u0026rdquo; SeaCrock said, \u0026ldquo;and feel better.\u0026rdquo;\nThey turned back toward the rope room.\nSeaCrock CHA (-1): 2/14 -- takes 2. Barely coherent. Mongrel men point south and flee. Solix saw them coming through the door before Bancroft did. \u0026ldquo;There,\u0026rdquo; he said, to no one. \u0026ldquo;There they are.\u0026rdquo; Relief in his voice, and surprise that it was there.\n\u0026ldquo;He hasn\u0026rsquo;t moved in days,\u0026rdquo; Solix told the others. \u0026ldquo;It seems like.\u0026rdquo;\nSeaCrock crouched and stared at Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s lips for an uncomfortable amount of time. He appeared to be contemplating something involving a whistle. He did not act on this, which was a relief.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Riyou tried to harvest the spider\u0026rsquo;s silk. The battle had cut it too badly. She tried for the poison gland instead, worked at it with her knife, her back to the room. She got a large poison sack out of it. Heavy, wet, the size of two fists. It wouldn\u0026rsquo;t keep long.\nShe was an ex-cultist of a death cult. Of course she tried.\nRiyou WIS 9/9 -- spider silk too cut up to harvest. Riyou WIS 2/21 and 14/9 -- gets large poison gland (2 inventory slots, perishable). Irulan took Ertz\u0026rsquo;s chainmail from his body. She paused before she did it \u0026ndash; stood still a moment over the prayer book in his kit, the marked passages. She held it for a moment longer than looting required.\nHe saw it. He could see that much from the floor. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t say anything about it.\nThey grabbed the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s bag on the way out. Eighty gold pieces, split four ways. SeaCrock weighed his share and said nothing, which was how you knew the number disappointed him.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The bones rattled in the walls, closer than the last check.\nThey tied Bancroft to the rope. Irulan climbed first, hauled SeaCrock up behind her, and then Bancroft \u0026ndash; tied to the line, the stone wall sliding past his face, the rope doing the work his arms would have done if they were working. He went up like a sack of grain. It was not dignified. It was extremely effective.\nSolix and Riyou climbed out behind him. They were all out before the bone sounds arrived.\nNikki d6: 5 -- bones rattling, getting closer. Time. Irulan STR (ADV): 6/20 -- pulls SeaCrock up. 3/22 -- hauls Bancroft (paralyzed, tied to rope). 17/4 -- pulls Solix. All out just ahead of the bone sounds. Irulan hauls Bancroft up the rope shaft, his armor slack and arms hanging, Bancroft going up like cargo\nSeaCrock carried him the whole way home. Slow going \u0026ndash; six hours for a walk that should have taken three.\nBancroft watched the ceiling of the passages from over SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s shoulder, and then the sky when they got outside, and then the road. He could see but not steer. He could breathe but not direct any of it. He was cargo and he knew it and there was nothing to do about that except wait.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; An hour or two from Helix, something changed.\nHis head moved.\nHe hadn\u0026rsquo;t planned it \u0026ndash; a small turn, involuntary, like a man waking up. Then his eyes blinked without deciding to. Then he became aware that his lips were numb, which was different from not being able to feel them, which was progress.\n\u0026ldquo;Put one foot in front of the other,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said, when he stopped moving forward.\nHe put one foot in front of the other. The feet felt like they belonged to someone of approximately his size who had lent them temporarily. He walked the last stretch in.\nBack in Helix by nine. Ertz was dead. Everyone else had made it.\nThere was no next of kin for Ertz \u0026ndash; nobody left him a name to give. The bag SeaCrock had looted from his pack sat on the table. Nobody knew what to do with that, so nobody said anything, and eventually no one had to.\nParalysis lifts ~1-2 hours from Helix. First movement: blinking. Then head. Then numb lips. Solix walked away that night. No announcement, no explanation. He sat with them for one drink, said nothing to anyone, put down his cup, and left. Bancroft watched him go and didn\u0026rsquo;t try to stop him. The young man had held a candle over a paralyzed man for three hours in a room with a dead body in it. He had earned the right to be done.\nRiyou drank aggressively. SeaCrock joined and eventually slid over sideways. She kept going. Someone at the bar was talking about the Mongrel Men guarding some fabulous treasure deep in the barrow. Bancroft filed it away for when his tongue worked well enough to ask questions.\nHe went to bed early. He\u0026rsquo;d had a full evening.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Morning came.\nBancroft prayed for the sense he\u0026rsquo;d had since the first time he\u0026rsquo;d felt it \u0026ndash; the directional pull toward Heinrich, clear as water running downhill. He\u0026rsquo;d relied on it for weeks. He prayed for it carefully, in the way his mother had taught him: not demanding, just listening.\nHe got nothing.\nThe words went out and came back empty. Either Sylvanus was withholding, which happened, or Heinrich had moved outside whatever range that sense covered. He didn\u0026rsquo;t know which. He sat with it for a while and didn\u0026rsquo;t pretend it didn\u0026rsquo;t matter.\nBancroft WIS (1): 3/21 -- DM says don\u0026#39;t take the 21. Rerolls: 8/15 -- takes 8. Divine sense toward Heinrich: nothing. Riyou slipped out alone that morning \u0026ndash; before anyone else was moving, back in less than an hour with a smell of alleys about her and twenty gold in her hand. The spider\u0026rsquo;s poison gland. She\u0026rsquo;d known someone who\u0026rsquo;d take it. She pushed five coins to each of them.\n\u0026ldquo;Thanks,\u0026rdquo; SeaCrock said. \u0026ldquo;Welcome aboard.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re kind of my family now,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said. \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t make it weird.\u0026rdquo;\nThey restocked. Repaired things. Bancroft paid to have Ertz\u0026rsquo;s chainmail mended and didn\u0026rsquo;t examine why.\nThe second trip was the same afternoon, with five new hirelings. The temperature dropped as they approached the entrance. Breath fogged.\n\u0026ldquo;Last time it was this cold,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said, \u0026ldquo;we found ghouls.\u0026rdquo;\nThe Nergal obelisk was there at the entrance, black stone in the gray afternoon. SeaCrock read the runes: Life in death. Life in death. Not magical \u0026ndash; just stone. Someone\u0026rsquo;s conviction about the nature of things, repeated until it felt true.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The door was heavy bronze with a skull of Nergal embossed at the top and pentagrams worked into the frame. Old, purposeful. The kind of door someone had built to stay closed. SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s Detect Magic fizzled once, then again, then the third attempt lit up the whole door like a coal \u0026ndash; strong, deep, the kind of aura that meant whoever had made this had been serious about it.\nRiyou looked at the door for a moment before she said she remembered it from her cult years.\nShe tried to pick the lock. Every time she got halfway through, the tumblers reset. Back to the beginning. Back to the beginning. The lock knew what she was doing and declined.\nThe Nergalite bronze door glows with sinister magical aura, skull of Nergal embossed at the top, pentagrams framing the keyhole\nD15 -- SeaCrock Detect Magic (\u0026#43;1): first cast (6) fizzle, second cast (4) fizzle, third cast nat 20 -- passes. Door radiates strong magical aura. Bancroft WIS 20 -- careful search, nothing hidden. Riyou INT 22 -- remembers from cult training: this door matters. Lock resets magically, cannot be picked without the key. The five hirelings looked at each other.\nThey\u0026rsquo;d come back when they had the key.\nHe thought about it on the walk in.\nSylvanus had sent him here to kill a man. That was how he\u0026rsquo;d understood it \u0026ndash; the pull, the direction, the kind of certainty you didn\u0026rsquo;t argue with. Find the priest. Stop whatever he was doing.\nHe hadn\u0026rsquo;t done it. He hadn\u0026rsquo;t come close.\nHeinrich had walked past him twice. The first time, Bancroft was on the ceiling. The second time, he was face-down on the stone floor with the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s bag two feet from his hand. Both times, Heinrich had taken something and gone. Both times, Bancroft had been the wrong shape to stop him.\nThe sense was gone now. No direction. No pull. Just the road back to Helix and the sound of boots on gravel.\nHe\u0026rsquo;d have to find the man without it.\nThat was all right. He\u0026rsquo;d found other things the hard way. The road to Helix was not the kind of road you ended up on by accident.\nHe kept walking.\nThis session report was written with the help of AI. For details on the process, see Transcribing D\u0026amp;D Sessions with WhisperX and Speaker Diarization.\n","date":"3 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-03-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft was lying on the stone floor.\nHe had been lying there since the spider. He knew this in the abstract – the spider bite, the paralysis, Irulan cutting him down from the web, the floor coming up. He hadn’t planned to land face-first. That was just how things went.\nThe stone was cold against his cheek. He could see the grain of it – the fossil-something embedded in the limestone, the dust settled into the low spots over a few hundred years of quiet. The skeleton’s bag was two feet from his outstretched right hand. He’d been staring at that bag since Irulan cut him down. It hadn’t moved.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 52","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Seacrock and I rounded the corner, charging after Riyou\u0026rsquo;s kidnappers. Seacrock was unable to put the necromancer or the mongrel to sleep. The mongrel ran off carrying Riyou, who started to struggle. As the mongrel ran out of sight, I saw Riyou heroically stab the mongrel. The necromancer ran off, and I followed him into a small room, where he\u0026rsquo;d turned into three of himself. I shot, and one of the images disappeared. Seacrock cast magic missile, and the other image disappeared. The necromancer actually walked by me instead of attacking me, and failed to cast a spell at Seacrock. I dropped the bow and swung my sword at him, wounding him. Then the coward ran into the dark. We pursued. I hoped the dropped bow would show Bancroft where we went.\nThe necromancer tried to stab Seacrock with his own dagger, and missed, then ran again. I swung at the necromancer and it would have killed him, but he had images up again, and one disappeared. I noticed that Seacrock had dropped ball bearings on the ground for some incomprehensible reason, which was going to complicate my pursuit. Although I did see Riyou, live and well, having killed the mongrel. She didn\u0026rsquo;t need saving, she saved herself. The necromancer ran again, and we chased, but lost him. We encountered three more mongrels on the way back, but they groveled and were in awe of Riyou for resisting the necromancer. We left them be and made our way back to where Bancroft was still paralyzed. Riyou poked at the spider corpse, and the shadows swooped in and snuffed all the lights again. Once we had light relit, I grabbed the pouch on the skeleton and found money.\nWe carried Bancroft to the ropes. I pulled everyone but Riyou up, because she didn\u0026rsquo;t need help, and we headed for town. Bancroft started to move on his own along the way. He was upset that he missed the necromancer, thus completely missing out on his mission from god to kill the guy.\nCard in the morning was the 6 of cups - good things from the past are coming up for you. I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine anything good coming for me from the carnival I told fortunes at. Maybe it means something good for one of the others. After hiring henchmen, we approached the main barrow, but felt an unnatural cold. Since we had Riyou with us, we inspected the Nergal gate (D15), to see if she could pick the lock. Seacrock said the door was magic. Riyou said every time she got halfway through picking the lock, it reset. So, we decided to go back to the skull door and go in that way.\n","date":"3 March 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-03-03-irulan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Seacrock and I rounded the corner, charging after Riyou’s kidnappers. Seacrock was unable to put the necromancer or the mongrel to sleep. The mongrel ran off carrying Riyou, who started to struggle. As the mongrel ran out of sight, I saw Riyou heroically stab the mongrel. The necromancer ran off, and I followed him into a small room, where he’d turned into three of himself. I shot, and one of the images disappeared. Seacrock cast magic missile, and the other image disappeared. The necromancer actually walked by me instead of attacking me, and failed to cast a spell at Seacrock. I dropped the bow and swung my sword at him, wounding him. Then the coward ran into the dark. We pursued. I hoped the dropped bow would show Bancroft where we went.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- March 3 - Irulan","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"On the way out the barrow, we were confronted by another adventuring group of 9 people with slings, insinuating we were wounded and had treasure to steal. Bancroft gave them the demanded 5 gold and urged us to listen to wisdom. Seacrock and I reluctantly threw 5 gold each down in the dirt, both vowing if we saw them again, we\u0026rsquo;d murder them. Riyou refused, and got a mess of slingshots aimed at her. She went down unconscious, Bancroft picked her up, and we left, me growling while I memorized their faces.\nOnce back in the inn, we split the money. I stuck a pinky in the potion and licked it, and they said my pupils dilated. Every noise reverberated for a bit after that. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t figure out what any of that meant. In the morning, I drew the knight of swords, reversed - overconfidence causing chaos. Riyou wanted to talk to us in private, so we took a walk in the rain. She told us she used to be a Nergal cultist, and the tablet she read had the history of her cult, and it was very bad. She wanted our help to destroy the cult. Bancroft enthusiastically agreed, since he already had a mission from god.\nBancroft put out a call for henchmen. While we were waiting, I went with Seacrock to visit Mazzah to ask about the potion, but he didn\u0026rsquo;t even poke his head out. I went to wait with Bancroft and Riyou. A St. Ygg priest, a mage, some torchbearers and a couple fighters. The priest had no tongue. Like one of the henchmen we had last time. I wonder who is taking all these people\u0026rsquo;s tongues. Bancroft hired a torchbearer and the Ygg priest. It was a miserable walk in the storm, even with our cloaks. Bancroft said his god wanted us to go down the ropes of the main entrance. We all made it down, but the priest fell and was injured, then was racist and refused Sylvanus\u0026rsquo; healing from Bancroft.\nRiyou heard whispering from the north corridor, so we went that way. Bancroft went in a little room to check a skeleton, and a giant spider dropped down. I hit it, but shadows rushed in and snuffed both lanterns out. In the dark, I heard Bancroft yell as he got bit, then he went still. I lit a torch and handed it to the torchbearer. The spider spun a web and pulled Bancroft to the ceiling. We started taking shots at it. It got aggravated and dropped back down long enough to bite and kill the priest. Seacrock cast magic missile and killed the spider. We were trying to figure out how to get Bancroft off the ceiling without killing him in the fall, when the door to the west room opened. Oh look, we found the guy Bancroft was here to kill. And the guy recognized Riyou.\nShe tried to talk to him, unobtrusively shutting the door to the room we were in. I heard muffled talking, then a thump. I positioned myself under Bancroft, with the dead body under as backup cushion, and waited for Seacrock to cast magic missile on the web. I caught him. I used Ert\u0026rsquo;s dagger to cut the web from around Bancroft. Seacrock grabbed the torch, and without listening at the door first, went right out despite the bad guy. I reluctantly left paralyzed Bancroft and went to find Seacrock, who said he found the bad guy down the hall dragging Riyou away. We ran after him, trying to catch up to save Riyou.\n","date":"24 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-24-irulan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"On the way out the barrow, we were confronted by another adventuring group of 9 people with slings, insinuating we were wounded and had treasure to steal. Bancroft gave them the demanded 5 gold and urged us to listen to wisdom. Seacrock and I reluctantly threw 5 gold each down in the dirt, both vowing if we saw them again, we’d murder them. Riyou refused, and got a mess of slingshots aimed at her. She went down unconscious, Bancroft picked her up, and we left, me growling while I memorized their faces.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Feb 24 - irulan","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Bancroft # Four people walked into the Brazen Strumpet the night before. A human, a dwarf, a half-orc, and a halfling \u0026ndash; new to town, down on their luck, the kind of people who end up in Helix when the road runs out somewhere else. They arrived separately and ended up at the same table, which might have been luck or might have been that people with empty pockets recognize each other without having to ask.\nThe halfling ordered first. \u0026ldquo;Something that\u0026rsquo;ll remind me I\u0026rsquo;m alive,\u0026rdquo; she told the barkeep.\nThe barkeep looked at all four of them in turn. Then he poured four of whatever the halfling was having.\nThe human paid for the round without being asked.\nBancroft watched from across the room and didn\u0026rsquo;t say anything. There was nothing to say. Sometimes that was the whole joke.\nBancroft\u0026rsquo;s party was on the road back from the barrows when nine bandits stepped out of the tree line with slings already raised.\n\u0026ldquo;Looks like you\u0026rsquo;re wounded and full of treasure,\u0026rdquo; one of them said. \u0026ldquo;Five gold apiece. Nobody wants to die.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft reached for his coin purse without hurrying. He counted out five gold, looked at the man who\u0026rsquo;d spoken, and said: \u0026ldquo;You may know me from the tavern, actually.\u0026rdquo; He flexed his hands, the same ones that had put a caravan guard\u0026rsquo;s arm through a table last week. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;d suggest you take this and have a pleasant evening.\u0026rdquo;\nBehind him, Riyou said something that wasn\u0026rsquo;t five gold. The slings moved toward her. Two stones hit before anyone could reach her. She went down with a welt across her head and didn\u0026rsquo;t get back up.\nThe rest of the party paid. The tomb robbers stepped back into the trees.\nBancroft picked Riyou up. As he passed Irulan, he said quietly: \u0026ldquo;Later.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan did not respond, because she was doing the thing she did when she was furious \u0026ndash; walking very steadily, facing straight ahead, not looking at anything she might have to stop herself from killing.\nTomb Robber Sling x3: 14/miss, 21/3dmg, 21/4dmg -- two hit. Riyou down. About an hour down the road, Riyou stirred in Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s arms and said, \u0026ldquo;Did we win?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Going home,\u0026rdquo; he said, \u0026ldquo;is just as good as winning.\u0026rdquo;\nShe thought about that. \u0026ldquo;It isn\u0026rsquo;t, though.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;No,\u0026rdquo; he agreed. \u0026ldquo;But it\u0026rsquo;s what we\u0026rsquo;ve got.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan had memorized their faces. Bancroft had not. There had been nine of them and they had all looked more or less like men with slings, which was not a useful observation. SeaCrock, by his own admission, had been thinking about something else. Irulan did not comment on this. She rarely commented on things she had already filed away for later. Bancroft INT (-3): 2/4 FUMBLE. SeaCrock INT: 2/13 FUMBLE. Irulan INT (-2): 16 success. Morning came gray and wet. The rain had started overnight and was still going when they woke.\nRiyou wanted to talk. Not in the inn \u0026ndash; the walls were thin enough to hear snoring in the adjacent rooms \u0026ndash; and not anywhere Mazzah might be watching. She led them ten minutes into the woods, into the kind of dripping quiet that meant no one else was nearby.\nShe stood with her back against a tree and her arms at her sides, the cherry blossoms over her forearms dotted with rainwater.\n\u0026ldquo;I know I\u0026rsquo;ve given off hints,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;The cult I ran away from was the Necrolytes of Nergal.\u0026rdquo; She said it flat, the way you say something you\u0026rsquo;ve been carrying for a long time. \u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re still after me. And in order to stop them, I may have to go back in. Into the group itself. Which would be unfortunate. But a thing.\u0026rdquo; She looked at each of them in turn. \u0026ldquo;I need to know if you\u0026rsquo;re with me.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft said, \u0026ldquo;I am already on a mission from God.\u0026rdquo; He paused. \u0026ldquo;We were going to find a Nergulite priest near the dungeon entrance anyway. Starting with that one seems reasonable.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; SeaCrock attempted to check the gems they\u0026rsquo;d recovered for enchantment, standing in the rain with his enormous hat beginning to sag at the brim. The spell fizzled and put out a smell of brimstone. He stared at his hands.\n\u0026ldquo;Tomorrow,\u0026rdquo; he said.\nSeaCrock Detect Magic: 5 fail -- spell fizzles in the rain. They hired two men from the Gray Company before heading out. Ertz \u0026ndash; man-at-arms, chainmail and shield, a handaxe on his belt and a dagger he never touched. He communicated entirely in nods. When Bancroft handed him a sling, he held up two fingers and pointed at the coin purse, then bowed in the way men who follow St. Ygg bow \u0026ndash; low and brief and sincere. He had a prayer book in his kit with passages marked in it, which Bancroft noticed and did not comment on.\nSolix was the torchbearer. Heavy-set, carrying a short bow he almost certainly did not know how to use. Young enough that Bancroft spent part of the walk out wondering whether he had parents who knew where he was.\nThe path to the barrows was familiar. That was almost worse than not knowing it.\nThe entrance was a pit in the earth with a block and tackle rigged above it on a tripod \u0026ndash; the kind of setup that suggested someone had gone to the trouble of making this descent repeatable, which was not a comforting thought. SeaCrock had rigged himself a rope harness before they left town. Bancroft went down hand over hand and landed clean.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Ertz did not land clean. He lost his grip partway down and hit the bottom wrong \u0026ndash; hard enough that Bancroft could hear it, hard enough that anyone else would have made a noise. Ertz sat up, took stock of himself, and shook his head when Bancroft moved toward him with his holy symbol out. He looked at the symbol the way a man looks at something that belongs to a different religion than his. Which it did.\nBancroft tried to pray over him anyway. The words came out and went nowhere. Sylvanus had no particular interest in healing a man who had just declined the offer.\nErtz nodded \u0026ndash; apparently this outcome was acceptable \u0026ndash; and got to his feet and picked up his sling.\nErtz descent: falls badly. Bancroft Cure Wounds: fail. Ertz refuses Sylvanus healing. Deeper in. The passages were familiar enough now that Bancroft no longer had to think about where to step. That was almost worse \u0026ndash; familiar was how places got into your head, how they stopped feeling dangerous when they should.\nThe air in that section had a quality to it \u0026ndash; heavy, wrong in a way that had nothing to do with the dark. Old Nergulite workings. The priest had been here. The poison in the stone was his.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan went grey-faced and had to catch herself against the wall. Her legs went soft for a moment \u0026ndash; bad enough that Bancroft reached for her arm before she steadied. Riyou stumbled, caught herself. Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s chest tightened, his breath going short and wrong, but he stayed on his feet. The feeling passed. This time. Mass CON checks: Riyou 7/5 fail, Irulan 3/5 FUMBLE, SeaCrock 17/3 success, Bancroft 11/6 borderline. Riyou rerolls: 19/18 success. Irulan rerolls: 12/6 success. \u0026#x1F3B2; Solix\u0026rsquo;s torch was burning low. Bancroft prayed for Light and got nothing the first time \u0026ndash; the words came out hollow, Sylvanus somewhere else or choosing not to answer. He tried again, steadier, slower, the way his mother had taught him when he was young: not asking but listening. The prayer took. His shield began to glow green, and Solix let out a breath Bancroft hadn\u0026rsquo;t realized the young man was holding. Bancroft Light (\u0026#43;3): 8/17 fail, then 15/10 success. The skeleton was in a side chamber, propped against the far wall. Hunched, fingers still curled around things they had not wanted to let go of. Old leather, rot-black. There was a small bag in the skeletal hand \u0026ndash; still there, still closed.\nBancroft went in to search it. That was the job. The chamber was small and he went alone and he went carefully, the way the barrows had taught him to go carefully.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; He didn\u0026rsquo;t see the spider.\nNeither did Riyou, watching from the doorway.\nBancroft Wisdom: 3/10 FUMBLE. Riyou Wisdom: 3/6 FUMBLE. \u0026#x1F3B2; It had been on the ceiling. When it dropped, it dropped fast \u0026ndash; two claw-tips grazing his shoulder and missing purchase in the same instant. Giant Spider initiative: 12.16 -- acts first. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s hands moved before he had finished being afraid. He pivoted, got the longsword up, and the blade found the seam between the spider\u0026rsquo;s carapace and its foreleg \u0026ndash; the soft place where chitin gives way, where a blade that knows what it\u0026rsquo;s doing can go. The spider flinched back. Black ichor ran down the sword.\n\u0026ldquo;Red in tooth and claw!\u0026rdquo; he shouted. He didn\u0026rsquo;t plan it. It came out.\nBancroft Elvish Longsword (\u0026#43;4): 22/12 -- strong hit, 12 damage. \u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan came in behind him and hit it hard, her blade finding its flank \u0026ndash; and then the shadows moved. They were in the walls, in the floor, curling like smoke toward every flame in the room. The torch guttered and went black. The lantern glass went dark. Every light in the chamber went out at once, and they were fighting a giant spider in absolute darkness. Irulan longsword (\u0026#43;6): 12/10 hit, 4 dmg -- consequence: rolling shadows extinguish all light sources. \u0026#x1F3B2; SeaCrock aimed a Magic Missile into the dark at the space where the spider should be and hit nothing. Twice. In the dark he could hear it moving \u0026ndash; the scrape of chitin on stone, the wet sound of a bite that found someone and held. Ertz made a sound like air going out of something that had been holding it too long, and then he went quiet. A sling stone came out of the dark and hit Bancroft in the shoulder \u0026ndash; Ertz, still throwing at where he thought the spider was, before the paralysis finished taking him.\nHe was barely breathing. He did not get back up.\nSeaCrock Magic Missile (ADV): 4/13/2, then 14/9/1 -- misses. Giant Spider bite: 4 dmg, Ertz paralyzed, 1 HP -- killed. \u0026#x1F3B2; The spider bit him somewhere above the armor line. It didn\u0026rsquo;t hurt much \u0026ndash; he\u0026rsquo;d been stung by bees in his father\u0026rsquo;s orchard that hurt more. What happened in the thirty seconds after was the part he hadn\u0026rsquo;t been ready for.\nHis hands stopped. His legs stopped. Everything stopped, except his eyes and his lungs and the slow rotation as the web wrapped him and the spider took him up.\nThe floor dropped away.\nHe was hanging from the ceiling of a barrow chamber, looking down at the room below, and he could not move any part of himself.\nThe skeleton\u0026rsquo;s bag was directly beneath him. Maybe six feet down. He had an excellent view of it.\nNow, he thought, staring at the top of the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s skull. I know what you\u0026rsquo;re thinking.\nHow did Bancroft end up on the ceiling?\nHe considered it. He\u0026rsquo;d come to Helix looking for a Nergulite priest, same as last week. There had been four strangers at the Strumpet who needed work. There had been a road, and bandits on it, and a pit with a rope, and Ertz, who he really should have made take the healing when he had the chance. There had been a locked door with something moving behind it.\nHe started to rotate.\nGiant Spider Bite: 17 hit, 1 damage. Bancroft CON save: 11/5 FAIL -- paralyzed, webbed to ceiling. Bancroft suspended upside-down from the ceiling in spider webs, his shield glowing green, Irulan looking up from below\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Below him, the fight went on without him. Solix found the flint and steel on Irulan in the dark, and the torch caught. SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s Magic Missile pulsed \u0026ndash; a crack of purple light, brief as a blink, enough to see the spider and Ertz and everyone\u0026rsquo;s feet. Riyou\u0026rsquo;s arrow went into the dark above the spider and found stone.\nHe was facing the back of the room now.\nSorry, he thought. I\u0026rsquo;ll be back around shortly.\nIrulan torch: DEX 12 success (in darkness). SeaCrock Magic Missile (ADV): 14/9/1, strobe light. Riyou shortbow: 5 miss. \u0026#x1F3B2; SeaCrock fires two simultaneous crackling bolts of arcane magic into the giant spider, both striking true\nSeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s Magic Missiles had a sound Bancroft had learned to recognize \u0026ndash; the crack of the first, then the second. These two were different. Sharper. The sound lightning makes when it\u0026rsquo;s very close. The spider made a noise no spider should make, and then the room went quiet.\nHe was facing the skeleton again. He had things he wanted to say to Irulan \u0026ndash; several things, in order \u0026ndash; but his mouth wasn\u0026rsquo;t working and he was fairly high up.\nHe tried anyway. What came out was air.\nSeaCrock Magic Missile (ADV): 21 NAT 20 / 21 NAT 20 -- DOUBLE CRIT. Spider killed. He was still breathing. The paralysis hadn\u0026rsquo;t stopped that.\nSylvanus, he thought, without much hope. Any time.\nNothing. The green glow on his shield held, but that was all.\nIrulan found a dagger in Ertz\u0026rsquo;s belt. She looked at it a moment before using it \u0026ndash; long enough that Bancroft noticed. It was engraved on the blade. He couldn\u0026rsquo;t read it from up here.\nShe cut him down.\nHe landed badly and stayed where he was, face-down on the stone with the green light from his shield illuminating the underside of the floor and the ankles of the people standing around him. Paralyzed. The bag was about two feet from his outstretched hand.\nHe heard Riyou before he understood what was happening.\nNot a sound of surprise \u0026ndash; Riyou didn\u0026rsquo;t surprise easily. The sound a person makes when something they have been braced against for a long time finally arrives.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; From behind the far door, in the dark, a whispered voice: Slouch Ribs. Get back here. Now.\nThen the door eased open \u0026ndash; not from the room they were in but from the passage beyond \u0026ndash; and something slipped through into the corridor, moving fast. Two legs, tattered cloak, exposed ribs on the outside of matted fur, misshapen eyes catching the torchlight for half a second before it was gone. The spider\u0026rsquo;s name. The spider\u0026rsquo;s owner.\nRiyou went very still.\nShe slipped through the door and closed it quietly behind her. Bancroft heard her say something in a low voice \u0026ndash; measured, careful. And then a different voice, older, patient the way patience covers contempt: Ryu. Is that you? What are you doing here, child?\nBancroft recognized the tone. Teacher. Commander. Someone who expected to be obeyed and had been, for years.\nNecrolyte of Nergal initiative: 4.12. Riyou hears familiar voice -- recognized from her past. \u0026#x1F3B2; She tried. Whatever she said to him, she tried twice, and both times it came back wrong \u0026ndash; her voice going small in a way Bancroft had never heard from her before. He had seen Riyou get knocked unconscious by nine slingers without making a sound like that.\nEveryone knows what you did to the master, the voice said.\n\u0026ldquo;The master wants to kill everyone,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said.\nThen silence, and then a thump \u0026ndash; not a fall, something gentler. The sound of someone set down.\nRiyou CHA: 2/15 FUMBLE -- negotiations collapse. Necrolyte Sleep spell: Riyou falls asleep. The Necrolyte of Nergal faces Riyou in a dark barrow passage, his certainty absolute, her dread recognition complete\n\u0026#x1F3B2; SeaCrock grabbed the torch from Solix\u0026rsquo;s hand \u0026ndash; Solix made a sound of professional distress \u0026ndash; and went around the corner alone, which was either brave or foolish and probably both. He found the necrolyte in the corridor with Riyou over his shoulder: gaunt man, gray skin, white goatee, silver and black robes with a skull wreathed in ivy where a holy symbol should hang. His dagger glowed.\nHe was handing Riyou to the Mongrelman. Be careful with her head, he said, as if that were a reasonable thing to say.\nSeaCrock said, \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t know your plans for our friend, but perhaps we could negotiate.\u0026rdquo;\nThe necrolyte looked at him. \u0026ldquo;Who are you again?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;The great Huffer Pants.\u0026rdquo;\nA pause. \u0026ldquo;I see.\u0026rdquo;\nSeaCrock tried for Mage Armor while the necrolyte absorbed this information, and failed, and tried again, and failed again. The necrolyte watched both attempts with the expression of a man who had expected better of his evening. He cast Magic Missile at SeaCrock in return. It fizzled. He cast it again. It fizzled again. He looked at his hands.\nFollow us at your own peril, he said, and limped around the corner with Slouch Ribs carrying Riyou ahead of him. The barrow maze is full of secrets that only we know about.\nSeaCrock watched them go. \u0026ldquo;Could you leave some light?\u0026rdquo; he called after them. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s quite dark.\u0026rdquo;\nNo one answered. The torch went out.\nSeaCrock Mage Armor: 4/4 fail, 5/8 fail. SeaCrock pursues, negotiates. Necrolyte Magic Missile (ADV): both fail. \u0026#39;Follow us at your own peril.\u0026#39; He heard SeaCrock and Irulan\u0026rsquo;s boots, receding. Then distance took the sound.\nSolix stood in the dark with his arms at his sides.\n\u0026ldquo;Miss Irulan,\u0026rdquo; he said, quietly, to no one. \u0026ldquo;He took my torch.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft lay on the floor of the barrow chamber. Green light from his shield, steady as it had been in the fly fight, as it had been every time Sylvanus had chosen to answer. The bag was still there, about two feet from his hand, and it would stay there until he could move his fingers, which he could not. Not yet.\nRed in tooth and claw. He turned it over. He didn\u0026rsquo;t know exactly where it had come from. It had come out the moment he saw the spider drop, the moment his hands moved before his mind caught up. It felt right. Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s world was not gentle. The god of the natural world was not gentle. The green wood and the root and the hunt \u0026ndash; none of it was gentle. Prey was not a permanent condition. Prey could get a sword in before going down.\nHe had gotten one good hit in. The spider was dead. Ertz was dead. Riyou was somewhere in the dark passages, being brought back toward something she had been running from since before any of them knew her name. The man Sylvanus had sent him here to kill had walked past him, taken her, and walked away, and Bancroft had been on the ceiling the whole time.\nHe tried to wiggle toward the bag.\nHe could not move.\nHe thought about that. Kept breathing. Waited to feel his hands.\nThis session report was written with the help of AI. For details on the process, see Transcribing D\u0026amp;D Sessions with WhisperX and Speaker Diarization.\n","date":"24 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-24-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft # Four people walked into the Brazen Strumpet the night before. A human, a dwarf, a half-orc, and a halfling – new to town, down on their luck, the kind of people who end up in Helix when the road runs out somewhere else. They arrived separately and ended up at the same table, which might have been luck or might have been that people with empty pockets recognize each other without having to ask.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 51","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"23 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/aura/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Aura","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"23 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/cade/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Cade","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"23 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/roderick/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Roderick","type":"tags"},{"content":"Roderick gave me a dagger to pop the door open before the acid burned the mechanism out. I yelled at Vorn and Cade to help open the door the rest of the way, after I got it open 6 inches by ratcheting the gears with the dagger. They whined about light, so Roderick lit the end of a piece of rope from the lantern and and stuck the end through the door, so they could light a torch. They tried to shove, but didn\u0026rsquo;t move the door. I pushed and shoved, and got the door open. Apparently, I have to do everything. The door won\u0026rsquo;t stay, though, so I used Roderick\u0026rsquo;s shovel to brace the door open. He\u0026rsquo;s the only one with useful gear.\nAfter all the work to open the door, the rest of group decided to head back into the barrow, despite the risk that the shovel would be stolen and there would be no way to reopen the door. We went right into a room of statues and an altar. There was a chalk outline on the floor that I found was a pit trap. Roderick and I searched the altar, but didn\u0026rsquo;t find anything. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t search the statues, because the giant rats got aggravated when Vorn tried. Then Roderick decided to be dumb and poke at the pit trap. He almost went into it, but threw himself back.\nWe went north to a room with lots of burial nooks, but it had been looted thoroughly. The giant rats followed us, and figuring they wanted their snacks back, we went west. There was a statue with giant flies on it, and we dove into a room below it. A little room with more burial nooks. Lots of gnawed bones, but maybe the chewers left something. We found some gold. Roderick opened the door, and the giant flies came right at us. I ran to the next door, but I was in the dark, hearing things creaking around me. I yelled that I needed light because there were undead, and then there was a stabbing pain. . .\nI woke up in the dark some unknown time later. Not wanting to risk a light, I held onto the wall on the right side and stumbled back to the secret door, then ran for town. I had to have the holes in my stomach burned out to kill everything, and it left a weird scar. Thank Fortuna I made it out. I said a prayer for the souls of my companions that weren\u0026rsquo;t so lucky.\n","date":"23 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-23-morrigan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Roderick gave me a dagger to pop the door open before the acid burned the mechanism out. I yelled at Vorn and Cade to help open the door the rest of the way, after I got it open 6 inches by ratcheting the gears with the dagger. They whined about light, so Roderick lit the end of a piece of rope from the lantern and and stuck the end through the door, so they could light a torch. They tried to shove, but didn’t move the door. I pushed and shoved, and got the door open. Apparently, I have to do everything. The door won’t stay, though, so I used Roderick’s shovel to brace the door open. He’s the only one with useful gear.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Feb 23 - Morrigan","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Vorn # Cade and I had been standing outside the barrow for a while. Which, strictly speaking, put us on the right side of things \u0026ndash; fresh air, no immediate monsters, exit readily accessible. Our employers were on the other side of a sealed stone door doing something complicated with mechanisms, which is where the dead things are. We could hear them but not help. Standard arrangement, really.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; A crack appeared. Six inches of orange light, and then the sound of metal grinding and something hissing. Morrigan had gotten a dagger into the mechanism and forced a gap \u0026ndash; the dagger didn\u0026rsquo;t survive the experience. Something in the gears ate it, dissolved it, left a chemical smell that stung my eyes from three feet away. Morrigan DEX (nat 20 crit). Pries door open 6 inches with Roderick\u0026#39;s dagger. Dagger melts into gears. \u0026#x1F3B2; Roderick pushed a burning rope end through the gap. I lit a torch off it, which improved my mood considerably. Then I tried the skull mounted on our side of the door \u0026ndash; one of those ancient mechanisms, a stone head you\u0026rsquo;re supposed to turn. It spun freely, no resistance, no click. Whatever it had been connected to, the acid had eaten through it long ago. Roderick burns rope, passes it through for Vorn to light a torch. Skull mechanism turns freely, does nothing -- acid ate it. \u0026#x1F3B2; Cade put his shoulder into the door. For a halfling, he\u0026rsquo;s strong, but this was six inches of stone on corroded hinges. It moved, barely. Morrigan threw her weight in from the other side and between the three of them they forced it open far enough to squeeze through. Roderick jammed his shovel across the gap at floor level, which was either clever engineering or optimism. I didn\u0026rsquo;t ask which. Cade STR: partial push. Morrigan STR 17: forces door open enough to squeeze through. Shovel braced low. \u0026#x1F3B2; The room beyond was full of statues. Old stone gods with their faces knocked off, altars cracked down the middle, giant rats watching us from the shadows with their eyes like wet black beads. The rats didn\u0026rsquo;t attack. They just watched, which was somehow worse. Morrigan spent ten careful minutes examining the floor in front of the main altar and found a pit trap \u0026ndash; a stone slab balanced on a central pivot, ready to tip either direction. Roderick tested it by pressing the center with his boot. The slab dropped. He caught the edge and hauled himself back, breathing hard, while the rest of us stared at the ten-foot drop beneath. Morrigan WIS: finds pit trap (10 min). Roderick tests pit trap center: DEX save, uses luck, barely avoids falling. 10-ft seesaw pit. \u0026#x1F3B2; The altar had held something once. You could see the outline in the dust \u0026ndash; a rectangular shape, maybe a box, maybe a tablet. Gone now. I tried to get a closer look at the statues, but the rats closed in when I moved, chittering and showing teeth, so I backed off. Someone had arranged human teeth on the floor in a line pointing west, which was either a message or a warning or the work of someone who\u0026rsquo;d been down here too long. Searching altar: Morrigan WIS 20, Roderick WIS 11 -- nothing. Something already taken. Vorn tries statues; rats agitate. Teeth arrow pointing west. \u0026#x1F3B2; The next room smelled like a butcher\u0026rsquo;s shop left in the sun. Barrel-shaped alcoves lined every wall, sixty or seventy of them, each one holding bones \u0026ndash; gnawed bones, cracked lengthwise, the marrow scraped out by something with very large teeth. I searched my section and found absolutely nothing, which felt about right. Morrigan pulled twenty-five gold coins out of the debris in the time it took me to examine three alcoves.\nRoderick, meanwhile, was pushing splinters of bone under the straps of his leather armor. Building himself a costume. He stood up and spread his arms, grinning through the ribcage he\u0026rsquo;d constructed around his chest.\n\u0026ldquo;Skeleton disguise,\u0026rdquo; he announced.\nI had thoughts about this. I kept them to myself.\nVorn WIS: 2 -- finds nothing. Morrigan WIS: 20 -- finds 25 gold. Roderick straps bone fragments to armor to look like a skeleton. The barrel tomb room, alcoves full of gnawed bones, torchlight casting long shadows\nSomewhere deep in the barrow, something with leathery wings was moving. The sound echoed off stone and came from everywhere at once.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; When we opened the door to leave, they were already there. Giant flies \u0026ndash; each one the size of a cat, bodies like oil drums with wings, drawn straight to the torch. They came fast. Morrigan didn\u0026rsquo;t hesitate. She was through them and into the next room before anyone could speak, swallowed by the dark. Door opens: giant carnivorous horseflies swarm toward torch. Morrigan bolts into next room in the dark. \u0026#x1F3B2; We heard her shout \u0026ndash; \u0026ldquo;I need light!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ndash; and then nothing. Just nothing. The kind of silence that means someone stopped being able to make noise.\nAura shut the door. We sat in the barrel room with the gnawed bones while my torch burned down to nothing. Someone passed me a new one. I lit it. Nobody said much.\nHuecuva attacks Morrigan in dark with advantage: hits, Touch 2 damage -- unconscious. Morrigan calls \u0026#39;I need light!\u0026#39; then silence. Giant flies swarming toward torchlight in the barrow corridor\n\u0026#x1F3B2; We couldn\u0026rsquo;t stay. When we opened the other door \u0026ndash; the one we\u0026rsquo;d propped with the shovel \u0026ndash; the corridor was full of robed figures. Tall, still, blue light flickering in their eye sockets like cold flame. They hit at me and missed, bony hands passing close enough that I felt the air move. I tried to push through. They were stronger than they looked \u0026ndash; dry sticks wrapped in mildewed cloth, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t give an inch. Huecuva attack Vorn (AC 11): 7 and 10 -- both miss. Vorn tries to push through: fails twice (STR -1 vs Huecuva). \u0026#x1F3B2; I jammed the torch into the nearest one\u0026rsquo;s chest. The robe caught immediately, fire climbing up the cloth, and the thing staggered back trailing flames. Vorn torch attack: STR 18, hit -- 3 damage, skeleton catches fire. Vorn drives a torch into a robed skeleton in a dark corridor\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Cade went for the gap. He was fast \u0026ndash; always was \u0026ndash; but the burning skeleton was between him and the corridor, and in the dark, at that size, he couldn\u0026rsquo;t get around it. The fire caught his clothes. He went down fast. Faster than I could reach him.\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t say anything. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t anything to say.\nCade tries to push past burning skeleton: DEX disadvantage in dark: 3 -- catches fire, 1 HP, dies. \u0026#x1F3B2; Behind us, Aura lost the door. More of them pushed through. One caught my shoulder \u0026ndash; not a hard blow, barely felt the impact \u0026ndash; but something went into the wound. Not poison. Something colder. Something that moved under the skin like it had its own intentions. Aura holds door: fails (disadvantage in dark). Huecuva hit Aura: Touch 5 damage -- CON save success. Huecuva hit Vorn: Touch 1 damage -- CON save fail (something enters wound). \u0026#x1F3B2; Aura went down next. Then Roderick, his bone costume doing exactly as much good as I\u0026rsquo;d expected. They were coming from both directions now, filling the corridor, and the cold thing in my shoulder was spreading through my chest like water soaking into cloth.\nThe last one hit me harder than the first. I\u0026rsquo;d known the odds were going to catch up eventually. I\u0026rsquo;d been practical about that \u0026ndash; you work the barrowlands long enough, you make your peace with the mathematics of it. Every trip down is a roll of the dice, and the house always wins if you keep playing.\nThis was that.\nMore Huecuva from behind. Huecuva hit Aura: Touch 3 -- down. Huecuva crit Roderick: max 6 damage -- down. Huecuva crit Vorn: max 6 damage -- Vorn had 4 HP. Down. \u0026#x1F3B2; Morrigan was the only one who walked out. She told me that later \u0026ndash; no, she didn\u0026rsquo;t. She couldn\u0026rsquo;t have. I\u0026rsquo;m telling this from somewhere else now, and the details are getting unreliable. She woke up alone in the dark, sick with something that had gotten inside her. She crawled out. She survived.\nGood for her. Somebody should.\nMorrigan survives: wakes in darkness, crawls out, vomits black liquid, burns maggots off her stomach. This session report was written with the help of AI. For details on the process, see Transcribing D\u0026amp;D Sessions with WhisperX and Speaker Diarization.\n","date":"23 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-23-vorn/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Vorn # Cade and I had been standing outside the barrow for a while. Which, strictly speaking, put us on the right side of things – fresh air, no immediate monsters, exit readily accessible. Our employers were on the other side of a sealed stone door doing something complicated with mechanisms, which is where the dead things are. We could hear them but not help. Standard arrangement, really.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 50","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"23 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/vorn/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Vorn","type":"tags"},{"content":"I drew the 8 of swords this morning: all tangled up, unable to see clearly. Now I have to figure out what we\u0026rsquo;re tangled up in that we\u0026rsquo;re not seeing clearly. Riyou wandered off again, so we inspected the hirelings presenting themselves. We\u0026rsquo;ll need the extra help because Bancroft insisted he had a mission from his god, and he wouldn\u0026rsquo;t heal us unless we helped. I\u0026rsquo;m amazed the farmer even knew what extortion was. We hired all but one torch bearer that had a wet sack with flies buzzing around it and a dead smell following him. We saw a bunch of giant frogs in a pond on the way, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t look hungry, so we edged around them.\nBancroft suggested walking in and making our way to the main entrance to find the Nergalite he has to kill, so we went to the secret entrance (D10). As we walked, we saw a pack of rats busy eating to the east. To the west, a statue was buzzing. To the north, we heard a wolf growl. Bancroft opted for the wolf. As soon as Bancroft opened the door, someone yelled for help, then a baby cried, and there were 3 piles of rocks with coins strewn among them. All seemed like traps. The rock piles turned out to be misshapen cloaked creatures clutching rocks that ran past us out the door, dropping coins. We had the henchmen pick up the coins.\nThe room dead-ended in a niche to the north. We searched for secret doors. I found an emerald, but no secret doors. We headed back south and to the statue, where the buzzing turned out to be giant flies. They killed three of the henchman. One bit me. Another bit Bancroft. Seacrock put three to sleep, along with the surviving henchman. The living henchmen ran off into the dark. Ignoring my advice to leave while the rest of the flies were sleeping or busy eating, since we were wounded, the guys decided we needed to kill them all. We took care of that. There was a hallway going west that seemed promising to be headed where Bancroft said he needed to be. A room had more flies that Seacrock put to sleep. Lots of little alcoves with preserved organs that they insisted on searching despite Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s supposedly important mission that had to be done right this second this morning. It was disgusting work poking around in the organs, but we found a grey potion, gold pieces, and a ruby.\nWe opened the door to three zombies, two of which barged in to attack us and the flies. Apparently they have a grudge against the flying bastards too. I ran out, dragging the mage out with me so he didn\u0026rsquo;t get one-shot by anything. Bancroft ran out after us, shutting the door behind him. His god was mad at him, probably for getting distracted by everything instead of focusing on his holy murder mission, so he was unable to turn undead. We made short work of the outside zombie anyway. We decided that was enough excitement, and headed for the exit.\n","date":"17 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-17-irulan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"I drew the 8 of swords this morning: all tangled up, unable to see clearly. Now I have to figure out what we’re tangled up in that we’re not seeing clearly. Riyou wandered off again, so we inspected the hirelings presenting themselves. We’ll need the extra help because Bancroft insisted he had a mission from his god, and he wouldn’t heal us unless we helped. I’m amazed the farmer even knew what extortion was. We hired all but one torch bearer that had a wet sack with flies buzzing around it and a dead smell following him. We saw a bunch of giant frogs in a pond on the way, but they didn’t look hungry, so we edged around them.\n","title":"Shadowmaze - Irulan - Session 49","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Bancroft # The morning was cold and gray in Helix. Bancroft woke early, already thinking about the barrows.\nThey had hired five henchmen from the Gray Company \u0026ndash; a local band who took on lesser jobs while their better-equipped brethren sought greater treasures. Nine gold for the lot. Bancroft hoped it would be money well spent.\nGillix and Ragnar were both mute \u0026ndash; Gillix with a spear and a battered Viking helmet and a habit of gesturing at people\u0026rsquo;s crotches that Bancroft decided not to ask about, Ragnar with a crossbow and a quiet devotion to St. Ygg. Hengest was the torchbearer, a big man who talked enough for all of them. Landersooth carried a club and smelled of fish and kept looking over his shoulder. \u0026ldquo;They can\u0026rsquo;t find you in there, right?\u0026rdquo; he said, when asked why he was coming. And Mordu \u0026ndash; burned badly down his left side, the skin still raw. When someone offered him a torch, he told them where to put it. The nerves were too close. Bancroft understood that.\nHe lent Gillix his sling, bought a lantern and supplies, and told Hengest to keep the torch lit at all costs. SeaCrock spent a long time explaining a rope harness system that nobody else understood. Bancroft reminded the party of Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s mission: find the Nergulite priest and put an end to him.\nThe path to the Barrowmaze was quiet. They gave wide berth to a pond of giant toads \u0026ndash; huge things, big as dogs \u0026ndash; and lost an hour for it, but nobody wanted a fight that early in the day.\nThey entered through the skull barrow, the one with the sarcophagus mechanism. Hengest lit the first torch and Bancroft took the lead with his shield up. The zombie corpse they had left in the hallway last time was gone. That was not a good sign. Once a zombie was dead, it should stay dead. But the barrows had their own ideas about that.\nSqueaking from the east \u0026ndash; rats feeding on something. Buzzing from the north \u0026ndash; flies near a statue. Neither sound was inviting.\nIn the north passage they found a small chamber with a pyramid-shaped cairn of stacked rocks. Crude writing on the wall read: \u0026ldquo;Beware the dark water.\u0026rdquo; Bancroft didn\u0026rsquo;t know what it meant, but he knew to take a warning seriously in a place like this. Gillix poked the cairn with his spear. Nothing inside but dirt and old stone.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft prayed for Shield of Faith before they opened the next door. Sylvanus heard him and granted a little extra protection \u0026ndash; not much, but enough to matter. Bancroft Shield of Faith: 14 success. \u0026#43;2 AC for 5 rounds. Bancroft kicked the door open. At the same moment, they heard cries from the south \u0026ndash; \u0026ldquo;Please help me!\u0026rdquo; and a baby wailing. He knew a trick when he heard one. The barrows played games with sound.\nThe room beyond held three piles of rocks with coins embedded in them. Then two of the piles stood up.\nHunched-over things, about four feet tall, with long claws and cloaks of rubble. Three of them: one with a single eye, one with too many tusks, one with enormous feet. They bolted into the darkness before anyone could move, dropping coins behind them.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; SeaCrock called after them in Thanian. His voice echoed off the walls and came back empty. Irulan watched them go. \u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re terrified,\u0026rdquo; she said. \u0026ldquo;Running from something. I doubt it\u0026rsquo;s us.\u0026rdquo; SeaCrock CHA 10: called after them in Thanian, no effect. CHA 8: they disappear into the dark. The henchmen scrambled for the scattered coins. Landersooth shook his head the whole time. \u0026ldquo;That was some ghost shit right there,\u0026rdquo; he said.\n\u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t care,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said. \u0026ldquo;Pick up the coins. The coins are real.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; They searched the rooms the creatures had fled through. Bancroft found nothing \u0026ndash; his eyes kept drifting to the dark corners where they had vanished. But Irulan turned over a rubble pile and found an emerald hidden underneath. Good eyes on that one. By the time they finished, Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s Shield of Faith had worn off. He felt its absence. Room search WIS: Bancroft 5 fail, Irulan 16 success (finds emerald), SeaCrock 8 fail. Second search WIS: SeaCrock 15, Irulan 17, Bancroft 21 crit -- no secret doors. The buzzing led them toward a broken statue \u0026ndash; head missing, arms reduced to stumps. Then the sound swelled into something alive.\nHorse flies the size of cats. Five of them, their wings glistening in the torchlight. Giant carnivorous flies.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; They attacked first. Fly initiative: 21. Flies act before the party. \u0026#x1F3B2; A fly dove at Ragnar and missed, its mouthparts clicking as it passed. A fly hit Landersooth in the face \u0026ndash; its barbed proboscis burrowed into his mouth, and his screams cut off as blood spurted from his nose and ears. Dead before he hit the ground. A fly tore into Mordu\u0026rsquo;s neck, hooks digging into flesh, dragging him down. Dead before Bancroft could raise his shield. A fly caught Irulan with a glancing blow \u0026ndash; drew blood, but nothing worse.\nTwo men dead in seconds. The torchlight flickered across their bodies and the flies burrowing into their open mouths, and Bancroft felt something go cold inside him.\nFly vs Ragnar: Bite 6, miss. Fly vs Landersooth: Bite 21, 6 dmg -- instant kill, burrows into mouth. Fly vs Mordu: Bite 13 miss, Bite 18, 7 dmg -- instant kill. Fly vs Irulan: Bite 18, 3 dmg, glancing hit. Giant carnivorous flies attack the party in the barrow corridor, killing two henchmen in seconds\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan swung and missed. Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s sword passed through empty air. He ordered Hengest back and the men-at-arms forward. Irulan longsword: 12, miss. Bancroft Elvish Longsword: 13, near miss. Bancroft CHA 17: Hengest back, men-at-arms forward. \u0026#x1F3B2; SeaCrock cast Sleep. It fizzled. He snarled something, dug deeper, tried again. Three flies dropped out of the air and hit the ground. The two already inside bodies were unaffected. Gillix and Ragnar went down too \u0026ndash; caught in the spell. When they woke they were furious. They stayed, though. That was something. SeaCrock Sleep: 3 fail, burns luck token → 12 success. 3 flies asleep. Gillix and Ragnar caught in radius -- collapse, wake furious, stay. Hengest\u0026rsquo;s torch burned out mid-fight.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft cut down the fly on Gillix with his Elvish longsword. \u0026ldquo;We can defeat this evil,\u0026rdquo; he said. He believed it when he said it. SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s Magic Missile struck another fly dead center \u0026ndash; ichor sprayed across the ceiling \u0026ndash; but the thing kept flying. Fly vs Gillix: Bite 12, 3 dmg. Bancroft Elvish Longsword: 16, hit -- kills fly on Gillix. SeaCrock Magic Missile (adv): 21 crit, 6 dmg -- fly bloodied but alive. Then Ragnar went down. The last active fly crawled into his mouth. The crossbowman who had prayed to St. Ygg made a choking sound and was still.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; What Irulan did next was necessary, and Bancroft would never fault her for it. She brought her longsword down through Ragnar\u0026rsquo;s body to kill the fly inside. The blade bit through flesh and chitin and came up red. Hengest and Gillix stared in horror. Irulan longsword: 23. Cuts through Ragnar\u0026#39;s body to kill fly inside. \u0026ldquo;I killed the fly,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said. That was all she said.\nIrulan drives her longsword through Ragnar\u0026#39;s body to kill the fly inside\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft swung at the fly still inside Landersooth and missed. SeaCrock tried to rally the surviving henchmen, but his voice came out thin and desperate and convinced nobody. Hengest and Gillix fled into the darkness without looking back, dropping the torch. Bancroft Elvish Longsword: 9, miss (fly inside Landersooth). SeaCrock CHA: 3, fail to rally. Hengest and Gillix flee, drop torch. Then the second torch sputtered out. Total darkness.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The fly emerged from Landersooth and hit Bancroft. He felt his knees buckle. The pain was blinding, and the blood was warm, and he could feel how close to the edge he was. Fly vs Bancroft: Bite 18, 8 dmg. Down to 5 HP. \u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan fumbled for flint and steel. Her hands shook. The flint sparked and died. She tried again \u0026ndash; same result. The torch would not light. Irulan DEX: 3, fail (lighting torch). Burns luck token → DEX 3 again -- fail. Same number twice. \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft prayed. In the absolute dark, with blood running down his side and the last fly buzzing somewhere above them, he prayed for Light. His shield erupted in the warm green glow of Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s blessing, and they could see again. Bancroft Light: 15 success. Shield glows green (Sylvanus). \u0026#x1F3B2; SeaCrock did not waste it. Magic Missile \u0026ndash; a perfect strike. The fly staggered in the air. He hit it again and it dropped dead. SeaCrock Magic Missile (adv): 21 crit, 6 dmg -- fly staggered. Magic Missile (adv): 14 -- kill. Bancroft\u0026#39;s shield erupts with green divine light in the total darkness of the barrow\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft tried Cure Wounds on himself. The prayer didn\u0026rsquo;t take. He tried again, gave it everything he had. Nothing. Sylvanus had given him light, but not healing. It felt like being pointed in a direction \u0026ndash; like the light was a gift, but not permission to stop. Bancroft Cure Wounds: 11 fail. Golden luck token → 12 fail. No healing. \u0026#x1F3B2; Two sleeping flies remained. Ugly work, killing things in their sleep, but Bancroft had seen what these creatures did to men and felt nothing about it. The first woke thrashing when Irulan\u0026rsquo;s blade found it. SeaCrock finished it with Magic Missile. Irulan killed the last one clean. Bancroft Shield of Faith: 10 fail. Irulan longsword (adv, sleeping fly): 22, 5 dmg -- fly wakes. Fly Bite: 12 vs Irulan, miss. Irulan: 9 miss, Bancroft: 10 miss. SeaCrock Magic Missile (adv): 15 -- kill. Irulan longsword: 18 -- kills last sleeping fly. Five flies dead. Three henchmen dead: Landersooth, Mordu, Ragnar. Two deserted: Gillix and Hengest, gone into the dark. They took Ragnar\u0026rsquo;s crossbow from his body. Gillix had run off with Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s sling.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft studied the broken statue while Irulan kept watch. He knew this one \u0026ndash; a statue to Nergal, the old god of death, defiled but still recognizable. This was connected to Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s quest. The Nergulite priest was close. He could feel it. WIS search: SeaCrock 11, Bancroft 16 -- Bancroft identifies defiled Nergal statue. \u0026#x1F3B2; They searched the room, but Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s concentration was gone \u0026ndash; blood loss and exhaustion pulling everything out of focus. Behind a double door to the south: more buzzing. More flies. Full room search WIS: SeaCrock 1 crit fail, Bancroft 6 fail -- nothing found. \u0026#x1F3B2; SeaCrock peeked through the door and put the two flies inside to sleep before they knew he was there. The room beyond was enormous \u0026ndash; burial alcoves from floor to ceiling, fifty or more, each holding preserved organs laid out with terrible care. Two zombie corpses lay on the floor where the flies had been feeding. SeaCrock DEX stealth: 15 success -- surprise round. SeaCrock Sleep: 20 success -- both flies asleep instantly. They slipped inside and closed the door. Bancroft lit his lantern and set SeaCrock to watch the sleeping flies while he and Irulan searched.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; What they found turned Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s stomach even as it filled their packs. Gold coins stuffed inside the mouths of preserved corpses. More wedged into their stomachs, as if someone had fed the dead. A ruby in the palm of a mummified hand. A dull gray potion nobody could identify. More gold than Bancroft had ever seen in one place, and all of it taken from the bodies of the dead. SeaCrock Detect Magic: 12 success → WIS 13 maintain → WIS 7, INT 4 -- loses focus. Bancroft WIS 18 search: success. Irulan WIS 6: fail. SeaCrock went quiet after that. When he looked up, his eyes were different.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; \u0026ldquo;I can take a hit now,\u0026rdquo; he said, grinning. He tried a spell Bancroft hadn\u0026rsquo;t seen before \u0026ndash; Mage Armor \u0026ndash; and it took hold on the first try, settling over him. For a moment, in that room full of the dead, things felt almost manageable. SeaCrock reaches Level 2 Wizard. HP roll: d4 = 4 (now 5 HP total). Mage Armor: 16 success (holds), then 5 fail. They had about ten minutes before the sleeping flies would wake. That was when the door burst open.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The three dead henchmen stood in the doorway. Landersooth, Mordu, Ragnar. Their eyes were flat and empty and their arms hung loose at their sides, and two of them still had their mouths hanging open with flies buzzing inside. They were zombies, and they had come back for the people who had left them behind.\nA zombie caught SeaCrock with a glancing blow. \u0026ldquo;That would have killed me twenty minutes ago,\u0026rdquo; he said through gritted teeth.\nTwo zombies swung at Irulan and missed. The third \u0026ndash; what was left of Ragnar \u0026ndash; lurched toward one of the sleeping flies and struck it, waking it. The fly\u0026rsquo;s wings buzzed to life.\nZombie initiative: 9 -- surprise round. Zombie vs Irulan: Slam 6 miss, Slam 8 miss. Zombie vs SeaCrock: Slam 15, 1 dmg (would have killed him before level-up). Third zombie strikes sleeping fly -- wakes it. The three dead henchmen stand in the doorway as zombies, flies still buzzing in their open mouths\nThey ran.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan grabbed SeaCrock by the collar and dragged him out. Bancroft stood in the doorway and raised his holy symbol, calling on Sylvanus to turn the dead. Nothing happened. The zombies kept coming. He tried again, spent everything he had left. Still nothing.\nSylvanus\u0026rsquo;s power was not with him today. Not for healing. Not for turning the dead. Not for anything that mattered.\nBancroft Turn Undead: 7 fail. Golden luck token → 9 fail. Bancroft slammed the door shut and braced it with his weight. Behind it, he could hear the zombies and the flies colliding \u0026ndash; the wet crunch of dead fists hitting chitin, the buzz of wings against stone. Let them sort each other out. One zombie hadn\u0026rsquo;t made it through in time. It stood in the hallway, its dead eyes fixed on the green light of Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s shield.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The zombie swung and missed. SeaCrock\u0026rsquo;s Magic Missile punched into its shoulder. Irulan drove her longsword into its chest \u0026ndash; the thing staggered, dark fluid leaking from the wound. Bancroft brought his sword around and connected solidly. The zombie went down.\nIt shuddered once, trying to rise. Then it was still. Permanently.\nZombie Slam vs Bancroft: 7, miss. SeaCrock Magic Missile (adv): 8 fail → adv saves → 3 dmg. Irulan longsword: 15, 5 dmg -- zombie bloodied. Bancroft Elvish Longsword: 19, hit -- zombie down. Zombie CON save: 10 fail. Permanently dead. They moved toward the skull barrow exit. Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s shield still glowed with Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s light, casting green shadows on the walls. His side still bled where the fly had bitten him. Somewhere behind them, the sounds of zombies fighting flies echoed down the stone corridors.\nSomething was ahead of them now. Something between them and the way out. They could hear it in the dark \u0026ndash; a sound they couldn\u0026rsquo;t identify, growing closer with each step.\nBancroft gripped his sword and kept walking. Three dead henchmen risen as the things they had come here to fight. Two more fled into the barrows, maybe dead already, maybe worse. And now something new waited ahead, and they were wounded and spent and a long way from daylight.\nThe green light on his shield flickered once, and held.\nThis session report was written with the help of AI. For details on the process, see Transcribing D\u0026amp;D Sessions with WhisperX and Speaker Diarization.\n","date":"17 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-17-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft # The morning was cold and gray in Helix. Bancroft woke early, already thinking about the barrows.\nThey had hired five henchmen from the Gray Company – a local band who took on lesser jobs while their better-equipped brethren sought greater treasures. Nine gold for the lot. Bancroft hoped it would be money well spent.\nGillix and Ragnar were both mute – Gillix with a spear and a battered Viking helmet and a habit of gesturing at people’s crotches that Bancroft decided not to ask about, Ragnar with a crossbow and a quiet devotion to St. Ygg. Hengest was the torchbearer, a big man who talked enough for all of them. Landersooth carried a club and smelled of fish and kept looking over his shoulder. “They can’t find you in there, right?” he said, when asked why he was coming. And Mordu – burned badly down his left side, the skin still raw. When someone offered him a torch, he told them where to put it. The nerves were too close. Bancroft understood that.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 49","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"One scorpion tried to hit a statue, but just scraped it. Bancroft ran to the slab and threw the other bowl of gems on top of the first scorpion. The statue next to me hit me. The other statue went for Bancroft, not the scorpion with the gems on it, but it missed. Then the light went out. I could hear the scorpions scraping against the statues, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t sound like they were doing any damage. Bancroft yelled to grab the gem and run, then threw something towards the entrance. I heard something shatter, presumably the vase. I lit a torch, and moved to put it on the slab. Bancroft and I watched the statues and scorpions go at each other. With all the scorpions in the barrow, the stairs were clear.\nBancroft ran for it, bounced off a scorpion, dodged under a statue, and made it to the stairs. But a statue followed him and grabbed him and pulled him back in. Riyou, hiding outside, hit the statue with an arrow. I set the torch on the slab and moved to the side of the barrow, in preparation for making a run for the stairs. Waylan ran to the stairs, pushed past the statue, and ran off, but he wasn\u0026rsquo;t holding the sack, so he must have dropped it. The statue holding Bancroft started swinging at him. The stairs were again blocked by the statue and the third scorpion, so I tried to pull Bancroft free, but couldn\u0026rsquo;t beat the statue\u0026rsquo;s grip. The third scorpion went up the stairs, found Riyou, and stung her with its tail. Bancroft made a mighty swing and crumbled the statue holding him, then ran up the stairs.\nI grabbed the gem under the first scorpion, and ran up the stairs. The other statue came after me, dragging the two scorpions, since their tails were stuck in it. I shoved past the scorpion at the top, and gave it a solid hit. The scorpion came after Riyou, leaving the way clear for Bancroft to run. The three of us ran for town. We were investigating the ruby gem in the tavern when Seacrock stumbled in. It\u0026rsquo;s amazing he lived, again.\nTarot card in the morning was the Star, don\u0026rsquo;t lose hope when facing something seemingly unattainable. Which, all of us living through yesterday, yeah. We went back to the barrow. Immediately heard chittering. Guess the scorpions won. One grabbed Riyou and dragged her in. The other missed her. I hit the second one. Seacrock cast magic missile at the one holding Riyou. Bancroft hit the same one I did, killing it. Now we can both go for the one on Riyou without worrying about being attacked from behind. Riyou squirmed out of the clutches of the scorpion, I bloodied it, and Seacrock killed it with another magic missile. We searched for the sack of gems and picked up the rest of the gems on the floor.\nFresh off our survival, killing monsters, and selling gems, we went carousing. I was bored, and just babysat the rest who can\u0026rsquo;t hold their alcohol. Bancroft arm wrestled a bunch of big lugs and did so well he cracked the table, won the adoration of the whole tavern, and there\u0026rsquo;s a plaque up now. Riyou had her fortune told by a shady old woman with one eye about destroying the evil that she read on the tablet. Seacrock, exhausted from his two near death experiences, went to bed early.\n","date":"10 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-10-irulan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"One scorpion tried to hit a statue, but just scraped it. Bancroft ran to the slab and threw the other bowl of gems on top of the first scorpion. The statue next to me hit me. The other statue went for Bancroft, not the scorpion with the gems on it, but it missed. Then the light went out. I could hear the scorpions scraping against the statues, but it didn’t sound like they were doing any damage. Bancroft yelled to grab the gem and run, then threw something towards the entrance. I heard something shatter, presumably the vase. I lit a torch, and moved to put it on the slab. Bancroft and I watched the statues and scorpions go at each other. With all the scorpions in the barrow, the stairs were clear.\n","title":"Shadowmaze - Irulan - Session 48","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Bancroft\nBancroft # \u0026#x1F3B2; Two barrow guardians. Three giant scorpions. One doorway, blocked by a wall of chitin and stone. Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s mind raced through the options the way a drowning man\u0026rsquo;s hands search for something to grab. Riyou Initiative (0): 14. Riyou Dex (0): 20/13. Giant Scorpion Claw \u0026#43;2: 8/19, 17/5. Sting \u0026#43;2: 14/20, 11/15. Barrow Guardian Sword \u0026#43;4: 17, 8/8, 21/19 \u0026ldquo;The gems!\u0026rdquo; he shouted. His mama had always told him to focus on the important things in life, and right now the important thing was this: the guardians had come alive to protect the treasure. Maybe they\u0026rsquo;d chase it. And if the scorpions wanted to eat something, maybe they would settle for fighting stone instead of flesh.\nHe lunged for the second bowl on the altar, scooped it up, and hurled it at the scorpions. Stones scattered across the floor\u0026ndash;mostly worthless glass and quartz that the tomb\u0026rsquo;s builders had mixed in to pad the offering, though a few genuine gems winked among the fakes: a dark bloodstone here, a pale carnelian there, bouncing and rolling between chitinous legs and stone feet. One of the barrow guardians swiveled its massive head, tracking the disturbance with whatever passed for awareness in its enchanted skull.\nBancroft hurling gems at the scorpions\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Beside him, Irulan brought her longsword down in a savage arc against the nearest guardian. The blade rang against stone like a cathedral bell, but the strike glanced off the statue\u0026rsquo;s shoulder without leaving so much as a scratch. She cursed and reset her stance. Irulan longsword \u0026#43;6: 13 (miss vs stone guardian AC) \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft tried to pray. The words of the Light spell formed on his lips\u0026ndash;they needed to see, needed the emerald glow of Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s blessing to fight in this pit\u0026ndash;but a barrow guardian was already stomping toward him, each footfall shaking dust from the ceiling. He threw himself behind the altar, the stone fist passing close enough to ruffle his hair, and the prayer scattered like startled birds. The darkness closed in tighter, their last torch guttering in the tomb air. Bancroft Light \u0026#43;3: 7 (fail). Sling \u0026#43;1: 12/20. Dex check (1): 2 (fail) \u0026ldquo;Fine,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft muttered, grabbing the wooden vase from the center of the altar. \u0026ldquo;If gems won\u0026rsquo;t do it\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo; He hurled the vase at the nearest scorpion. It shattered against the creature\u0026rsquo;s carapace, shards of ancient wood spraying across the floor, and a single large gemstone rolled free from the wreckage, winking in the dying torchlight.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Irulan moved with the calm practicality that Bancroft had come to admire about her. She lit a fresh torch from the embers of the old one and wedged it into a crack in the altar, keeping the stone block between herself and the nearest guardian. The flickering light carved the chamber into sharp angles of shadow and amber. Irulan Dex (1): 18/17 (success) \u0026ldquo;Go!\u0026rdquo; Irulan shouted. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll keep them busy!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft didn\u0026rsquo;t argue. He saw the gap\u0026ndash;a sliver of space between the nearest scorpion and the barrow guardian that had turned to track the scattered gems\u0026ndash;and he ran for it. His shoulder caught the scorpion\u0026rsquo;s claw and he bounced sideways, stumbling, his plate armor scraping against chitin with a sound like a knife on a whetstone. He pushed through, ducking under the guardian\u0026rsquo;s reaching arm, his boots finding purchase on the ancient stone steps.\nThe entrance. He could see it\u0026ndash;pale starlight filtering down from above, the promise of open air and escape. Three more steps. Two. One\u0026ndash;\nA hand of cold stone closed around his ankle.\nA barrow guardian drags Bancroft back down the steps\nThe grip was crushing, inhuman, the fingers grinding against the steel of his greave with enough force to dent the metal. The barrow guardian from the crypt had followed him, emerging from a side passage he hadn\u0026rsquo;t even seen, and now it dragged him backward with the mechanical patience of something that had been doing this for a thousand years.\nBancroft Str (3): 14 (fail), then 23 (success!). Guardian Str (3): 6 (fail), then 17/21 (wins grapple) \u0026ldquo;No\u0026ndash;!\u0026rdquo; Bancroft clawed at the steps, his gauntlets scraping furrows in the stone, but the guardian was stronger. The light of the entrance receded above him, inch by terrible inch.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Then Riyou\u0026rsquo;s arrow sang through the air from outside the barrow.\nThe shot was extraordinary\u0026ndash;threading through the narrow entrance, past Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s flailing body, and burying itself in the guardian\u0026rsquo;s eye socket with a meaty crack. The stone figure staggered, its grip loosening for just a moment, one eye now a ruin of shattered obsidian and feathered shaft.\n\u0026ldquo;Bancroft, Bancroft, look at my tattoos!\u0026rdquo; Riyou called from the entrance, already nocking another arrow. He caught a glimpse of her forearms\u0026ndash;fresh ink, vivid and raised, covering older marks he\u0026rsquo;d never noticed before. But the guardian\u0026rsquo;s fingers tightened again, dragging him deeper, and tattoos were not high on his list of concerns.\nRiyou shortbow \u0026#43;2: 20 (hit!). Sneak Attack: 4/3/8 = 15 damage. Second shot: 18/12 \u0026#x1F3B2; Behind them all, the scorpions and the remaining guardian had turned on each other. The sound was tremendous\u0026ndash;stone smashing against chitin, stingers striking granite, claws scrabbling against enchanted rock. Whatever intelligence governed the guardians had decided that the scorpions were the greater threat to the tomb\u0026rsquo;s sanctity, and the scorpions, unable to distinguish between enemies, fought everything that moved. Guardians vs Scorpions: Guardian Sword \u0026#43;4: 24/20 (crit), 14/5. Scorpion Claw \u0026#43;2: 22/3, 5/16. Sting \u0026#43;2: 10/19, 11/16 \u0026#x1F3B2; The struggle at the entrance became a contest of raw strength. Bancroft braced his free leg against the wall and pulled. The guardian pulled back. For a long, horrible moment, neither gave ground\u0026ndash;Bancroft straining with everything his farmer\u0026rsquo;s body could muster against stone muscles that never tired and never weakened.\nHe lost.\nThe guardian wrenched him free of his handhold and dragged him back down into the darkness. Riyou fired again, another arrow finding its mark, but the guardian kept coming, kept pulling, its shattered face a mask of mindless purpose.\nBancroft Str (3): 7/9 (fail). Guardian Str (3): 22/18 (wins). Bancroft dragged back \u0026#x1F3B2; It was Irulan who turned the tide. She had fought her way clear of the melee at the altar, and now she threw herself at the guardian holding Bancroft, her hands finding its arm and pulling with a strength born of desperation. The guardian\u0026rsquo;s grip shifted\u0026ndash;just enough. Bancroft twisted, kicked, and tore free, scrambling up the steps on hands and knees. Irulan Str (2): 6/15 vs Guardian Str (3): 7/5 -- Irulan wins! Bancroft breaks free They ran. Behind them, the sounds of combat echoed from the barrow\u0026ndash;the crash of stone against chitin, the wet crunch of a scorpion\u0026rsquo;s shell giving way\u0026ndash;and then, mercifully, silence.\nSeacrock had not run with them. Seacrock had been lying unconscious on the crypt floor while the scorpions and guardians tore each other apart around him, which was, by his own count, the second time he\u0026rsquo;d come that close to dying. He crawled out of the barrow an hour later, alone, with one fewer point of constitution and a new scar to add to the hangman\u0026rsquo;s mark around his neck.\nHe staggered into the Brazen Strumpet that evening looking like death warmed over, which was generous. \u0026ldquo;I woke up on a stone floor,\u0026rdquo; he said, dropping into a chair, \u0026ldquo;surrounded by dead scorpions and bits of statue. Nobody thought to check if I was alive before running.\u0026rdquo;\nNobody had a good answer for that, either.\nThey returned the next day. It was foolish, probably, but the treasure still lay scattered across that chamber floor, and they were adventurers. Foolishness was part of the job description.\n\u0026ldquo;Maybe they killed each other,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said hopefully as they approached the barrow entrance.\nThey had not killed each other.\nTwo of the scorpions had survived, their chitinous armor scarred and cracked from the battle with the guardians, but their stingers still raised and their compound eyes still very much alive. The guardians, at least, lay in pieces\u0026ndash;whatever magic had animated them finally spent.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft raised his holy symbol and prayed for light.\nNothing happened.\nHe tried again, reaching deeper, searching for the familiar warmth of Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s blessing. Instead, he felt something cold and vast, like a winter wind blowing through the hollow spaces of his faith. The wood of his holy symbol cracked\u0026ndash;a sharp, splintering sound that made Irulan flinch\u0026ndash;and into Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s mind came not words, exactly, but understanding. A vision that moved like a hawk\u0026rsquo;s eye pulling back from the earth. He saw himself first, small and kneeling. Then the vision swept outward, pausing for a heartbeat on Riyou\u0026ndash;her tattooed arms, her hidden past\u0026ndash;before rushing across the barrowlands to the main entrance of the maze. There, a figure in black robes crouched with a twisted dagger, directing two cowering acolytes in hoods. A Nergulite\u0026ndash;a priest of the death god\u0026ndash;poisoning the land that Sylvanus protected.\nKill it, the vision said, with the patient certainty of roots breaking stone. Kill the Nergulite, and my light will return to you.\nBancroft Light \u0026#43;3: 4 (fail!). Sylvanus rejects the prayer -- holy symbol cracks. Divine quest issued: kill the Nergulite Bancroft stared at his cracked holy symbol. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s\u0026hellip; that\u0026rsquo;s new,\u0026rdquo; he managed.\n\u0026ldquo;What happened?\u0026rdquo; Irulan asked, her sword already drawn, her eyes on the barrow entrance where the scorpions lurked.\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus has given me a mission,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said slowly, turning the damaged symbol over in his hands. \u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s a Nergulite near the dungeon entrance. A priest of the death god. Sylvanus wants it dead.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan and Seacrock exchanged a look.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Seacrock said brightly, \u0026ldquo;that sounds like a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, I think we should discuss this over drinks. Many, many drinks.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The Brazen Strumpet was packed that evening, as it always was when adventurers returned from the barrows with coins to spend and stories to tell. Seacrock made it his personal mission to ensure that Bancroft drank enough to forget Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s holy directive, or at least to postpone thinking about it until morning.\n\u0026ldquo;Another round!\u0026rdquo; Seacrock called to the barkeep, waving a hand with theatrical generosity. \u0026ldquo;My friend here has received a divine mission to go kill a death priest, and I think that calls for celebration!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;That calls for preparation,\u0026rdquo; Irulan corrected, nursing her own mug with considerably more restraint. \u0026ldquo;Not pickling.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Preparation, pickling\u0026ndash;they both start with P.\u0026rdquo; Seacrock pushed another tankard toward Bancroft. \u0026ldquo;Drink.\u0026rdquo;\nSeaCrock Wis (-3): 0 (critical fail on carousing!). Irulan and SeaCrock spend the night keeping Bancroft too drunk to go Nergulite-hunting \u0026#x1F3B2; Bancroft drank. He drank rather a lot, in fact, which is how he ended up in an arm wrestling contest with a man twice his width and half his sense. The challenger was a caravan guard named something-or-other\u0026ndash;Bancroft had stopped remembering names three tankards ago\u0026ndash;who had been boasting about his exploits in voices loud enough to rattle the shutters.\n\u0026ldquo;You?\u0026rdquo; The guard looked Bancroft up and down, taking in the farmer\u0026rsquo;s honest face and the callused hands that owed more to a plow than a sword. \u0026ldquo;You want to arm wrestle me?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I do,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, with the serene confidence of the profoundly drunk.\nThey clasped hands across a battered oak table. Someone counted to three. The guard strained, his face going red, the veins in his neck standing out like ropes. Bancroft simply pushed\u0026ndash;and the man\u0026rsquo;s arm went down so fast, so hard, that the table shattered beneath them, mugs and coins scattering across the floor in a spray of splinters and ale.\nThe common room erupted in cheers.\n\u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s two!\u0026rdquo; the barkeep called out, already nailing a plank to the wall beside the trophy from Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s nude footrace victory. The new sign read Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s Bench\u0026ndash;the table he\u0026rsquo;d split clean in half. \u0026ldquo;Drinks on the house!\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft shatters the tavern table in an arm wrestling victory\nBancroft beamed. This, at least, he understood. Not divine missions or death priests or cracking holy symbols. Just honest strength and the warm approval of good people.\nBancroft Str (3): 23/20. Table destroyed. Second trophy at the Brazen Strumpet Irulan, for her part, did not get drunk, and therefore had no fun at all. She spent the evening making sure Bancroft didn\u0026rsquo;t wander off to go fight the Nergulite in his cups, which was a full-time job.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; None of them noticed Riyou slip away from the table early in the evening.\nShe was found later near the market square, surrounded by a small crowd\u0026ndash;cornered by a fortuneteller, an old woman in gray robes with a single milky eye, who had seized Riyou\u0026rsquo;s wrist and wouldn\u0026rsquo;t let go.\n\u0026ldquo;You have a destiny,\u0026rdquo; the woman hissed, her fingers tracing the lines of Riyou\u0026rsquo;s palm with feverish intensity. \u0026ldquo;I can see it. Written in your blood, in your bones. But you\u0026rsquo;ve been running from it.\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou tried to pull free. The woman\u0026rsquo;s grip was iron.\n\u0026ldquo;To achieve what you seek,\u0026rdquo; the fortuneteller continued, her voice carrying to the gathered crowd, \u0026ldquo;you must become again what you once was. The marks you\u0026rsquo;ve covered\u0026ndash;they are part of you. Denying them denies your power.\u0026rdquo; She leaned closer, her milky eye somehow finding Riyou\u0026rsquo;s gaze. \u0026ldquo;Sometimes you must be what you don\u0026rsquo;t want to be in order to get what you want.\u0026rdquo;\nWhen Riyou finally wrenched her hand free and stumbled back to the tavern, Bancroft noticed that her face was drawn and pale. He\u0026rsquo;d seen the fresh tattoos during the fight\u0026ndash;had glimpsed them without understanding\u0026ndash;but now, in the lamplight, he could see what they covered: much older marks beneath the new ink, faded and deliberate, that she had clearly gone to great trouble to hide.\nShe didn\u0026rsquo;t explain. Nobody asked. Some things, Bancroft had learned, were best left alone until the person carrying them was ready to set them down.\nHe ordered her an ale instead, and they sat together in comfortable silence, watching the fire burn low, each of them carrying their own burdens into the small hours of the night.\nRiyou\u0026#39;s downtime event: fortuneteller encounter. Fresh tattoos covering older cult markings This session report was written with the help of AI. For details on the process, see Transcribing D\u0026amp;D Sessions with WhisperX and Speaker Diarization.\n","date":"10 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-10-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Bancroft\nBancroft # 🎲 Two barrow guardians. Three giant scorpions. One doorway, blocked by a wall of chitin and stone. Bancroft’s mind raced through the options the way a drowning man’s hands search for something to grab. Riyou Initiative (0): 14. Riyou Dex (0): 20/13. Giant Scorpion Claw +2: 8/19, 17/5. Sting +2: 14/20, 11/15. Barrow Guardian Sword +4: 17, 8/8, 21/19 “The gems!” he shouted. His mama had always told him to focus on the important things in life, and right now the important thing was this: the guardians had come alive to protect the treasure. Maybe they’d chase it. And if the scorpions wanted to eat something, maybe they would settle for fighting stone instead of flesh.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 48","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Vorn\nVorn # Look, I\u0026rsquo;m not an adventurer. I want to be clear about that up front. I dig holes, I carry things, and I try very hard not to die. The pay is decent when you factor in the hazard, which is the only reason I keep signing up for these jobs.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The first thing I saw when I showed up for work was two women shooting arrows at a book. Not a person holding a book. Just\u0026hellip; a book, sitting open on a stone pedestal. Aura and Morrigan, their names were. They were putting real effort into it, too\u0026ndash;good groupings, solid draw\u0026ndash;but the arrows just bounced off the pages like they were hitting plate armor. Aura Crossbow \u0026#43;1: 15/13, 5/17, 14/3, 16/13 -- all bounce off the book \u0026ldquo;It ate our friends,\u0026rdquo; Morrigan said, by way of explanation.\nI nodded like that made sense, because when you work the barrowlands, you learn not to ask follow-up questions.\nWhat followed was the most elaborate operation I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen for moving a single book. First they shot arrows with ropes tied on, trying to drag it up the stairs from the crypt. The arrows kept popping loose on the steps. So Roderick\u0026ndash;a man with a pencil-thin mustache and an oil flask he used for grooming, not lighting\u0026ndash;took his shovel and spent twenty minutes building a dirt ramp up the staircase. They tried again. The book slid back down. They shot two arrows with a U-shaped rope. More sliding. Hours of this, while I stood at the top and tried to look useful.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; They couldn\u0026rsquo;t destroy it, so they came up with the next best plan: drag it back to Helix and let somebody smarter deal with it. Nobody wanted to touch the thing\u0026ndash;fair enough, given what it apparently did to the last people who laid hands on it\u0026ndash;so they levered it onto an old traveling cloak using sticks and the flat of a sword. Morrigan tied the corners into a makeshift sled, and we set off dragging it behind us like the world\u0026rsquo;s most cursed piece of luggage. Morrigan Str (0): 2 (fail). Aura Str (1): 10/13. Roderic Str (-1): 11. Dragging the book onto a cloak-sled Three giant toads blocked the road about an hour in\u0026ndash;gray mounds that unfolded into something the size of a large dog, squatting in our path with the flat patience of things that had nowhere to be. They didn\u0026rsquo;t attack. They just sat there. We detoured through the bog, which cost us another hour and most of Morrigan\u0026rsquo;s patience.\nWe didn\u0026rsquo;t move fast enough.\nDarkness caught us still on the road, the marshlands stretching out black and formless on either side. I\u0026rsquo;ve walked this road at night before. You keep your torch high, your eyes forward, and your mouth shut. That\u0026rsquo;s the protocol.\nAura, who apparently didn\u0026rsquo;t know the protocol, chose this moment to recite poetry. \u0026ldquo;Unseen and unknown,\u0026rdquo; she said, in a voice that carried across the marshes, \u0026ldquo;behind every face and door\u0026ndash;what black worlds of pain.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Was that supposed to be inspiring?\u0026rdquo; Morrigan muttered.\n\u0026ldquo;I found it in a story once,\u0026rdquo; Aura said. \u0026ldquo;The story was about death.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Wonderful timing.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The murmuring started first. Broken words, half-formed, drifting out of the dark like someone talking in their sleep. Then three shapes emerged from the marsh mist\u0026ndash;humanoid, but wrong. Each one had a single oversized claw where its hands should have been, curved and gleaming like a sickle blade. Their mouths moved constantly, whispering fragments that almost sounded like words.\n\u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;souls\u0026hellip; the binding\u0026hellip; return what was\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;What are they saying?\u0026rdquo; I whispered.\n\u0026ldquo;Nothing good,\u0026rdquo; Aura said, nocking an arrow.\nInitiative: Aura 20, Ch\u0026#39;jul 18, Morrigan 16, Knutella 14, Roderic 9. Whisper creature encounter Clawed figures emerging from the marsh mist\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The two carrying the book-sled panicked. Can\u0026rsquo;t blame them, honestly\u0026ndash;I was about two heartbeats from running myself. They bolted, tripped over each other in the dark, and the whole bundle went tumbling off the road. The book hit the swamp water with a heavy splash and sank into the muck. Hireling Dex checks: Oihisko 13, Wodrado 4 (fail!), Ch\u0026#39;jul 4 (fail!) -- porters trip and drop the book We froze. The creatures didn\u0026rsquo;t even look at us. They waded into the swamp, those terrible claws dipping below the black water, and fished the book out with an almost gentle care. Then they turned and walked back into the darkness, cradling the book between them like something precious. The last thing we heard, drifting back through the mist, was two words in a voice like dry leaves: Our souls now.\nAura tried to shoot the one carrying the book. Her crossbow misfired\u0026ndash;the bolt shattered on release, spraying wood splinters, and the string went slack with a sad twang. She shook it out, cursing. That was that.\nNobody moved for a long time after that.\n\u0026ldquo;We should go after them!\u0026rdquo; Roderick said, still holding the only light source. \u0026ldquo;After I broke my back shoveling all that dirt, we just let them push us out of the way? Worst adventuring party ever.\u0026rdquo;\nMorrigan didn\u0026rsquo;t even look at him. \u0026ldquo;They can one-shot me,\u0026rdquo; she said flatly. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m not going after them.\u0026rdquo;\nThat settled it. Roderick fumed. Everyone else started walking.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Dejected doesn\u0026rsquo;t begin to cover the mood on the road back. We\u0026rsquo;d lost the book\u0026ndash;the whole reason for the trip\u0026ndash;to things we didn\u0026rsquo;t understand and couldn\u0026rsquo;t fight. And then, because the barrowlands never let you have just one bad night, four skeletons came rattling out of the darkness.\nThey hit us fast. The adventurers fought back, blades flashing in torchlight, but skeletons don\u0026rsquo;t care about pain and they don\u0026rsquo;t hesitate. Torvin went down first\u0026ndash;a bony hand punched through his guard and caught him in the throat. Dask tried to run and took a rusty sword between the shoulder blades. Two good men. Two guys I\u0026rsquo;d shared bread with that morning.\nSkeleton Shortsword \u0026#43;1: 10/17, 19/11, 18/10. Hireling Con saves: Roderic 16 (lives), Iureuvit 7 (dies), Oihisko 10 (dies) Skeletons ambush the party on the marshland road\nThe rest of us made it back to Helix, bloodied and quiet. I helped carry Dask\u0026rsquo;s pack. It still had his lunch in it. Half a meat pie, wrapped in cloth. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know what to do with it, so I left it on his bed at the inn.\nWhile the rest of us were trying to forget the night, Roderick went poking around the inn and found the room that old Alandor had been renting before he got swallowed by the book. Everything was still there\u0026ndash;his gear, his clothes, his personal effects, all waiting for a man who wasn\u0026rsquo;t coming back.\nAnd tucked under the bed, wrapped in a scrap of wool, an egg. A big one\u0026ndash;leathery shell, faint greenish tinge, warm to the touch like something alive was waiting inside.\nRoderick adopted it immediately. Slept with it that night, apparently\u0026ndash;curled around it between his legs, which is a detail I wish he hadn\u0026rsquo;t shared over breakfast. He also announced, in a conspiratorial whisper, that we should all stop calling it a griffin egg and give it a less interesting name. Just in case word got out.\n\u0026ldquo;Are you sure it\u0026rsquo;s not the griffin egg?\u0026rdquo; Aura said, at full volume, in the middle of the common room.\nRoderick\u0026rsquo;s mustache practically vibrated. \u0026ldquo;Shut the fuck up!\u0026rdquo; he hissed. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll talk about this later!\u0026rdquo;\nHe stood, twirled his mustache, and walked away from the table with what he clearly believed was dignity.\nThe next morning, they hired us again. Same crew, minus two, plus whatever fresh bodies they could scrape together. I should have said no. Torvin and Dask were still cold, and here we were heading back out like nothing happened.\nBut the pay is the pay.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The book was gone, of course. Whatever those clawed things were, they\u0026rsquo;d taken it somewhere we couldn\u0026rsquo;t follow. So instead, the leaders\u0026ndash;and I use that word loosely\u0026ndash;took us to some kind of crypt they\u0026rsquo;d found before. Underground, stone walls, the smell of dust and old death. There was a staircase hidden behind a mechanism in the wall, one of those clever ancient contraptions that the barrow builders loved. Previous expeditions had started digging out the mechanism, but someone\u0026ndash;or something\u0026ndash;had filled the hole back in with rocks and packed dirt.\n\u0026ldquo;Somebody doesn\u0026rsquo;t want us getting through here,\u0026rdquo; Morrigan said, examining the damage.\nRoderick sighed, unslung his shovel\u0026ndash;his second excavation job in two days\u0026ndash;and spent ten minutes re-digging the hole while muttering about how nobody appreciated manual labor. Once the mechanism was exposed again, Morrigan hunched over it, muttering about counterweights and trigger plates, their torches throwing long shadows down the passage.\nMorrigan Wis (1): 20/19 (nat 20!). Morrigan Dex (3): 22/8. Examining the hidden mechanism I was watching the corridor behind us. That\u0026rsquo;s my job when the smart people are busy\u0026ndash;watch the dark and hope nothing watches back.\nSomething watched back.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; The zombies came shuffling out of a side passage, three of them, their dead feet scraping on stone. Grey skin, black eyes, the stink of rot rolling ahead of them like a wave. Zombie Initiative (-2): 15. Party Initiative: Iureuvit 20, Aura 18, Roderic 17, Knutella 17, Morrigan 14. Knutella Short Bow \u0026#43;3: 12/7. Roderic Sling \u0026#43;2: 16/1 I looked at my friend Cade. He looked up at me\u0026ndash;and I do mean up, because Cade\u0026rsquo;s a halfling, barely reaches my belt buckle. Don\u0026rsquo;t let the size fool you, though. He\u0026rsquo;s stronger than me, smarter than me, and he knows it. Normally he runs caravans between Helix and the Motte, but the barrow jobs pay better when the merchants aren\u0026rsquo;t moving. We get along because we think the same way about most things, which is to say: practically.\n\u0026ldquo;Run?\u0026rdquo; he said.\n\u0026ldquo;Run,\u0026rdquo; I agreed.\nWe don\u0026rsquo;t get paid enough for this shit.\nWe came back after the groaning stopped. The adventurers were fine, of course\u0026ndash;they\u0026rsquo;re always fine, the mad bastards. They\u0026rsquo;d dealt with the zombies and moved on to their next bit of insanity: they\u0026rsquo;d found an axe somewhere, and now they were using it to hack a hole in the wall.\n\u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s something behind here,\u0026rdquo; Roderick said, covered in stone dust, swinging away like a man possessed.\n\u0026ldquo;How do you know?\u0026rdquo; I asked.\n\u0026ldquo;The wall sounds hollow.\u0026rdquo;\nI stood well back and watched. In my experience, when you find hidden things in the barrowlands, the hidden things don\u0026rsquo;t want to be found, and they express their displeasure in creative and violent ways.\n\u0026#x1F3B2; Sure enough, whatever was behind that wall had been sealed for a reason. The explosion wasn\u0026rsquo;t huge\u0026ndash;more of a sharp crack and a blast of hot air that knocked everyone back a step\u0026ndash;but it sent chunks of stone whistling past our heads and filled the corridor with choking dust.\nWhen the air cleared, everyone was still standing. Singed, dusty, ears ringing, but alive.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Morrigan said, brushing debris from her hair. \u0026ldquo;That could have been worse.\u0026rdquo;\nDex saves -- explosion: Morrigan Dex (3): 15/10. Aura Dex (0): 11/8, 14/4. Roderic Dex (2): 10/6, 16/5. Everyone singed but alive The wall explodes in the crypt corridor\nThey paid us on time, at least. Full day\u0026rsquo;s wages, plus the hazard bonus, counted out in copper and silver on the tavern table. I pocketed my share and ordered an ale.\nCade hopped up onto the bench across from me, his feet dangling a good six inches off the floor. He had dust in his hair and a fresh burn mark on one sleeve from the explosion, but he was already grinning.\n\u0026ldquo;Same time tomorrow?\u0026rdquo; he said, raising his mug.\nI looked at my coins. I thought about Torvin and Dask. I thought about clawed things whispering in the dark, and books that eat people, and walls that explode when you look at them funny.\nCade was already thinking the same thing. I could tell by the way he shrugged\u0026ndash;a small, resigned gesture that said yeah, I know, but what else are we going to do?\n\u0026ldquo;Same time tomorrow,\u0026rdquo; I said.\nThis session report was written with the help of AI. For details on the process, see Transcribing D\u0026amp;D Sessions with WhisperX and Speaker Diarization.\n","date":"9 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-09-vorn/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Vorn\nVorn # Look, I’m not an adventurer. I want to be clear about that up front. I dig holes, I carry things, and I try very hard not to die. The pay is decent when you factor in the hazard, which is the only reason I keep signing up for these jobs.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 47","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"9 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/knutella/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Knutella","type":"tags"},{"content":"Aura and I discussed our brilliant plan to shoot the book with an arrow with a rope attached, and pull the rope with gloves on, so we weren\u0026rsquo;t actually touching the book or anything attached to the book. Pulling the book on the rope worked, but the arrow loosened when I gently pulled it to the stairs. As we started, Knutella and five new adventurers from our group wandered in. Aura kept shooting it, I kept pulling the rope. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t get it up the stairs. We needed a ramp. Roderick suggested shoveling dirt on the stairs to make a ramp. We shot two arrows in, pulled with the rope. At the top of the stairs, we tugged the book onto my cloak, tied an end of the rope to the cloak, and pulled the book back to town on the cloak. It was unstable and took forever, and on the way, three giant toads appeared. We sidled around them, adding to our time.\nAfter dark, we were attacked by three undead things with one big claw on each hand, they were speaking gibberish about souls, and headed for the book. Aura and three of the new guys tried to pick up the cloak and run with the book, but the two on the back of the cloak tripped and dropped the book. The ghasts picked up the book, ignored all of us, and headed into the dark, saying something about \u0026ldquo;our souls now.\u0026rdquo; Damn it! We did everything right, and we were so close to freeing our friends from the book. With some grumbling from the new guys who didn\u0026rsquo;t know how easily undead could kill us, we opted to head to town empty-handed. On the way, three skeletons jumped us, killing the two new guys that dropped the book. That\u0026rsquo;s rather more punishment than they deserved. The rest of us ran.\nI bought a new cloak in the morning. Roderick took over caring for Alandor\u0026rsquo;s griffin egg. We checked to see if the ghasts put the book back in the barrow (D11). They did not. So our chance to rescue our friends by getting Mazzah to free them is lost. We went to the barrow with the secret passage (D10) because it\u0026rsquo;s easier than people dying falling down ropes. Someone had filled in the hole to the door mechanism the group had made earlier to try to open the door from this side, which was weird. How are other groups getting out? Roderick was clearing out the hole for me to work on the mechanism when we heard zombie moaning coming towards us. Knutella, with an assist from Roderick, killed the zombie. I needed something to twist the gear with, so I had Aura cut off a zombie limb to use the bone. While there, she found the zombie had a great ax on its back.\nI rigged the door, but there was a hissing noise and an unseen trap went off. Somebody rigged a trap with jellied oil before blocking it back up. I don\u0026rsquo;t know who would do something like that. The bone snapped when I tried to turn it, and the door shut.\n","date":"9 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-09-morrigan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Aura and I discussed our brilliant plan to shoot the book with an arrow with a rope attached, and pull the rope with gloves on, so we weren’t actually touching the book or anything attached to the book. Pulling the book on the rope worked, but the arrow loosened when I gently pulled it to the stairs. As we started, Knutella and five new adventurers from our group wandered in. Aura kept shooting it, I kept pulling the rope. We couldn’t get it up the stairs. We needed a ramp. Roderick suggested shoveling dirt on the stairs to make a ramp. We shot two arrows in, pulled with the rope. At the top of the stairs, we tugged the book onto my cloak, tied an end of the rope to the cloak, and pulled the book back to town on the cloak. It was unstable and took forever, and on the way, three giant toads appeared. We sidled around them, adding to our time.\n","title":"Shadowmaze - Morrigan - Session 47","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Bancroft\nBancroft # The news had reached Helix three days prior: Wyz the goblin wizard, along with Alandor and Perch, had vanished into that accursed book in the barrows. Touched it together, holding hands like children afraid of the dark, and one by one they had been swallowed by shadows. Morrigan and Aura had watched it happen, helpless.\nBancroft tried not to think about it as he drove his shovel into the ancient earth. Wyz had been insufferable, yes\u0026ndash;calling everyone \u0026ldquo;minions\u0026rdquo; and treating the world as his personal experiment\u0026ndash;but the little goblin had saved their hides more than once with his arcane darts. Now he was gone, consumed by magic too old and hungry to understand.\n\u0026ldquo;Focus on the task at hand,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft muttered to himself. The untouched barrow mound rose before them, its grass-covered dome hiding secrets that might make them rich or dead. Probably both.\nBancroft standing guard while laborers dig\nThe croaking started distant\u0026ndash;a rhythmic, throaty chorus somewhere out in the marsh. Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s dog lifted its head, ears pricked forward.\n\u0026ldquo;You hear that?\u0026rdquo; Irulan asked, pausing mid-dig.\n\u0026ldquo;Frogs,\u0026rdquo; Seacrock said dismissively. \u0026ldquo;Just frogs.\u0026rdquo;\nBut the croaking grew louder. Closer. And when the reeds parted to reveal two massive shapes\u0026ndash;each the size of a hunting hound, their warty hides glistening with marsh slime\u0026ndash;Bancroft understood that \u0026ldquo;just frogs\u0026rdquo; meant something very different in the barrowlands.\nBancroft fighting giant frogs\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus, grant me\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo; Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s prayer died on his lips, the divine words scattering like startled birds. Beside him, Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s attempted cantrip fizzled into nothing. The frogs\u0026rsquo; bulging eyes fixed on the dog with primal hunger.\nTwo tongues shot forward\u0026ndash;pink, muscular, horrifyingly fast\u0026ndash;but Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s hound was faster. It dodged beneath the first strike, twisted away from the second, and came up snarling.\nIrulan didn\u0026rsquo;t hesitate. Her blade sang through the humid air, catching the nearest frog mid-croak. The creature\u0026rsquo;s head separated from its body with a wet, meaty sound, and the massive corpse slumped into the mud. The second frog took one look at its fallen companion and fled, crashing back into the reeds with panicked leaps.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, wiping swamp water from his face. \u0026ldquo;Back to digging, then.\u0026rdquo;\nThe sun hung low and blood-red on the horizon when Irulan spotted them first.\n\u0026ldquo;Company,\u0026rdquo; she said quietly, her hand moving to her sword.\nSix figures shambled across the barrowlands, their movements jerky and wrong. Even at a distance, Bancroft could see the grey-green pallor of their skin, the vacant stares, the way their arms hung at unnatural angles. Zombies. Six of them, and the light was failing fast.\n\u0026ldquo;We should go,\u0026rdquo; Seacrock said, already backing toward the road to Helix.\nBancroft wanted to argue. Every instinct told him to stand and fight, to call upon Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s cleansing fire and turn these abominations to ash. But six against three, with night falling and no defensive position? Even righteous fury had its limits.\n\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll return tomorrow,\u0026rdquo; he agreed, hating the taste of retreat on his tongue. \u0026ldquo;The barrow isn\u0026rsquo;t going anywhere.\u0026rdquo;\nDawn found them back at the dig site, shovels in hand and prayers on their lips. The dead frog still lay where it had fallen, bloated now in the morning heat, its belly distended and crawling with flies.\nBancroft was watching Irulan work when the corpse moved.\nNot the settling of dead flesh\u0026ndash;this was deliberate, purposeful. The frog\u0026rsquo;s belly split open like an overripe fruit, and from within its rotting guts, grey hands emerged. Zombies\u0026ndash;four of them\u0026ndash;dragged themselves from the carrion womb, their bodies slick with decay, their empty eyes fixed on the living.\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus preserve us!\u0026rdquo; Bancroft raised his holy symbol, but one of the creatures was already on him. Dead fingers raked across his armor, finding the gap at his elbow, tearing flesh. Pain lanced up his arm.\nBehind him, Seacrock screamed and ran.\nBancroft turning zombies with holy light\n\u0026ldquo;SYLVANUS!\u0026rdquo; This time the prayer came fierce and true. Green light blazed from Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s holy symbol, and the two zombies before him simply came apart\u0026ndash;their rotting flesh disintegrating, their bones crumbling to dust, scattered by a wind that existed only in the space between the mortal world and the divine.\nBut Irulan still faced two of the creatures, and Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s dog had thrown itself into the fray beside her. The brave hound\u0026rsquo;s teeth found undead flesh, tearing and rending\u0026ndash;but then a zombie\u0026rsquo;s jaws closed on the dog\u0026rsquo;s throat, and the animal\u0026rsquo;s defiant snarl became a wet, gurgling whimper.\n\u0026ldquo;Hold on!\u0026rdquo; Bancroft charged toward them, his symbol still blazing. Another prayer, another burst of emerald fire. Two more zombies crumbled. The last one turned its dead eyes toward Bancroft, and what passed for intelligence flickered there\u0026ndash;enough to recognize death when it came for the already-dead. It fled, lurching away across the marshland.\nThe dog lay still in Irulan\u0026rsquo;s arms, its eyes glassy, its brave heart finally silent.\n\u0026ldquo;He was a good boy,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said softly, stroking the blood-matted fur. \u0026ldquo;The best boy.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft knelt beside her, his hand on her shoulder. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll bury him properly. Say the words. He deserves\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\nThe ground trembled.\nTwo giant scorpions burst from the earth not thirty feet away, their pincers clacking, their segmented tails raised and dripping venom. They were each the size of a pony, their chitinous armor gleaming like polished obsidian.\n\u0026ldquo;Run,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\nThis time, no one argued.\nHelix offered cold comfort that night. Seacrock searched every kennel and farm in town, desperate to replace his fallen companion, but no suitable dogs were to be found. What they did find were three laborers willing to dig for coin\u0026ndash;desperate men who didn\u0026rsquo;t ask too many questions about why the party needed help excavating an ancient burial mound.\n\u0026ldquo;We go back tomorrow,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft announced over watered ale. \u0026ldquo;With more hands, we\u0026rsquo;ll break through before nightfall.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan nodded, her expression hard. \u0026ldquo;For the dog.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;For the dog,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft agreed. \u0026ldquo;And for Wyz, and Alandor, and Perch, and everyone else this cursed place has taken from us.\u0026rdquo;\nThe laborers earned their pay. By late afternoon of the following day, their shovels had broken through into darkness\u0026ndash;a rectangular opening that exhaled cold, stale air like the breath of a sleeping giant.\nBancroft descended first, holy light radiating from his shield.\nThe chamber that opened before him stole his breath away. Four massive statues dominated the room, their stone forms stretching from floor to ceiling, their features worn smooth by ages beyond counting. At the center stood an altar of black marble, and upon it\u0026hellip;\n\u0026ldquo;Gods above,\u0026rdquo; Seacrock whispered from behind him.\nTwo shallow bowls flanked a wooden vase, and in each bowl, gems sparkled in the torchlight\u0026ndash;rubies and sapphires and emeralds, a king\u0026rsquo;s ransom glittering in the darkness. The treasure of ages, waiting to be claimed.\nThey searched the room methodically, checking for traps, for hidden mechanisms, for any sign that this bounty came with a price. Two of the statues glowed faintly when Seacrock cast his detection spell\u0026ndash;magical guardians, no doubt, waiting to be awakened.\n\u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t touch anything yet,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft warned. \u0026ldquo;We need to\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Well, well. What have we here?\u0026rdquo;\nThree figures stood at the barrow entrance: a wizard in travel-stained robes, a warrior in battered mail, and an elf with calculating eyes. The wizard stepped forward, his smile not reaching his gaze.\n\u0026ldquo;Fine work, finding this place,\u0026rdquo; he said smoothly. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ve been searching these barrows for weeks. Tell you what\u0026ndash;we\u0026rsquo;ll give you forty-five gold to walk away. Fair compensation for your labor.\u0026rdquo;\nSeacrock laughed\u0026ndash;a sharp, incredulous bark. \u0026ldquo;Forty-five gold? For all of this?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;The barrowlands are dangerous,\u0026rdquo; the wizard continued, his tone hardening. \u0026ldquo;People disappear all the time. Accidents happen. Forty-five gold and your lives seems like a generous offer.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Generous indeed,\u0026rdquo; Seacrock replied, keeping his body between the newcomers and the altar. \u0026ldquo;But we\u0026rsquo;ve already claimed this site by right of discovery. Perhaps you\u0026rsquo;d like to try one of the other mounds? I hear there are several still untouched.\u0026rdquo;\nThe wizard\u0026rsquo;s eyes narrowed, but after a long moment, he turned to his companions. \u0026ldquo;Come. There will be other opportunities.\u0026rdquo;\nThey left, but Bancroft noticed the warrior glancing back, memorizing their faces.\n\u0026ldquo;We need to move fast,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. \u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;ll be back with reinforcements.\u0026rdquo;\nThey resumed their search, working quickly now, checking every corner for traps or hidden passages. They had nearly finished when Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s dog\u0026ndash;no, Seacrock had no dog anymore. The sound came from outside. Clacking. Chittering. The scrape of chitin on stone.\nThree giant scorpions poured through the entrance, their stingers raised, their compound eyes reflecting torchlight like a thousand tiny flames.\nSeacrock was closest to the door. He raised his hands to cast, but the nearest scorpion was faster. Its stinger punched through his robes like a needle through silk, and the wizard crumpled without a sound, his face already going grey from the venom.\n\u0026ldquo;Seacrock!\u0026rdquo; Irulan moved toward him, but two more scorpions blocked her path, their pincers snapping.\nBancroft\u0026rsquo;s mind raced. The statues\u0026ndash;the magical statues. If they animated when the treasure was disturbed\u0026hellip;\n\u0026ldquo;Waylon!\u0026rdquo; He grabbed the torchbearer by the shoulders. \u0026ldquo;The gems in that bowl\u0026ndash;dump them in a sack and run for the exit. Now!\u0026rdquo;\nThe young man\u0026rsquo;s eyes went wide. \u0026ldquo;But the scorpions\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Trust me. The statues will animate. They\u0026rsquo;ll fight the scorpions, or at least distract them long enough for us to escape. I\u0026rsquo;ll protect you.\u0026rdquo; Bancroft raised his holy symbol. \u0026ldquo;Shield of Faith!\u0026rdquo;\nDivine light wrapped around Waylon like golden armor. The torchbearer swallowed hard, nodded once, and sprinted for the altar.\nJanus, the other torchbearer, watched this exchange with mounting horror. \u0026ldquo;No,\u0026rdquo; he said, backing toward the entrance. \u0026ldquo;No, I didn\u0026rsquo;t sign up for this. I\u0026rsquo;m getting out of here!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Janus, wait\u0026ndash;!\u0026rdquo;\nBut the young man was already running, his torch clattering to the floor as he fled toward daylight. He made it perhaps three steps before the scorpion at the entrance caught him. The stinger rose and fell, rose and fell, and Janus\u0026rsquo;s screams echoed through the chamber before falling silent.\nAt the altar, Waylon\u0026rsquo;s trembling hands swept gems into his sack. The moment the first ruby left the bowl, the two glowing statues moved\u0026ndash;stone grinding against stone, ancient joints cracking to life, massive heads turning toward the disturbance.\n\u0026ldquo;Run!\u0026rdquo; Bancroft shouted.\nHe and Irulan sprinted for the exit, but the animated statues were faster than anything made of stone had a right to be. One massive arm swept down, blocking their path. Behind them, the scorpions advanced, cutting off any retreat.\nBancroft raised his holy symbol, the prayer to Sylvanus forming on his lips\u0026ndash;but the words died unspoken. The cleansing fire was meant for the unnatural, the undead, the corrupted. These scorpions were creatures of nature, monstrous though they were. Sylvanus would not strike them down.\nIrulan\u0026rsquo;s blade rasped free of its scabbard. Bancroft drew his own weapon, his shield coming up to guard.\n\u0026ldquo;Back to back,\u0026rdquo; he said quietly.\nShe nodded, her shoulder pressing against his.\nTwo statues. Three scorpions. No retreat. No divine fire to save them.\nBancroft smiled grimly. If this was where Sylvanus meant for him to fall, then he would fall fighting.\n\u0026ldquo;For Wyz,\u0026rdquo; he said.\n\u0026ldquo;For the dog,\u0026rdquo; Irulan replied.\nAnd then there was no more time for words.\nMap of the barrow chamber\n","date":"3 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-03-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Bancroft\nBancroft # The news had reached Helix three days prior: Wyz the goblin wizard, along with Alandor and Perch, had vanished into that accursed book in the barrows. Touched it together, holding hands like children afraid of the dark, and one by one they had been swallowed by shadows. Morrigan and Aura had watched it happen, helpless.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 46","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Irulan\nToday\u0026rsquo;s card was the Queen of Swords, wisdom, clearness, determination. Wisdom isn\u0026rsquo;t my strong point. After a day of cards with Bancroft, the next day we decided to go dig (D23). We heard frogs in the distance, and two showed up about an hour into digging. I think they wanted the dog for lunch. The dog dodged their tongues. I one-shot one of them. The other one hopped away, finding lunch wasn\u0026rsquo;t so easy as it thought. We got back to digging, and thought we were close to finding the entrance when we were accosted by six zombies. They were sniffing, so they probably wanted to eat the dead frog. We went back to town and left them to it.\nWe went back to the barrow the next day and got back to digging. But out of the pile of giant frog guts came 5 zombies. I guess they were resting after their frog feast. Bancroft made the two on him disappear with some prayer. I hit one on me. The one on the dog killed it and started eating it. Bancroft said another prayer, making one disappear and one run. The one I hit swiped at me, but Bancroft said another prayer, and it disappeared. Seacrock ran away, but came back to mourn the dog. Before we had a chance to get back to digging, two giant scorpions arrived, attracted by the dead bodies. We ran a distance away and left them to eat, waiting for them to leave. But it got weirdly quiet, and reminded me of the corpse things, so we ran.\nWhen we got back to town, everyone was wearing silvery clothes, in contemplative moods, and waiting for the silver moon to rise. Another weird St. Ygg thing. Seacrock hired a couple guys, and we went back out the next morning. An eyeless undead with long clawed arms walked by, but didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to see us? That was weird. But we had a good day of digging. On the way back, 4 skeletons were watching something in the other direction. We just sidled on by. The next day, we dug up the entrance and went in. Big room with obsidian statues of warriors. In the middle was a stone slab with wooden bowls and an urn on it. There were gems in the bowls. Seacrock cast detect magic and two of the statues glowed.\nBancroft handed me a sack, and the plan was to dump gems in the sacks and run like hell. But Seacrock convinced us we should search for traps first. We didn\u0026rsquo;t find any traps. Bancroft saw one gem in the bottom of the urn. But we were interrupted by another group. A mage, fighters in plate mail, and an elf. The mage offered us 45 gold to leave, saying this barrow was special. Seacrock declined. To my surprise, the mage looked at something in the room and left.\nBefore we could go back to searching, 3 giant scorpions walked in the barrow. Seacrock, by the entrance, screamed and went down. Bancroft handed the sacks to the hirelings, telling them to grab the gems while we fought our way out, so I went around a statue to get the jump on the scorpion. As soon as Waylan touched the bowl, the two statues came to life. The hirelings ran for the entrance. The first scorpion came in. The statue didn\u0026rsquo;t go for the scorpion in front of it, and instead turned towards me, but missed. I ducked past it and tucked myself beside the other side of the door, hoping the second scorpion would go past me, and the statues would attack the scorpions. Nope. The other statue blocked the stairs. There\u0026rsquo;s no way out.\n","date":"3 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-02-03-irulan/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Irulan\nToday’s card was the Queen of Swords, wisdom, clearness, determination. Wisdom isn’t my strong point. After a day of cards with Bancroft, the next day we decided to go dig (D23). We heard frogs in the distance, and two showed up about an hour into digging. I think they wanted the dog for lunch. The dog dodged their tongues. I one-shot one of them. The other one hopped away, finding lunch wasn’t so easy as it thought. We got back to digging, and thought we were close to finding the entrance when we were accosted by six zombies. They were sniffing, so they probably wanted to eat the dead frog. We went back to town and left them to it.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 46","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"We welcome session notes from any tabletop RPG campaign. If you\u0026rsquo;d like to contribute your own campaign write-ups to Old School Gamers, here\u0026rsquo;s how. Don\u0026rsquo;t worry if you\u0026rsquo;re not a developer \u0026ndash; this guide will walk you through everything step by step.\n1. Create a GitHub Account # GitHub is a website that stores our site\u0026rsquo;s files and tracks changes. If you don\u0026rsquo;t already have an account, sign up for free at github.com.\n2. Request to Join # Contact matthew@infodancer.org to request an invitation to the Old School Gamers GitHub organization. Include your GitHub username in the email. You\u0026rsquo;ll receive an invitation link to accept.\n3. Install Git # Git is the tool that lets you download the site\u0026rsquo;s files and submit your changes. You only need to install it once.\nWindows # Download and install Git for Windows. During installation the default options are fine. This gives you Git Bash, a terminal you can use to run the commands below.\nAlternatively, GitHub Desktop provides a graphical interface if you prefer not to use the command line.\nMac # Open the Terminal app (found in Applications \u0026gt; Utilities) and type:\ngit --version If Git isn\u0026rsquo;t already installed, macOS will prompt you to install the Xcode Command Line Tools. Follow the prompts and you\u0026rsquo;re done.\nYou can also install GitHub Desktop for a graphical interface.\nLinux # Install Git using your distribution\u0026rsquo;s package manager. For example:\nUbuntu/Debian: sudo apt install git Fedora: sudo dnf install git 4. Download the Site Files # Open a terminal (Git Bash on Windows, Terminal on Mac/Linux) and run:\ngit clone https://github.com/old-school-gamers/org.git This creates a folder called org containing all the site files. Move into it:\ncd org 5. Create a Branch # A branch is your own working copy where you can make changes without affecting the live site. Create one and switch to it:\ngit checkout -b my-session-notes You can name the branch whatever you like, such as add-shadowmaze-session-46 or new-campaign-darkhalls.\nContent Guidelines and Fair Use # Session notes are your own creative writing about your gaming experiences, so you own that content. However, keep the following in mind:\nGame system references are fine. Mentioning rule systems, spell names, class names, and game mechanics in the context of describing your sessions is fair use. You\u0026rsquo;re writing about your experience playing the game, not republishing the rules. Don\u0026rsquo;t reproduce copyrighted material. Do not copy stat blocks, tables, lengthy rule passages, or other substantial content from published sourcebooks, modules, or adventures. Summarize or paraphrase instead. Module and adventure spoilers. If your campaign is based on a published adventure, write about what happened in your session rather than reproducing the adventure text. Your party\u0026rsquo;s unique choices and outcomes are yours to share; the author\u0026rsquo;s boxed text and plot descriptions are not. Images and art. Only use images you created yourself, generated with AI tools, or have explicit permission to use. Do not upload artwork, maps, or handouts scanned from published products. Character names and settings. Using setting names (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, etc.) and referencing published NPCs or locations in your narrative is normal and expected in session write-ups. When in doubt, ask yourself: \u0026ldquo;Am I describing what happened at my table, or am I copying someone else\u0026rsquo;s published work?\u0026rdquo; Stick to the former and you\u0026rsquo;ll be fine.\n6. Add Your Session Notes # Session notes live inside the content/ folder. Each campaign has its own subfolder, and each session is a directory containing an index.md file and any images.\nFile Structure # content/yourcampaign/2026-02-01/ index.md map.webp If you\u0026rsquo;re adding sessions to an existing campaign, put your new session directory alongside the others. If you\u0026rsquo;re starting a new campaign, create a new folder under content/.\nCreating the Session File # Create your index.md file using any plain text editor (Notepad on Windows, TextEdit on Mac set to plain text, or any code editor like VS Code). Each file starts with a header block between +++ marks, followed by your session write-up:\n+++ title = \u0026#34;Your Campaign -- Session 1\u0026#34; date = 2026-02-01T00:00:00-05:00 draft = false categories = [\u0026#34;gaming\u0026#34;] tags = [\u0026#34;your-campaign\u0026#34;, \u0026#34;gaming\u0026#34;] +++ Your session notes go here. Write from whatever perspective works best -- first person, third person, or a mix. There are no strict formatting rules beyond keeping it readable. Use blank lines to separate paragraphs. You can use **bold** and *italic* text, and add [links](https://example.com) using Markdown syntax. Adding Images # Place image files (.webp, .jpg, or .png) in the same directory as your index.md. Reference them in your text with:\n{{\u0026lt; img src=\u0026#34;map.webp\u0026#34; alt=\u0026#34;Session map\u0026#34; \u0026gt;}} 7. Submit Your Changes # Once your files are ready, run these commands in your terminal:\ngit add content/yourcampaign/ git commit -m \u0026#34;Add session notes for Your Campaign session 1\u0026#34; git push -u origin my-session-notes Then go to the repository on GitHub. You\u0026rsquo;ll see a banner offering to create a pull request from your branch. Click it, add a short description, and submit. Someone will review it and merge it into the live site.\nUsing GitHub Desktop Instead # If you\u0026rsquo;d rather avoid the command line entirely, GitHub Desktop lets you do all of the above through a graphical interface:\nSign in with your GitHub account. In Github, click the green \u0026ldquo;Code\u0026rdquo; button. Click Clone a Repository and select old-school-gamers/org. On the bottom of he box, select \u0026ldquo;Continue in Github Desktop.\u0026rdquo; Cloning puts a copy of the website contents on your computer as a Github folder. Note, once you\u0026rsquo;ve done this the first time, Github Desktop should keep the cloned repository and you can skip this step. Create a new branch using the branch menu at the top. Name the branch whatever you want, although it makes sense to name it something related to the current task. Add your files in the content/ folder using your file manager and the Notepad app, or a program such as VS Coder. Go to the Github folder, then \u0026ldquo;content\u0026rdquo;, then the game folder. Create a new folder named as the date and your name. Name your notes index.md. For new notes, just copy this file into the new folder, changing the appropriate information in the header and adding new note text. When you\u0026rsquo;ve saved your notes, GitHub Desktop will show your changes in green on the left when you click in it. Add a summary message in the box on the bottom left (i.e. something related to the current task, such as Shadowdark Session 46) and click Commit. Click Publish Branch. Github Desktop will switch you to Github. You will see a box with the pull request. Click the Create Pull Request button on the bottom. DO NOT click \u0026ldquo;Merge Request.\u0026rdquo; Instead, select Matthew as reviewer on the right side of the screen. He will take care of final review and finish the merger into the main repository. After merger, the post will appear on the website. Note that whatever you added as a title in the header will be the link for the post. Right click on the link, select copy link from the drop down menu. In Discord, rght click in the message bar of the appropriate game summary page, select paste, and the link to your notes will be posted. Questions? # Reach out to matthew@infodancer.org with any questions about contributing.\n","date":"1 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/contribute/","section":"Contribute","summary":"We welcome session notes from any tabletop RPG campaign. If you’d like to contribute your own campaign write-ups to Old School Gamers, here’s how. Don’t worry if you’re not a developer – this guide will walk you through everything step by step.\n1. Create a GitHub Account # GitHub is a website that stores our site’s files and tracks changes. If you don’t already have an account, sign up for free at github.com.\n","title":"Contribute","type":"contribute"},{"content":"","date":"27 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/kafeelia/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Kafeelia","type":"tags"},{"content":" Bancroft\nBancroft # The screaming started with the dog.\nBancroft was deep in a dreamless sleep when the sound reached him\u0026ndash;a frantic, high-pitched barking from down the hall, followed by the crash of something heavy hitting a door. Then came Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s voice, raw with panic, echoing through the thin walls of the inn.\n\u0026ldquo;Wake up! For the love of all the gods, WAKE UP!\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft rolled over and pulled the blanket tighter. \u0026ldquo;Is it breakfast already?\u0026rdquo; he mumbled into his pillow.\nThe pounding on his door was insistent, desperate. Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s fists hammered against the wood like a man trying to beat his way through solid oak. \u0026ldquo;BANCROFT! There are DEAD THINGS in my ROOM!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Dead things can wait until morning,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft yawned. But some deeper instinct\u0026ndash;the same one that had once told him when the frost would come early, back when he was still a farmer\u0026ndash;dragged him upright. He blinked in the darkness. The pounding had stopped. Seacrock had retreated to his own room, barricading himself in with whatever furniture he could move.\nBancroft finally managed to shake the fog of sleep from his mind and stumbled into the hallway. Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s door was shut tight, but the sounds from within told the story plainly enough\u0026ndash;the scrape of dead fingers on wood, the wet gurgling of a throat that had stopped breathing weeks ago, and the whimpering of a very frightened dog.\nHe shouldered the door open. In the pale moonlight that filtered through the window, Bancroft saw Seacrock sprawled on the floor, unconscious, with a zombie crouched over him like a vulture over carrion. The thing\u0026rsquo;s head swiveled toward Bancroft with a slow, grinding motion, its milky eyes fixing on him with dull hunger.\nBancroft raised his holy symbol. The words came easily\u0026ndash;they always did when the need was real. \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus, drive back this corruption from your sight.\u0026rdquo;\nThe divine light blazed green and fierce. The zombie didn\u0026rsquo;t so much fall as come apart, its rotting flesh sloughing away from brittle bones, the whole wretched assemblage collapsing into a heap of dust and foulness that scattered across the floorboards.\nRiyou appeared in the doorway, already crouching over the remains with professional interest. Her small hands sifted through the debris. \u0026ldquo;Rusty lantern,\u0026rdquo; she reported, holding it up. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s all it had.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft knelt beside Seacrock, gently turning him over. The man\u0026rsquo;s eyes fluttered open, wide and wild. \u0026ldquo;Is it\u0026ndash;did you\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re fine,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, his voice steady and warm. \u0026ldquo;Just a close call. Nothing broken.\u0026rdquo;\nBut the screaming from below hadn\u0026rsquo;t stopped.\nThey rushed down the stairs\u0026ndash;Bancroft in the lead, his sword still glowing faintly with residual divine energy, Riyou close behind with her dagger drawn. The common room was a wreck. Tables overturned, chairs splintered, and the bartender backed into a corner, jabbing a pitchfork at the last remaining zombie with the grim determination of a man defending his livelihood.\n\u0026ldquo;Little help here?\u0026rdquo; the bartender grunted, narrowly avoiding a swipe of grey-green claws.\nSeacrock, who had followed them downstairs on trembling legs, raised a shaking hand. A dart of pure arcane energy shot from his fingertips and struck the zombie square in the chest. The creature staggered, its dead legs folding beneath it, and collapsed face-first into the sawdust. It did not rise again.\nIn the silence that followed, they took stock. The sapphire gem they had recovered the night before\u0026ndash;the one from the collapsed chamber that had cost Mirumi and Luxsley their lives\u0026ndash;was cracked, a hairline fracture running through its center like a frozen lightning bolt.\n\u0026ldquo;Mazzah might know what it does,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft suggested. \u0026ldquo;Even cracked, there\u0026rsquo;s something about it.\u0026rdquo;\nThe grumpy wizard accepted their twenty gold pieces with his customary warmth\u0026ndash;which is to say, none at all\u0026ndash;and promised to identify the gem\u0026rsquo;s properties. While they waited, Bancroft sold the trap crossbow they had recovered from the barrow for a handful of coins that barely seemed worth the trouble of carrying the thing to market.\nWith time to kill, they wandered to the outskirts of town, where a statue of Herne stood by the roadside. Or what was left of it. The figure had been chained and disfigured, its features chipped away by deliberate hands, iron links wrapped around its stone limbs like shackles on a prisoner.\nBancroft studied it in silence. Even he could feel that something was wrong here\u0026ndash;something older and deeper than simple vandalism.\nSeacrock, meanwhile, had developed an unexpected interest in local property. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve been thinking,\u0026rdquo; he announced, approaching a cluster of farmers near the market square. \u0026ldquo;A man needs roots. Somewhere to settle down. Any houses for sale around here?\u0026rdquo;\nThe farmers regarded him with cautious interest until Riyou wandered over to join the conversation. Their eyes went to her tattoos\u0026ndash;the swirling, arcane marks of her former cult\u0026ndash;and their expressions hardened like setting mortar. Doors closed. Conversations ended. Within five minutes, Seacrock couldn\u0026rsquo;t have bought a chicken coop in Helix.\n\u0026ldquo;Perhaps,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said flatly, \u0026ldquo;I should wait around the corner next time.\u0026rdquo;\nThey gathered their gear and set out for the barrowmaze, spirits dampened but resolve intact. They hadn\u0026rsquo;t gone far when the first frog attacked.\nIt wasn\u0026rsquo;t one of the small, croaking things that sang in the marshes at night. This was a giant toad the size of a hunting dog, its warty hide glistening with slime, its mouth wide enough to swallow a halfling\u0026rsquo;s head. It launched itself from the reeds with a wet, meaty slap, and three more followed close behind.\nThey fought them off and pressed on, but the frogs kept coming. It was as if something was drawing the creatures toward them\u0026ndash;or rather, toward something they carried.\nSeacrock was the one who figured it out. She stopped mid-stride and rummaged through her pack, her face going pale. \u0026ldquo;The gem,\u0026rdquo; she said, holding up the cracked sapphire. \u0026ldquo;The one we left with Mazzah. It\u0026rsquo;s here. In my pack.\u0026rdquo;\nThey stared at it. None of them had touched it since leaving the wizard\u0026rsquo;s tower.\n\u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s not possible,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said.\n\u0026ldquo;And yet.\u0026rdquo; Riyou gestured at the gem with the tip of her dagger.\nMore frogs erupted from the marsh, six of them this time, their croaking building into a deafening chorus. Seacrock threw a sleep spell at the largest cluster, dropping three of them into the mud, while Bancroft scattered caltrops behind them as they ran. But the remaining frogs simply went around the caltrops, their bulging eyes fixed on the party with single-minded hunger.\nThey ran all the way back to Helix, burst through Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s door, and slammed the gem on his table.\n\u0026ldquo;It came back,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft panted. \u0026ldquo;We left it with you and it came back.\u0026rdquo;\nMazzah peered at the gem over his spectacles. His perpetual scowl deepened into something that might have been concern. \u0026ldquo;Cursed,\u0026rdquo; he said simply. \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t do curses. You\u0026rsquo;ll want the priests of St Ygg for that.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Can you at least tell us what it does?\u0026rdquo; Seacrock asked.\n\u0026ldquo;What\u0026rsquo;s the point? You can\u0026rsquo;t use it until the curse is lifted, and lifting the curse will probably destroy it.\u0026rdquo; The wizard waved them away. \u0026ldquo;Go bother the Yggians. That\u0026rsquo;s what they\u0026rsquo;re for.\u0026rdquo;\nThe priests of St Ygg were more accommodating, though the half-orc Gamrac fixed them with a penetrating stare as he worked the ritual of uncursing. \u0026ldquo;You visited the statue of Herne today,\u0026rdquo; he said. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t a question.\nBancroft shifted uncomfortably. \u0026ldquo;We were just passing by.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Herne\u0026rsquo;s followers have been growing bolder,\u0026rdquo; Gamrac continued, his eyes never leaving Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s face. \u0026ldquo;Defacing holy sites. Spreading their influence. If you encounter anything\u0026hellip; unusual\u0026hellip; the Church would appreciate hearing about it.\u0026rdquo;\nThe curse lifted with a sharp crack, the gem shattering into worthless fragments on the altar. Whatever dark magic had bound it to them was broken, scattered like the dust of a turned zombie.\nThey left the temple lighter in both pocket and burden, the mystery of the cursed gem behind them\u0026ndash;though Gamrac\u0026rsquo;s questions about Herne lingered in Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s mind like a shadow that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t quite fade.\nIrulan # The night was exciting, apparently. Some slimy green zombie climbed in Seacrock\u0026rsquo;s window and attacked him. Another one came up from below. Seacrock was knocked unconscious after killing one, and woke up with a strangle scar around his neck. Bancroft turned one and went downstairs to go after the one down there, but Riyou beat him to it. The St. Ygg priests killed a bunch outside that were trying to come to the tavern. I slept through it all. It\u0026rsquo;s weird that they were all coming to the tavern.\nThe card this morning was the 8 of wands. Action and progress. Well, we certainly had action this morning. Seacrock cast detect magic on the gem, and it glowed, so we took it to Mazzah. He said it was cracked and only worth 10 gold. We paid for an identify, and he said to come back tomorrow. The guys wanted to see the Herne statue, so we went there. Seacrock talked to farmers about any available house for sale. Until they saw Riyou\u0026rsquo;s tattoos and then nobody wanted to talk to us.\nWe headed into the barrow, going through the secret passage in the skull barrow (D10). Then Seacrock found the gem in his bag. The one we left at Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s. As we were lighting torches, 6 giant toads came at us. We took it as a sign that the gem was cursed and we needed to get rid of it. We ran, but 4 caught us. I tried to hit one that attacked Seacrock, but my sword hit a stump and got chipped. We kept running until we got to town. We headed straight for Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s. He said he didn\u0026rsquo;t do curses, and there wasn\u0026rsquo;t a point to finding out what the gem did if we couldn\u0026rsquo;t get rid of the curse, so we went to St. Ygg to get rid of it. I tried to say we just found it in the maze and brought it right back, but Seacrock didn\u0026rsquo;t catch on. So instead of selling it to them to destroy, we had to pay them to remove the curse, which destroyed the gem. Riyou headed out on a mysterious errand to fix her tattoos.\n","date":"27 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-01-27-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Bancroft\nBancroft # The screaming started with the dog.\nBancroft was deep in a dreamless sleep when the sound reached him–a frantic, high-pitched barking from down the hall, followed by the crash of something heavy hitting a door. Then came Seacrock’s voice, raw with panic, echoing through the thin walls of the inn.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 45","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"26 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/alandor/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Alandor","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"26 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/perch/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Perch","type":"tags"},{"content":" Wyz\nBefore setting out, Alandor tucked his precious \u0026ldquo;gryphon egg\u0026rdquo; beneath his bed, hiding it among the dust and shadows where prying eyes wouldn\u0026rsquo;t think to look. The old man had grown attached to the thing, whatever it truly was.\nThe trouble began at the village gates. Two guards in the livery of St. Ygg blocked Alandor\u0026rsquo;s path, their eyes fixed on his shield.\n\u0026ldquo;That serpent,\u0026rdquo; one said, jabbing a finger at the coiled symbol. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s the mark of Set. Death cultists. You\u0026rsquo;ll not be carrying that into the barrows under our watch.\u0026rdquo;\nAlandor\u0026rsquo;s shoulders sagged, but the old man had a gift for looking pathetic when it suited him. After much pleading and protestation of ignorance, the guards relented\u0026ndash;partially. They took the snake shield and pressed a replacement into his hands, this one bearing the holy symbol of Ygg.\nThe road to the barrowmaze offered its usual hospitality. Giant scorpions burst from the tall grass, pincers clacking, stingers dripping venom. The party scattered and ran, legs pumping, lungs burning, until the chitinous nightmares gave up the chase.\nThey found an untouched mound and set to digging, shovels biting into ancient earth. The work had barely begun when more scorpions emerged, drawn by the noise or the scent of warm blood. Once again, the party fled.\nLater, they encountered a band of eleven strangers, their leader clutching a sealed clay bottle. \u0026ldquo;Magical,\u0026rdquo; he promised, showing off the arcane script on the label. \u0026ldquo;Essence of ghost. Eighty gold.\u0026rdquo;\nWyz examined it with a scholar\u0026rsquo;s eye. The magic was real enough, but eighty gold might as well have been eighty thousand. They declined. The strangers left with suspicious haste, and Morrigan\u0026ndash;ever watchful\u0026ndash;slipped into the shadows to follow.\nShe returned with grim news. The strangers had descended into a familiar tomb, the one where ghouls made their lair among gnawed bones. Three had stayed outside to keep watch.\nBy the time the party arrived, the guards were gone. Only blood remained\u0026ndash;dark smears and drag marks leading down into the darkness. Morrigan crept to the entrance and pressed her ear to the cold stone. From below came wet, crunching sounds. The ghouls were feasting.\n\u0026ldquo;We should make noise,\u0026rdquo; Alandor said, stroking his beard. \u0026ldquo;Draw them out. Count their numbers.\u0026rdquo;\nWyz\u0026rsquo;s yellow eyes narrowed. \u0026ldquo;I refuse to participate in your plan because it is stupid.\u0026rdquo;\nThe old man sputtered. \u0026ldquo;Now see here\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Are you really so eager to find out what happens when ghouls chase you and you don\u0026rsquo;t get away?\u0026rdquo; The goblin\u0026rsquo;s voice was flat, utterly without sympathy.\nAlandor fell silent.\nThey tried digging once more at a different mound, but skeletons on patrol caught their scent. Bones clattered. Empty eye sockets fixed upon them. The party ran yet again, and when they finally stopped to catch their breath, they found themselves standing before a barrow they all recognized\u0026ndash;the one that held the mysterious book.\nWyz studied his companions\u0026rsquo; faces. \u0026ldquo;Perhaps it\u0026rsquo;s time we tried again.\u0026rdquo;\nThey formed a circle, hands clasped, maintaining contact with one another. Wyz whispered the words to Mage Armor, feeling the invisible shield settle over his skin. Then, together, they reached for the book.\nOnly Wyz vanished.\nHe found himself in a place of darkness and shadow, the air thick with the smell of old dust and older magic. Before him stood a figure in robes, already raising its hands to cast.\nBoth wizards moved at once. Syllables of power tumbled from their lips\u0026ndash;but Wyz had a trick. His free hand whipped forward, launching a pebble at his opponent\u0026rsquo;s face. The stone struck true, and the other wizard\u0026rsquo;s spell dissolved into a startled curse.\nNeither surrendered to the other\u0026rsquo;s magic.\nThen came the darts\u0026ndash;bolts of pure arcane force that screamed through the darkness like angry stars. They struck flesh, blasted it to bloody mist, left both combatants staggering and gasping.\nIn the end, it came down to steel. Wyz drew his dragonbone dagger. His opponent produced its twin. They circled, feinted, struck.\nThe goblin in the robes fell at last, dark blood pooling beneath him. With his final breath, he spat curses in the black tongue.\nOne by one, the others followed. Alandor touched the book and vanished. Then Perch. Each faced their own trial in that place of darkness. Neither emerged.\nMorrigan and Aura remained in the chamber, staring at the now-closed book. They exchanged a long look.\n\u0026ldquo;So,\u0026rdquo; Morrigan said quietly. \u0026ldquo;What now?\u0026rdquo;\nMorrigan # Ygg paladins stopped Alandor and questioned the old man about the snake shield. They said it was a symbol of Set, a death cult. He asked if he could keep it and we could try to infiltrate the Set cult, but the paladins scoffed and said they were an order of taking action, not subterfuge. I had to bit my tongue or I would have muttered \u0026ldquo;yet you sit here in the village and let us go kill the dead things and monsters.\u0026rdquo; They confiscated the shield, but were moved by the old man\u0026rsquo;s piteous pleas, and gave him a St. Ygg shield.\nWe headed out to the barrows and encountered what looked like a big mound but turned into two scorpions. We ran and it was a close thing, but we managed to lose them. We stopped by a buried barrow (D26) while Aura and Alandor shoveled while the rest of us kept watch. Less than an hour later, we were accosted by 3 giant scorpions. Apparently it\u0026rsquo;s bug day. We ran again, stopping at another buried barrow (D13) at the edge of the swamp. Again, only half an hour in, a group of 11 approached and waved at us. The leader wanted to sell us a sealed clay bottle that he said had magic writing on the label. Wyz said it said \u0026ldquo;essence of ghost.\u0026rdquo; He wanted 80 gold for it. I laughed. They abruptly left, acting suspiciously.\nI followed them surreptitiously. They jigged and jagged and stopped at a the ghoul barrow (D20). I watched them talk for a bit, and three stayed outside while the rest lit torches and went inside. I went back and told the group. They decided to follow the other group, take out the 3 outside, and wait for the rest to come out, or die from ghouls. I approached from stealth. The rest approached with the ruse that we pooled the money together. By the time we got there, nobody was out front. I snuck up to listen at the doorway, but I saw blood and drag marks. I heard munching noises from inside. I went back and told the rest that the ghouls got them. All 11 of them, including the guy in plate mail. Alandor and Perch discussed throwing something in the barrow to try and draw the ghouls out, but Wyz said that was stupid. We went back to digging (D26) while Wyz supervised me on worked on making his rope ladder longer so we could go down the main barrow.\nThree skeletons on patrol headed for us. We ran again. Wyz mentioned investigating the magic book since we were close to that barrow. Somehow the plan morphed from Wyz checking it out to all of us touching the book and each other. A bunch of people disappeared when they touched the book in previous groups. This seemed like a horrible idea. But, peer pressure, I went along with it. Nothing happened, but the goblin disappeared and the open book snapped shut. The insanity continued, and Alandor said he\u0026rsquo;d touch the book while we all touched him. He disappeared into a shadow that got sucked into the book, even though the rest of us were touching him. Perch touched the book and disappeared. Aura and I, left to our own devices, came up with a new plan. We would shoot an arrow with a rope attached at the book, and covering our hands with a cloak, and drag the book to Mazza. He would either kill whatever was inside or get sucked in and we would be free to loot his tower.\n","date":"26 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-01-26-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Wyz\nBefore setting out, Alandor tucked his precious “gryphon egg” beneath his bed, hiding it among the dust and shadows where prying eyes wouldn’t think to look. The old man had grown attached to the thing, whatever it truly was.\nThe trouble began at the village gates. Two guards in the livery of St. Ygg blocked Alandor’s path, their eyes fixed on his shield.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 44","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"26 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/wyz/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Wyz","type":"tags"},{"content":" Bancroft\nBancroft # The jingle of coins in his purse was a happy, heavy sound, a promise of steel and safety. Bancroft, his mind as clear and simple as a summer sky, had a singular purpose. \u0026ldquo;I have enough,\u0026rdquo; he\u0026rsquo;d declared to his friends, his voice booming with the certainty of a man who has counted his treasure and found it sufficient. \u0026ldquo;We go to Ironguard Motte. I\u0026rsquo;m getting my plate mail!\u0026rdquo;\nThe road called. With Irulan at his side\u0026ndash;her quiet strength a steady counterpoint to his boisterous enthusiasm\u0026ndash;and three new sellswords from the Grey Company for good measure, they signed on to guard a merchant caravan heading in the right direction. The journey was a pleasant affair of rolling hills and fine weather until, with a sharp crack that echoed the breaking of their schedule, a wagon\u0026rsquo;s axle splintered. The sun was dipping below the horizon by the time repairs were done, leaving them stranded outside the motte\u0026rsquo;s closed gates. They made a rough camp with the caravan, the flickering fire casting long shadows that danced like the ghosts of the barrowmaze. The night, thankfully, passed without incident.\nMorning brought the bustle of the town and the smell of hot food from the Bloated Halfling Inn, where they secured rooms and a promise of a good meal. But Bancroft had no time for comfort. He made straight for the clang and hiss of the armory, a forge run by a master smith named Keegan. While Bancroft eagerly made his purchase, Kafeelia, ever practical, saw an opportunity. \u0026ldquo;You need a hand?\u0026rdquo; she asked the smith, her dwarven eye assessing the quality of his work. Keegan, impressed by her directness, gave her a nod and put her to work.\nHer hands, accustomed to the heft of a warhammer, were clumsy at first with the delicate task of fitting plates. Nerves frayed her focus, and she fumbled a pauldron, earning a sharp look from Keegan. But her dwarven resolve was stronger than any fleeting anxiety. She took a deep breath, muttered a curse at her own shaking fingers, and set to it again, this time with the steady, practiced rhythm of a true smith. By the time Keegan returned to inspect her work, the armor was not just repaired, but perfected.\nThen came the moment of truth. Bancroft, stripped down to his gambeson, stepped into the suit of steel. Plate by plate, Kafeelia and Keegan strapped and buckled him in. The weight was immense, a solid, grounding presence that felt less like a burden and more like an anchor. He moved, tentatively at first, then with growing confidence. The steel plates shone, reflecting a distorted, heroic version of himself. He grinned, a wide, boyish expression of pure joy. He felt invincible.\nAfter a night of well-fed and well-earned rest at the inn, they took another caravan back to Helix, the steel plates of Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s new armor clinking a triumphant rhythm with every step. The next day, they returned to the barrowmaze.\nThey descended into the same barrow that had so recently offered up its glittering treasures. The entry chamber was just as they\u0026rsquo;d left it: silent, the four pillars standing like stark, empty hands. The three doors leading deeper into the earth remained closed, silent invitations to further danger.\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll take the west,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft announced, his voice muffled by his new helmet as he pressed his ear to the cold stone. Irulan and the others did the same at the other doors. \u0026ldquo;Rustling,\u0026rdquo; Irulan reported from the eastern door. \u0026ldquo;Like something is shifting in there.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Nothing here,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said. A moment of tense silence passed. \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s try north,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft decided. Mirumi, her movements light and careful, crept forward to inspect the door. \u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s something on the handle,\u0026rdquo; she whispered, pointing. \u0026ldquo;A wire.\u0026rdquo;\nA trap. They backed away, tying a length of rope to the handle. From a safe distance, they yanked. The door flew open with a crash, and from the darkness beyond, three crossbows fired in a deadly volley. The bolts thudded into the opposite wall and clattered harmlessly on the stone floor. They entered the small, musty room cautiously. At the back, a short, strange corridor led to a dead end. The only things of value were the crossbows themselves. Though in rough shape, they were functional. \u0026ldquo;For the new recruits,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft declared, claiming one for himself.\nAs they searched, Irulan held up a hand. \u0026ldquo;Listen.\u0026rdquo; From outside the room, back in the main chamber, came a low, moaning sound. \u0026ldquo;From the south door.\u0026rdquo;\nA grim understanding passed between them. They set up a defensive line before the southern door, a wall of steel and resolve. Bancroft, feeling the familiar stirrings of his faith, raised his sword and prayed. \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus, grant us your cleansing fire!\u0026rdquo; His blade ignited, not with the warm light of a torch, but with an eerie, emerald-green flame that writhed and danced, casting ghostly shadows on the walls.\n\u0026ldquo;Ready?\u0026rdquo; he asked Irulan. She nodded, her hand tight on the door. With a single, powerful tug, she ripped it open.\nBancroft and Irulan\nTwo zombies, their flesh sagging and their eyes vacant, stumbled through the doorway. Irulan\u0026rsquo;s blade was a blur of motion, striking the first one hard across the chest. Bancroft followed, his flaming sword scything through the air. As the green fire touched the undead creature, it didn\u0026rsquo;t just fall\u0026ndash;it disintegrated, in a flash of emerald light, leaving only a puff of foul-smelling dust.\nThe remaining zombie clawed at Bancroft, its nails screeching against his new armor. He felt a sharp sting on his arm, a mere scratch where a moment before a fatal blow would have landed. He laughed, a short, sharp bark of surprise and relief. \u0026ldquo;It works!\u0026rdquo;\nA sling stone from Mirumi whizzed past his head, and a dart of pure magic from Luxsley slammed into the zombie\u0026rsquo;s shoulder. As more of the shambling dead pressed forward, Bancroft and Irulan held the line, a bulwark against the tide of death. When four zombies clawed at their shields, Bancroft judged the moment to be right. He raised his holy symbol, the green fire on his sword flaring in response. \u0026ldquo;Be gone, foul things!\u0026rdquo; he roared, channeling the full might of his patron\u0026rsquo;s wrath. Two of the creatures were instantly consumed by the same green flames that had taken the first. The others, their dead minds somehow sensing the overwhelming power, turned and fled back into the darkness of the tomb.\nBancroft\u0026rsquo;s sword was the only light as the party\u0026rsquo;s torches suddenly sputtered and died. He and Irulan gave chase, slamming the heavy tomb doors shut on the fleeing undead. He lit a fresh torch from his still-burning blade and passed it to Kafeelia, the green flames casting a sickly, flickering glow over their faces.\nWith the immediate threat gone, they turned their attention to the eastern door, where Irulan had first heard the rustling. Ignoring the faint, groaning sounds of stone from within, they pushed it open. The room was a mess of rubble from a partial collapse, but something glinted from within the largest pile of debris.\n\u0026ldquo;Treasure,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft breathed, his earlier triumph making him bold. He scrambled over the rocks, his eyes fixed on the source of the light. He reached in, his gauntleted fingers closing around a smooth, cool object. A sapphire scarab.\nThe moment his fingers closed around his prize, the ground trembled. The glint of treasure had been a lure, and they had taken the bait. With a deafening groan, the rubble around them shifted, and rocks began to rain down from the ceiling. Bancroft threw himself backward, a desperate, clumsy scramble for safety. Heavy stones crashed down where he had been standing, bruising him even as he escaped the worst of it.\nHe looked back into the choking cloud of dust just in time to see Irulan, Mirumi, and Luxsley disappear under an avalanche of stone. The sickening crunch of breaking bones was lost in the roar of the collapse. Only Kafeelia, her dwarven senses screaming a warning moments before, had managed to leap clear.\n\u0026ldquo;No!\u0026rdquo; Bancroft scrambled back to the pile, tearing at the rocks with his bare hands. \u0026ldquo;Irulan! Mirumi!\u0026rdquo; He and Kafeelia worked frantically, their hope dwindling with every stone they moved. They found Irulan first, pulling her limp body from beneath a massive block of granite. She was alive, but barely. Her breath was a shallow, ragged gasp. Bancroft, his hands shaking and his mind numb with shock, tried to summon the words of a healing prayer, but they caught in his throat, lost in a wave of horror and grief.\nThey pulled the others out, but it was too late. Mirumi and Luxsley lay still and broken, their adventures over. As Bancroft and Irulan knelt beside their fallen friends, lost in mourning, Kafeelia drew her warhammer. With a grim, practical finality, she brought it down on the heads of the deceased.\nBancroft recoiled, a protest dying on his lips. He understood the grim necessity\u0026ndash;preventing them from rising again as part of the barrow\u0026rsquo;s legion of undead\u0026ndash;but the brutality of it turned his stomach. Disgusted, but accepting, he helped carry the bodies.\nThey returned to Helix a shattered group, their number diminished, their spirits broken. In Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s hand, clutched so tightly his knuckles were white, was the sapphire scarab. A pretty thing, worth perhaps two dozen gold coins. He stared at it, the beautiful, dead stone, and wondered if it was worth the lives it had cost.\nIrulan # Humbled by my companions\u0026rsquo; aid, Bancroft healing me and Riyou making the creature let go of me, I vowed to be a better version of myself. I will strike truer from now on. I also vowed to get a magic weapon by any means necessary. Today\u0026rsquo;s card was the king of swords, calmly cutting through deceptions.\nBancroft wanted plate mail, I mean, who doesn\u0026rsquo;t? So we decided to go to Ironguard Motte with Luxely and his two friends. We got paid to guard a caravan on the way. About halfway there, a wheel axle broke and needed fixing. It put us too late to get into town, so we camped with the caravan outside of the walls, sleeping under the wagons when not on watch. Without tents, bedrolls, or rations, it was miserable. Kafeelia appeared from somewhere in the morning, so she must have hitched a ride on a wagon. She tried roasting a frog liver over a fire, but burned it. Must be very delicate and hard to cook.\nBancroft and Kafeelia wandered off to an armorer. I wen with the rest to the Bloated Halfling Inn, drawn by the amazing smells wafting from the door. We happily paid the exorbitant sum to eat now and at dinner, and to get a room for later. Luxely tried learning spells from the scrolls we found, but one paper poofed up in flames. I just hung out and enjoyed nothing trying to kill me. Bancroft came back with his shiny new armor. I\u0026rsquo;m jealous. Kafeelia worked with the armorer for the day, then went to the soup kitchen for the night, not having earned enough to afford the inn. After a delicious dinner and cherry handpies for dessert, we went to bed.\nAs we left, an old man told a story about a ruin to an old god in the Black Forest, in which there was a cave with secrets and treasure. I filed it away for later as a possible adventure. We got back to Helix without issue, and spent the night at the far less well provisioned inn. In the morning we went to the barrows, back to the one with the pillars, hoping the coffer corpses were gone. I didn\u0026rsquo;t feel the same heavy \u0026ldquo;nothingness\u0026rdquo; so should be good. I guarded while the others listened at the three doors. Mirumi heard rock scraping behind the east door. We decided to try the north door. It seemed to be trapped with something on the doorknob on the inside. We pulled it open with a rope from a distance. Three crossbow bolts hit the stairs. There was a narrow passage to the northeast that dead ended.\nAfter searching, I heard moaning from outside the door. Nothing was found during the search. I was noisy and there was scraping at the door. I opened the door to two zombies. I hit one. But there were more coming. After killing some, Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s spell made some die and others run. We searched the east room with the rock scraping, because Bancroft thought it was a good idea. There was a cave in and more debris coming from the ceiling. There was a glint from the rubble pile. As we searched, the room caved in more and it went dark. When I came to, Luxsly and Mirumi were dead, and I was barely functioning. Bancroft did find one gem in the pile. We went back to town to rest up.\n","date":"13 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-01-13-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Bancroft\nBancroft # The jingle of coins in his purse was a happy, heavy sound, a promise of steel and safety. Bancroft, his mind as clear and simple as a summer sky, had a singular purpose. “I have enough,” he’d declared to his friends, his voice booming with the certainty of a man who has counted his treasure and found it sufficient. “We go to Ironguard Motte. I’m getting my plate mail!”\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 43","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Wyz\nThe morning after their return from the shadowmaze, Wyz gathered his companions in his cramped room at the inn. The goblin\u0026rsquo;s scarred fingers trembled slightly as he worked the clasp on the scrollcase they had recovered from the rats\u0026rsquo; nest\u0026ndash;whether from anticipation or exhaustion, none could say.\n\u0026ldquo;Stand back,\u0026rdquo; Wyz commanded. \u0026ldquo;And try not to breathe too heavily. You\u0026rsquo;ll contaminate the arcane residue.\u0026rdquo;\nPerch snorted from behind his fish-head helmet. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re standing in the hallway, Wyz.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Exactly where minions belong.\u0026rdquo;\nThe case opened with a soft click, and Wyz\u0026rsquo;s yellow eyes went wide. Three sheets of vellum lay within, each covered in the intricate sigils and notations of magical formulae. The goblin\u0026rsquo;s breath caught in his throat.\n\u0026ldquo;Magic Missile,\u0026rdquo; he whispered reverently, touching the first page. \u0026ldquo;Floating Disk. And\u0026hellip; Web.\u0026rdquo; A grin spread across his face, revealing rows of pointed teeth. \u0026ldquo;The shadowmaze provides for those worthy enough to take from it.\u0026rdquo;\nAlandor peered over Wyz\u0026rsquo;s shoulder. \u0026ldquo;You already know Magic Missile, don\u0026rsquo;t you?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Obviously.\u0026rdquo; Wyz rolled the first scroll carefully. \u0026ldquo;Which means we can sell it. Mazzah will pay handsomely for such a specimen.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Mazzah?\u0026rdquo; Perch asked. \u0026ldquo;That grumpy old wizard who charged us ten gold just to tell us a sword was rusty?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;The very same. But Alandor here has a\u0026hellip; connection.\u0026rdquo; Wyz fixed the old roustabout with a calculating stare. \u0026ldquo;You went to school together, did you not?\u0026rdquo;\nAlandor shifted uncomfortably. \u0026ldquo;That was decades ago. We weren\u0026rsquo;t exactly friends.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Friendship is irrelevant. Access is what matters. You will get us through his door.\u0026rdquo;\nThe visit to Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s tower went better than expected. The high wizard, though perpetually irritated by visitors, softened slightly at the sight of his former schoolmate\u0026ndash;or at least stopped actively scowling. After considerable haggling, during which Wyz demonstrated a talent for mercantile ruthlessness that bordered on the theatrical, they walked away with eighty gold pieces.\n\u0026ldquo;Eighty gold!\u0026rdquo; Perch exclaimed as they stepped back into the street. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s more than I\u0026rsquo;ve seen in my entire life!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;And yet somehow still not enough for you to afford a decent set of armor,\u0026rdquo; Wyz observed dryly. \u0026ldquo;Morrigan, give him ten gold from your share.\u0026rdquo;\nThe thief raised an eyebrow. \u0026ldquo;My share?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;He\u0026rsquo;s our primary defensive asset. An investment in his survival is an investment in our continued existence. Besides,\u0026rdquo; Wyz added, \u0026ldquo;you can steal it back later.\u0026rdquo;\nMorrigan\u0026rsquo;s expression suggested she had already considered this option. She handed Perch the coins with surprising grace.\nBack in his room, Wyz spent the remainder of the day hunched over the remaining scrolls. The Floating Disk formula seemed straightforward enough\u0026ndash;a simple manipulation of gravitational forces to create a hovering platform. Child\u0026rsquo;s play, really.\nThree hours later, the scroll lay in ashes on his desk, and Wyz\u0026rsquo;s eyebrows had been singed clean off.\n\u0026ldquo;The notation was\u0026hellip; unconventional,\u0026rdquo; he muttered when Alandor knocked to check on him. \u0026ldquo;The original wizard clearly had no formal training.\u0026rdquo;\nThe Web spell proved more stubborn still. Wyz\u0026rsquo;s first attempt produced nothing but a faint smell of sulfur and a persistent ringing in his left ear. He sat in frustrated silence for nearly an hour, reviewing his mental notes, consulting his own spellbook, and muttering dark curses in Goblin.\nWhen he tried again, something clicked. The arcane energies flowed through him like water finding its proper channel, and he felt the spell\u0026rsquo;s structure settle into his mind with a satisfying permanence. He could see it now\u0026ndash;the web of sticky strands, the intricate lattice of magical force, the way it would spring from his fingertips to ensnare his enemies.\nBut when he reached for the power to actually cast it, he found\u0026hellip; nothing. The well of arcane energy within him was simply too shallow. He understood the spell perfectly\u0026ndash;every gesture, every syllable, every thread of magical force\u0026ndash;but his body lacked the capacity to channel such power. Not yet.\n\u0026ldquo;The knowledge is mine,\u0026rdquo; he said to no one in particular, a hint of frustration creeping into his voice. \u0026ldquo;The power will follow. It is only a matter of time.\u0026rdquo;\nThe next morning, Perch made his case over breakfast.\n\u0026ldquo;I need real armor,\u0026rdquo; the dwarf said, gesturing at his battered chainmail. \u0026ldquo;Plate. Something that won\u0026rsquo;t collapse the first time a skeleton sneezes at me.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Plate mail costs a fortune,\u0026rdquo; Alandor pointed out. \u0026ldquo;Where would we even find a smith capable of fitting a dwarf?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Ironguard Motte,\u0026rdquo; Morrigan said quietly. She had been unusually subdued all morning, picking at her food and avoiding eye contact. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a trading post to the east. Smiths there can outfit anyone, for the right price.\u0026rdquo;\nWyz considered this. \u0026ldquo;And how do you propose we travel there without being robbed, eaten, or both?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Caravan guard work.\u0026rdquo; Perch sat up straighter, clearly having thought this through. \u0026ldquo;Merchants need protection on the roads. We get paid to travel, and I get my armor.\u0026rdquo;\nThe goblin wizard drummed his fingers on the table. Getting paid to walk somewhere he needed to go anyway held a certain appeal. \u0026ldquo;Very well. We shall escort some hapless merchant to this Motte of yours. Try not to embarrass me.\u0026rdquo;\nThe journey to Ironguard Motte passed without incident, though Morrigan spent most of it with her hood pulled low, scanning the horizon with unusual wariness. When Alandor asked if something was wrong, she simply shrugged and said, \u0026ldquo;I prefer not to be recognized.\u0026rdquo;\nIronguard Motte proved to be less of a town and more of a fortified trading post\u0026ndash;a collection of shops, inns, and services clustered around a central keep. Merchants and travelers of all races mingled in the muddy streets, conducting business in a dozen languages.\nPerch made straight for the smith, a burly woman named Hilda who took one look at the dwarf and started taking measurements without being asked. \u0026ldquo;Plate mail for a dwarf,\u0026rdquo; she said approvingly. \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t get much call for that. Custom work. Come back tomorrow.\u0026rdquo;\nWhile they waited, the party explored what passed for commerce in Ironguard Motte. Perch wandered through a curiosity shop, emerging disappointed and empty-handed. But Alandor\u0026rsquo;s eyes lit up when he spotted something in a dusty corner.\n\u0026ldquo;Is that\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; The old man approached the merchant\u0026rsquo;s stall with reverent steps. \u0026ldquo;Is that a griffin\u0026rsquo;s egg?\u0026rdquo;\nThe merchant, a thin man with calculating eyes, smiled broadly. \u0026ldquo;Ah, you have a discerning eye, sir. Genuine griffin egg, recovered from the Cloudpeak Mountains at tremendous personal risk.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a rock,\u0026rdquo; Wyz said flatly.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s a GRIFFIN EGG,\u0026rdquo; Alandor insisted, already reaching for his coin purse. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll take it. And I\u0026rsquo;ll need a chest to protect it. Something sturdy.\u0026rdquo;\nHe also purchased a shield, emblazoned with a cult symbol of two snakes facing each other. The rest of the party warned him that he might have to cover the symbol, but the price was right; the cult symbol made it hard to sell, and Perch went through shields rapidly. The shield would make a fine gift, as long as the priests of St Ygg never saw it.\nWyz watched the transaction with theatrical disdain, but his keen eyes caught something more interesting: Morrigan had noticed several rough-looking characters taking an unhealthy interest in Alandor\u0026rsquo;s purchase. The thief drifted toward them with a casual ease that Wyz recognized immediately\u0026ndash;it was the same way a spider moves when it senses another spider has wandered into its web.\nHer body language shifted subtly, and she exchanged a few quiet words with the men. Wyz couldn\u0026rsquo;t hear what was said, but he didn\u0026rsquo;t need to. He had studied enough about the underworld to recognize thieves\u0026rsquo; cant when he saw it being spoken. The men backed off with grudging nods, and Morrigan returned to hovering near Alandor as if nothing had happened.\nInteresting, Wyz thought. Our thief has connections here. Professional ones.\nThat evening, they sought dinner at The Bloated Halfling, an establishment whose name proved to be aspirational rather than descriptive. The menu featured dishes that made even Wyz\u0026rsquo;s goblin palate water: roasted pheasant with honey glaze, braised boar in wine sauce, fresh bread with butter imported from the capital.\nPerch studied the prices and went pale beneath his fish-head helmet. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026hellip; I think I\u0026rsquo;ll just have water.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;The water costs three silver,\u0026rdquo; the server informed him.\nThey ended up at The Black Dragon Inn instead, a considerably seedier establishment that Morrigan had suggested with suspicious familiarity. The common room was full of hard-eyed men and women who sized up the party with professional interest\u0026ndash;the kind of interest that preceded either robbery or recruitment.\n\u0026ldquo;Charming place,\u0026rdquo; Alandor muttered, clutching his chest to his body.\nWyz noticed how Morrigan\u0026rsquo;s posture changed the moment they entered. Not fear\u0026ndash;recognition. She knew this place. These people. She excused herself briefly, slipping toward a shadowy corner where a heavyset man sat nursing a drink. Coins changed hands. Words were exchanged in low voices.\nWhen she returned, the predatory attention had vanished. The other patrons now studied their drinks with studied disinterest.\n\u0026ldquo;We should be fine here,\u0026rdquo; was all Morrigan said.\nWyz said nothing, but filed the observation away. Guild dues, he thought. The thief is paying tribute to stay in good standing. Which means she\u0026rsquo;s either a member in arrears, or buying safe passage through someone else\u0026rsquo;s territory. Either way, it was useful information. A minion with underworld connections had value\u0026ndash;provided those connections didn\u0026rsquo;t become a liability.\nWyz examined the egg in Alandor\u0026rsquo;s chest with theatrical disdain. \u0026ldquo;You know,\u0026rdquo; he said loudly, \u0026ldquo;this is clearly a goblin egg, not a griffin egg. The shell pattern is all wrong.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;It is NOT a goblin egg!\u0026rdquo; Alandor sputtered, his face reddening.\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve seen dozens of goblin eggs. This is definitely one of them. Congratulations, you\u0026rsquo;ve purchased a future minion for yourself.\u0026rdquo;\nAlandor clutched the chest protectively. \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re just jealous because you didn\u0026rsquo;t think of it first.\u0026rdquo;\nThat night, Perch lay awake in his room, still buzzing with anticipation over his new armor. Around midnight, he heard footsteps in the hallway\u0026ndash;soft, deliberate, pausing outside his door.\nHe reached for his weapon, heart pounding.\nThe footsteps moved on.\nIn the morning, nothing was missing, and no one mentioned anything amiss. But Perch couldn\u0026rsquo;t shake the feeling that someone had been testing the locks.\nMorrigan appeared at breakfast looking tired but satisfied. When Perch asked where she\u0026rsquo;d been, she simply shrugged.\n\u0026ldquo;Couldn\u0026rsquo;t sleep. Went for a walk.\u0026rdquo;\nWyz noted the faint bulge in her pocket that hadn\u0026rsquo;t been there the night before\u0026ndash;the shape of a folded letter. He also noted the way she\u0026rsquo;d cleaned under her fingernails, as one did after handling something one didn\u0026rsquo;t want traced back. A courier job, he deduced. Someone gave her a message to deliver, probably in exchange for passage or payment. The guild is using her as an errand girl. He filed this away as well. Leverage was leverage, after all.\nThey collected Perch\u0026rsquo;s new plate mail from Hilda\u0026rsquo;s forge. The armor gleamed in the morning light, and the dwarf practically glowed with pride as he strapped it on.\n\u0026ldquo;Now THIS is proper protection,\u0026rdquo; he declared, clanking around the smithy. \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s see those skeletons try to bite through THIS.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Wonderful,\u0026rdquo; Wyz said. \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;ve become even louder. The undead will hear us coming from three chambers away.\u0026rdquo;\nWith no caravan heading back toward Helix, they were forced to make the return journey on foot. The roads were quieter than expected, though the nights were filled with the strange croaking calls of giant toads. Occasionally, they spotted green glowing patches in the darkness where the sounds originated, and gave them a wide berth.\n\u0026ldquo;What do you suppose those are?\u0026rdquo; Alandor whispered one night, watching the eerie lights pulse in the distance.\n\u0026ldquo;Something we don\u0026rsquo;t want to meet,\u0026rdquo; Morrigan replied. \u0026ldquo;Keep walking.\u0026rdquo;\nThey made it back to Helix without incident, richer in experience if not in gold. Wyz retired to his room to study his new spell, already planning their next descent into the shadowmaze. Perch admired his reflection in every available surface. Alandor cooed over his egg.\nAnd Morrigan slipped away at dawn to deliver a letter to someone in the shadows, returning with a few gold coins and a knowing smile.\nMorrigan # Alandor and I peeked through the mostly closed door as Wyz opened the scroll case, not trusting the goblin to not make the inn explode. He was delighted to find three spells. He didn\u0026rsquo;t need one, so Alandor talked Mazzah into buying it, having known him when they were younger so Mazzah would actually let us in. Spell scrolls are worth a ton. I was tempted to pick the goblin\u0026rsquo;s pockets for the other two pages, but I\u0026rsquo;d have to bend over double to reach his pockets, and it\u0026rsquo;d be obvious, so I refrained. Feeling bad for Perch, I gave him 10 of my portion of gold from the spell so he could get cured by the stuffy St. Ygg priests. I was feeling better by the time I got to town, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t need healing.\nWe wanted to adequately equip Perch, since he\u0026rsquo;s our meat shield, so we agreed to travel with him to Ironguard Motte so he could buy platemail. We signed on to guard a caravan. Might as well get paid to go there, but I\u0026rsquo;m used to being guarded, not doing the guarding. The trip there was uneventful. I stayed unobtrusive - it\u0026rsquo;s barely a town, but Ironguard Motte has enough traffic that there was a slight risk of being recognized. I don\u0026rsquo;t want to get dragged back home when my adventure just started. I hovered while Alandor shopped, buying of all things a gryphon egg. I kept hovering, because people were eyeing him. I made the local thieves back off from Alandor with a quick cant conversation.\nWe stopped in the Bloated Halfling, and the innkeeper described an amazing menu. But nobody wanted to stay there, so I unhappily followed the rest to the cheap Black Dragon inn, which was filled with my kind. I neglected to mention it to the others. Payback for depriving me of good food. I haven\u0026rsquo;t eaten well since I ran away from Theshold. I did, however, pay the guild dues so the denizens will leave us alone, especially Alandor. Because the guild really wants that chest. I\u0026rsquo;m back to being poor now. I did politely ask if I could bring anything back for them, and received a letter to give to the Helix contact. Wyz said it was a goblin egg, not a gryphon egg, pissing Alandor off.\nAlandor opted to sleep in the same room as me. I checked under the beds, but didn\u0026rsquo;t find any trap doors. I jammed his shovel in the door to block it. I took first watch, and listened to activity below. No one bothered us, so at least this guild honors the dues payment. I did have to warn off some more toughs that Alandor was an old fart who bought a bunch of fake shit and put it in a fancy chest. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t another caravan, so we had to walk back. Perch looked intimidating in his new plate mail. We heard lots of giant toads talking to each other on the way. We saw green glowing spots where the toad sounds were coming from. But we made it safely to Helix.\nIn the morning, I delivered the letter to the guild contact. He gave me a couple gold.\n","date":"12 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-01-12-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Wyz\nThe morning after their return from the shadowmaze, Wyz gathered his companions in his cramped room at the inn. The goblin’s scarred fingers trembled slightly as he worked the clasp on the scrollcase they had recovered from the rats’ nest–whether from anticipation or exhaustion, none could say.\n“Stand back,” Wyz commanded. “And try not to breathe too heavily. You’ll contaminate the arcane residue.”\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 42","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Bancroft # The first blow that day came with the ordinary violence of the barrowmaze\u0026ndash;bloody, sudden, and oddly intimate. Bancroft planted his feet, cursing his missing shield, and brought his sword down across a shambling zombie\u0026rsquo;s shoulder. The thing snarled with a voice like dry leaves and spun, its filthy claws raking the cleric\u0026rsquo;s forearm.\n\u0026ldquo;By Sylvanus,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft gasped, tasting iron, but he kept his footing. Irulan stepped forward without hesitation, her blade ringing true as it bit into rotten tendon. Riyou\u0026rsquo;s arrow sang from the shadows and struck the creature between its shoulder and chest, driving it to its knees.\nThat same zombie, stubborn as barnacles, lashed out again and caught Bancroft across the ribs. He stumbled, breath short, then answered with a final, furious swing that dropped the corpse for good. When the water in the chamber stilled, the party rummaged through the tattered remains and found, tucked into a chest cavity, a small jade-and-gold scarab that flashed like a promise\u0026ndash;ten golden coins to split between them.\nThey spent the next hours poking through the central room with the patience of grave-robbers and the reverent messiness of clergy. Bancroft, finding his torch dull against the gloom, muttered an incantation and cast Light so the party could see the ancient dust motes dance. For nearly two hours the search turned up only cobwebs and echoes, until Irulan\u0026rsquo;s watchful eye caught a shadow beyond the western portcullis.\nTwo sarcophagi lay within, lids still sealed. The wind from the open maze made the seals sigh. Irulan wrapped Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s cloak over her gloved hands to muffle the sound and, with a grunt, lifted the heavy iron. The others slipped beneath like thieves at a funeral.\nAnticipating the usual undead ambush, Bancroft raised his holy symbol and tried to bolster them with Shield of Faith before bracing himself to Turn Undead. The spell left him trembling, but the ancient bodies did not stir; whatever sleep they kept was not cowed by a farmer\u0026rsquo;s prayers.\nAs Riyou and Irulan searched, the clink of metal and whispered steps told them they were not alone. Another group of delvers had come down the same throat of earth. Voices\u0026ndash;rough and suspicious\u0026ndash;rose in the corridor. The two groups huddled behind the portcullis and haggled with the guarded politeness of people who know blades can be the final arbiter.\nThey opted for a quiet compromise: share the corridor, share the suspicion. Bancroft, whose smile had the weary warmth of a man used to bargaining for kindness, kept his hand around a sealed scrollcase he had found in an alcove. With a glance matching Irulan\u0026rsquo;s, he hid the case beneath his cloak; discretion, after all, had bought them many lives.\nThey left the barrow that evening with faces streaked in sweat and dust, claiming to have found nothing, and the ruse held as they stepped out into Helix\u0026rsquo;s thin air. Mazzah, the tower-bound wizard, sniffed at the sealed scroll the cleric offered and waved them off with a grunt\u0026ndash;arcana for coin, but not every curiosity pleases a curmudgeon.\nIt was the priests of Ygg who leaned in. When Bancroft brushed the wax seal and pointed out the symbol of Zuul, their fingers went white with tension. In the temple\u0026rsquo;s hush the seal was broken and a scroll of Protection from Fire Elementals unfurled between reverent hands. The priests\u0026rsquo; eyes lit up with fervor; they offered to clear the debt Bancroft and Irulan owed for a Cure Disease after the giant-rat fiasco\u0026ndash;and to top it with sixteen gold pieces each besides.\nRelief has a taste, and that night the small circle of friends ate as if they could savor it. Bancroft sold the battered chest and lock he\u0026rsquo;d once used to prop a portcullis; the money bought a stout shield that caught the light like a promise. Then, at dawn, he found a hollow under an old oak and buried a few coins for Sylvanus with a farmer\u0026rsquo;s reverence\u0026ndash;small rites that mended a soul as much as a purse.\nThey celebrated in Helix the way a band of survivors should: with loud stories and louder drinking. The tavern echoed their laughter until the roof threatened to listen in. Riyou woke the next morning with two entire sleeves of tattoos\u0026ndash;skeletal vines curling around both arms and the group\u0026rsquo;s name, \u0026ldquo;The Dimly Lit,\u0026rdquo; inked across her chest. She swore she remembered fragments of the night; everyone else remembered different fragments for her.\nBancroft, overcome by a fit of ridiculous courage or holy mischief, organized a footrace through the market\u0026ndash;naked, as tales go. He ran like a spring wind and crossed the line first; the prize was small\u0026ndash;five gold\u0026ndash;but the grin he wore afterward was wide enough to buy another story.\nIrulan woke with a pounding head and a peculiar case of party envy, nursing both with a cup of bitter tea and a scowl that said she would never admit to jealousy. The next morning they set out again for the barrowmaze, pockets heavier and tempers lighter.\nOn the road they met the Norsemen\u0026ndash;a hard-handed mercenary crew\u0026ndash;who traded gossip for coin and sold Irulan a small carved statue they claimed to have pulled from a tomb. It looked promising and odd in equal measure.\nBack underground, Riyou\u0026rsquo;s picks whispered open a sealed barrow. Beneath, lit by Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s steady, magically-glowing torch, four pillars rose from the floor, each studded with glittering gemstones that caught the light and threw it back like a dozen tiny suns. Riyou spent a careful half hour probing for snares; then, perched on Irulan\u0026rsquo;s broad shoulders like some nimble, furious sprite, she pried each gem free and shuttled them into a sack with the greedy tenderness of a cat.\nTheir hurry became a mistake. As they hurried toward the entrance, two coffer corpses\u0026ndash;twisted mockeries of men made to hold treasure\u0026ndash;lunged from shadow and seized them with the cold, unyielding fingers of the grave. One found purchase on Irulan\u0026rsquo;s throat with a grip like iron, the other snapped at Bancroft but missed its mark.\nIrulan\u0026rsquo;s face went white as stone. She clawed and kicked, but the corpse\u0026rsquo;s hold was a vise. Riyou, true to her halfling instincts, vanished into the melee, then reappeared in the strangest, bravest way: leaping onto the back of the corpse that choked Irulan and stabbing until her arms trembled and the thing\u0026rsquo;s fingers slackened.\nBancroft, shouting prayers with the desperate gentleness of a shepherd, called on Sylvanus and felt green warmth spread through his hands. The nearer coffer fled with an unholy shriek, dragging Irulan; the other, unnerved, loosened its grasp. With the last of his strength he touched Irulan and felt the bark-strong certainty of life return to her limbs.\nThey ran, scraped and bloodstreaked, out into the sunlight as the beasts of the barrow shrank back into shadow. When they counted their spoils later, the gemstones were real enough: enough to set each of them up with a hundred gold pieces apiece once trimmed and sold. Joy tasted like dirt and coin.\nThe little Willendorf statuette Irulan had purchased from the Norsemen, however, proved a lesson in caution\u0026ndash;beautiful for what it was, worthless for what it claimed to be. It was a fine fake, and their laughter at being fooled was the sort of levity earned by people who had lost and found worse things in the dark.\nIrulan # Pulled a quick card while Bancroft did his thing. Wheel of Fortune, greater forces are at work. Bancroft, Riyou and I whaled on the last zombie and dropped it. We searched the bodies and found a fancy pin on one body. I kept watch while they searched the room, and I heard people talking and metal on stone. We searched the main room. Quietly, because of the noises outside. I lifted the other portcullis and held it while the other two investigated the two sarcophagus. There were two skeletons and lots of paper and garbage floating. As they were searching, I heard people coming down the stairs.\nWe tried to scare them off, but they saw through it and searched the main room while we searched the little room. Bancroft found a sealed scroll case that wasn\u0026rsquo;t waterlogged and hid it from the watching adventurer. We left them to finish searching on their own.\nMazzah wasn\u0026rsquo;t interested in the scroll, which had a Zuul symbol on it. We sold the pin to the jeweler. The St. Ygg priests opened it and said it was a spell of fire elemental protection that anyone could use. They were so happy to have an \u0026ldquo;evil\u0026rdquo; thing to destroy, they gave us gold and cleared out the debt Bancroft and I owed them for healing. It was a great deal, unless we find a fire elemental in the barrows.\nWe spent the night carousing. Nothing eventful happened to me, I just drank and went to bed because I can hold my liquor. In the morning, Riyou was tattooed all over her arms with Nergal symbols, skeleton hands, ivy, and skulls, and on her chest was a tattoo of the group name, the Dimly Lit. Bancroft looked worse for wear, having run a naked race through town after someone dared him, but he won a trophy. We headed out through storms. The Norse Whisperers saluted us as we left.\nOn the way to an unassuming barrow in the middle, we saw the Norse Whisperers, who wanted to trade a relic for quick money, saying we could sell it for more in town. I wanted to stay on their good side, so I gave them some gold for it. But I really want to know how they beat us in and got so much loot that they were loaded down.\nOur chosen barrow had double bronze doors covered in an ivy motif. Riyou unlocked the door to an eerie quiet. There was a big room with pillars with gems embedded in them. Stairs to a door straight ahead. A door to the right. The silence was oppressing. Riyou checked for traps, and said the north door was sketchy. We dug the gems out of the four pillars.\nWe headed back to town with our haul, and the chilled \u0026ldquo;nothing\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;d felt the whole time was two ghouls hiding by the entrance. One started choking me in an unbreakable hold. Bancroft tried to turn undead, and the one holding me ran, with me. I tried to hit it, but missed because of the awkward angle I was held at. Riyou hit it with a sneak attack, but did no damage with normal weapons. It did drop me. We ran, but finally lost them.\n","date":"6 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2026-01-06-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft # The first blow that day came with the ordinary violence of the barrowmaze–bloody, sudden, and oddly intimate. Bancroft planted his feet, cursing his missing shield, and brought his sword down across a shambling zombie’s shoulder. The thing snarled with a voice like dry leaves and spun, its filthy claws raking the cleric’s forearm.\n“By Sylvanus,” Bancroft gasped, tasting iron, but he kept his footing. Irulan stepped forward without hesitation, her blade ringing true as it bit into rotten tendon. Riyou’s arrow sang from the shadows and struck the creature between its shoulder and chest, driving it to its knees.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 41","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"1 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/gaming/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Gaming","type":"tags"},{"content":"Welcome to the campaign log for the Shadowmaze. This dark and mysterious labyrinth holds many secrets, dangers, and hopefully, treasures. Follow the adventures of Bancroft, Wyz and his companions as they delve deeper into its depths.\nThis section contains session reports, character notes, and other lore from our ongoing tabletop role-playing game campaign.\nRecent Adventures # ","date":"1 January 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Welcome to the campaign log for the Shadowmaze. This dark and mysterious labyrinth holds many secrets, dangers, and hopefully, treasures. Follow the adventures of Bancroft, Wyz and his companions as they delve deeper into its depths.\nThis section contains session reports, character notes, and other lore from our ongoing tabletop role-playing game campaign.\nRecent Adventures # ","title":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"16 December 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/luxsley/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Luxsley","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"16 December 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/mirumi/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Mirumi","type":"tags"},{"content":"The morning sun cast long shadows across Helix as Bancroft made his way through the town\u0026rsquo;s winding streets, his mind turning over an intriguing conversation from the previous evening. He had encountered a small goblin wizard\u0026ndash;scarred and bearing himself with the cold authority of one who had gazed beyond death\u0026rsquo;s veil\u0026ndash;who spoke of an animated serpent trapped near the rats\u0026rsquo; nest in the shadowmaze.\n\u0026ldquo;An animated snake, you say?\u0026rdquo; Bancroft had mused, his farmer\u0026rsquo;s practicality already working through the possibilities. \u0026ldquo;Made of brass and steel?\u0026rdquo;\nThe goblin\u0026rsquo;s eyes had gleamed with avarice. \u0026ldquo;Indeed. My minions were forced to retreat before its mechanical fury, but perhaps your group might succeed where they\u0026hellip; tactically withdrew.\u0026rdquo;\nNow, as Bancroft gathered his companions at their usual meeting spot, he shared the goblin\u0026rsquo;s intelligence with characteristic optimism. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve got that strong wooden chest with the good lock that I bought for storing valuables,\u0026rdquo; he explained to the assembled group. \u0026ldquo;Seems to me an animated snake could be safely contained within, then sold to Mazzah for a tidy profit.\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou, still bearing the acid scars from their recent mimic encounter, raised an eyebrow. \u0026ldquo;You want to capture a mechanical snake? In a box?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus teaches us that all creatures can be contained if you use the right approach,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft replied with the confidence of a man who had never met a problem he couldn\u0026rsquo;t solve with sufficient application of common sense.\nKafeelia hefted her warhammer thoughtfully. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve survived this long by avoiding notice, but this plan\u0026hellip; it has a certain directness to it.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan, ever the warrior, simply nodded. \u0026ldquo;If it\u0026rsquo;s made of metal, it can be broken. Or at least grabbed.\u0026rdquo;\nLuxsley, still carrying his Sacred Toad pamphlets, added with evangelical fervor, \u0026ldquo;The Sacred Toad teaches us that all serpents are sacred! Perhaps we should commune with it first?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll commune with it from inside a locked chest,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said dryly, checking her lockpicks. \u0026ldquo;Much safer that way.\u0026rdquo;\nThe journey to the shadowmaze passed without incident, though each member of the party remained alert for the dangers they had learned to expect. The memory of Druidly\u0026rsquo;s loss still hung over them, a constant reminder that the barrowmaze claimed its due from all who dared its depths.\nWhen they reached the chamber with the ancient statues, now carpeted with the corpses of rats from the goblin wizard\u0026rsquo;s methodical extermination, Bancroft positioned his chest near the secret door while his companions took their places.\n\u0026ldquo;Remember,\u0026rdquo; he said, hefting the wooden container, \u0026ldquo;Irulan grabs, I stuff, everyone else stays clear. Simple as plowing a field.\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou approached the concealed mechanism with the professional caution of one who had learned to respect the shadowmaze\u0026rsquo;s traps. Her skilled fingers found the hidden catch, and the secret door swung open to reveal\u0026ndash;\n\u0026ldquo;Gah!\u0026rdquo; Riyou squealed, leaping backward as the clockwork cobra struck like lightning from its hiding place behind the door. Its brass coils gleamed in the torchlight, jeweled eyes fixed on her with mechanical malevolence.\nBut Irulan was ready. The half-orc warrior\u0026rsquo;s reflexes, honed by countless battles, served her well as she lunged forward and seized the serpent just behind its articulated head. The construct writhed in her grip with surprising strength, its metal coils seeking purchase on her armored forearms.\n\u0026ldquo;Got it!\u0026rdquo; she grunted, wrestling with the mechanical creature as it tried to bring its venomous fangs to bear. \u0026ldquo;Bancroft, the chest!\u0026rdquo;\nThe cleric of Sylvanus moved with the same methodical efficiency he brought to all tasks, opening the wooden container and holding it ready. \u0026ldquo;Right then, in you go, you brass beauty.\u0026rdquo;\nTogether, they managed to stuff the writhing construct into the chest, Bancroft slamming the lid shut and turning the key with a satisfying click. The muffled sounds of the cobra striking against the wooden walls echoed from within, but the container held firm.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said with satisfaction, \u0026ldquo;that was easier than I expected. Sylvanus favors the prepared mind.\u0026rdquo;\nClockwork cobra\nThe journey back toward Helix began with high spirits and visions of profit dancing in their heads. Mazzah was known to pay well for unusual magical constructs, and a clockwork cobra would surely command a premium price. They had made it perhaps halfway back to town when disaster struck.\nA sharp hissing sound, followed by the acrid smell of burning wood, announced that their captive had found a way to express its displeasure. Smoke began to curl from the chest\u0026rsquo;s edges as the cobra\u0026rsquo;s acidic venom ate through the wooden walls.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s burning through!\u0026rdquo; Riyou shouted, pointing at the growing hole in the container\u0026rsquo;s side. \u0026ldquo;The thing\u0026rsquo;s got acid!\u0026rdquo;\nThe chest burst open with a splintering crash, and the clockwork cobra emerged like a brass demon, its jeweled eyes blazing with mechanical fury. It struck at the nearest target\u0026ndash;Luxsley, who barely managed to dodge the venomous fangs.\n\u0026ldquo;For the Sacred Toad!\u0026rdquo; the cultist cried, swinging his shovel at the serpent with more enthusiasm than skill.\nThe battle was brief but chaotic. Irulan managed to grab the cobra again, her warrior\u0026rsquo;s strength proving superior to its mechanical fury, while Bancroft struggled to stuff it back into the damaged chest.\n\u0026ldquo;Use my shield!\u0026rdquo; Irulan called out, wrestling with the writhing construct. \u0026ldquo;Cover the hole!\u0026rdquo;\nThey managed to secure the cobra once more, using Irulan\u0026rsquo;s shield to replace the acid-damaged lid. But their makeshift prison proved no more effective than the original. Within minutes, the relentless construct had burned through another section of the chest, escaping once more into the wilderness.\nThis time, their pursuit proved futile. The clockwork cobra slithered away into the swamps with the fluid grace of its living cousins, disappearing among the reeds and murky water where even the most determined treasure hunters feared to follow.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said philosophically as they watched their profit vanish into the marsh, \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus teaches us that not every harvest yields grain. Sometimes you just get experience.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Expensive experience,\u0026rdquo; Riyou muttered, kicking at the remains of the ruined chest.\nThey made their way back to Helix with heavy hearts and empty pockets, the weight of another failed venture pressing upon them like the humid air of the swamps. But Riyou, ever resourceful, had one last card to play.\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve got that tablet I\u0026rsquo;ve been working on,\u0026rdquo; she announced as they reached the town\u0026rsquo;s outskirts. \u0026ldquo;Maybe Mazzah will be interested in my\u0026hellip; scholarly efforts.\u0026rdquo;\nThe tablet in question bore what could charitably be called writing, though its actual content consisted largely of insulting observations about various townsfolk rendered in Riyou\u0026rsquo;s distinctive scrawl. Still, desperate times called for creative solutions.\nAt Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s tower, the grumpy wizard took one look at the assembled group and scowled. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll examine this privately,\u0026rdquo; he announced, gesturing for Riyou to follow him inside while the others waited in the street.\nHalf an hour later, Riyou emerged looking distinctly woozy, her usual sharp-eyed alertness replaced by a dreamy, unfocused expression. She clutched a small purse of coins with the careful attention of someone not entirely certain of their surroundings.\n\u0026ldquo;How much?\u0026rdquo; Bancroft asked with concern, noting her condition.\n\u0026ldquo;Fifteen gold,\u0026rdquo; she replied slowly, as if the words were traveling a great distance to reach her mouth. \u0026ldquo;He said my\u0026hellip; insights\u0026hellip; were illuminating.\u0026rdquo;\nThe coins divided evenly among the five of them, yielding three gold pieces each\u0026ndash;a slim reward that barely covered their expenses, but enough to fund another expedition. In their current circumstances, they were reduced to counting every copper.\nAs Bancroft watched Riyou struggle to focus her eyes and maintain her balance, a deep concern settled in his chest. Whatever Mazzah had done to extract those \u0026ldquo;insights\u0026rdquo; from her tablet had clearly taken a toll on his friend. The cleric found himself offering silent prayers to Sylvanus, not for treasure or protection, but for the wellbeing of his companion. In that moment of genuine care for another\u0026rsquo;s suffering, he felt his connection to the nature god deepen\u0026ndash;Sylvanus valued the natural order of things above all else, and the arcane ways of the wizard were anything but natural. The divine warmth that flowed through him was different from his usual spells, gentler but more profound, and Bancroft knew that his faith had grown stronger through his concern for Riyou\u0026rsquo;s welfare and his increased rejection of Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s arcane workings.\nThe next morning found them once again approaching the shadowmaze, this time with Kafeelia\u0026rsquo;s warhammer serving as their primary excavation tool. The dwarven fighter had suggested a promising barrow that showed signs of previous disturbance, and her weapon proved admirably suited to breaking through ancient stonework.\n\u0026ldquo;Stand back,\u0026rdquo; Kafeelia warned, raising her hammer with the practiced ease of one who had learned to make every blow count. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve survived this long by avoiding notice, but sometimes you have to make noise.\u0026rdquo;\nThe warhammer struck the sealed entrance with a resounding crash, sending chips of stone flying in all directions. A second blow opened a gap large enough to peer through, revealing the glint of water within.\n\u0026ldquo;Flooded,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft observed, holding his torch up to the opening. \u0026ldquo;But that doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean it\u0026rsquo;s empty.\u0026rdquo;\nThey widened the breach until it was large enough to enter, then waded into the knee-deep water that filled the ancient chamber. The room opened up before them, larger than they had expected, with passages leading east and west. Both exits were blocked by rusted but still-functional portcullises, their iron bars disappearing into the murky water.\nIt was Irulan who first spotted the movement beyond the eastern gate. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ve got company,\u0026rdquo; she announced, her hand moving instinctively to her sword hilt.\nHalf a dozen zombies pressed against the portcullis, their rotting hands reaching through the bars with mindless hunger. The undead creatures moaned and clawed at the iron barrier, but the ancient metalwork held firm against their assault.\n\u0026ldquo;Right then,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, raising his holy symbol with the calm confidence of a farmer preparing to deal with troublesome livestock. \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus, grant me the power to cleanse this place of corruption.\u0026rdquo;\nThe divine energy that flowed through him was like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. Two of the zombies immediately fled from his presence, their undead forms unable to withstand the holy power. Three others simply dissolved, their corrupted flesh melting away like ice in summer heat, leaving only foul-smelling ichor that sank beneath the water\u0026rsquo;s surface.\nsession 40 map\nBut one zombie proved more resilient than its companions. The creature absorbed blow after blow from the party\u0026rsquo;s weapons, falling only to rise again moments later with the inexorable persistence of the truly dead. Each time they struck it down, it would stagger back to its feet, driven by whatever dark force animated its rotting corpse.\n\u0026ldquo;This one\u0026rsquo;s tougher than the others,\u0026rdquo; Luxsley observed, swinging his shovel with religious fervor. \u0026ldquo;The Sacred Toad teaches us that some spirits cling more tightly to the mortal realm!\u0026rdquo;\nThe zombie\u0026rsquo;s persistence finally paid off when it managed to break through the weakened portcullis, the ancient iron giving way under its relentless assault. It swung at Kafeelia with bone-crushing force, but the dwarven fighter\u0026rsquo;s instincts served her well\u0026ndash;she ducked under the blow and replied with a mighty swing of her warhammer.\nThe weapon connected with a wet crunch that should have ended any mortal creature, but the zombie simply staggered and began to rise once more.\n\u0026ldquo;Enough of this,\u0026rdquo; Riyou muttered, drawing her bow with the precision of a former cultist who had learned to make every shot count. Her arrow took the creature between the eyes, the point punching through rotted skull and whatever passed for its brain. This time, it stayed down.\n\u0026ldquo;Finally,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, lowering his holy symbol. \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus teaches us that persistence conquers all\u0026ndash;even undeath, apparently.\u0026rdquo;\nThey followed the two fleeing zombies into the eastern chamber, wading through water that grew progressively fouler as they advanced. The room beyond proved disappointingly empty, containing little more than broken stone and the lingering stench of decay. The zombies cowered in the far corner, still driven to flee by Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s divine presence but trapped by the chamber\u0026rsquo;s walls.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said, hefting her sword, \u0026ldquo;at least we can finish this without them fighting back.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft raised his hand. \u0026ldquo;Wait. Let me try something first.\u0026rdquo; He approached Kafeelia, his holy symbol glowing with divine energy. \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus, bless this weapon with your cleansing power, that it might strike down the forces of corruption.\u0026rdquo;\nThe spell flickered and died, the divine energy dissipating without effect. Bancroft frowned, his farmer\u0026rsquo;s practicality warring with his religious faith. \u0026ldquo;Well, that\u0026rsquo;s unfortunate. Sometimes the gods have their own plans.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;No matter,\u0026rdquo; Kafeelia said, raising her warhammer. \u0026ldquo;Steel and determination work just as well.\u0026rdquo;\nBut Bancroft wasn\u0026rsquo;t finished. Raising his holy symbol once more, he called upon Sylvanus with renewed fervor. \u0026ldquo;Grant me the power to turn these abominations from your sight!\u0026rdquo;\nThis time, the divine energy flowed true and strong. One of the cowering zombies simply crumbled to dust, its unholy animation finally severed. The other remained, pressed against the chamber\u0026rsquo;s far wall like a cornered animal.\n\u0026ldquo;Just one left,\u0026rdquo; Riyou observed, nocking another arrow. session 40 map\nAs they prepared to finish off the remaining undead, each member of the party reflected on how far they had come since their early, desperate flights from the shadowmaze\u0026rsquo;s horrors. They were still cautious, still respectful of the dangers that lurked in every shadow, but they had learned to work together with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine.\nThe last zombie awaited its fate in the flooded chamber, but for Bancroft and his companions, it represented something more than just another obstacle to overcome. It was proof that they were becoming the kind of adventurers who could face the shadowmaze\u0026rsquo;s challenges and emerge victorious\u0026ndash;battered, perhaps, and certainly poorer than they had hoped, but alive and ready to delve deeper into the mysteries that lay beneath the earth.\nThe barrowmaze still held its secrets, and they would continue to seek them, one flooded chamber at a time.\nsession 40 map\n","date":"16 December 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-12-16-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"The morning sun cast long shadows across Helix as Bancroft made his way through the town’s winding streets, his mind turning over an intriguing conversation from the previous evening. He had encountered a small goblin wizard–scarred and bearing himself with the cold authority of one who had gazed beyond death’s veil–who spoke of an animated serpent trapped near the rats’ nest in the shadowmaze.\n“An animated snake, you say?” Bancroft had mused, his farmer’s practicality already working through the possibilities. “Made of brass and steel?”\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 40","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Wyz\nThe shadowmaze beckoned once more, and Wyz\u0026ndash;still bearing the wicked scar across his belly from his previous near-death experience\u0026ndash;gathered his \u0026ldquo;recalcitrant minions\u0026rdquo; for another descent into darkness. The goblin wizard\u0026rsquo;s eyes held that same cold fire that had burned there since his miraculous return from the depths, and his companions could sense that something fundamental had changed in their diminutive leader.\n\u0026ldquo;We return to the chamber with the statues,\u0026rdquo; Wyz announced, his voice carrying an authority that brooked no argument. \u0026ldquo;There is a rat infestation that requires\u0026hellip; methodical attention.\u0026rdquo;\nPerch adjusted his fish-head helmet nervously, while Alandor checked his sling stones for the dozenth time. Morrigan, ever the professional thief, simply nodded and checked her lockpicks. They had all heard the stories of what had transpired in that cursed place\u0026ndash;how Lessa had fallen, how the skeletons had nearly claimed them all.\nThe descent into the barrowmaze felt different this time. Where once there had been desperate flight and chaotic battle, now there was cold calculation. Wyz led them through the twisting passages with the confidence of one who had gazed beyond the veil and returned with terrible knowledge.\nWhen they reached the chamber with the ancient statues, the sound of chittering and scurrying filled the air. The rat nest was exactly where they remembered it\u0026ndash;a writhing mass of diseased rodents that had made their home among the refuse and bones.\n\u0026ldquo;Behold,\u0026rdquo; Wyz said, raising his hands as arcane energy began to crackle around his fingers, \u0026ldquo;the proper way to deal with vermin.\u0026rdquo;\nThe first sleep spell washed over the nest like a gentle tide, and several rats simply collapsed where they stood, their tiny bodies going limp. But there were so many of them\u0026ndash;far more than a single casting could affect.\n\u0026ldquo;Again,\u0026rdquo; Wyz commanded, his voice taking on an almost hypnotic quality as he wove the magic once more. A rat made it past Perch, latching on to the goblin\u0026rsquo;s flesh through his tattered robes. Wyz kicked the creature away before its filthy bite could penetrate deeply into his flesh. \u0026ldquo;And again.\u0026rdquo;\nPerch raised his shield, trying to position himself between the remaining conscious rats and his companions. \u0026ldquo;Come on then, you mangy\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\nHis words were cut short as a particularly large rat launched itself at his shield, its yellowed teeth finding purchase in the wood and leather. The dwarf warrior tried to shake it off, but more rats swarmed toward him, their claws scrabbling for purchase.\n\u0026ldquo;My shield!\u0026rdquo; Perch cried out in dismay as the rats began to literally chew through his protection. \u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re eating my bloody shield!\u0026rdquo;\nAlandor\u0026rsquo;s sling whirred through the air, stone after stone finding their mark as sleeping rats were dispatched with methodical efficiency. \u0026ldquo;Keep casting, Wyz! We\u0026rsquo;ve got this!\u0026rdquo;\nBut the rats were not entirely helpless. One particularly vicious specimen managed to sink its teeth into Perch\u0026rsquo;s arm, right through a gap in his armor. The dwarf roared in pain and anger, but when he pulled the creature away, he could see that the wound was already beginning to fester.\n\u0026ldquo;Disgusting creatures,\u0026rdquo; Morrigan muttered, her dagger flashing as she joined the systematic extermination. But even her quick reflexes couldn\u0026rsquo;t save her from every attack. A rat\u0026rsquo;s bite found her leg, and she hissed as she felt the familiar burn of infection setting in.\nThe battle\u0026ndash;if it could be called that\u0026ndash;continued with grim efficiency. Wyz cast his sleep spell again and again, his magical reserves slowly depleting as more and more rats succumbed to his enchantments. His minions dispatched the sleeping vermin with cold professionalism, until the chamber floor was carpeted with tiny corpses.\nThe last rat, perhaps driven mad by the slaughter of its kin, refused to succumb to Wyz\u0026rsquo;s magic. It fought with desperate fury, managing to land one final bite on Morrigan before fleeing into the shadows.\n\u0026ldquo;Let it go,\u0026rdquo; Wyz said dismissively. \u0026ldquo;One survivor will spread word of what happens to those who oppose us.\u0026rdquo;\nAs they searched through the rats\u0026rsquo; nest, disturbing another rodent that scurried away into the darkness, their efforts were rewarded with a modest collection of treasures. Coins that might total a dozen gold pieces, a simple dagger, a beggar\u0026rsquo;s bowl, and a set of manacles\u0026ndash;the detritus of previous adventurers who had met unfortunate ends.\nBut it was Morrigan who made the most significant discovery. \u0026ldquo;Wyz,\u0026rdquo; she called out, holding up a leather scrollcase that had somehow survived the rats\u0026rsquo; depredations. \u0026ldquo;This looks important.\u0026rdquo;\nThe goblin wizard\u0026rsquo;s eyes lit up with avarice as he examined the case. \u0026ldquo;Indeed. My minions continue to prove their worth, despite their many failings.\u0026rdquo;\nAs they prepared to leave, Alandor pointed toward a section of wall that looked slightly different from the rest. \u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s another secret door here. Should we investigate?\u0026rdquo;\nWyz considered for a moment, then nodded. \u0026ldquo;Knowledge is power, and power is what separates the worthy from the fodder.\u0026rdquo;\nMorrigan\u0026rsquo;s skilled fingers found the mechanism, and soon they were looking down into a pit that had been concealed behind the secret door. But this was no simple trap\u0026ndash;something metallic gleamed in the depths, something that moved with unnatural purpose.\n\u0026ldquo;I can disable the mechanism,\u0026rdquo; Morrigan said, already working at the trap\u0026rsquo;s components. \u0026ldquo;Just give me a moment\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\nThe pit opened with a soft click, revealing its contents. What emerged was a thing of brass and steel, a clockwork cobra that moved with serpentine grace despite its mechanical nature. Its jeweled eyes fixed on Alandor with malevolent intelligence, and it struck with lightning speed.\n\u0026ldquo;Mechanical guardian!\u0026rdquo; Wyz shouted, already backing away from the pit. \u0026ldquo;Retreat! Tactical withdrawal!\u0026rdquo;\nMorrigan needed no further encouragement. She was already moving, her thief\u0026rsquo;s instincts screaming at her to put distance between herself and the animated construct. Wyz followed close behind, muttering words of protection under his breath as arcane energy shimmered around him.\nAlandor dodged the cobra\u0026rsquo;s strike by mere inches, the mechanical fangs scraping against his leather armor. \u0026ldquo;A little help here!\u0026rdquo; he called out, but his companions were already in full retreat.\n\u0026ldquo;Perch!\u0026rdquo; Alandor shouted as he ran from the chamber. \u0026ldquo;The door!\u0026rdquo;\nThe dwarf warrior, despite his infected wound and ruined shield, moved with admirable speed. Together, he and Alandor slammed the secret door shut, the mechanism clicking back into place. Perch jammed his crowbar into the mechanism for good measure, wedging it so thoroughly that nothing short of a battering ram would open it again.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Wyz said as they caught their breath in the corridor, \u0026ldquo;that was\u0026hellip; educational.\u0026rdquo;\nThe journey back to the surface passed without incident, though each of them jumped at every shadow, every sound that might herald the approach of skeletal warriors or worse. The shadowmaze had taught them all to be cautious, to expect death around every corner.\nBack at the inn, safe in the warm glow of the common room\u0026rsquo;s fireplace, Wyz carefully examined the scrollcase they had recovered. His scarred fingers traced the leather binding as his companions watched with anticipation.\n\u0026ldquo;Tomorrow,\u0026rdquo; the goblin wizard announced, \u0026ldquo;we shall discover what secrets this contains. Tonight, we rest and tend our wounds. Even the most competent minions require maintenance.\u0026rdquo;\nAs Perch and Morrigan sought treatment for their infected bites, and Alandor counted their modest haul of coins, Wyz sat alone with the scrollcase. The cold fire in his eyes seemed to burn brighter as he contemplated the mysteries that lay within.\nThe shadowmaze had given him knowledge, and knowledge was indeed power. Soon, his minions would understand just how much their master had learned in those dark moments when death had seemed certain.\nThe scrollcase would wait until morning, but Wyz\u0026rsquo;s ambitions would not sleep.\n","date":"15 December 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-12-15-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Wyz\nThe shadowmaze beckoned once more, and Wyz–still bearing the wicked scar across his belly from his previous near-death experience–gathered his “recalcitrant minions” for another descent into darkness. The goblin wizard’s eyes held that same cold fire that had burned there since his miraculous return from the depths, and his companions could sense that something fundamental had changed in their diminutive leader.\n“We return to the chamber with the statues,” Wyz announced, his voice carrying an authority that brooked no argument. “There is a rat infestation that requires… methodical attention.”\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 39","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"The morning after their devastating encounter with the mimics found the survivors nursing both wounds and wounded pride. Druidly\u0026rsquo;s absence hung over them like a shroud, but the barrowmaze waited for no one\u0026rsquo;s grief. Bancroft had managed to recruit four new souls willing to risk their lives for treasure\u0026ndash;though their qualifications remained questionable at best.\n\u0026ldquo;Right then,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft announced with his characteristic optimism, shouldering a shovel alongside his sword. \u0026ldquo;Fresh start, fresh barrow. Sylvanus teaches us that from death comes new growth.\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou, still bearing the acid scars from the mimics\u0026rsquo; teeth, adjusted her pack with a wince. \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s just hope these new growth spurts don\u0026rsquo;t try to eat us.\u0026rdquo;\nTheir destination was a promising mound they had marked for excavation, but as they crested the hill, Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s face fell. A crude banner fluttered over their chosen barrow\u0026ndash;the skull and crossbones of the Bastards of Bogtown.\n\u0026ldquo;Well, that\u0026rsquo;s unfortunate,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said with the same tone he might use to comment on poor weather. \u0026ldquo;I suppose we\u0026rsquo;ll have to find another.\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan\u0026rsquo;s hand moved instinctively to her sword hilt. \u0026ldquo;We could always\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;No,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft interrupted, cutting through any heroic notions. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re not starting a war over a hole in the ground. There are plenty of other holes.\u0026rdquo;\nThey relocated to a partially excavated barrow that showed promise, and the work began in earnest. The new recruits proved enthusiastic if inexperienced, their shovels biting into the ancient earth with the fervor of those who still believed treasure lay just beneath the surface.\nThe rhythmic scraping of metal on stone was interrupted by a sound that made everyone freeze\u0026ndash;the distinctive clicking of chitin on rock. Two massive scorpions, each the size of a pony, wandered into view with the casual menace of apex predators.\n\u0026ldquo;Nobody move,\u0026rdquo; Riyou whispered, her cult member\u0026rsquo;s instincts recognizing a dangerous audience when she saw one. \u0026ldquo;They hunt by movement.\u0026rdquo;\nThe party crouched motionless among the scattered earth and broken stones, barely daring to breathe as the scorpions investigated their excavation site. The creatures\u0026rsquo; segmented tails curved overhead like question marks written in venom, but after what felt like an eternity, they wandered off in search of more interesting prey.\n\u0026ldquo;Right,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said once the clicking had faded into the distance. \u0026ldquo;Back to work, then.\u0026rdquo;\nTheir digging resumed, but the barrowmaze had more interruptions in store. A chorus of deep croaks announced the approach of six giant frogs, their bulbous eyes gleaming with the same predatory intelligence that had nearly cost them Riyou\u0026rsquo;s life in the flooded barrow.\n\u0026ldquo;Not again,\u0026rdquo; Irulan muttered, remembering their recent amphibian encounters. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m starting to take this personally.\u0026rdquo;\nThis time, discretion proved the better part of valor. The party abandoned their excavation and fled to another barrow\u0026ndash;one that had already been opened, revealing a chamber dominated by a massive brazier surrounded by stone pillars.\nAs they caught their breath in the relative safety of the ancient structure, one of the new recruits\u0026ndash;a thin man named Luxsley\u0026ndash;began distributing small pamphlets from his pack.\n\u0026ldquo;Brothers and sisters,\u0026rdquo; he announced with evangelical fervor, \u0026ldquo;have you heard the good news about the Sacred Toad? Through communion with nature\u0026rsquo;s most enlightened amphibians, we can achieve transcendence!\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou examined the crudely printed pamphlet with the expression of someone discovering a particularly unpleasant surprise. \u0026ldquo;It says here that licking toads is a religious experience.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;The toxins open the mind to higher truths,\u0026rdquo; Luxsley explained earnestly. \u0026ldquo;The Sacred Toad shows us visions of\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\nHis theological exposition was cut short by another chorus of croaks. More giant frogs had found them, drawn perhaps by some cosmic sense of irony.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said, hefting his sword with resigned determination, \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus works in mysterious ways.\u0026rdquo;\nThe battle was brief but intense. Luxsley, his eyes suddenly wild with religious fervor, charged the nearest frog with nothing but his shovel and what appeared to be divine madness.\n\u0026ldquo;For the Sacred Toad!\u0026rdquo; he screamed, bringing his improvised weapon down on the creature\u0026rsquo;s skull with surprising effectiveness.\nBancroft\u0026rsquo;s blade found its mark with the simple efficiency that marked all his actions, while Irulan\u0026rsquo;s warrior training served her well against the amphibian assault. The frogs fell quickly, their croaks fading into the eternal silence of the barrowmaze.\n\u0026ldquo;Right then,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said, producing her knives with the enthusiasm that had so disturbed her companions before. \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s see what these beauties have been eating.\u0026rdquo;\nHer dissection technique had improved marginally since the previous encounter, though some of the recruits still found it necessary to look away during the more enthusiastic moments. Luxsley, true to his beliefs, actually licked one of the fallen frogs before anyone could stop him.\n\u0026ldquo;Bitter,\u0026rdquo; he reported with the air of a wine connoisseur. \u0026ldquo;But enlightening.\u0026rdquo;\nWith the immediate threats dealt with, they returned to their excavation. Hours of backbreaking labor finally revealed their prize\u0026ndash;a stone slab door set into the earth like a gateway to the underworld.\n\u0026ldquo;Crowbars,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft announced, producing the tools with the satisfaction of a farmer who had brought the right equipment for the job. \u0026ldquo;Leverage conquers all.\u0026rdquo;\nThe door yielded to their combined efforts with a grinding protest of stone on stone. Torch light revealed a burial chamber containing two stone slabs, each topped with the skeletal remains of ancient warriors.\n\u0026ldquo;I could try turning them before they wake up,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft suggested, his connection to Sylvanus extending even to the restless dead. \u0026ldquo;Prevention is better than cure, as my old da used to say.\u0026rdquo;\nBut Riyou was already creeping forward, her thief\u0026rsquo;s instincts searching for the traps that experience had taught her to expect. \u0026ldquo;Give me a moment to check for\u0026ndash;\u0026rdquo;\nHer words were cut off by the dry rattle of bone on stone. The skeletons rose with the inexorable purpose of the undead, their empty sockets fixing on the living intruders with malevolent intent.\n\u0026ldquo;So much for prevention,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft muttered, raising his sword just as bony fingers raked across his arm. Without his customary shield, the cleric found himself at a disadvantage, crying out as ancient claws found their mark.\nBut the party\u0026rsquo;s recent trials had hardened them into an effective fighting force. Irulan\u0026rsquo;s blade shattered one skeleton\u0026rsquo;s spine while Bancroft reduced the other to bone fragments. The undead fell as quickly as they had risen, their brief resurrection ending in permanent destruction.\n\u0026ldquo;Sylvanus preserve us,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft gasped, examining his wounded arm. His divine connection allowed him to channel healing energy into the injury, the torn flesh knitting itself back together with miraculous speed.\nBatdwarf, who had taken a minor scrape during the battle, applied his ranger\u0026rsquo;s knowledge of herbs to the wound with the practical efficiency of one who had learned to tend his own injuries in the wilderness.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said, examining the now-empty slabs with professional interest, \u0026ldquo;let\u0026rsquo;s see what they were guarding.\u0026rdquo;\nHer search proved fruitful when Bancroft, leaning against the left slab to catch his breath, triggered a hidden mechanism. A concealed drawer slid open with the whisper of well-crafted stonework, revealing treasures that made their recent struggles seem worthwhile.\nA small funerary figure depicted a child in prayer, its carved features worn smooth by centuries. Beside it lay a jeweled silver dagger that caught the torchlight like captured stars, and a scrollcase bearing arcane writing that spoke of magical knowledge.\n\u0026ldquo;That dagger might be enchanted,\u0026rdquo; Luxsley protested as they prepared to leave. \u0026ldquo;The Sacred Toad teaches us that all things have hidden properties.\u0026rdquo;\nBut practical concerns outweighed mystical speculation. The dagger fetched ten gold pieces from a merchant in Helix, enough to fund their next expedition. The scrollcase they kept in reserve, hoping to find another wizard willing to translate its contents, while the figurine awaited magical examination before they risked selling it.\nAs they counted their modest profits in the inn that evening, the weight of their losses still pressed upon them. Druidly\u0026rsquo;s empty chair served as a constant reminder that the barrowmaze claimed its due from all who dared its depths. But they were alive, they were learning, and tomorrow would bring new opportunities for both treasure and terror.\n\u0026ldquo;To Druidly,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said quietly, raising his ale in salute to their fallen friend. \u0026ldquo;May Sylvanus guide his spirit to peaceful rest.\u0026rdquo;\nThe toast was drunk in silence, each member of the party lost in their own thoughts about mortality, friendship, and the price of adventure in the endless maze of the dead.\n","date":"9 December 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-12-09-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"The morning after their devastating encounter with the mimics found the survivors nursing both wounds and wounded pride. Druidly’s absence hung over them like a shroud, but the barrowmaze waited for no one’s grief. Bancroft had managed to recruit four new souls willing to risk their lives for treasure–though their qualifications remained questionable at best.\n“Right then,” Bancroft announced with his characteristic optimism, shouldering a shovel alongside his sword. “Fresh start, fresh barrow. Sylvanus teaches us that from death comes new growth.”\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 38","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"The morning found their company diminished but determined. Druidly, the half-orc wizard whose arcane studies had served them well, shouldered his pack with the quiet confidence of one who had mastered the mysteries of sleep and flame. \u0026ldquo;The swamp barrow,\u0026rdquo; he declared, adjusting his spell components. \u0026ldquo;Those frogs won\u0026rsquo;t catch us unprepared again.\u0026rdquo;\nBancroft nodded with the simple enthusiasm that marked all his endeavors. Despite his farmer\u0026rsquo;s origins\u0026ndash;or perhaps because of them\u0026ndash;he approached each challenge with the same methodical care he had once given to planting seasons. \u0026ldquo;Sylvanus teaches us that all creatures have their place,\u0026rdquo; he said, hefting his sword. \u0026ldquo;Even giant frogs.\u0026rdquo;\nThe barrow\u0026rsquo;s entrance yawned before them like a mouth full of stagnant water. The two massive frogs that had driven them off before still lurked in the flooded chamber, their bulbous eyes reflecting the torchlight with predatory intelligence.\n\u0026ldquo;Stand back,\u0026rdquo; Druidly whispered, his fingers weaving the intricate patterns of his Sleep spell. The magic took hold of one frog immediately, its massive form settling into the murky water with a satisfied croak. But the second proved more resilient, launching itself at them with a bellow that echoed through the stone corridors.\nRiyou\u0026rsquo;s circus training served her well. The halfling thief danced aside from the creature\u0026rsquo;s snapping jaws and sent a sling stone cracking into its skull. \u0026ldquo;Got you, you overgrown tadpole!\u0026rdquo; she called out, her performer\u0026rsquo;s instincts making even combat seem like entertainment.\nDruidly\u0026rsquo;s second casting proved the charm, and the frog\u0026rsquo;s aggressive charge slowed to a drowsy waddle. Riyou\u0026rsquo;s dagger found its mark with the precision of one who had learned to hit small targets from great heights, and the creature collapsed with a final, mournful croak.\n\u0026ldquo;Right then,\u0026rdquo; Riyou said, producing a set of knives that would have made a butcher envious. \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s see what these beauties have been eating.\u0026rdquo;\nWhat followed made even Kafeelia\u0026ndash;who had survived spider bites and wizard\u0026rsquo;s fire\u0026ndash;turn green around the gills. Riyou attacked the frog\u0026rsquo;s corpse with the enthusiasm of a scholar discovering a new manuscript, her small hands disappearing into the creature\u0026rsquo;s innards with disturbing glee.\n\u0026ldquo;By Sylvanus\u0026rsquo;s beard,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft muttered, covering his eyes. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s\u0026hellip; that\u0026rsquo;s not natural.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Oh, this is fascinating!\u0026rdquo; Riyou exclaimed, elbow-deep in frog viscera. \u0026ldquo;Look at the size of this stomach! And the teeth marks on these bones!\u0026rdquo;\nIrulan, her half-orc constitution proving stronger than the others\u0026rsquo;, managed to watch long enough to spot something glinting in the water. \u0026ldquo;There,\u0026rdquo; she pointed with her sword. \u0026ldquo;Bodies. Old ones.\u0026rdquo;\nTheir grisly search of the chamber revealed the remains of previous adventurers\u0026ndash;friends and acquaintances who had met their end in these dark waters. A longsword of good steel, a serviceable dagger, and a handful of coins marked their passing. Bancroft whispered a prayer over each discovery, his connection to nature extending even to the dead.\n\u0026ldquo;The other one\u0026rsquo;s still sleeping,\u0026rdquo; Irulan observed, eyeing the remaining frog with a warrior\u0026rsquo;s calculation.\nRiyou, having finally exhausted her enthusiasm for amphibian anatomy, wiped her hands clean. \u0026ldquo;Bancroft, could you help me with\u0026ndash;oh, look at that interesting moss pattern!\u0026rdquo;\nWhile the simple cleric turned to examine what he assumed was another of nature\u0026rsquo;s wonders, Irulan\u0026rsquo;s sword found the sleeping frog\u0026rsquo;s heart. The creature died without waking, a mercy that Bancroft would have appreciated if he had noticed.\n\u0026ldquo;Much more civilized,\u0026rdquo; Riyou declared, approaching this dissection with considerably less fervor. Her restraint was rewarded when she discovered a partially digested corpse clutching an obsidian statue of Nergul. \u0026ldquo;Fifteen gold, easy,\u0026rdquo; she announced, holding up the dark figurine. \u0026ldquo;Someone paid good money for this little nightmare.\u0026rdquo;\nDespite their thorough search\u0026ndash;Bancroft even attempted to commune with the local plant life, though the moss proved disappointingly uncommunicative\u0026ndash;they found no hidden passages or drainage mechanisms. The barrow held no more secrets, and they marked it as fully explored on their increasingly detailed map.\n\u0026ldquo;Where to next?\u0026rdquo; Kafeelia asked, her dwarven pragmatism cutting through their disappointment. The fighter had learned to avoid notice in the maze\u0026rsquo;s depths, but her recent encounter with Mazzah had kindled a more aggressive fire in her warrior\u0026rsquo;s heart.\nThey spent the afternoon investigating partially excavated barrows, looking for something they could crack open without requiring a siege engine. Most proved either too well-sealed or already thoroughly looted, until they came upon the barrow that had once been marked with a wax seal.\n\u0026ldquo;We ran from this one,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft recalled with the honesty that marked all his observations. \u0026ldquo;Bronze doors. Something about the way they opened\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Cowardice is often wisdom in disguise,\u0026rdquo; Irulan said, though her grip on her sword suggested she was ready to be less wise this time.\nThe bronze doors stood open as they had left them, revealing a chamber that took their breath away. A viking funeral ship rested in the center of the room, its dragon-carved prow pointing toward some distant shore. A blue glow surrounded the vessel like captured starlight, and treasures were heaped upon its deck\u0026ndash;chests and vases and urns that spoke of a chieftain\u0026rsquo;s wealth.\nA skeleton lay in state amidst the treasure, still clutching a dagger and wearing a helm that caught the magical light. An axe rested at its side, and the whole scene spoke of honor and ancient rites.\n\u0026ldquo;Now that,\u0026rdquo; Druidly said with the appreciation of one who understood the value of proper presentation, \u0026ldquo;is how you do a burial.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;The question is,\u0026rdquo; Riyou mused, her thief\u0026rsquo;s eye already calculating angles and distances, \u0026ldquo;how do we get to it without walking through that pretty blue glow?\u0026rdquo;\nThe answer came in the form of rope and circus skills. Riyou fashioned a lasso with the expertise of one who had once performed for crowds, and her first cast landed perfectly around one of the smaller chests. The magical field flickered and died as the chest was dragged across its boundary, dispelling whatever ward had protected the ship.\n\u0026ldquo;Too easy,\u0026rdquo; Kafeelia muttered, her warrior\u0026rsquo;s instincts prickling with unease.\nShe was right to worry. The chest had barely reached the chamber\u0026rsquo;s entrance when it began to change. What had appeared to be wood and iron sprouted teeth and eyes and a lolling tongue that dripped with acidic saliva. The mimic\u0026rsquo;s true form was a nightmare of flesh and hunger, and it was not alone.\nEvery chest, every vase, every piece of treasure on the ship revealed itself as another of the shapeshifting horrors. They flowed off the vessel like a tide of teeth and malice, their forms shifting between furniture and monster with nauseating fluidity.\n\u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said with the calm that came from a complete lack of imagination, \u0026ldquo;that\u0026rsquo;s not good.\u0026rdquo; He took a swing at the nearest mimic with his elvish blade, the steel ringing against its hide, then turned and ran with the practical wisdom of a farmer who knew when the wolves were too many for the shepherd.\nRiyou\u0026rsquo;s circus agility served her poorly against creatures that could reshape themselves at will. Teeth found her leg, then her arm, and she collapsed as the mimics\u0026rsquo; acidic saliva burned through her leather armor. Her last conscious sight was of Druidly, the half-orc wizard who had guided them through so many dangers, disappearing beneath a writhing mass of false treasure.\nIrulan\u0026rsquo;s warrior training took over. She grabbed the fallen halfling and hauled her toward the entrance, her half-orc strength proving equal to the task. Kafeelia covered their retreat with her warhammer, the dwarven fighter\u0026rsquo;s recent trials having taught her when to fight and when to flee.\nThey burst from the barrow like souls escaping damnation, carrying Riyou between them as the mimics\u0026rsquo; hungry roars echoed behind them. The creatures did not pursue\u0026ndash;perhaps they were bound to their ship, or perhaps they were simply content with their meal.\nRiyou staggered back into Helix that evening, her small frame marked by scars that would never fully fade. The mimics\u0026rsquo; teeth had left their mark, but her performer\u0026rsquo;s spirit remained unbroken. She found the others at the inn, drowning their grief in ale and planning their next move with the grim determination of those who had lost a friend.\n\u0026ldquo;Druidly\u0026rsquo;s gold,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft said quietly, counting out the coins with the reverence due to a fallen comrade\u0026rsquo;s legacy. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll use it to learn what we can. He would have wanted that.\u0026rdquo;\nMazzah\u0026rsquo;s tower loomed against the evening sky as they approached, the wizard\u0026rsquo;s wards crackling with barely contained power. The grumpy mage examined their meager treasures with the disdain of one who had seen empires rise and fall, his magical senses probing each item for the spark of enchantment.\n\u0026ldquo;Nothing,\u0026rdquo; he declared with satisfaction, as if their disappointment pleased him. \u0026ldquo;Common steel, base metal, carved stone. Not even the obsidian statue carries so much as a cantrip.\u0026rdquo;\nBut when Riyou mentioned the tablet she had read\u0026ndash;the one that had drained her so completely\u0026ndash;Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s demeanor changed entirely. His eyes sharpened with an interest that bordered on hunger, and he leaned forward like a hawk spotting prey.\n\u0026ldquo;You read one of the tablets and survived?\u0026rdquo; His voice carried a note of genuine shock. \u0026ldquo;Fascinating. Most who attempt such things are found as gibbering wrecks, if they\u0026rsquo;re found at all. I would pay handsomely for what you learned.\u0026rdquo;\nRiyou, her circus performer\u0026rsquo;s instincts warning her that some audiences were more dangerous than others, shook her head. \u0026ldquo;Not yet,\u0026rdquo; she said carefully. \u0026ldquo;Maybe later, when I understand it better myself.\u0026rdquo;\nMazzah\u0026rsquo;s disappointment was palpable, but he nodded with the grudging respect of one professional for another. \u0026ldquo;Wise, perhaps. Knowledge has its own price, and some payments cannot be undone.\u0026rdquo;\nAs they walked back through Helix\u0026rsquo;s darkening streets, the weight of their losses pressed upon them. Druidly was gone, consumed by creatures that wore the faces of treasure. Their purses were lighter, their company smaller, and the maze\u0026rsquo;s secrets seemed as distant as ever.\nBut they were alive, and in the barrowmaze, that was victory enough for one day.\nSession map\n","date":"2 December 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-12-02-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"The morning found their company diminished but determined. Druidly, the half-orc wizard whose arcane studies had served them well, shouldered his pack with the quiet confidence of one who had mastered the mysteries of sleep and flame. “The swamp barrow,” he declared, adjusting his spell components. “Those frogs won’t catch us unprepared again.”\nBancroft nodded with the simple enthusiasm that marked all his endeavors. Despite his farmer’s origins–or perhaps because of them–he approached each challenge with the same methodical care he had once given to planting seasons. “Sylvanus teaches us that all creatures have their place,” he said, hefting his sword. “Even giant frogs.”\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 37","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Bancroft staggered through Helix\u0026rsquo;s gates like a man touched by plague, his once-proud bearing reduced to a shambling gait. Yellow mold clung to his skin in sickly patches, and his head bore fresh dents from their harrowing escape. Most telling of all, his jeweled sword\u0026ndash;the blade that had marked him as more than a simple farmer\u0026ndash;was gone, lost to the maze\u0026rsquo;s hungry darkness.\nOne by one, his companions limped back to town, each bearing their own wounds and disappointments. Irulan clutched the elvish longsword they had claimed from the statue at such terrible cost, but her face was grim. \u0026ldquo;The magic\u0026rsquo;s gone,\u0026rdquo; she reported, watching the blade\u0026rsquo;s ornate surface catch the lamplight without so much as a glimmer. \u0026ldquo;Pretty enough still, but no more than decoration now.\u0026rdquo;\nTheir coin purses hung as empty as their hopes. After much debate over whether to sell their one remaining prize, they decided Bancroft should carry the elvish blade\u0026ndash;perhaps the maze would restore its power, or perhaps they would need its fine steel before this was over.\n\u0026ldquo;We go back,\u0026rdquo; Bancroft declared with the simple determination that had carried him from farm to adventure. \u0026ldquo;The statues might have returned. We\u0026rsquo;ll bring fire this time\u0026ndash;torches and oil to burn away that cursed mold.\u0026rdquo;\nThe road to the barrowmaze held its own surprises. Three skeletons emerged from the morning mist, but these bore no weapons raised in threat. Their leader, distinguished by an ancient helmet of curious design, gestured with bony fingers at Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s weatherproof cloak. The pantomimed negotiation that followed would have been comical if not for the hollow eye sockets fixed upon them.\nBancroft\u0026rsquo;s farmer\u0026rsquo;s instincts served him well in the bargaining. When the skeleton offered the helmet for his cloak, the simple cleric shook his head and pointed to his dagger. The undead merchant considered, then pointed to Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s purse and held up five fingers. Bancroft grinned and accepted, gaining a strange dented helmet while keeping his cloak\u0026ndash;a trade that would serve him better than he knew.\nThe barrow lay silent as a tomb, which it was. The secret door to the statue chamber remained sealed, and when Riyou pressed her ear to the stone, she heard nothing but the whisper of ancient air. Changing focus to the eastern room, they approached the staircase with torches held high, ready to face the yellow death that had nearly claimed them before.\nBancroft approached the mold-covered door with the reverence of one who had learned to respect nature\u0026rsquo;s more dangerous children. He touched his torch to the fungal growth gingerly, watching it blacken and retreat with an aggressive puff of spores. His cloak covered his mouth just in time, and he backed away as the deadly cloud dispersed harmlessly.\n\u0026ldquo;Water might work too,\u0026rdquo; Irulan suggested, taking Druidly\u0026rsquo;s bucket. Her first attempt succeeded admirably\u0026ndash;the mold dissolved under the splash, and she danced back from the resulting spore cloud with a warrior\u0026rsquo;s grace. Emboldened, she tried again, but this time the spores found their mark. She collapsed, choking and gasping, her lungs burning with each desperate breath.\nBancroft\u0026rsquo;s healing prayers proved useless against the fungal poison. In desperation, Irulan plunged her head into the bucket and inhaled water\u0026ndash;once, twice\u0026ndash;until the drowning sensation finally cleared the spores from her lungs. She emerged sputtering and furious. \u0026ldquo;The water\u0026rsquo;s no good,\u0026rdquo; she gasped, though it had clearly saved her life.\nOnly then did they discover their oversight. Despite all their planning, no one had brought additional torches or oil. The maze had taught them another lesson in preparation, and they retreated to Helix with nothing but bitter experience to show for their efforts.\nThat evening found Bancroft and Irulan at the church of St. Ygg, ladling soup for the poor as penance for their debts. The simple cleric\u0026rsquo;s nature made the work feel less like servitude and more like calling, though the weight of obligation still pressed upon his shoulders.\nDawn brought renewed determination and proper supplies. This time they carried torches and lamp oil in abundance, ready to face the mold with fire and fury. The barrow remained quiet, but with the right tools, they made quick work of the fungal barrier. Oil spread the flames wide while torches burned hot and clean, reducing the yellow death to harmless ash.\nRiyou, with her circus-trained balance, picked her way across the treacherous pit to claim their prizes: an amphora of obvious value and a tablet covered in mysterious script. The return to town felt like a victory march, even if a modest one.\nThe amphora fetched fifty gold pieces from a merchant who recognized quality when he saw it. A cracked mirror from their earlier adventures added four more coins to their purse. Once again, Bancroft and Irulan spent the night serving the poor, their debt to the church slowly diminishing with each bowl of soup served.\nBut not all of their company found such peaceful rest. Kafeelia, the dwarven fighter whose warrior\u0026rsquo;s fire had been kindled in the maze\u0026rsquo;s depths, had conceived a plan as bold as it was foolish. She pitched her tent directly before Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s tower, determined to gain the wizard\u0026rsquo;s attention through sheer persistence.\nShe succeeded beyond her wildest expectations. Sometime in the dark hours before dawn, Mazzah noticed his uninvited guest and responded with the subtlety of a Fireball. Kafeelia awoke to flames consuming her tent, rolling clear just as the magical fire reached its peak. In a moment of inspired madness, she shoved the burning tent against Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s door, hoping to return the favor. The wizard\u0026rsquo;s wards proved stronger than canvas, and the flames died without effect.\nUndaunted, Kafeelia made her bed on the wizard\u0026rsquo;s doorstep, her warrior\u0026rsquo;s pride refusing to yield. She awoke paralyzed, a captive to Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s magic and his irritation. \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t wish to be disturbed,\u0026rdquo; the wizard explained with the patience of one addressing a particularly slow child, before depositing her at the Grey Company\u0026rsquo;s headquarters like an unwanted package.\nTurned away from every inn and tavern in town\u0026ndash;word of her confrontation with Mazzah had spread quickly\u0026ndash;Kafeelia found herself camping in the black forest north of Helix. The spiders that hunted her through the dark hours were almost a relief after the wizard\u0026rsquo;s cold disdain.\nMeanwhile, Riyou had made a discovery that would prove more dangerous than any spider. She came downstairs in the morning holding the tablet they had planned to sell to Mazzah, but its surface was now blank as fresh parchment. Under questioning, she confessed to reading it during the night, though she seemed dazed and exhausted by whatever knowledge she had gained.\nBancroft, with the simple wisdom that sometimes surpassed cleverness, plucked a tuft of grass from a crack in the inn\u0026rsquo;s floor and smacked her across the face with it. \u0026ldquo;Nature\u0026rsquo;s touch will heal her,\u0026rdquo; he declared with absolute conviction. Whether it was the grass, the shock, or simply time, Riyou\u0026rsquo;s eyes cleared and focus returned.\nBut with three of their number exhausted\u0026ndash;Irulan still recovering from the spores, Kafeelia spider-bitten and sleepless, and Riyou drained by forbidden knowledge\u0026ndash;the company found themselves at a crossroads. The maze had given them treasures and taken its price in equal measure, leaving them to wonder what fresh horrors and opportunities the next day would bring.\n","date":"25 November 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-11-25-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft staggered through Helix’s gates like a man touched by plague, his once-proud bearing reduced to a shambling gait. Yellow mold clung to his skin in sickly patches, and his head bore fresh dents from their harrowing escape. Most telling of all, his jeweled sword–the blade that had marked him as more than a simple farmer–was gone, lost to the maze’s hungry darkness.\nOne by one, his companions limped back to town, each bearing their own wounds and disappointments. Irulan clutched the elvish longsword they had claimed from the statue at such terrible cost, but her face was grim. “The magic’s gone,” she reported, watching the blade’s ornate surface catch the lamplight without so much as a glimmer. “Pretty enough still, but no more than decoration now.”\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 36","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"The shadowmaze had claimed its victims, and now it hungered for more.\nAfter the chaos of the previous session\u0026ndash;where skeletal warriors had burst from concealment and Wyz\u0026rsquo;s own caltrops had become a treacherous obstacle course\u0026ndash;the survivors found themselves scattered and desperate. The cunning goblin wizard\u0026rsquo;s plan to destroy the reforming skeleton had failed spectacularly, leaving him face-to-face with his undead nemesis as torchlight flickered and died around them.\nSession map\nAura stumbled southward through the suffocating darkness, her torch finally surrendering to the dungeon\u0026rsquo;s malevolent atmosphere. In her blind panic, she crashed into the pile of rat-infested refuse that dominated the chamber\u0026rsquo;s center, sending rodents scurrying in all directions as she fought to regain her footing.\nMeanwhile, word of the disaster had reached the surface. Alandor, Mira, Kronk, and Perch descended into the barrowmaze with fresh torches and grim determination, their footsteps echoing through corridors that had already tasted too much blood. They could hear familiar voices crying out in the distant darkness\u0026ndash;desperate calls for help that tugged at their hearts and urged them deeper into danger.\nBut the shadowmaze was not finished with its cruel games. As the rescue party searched through the twisting passages, two sapphire skeletons materialized from the gloom, their gemstone foreheads gleaming with unholy light. These were no ordinary undead\u0026ndash;they moved with purpose and intelligence that spoke of darker magics at work.\nIn the chaos that followed, Wyz\u0026ndash;the self-proclaimed master of recalcitrant minions\u0026ndash;found himself stumbling through absolute darkness, his magical dagger cutting nothing but empty air. The skeleton he\u0026rsquo;d thought destroyed had indeed reformed, and now it sought vengeance with supernatural fury. The creature\u0026rsquo;s rusted blade found its mark with terrible precision, and Wyz collapsed in a spray of green blood, his tiny body crumpling like a discarded puppet.\nThe violence spread like wildfire through the chamber. A second skeleton\u0026rsquo;s blade found Lessa, striking her down with vicious efficiency. The brave woman who had tried to rescue the trapped dwarf now lay bleeding in the very room where she\u0026rsquo;d shown such compassion.\nThe rescue party fared little better. A third skeleton lunged at Perch, its bone weapon whistling through the air, though fortune smiled briefly as the blow went wide. But as the would-be rescuers milled about in confusion, overwhelmed by the sudden assault, the skeletons pressed their advantage. One rushed at Kronk with murderous intent, its blade raised for a killing blow\u0026ndash;only to have its skull explode in a shower of bone fragments as Alandor\u0026rsquo;s sling stone found its mark with devastating accuracy.\nPanic seized the survivors. The rescue had become a rout, and in their terror, they abandoned Aura to the darkness, slamming the door behind them as they fled. The sound of that door closing echoed through the chamber like a death knell, sealing her fate with the remaining undead horrors.\nOn the other side of the barrier, Mira\u0026rsquo;s hands shook as she lit a fresh torch, its flame casting wild shadows as she and Kronk continued their desperate retreat. But even in the relative safety of the corridor, they could hear the sounds of battle continuing behind them\u0026ndash;the clash of bone on steel, the cries of the wounded, the scrape of skeletal feet on stone.\nAlone in the absolute darkness, Aura faced her nightmare. A skeleton\u0026rsquo;s blade found her in the black, opening wounds that would have felled a lesser soul. But she clung to life with desperate tenacity, guided by something beyond mortal understanding\u0026ndash;perhaps the spirit of fallen Lessa, who had shown such kindness in her final moments.\nKronk managed to light another torch, its blessed illumination cutting through the oppressive gloom. Somehow, miraculously, Aura found the strength to flee, following the distant glow as skeletal pursuers gave chase through the winding passages. Their bone feet clicked against stone in a rhythm that spoke of relentless, inhuman persistence.\nThe running battle continued through corridor after corridor. A skeleton\u0026rsquo;s blade slashed across Perch, opening wounds that would leave permanent scars. But still they ran, driven by the primal need to see sunlight again, to escape the hungry darkness that sought to claim them all.\nAgainst all odds, Aura caught up with the others just as they reached the rope that led to salvation\u0026ndash;the way out of the barrowmaze and back to the world of the living. But the skeletons were close behind, their empty eye sockets fixed on their fleeing prey with supernatural determination.\nIn those final, desperate moments before escape, the undead made their last stand. A skeleton\u0026rsquo;s blow shattered Perch\u0026rsquo;s shield into splinters, the impact sending shockwaves up his arm. Another blade found Aura just as she reached for the rope, striking her down mere feet from freedom, her blood pooling on the stone as darkness claimed her vision.\nBut Alandor and Perch would not be denied. With strength born of desperation, they hauled Aura\u0026rsquo;s unconscious form up the rope, their muscles burning as skeletal claws scraped at the stone below. Hours passed in a blur of terror and exhaustion as they fled through the surface world, always listening for the sound of pursuit, always fearing that the undead might follow them into the realm of the living.\nEventually, mercifully, Aura\u0026rsquo;s eyes fluttered open. She lived, though a wicked scar now marked her face\u0026ndash;a permanent reminder of how close she had come to joining the ranks of the shadowmaze\u0026rsquo;s victims.\nBut not everyone was so fortunate. Deep in the darkness, Lessa drew her final breath alone, her compassionate heart finally stilled by wounds that no mortal frame could endure. The woman who had tried to save a trapped dwarf became another casualty of the maze\u0026rsquo;s insatiable hunger.\nAnd then, when all hope seemed lost, when the survivors had given up their missing companion for dead, the tavern door burst open with dramatic force. There stood Wyz\u0026ndash;battered, bloodied, but undeniably alive. A horrible scar ran across his belly, testament to how close he had come to death\u0026rsquo;s embrace. His green skin was pale with blood loss, his robes torn and stained, but his eyes\u0026hellip; his eyes burned with something far more dangerous than mere anger.\nAs he surveyed the faces of those who had fled without him, the cunning goblin wizard\u0026rsquo;s lips curled into a sneer of absolute contempt. \u0026ldquo;You are all horrible minions!\u0026rdquo; he declared, his voice carrying the weight of betrayal and something else\u0026ndash;something darker.\nFor Wyz had not simply survived the shadowmaze\u0026rsquo;s tender mercies. In those moments when death had seemed certain, when skeletal blades had opened his flesh and darkness had claimed his vision, he had glimpsed something beyond the veil. The maze had whispered its secrets to him in the language of pain and shadow, and now terrible knowledge burned behind his eyes like cold fire.\nThe shadowmaze had let him live for a reason, and that reason would soon become clear to all who dared to call themselves his minions.\n","date":"24 November 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-11-24-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"The shadowmaze had claimed its victims, and now it hungered for more.\nAfter the chaos of the previous session–where skeletal warriors had burst from concealment and Wyz’s own caltrops had become a treacherous obstacle course–the survivors found themselves scattered and desperate. The cunning goblin wizard’s plan to destroy the reforming skeleton had failed spectacularly, leaving him face-to-face with his undead nemesis as torchlight flickered and died around them.\nSession map\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 35","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nThe stone walls of the Barrowmaze pressed close around Bancroft and his companions, their only known exit sealed shut by mechanisms beyond their understanding. Behind them, the chittering of giant rats grew louder, echoing through the narrow passages like the whispers of death itself. With nowhere to retreat, Bancroft hefted his sword and shield, calling upon Sylvanus for strength as the party formed a defensive line. The rats, however, seemed to sense their desperation. As the adventurers stood ready for battle, the vermin\u0026rsquo;s courage faltered. One by one, they melted back into the shadows, leaving only the sound of distant scurrying and the party\u0026rsquo;s ragged breathing.\nTohru pressed her ear against the cold stone of the sealed door, her circus-trained senses straining for any hint of the mechanism beyond. \u0026ldquo;I can hear gears,\u0026rdquo; she whispered, her voice barely audible above their heartbeats. \u0026ldquo;Something\u0026rsquo;s moving back there.\u0026rdquo; The party quickly inventoried their tools\u0026ndash;crowbars, hammers, whatever they could use to break through stone and reach the mechanism that held them prisoner. But before Tohru could begin her work, the grinding of gears echoed through the chamber once more. Someone else was operating the door from the outside.\nThe portal swung open to reveal another group of adventurers, their torches casting dancing shadows on the walls. After a tense moment of mutual recognition and hurried explanations, both parties agreed to part ways peacefully. Bancroft and his friends emerged into the blessed daylight, grateful to escape their stone tomb.\nNeeding coin and seeking easier prey, the party made their way to a barrow they had explored before. Bancroft remembered the vase that lay tantalizingly beyond a pit filled with yellow mold\u0026ndash;a prize they had been forced to abandon during their previous visit. Perhaps torches could burn away the fungal growth and clear a path to the treasure.\nBut as they approached the entrance, voices drifted up from the depths below. Tohru volunteered to scout ahead, her small frame and circus agility making her the natural choice for reconnaissance. She returned with troubling news: eight tomb robbers had claimed the barrow for themselves, methodically searching the very chamber that held their prize. Discretion proved the better part of valor, and the party withdrew to wait in the shadows.\nAn hour passed like a held breath before Tohru ventured inside once more. The barrow lay silent and dark, the tomb robbers having departed with whatever treasures they could carry. But something new caught her attention\u0026ndash;a blue glow emanating from what appeared to be a secret door they had never noticed before. Beyond the hidden portal, a chamber opened to the west, and within it stood a statue of an elven warrior, a glowing sword raised triumphantly above its head. The warrior was surrounded by three lizard statues, their stone forms locked in eternal battle with the elf, their claws stained with ancient blood. The knee-deep water that covered the chamber floor was tinged red with the same crimson, and scattered throughout the flooded space were the remains of those who had come before\u0026ndash;adventurers who had sought the same prize and paid the ultimate price.\nStatue\nIrulan stepped forward without hesitation, her half-orc strength serving her well as she scaled the statue\u0026rsquo;s carved form. Her fingers closed around the glowing blade just as the chamber erupted into motion. The three lizard statues surrounding the warrior came to life with grinding stone and malevolent purpose, their sudden animation nearly causing her to lose her grip. She recovered quickly, leaping down into the bloodied water that covered the chamber floor, splashing past the scattered bones of previous victims. The landing twisted her ankle, and she limped desperately toward the door as the stone guardians began their pursuit, their blood-stained claws reaching for fresh prey.\nBancroft charged forward to cover her retreat, his sword whistling through the air only to strike empty space as the lizard statue twisted away with unnatural grace. He planted himself between the creatures and his fleeing companion, determined to fight a rearguard action. The first statue\u0026rsquo;s claws raked across his shield, the stone talons leaving deep gouges in the wood. He parried desperately, then watched in horror as his shield shattered under the impact of the second blow. The creatures\u0026rsquo; glowing blue eyes seemed to slow time itself, making every movement feel like swimming through thick honey.\nDruidly\u0026rsquo;s voice rose in arcane incantation, and a bolt of pure magical force streaked across the chamber to strike one of the statues. Stone chips flew from the impact, but the creature barely seemed to notice as it continued its relentless advance.\nThe chaos split the party as one statue broke away to pursue Irulan and Tohru toward the surface. Bancroft found himself moving as if through molasses, the magical lethargy making every step an effort of will. Tohru grabbed his arm and hauled him through the secret door just as Druidly slammed it shut behind them. The half-orc wizard immediately launched another Magic Missile at the statue chasing Irulan, more stone fragments scattering from the impact.\nBut the two statues that had been attacking Bancroft were not so easily deterred. They smashed through the door as if it were made of parchment, their stone forms unstoppable. One of them caught Tohru with a devastating blow that crushed her face and sent her crumpling to the ground, her beloved duck Kyo paralyzed by the same malevolent magic that slowed their movements.\nPanic seized Bancroft as he ducked back into the statue chamber, slamming the door behind him in a futile gesture. Moments later, one of the lizard creatures burst through, its stone form inexorable in pursuit. Meanwhile, Druidly fled through the corridors with another statue close behind, the sound of grinding stone echoing through the passages.\nDesperation drove Bancroft north, through a door that revealed a staircase descending into deeper waters. Below the surface, he glimpsed a stone slab decorated with frescoes depicting the same elven warrior whose statue had held the glowing sword. The lizard statue followed, but Bancroft managed to slam the door just in time. On the other side, he could hear the creature\u0026rsquo;s claws scraping against stone as it sought a way through.\nTaking a deep breath, Bancroft felt the magical lethargy lift from his limbs like a breaking fever. With renewed vigor, he threw open the door and sprinted past the startled statue, racing toward the barrow entrance with the creature in pursuit.\nElsewhere in the maze, Druidly\u0026rsquo;s terror overcame his judgment. He cried out desperately, hoping to attract help from whatever denizens lurked in the depths. His whistling did indeed draw attention\u0026ndash;two zombies shambled toward the sound, their rotting forms moving with mindless hunger. But the noise also revealed his hiding place to the pursuing statue, which struck him a glancing blow that left him reeling on the edge of consciousness.\nThe stone guardian made short work of the zombies, tearing them apart with casual brutality before casting a disdainful glance at Druidly\u0026rsquo;s semiconscious form. Apparently deciding the half-orc posed no threat and did not have the sword it sought, the stone reptile departed in search of those who did. Druidly lived, though barely.\nBancroft cast one regretful glance at Tohru\u0026rsquo;s motionless body before fleeing eastward toward the chamber with the vase. He leaped the pit trap just inside the door, holding his breath as spores from the yellow mold burst into the air around him. The lizard statue followed, making its way to the edge of the pit as Bancroft watched from the far side. Next to him, a pedestal held the vase they had come for\u0026ndash;worth perhaps sixty gold pieces\u0026ndash;along with a small clay tablet covered in ancient script.\nSession map\nThe statue gathered itself and leaped across the pit with surprising grace, but Bancroft was ready. He intercepted the creature mid-flight, grappling with its stone form and sending both of them tumbling toward the deadly spikes below. The statue struck the pit\u0026rsquo;s edge, stone chips flying from the impact, but it was far from defeated. With inhuman strength, it climbed the wall and emerged to strike Bancroft with a massive stone fist.\nThe blow staggered him, and he tasted blood as he coughed. The statue\u0026rsquo;s magical aura reasserted itself, and once again he felt that terrible lethargy creeping through his limbs. Still reeling from the punch, Bancroft tried to grapple the creature again, hoping to send it back into the pit, but his weakened state betrayed him. Off-balance and desperate, he attempted to leap the pit himself in retreat, but his timing was wrong.\nBancroft plummeted into the spiked pit, the iron points finding gaps in his armor with cruel precision. Darkness claimed him as he struck the bottom, his body broken and bleeding among the yellow mold. The lizard statue peered down at his unmoving form for a long moment, noting that he did not carry the glowing longsword it sought, then departed to continue its hunt.\nAn hour later, consciousness returned to Bancroft like a distant tide. He lay at the bottom of the deadly pit, surrounded by the toxic spores of yellow mold, his helmet bearing a massive dent that spoke to how close death had come. Every breath was agony, every movement a monumental effort. He was at the threshold of death itself, balanced on the knife\u0026rsquo;s edge between this world and whatever lay beyond.\nAnd yet, somehow, he lived. For now.\nSession map\n","date":"18 November 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-11-18-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nThe stone walls of the Barrowmaze pressed close around Bancroft and his companions, their only known exit sealed shut by mechanisms beyond their understanding. Behind them, the chittering of giant rats grew louder, echoing through the narrow passages like the whispers of death itself. With nowhere to retreat, Bancroft hefted his sword and shield, calling upon Sylvanus for strength as the party formed a defensive line. The rats, however, seemed to sense their desperation. As the adventurers stood ready for battle, the vermin’s courage faltered. One by one, they melted back into the shadows, leaving only the sound of distant scurrying and the party’s ragged breathing.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 34","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Monday Group # Wyz\nWyz (2nd level goblin wizard): A cunning but inexperienced goblin wizard, he considers his party to be recalcitrant minions.\nKnutella: A member of the Monday group who has proven resilient in the face of the barrowmaze\u0026rsquo;s dangers.\nMorrigan (1st level thief): Originally from Threshold, she is in Helix hiding from her family and the law, not necessarily in that order. Now a member of the thieves\u0026rsquo; guild in Ironguard Motte.\nAlandor (1st level roustabout): An old man, once stricken by plague, whose wife has recently passed. He seeks his fortune or his death in the barrowmaze\u0026hellip; or perhaps both.\nPerch (1st level warrior): A dwarf who wears a fish-head helmet, now in plate mail armor.\nHelfen (cleric): A cleric of Fortuna.\nKeelgo (dwarf): A dwarf from the Outriders of Uleck.\nMerrythane\nMerrythane (human): A former tax evader who saved exactly 100 silver coins before staking his life in the barrowmaze. Wiry and sharp-featured, he assesses every situation like a ledger \u0026ndash; calculating risk, weighing reward, and always keeping one eye on the exit. Handy with a sling. Hired Labor # Vorn\nVorn (hireling): A former barber who now digs holes, carries things, and tries very hard not to die. Not an adventurer, and he wants to be clear about that. The hazard pay is the only reason he keeps signing up. Cade\nCade (halfling hireling): A halfling caravan guard between Helix and Ironguard Motte who picks up barrow work when the merchants aren\u0026rsquo;t moving. Stronger and smarter than Vorn, and they both know it. He and Vorn share a practical outlook on survival that has kept them both alive so far. Tuesday Group # Bancroft\nBancroft (2nd level cleric of Sylvanus): Born a farmer, he has almost everything going for him. Strong, quick on his feet, wise and friendly\u0026hellip; if only he had a brain. His good nature helps him get along, and his friends eventually convinced him to seek his fortune in the Barrowmaze. There, he found that his connection with plants, animals, and nature blossomed into worship of Sylvanus. He wields sword and shield, and now wears plate mail purchased in Ironguard Motte. Irulan\nIrulan (1st level half-orc fighter): A practical, direct half-orc swordswoman who reads tarot cards before each expedition into the barrows. She\u0026rsquo;s self-aware enough to know wisdom isn\u0026rsquo;t her strong suit, but makes up for it with grit and a refusal to stay down. She can hold her liquor, she\u0026rsquo;ll haggle with rival adventurers to stay on their good side, and she once slept through a zombie attack on the tavern. Currently envious of Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s plate mail and determined to get her hands on a magic weapon by any means necessary.\nKafeelia (2nd level dwarven fighter, warhammer): Kafeelia has survived in the barrowmaze so far by avoiding notice.\nRiyou (1st level halfling thief): Once a cultist, now a thief. Her cult tried to murder her.\nBatdwarf (2nd level dwarven ranger), previously known as Gravelgnasher: After a near-fatal encounter with human bandits in the barrowmaze, this dwarf has sworn eternal vengeance against criminals. He lives in a small cave outside of Helix.\nToru (halfling): A halfling with a fascination for frogs.\nBermek Halfblade\nBermek Halfblade (dwarf): A pragmatic dwarf who digs while others wander off and die. Stocky and dirt-streaked, he sticks to the shovel because it\u0026rsquo;s honest work and it keeps him alive. Brother to Darmek. Darmek\nDarmek (dwarf): Brother to Bermek, but the sharper of the two. He\u0026rsquo;s the one who sells the loot, buys the crowbars, and figures out how to pry open the next barrow. Resourceful and calculating, he profits from other people\u0026rsquo;s mistakes. Non-player Characters # Helix # Mazzah (high level wizard NPC): Grumpy, unpleasant, but willing to inspect and identify artifacts recovered from the barrowmaze for a fee. Ironguard Motte # Hilda the smith made Perch\u0026rsquo;s armor. Deceased # Lessa (halfling): A brave halfling who has shown compassion in the depths, notably trying to rescue a trapped dwarf from a pit. She carried a sling and has survived multiple encounters with the undead, though she bears the scars of her adventures. She was killed by a sapphire skeleton.\nIdrivian: A warrior who wields a longsword with more enthusiasm than skill, often swinging at empty air in the heat of battle. Despite his combat difficulties, he has shown courage in facing the maze\u0026rsquo;s horrors. He was killed by skeletons.\nDruidly (half-orc wizard): A half-orc wizard whose arcane studies had served them well. He was eaten by a pack of mimics.\nSelfa (half-orc): A half-orc cleric, she was swarmed and killed by giant rats.\n","date":"11 November 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/characters/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Monday Group # Wyz\nWyz (2nd level goblin wizard): A cunning but inexperienced goblin wizard, he considers his party to be recalcitrant minions.\nKnutella: A member of the Monday group who has proven resilient in the face of the barrowmaze’s dangers.\nMorrigan (1st level thief): Originally from Threshold, she is in Helix hiding from her family and the law, not necessarily in that order. Now a member of the thieves’ guild in Ironguard Motte.\n","title":"Characters","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nThe weight of debt pressed upon Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s shoulders like a funeral shroud. The church of St Ygg had demanded payment for their divine intervention\u0026ndash;the Cure Disease that had saved him from the festering rot of a rat\u0026rsquo;s bite. Now penniless, the former farmer trudged through the rain-slicked streets to the soup kitchens, his chainmail gleaming incongruously among the ragged masses. His jeweled sword marked him as a man fallen from grace, a warrior reduced to begging for scraps.\nThe storm that followed was merciless, trapping the company in town for another day of servitude. The church tasked Bancroft with shepherding the faithful to their prayers, though the simple-minded cleric couldn\u0026rsquo;t help but whisper of Sylvanus and the green growing things that offered truer salvation than stone altars. His friends watched with growing unease as their companion\u0026rsquo;s debt deepened with each passing hour.\nWhen the weather finally broke, they set out for the barrowmaze with heavy hearts. The very land seemed to sense their desperation\u0026ndash;a pack of wolves emerged from the mist, yellow eyes gleaming with hunger. It was Tohru, the former circus performer, who saved them with an absurd display of her pet duck Kyo, the wolves retreating in confusion at the sight.\nDruidly, the half-orc wizard, caught up to them at the maze\u0026rsquo;s threshold. His green-tinged skin bore the scars of a hard life, and his eyes held the cold calculation of one who had learned magic through necessity rather than privilege.\nInvestigating the rubble\nThey descended through the secret passage, the skull-mechanism grinding like old bones as it opened the way into darkness. The corridor beyond reeked of decay and chittering life. A mound of rubble writhed with insects, and Druidly\u0026rsquo;s tactical mind immediately began planning their destruction. He wove protective magics around himself while Bancroft called upon Sylvanus for divine protection, though his simple faith felt fragile in this place of death.\nAli stepped forward to disturb the pile, but death struck from above. A massive centipede dropped from the shadows, its mandibles finding her throat with surgical precision. She died without a scream, her blood pooling on the ancient stones as five more of the creatures erupted from their nest. Irulan slew the centipede that slew Ali, her sword\u0026rsquo;s retribution swift and sure.\nKafeelia, the dwarven fighter, roared with battle-fury and drove her spear through the nearest centipede. She lifted the writhing corpse high, her eyes blazing with the primal joy of her first true kill. In that moment, she felt the warrior\u0026rsquo;s fire ignite within her soul.\nDruidly\u0026rsquo;s Sleep spell washed over the creatures like a tide of exhaustion, dropping two of them into unnatural slumber. Bancroft traded clumsy blows with another, his farmer\u0026rsquo;s strength no match for his lack of wit. Tohru\u0026rsquo;s arrow found its mark, and the last centipede fled into the darkness.\nCentipedes\nThey pulled a skeletal arm from the rubble\u0026ndash;still clutching a chisel in its death grip, as if the dead mason had been trying to carve his way to freedom. The discovery of a secret door to the east offered hope of greater treasures, and Tohru\u0026rsquo;s circus-trained fingers found no traps upon its surface.\nBeyond lay a vast burial chamber, its walls honeycombed with alcoves holding clay urns of ash and silver coins\u0026ndash;131 pieces in total, a fortune to their desperate band. At the chamber\u0026rsquo;s heart stood a tomb bearing the name \u0026ldquo;Klexx the Maligned,\u0026rdquo; its stone slab sealed tight against grave robbers.\nBut the maze had not finished feeding. While they searched the niches, Itchi and Bruzra\u0026ndash;the latter a bard whose songs would never again lift spirits\u0026ndash;were set upon by centipedes and torn apart. Their screams echoed through the chamber before cutting off with horrible finality.\nKafeelia discovered a hidden vase containing 50 gold pieces, but greed stayed her tongue. She secreted the treasure away, feeling the weight of true warriorhood settling upon her shoulders like armor.\nWithout tools to breach Klexx\u0026rsquo;s tomb, they prepared to retreat. The silence from beyond the secret door pressed against them like a living thing. Bancroft renewed his Light spell with shaking hands and called again upon Sylvanus for protection, though his god seemed distant in this realm of the dead.\nScraps of blood and cloth\nThey emerged to find horror. Blood and torn cloth marked where their companions had died, but the sleeping centipedes lay bisected by clean cuts\u0026ndash;killed by something far more dangerous than chittering insects. The exit door stood closed, its mechanism sealed by unseen hands.\nIn the flickering light of Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s spell, the survivors stared at their prison of stone and bone. The maze had claimed its tribute in blood, and now it held them fast. Above, the storm clouds gathered once more, and they wondered if they would ever again feel sunlight upon their faces\u0026ndash;or if they were doomed to join the countless dead who whispered in the darkness, forever trapped in the Shadowmaze\u0026rsquo;s hungry embrace.\n","date":"11 November 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-11-11-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nThe weight of debt pressed upon Bancroft’s shoulders like a funeral shroud. The church of St Ygg had demanded payment for their divine intervention–the Cure Disease that had saved him from the festering rot of a rat’s bite. Now penniless, the former farmer trudged through the rain-slicked streets to the soup kitchens, his chainmail gleaming incongruously among the ragged masses. His jeweled sword marked him as a man fallen from grace, a warrior reduced to begging for scraps.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 33","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nThe party found themselves in yet another chamber of the accursed shadowmaze, their nerves already frayed from countless encounters with the dungeon\u0026rsquo;s malevolent inhabitants. Wyz, ever the cautious scout, pressed his pointed ear against the southeastern door, straining to catch any telltale sounds beyond. Meanwhile, his companions busied themselves searching the room for hidden treasures or traps, their movements creating a soft symphony of rustling gear and whispered observations.\nTheir methodical exploration was rudely interrupted when a pair of glowing eyes materialized at the southwestern door, watching them with an unsettling intelligence. At the same moment, Wyz\u0026rsquo;s keen hearing picked up the faint but unmistakable sound of shuffling from beyond the southeastern portal\u0026ndash;the kind of shuffling that spoke of things that should be dead but weren\u0026rsquo;t.\nFaced with mysterious watchers and ominous sounds, the party chose the path of least immediate resistance and headed north. The corridor stretched before them, punctuated by doors to the west at its midpoint and another door at its terminus. When they paused to listen at the northern door, hoping to avoid another unpleasant surprise, fate decided to deliver one anyway. Four skeletal warriors burst from concealment, their bone weapons gleaming with malevolent purpose.\nQuick-thinking Wyz scattered his caltrops across the corridor like a goblin sowing seeds of pain, then beat a hasty retreat through the eastern door. His companions followed suit, with Helfen calling upon the divine favor of Fortuna to drive back the unholy abominations. The cleric\u0026rsquo;s faith proved strong enough to send two of the skeletons fleeing into the shadows, their courage\u0026ndash;if such creatures could be said to possess courage\u0026ndash;failing them.\nCaltrops\nThe room they\u0026rsquo;d retreated into held its own surprises. Idrivian discovered this the hard way when the floor nearly gave way beneath his feet, revealing a cunningly concealed pit trap. From the depths below came a weak but desperate voice\u0026ndash;an emaciated dwarf, trapped and pleading for rescue from his subterranean prison.\nLessa, ever compassionate, immediately tossed a rope down into the pit while Fu worked to keep the treacherous lid propped open. Their rescue attempt was cut short when the remaining skeletons smashed through the door like bony battering rams, their empty eye sockets fixed on the party with murderous intent.\nBefore the undead archers could loose their arrows, Wyz\u0026rsquo;s sling stone whistled through the air and cracked against a skeletal forehead with a satisfying thunk. Unfortunately, the skeletons\u0026rsquo; return volley proved more accurate\u0026ndash;Lessa cried out as an arrow found its mark, and the pit\u0026rsquo;s lid slammed shut with an ominous finality.\nWhat followed was a chaotic melee that would have been comical if it weren\u0026rsquo;t so deadly. Idrivian charged forward with his longsword, swinging with more enthusiasm than skill, his blade cutting nothing but air. Fu, showing admirable loyalty, dragged the wounded Lessa to what passed for safety in their current predicament.\nWyz attempted another sling shot but found his aim wanting in the heat of battle. Lessa, bleeding and desperate, crawled into a corner like a wounded animal seeking shelter, while Helfen demonstrated that discretion was indeed the better part of valor by sneaking past the skeletons and disappearing through the door.\nIdrivian\u0026rsquo;s second attack proved no more successful than his first, his sword once again finding only empty space where skeleton should have been. The undead warriors, however, had no such trouble with their aim. One skeleton charged Wyz directly, its rusted blade whistling past the goblin\u0026rsquo;s head by mere inches. Wyz responded with his magical dagger, employing a clever feint before landing a solid strike that sent bone chips flying.\nRealizing that standing toe-to-toe with animated skeletons was perhaps not his wisest career choice, Wyz melted back into the shadows at the rear of the room, hoping to lure his bony pursuer into the pit trap. His tactical retreat, however, coincided with a series of tragic events that would haunt the survivors\u0026rsquo; dreams.\nAura, in a moment of fatal clumsiness, dropped her torch and paid the ultimate price for the mistake. Idrivian followed shortly after, his luck finally running out in the most permanent way possible. The room grew darker and more desperate with each fallen comrade.\nSeeing the skeleton that had been pursuing him now distracted by other targets, Wyz made a bold decision. Rather than continue his retreat, he charged back into the fray, his magical dagger finding its mark once more. Knutella, meanwhile, decided that retreat was the better part of survival and fled toward the exit, though not without colliding with a skeleton in her haste.\nWiz and his dragonbone dagger\nWyz\u0026rsquo;s third strike proved to be the charm. His dagger pierced something vital in the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s unholy anatomy, and the creature collapsed into a pile of dust and bone fragments, leaving only a glowing gem where its forehead had been. The goblin snatched up this prize and fled, pausing only to grab a torch that one of his fleeing companions had abandoned.\nIn his haste to escape, Wyz attempted to leap over his own scattered caltrops\u0026ndash;a maneuver that proved far more difficult than anticipated. He landed squarely in the middle of his improvised minefield, the sharp spikes biting into his flesh as he struggled to regain his footing. As he pulled himself upright, something caught his eye: a magical swirling pattern within the captured gem.\nMemory struck him like a lightning bolt. He\u0026rsquo;d seen skeletons reform from their gems before! Panic overtook caution as he frantically stabbed at the swirling energy with his dagger, desperate to prevent his fallen foe\u0026rsquo;s resurrection. The gem cracked under his assault, but his frenzied attacks also left him wounded and bleeding.\nAs if summoned by his worst fears, the torchlight began to flicker and sputter, casting dancing shadows across the corridor. In that uncertain light, the skeleton began to reform from the cracked gem, its bones knitting together with supernatural malevolence. When the process completed, Wyz found himself face-to-face with his undead nemesis once more, the creature\u0026rsquo;s empty eye sockets boring into him with renewed hatred.\nThe barrowmaze, it seemed, was far from finished with them.\n","date":"10 November 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-11-10-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nThe party found themselves in yet another chamber of the accursed shadowmaze, their nerves already frayed from countless encounters with the dungeon’s malevolent inhabitants. Wyz, ever the cautious scout, pressed his pointed ear against the southeastern door, straining to catch any telltale sounds beyond. Meanwhile, his companions busied themselves searching the room for hidden treasures or traps, their movements creating a soft symphony of rustling gear and whispered observations.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 32","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nJust as the party thought their situation couldn\u0026rsquo;t grow more desperate, the northern door burst open and two terrified townsfolk stumbled into their chamber\u0026ndash;Ibri and Itchi, their faces pale with fear and their clothes torn from their own flight through the rat-infested passages. These were clearly not adventurers; their wide eyes and trembling hands spoke of ordinary folk who had somehow found themselves trapped in this nightmare maze. What business could have possibly brought them into these deadly depths?\nThe party found themselves trapped between converging threats\u0026ndash;rats gnawing at the northern door while the sounds of battle echoed from the south, where the vermin clashed with something that sounded disturbingly like the shambling gait of the undead. In their immediate chamber, only one rat remained, and Irulan dispatched it with a swift, decisive blow. But the respite was brief; through the hole the rats had chewed in the northern door, another snout poked through, sniffing for prey. Despite the fever burning through his veins from his infected wound, Bancroft managed to drive his blade true, striking the creature cleanly.\nTheir precarious situation grew worse when their torch guttered out, leaving them in absolute darkness once again. The party\u0026rsquo;s light magic had already proven unreliable in these cursed depths, and none of them carried spare torches. Fortunately, the frightened townsfolk had brought their own light source. Bruzra and Oklahom both fumbled with flint and steel, their hands shaking too badly to catch a spark, but Irulan\u0026rsquo;s steady nerves finally coaxed flame to life, pushing back the oppressive darkness.\nDruidly stepped forward and carefully opened the northern door, immediately weaving his sleep enchantment over the rats beyond. As the creatures succumbed to magical slumber, Bancroft swung his blade at the opening, but his fever-addled reflexes betrayed him and his strike went wide.\nIn a moment of desperate inspiration, Bruzra burst from the chamber and began an elaborate dance in the corridor, her movements hypnotic and strange. The rats that had resisted Druidly\u0026rsquo;s sleep magic found themselves transfixed by her performance, swaying in place as if caught in a trance.\nBruzra v rats\nSeizing the opportunity, Bancroft hoisted Druidly over his shoulder and stepped into the corridor, keeping a wary eye on the rats as they either slept or swayed to Bruzra\u0026rsquo;s rhythm. Druidly managed to stagger forward on his own after a few steps, turning to face the creatures with another spell ready on his lips.\nBut Bruzra\u0026rsquo;s enchanting dance faltered, and the rats\u0026rsquo; fascination broke like a snapping bowstring. She immediately fled toward the rope with Oklahom close behind, their footsteps echoing in the narrow passage.\nBancroft began a fighting retreat toward their escape route, managing to land a glancing blow on one pursuing rat but knowing he couldn\u0026rsquo;t hold them off for long. Irulan stood her ground longer, trading vicious strikes with the vermin. Her blade found its mark, cutting deep into one rat\u0026rsquo;s flank, but the creature\u0026rsquo;s teeth found her in return, sinking deep into her arm. She felt the familiar burning sensation as infection took hold of the wound.\nIrulan v rats\nTragedy struck as the party reached their escape route. Ibri, one of the terrified townsfolk, lost her grip on the rope during the frantic ascent. Her scream echoed through the chamber as she plummeted to the stone floor below, her neck snapping with a sickening crack that silenced her cries forever.\nAs their torch failed once again, Irulan and Bancroft found themselves groping through the darkness toward the ropes, guided only by the sounds of their companions above and the skittering of approaching rats. In the chaos, Druidly took another bite from the pursuing vermin, and he too felt the telltale burn of infection spreading through his system.\nDruidly is the last one at the bottom\nBancroft hauled himself up the rope with desperate strength, his muscles burning as he climbed toward safety. Below him, the rats gathered at the base of the rope, their red eyes gleaming in what little light remained.\nBancroft hangs from the rope\nWorking together, Irulan and Oklahom managed to pull Druidly to safety just as the last of their light failed completely, leaving the rats chittering in frustration in the darkness below.\nThe battered party retreated to town, their wounds festering and their spirits low. At the church of St. Ygg, they sought healing for their infected bites, but the clerics demanded payment of 30 gold pieces\u0026ndash;a sum none of them possessed. With heavy hearts, they accepted that they would need to work off their debt through labor, adding yet another burden to their already dire circumstances.\n","date":"4 November 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-11-04-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nJust as the party thought their situation couldn’t grow more desperate, the northern door burst open and two terrified townsfolk stumbled into their chamber–Ibri and Itchi, their faces pale with fear and their clothes torn from their own flight through the rat-infested passages. These were clearly not adventurers; their wide eyes and trembling hands spoke of ordinary folk who had somehow found themselves trapped in this nightmare maze. What business could have possibly brought them into these deadly depths?\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 31","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nThe session began with an unexpected moment of levity as Irulan found herself locked in a battle of wits with Keelgo, a gruff dwarf from the Outriders of Uleck. What started as casual tavern banter quickly escalated into an elaborate exchange of \u0026ldquo;yo momma\u0026rdquo; insults that had the entire common room in stitches. By the end of their verbal sparring match, the two had developed a mutual respect and genuine friendship, proving that sometimes the best bonds are forged through good-natured mockery.\nBefore departing for their underground expedition, the party settled their affairs at the inn. Druidly generously covered Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s outstanding debt to the innkeeper, a gesture of solidarity that didn\u0026rsquo;t go unnoticed. In gratitude, Bancroft presented his companion with a carefully prepared pound of medicinal herbs, their earthy aroma speaking to hours of careful gathering and preparation.\nThe descent into the depths began with Bancroft securing his rope around a sturdy pillar and lowering himself into the darkness with the block and tackle system, torch held high to pierce the gloom. The rest of the party followed in careful succession, but disaster struck when Gravelgnasher lost his footing. Bancroft lunged to catch his falling companion but his hands closed on empty air. As Gravelgnasher hit the ground with a sickening thud, Bancroft rushed to his aid, calling upon his divine magic to heal the wounded dwarf. But the spell sputtered and died, leaving only sparks of failed magic. Even his light spell flickered and went out, as if the very forces of magic were turning against them. The omens felt wrong today, tainted with an ill fortune that made Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s skin crawl.\nWhen the party reached the second southern chamber, they discovered the rat infestation had worsened considerably. The wooden door showed clear signs of persistent gnawing, with the bottom portion chewed through entirely, creating a perfect highway for the vermin. The scratching and chittering from within suggested the rats had claimed this space as their own territory. Rather than wade into what was clearly a well-established nest, the party wisely chose to redirect their exploration to the first southern room instead.\nBancroft and Bruzra took point as the group pushed eastward, their footsteps echoing in the narrow corridor. The passage opened into a much larger chamber, its walls disappearing into shadow beyond their torchlight. Multiple doorways led off in different directions, promising further mysteries to uncover. But their exploration had not gone unnoticed\u0026ndash;a pack of rats emerged from the darkness, their red eyes gleaming with hunger and territorial aggression.\nDruidly stepped forward and began weaving an enchantment, his voice rising and falling in the ancient cadences of sleep magic. One by one, the rats succumbed to the spell, their aggressive chittering fading to gentle snores as they curled up on the cold stone floor. What followed was a grim necessity\u0026ndash;the party moved through the sleeping vermin, ending their lives with quick, merciful strikes. Bancroft performed each killing blow with a heavy heart, whispering quiet apologies to creatures that were only following their nature in this dark, forgotten place.\nThe party\u0026rsquo;s continued exploration led them deeper into the maze-like complex, but their progress was suddenly and violently interrupted. As Bruzra and Delpha moved forward to investigate what appeared to be a safe corridor, the floor gave way beneath their feet with a grinding crash of stone and metal. Delpha\u0026rsquo;s reflexes saved her life\u0026ndash;she threw herself backward with desperate strength, her fingertips finding purchase on the solid edge as the trap yawned open beneath her.\nBruzra was not so fortunate. She plummeted into the pit with a cry of alarm, her fall ending with a wet, terrible sound as the iron spikes at the bottom found their mark. Blood pooled around the cruel points that had pierced her body, and for a heart-stopping moment, she lay motionless in the darkness below. Druidly immediately sprang into action, securing a rope around his waist while Bancroft and Delpha braced themselves to lower him into the deadly pit.\nWorking with steady hands despite the urgency, Druidly bandaged her wounds and staunched the bleeding, managing to draw Bruzra back from the brink of death. The wounds ceased to bleed, but not without leaving their mark\u0026ndash;a jagged wound now traced across her throat where a spike had come within inches of ending her life permanently. As they worked to extract her from the trap, new sounds echoed from the southern passages: the familiar skittering of rats, but underneath it, something else\u0026ndash;a rhythmic clicking and scraping that spoke of chitin against stone, of something far larger and more dangerous than mere vermin stirring in the depths.\npit trap\nThe party\u0026rsquo;s retreat quickly turned into a running battle as they encountered yet another pack of rats blocking their path. Druidly once again called upon his sleep magic, and several of the creatures succumbed to his enchantment, but their chittering calls had already alerted others. The sound of tiny claws on stone echoed from multiple directions as reinforcements scurried toward the commotion. Oklahom hefted her spear and sent it flying with deadly accuracy, the point taking one of the approaching rats clean through the body, but even as it fell, more red eyes gleamed in the darkness beyond.\nThe situation grew more dire as a thunderous banging erupted from behind the southeastern door. Whatever lurked beyond was large, angry, and very much aware of their presence. The rhythmic pounding sent vibrations through the stone floor, and dust rained from the ceiling with each impact. The party realized they were caught between the advancing rat swarm and something far worse trying to break through from the south.\nRecognizing the need to secure their escape route, Irulan broke from the group and sprinted toward the northern passage, her boots splashing through puddles as she left the sleeping rats behind. But as her hand closed on the door handle, Irulan\u0026rsquo;s torch suddenly guttered out, plunging them into absolute darkness even as Bancroft caught up to her. In that same moment, the remaining rats launched their assault from the east, a chittering wave of teeth and claws that crashed into Delpha\u0026rsquo;s position. She raised her shield just in time, but the creatures\u0026rsquo; frenzied attack was relentless\u0026ndash;their razor-sharp teeth found every weak point in the wood and leather, reducing her protection to splinters and scraps in mere seconds.\ndelpha versus rats\nFor a terrifying heartbeat, the chamber was consumed by absolute darkness. The party stood frozen in the black void, hearing only the skittering of claws, the rasp of their own breathing, and that ominous pounding from the southeast that seemed to grow louder and more urgent. Then, as suddenly as it had died, Irulan\u0026rsquo;s torch burst back to life with a brilliant flare that sent dancing shadows racing across the walls, revealing the chaos that surrounded them and promising that their ordeal in the depths was far from over.\nWith the light restored, Bancroft slammed the door closed, locking a solitary rat into the room with the party. That same rat tore into his leg, finding the gap between boot and chainmail and leaving a nasty wound along with a nasty infection. But the party remained alive and safe, for now.\n","date":"28 October 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-10-28-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nThe session began with an unexpected moment of levity as Irulan found herself locked in a battle of wits with Keelgo, a gruff dwarf from the Outriders of Uleck. What started as casual tavern banter quickly escalated into an elaborate exchange of “yo momma” insults that had the entire common room in stitches. By the end of their verbal sparring match, the two had developed a mutual respect and genuine friendship, proving that sometimes the best bonds are forged through good-natured mockery.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 30","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nWe lowered ourselves into the barrowmaze on a block and tackle \u0026ndash; slow, steady, and sensible. The lamps swung and the ropes creaked while the sound of the surface faded. When our boots finally touched the packed earth below, the air was cold and smelled of old things. We pressed forward into unexplored corridors, careful to mark our path and avoid needless rushing.\nSoon after we passed through a large, empty chamber that echoed our footsteps like empty bowls. Beyond it lay a smaller room with a visible cave‑in along one wall: a heap of fallen stone in one corner of the room. One good jolt would bring the whole lot down. We noted the danger and moved on; unstable passages are useful only if someone plans to use them as a trap.\nTo the north lay a large chamber with a roof held up by four large pillars. Between them was a mess of fallen stone that looked like a rat\u0026rsquo;s nest. It was a mess: bone and metal and leather and a heap of rubble like a collapsed pantry complete with the family silver. We were prodding at that pile\u0026ndash;everyone thought treasure, of course\u0026ndash;when that long, wet hiss rolled down the corridor. The snake came like a shadow with teeth and swallowed Theowyn whole.\nWhen the scraping started and dust began to rise, I had two bright ideas in my head at once: a quick Sleep to quiet the snake, or Mage Armor to keep my brittle hide from being shredded. Sleep would be neat\u0026ndash;quiet the big thing, maybe let Perch stab it while it drooled. Mage Armor would keep me whole. I stood there with my hands itching to cast either, weighing which coin to spend, and then I chose the sensible one: Mage Armor. If the snake woke grumpy, I preferred a layer of magic over a surprise nap that might fail.\nI wrapped the shimmer of Mage Armor around myself and felt a little safer, like being inside a tin box held together by the Old Tricks.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re reading this and expecting bravado, wrong goblin. I am Wyz, and I prefer my spells to serve me alive.\nOnce it was busy with Perch\u0026rsquo;s clumsy sword, I thought about getting closer to strike. The snake\u0026rsquo;s body eased along a low rubble mound and I could have climbed it, but climbing that heap meant being cut off and pinched between rock and beast. So I skirted along the wall instead, creeping forward on careful feet, keeping as low as a gob can. The torch guttered and went out\u0026ndash;naturally at the worst moment\u0026ndash;and I paused, listening to scales move and Theowyn\u0026rsquo;s muffled sounds. I still did not want to climb the pile if I could help it.\nAfter a long moment of arguing with my own courage, I moved closer along the floor, close enough to spit at the snake\u0026rsquo;s flank. I whispered the words for Sleep and sent them along on the same breath I used to curse aloud. The magic slid toward the snake like a snare\u0026hellip;and did nothing. The beast\u0026rsquo;s scales shimmered, and the sleep bounced off as if the snake had a mind made of stone. For a goblin who counts spells like coins, that was an ugly loss.\nWhen the fighting was done and the snake lay still, the others began to dig through the piles. I muttered and muttered and decided to try Detect Magic before we shuffled every scrap into our pockets. If there were trinkets or glowing bulbs of power hidden in the rubble, I wanted first crack at them. I swept the little circle of detection over the mound and around the pillars. Nothing. No hum, no faint glow, no trapped charm. The pile was full of copper and bent bits of metal and old leather, but not a single sparkling thing for me to take home.\nStill, one of my minions found a small pouch\u0026ndash;nothing like the big prizes the others dream of, but six dull gems will buy a few handfuls of odd components. I told myself next time I would try Sleep first\u0026hellip;or maybe not. Better safe than dead, and a live goblin casts twice more tomorrow.\n","date":"27 October 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-10-27-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nWe lowered ourselves into the barrowmaze on a block and tackle – slow, steady, and sensible. The lamps swung and the ropes creaked while the sound of the surface faded. When our boots finally touched the packed earth below, the air was cold and smelled of old things. We pressed forward into unexplored corridors, careful to mark our path and avoid needless rushing.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 29","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Bancroft and his friends searched the area once the strangers had left. One of the nearby rooms had a table with three polished skulls sitting on top \u0026ndash; very strange decor. Druidly thought they might be magical, so the party kept them. A few minutes after they finished searching, a group of adventurers came from a door to the south. There was a tense moment, with Druidly moving his hand toward his pouch of spell components, but the newcomers left without a fight.\nOne of the nearby rooms had a table with three polished skulls sitting on top \u0026ndash; very strange decor.\nBancroft and his friends searched the area once the strangers had left. One of the nearby rooms had a table with three polished skulls sitting on top \u0026ndash; very strange decor. Druidly thought they might be magical, so the party kept them. A few minutes after they finished searching, a group of adventurers came from a door to the south. There was a tense moment, with Druidly moving his hand toward his pouch of spell components, but the newcomers left without a fight.\nThe rats that burst through one of the other southern doors a moment later did not. Druidly caught the first wave with his favorite lullaby, but more were already coming through.\nduck vs rats\nBancroft dropped his caltrops at the room\u0026rsquo;s exit to slow them down while the group fled to the exit. Uliny fell to the flood of rats and was likely dead before they began to feast.\nTohru swarmed up the rope first like some kind of squirrel. Druidly grabbed the other rope but fell halfway up, twisting his ankle when he landed. Irulan stepped up, lifting the wizard onto her back and climbing for both of them.\nadventurers fleeing\nWith both ropes occupied, Bancroft hung back and prayed for Sylvanus to shield him, but his prayers failed. The rats began to swarm into the room. Bancroft slew the first of them with a single blow, then leapt to the rope Tohru had used and began to climb. Delpha pulled him the rest of the way up, but the others were screaming about a skeleton \u0026ndash; one of those from before had lingered on the upper level.\nThe party called it for the day, gathered their rope, and left for Helix.\nThat evening, they held a wake for Uliny. There was a lot of drinking.\nwake drinks\nThe next morning, Bancroft woke in his room with a badger sleeping next to him. The animal looked as puzzled as Bancroft was.\nbadger in bed\nThe only clue was a ragged scrap of leather around the badger\u0026rsquo;s neck, perhaps the remnant of a collar, and the broken window. Regardless of the circumstances, the badger was pissed and dealt Bancroft a nasty bite. He fled out of the room, naked, with only his sword, gasping a quick prayer for healing. The badger pursued, chewing the door to bits. Bancroft fled again to the inn\u0026rsquo;s common room, praying once more that Sylvanus would ease the badger\u0026rsquo;s wrath.\neasing the badger\nSomewhere in the distance, Sylvanus laughed. The barkeep grabbed a pitchfork and drove the badger away, then demanded that Bancroft pay for the damage to his room. Bancroft still owes him 3 gp.\n","date":"22 October 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-10-21-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft and his friends searched the area once the strangers had left. One of the nearby rooms had a table with three polished skulls sitting on top – very strange decor. Druidly thought they might be magical, so the party kept them. A few minutes after they finished searching, a group of adventurers came from a door to the south. There was a tense moment, with Druidly moving his hand toward his pouch of spell components, but the newcomers left without a fight.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 28","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nBancroft contemplated the holes in his gloves from handling gold coins over the past few days and the heavy weight of almost 400 silver coins in his backpack. After some thought he spent 200 sp to buy a chest and a master lock, put his remaining silver in the locked chest, and left it in his room at the inn.\nBancroft and his friends returned to the barrowmaze and descended the block and tackle into its center. They examined the area under the block and tackle, found nothing, then explored west and north. The north door was trapped, with a pressure plate and a roof stone that swiveled; Tohru disabled the trap.\nBehind the door was a small room with another door at the far end. The party approached, but the door opened from the other side before they reached it. Three skeletons marched into the room and attacked.\nBancroft took a minor blow but returned a strong one. Delpha invoked Fortunata and forced two of the skeletons to flee, though a troubling cloud of darkness surrounded her holy symbol as she did. After a moment of confusion to relight the torches, and a glowing magic missile from Druidly, Bancroft and Irulan landed solid blows on the one that remained and it collapsed into a pile of bones. Uliny, one of the new crew, did courageous work bringing the lantern into the room to help the party fight. The whole party followed the fleeing skeletons further north, finding them trapped in a small alcove.\nWith Delpha\u0026rsquo;s holy power still forcing them to flee, the group quickly reduced the skeletons to fragments. Uliny and her friends claimed their equipment, which was at least better than what they had started with.\nA thorough search determined that the rooms contained neither treasure nor secret exits. Before the party could depart, however, they heard noise from the south. Four more skeletons had appeared from nowhere and taken up positions between them and the way back up. Bancroft advanced, invoking the power of his patron Sylvanus, and destroyed three of the four skeletons outright. The one that remained fled, but before the party could advance to deal with it, a group of strange figures approached from the east. They bore disturbing physical mutations\u0026ndash;everything from extra eyes to tentacles\u0026ndash;but despite the horror of their form they seemed peaceful and left an offering of some kind: a small leather bag.\nThere was no time for pursuit with one skeleton still nearby.\n","date":"14 October 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-10-14-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nBancroft contemplated the holes in his gloves from handling gold coins over the past few days and the heavy weight of almost 400 silver coins in his backpack. After some thought he spent 200 sp to buy a chest and a master lock, put his remaining silver in the locked chest, and left it in his room at the inn.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 27","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nWyz grumbled and groaned. His minions refused to obey him and return to the tomb with the tome. They insisted on opening a new barrow! And of course it was filled with ghouls hiding behind a tapestry. The undead creatures swarmed, striking Lessa and Wyz. Perch blocked the blow with his shield, but the creatures ripped it off of his arm. Wyz fell unconscious, and Lessa just stared into space, paralyzed with horror. Perch grabbed Wyz and fled with his unconscious body, leaving Lessa with a frozen look of horror on her face. After a moment the small halfling vanished from sight, confusing the ghouls, but they quickly followed the rest of the group.\nWyz woke up later, with the ghouls gone, to Helfen healing his wounds. The party waited for a time in the barrowmaze, but eventually returned to town without seeing Lessa. On the way back, a group of delvers supposedly fleeing from skeletons caught up to the group. When called out on the lack of skeletons, they demanded ransom. Grudging the group paid 9 gp, but left with their lives.\nLessa made it back to town and met us at the tavern. She had managed to collect the loose gold, which just about made up for the bandits.\nOn the way back to the barrowmaze, a skeleton crawled from the ground, but it retreated towards the barrowmaze rather than attack. When the group reached the previous barrow, the bag of Wyz\u0026rsquo;s belongings was gone and the group moved to another barrow rather than descend further in to find it.\nAfter just a few minutes of digging, Helfen spotted skeletons in the distance. Most of us hid, but Lessa attacked one with a sling and drew its attention. Perch slashed the other with his sword, first a feint, but then a mighty followup blow. Wyz sighed at the idiots who attacked rather than simply hiding, but struck the one Perch had damaged with a glancing blow from his sling. Helfen invoked Fortunata and told the one remaining to git, and it did. The remaining skeleton fell the next round.\nHelfen invoked Fortuna to heal Lessa\u0026rsquo;s wounds while we thought about what to do next. We hadn\u0026rsquo;t had much luck digging safely today\u0026hellip;\n","date":"13 October 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-10-13-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nWyz grumbled and groaned. His minions refused to obey him and return to the tomb with the tome. They insisted on opening a new barrow! And of course it was filled with ghouls hiding behind a tapestry. The undead creatures swarmed, striking Lessa and Wyz. Perch blocked the blow with his shield, but the creatures ripped it off of his arm. Wyz fell unconscious, and Lessa just stared into space, paralyzed with horror. Perch grabbed Wyz and fled with his unconscious body, leaving Lessa with a frozen look of horror on her face. After a moment the small halfling vanished from sight, confusing the ghouls, but they quickly followed the rest of the group.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 26","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nThe scorpion grabbed at the sleeping toad with its pincer, but the claw splashed uselessly in the water. The stinger followed but was deflected by the toad\u0026rsquo;s tough hide. Somehow the toad slept on.\nBancroft stepped in to swing at the scorpion but missed as the magical light from the last of Helfa\u0026rsquo;s stones faded. Lacking other options he moved toward the barrow entrance.\nDruidly cast Sleep blindly at the scorpion but it had no effect. A sudden splash suggested he had also caught Tohru and her duck; they slipped beneath the surface.\nJaenelle took blows from the scorpion and fell, her dying thrashes lit by a fresh lightstone from Helfa. Her last words were, \u0026ldquo;I have 33 gold in my purse\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; Helfa grabbed Jaenelle and dragged her toward the stairs; Bruzra carried her the rest of the way, but she did not survive. Druidly\u0026rsquo;s magic missile stung the scorpion, fresh ichor leaking from the wound.\nA sputtering gasp and hacking cough came from Tohru\u0026rsquo;s direction, followed by an indignant quack. Drowning in the fetid swamp water had woken the pair and they began to make their way toward the door, even as Helfen somehow bounced off the scorpion\u0026rsquo;s back to head for the exit.\nDruidly and Bruzra shot missiles at the scorpion again; one hit and one missed. The scorpion grabbed at Bancroft with its claw and missed; at the last minute Bancroft twisted his sword to block the stinger\u0026rsquo;s strike and his riposte slew the beast. The party regrouped in the light near the entrance to consider their options.\nBancroft and Bruzra cautiously reentered to guard Irulan while she retrieved her friend\u0026rsquo;s body and distributed her equipment among the group. They mourned silently, careful not to attract more attention. Helfa left the group, disturbed by the deaths, but her friend Delpha joined soon afterward.\nThe next order of business was to drag the giant scorpion corpse out and try to butcher it. The stomach might contain the remains of adventurers the creature had previously devoured \u0026ndash; a potential source of wealth and equipment. The poison sac in the stinger might be used to poison rats in a nearby barrow. Neither possibility panned out; the butchery was more enthusiastic revenge than careful economics.\nEventually several party members went back in to search. Druidly tried to put the frogs back to sleep but his spell failed, and the frogs attacked while the group searched. They bit and chomped at Bancroft, who somehow stayed on his feet and called out to Sylvanus for aid; his patron healed his wounds.\nA frantic combination of spells, slings, swords, and a frog mating call drove one frog back under the water, but the second remained hostile. A second missile from Druidly convinced it to back off.\nThe risk was not entirely without gain. During his search Bancroft stumbled across something long and cylindrical under the water. Bruzra volunteered to sneak back in and retrieve the objects while the rest of the party defended her; she made it back without incident. The two objects turned out to be brass candlesticks worth a dozen gp each \u0026ndash; a small prize, but better than nothing.\nBetween that small reward and a generous loan from Druidly, Irulan was able to afford chain mail for the next trip out.\n","date":"7 October 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-10-07-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nThe scorpion grabbed at the sleeping toad with its pincer, but the claw splashed uselessly in the water. The stinger followed but was deflected by the toad’s tough hide. Somehow the toad slept on.\nBancroft stepped in to swing at the scorpion but missed as the magical light from the last of Helfa’s stones faded. Lacking other options he moved toward the barrow entrance.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 25","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nBancroft stepped forward with his sling and delivered a rock into a vulnerable point in the scorpion\u0026rsquo;s chitin, which oozed greyish ichor. Furious at losing its meal and the injury, the scorpion advanced back into the barrow. Bruzra claimed the sling and bag of stones from Bancroft to use in ranged attacks while he prepared to defend with sword and shield.\nBancroft followed his friends to the swamp barrow. They were fed up with rats, and with four fresh volunteers joining the group, searching the large flooded space seemed more feasible.\nThey reached the barrow without incident. Tohru performed a toad mating call and Druidly used magic to put the toads to sleep so the party could search the room. Druidly\u0026rsquo;s dog Mike and Tohru\u0026rsquo;s duck Kyo were playing outside and attracted the attention of a giant scorpion, which killed Mike. Tohru rescued her duck and ran back inside the barrow; the scorpion followed.\nTohru used her amphibian wiles to wake a toad, which faced off against the scorpion. Bancroft and the others took up positions surrounding the toad, hoping it would focus on the scorpion rather than attacking the smaller humans. The scorpion cooperated, grappling the still-drowsy toad and backing out of the barrow with it, plunging its stinger into the toad\u0026rsquo;s belly.\nThe toad\u0026rsquo;s eyes flew open in outrage. Seemingly unaffected by the poison, the toad broke free and leaped past the group\u0026rsquo;s defensive line. Druidly was ready and put both toads back to sleep. Whether that had been wise remained to be seen; sleeping toads would be less distracting to the scorpion.\nBancroft stepped forward with his sling and struck a vulnerable point in the scorpion\u0026rsquo;s chitin; greyish ichor oozed from the wound. Furious at losing its meal, the scorpion advanced back into the barrow. Bruzra claimed the sling and bag of stones from Bancroft to use for ranged attacks while he prepared to defend with sword and shield.\n","date":"30 September 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-09-30-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nBancroft stepped forward with his sling and delivered a rock into a vulnerable point in the scorpion’s chitin, which oozed greyish ichor. Furious at losing its meal and the injury, the scorpion advanced back into the barrow. Bruzra claimed the sling and bag of stones from Bancroft to use in ranged attacks while he prepared to defend with sword and shield.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 24","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nWyz studied his spells while his friends caroused. Then, he studied his spells while they slept it off, pausing occasionally to try to kick them awake. Finally, they woke up, complaining of hangovers, and the group blearily set off for the barrowmaze.\nBefore even reaching the barrows, four giant frogs hopped to the attack from ambush. The rest of the group were surprised, but Wyz had his goblin wariness to protect him, and reacted quickly. Two of the four frogs fell into enchanted slumber, but four of his party did too.\nKethry bravely fled from the frog attacking her to wake Helfen, but the frog\u0026rsquo;s long tongue had enough reach to slurp her up. That was the last of the new girl. I wonder if the Grey Company will send the group an L next? There does seem to be a pattern to the recruits, a bit. Odd. Maybe the quartermaster is bored. At least he can read and write, unlike most of those numbskulls.\nThey insisted on spending the rest of the day digging, instead of dealing with the frogs in the swampy barrow. The idiots don\u0026rsquo;t see the value of living enemies and a good plan. Make the toads nap, kill them one at a time, drain the swamp, find the treasure.\nThe scorpions somehow snuck up on the group while they dug like idiot dwarves. Notice that they did not sneak up on Wyz, oh no. Only the idiots got surprised. I was ready for the scorpions. A wise wizard is always prepared, and I is Wyz!\n","date":"29 September 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-09-29-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nWyz studied his spells while his friends caroused. Then, he studied his spells while they slept it off, pausing occasionally to try to kick them awake. Finally, they woke up, complaining of hangovers, and the group blearily set off for the barrowmaze.\nBefore even reaching the barrows, four giant frogs hopped to the attack from ambush. The rest of the group were surprised, but Wyz had his goblin wariness to protect him, and reacted quickly. Two of the four frogs fell into enchanted slumber, but four of his party did too.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 23","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nThis time the plan came from Druidly: lure rats to the entrance one by one, put them to sleep with a spell, then finish them. The idea worked for precisely one rat; the rest fled deeper into the barrow.\nA few steps farther in they found more rats. Druidly\u0026rsquo;s attempts at communication were wasted \u0026ndash; the party suspected the rats did not understand Common. He cast a magical missile to strike a sleeping rat he found, killing it. Two rats down and so far no party wounds.\nThe remaining rats retreated, dragging their dead behind them. Bancroft shuddered to imagine what use the rats might have for carrion.\nDruidly and Bancroft proceeded deeper, closing the entrance to the rats\u0026rsquo; lair. While Druidly searched for something to plug the pipe trap on the statue, Bancroft braced the rat trap door with scorpion viscera.\nAfter a brief pause to check for skeletons, Druidly pried the opals from the statue and set off the trap. A greenish cloud of poison gas spewed into the room while he frantically stuffed the gems into his bag and held his breath. Bancroft slipped north beyond the other secret door to wait out the gas while the others remained near the entrance.\nWhen the gas dissipated the party collected their caltrops and returned to town.\nThey received about 50 gp apiece for the gems. Jaenelle used the money to bribe an innkeeper and then promptly indulged in a scandal that left the party shaking their heads.\nThe next day they returned to the rats\u0026rsquo; barrow to consider the lair. Two large rats sat atop the nest while more lurked in ambush along the north and south walls. Druidly put the central rats to sleep, but they were awakened by rats inside the nest. Several party spells had already failed, so the sensible decision was to return to town and rethink strategy. Bancroft could hold the line in a narrow place and Druidly could put rats to sleep, but if they entered the nest they risked being surrounded and overwhelmed.\nBurning the nest was an option but Druidly objected, worried there might be scrolls among the detritus. The party needed a way for Jaenelle and Irulan to thin the rats with missile weapons quickly enough to avoid being overrun.\n","date":"24 September 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-09-23-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nThis time the plan came from Druidly: lure rats to the entrance one by one, put them to sleep with a spell, then finish them. The idea worked for precisely one rat; the rest fled deeper into the barrow.\nA few steps farther in they found more rats. Druidly’s attempts at communication were wasted – the party suspected the rats did not understand Common. He cast a magical missile to strike a sleeping rat he found, killing it. Two rats down and so far no party wounds.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 22","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nThe squad of risen skeletons advanced upon Bancroft. Two bore sword and shield, closing to melee, while the rest took up positions with bows. Bancroft once again called upon the power of nature to turn them back. One of the sword-wielders fled, but the others remained intent, and their arrows struck from the darkness. Bancroft staggered back up the stairs; their aim would suffer in the light of day.\nHelfen\u0026rsquo;s prayers to her goddess of fortune were answered and Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s wounds began to close, but the skeletons kept coming. More arrows clattered off his armor and shield, and the remaining sword-wielding skeleton bypassed two of its fellows and headed straight for him. Their orders must be to retrieve the sword at any cost.\nFrom nearby positions Gravelgnasher and Druidly fired missiles, both magical and otherwise, at the skeletons but none fell. Helfen tried once more to turn the undead; her spell failed in a coruscating explosion of shadow. Some malign influence was interfering with prayers here.\nWith spells failing and treasure in hand it was time to return to Helix.\nThe first order of business was securing a night\u0026rsquo;s rest at the inn. When Bancroft dug into his purse to drop gold on the counter for a room, the coin burned his hand. The young cleric cursed and dropped the coin. Something new to worry about \u0026ndash; perhaps a curse from the god that had protected the skeletons. Making the trip to the local wizard Mazzah to have the blade identified took on new urgency. Luckily the wound healed overnight and the wizard agreed to see the group.\nAfter awkward negotiations over payment and handling of the gold, Mazzah agreed to identify the blade. He named it a Sword of Sundering, a magical blade that could shatter a gem upon its hilt to protect its wielder once a day. Its enchantments would allow it to harm magical creatures, but in other ways it performed as a normal blade. Mazzah confirmed the blade bore a curse such that the touch of gold would harm the wielder. Bancroft had never been a greedy man, and the curse did not bother him; silver and copper coins would see to his needs.\nShockingly, most of the others wanted to sell the blade. Mazzah claimed it was worth 250 gold, a princely sum, yet a blade that could save a life was even more valuable than that.\nIn the end Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s argument prevailed and he kept the sword. The curse that prevented him handling gold mollified the rest of the party, who seemed more concerned with money than survival in their new and more dangerous profession. But then, caring more for money than survival seemed like a prerequisite for a career in adventuring; there were far safer professions.\nWith the blade and its curse identified the party decided to return to the barrowmaze the next day. Statues, skulking rats, and a pair of opals called to their greed.\nWith two clerics and a wizard in the party, magical light blossomed as they prepared at the barrow entrance. The doors were closed as they had been when the group left. Druidly listened at the doors but heard nothing. Bancroft led the way inside, past the first pair of statues to the second pair. To the left, one of the secret doors was open. If the rats had returned to their lair, that was where they would be. The bodies of bandits, rats, skeletons, and scorpions had all been stripped bare; there was nothing left to loot.\nThe plan was for Bancroft to take the lead with Druidly close behind. As soon as they made contact with the rats, Druidly would send them into slumber. The terrain made that tricky, as the statues restricted movement and the rats were too numerous to fit. It would likely require more than one spell to catch them all, and that meant Bancroft would have to hold off those who remained awake. The rest of the group hung back; perhaps they could contribute once the rats were unconscious, but advancing further would make it harder to avoid including them in the spell\u0026rsquo;s area.\nAs soon as Bancroft approached the secret door to the left, the rats were alerted by the light of his glowing shield and swarmed forth. He was surrounded and beset on all sides before he could call upon his faith to protect him. The rats bit and scratched and tore at him, inflicting repeated wounds that carried a virulent stench of disease.\nDruidly too took wounds but recovered enough to cast his spell. He could not catch all the rats at once despite the planning, but both men survived and fled toward the entrance. Bancroft scattered a pouch of caltrops along their retreat, hoping to damage and delay the rats if they followed. The two adventurers closed the entrance doors behind them and breathed a sigh of relief; they were safe for the moment.\nThe rats did not follow immediately, doubtless busy waking each other from the enchantment. With the doors closed, the party discussed their next steps. The rats were alerted and might swarm the door. Opening the doors to check might allow the rats to force the door, but might also allow Druidly to put those beyond into slumber again. If he did so, the rest of the group would need to advance quickly through the sleeping rats to slay those that remained before they could wake the others.\nThe difference between disaster and success could be as simple as who managed to act first when the doors opened.\n","date":"16 September 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-09-16-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nThe squad of risen skeletons advanced upon Bancroft. Two bore sword and shield, closing to melee, while the rest took up positions with bows. Bancroft once again called upon the power of nature to turn them back. One of the sword-wielders fled, but the others remained intent, and their arrows struck from the darkness. Bancroft staggered back up the stairs; their aim would suffer in the light of day.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 21","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nWyz stabbed the skeleton next to him in the back and fled out the entrance of the barrow. Wizards have no business on the front lines of a fight and he was too smart to die. Let his minions face the skeletons.\nEl Vis stepped up promptly, matching action to thought. His great sword struck the skeleton that Wyz had already stabbed and shattered it into bone fragments.\nHannah fell after that, hit by an arrow from a skeleton further into the barrow. She screamed as she fell. Wyz screamed a little too and ducked behind the stone wall of the entrance. The next arrow shot took out El Vis as he lifted Hannah from the water, they died in each other\u0026rsquo;s arms.\nThe rest of the group ran for the entrance, trying to escape the withering arrow fire. Squinch fell as well, struck in the back. A fitting fate for a minion who ran rather than protecting his wizard. The rest made it out and the skeletons did not follow.\nFrom below, the crunching of bone and splashing of water suggested that the frogs and the skeletons were fighting. Tensely, the group waited at the top of the entrance, seeking to ambush whatever lived and came out, but neither Skeletons nor frogs emerged. After several long minutes, the party decided to reenter in hopes of completing the search they had started.\nAlanon scouted the place and determined that the frogs had returned to their northwest and northeast corners. Despite this working in their favor the last time. The frogs were separated, and a single sleep spell would not be effective on both. Doubtless the frogs were also more alert now. To put the creatures to sleep once more, we would need to descend by stealth, approach one corner or the other, and cast the spell before torchlight revealed our presence.\nIf the other frog noticed, it would doubtlessly attack and the party would need to protect Wyz before he could put the other frog to sleep. Still, the plan had worked once, and if the goblin wizard could successfully sneak up on the first frog, the second frog might not be alerted. It was worth a try.\nThe other question was whether the potential reward was worth it. The giant frogs were tough opponents, and the watery environment tended to favor them. Several of the new adventures had already fallen in the fight, and no one had so much as landed a blow upon the frogs yet, unless the skeletons had managed some in the darkness. Balanced against that risk, we had yet to complete our search below the water\u0026rsquo;s surface. There was some hope of treasure there and if nothing else, the party could recover the equipment and provisions from those who had fallen.\nStill, this might be the best opportunity to bring down the frogs and open up the barrow for further exploration. With the frogs dead, instead of sleeping, perhaps the entire barrow could be drained.\nThe discussion continued for some time without resolution.\n","date":"15 September 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-09-15-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nWyz stabbed the skeleton next to him in the back and fled out the entrance of the barrow. Wizards have no business on the front lines of a fight and he was too smart to die. Let his minions face the skeletons.\nEl Vis stepped up promptly, matching action to thought. His great sword struck the skeleton that Wyz had already stabbed and shattered it into bone fragments.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 20","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nOne day of carousing quickly turned into two. Bancroft woke the next morning with his head lying on the dirt, a tuft of grass for a pillow. Despite the alcohol he felt surprisingly refreshed; a deeper sense of connection to the earth filled him. A night spent outside of town had done him good.\nThe fog of alcohol blurred his memories of the prior night, but he had been separated from his companions earlier in the evening. It did not take long to find them: they were occupying the stocks in the center of town next to Druidly, who had attempted to burn down the wizard Mazzah\u0026rsquo;s tower the night before. Apparently further adventure would have to wait.\nWith little else to do, Bancroft walked the outskirts of town talking with farmers, foresters, hunters, and woodsmen seeking rumors. Once or twice in the distant past his grandmother had whispered of a sect called the Druids \u0026ndash; men who venerated and tended nature and were allied with animals. Meeting the man who called himself Druidly brought that memory back. Perhaps they were out there somewhere in the deep woods, but no one had heard of them recently.\nA few days later his friends were released from the stockade and it was time to return to the Barrowmaze.\nIt had been several days since the fight with bandits and rats, but there were still opals within that might be claimed. Unfortunately the path to that barrow was blocked by four giant toads. The toads did not seem interested in attacking but kept their eyes on the party when approached. Beyond the toads the barrow door had somehow closed itself once more.\nAfter discussion the toads were deemed too great a risk to remove while they remained. Bancroft wanted to attempt to negotiate with the toads in the language of the forest; it seemed worth trying but also risked more attention. Helfen the halfling made the decision moot by throwing rocks at the toads to lure them away \u0026ndash; that did not go well. Helfen spent the next few hours desperately evading those that followed, while the toads still blocked the barrow entrance.\nThe group chose to move to the next barrow. This one had two stone doors. Bancroft invoked nature to try to open them, urging grasses and vines to grow between the cracks and shatter the stone. Though Sylvanus answered and plants visibly moved toward the doors, the attempt failed: the energies of death were too strong and the plants withered as they approached.\nThe group lacked the proper tools to destroy the door, but improvisation with one of Druidly\u0026rsquo;s daggers and a stonemason\u0026rsquo;s hammer cracked it after a few hours.\nInside, a jeweled sword rested on an altar surrounded by six graves containing skeletons likely to rise if disturbed. The sword was clearly valuable and likely magical. The skeletons wore rusty chain mail and wielded weapons that might fetch coin if reclaimed. The risk of awakening the undead was too great; the best plan was to grab the sword and run.\nWith Bancroft ready to invoke nature to rebuke death and Helfen returned from being chased by toads, Druidly volunteered to seize the sword and run. The skeletons, however, were waiting. The moment Druidly touched the sword the skeletons swarmed him as if they had been waiting for precisely that.\nBancroft invoked the power of Sylvanus and the undead wavered for a moment. One shattered to dust and was absorbed by the earth; another fled. Four remained. They swung rusted weapons at Druidly, who dodged frantically and somehow survived, Helfen\u0026rsquo;s chanted prayers to Fortuna lending him luck. When Druidly saw an opening he ran toward Bancroft and tossed him the jeweled sword. The skeletons followed.\nThe situation looked grim: four undead remained in the barrow and Bancroft stood between them and the entrance. If he could hold, Helfen could join and lend prayers to turn the remaining skeletons, but there would be no one else to take their blows. Bancroft tossed away his original sword and drew the jeweled one, planting his feet on the stairs and preparing to make his stand.\n","date":"9 September 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-09-09-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nOne day of carousing quickly turned into two. Bancroft woke the next morning with his head lying on the dirt, a tuft of grass for a pillow. Despite the alcohol he felt surprisingly refreshed; a deeper sense of connection to the earth filled him. A night spent outside of town had done him good.\nThe fog of alcohol blurred his memories of the prior night, but he had been separated from his companions earlier in the evening. It did not take long to find them: they were occupying the stocks in the center of town next to Druidly, who had attempted to burn down the wizard Mazzah’s tower the night before. Apparently further adventure would have to wait.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 19","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nSomehow Druidly dodged the bandit\u0026rsquo;s blows long enough to put half a dozen of them into a magical sleep. Those left promptly returned the favor and he fell unconscious. While the bandit leader shouted, rats crept up from behind. He screamed as they swarmed him but lived long enough to flee toward the stairs, ordering his followers to keep Druidly inside the barrow.\nGravelgnasher saw an opportunity and killed one bandit with an arrow to the forehead. Trying to keep the peace, Bancroft stepped into the barrow and healed Druidly, promising to keep him from casting again. The situation was tense as Druidly and Bancroft tried to leave while the rats pursued and the bandits frantically roused one another. In a surprising display of mercy, Druidly rescued one fallen bandit and closed the door behind the last of them, locking the rats inside. The bandits punished Gravelgnasher by stoning him into unconsciousness but let Bancroft and Druidly go with a fine of 10 gp.\nBy that time most of the rest of the group had disappeared down one hole or another and the bandits left for safer loot. The rats remained locked inside the barrow along with the two remaining opals, the last treasure they knew of. In the confusion Jemma had fled back to town on her own.\nTwo newcomers, Tohru and Flan, introduced themselves after the bandits left. They were friends and wanted a share of the treasure. The party offered partial shares if they would guard them on the way back to town, since things had become dangerous, and they agreed. Gravelgnasher eventually awoke with only a headache to show for his experience.\nWith Gravelgnasher awake they were able to track Jemma toward town. She made most of the way, but they found her body in the swamp \u0026ndash; cut, slashed, and stomped into the ground. The golden jackal-head figurine she had been carrying was damaged but still valuable. Jemma could not be revived. The group decided to award her friends full shares in her memory; she had at least kept the figurine safe from the bandits. Bancroft held a funeral service, commending her body to the swamps to be recycled, as is the natural course.\nThey made it back to Helix with heavy hearts and heavier pockets. Between the figurines and the rubies their haul was almost 300 gp, about 60 gp each.\nWith the party\u0026rsquo;s first big score and a fallen friend, the drinks flowed freely. Bancroft ordered round after round as did the rest. The next morning he woke in a gutter with a sore head, luckily with his purse mostly intact. The others were not so lucky. Druidly even ended up in the stocks after challenging the local wizard Mazzah to a magical duel and then trying to burn down his tower when the wizard refused.\nFor better or worse the party were now known in Helix as adventurers.\n","date":"2 September 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-09-02-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nSomehow Druidly dodged the bandit’s blows long enough to put half a dozen of them into a magical sleep. Those left promptly returned the favor and he fell unconscious. While the bandit leader shouted, rats crept up from behind. He screamed as they swarmed him but lived long enough to flee toward the stairs, ordering his followers to keep Druidly inside the barrow.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 18","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nFrom the top of one barrow, a small green figure cursed and wrung his hands as he watched distant figures crawled around the entrance to another. \u0026ldquo;My book, my book. My book. Those bastards are going to steal my book!\u0026rdquo; Hanging from his belt were the implements of a wizard. Especially a new looking scroll case, ink jar, quill pen, rare items worth gold in a town the size of Helix. The adventurers at the distant borough had been their first that day, and laid their claim. The small goblin knew that discretion was the better part of valor. They would have no better chance than he To make use of the book. Indeed, they were likely to disappear themselves trying to take it. For now, there was nothing to do but wait and investigate the next barrow. Wiz fingered the small bone hilted dagger he had claimed as part of his treasure hoard, at least until it could be identified properly.\nThe mound his own party had chosen after being turned away from their first, was nearby with a good view of the interlopers. The door opened easily with the application of crowbars and hard labor. By the time it was open, the group at the first barrow had left, either bored or vanished. Whiz and his small group returned To complete their investigation.\nThe book itself had been disturbed. It lay fully visible on top of the rubble pile that had once been a Stone pedestal. Leaves approached it cautiously, careful not to touch. His understanding of the arcane was new and had no guarantee of protecting him from harm. Would simply being a wizard be enough to allow him to claim the book without harm? Or was there a puzzle? Some sort of trap? Best to be sure.\nWith Hannah hand Delpha outside to watch the barrow entrance, and his parchment and pen in hand for notes, Wyz began his investigation. The cover of the book itself had arcane script That he could now read, but offered little additional information. It bore the name of its owner, Azcuursh the Arcane. Perhaps merely speaking that name would be enough to work as a password, and disarm the trap? It seemed too simple. The surrounding walls had murals which might bear pertinent information.\nThe first mural depicted a scene of a wizard, most likely Azcuursh himself, slaughtering peasants in a field with powerful magic. It bore a mural in the black speech referring to \u0026ldquo;the reaping\u0026rdquo;. The next mural depicted the same wizard fleeing from a town, shooting magic back at guards as he fled on horseback. The last depicted the same wizard sitting upon a throne, hearing petitions from the peasantry. The depictions did little more than whet his appetite. \u0026ldquo;The magic in this book will be mine!\u0026rdquo; Wyz muttered under his breath.\nStill, there were no clues that appeared to offer a password or a safe way to grasp it. It was time to return to town with his notes for research. But with a fresh barrow opened, the rest of the group insisted on investigating first. Treasure would provide gold to fund his research, so Wyz agreed.\nThe new barrow was dedicated to Imperax, a deity of death, decay, and corruption. The entrance room was square with what appeared to be three exits. To the left, a closed door. To the right an archway. To the north. A blank wall inside a niche that looked like the other two exits. The architecture heavily suggested a secret door to the North, But the rest of the group did not want to spend the time to check. With Hana guarding the entrance. Delpha and Perch carried light to the east. Beyond the archway, the passage split into two, leading north and south. In both directions a door shortly appeared to block the way.\nBehind the north door lay a sarcophagus. Along with some delicate vases stacked to the west wall. Merely opening the door woke some undead creature who pushed their sarcophagus open and floated out. Its eyes glowed blue as it floated above the ground. Wiz Made the only smart decision and fled immediately, running for the entrance As fast as his hort green legs could carry him. The others followed with Delphi heroically trying to turn the undead creature, but she failed each time. Perch grabbed Oz as he tried to flee, but it shattered in his hands. He had the right idea. Perhaps we could come back later and distract the creature. Carefully extract the vases. Hana managed to nick the thing with her crossbow. But it ignored the wound. Magic weapons would be necessary here. The undead creature did wear a suit of chain mail that seemed untouched by time and decay. If The creature could be defeated the creature, that chain maille would be worth gold. Luckily, like most undead, it was reluctant to exit the barrow and enter the sunlight.\nWith the sun still in the sky, the group argued over which barrow would be next. Perch, a dwarf who had once been a sailor, thought the main dungeon With its block and tackle entrance was the best place to start. Delphi wanted to open yet another, but choosing one further to the northwest. Wiz had the most convincing argument, though. Previous groups had mentioned a barrow with a flooded hall populated by frogs. As living creatures, they would be susceptible to his magic. By proceeding carefully, Wyz could knock out the frogs and claim whatever treasure they guarded, with ample time to search beneath the water.\nRefusing to listen to intelligence. The group chose instead to open a new borough. This one opened into a large chamber with the ceiling supported by four pillars carved into the likeness of ghostly faces. The room appeared to have no exits, And no other notable features other than a large brazier in the center. Searching the room carefully yielded nothing, not even after lighting the central brazier. It was a wasted hour, and it convinced the rest to listen to Wiz\u0026rsquo;s plan to deal with the frogs.\nThe goblin\u0026rsquo;s plan worked perfectly, with both frogs asleep while Wiz Stood guard and the rest searched, until the squad of skeletons from outside the barrow descended the stairs and attacked.\nMountains bore swords, the other two bows. They caught most of the group by surprise. Wiz leapt from his perch on top of El Viz\u0026rsquo;s shoulders to dodge an arrow and pushed his way through the deep water towards Delpha, Muttering the words of his mage armor spell. The arcane protection settled down around him just in time to deflect an arrow. The sword wielding skeleton stepped deeper into the room and closed the distance, one of them heading for Delta. Wiz drew his dagger and slashed at it, missing, then hid behind her. Wizards aren\u0026rsquo;t made for front line combat, and neither are goblins. Meanwhile, El Viz drew his great sword and charged the skeletons at the door with bows, seeking to prevent them from making their attacks. He managed to wound one of them and forced both of them to drop their bows and switch to their own swords.\nHanna and Perch each attacked the same one, doing further damage. Sensing an opportunity, Wiz ran out from behind Delphia. And stabbed his magical dagger into the same creature, wounding it sorely and then pushing past it. Some strange effect of the dagger caused green scales to sprout from his arms and his face. Another blow from Perch put that skeleton out of its misery, but three more remained. Thankfully, the frogs were quiet. For now.\n","date":"1 September 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-09-01-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nFrom the top of one barrow, a small green figure cursed and wrung his hands as he watched distant figures crawled around the entrance to another. “My book, my book. My book. Those bastards are going to steal my book!” Hanging from his belt were the implements of a wizard. Especially a new looking scroll case, ink jar, quill pen, rare items worth gold in a town the size of Helix. The adventurers at the distant borough had been their first that day, and laid their claim. The small goblin knew that discretion was the better part of valor. They would have no better chance than he To make use of the book. Indeed, they were likely to disappear themselves trying to take it. For now, there was nothing to do but wait and investigate the next barrow. Wiz fingered the small bone hilted dagger he had claimed as part of his treasure hoard, at least until it could be identified properly.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 17","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nBancroft held the door closed until the sounds of fighting died down. It didn\u0026rsquo;t take long, just enough time for a quick prayer to Sylvanus to heal Gravelgnasher and relight some torches. The fighting had ended, but there were still rats outside from the sounds, just not trying to open the secret door. In the relative quiet, Bancroft heard a metallic clanking and scraping coming from further into the room, below the floor. Suspecting a pit trap, he poked and prodded at the floor nearby, finding a section in the center of the room that pivoted. There was something moving in the pit.\nHalf an hour later, the rats were still outside. The room had been searched with no other traps found. The altar with its golden Jackal heads was ripe for plunder, but the heads themselves were heavy and hard to carry. They were also valuable Enough to be worth the trouble, so Gemma took both of them. Her job would be to run like hell past the rats and get the treasure to Helix. Those left behind would have to find a way to deal with the rats; simply waiting for the vermin to go away wasn\u0026rsquo;t working.\nFinally, Druidly stepped forward. He claimed to have been studying magic in his spare time and thought he had figured out a spell or two. The others were skeptical, but he proved it by making the long rope he was carrying glow. Druidy claimed he could put the rats to sleep if we gave him the chance and opened the door, but the timing would be tight. Bancroft renewed his prayer to Silvanus for protection, Gravelgnasher set up behind the pit with his bow. Faolane and Gemma were ready to run, they just wanted out.\nAt first, it went according to plan. Bancroft opened the door, Druidly put most of the rats to sleep. Unfortunately, the biggest remained awake, And quickly began to wake his fellow rats. Bancroft rushed past the head rat, then turned and struck a heavy blow from behind. Gravel Gnasher followed up with an arrow that slew the leader, but in the confusion, Faolain had fallen to one of the smaller rats. Whong had too.\nBancroft made his way out of the borough, only to run into a dozen bandits making their way in from outside. He stopped, panting For breath, And asked them to run inside and save his friends from the giant rats. The opals inside the statue\u0026rsquo;s eyes would be a tempting reward. Bandits seemed interested at first, but as the rest of the group staggered out one by one, increasingly hostile, tempers frayed. Gemma, still carrying both Jackal heads, concealed herself behind one of the statues and waited for them to go past. Neither the rats nor the bandit spotted her. Druidly used some kind of magical missile to kill a rat, then fled toward the barrow entrance. He was pursued by more rats, but made it far enough to meet up with the bandits on their way in. The bandits killed one of the rats chasing him, but when Druidly mouthed off at the bandits, they took a few swings at him, too.\n","date":"26 August 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-08-26-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nBancroft held the door closed until the sounds of fighting died down. It didn’t take long, just enough time for a quick prayer to Sylvanus to heal Gravelgnasher and relight some torches. The fighting had ended, but there were still rats outside from the sounds, just not trying to open the secret door. In the relative quiet, Bancroft heard a metallic clanking and scraping coming from further into the room, below the floor. Suspecting a pit trap, he poked and prodded at the floor nearby, finding a section in the center of the room that pivoted. There was something moving in the pit.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 16","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nBancroft and his friends returned to the barrowmaze and inspected two barrows to the far north. Each burial mound had a pair of bronze doors. One set was ornate, bearing symbols of Nergal that matched those on a freestanding pillar to the south; those doors resisted their attempts to open them. Careful inspection revealed a pentagram that could be shifted to reveal a keyhole, but they had no key and any attempts to force the doors resulted in magical repair.\nThe other set of doors further north were plain bronze and opened with crowbars. Selfa called upon her goddess for light and the party descended. To the left and right of the entrance stood large statues of female forms with rubies for eyes. Fearing traps, they searched carefully and removed four rubies, each worth about 20 gp, using a rope ladder brought for a different barrow.\nFurther along the corridor, two more statues loomed and a third blocked further progress; that one had onyx eyes. Suspecting a trap, the party searched for almost an hour and found two hidden exits from the area, one to the north and one to the west. The northern statue had a pipe exiting from its mouth \u0026ndash; clearly a trap \u0026ndash; so they removed the rubies from the other statues before taking further steps. By the time they finished, watchers outside called a warning: giant scorpions had noticed them.\nHelfen, watching outside, tried to lead a scorpion away from the group \u0026ndash; brave but perhaps unwise. Gravelgnasher slipped inside and tried to close the bronze doors, but they were heavy and unwieldy and could not hold the scorpion out for long.\nSeeking a way out, Bancroft opened the hidden door to the west and found a large chamber filled with giant rats. He slammed the door and called upon Sylvanus for protection. Selfa\u0026rsquo;s light failed and their single torch sputtered. Screams and dragging noises came from the southern corridor as scorpions stabbed into Gravelgnasher and dragged his body further into the barrow.\nWith scorpions from the south, rats at the west door, and the torch failing, Bancroft realized his position was untenable. He abandoned the door and moved to the northern statue, hoping the scorpions and the rats would fight and weaken each other. Selfa lagged and the rats swarmed her; she died screaming as they overran her. Bancroft dragged her still body a few steps north and passed through the hidden door just in time as another party member slammed it shut.\nBehind the closed door the scorpion and the rats fought in the dark while the party tended their wounds. Bancroft prayed to Sylvanus and was able to restore some life to Gravelgnasher. The hidden room proved hexagonal with an altar on the north wall bearing two bronze figurines, likely valuable and possibly trapped. The party decided to wait out the conflict and remain quiet, planning to deal with whichever creature remained.\n","date":"19 August 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-08-19-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nBancroft and his friends returned to the barrowmaze and inspected two barrows to the far north. Each burial mound had a pair of bronze doors. One set was ornate, bearing symbols of Nergal that matched those on a freestanding pillar to the south; those doors resisted their attempts to open them. Careful inspection revealed a pentagram that could be shifted to reveal a keyhole, but they had no key and any attempts to force the doors resulted in magical repair.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 15","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nWyz paced back and forth in his room at the inn, keeping himself awake and annoying El Vis who was sharing the room. The book of magic haunted his dreams and waking thoughts alike. Who could say what secrets might lurk within? Yet, it was hardly safe to brave the barrowmaze alone. When the others were finally ready to return, they weren\u0026rsquo;t interested in going after the book. Instead, the barrow with the ooze was chosen for a return visit. Humans say humans smart, but Wyz knows better. Humans are dumb.\nThe one called Dame Delphia kept finding more treasure that the others had overlooked, though, so the trip wasn\u0026rsquo;t useless. A pouch of coins and a dagger were her prizes this time, hidden high up on the wall of corpse niches. She nearly fell to her death trying to retrieve it when the ooze tried to drop from the ceiling onto her. That led to a chaotic scene, though Wyz missed most of it by doing the smart thing and leaving the barrow at the first opportunity. Those who remained below eventually defeated the ooze. Carefully taking notes of their individual accounts, Wyz determined that ordinary attacks did seem to damage the ooze, including clubs, sling stones, and arrows. Fire did nothing besides waste oil.\nWith the ooze gone, wyz focused his arcane sight on the items they had found alone with the statue. The dagger they had found glowed, but he lost focus on the spell before any other details were revealed. Something to look into more closely in town.\nPerhaps next time Wyz would get his green hands on the book.\n","date":"18 August 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-08-18-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nWyz paced back and forth in his room at the inn, keeping himself awake and annoying El Vis who was sharing the room. The book of magic haunted his dreams and waking thoughts alike. Who could say what secrets might lurk within? Yet, it was hardly safe to brave the barrowmaze alone. When the others were finally ready to return, they weren’t interested in going after the book. Instead, the barrow with the ooze was chosen for a return visit. Humans say humans smart, but Wyz knows better. Humans are dumb.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 14","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Bancroft stood atop the barrow and looked down upon the tilled earth with satisfaction. Weeks of effort to uncover a fresh barrow had finally paid off: the door had been uncovered, revealing a chamber with four sarcophagi and many giant centipedes. The initial expedition had slain several of the centipedes but not enough, so the entryway had been buried again to keep other parties away. Now it would be dug up, the thin coating of earth removed, the centipedes slain if they were lucky, and whatever treasures the sarcophagi held reclaimed.\nThe rhythmic strike of shovels made short work of the loose earth and soon the passage below was open.\nThe half-orc Selfa whispered prayers and her shield lit with holy light. She led the way down the stairs, followed by Gravelgnasher with bow at the ready. Bancroft followed a few steps behind; with sword and shield and leather armor he looked like an adventurer, though his hands still shook. His eyes flicked from the glimmer of Selfa\u0026rsquo;s shield to the staircase, the tunneled paths to left and right, and the ceiling above where centipedes had fallen before.\nThe centipedes dropped as predicted. Selfa screeched as they landed upon her; their poison could not penetrate her armor at first, but the acid ate through her shield\u0026rsquo;s light. Those nearest the entrance rushed in and Bancroft slew one with a single clean blow before retreating to the top of the stairs. As another horrifying scream rose from the dark, Bancroft wished Selfa luck and felt something stir within him. Gravelgnasher lit a torch. Selfa lay down, and Toru, the halfling with a fascination for frogs, disappeared into the darkness.\nBancroft pulled out his sling and hurled a rock at a centipede closing on the stairs. The rock cracked its carapace but bounced off. Gravelgnasher sent arrows into the fray and several centipedes fell; the rest fled into a hidden crevice.\nToru reappeared, having dragged Selfa\u0026rsquo;s unconscious body to the stairs. Selfa was at death\u0026rsquo;s door, blood pooling at her eyes. Something about her bleeding form \u0026ndash; so close to death, so close to joining the long-dead in the barrows \u0026ndash; spoke to Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s soul in the same way the plants and animals he cared for had. While the others searched, the farmer took a few minutes to ask that the earth embrace and nurture Selfa as it did the others in his care. Selfa sighed and opened her eyes.\nOne by one the sarcophagi were opened and searched, yielding a pair of rings, a necklace, and a bone-handled dagger that Toru later admitted to pocketing. Several creatures passed while they searched, including a trio of giant scorpions that took a body from the barrow without spotting the party. The treasures brought in about a dozen gold, and Selfa managed to walk back to Helix with them, badly hurt but able to make the journey.\nBancroft returned to the plot of land he had once farmed and carved a small wooden face with leaves for hair, a simple talisman. Afterward he dug beneath a large stone marking the corner of the field and found a leather bag hidden in a niche; the clink of coin inside meant he could now afford proper armor.\n","date":"13 August 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-08-12-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft stood atop the barrow and looked down upon the tilled earth with satisfaction. Weeks of effort to uncover a fresh barrow had finally paid off: the door had been uncovered, revealing a chamber with four sarcophagi and many giant centipedes. The initial expedition had slain several of the centipedes but not enough, so the entryway had been buried again to keep other parties away. Now it would be dug up, the thin coating of earth removed, the centipedes slain if they were lucky, and whatever treasures the sarcophagi held reclaimed.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 13","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Bancroft stood atop the barrow and watched his friends dig. Someone had borrowed his shovel and there were not enough to go around, so he kept watch. It was almost like watching crops grow \u0026ndash; slow and steady. Occasionally a frog, scorpion, or skeleton wandered in the distance, but the dig continued until, at last, the clink of shovel on stone resounded: the diggers had uncovered a door.\nThe sound attracted attention. Two frogs hopped up to investigate. Tohru squinted at them, then stepped forward and performed the improvised mating dance she had used before; astonishingly, one frog paused and watched, while Bancroft threw his pitchfork and struck the other in the eye. The rest of the party rained blows on it, and it died. The remaining frog lost interest and fled.\nSomeone had brought a sledgehammer and they made short work of the stone door. Inside was a barrow entrance much like the others: dark, dank, and smelling of damp earth and insects rather than the rich soil of a farm. A torch was lit and the party descended. Below lay four stone coffins, and as they approached a sudden chittering announced centipedes dropping from the ceiling.\nMost of the party were trapped in the narrow entrance. Bancroft, at the rear, heard screams as the centipedes engulfed the front ranks. When a creature crawled over a corpse, he threw his pitchfork and slew it before retreating. Two more centipedes fell to blades, but two more companions were felled as well.\nThe fighting paused with casualties on both sides. Bancroft had no wish to descend further into the barrow with more centipedes, and the creatures showed no interest in leaving. The stalemate held until someone noticed the sun was low; they chose to return to Helix and cover the entrance with dirt for half an hour so the barrow would remain unplundered until their return. The centipedes did not object.\nAt least next time Bancroft would know what to expect. The treasures of a fresh barrow lay before them like a field ready for harvest.\n","date":"5 August 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-08-05-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft stood atop the barrow and watched his friends dig. Someone had borrowed his shovel and there were not enough to go around, so he kept watch. It was almost like watching crops grow – slow and steady. Occasionally a frog, scorpion, or skeleton wandered in the distance, but the dig continued until, at last, the clink of shovel on stone resounded: the diggers had uncovered a door.\nThe sound attracted attention. Two frogs hopped up to investigate. Tohru squinted at them, then stepped forward and performed the improvised mating dance she had used before; astonishingly, one frog paused and watched, while Bancroft threw his pitchfork and struck the other in the eye. The rest of the party rained blows on it, and it died. The remaining frog lost interest and fled.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 12","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Wyz the smart goblin and a dozen of his closest friends lined up for the barrowmaze, enduring the cold rain. In point of fact, only two of them were very close, the rest were near strangers. But he\u0026rsquo;d been watching them; choosing them carefully, selecting those who seemed the most competent. One in particular, a dwarven cleric of Fortuna, seemed to have actual supernatural powers. The rest would do for cannon fodder.\nOnce he had gained the trust of the group and introduced himself, Wyz suggested proceeding systematically to explore and label each of the open barrows. Developing a systematic body of knowledge would enable the party to survive, or assist those who came after. Perhaps once the barometers had been plundered of its riches, Wyz could publish the tome. He would call it a Tome of Tombs.\nSome members of the group suggested exploring a borrow that smelled of swamp and Moss. It was near the western side, And on the way to others, so it fit well with Wyz\u0026rsquo;s plan. Lighting torches. The group descended one by one into a tank tomb filled with standing water about waist high. Waist high on a human, that is. Wyz waited at the entrance, unwilling to wade that deep. He would keep watch.\nIt was short, however, as those who pressed deeper into the Burrow soon encountered. Gigantic frog like creatures. Even on all four of their limbs they stood six feet tall at the shoulder, as tall as a human, much taller than wisdom\u0026rsquo;s self. The frogs did not immediately attack. But the party chose to retreat rather than potentially provoke a confrontation. Wyz took notes. There were rumors someone had managed to befriend the frogs, and knowing where they lived might be useful.\nThe next barrow seemed more promising. It was sealed, shot by a slab of stone. Which we pried out by crowbars and used leverage from. Rope and grappling hook to pull out of the way. Inside a medium sized room contained a statue of a fighting man. Many graves on the walls and niches and doorways to the east and West. It took nearly an hour to search the place, but we found a pouch of coins and a small vase eventually. The vase would have historical value in town, so it counted as a win, and coin in our pockets if we could get it out of the barrows.\nUnfortunately, the people we left on watch heard voices outside the barrow as we finished our search. The voices remained distant but sounded unhappy. They had not found the treasure they sought. Wyz retreated further inside the Burrow To warn his friends and avoid giving away his presence to those outside.\nThe western door was unlocked and opened easily. Inside were dozens more burial niches carved into the walls containing Ancient remains. Searching the dozens of niches took time, but we turned up a cache of five scrolls with historical value. More coin.\nThe chamber on the east side had a sarcophagus standing vertically in the center, surrounded by open space. Moving quickly because of the possible interruption, we managed to pry off the lid. Within, a wrapped corpse stood upright and inert, the glint of gold coming from a necklace. Just as we pried off the lid, some sort of black ooze dripped from the ceiling and landed upon Salazar. He screamed horribly as he died, and the torch he was carrying went out.\nWyz was already close to the entrance and just stepped outside quickly. The others fled in chaos from the darkness, emerging one by one. Finally, the screaming came to an end. The ooze had consumed three of our friends, including most of the delving gear Salazar had been carrying. Luckily, someone had kept their head, and grabbed the body on the way out. Even before the screams had ended, Wyz had grabbed for the necklace and ripped it from the body. It turned out to contain a bloodstone pendant on a golden chain. And as he grasped it, Wyz felt arcane mysteries unfolding within his mind. Suddenly, things made so much more sense.\nSomeone else had thought to bring out the arms from the corpse as well as the torso, and found a silver ring. Between the necklace and the ring, Along with the treasures found in the first room, it was more gold in one place than Wyz had ever seen.\nThe group returned to Helix triumphant, Wyz already making plans to return for the book he had hidden. But first he would search among the other adventurers; surely one of them would be worthy of an investment of gold and equipment that would reap favors later.\n","date":"4 August 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-08-04-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Wyz the smart goblin and a dozen of his closest friends lined up for the barrowmaze, enduring the cold rain. In point of fact, only two of them were very close, the rest were near strangers. But he’d been watching them; choosing them carefully, selecting those who seemed the most competent. One in particular, a dwarven cleric of Fortuna, seemed to have actual supernatural powers. The rest would do for cannon fodder.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 11","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nBancroft and his companions returned to the barrowmaze, where they began their investigation with a barrow sealed by a stone door. The party examined the heavy stone barrier, but quickly realized their crowbars would be insufficient to force it open - they would need sledgehammers or similar heavy tools that none of them had brought along.\nThe group proceeded to the next barrow, where Bancroft observed stone doors inlaid with bronze highlights. A wax seal suggested the contents were still intact. After much discussion among the party, Ovarf broke the seal, which melted to the floor. The moment they wrenched the doors open, a hideous moan emerged from the barrow, and Bancroft fled with the rest of his companions.\nCasting a few nervous glances at the strange circling birds overhead to the north, Bancroft and his friends went further east. This barrow had the symbol of the elemental plane of water inscribed on a bronze seal at the center of a large double door. They managed to pry the doors open with crowbars.\nInside, Bancroft saw waist-deep water filling a room with three exits. As soon as they entered, he saw the water begin to swirl, forming into a guardian spirit, a water weird. Gravelgnasher fled immediately. Ovarf threw a dead duck at the creature and then fled, which caused Bancroft to flee as well. Tohru tried to speak to the thing in Primordial, to which it replied \u0026ldquo;Protect\u0026rdquo; in the same language, and then attacked her.\nAfter Bancroft and the rest of the party left, Tohru tried to trade makeup tips with the water weird. It grabbed her and tried to drown her. When Bancroft saw she did not emerge, he and the rest of the group returned to get her. Ovarf threw a goose into the water and distracted it from Tohru while Lluht pulled Tohru free. The creature grabbed Ovarf and drowned him immediately. Bancroft and the rest fled.\nOutside the barrow, Bancroft and his companions were surprised by a giant toad. Tohru attempted to charm the toad with a toad mating ritual dance, and somehow succeeded. They spent more hours digging while she worked with the toad, but she failed to interest it in anything more than the most primitive mating instincts.\nBancroft and the group returned to town for the night, and back to the same barrow in the morning. They were promptly visited by a pair of giant toads. Selfa ran, and Bancroft watched as Tohru tried her mating call\u0026hellip; and found her boyfriend-toad again. The two toads, jealous, fought over Tohru, who fled.\nBancroft and his companions briefly investigated another barrow, but had to flee from a group of six skeletons.\nThey returned to the first barrow, where they found a solitary toad corpse, quite fresh. The group took the opportunity to butcher the creature, hoping to find something of value, but the toad was worthless.\n","date":"29 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-07-29-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nBancroft and his companions returned to the barrowmaze, where they began their investigation with a barrow sealed by a stone door. The party examined the heavy stone barrier, but quickly realized their crowbars would be insufficient to force it open - they would need sledgehammers or similar heavy tools that none of them had brought along.\nThe group proceeded to the next barrow, where Bancroft observed stone doors inlaid with bronze highlights. A wax seal suggested the contents were still intact. After much discussion among the party, Ovarf broke the seal, which melted to the floor. The moment they wrenched the doors open, a hideous moan emerged from the barrow, and Bancroft fled with the rest of his companions.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 10","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Wyz the goblin waited by the side of the road, wringing his hands. His friends had left for the barrowmaze that morning as many aspiring adventurers did. That was hours ago. Now the slow trudge of discouraged feet returning to town rang loudly in his ears. There had been no sign of his friends. As each new group returned. Wyz clutched at sleeves, asked for news, collected whatever tales he could of the horrors that lay beneath the earth. From any that would indulge him, he collected details, facts. Specific barrows, specific creatures, partial tales of treasures found.\nAs the last of the survivors trickled in, Wyz sighed. His friend Sidney and Khezzean would not be returning. They had fallen. But as he mourned, he also ruminated. The news from the delvers he had gathered hinted at something worthwhile. Something more valuable than mere gold. Perhaps even a hint of future power. Several of the stories spoke of an arcane book, one where the sigils on its cover twisted and changed even as you tried to read them. That was a mark of true arcane power. However, those who touched the book vanished without a trace. Some of his friends had done just that. Others had been ambushed by bandits and fled back inside the same borrow. Perhaps they had taken the same arcane path out, or perhaps they had been killed buy the bandits.\nBut the book itself? That was valuable.\nWith his notes from the returning adventurers gathered, Wyz sought out the local wizard, Mazzah. The man was busy and reluctant to grant an audience, but the novelty of a literate goblin and dropping the name Azcruush the Arcane convinced Mazzah to spare a few minutes from his experiments. Mazzah agreed that the book was obviously an arcane tomb, but he had little to add about the name of the wizard associated with it. He immediately suggested casting Read Magic to read the arcane script on the cover in the hopes of learning more, but I had yet to learn any arcane script nor any spells. Mazzah could offer no other help as he was unwilling to enter the barrowmaze himself, though he was willing to examine the book if I could bring it to him. In the end, Massah advised me to leave the book well enough alone until I had more arcane knowledge to understand the nature of the puzzle.\nStill, if I could not claim the book for myself, I would hide it from others. This treasure would be mine.\nGathering two of my friends, we set out for the Barrow Maze that afternoon. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t touch the book, but we could hide it, and did. It would take a greater fool than this goblin to write down where. I will strive to return to claim the book later, when I have the necessary knowledge.\n","date":"28 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-07-28-wyz/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Wyz the goblin waited by the side of the road, wringing his hands. His friends had left for the barrowmaze that morning as many aspiring adventurers did. That was hours ago. Now the slow trudge of discouraged feet returning to town rang loudly in his ears. There had been no sign of his friends. As each new group returned. Wyz clutched at sleeves, asked for news, collected whatever tales he could of the horrors that lay beneath the earth. From any that would indulge him, he collected details, facts. Specific barrows, specific creatures, partial tales of treasures found.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 9","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nThe adventuring party continued their exploration of the barrowmaze, beginning by excavating a barrow while discussing the construction of a rope ladder for safer descent into the main complex. Using their makeshift ladder, they discovered both old and fresh corpses near the entrance, stripped of gear and flesh except for bone fragments. Their search yielded only a modest pouch containing ten copper pieces.\nUpon returning to their excavation site, the group welcomed Tohru, who assumed leadership by popular acclaim and was accompanied by her pet duck. Their exploration took a dangerous turn when Megumi was attacked by a zombie-like creature with prominent facial claws, later identified as a coffer corpse. The battle was chaotic - Tohru struck the creature with her rolling pin before fleeing, while Bancroft observed from a distance as others hurled rocks and Abe unsuccessfully attempted to use his whip.\nFaolain and Gemma managed to knock the creature down with well-aimed sling stones, allowing Bancroft to pin it with his pitchfork. However, the undead horror tore free and rose again, apparently unharmed, forcing the entire party to retreat. The creature pursued them relentlessly for hours until Gravelgnasher delivered a perfect killing shot with his bow, though the party fled before it could rise again.\nBack in town, Bancroft proudly displayed his share of the treasure - a single copper coin - declaring himself \u0026ldquo;a real adventurer now!\u0026rdquo; The next day brought a return to the barrowmaze, but not before encountering a group of primitive humans who traded freshly-killed game birds for the party\u0026rsquo;s iron spikes.\nThe group then explored a water-filled barrow containing vases and a pit they had discovered previously. Tragedy struck when Lluht and Megumi inhaled yellow spores from a moldy growth feeding on corpses in the pit. While Lluht survived the exposure, Megumi perished and her body fell into the pit. Across the dangerous chasm, at least one valuable vase remained tantalizingly visible.\nThe situation deteriorated further when skeletons attacked their guards outside the barrow. Ushlynk fell in the assault while Ovarf fled, though he noted that one skeleton wore valuable leather armor.\nThe undead then entered the barrow just as the party\u0026rsquo;s torch failed. Bancroft quickly lit a replacement while Selfa attempted to turn the skeleton through divine invocation of Dogma, but the magic initially failed. After Bancroft struck the skeleton with his pitchfork and retreated toward the entrance with torch held high for his companions, Selfa\u0026rsquo;s second attempt at divine intervention succeeded, driving the skeleton away.\n","date":"22 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-07-22-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nThe adventuring party continued their exploration of the barrowmaze, beginning by excavating a barrow while discussing the construction of a rope ladder for safer descent into the main complex. Using their makeshift ladder, they discovered both old and fresh corpses near the entrance, stripped of gear and flesh except for bone fragments. Their search yielded only a modest pouch containing ten copper pieces.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 8","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Our group went out to the barrowmaze. Two of my friends, Sidney and Khezzean, stayed to dig; Xanrion the haberdasher and I went to take a closer look at a tomb where others had found a pair of nice vases. That tomb contained a wicker frame surrounding a decaying body. One of the others, actually with a sword and armor, cut off its head. I expected it to rise up and kill us, but the body remained dead. We found nothing of any value, though.\nThe next tomb we tried had a lectern with an arcane book on it; I could tell from the way the script shifted and changed on the cover. I was immediately interested and sent Xanrion to fetch it for me, since I was keeping watch outside. He touched it and promptly disappeared, as did another member of the group. Clearly the book was some sort of portal leading to an arcane realm; I was more interested rather than less, and swapped guard duty with someone else to take a closer look.\nHowever, there was noise from outside: a group of eight ruffians in poorly maintained armor, carrying clubs. They exchanged threats with our guards, then blows. I caught a glimpse of one of my friends, covered in blood on the floor, one of the bandits down next to her. I started my sling whirling with one hand, waiting for the right moment, and slapped my free hand down on the book just before the stone hit\u0026hellip;\n","date":"21 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-07-21-merrythane/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Our group went out to the barrowmaze. Two of my friends, Sidney and Khezzean, stayed to dig; Xanrion the haberdasher and I went to take a closer look at a tomb where others had found a pair of nice vases. That tomb contained a wicker frame surrounding a decaying body. One of the others, actually with a sword and armor, cut off its head. I expected it to rise up and kill us, but the body remained dead. We found nothing of any value, though.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 7","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Merrythane\nFinally! Having saved a perfect round number of 100 silver coins as seed money, it was time to seek my fortune in the barrowmaze.\nThree of my friends were ready to stake their lives on the chance for fortune as well. One of them, a haberdasher, managed to sell two of his fancy hats on the open market and had even more gold burning a hole in his pocket than my silvers worth of savings. Even pooling our money would not be enough to obtain real armor or weapons, but we could afford small luxuries: extra torches, a sling for all four of us, rope, crowbars. Rumor had it that crowbars worked well for prying open the shallow barrows likely to hold untapped treasures near the surface. My group of friends and some other newish adventurers decided we would try that.\nThe barrow we chose had two burial sites surrounded by 8 strange urns which seemed likely to be valuable. We checked the room for hazards, but were interrupted by sounds from outside; zombies were digging into the barrow from the outside, as if they knew we were there but didn\u0026rsquo;t know how to go through the open door. It seemed strange behavior, but I\u0026rsquo;m hardly an expert on zombies; tax evasion is more my area. We might have tried to wait them out, but there was one by the entrance who could definitely see us and didn\u0026rsquo;t seem inclined to leave.\nWe each positioned ourselves near an urn and picked it up, preparing to run out and away from the zombies before they could catch us. We did, and everyone made it out, but the urns turned out to be remarkably delicate and every single one we carried out past the zombies broke.\nDisenheartened, we found a dig site some of the others had been working on and helped dig for a while. We did hit a stone door, so we were digging in the right place, but more work would be needed to uncover it.\nFeeling brave, my group of four went back to the fresh barrow after an hour or so to check if the zombies were still there. They had moved on, so we very carefully extracted the remaining two intact urns. They sold for a few gold each. Less than all 8 would have brought in, but better than nothing.\n","date":"14 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-07-14-merrythane/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Merrythane\nFinally! Having saved a perfect round number of 100 silver coins as seed money, it was time to seek my fortune in the barrowmaze.\nThree of my friends were ready to stake their lives on the chance for fortune as well. One of them, a haberdasher, managed to sell two of his fancy hats on the open market and had even more gold burning a hole in his pocket than my silvers worth of savings. Even pooling our money would not be enough to obtain real armor or weapons, but we could afford small luxuries: extra torches, a sling for all four of us, rope, crowbars. Rumor had it that crowbars worked well for prying open the shallow barrows likely to hold untapped treasures near the surface. My group of friends and some other newish adventurers decided we would try that.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 6","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"Bancroft and Darmek queued for the barrowmaze with about eight in their group. The day began poorly: they were ambushed by six giant frogs before reaching the barrows. The party ran; three frogs pursued, then only one. They managed to kill that frog, but the group was exhausted and retreated to Helix with nothing to show.\nThe next day they returned and retrieved the possessions of a fallen companion, then selected a barrow to open. Halfway through removing the slab blocking the entrance they were attacked by several giant scorpions; Darmek and Uthlynk fell during the retreat. They escaped, disheartened and empty‑handed.\nOn a subsequent attempt the party opened a different barrow and found a single central sarcophagus larger and fancier than the rest. While breaking the lid they hid as voices passed outside. Inside the sarcophagus was a wooden casket carved with a feminine form; within lay a skeleton and a vial of perfume. One companion thought it would fetch good money in the right market, though not in Helix.\nThey were interrupted while searching under the casket and the party voted to return to town; one braver companion stayed behind and finished the search, later refusing to say whether he had found anything.\nThe perfume later sold in Helix at 5 gold per bottle for four bottles \u0026ndash; a sum larger than Bancroft had ever held before. He wondered, however, whether it was worth Darmek\u0026rsquo;s life and whether adventuring was a wise profession.\n","date":"9 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-07-09-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"Bancroft and Darmek queued for the barrowmaze with about eight in their group. The day began poorly: they were ambushed by six giant frogs before reaching the barrows. The party ran; three frogs pursued, then only one. They managed to kill that frog, but the group was exhausted and retreated to Helix with nothing to show.\nThe next day they returned and retrieved the possessions of a fallen companion, then selected a barrow to open. Halfway through removing the slab blocking the entrance they were attacked by several giant scorpions; Darmek and Uthlynk fell during the retreat. They escaped, disheartened and empty‑handed.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 5","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Darmek\nI was right. That absurd cloak the halfling had turned out to be worth several gold. Which I promptly turned into equipment. I picked up a Lantern and some oil crowbars. The rope and grappling hook from one of the other dead men Completed the additional loadout. We recruited a few new fellows to replace the Fallen and went back out to the Barrow maze the next day.\nOur first stop was an open Barrow that had been explored previously by some of our fellows. Their bodies were still there inside the borough, but they had been dragged into the corner stripped of meat and possessions. It seemed as if some creature had made a meal of them and. Taken whatever they had. The latter suggests a disturbing intelligence. He took the time to thoroughly search the rest of the room. The corpse in the central sarcophagus had a golden ring which looked to be worth a few coins. That was our first significant find.\nWith our new crowbars, we headed first for some of the barrows that still had stone slabs closing the entry. Using the crowbars and the rope plus a little bit of wood for leverage, we were able to open one. Inside was a small room with a central sarcophagus, Similar to others we had explored. This sarcophagus was intact. Again, making use of our crowbars, we were able to. Shift the lid a few inches to one side. And look inside. There was a body, as expected, wrapped in a burial shroud, but there was also a glint of gold from around its neck, some sort of necklace. Treasure.\nWe opened the lid a little bit further and reached in to try and extract the necklace without letting. The skeleton itself out just in case it animated. Of course it did. But it was trapped inside the sarcophagus and we were able to. Smash its skull before it killed any of us. There were quite a few close calls, despite the creature being trapped. Unlike the skeleton with the gem, this one did not reanimate after being destroyed. We were able to extract the necklace and ring.\nWe moved next to another unopened borough and pried the door off the same as before. This one contained. Two stone tables. Vaguely resembling an altar. Arranged next to each other. Each table had a bowl filled with coins. And vase on the floor next to the far end. And of course a skeleton lying on each table. Expecting them to animate like everything else, we discussed options and decided to. Each of us grab one of the possible treasures and run from the room immediately. There were four possible treasures. 2000s and two bowls and four of us. So that worked out. We grabbed loot and ran. I had picked one of the vases and managed to get it successfully out of the barrow. One of the others smashed his, but we got both bowls.\nSkeletons on the tables did not animate, so we went back to take a closer look. We didn\u0026rsquo;t find any new information or new treasure, but. The change of pace from constantly animating skeletons was different. Between the necklace, the ring, the coins and the bowls and the vases. We figured it was time to head back and see what we could get.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re not proper adventurers yet but we\u0026rsquo;re getting there. And after today\u0026rsquo;s trip, we finally have some venture capital.\n","date":"2 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-07-01-darmek/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Darmek\nI was right. That absurd cloak the halfling had turned out to be worth several gold. Which I promptly turned into equipment. I picked up a Lantern and some oil crowbars. The rope and grappling hook from one of the other dead men Completed the additional loadout. We recruited a few new fellows to replace the Fallen and went back out to the Barrow maze the next day.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 4","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Orin got a scorpion tail through the chest Whoodelf the halfling died from the scorpions Knutsachson is no more. The noble line of Knutsach is dead\u0026hellip; Brak Odo was killed by a skeleton with a gem in its forehead. So was Cronuk \u0026hellip; and Jiiib Steelf the dwarf died when the gem skelly reanimated the first time (mission not accomplished) Jaggo died to his deceased zombie wife Ethel, by strangulation, a practice the two had enjoyed consensually in life Vinrin the Halfling was strangled by Ethel the Zombie, non-consensually Borgo dies to a disembodied zombie hand he took with him while running from the rest of the zombie Darmek dies to a giant scorpion Ushlynk died to the same one Becca falls to a skeleton archer on the way to the barrowmaze Asa dies to a skeleton archer and leaves Rex bereft Cami died to a pit trap with spikes and yellow mold Deira dies to the skeleton archer Xanrion and another member of our crew both die to a cursed book Megumi died to yellow mold. Merrythane almost but not quite avoids dying to the same book Sidney died to a horde of skeletons Khezzean died to the same horde Ovarf died to a water weird Salazar the gravedigger is consumed by a grey ooze Sylas got et by the wizard of ooze Elec got elected from the island by the ooze Selfa died to a giant rat. Gravelgnasher almost died to a giant scorpion. Faolain fell to the rat horde. It\u0026rsquo;s all so Whong, who did too. Druidly was almost killed by bandits, but was saved by two golden tickets. Gemma fell to 5 skeletons because she was alone. The party recovered her body, and Bancroft held a funeral service. Hannah fell to a skeleton\u0026rsquo;s arrow, and drowned before El Viz could rescue her. El Viz died to the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s next arrow. Squinch followed them faithfully into the afterlife. Kethry died to four giant toads. She will rest in peace, even though Wiz was careful not to catch her in his spell effect. Druidly\u0026rsquo;s dog, Mike, was killed by a giant scorpion. Jaenelle drowns, crying out with her dying breath, \u0026ldquo;I have 33 gold in my purse\u0026hellip; glugglugglug\u0026rdquo; Ibri fell from a rope and dies. Her final words are \u0026ldquo;Please sell my hats to the highest bidder\u0026hellip; don\u0026rsquo;t take less than 20gp.\u0026rdquo; Theowyn was swallowed by a giant snake. Fu falls to a skeleton, dropping her torch. Indivian dies, all alone in the dark. Ali dies by giant centipede. Her last words were \u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s some kind of corpse in the rubble\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; She fucked around and found out. Itchi is ambushed by two centipedes who woke from their slumber and dies. Bruzra is ambushed by the same two centipedes a moment later and dies. She learned not to take naps in the dungeon. Tohru fell to a blow from a stone statue. Her duck survived. Mira falls to a sapphire skeleton, targeted for holding a torch. Lessa falls to a sapphire skeleton, alone in the dark. Druidly is eaten by a pack of mimics. Luxsley got stoned. Mirumi joined a rock band. Wyz, Alandor, and Perch died to an infernal book. Vorn, Cade and Roderick died to carnivorous horseflies and robed skeletons. Pippin, Thrain, and Caleb fell to lizard-man statues. Riyou squeezed through a wall of rubble, fell into a pit, and was poisoned to death by giant scorpions. Her body lies somewhere the rest of the party cannot reach. ","date":"1 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/deathtoll/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Orin got a scorpion tail through the chest Whoodelf the halfling died from the scorpions Knutsachson is no more. The noble line of Knutsach is dead… Brak Odo was killed by a skeleton with a gem in its forehead. So was Cronuk … and Jiiib Steelf the dwarf died when the gem skelly reanimated the first time (mission not accomplished) Jaggo died to his deceased zombie wife Ethel, by strangulation, a practice the two had enjoyed consensually in life Vinrin the Halfling was strangled by Ethel the Zombie, non-consensually Borgo dies to a disembodied zombie hand he took with him while running from the rest of the zombie Darmek dies to a giant scorpion Ushlynk died to the same one Becca falls to a skeleton archer on the way to the barrowmaze Asa dies to a skeleton archer and leaves Rex bereft Cami died to a pit trap with spikes and yellow mold Deira dies to the skeleton archer Xanrion and another member of our crew both die to a cursed book Megumi died to yellow mold. Merrythane almost but not quite avoids dying to the same book Sidney died to a horde of skeletons Khezzean died to the same horde Ovarf died to a water weird Salazar the gravedigger is consumed by a grey ooze Sylas got et by the wizard of ooze Elec got elected from the island by the ooze Selfa died to a giant rat. Gravelgnasher almost died to a giant scorpion. Faolain fell to the rat horde. It’s all so Whong, who did too. Druidly was almost killed by bandits, but was saved by two golden tickets. Gemma fell to 5 skeletons because she was alone. The party recovered her body, and Bancroft held a funeral service. Hannah fell to a skeleton’s arrow, and drowned before El Viz could rescue her. El Viz died to the skeleton’s next arrow. Squinch followed them faithfully into the afterlife. Kethry died to four giant toads. She will rest in peace, even though Wiz was careful not to catch her in his spell effect. Druidly’s dog, Mike, was killed by a giant scorpion. Jaenelle drowns, crying out with her dying breath, “I have 33 gold in my purse… glugglugglug” Ibri fell from a rope and dies. Her final words are “Please sell my hats to the highest bidder… don’t take less than 20gp.” Theowyn was swallowed by a giant snake. Fu falls to a skeleton, dropping her torch. Indivian dies, all alone in the dark. Ali dies by giant centipede. Her last words were “There’s some kind of corpse in the rubble…” She fucked around and found out. Itchi is ambushed by two centipedes who woke from their slumber and dies. Bruzra is ambushed by the same two centipedes a moment later and dies. She learned not to take naps in the dungeon. Tohru fell to a blow from a stone statue. Her duck survived. Mira falls to a sapphire skeleton, targeted for holding a torch. Lessa falls to a sapphire skeleton, alone in the dark. Druidly is eaten by a pack of mimics. Luxsley got stoned. Mirumi joined a rock band. Wyz, Alandor, and Perch died to an infernal book. Vorn, Cade and Roderick died to carnivorous horseflies and robed skeletons. Pippin, Thrain, and Caleb fell to lizard-man statues. Riyou squeezed through a wall of rubble, fell into a pit, and was poisoned to death by giant scorpions. Her body lies somewhere the rest of the party cannot reach. ","title":"Shadowmaze -- Death Toll","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"The trip to the barrowmaze began on a solemn note: the party had lost friends in one of the barrows and needed to retrieve valuables from their bodies. The bodies themselves were not where the friends had fallen; something had dragged them into the barrow and a blood trail led the group onward.\nTwo of the party, those closest to the fallen, lit a torch and entered the barrow to search for remains and valuables. Nothing was simple. A zombie wandered near the entrance and then entered the barrow; the party\u0026rsquo;s archer failed to stop it and the creature surprised those inside.\nBancroft grabbed his pitchfork and rushed forward, hoping to contain the zombie while the party attacked from both inside and outside. By the time they arrived it was already exiting, and two more bodies were added to the toll. The archer managed a glancing headshot; Bancroft struck a solid blow with his pitchfork, but the creature strangled Vinrin to death when it reached him.\nWhen the zombie was finally felled it rose again and the party fled, planning to return later to collect what they could. Bancroft recovered what he could from Vinrin, a small amount. While searching the barrow later they found a gold ring hidden inside a sarcophagus \u0026ndash; likely worth a few coins in town.\nTheir next stop was another barrow to the north with a staircase heading down into a maze of twisting passages. They found sealed wax doors they left alone and several pit traps, which they marked as best they could. Sadly, another companion fell into one of the pits and was eaten by something below.\nWhile investigating a room they were surprised from behind by six skull‑faced cultists. Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s attempts at charm \u0026ndash; the politeness of his upbringing \u0026ndash; spared them; the cultists told the party to leave and warned that the area belonged to their dark god. The party retreated and made a note of the occupants, intending to decide later whether to return.\n","date":"30 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-06-30-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":"The trip to the barrowmaze began on a solemn note: the party had lost friends in one of the barrows and needed to retrieve valuables from their bodies. The bodies themselves were not where the friends had fallen; something had dragged them into the barrow and a blood trail led the group onward.\nTwo of the party, those closest to the fallen, lit a torch and entered the barrow to search for remains and valuables. Nothing was simple. A zombie wandered near the entrance and then entered the barrow; the party’s archer failed to stop it and the creature surprised those inside.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 3","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Bermek Halfblade\nDigging is boring. As a dwarf, I know that in my blood. I know that in my bones. I do it anyway because I\u0026rsquo;m a dwarf. And I stick to it even when other people wander off. When my group of would be adventurers started to dig open a Barrow they thought looked more likely than others to hold treasure. I kept at it. Before long, the halfling Vinrin got bored and wandered off to look into an open doorway. Bancroft, the farmer, followed him. I\u0026rsquo;m already wondering if I will ever see them again. The barrowmaze is known for swallowing people without a trace.\nA few hours later, the halfling Brak Odo and a few others wandered off to the north, figuring they take a peek inside the central barrow since digging is boring. I could have told them that, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t ask and they didn\u0026rsquo;t even have to dig. We only had three shovels between a group of six. They could have done something useful and stood guard. Instead, they wandered off. Within an hour, they were back. Mostly. Or not mostly. Brak was dead, killed by a skeleton. Some sort of gem in its forehead. So was Cronuk. So was Jiib. Almost everyone who left to go take a peek into that damned barrow is dead, killed by that one skeleton. I\u0026rsquo;m still here digging, but at least I\u0026rsquo;m alive.\nOnly the half orc Cami made it out alive, and she kept babbling something about not being the one who killed Brak. The story she told made it clear the skeleton was still alive too. Or still undead, or however the heck that works. Some were on the surface, wandering around now. Apparently it climbed up a rope they let down into the barrowmaze, so these creatures aren\u0026rsquo;t exactly trapped underground.\nOnce I got the whole story, I went back to get some of the gear the idiots just left there. We don\u0026rsquo;t have much and we can\u0026rsquo;t afford to waste anything. I found the bodies and took everything Brak had. Which wasn\u0026rsquo;t much. That fancy cloak of his might be worth something. Someone left a rope with a grappling hook dangling down into the maze. The very same one they told me a skeleton had climbed up and killed most of the group. Did they think more wouldn\u0026rsquo;t find it and climb up on their own? I collected that too and beat a hasty retreat back to the dig site.\nWe did see a pair of strange figures bent over the bodies before we collected their equipment. They seemed wary, but not hostile. One of them took the wig that Jig had been wearing. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know it was a wig until I saw him take it off. There must be a whole economy underground here, thriving off of looting the bodies of dead adventurers trying to loot the bodies of previous dead adventurers.\nBut I\u0026rsquo;ve got to make the funds to get out of town somehow, and this is all the opportunity this pathetic town has.\n","date":"18 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-06-17-bermek/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Bermek Halfblade\nDigging is boring. As a dwarf, I know that in my blood. I know that in my bones. I do it anyway because I’m a dwarf. And I stick to it even when other people wander off. When my group of would be adventurers started to dig open a Barrow they thought looked more likely than others to hold treasure. I kept at it. Before long, the halfling Vinrin got bored and wandered off to look into an open doorway. Bancroft, the farmer, followed him. I’m already wondering if I will ever see them again. The barrowmaze is known for swallowing people without a trace.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 2","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":" Session map\nThe barrowmaze opened today. Friends said to come help, get rich, and buy lots of drinks. Good friends. Bancroft followed. There was a line like a race, or like the market. When they reached the barrows, giant scorpions blocked the way; one of Bancroft\u0026rsquo;s friends was killed and the group fled. Afterward the party handed Bancroft a shovel and told him to dig. It was boring, like farming. He was used to farming, but had not signed up for adventures to dig holes. Still, someone must dig to search for treasure, and at least he was good at it.\n","date":"16 June 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/shadowmaze/2025-06-16-bancroft/","section":"The Shadowmaze Campaign","summary":" Session map\nThe barrowmaze opened today. Friends said to come help, get rich, and buy lots of drinks. Good friends. Bancroft followed. There was a line like a race, or like the market. When they reached the barrows, giant scorpions blocked the way; one of Bancroft’s friends was killed and the group fled. Afterward the party handed Bancroft a shovel and told him to dig. It was boring, like farming. He was used to farming, but had not signed up for adventures to dig holes. Still, someone must dig to search for treasure, and at least he was good at it.\n","title":"Shadowmaze -- Session 1","type":"shadowmaze"},{"content":"","date":"14 May 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/bern/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Bern","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"14 May 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ignas/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ignas","type":"tags"},{"content":" Bern # Snarkscorn let us go, but confiscated my heavy shield and the religious relics we had acquired from the abbey. We needed the money from selling those; the crookhorns won\u0026rsquo;t do anything with them except desecrate them. St Clewd means nothing to me, but the money would have. He also claimed a prize from each of us, and offered to return it if we completed a task. There would be gold in it for us as well, 1000gp each. But the mission was to kidnap a local noble, Lady Harold, and bring her to his camp alive. None of us were enthusiastic about that, but perhaps we can find a way to double-cross the crookhorns.\nWhen we finally gave Snarkscorn our parole in return for a promise to consider the unpleasant task he set us, it was midsummer. I was concerned by what I hbad learned about the pillar of Ambule, and the recurring dreams, so I sought out local druids and rangers to make inquiries. While asking around, I heard rumors about a chaos gate at the abbey of St Clewd. Wored of that situation was spreading, it seems.\nThe news caused a schism within the Pluritine Church, with a fanatic faction demanding that Something be Done Promptly. That seemed like a situation that might come back to bite us, if anyone looked too closely at how the situation deteriorated from its long stasis.\nI did obtain more information about Ambule. He is a potbellied, red-clay figure with a single hexagonal eye, worshipped in northern Dolmenwood and known for granting protection and good fortune. Those who pledge to him dreams of being consumed by the earth nightly, and the dreams seem to align with the lunar cycles of the red moon. He offers protection from curses (+2 to saves) to his followers. Any manifestation would be far below the earth. The pillar of Ambule represents a binding contract; no one knows what he wants, at least not among the rangers, though some suggested only the dead know. u-Heury and I will need to speak with a dead worshipper of Ambule for more details. We can look up names on the pillar and make local inquiries with a bottle of the hag\u0026rsquo;s graveyard whiskey.\nThe fall brought rumors of a magical plague near Helix, with animal zombies. Why is it always undead in Helix?\nOscar invested in paisley cloaks, but failed to make more than petty cash.\nThe church schism resolved itself, with a new leader Sanctus Primus in charge who wishes to retake the abbey. Sanctus has called for an inquisition to root out hags and other supernatural creatures.\n","date":"14 May 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-169/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # Snarkscorn let us go, but confiscated my heavy shield and the religious relics we had acquired from the abbey. We needed the money from selling those; the crookhorns won’t do anything with them except desecrate them. St Clewd means nothing to me, but the money would have. He also claimed a prize from each of us, and offered to return it if we completed a task. There would be gold in it for us as well, 1000gp each. But the mission was to kidnap a local noble, Lady Harold, and bring her to his camp alive. None of us were enthusiastic about that, but perhaps we can find a way to double-cross the crookhorns.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 169","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"14 May 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/osrrealms/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Osrrealms","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"14 May 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pelf/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pelf","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"14 May 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/u-heury/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"U-Heury","type":"tags"},{"content":" Bern # The sailors wanted no part of any plan that involved fighting, once they heard there were a dozen crookhorns on the bridge. We had the captain drop us off on the east bank and proceed upriver in his barge. Our new plan was to find the path back to the crookhorn camp and set up an ambush for the leader when he returned. While traveling back to his camp, he would presumably leave some of his guards by the bridge, and be more vulnerable. I was able to find their trail and set the group up in a safe spot to await the targets.\nWhen I spotted the leader with only two guards, I returned to our camp so Ignas could bless the endeavor. She did, but as usual, Zul answered her prayers with a twist. As soon as she finished the blessing, she began to glow brightly, as if from a campfire. I quickly returned to my spot in the woods, and waited for the leader to pass by, but he never did. After a few minutes. I headed back up the trail, trying to find where they went. After a search I was able to find their trail and catch up to them as they traveled. The crookhorns had bypassed our ambush thanks to Ignas\u0026rsquo; glowing light. They were clearly wise in the way of the woods, and wary of opposition.\nEven so, I was able to approach stealthily. The rest of the group was over 100 yards away, but I figured I could last long enough for them to arrive and help, at least with missile weapons and divine invocations. My dogs could close the distance even faster, moving on four legs instead of two, and without armor to weigh them down. I got close enough to attack, but the darkness spoiled my aim, and I inflicted only a minor wound upon one of his guards. In response, the leader blew his horn, while his guards attacked. Their teeth bounced harmlessly off my shield. My next sword swing missed, but I followed up with a shield bash that bloodied the first guard. The blow cost me, however. The leader\u0026rsquo;s giant ax slammed into me, forcing me back several steps, and leaving me bleeding from a wound.\nMy next attack killed one of the crookhorn guards, but winged creatures descended into the trees nearby, summoned by the blow of the horn. Their strange crooning song was magically compelling and everything seemed to fade away. With no control over my own movements, one of the birds led me back to their camp. A few minutes later, I was dimly aware of the rest of the group following. They took our equipment and led us into a tent containing a large four poster bed with a female prisoner chained to it. Whatever spell the harpies were weaving was still affecting me, but Snarkscorn wanted to monologue once everyone was there to listen.\nIt seems the leader was eager to hire us as mercenaries for some sort of bloody work, possibly related to Lady Harroth who lived nearby. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t exactly thinking clearly, but I would agree to anything that would get me out of this situation alive. Whether I followed up on it later would be a very different question.\n","date":"7 May 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-168/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # The sailors wanted no part of any plan that involved fighting, once they heard there were a dozen crookhorns on the bridge. We had the captain drop us off on the east bank and proceed upriver in his barge. Our new plan was to find the path back to the crookhorn camp and set up an ambush for the leader when he returned. While traveling back to his camp, he would presumably leave some of his guards by the bridge, and be more vulnerable. I was able to find their trail and set the group up in a safe spot to await the targets.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 168","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-167.webp\nBern # The first order of business in Fort Vulgar was to collect the information we had paid for concerning the Pillar of Ambule. The local priest had dutifully collected it for us. According to the records he had found, Ambule is a local God of earth, protection and good fortune. His symbol is a single black hexagonal eye. Ambule is reported to make pacts in return for protection from hags and other creatures, and those pacts apparently involve service for life. If the service is not granted, the soul will be collected. The details of these pacts and what collecting the soul might mean, aside from the obvious, death, was not clear. Most of this information came by way of another priest called Haymen, who had once lived on the northern shores of Lake Longmere. From the age of the records, that was some time ago, and that particular priest was unlikely to still be alive.\nThe priest at St Dougan suggested we head south and inquire about more details at the capital city Of Dolmenwood, known as Brackenwold. However, his attitude suggested that acquiring more information would be expensive. And my wallet was getting flat. The alternative would be to head north, near Lake Longmere, and make further inquiries there among people who might actually know of Ambule or even be worshippers. If this deity is truly a God of earth and protection and good fortune, performing some small service on a regular basis might be a small price to pay for curing my curse and protection from hags. However, it is usually wise to inquire about the details before entering into such a bargain. I will remember that in the future.\nSeeking an easy opportunity to fill our purses, we spoke with the local Lord Osric about problems he had been having with crookhorns raiding his shipping. He was amenable to us taking a trip up river on one of his boats, hoping to draw an attack from the bandits and slaughter them in return. He gave us the name of a boat, the Sleeping Willow, and a letter of introduction to her captain. We stayed the night at the Keep. Leaving poor Ignas out in the wilderness, guarding our more questionable possessions. I did think to send a messenger across the bridge to let her know what our plans were, but I had little confidence it would arrive. The messenger seemed shady.\nIn the morning we put out a call for local men at arms, hoping to bolster our numbers. We found two. The more prepared of them had chain and shield, and called himself Algash. The other had no armor, and merely a club and dagger for weapons. We hired both at 4gp per day (total), expecting that it would be a short trip, and arranged with the captain to pick up Ignas on the eastern side of the river.\nThe captain of the Sleeping Willow told us a little bit about what he expected. The bandits normally set up their toll collection on a bridge that crossed the river, making it difficult for boats to pass. A road on the Western bank led up to the bridge, but on the eastern bank, it was only a forest trail, barely worthy of a bridge at all. Perhaps some time ago it had seen more traffic.\nWe arranged with the captain to be dropped off on the western bank well before the bridge came in sight. Our plan would be to approach from land, and deal with the crookhorns there. u-Heury and I would approach in stealth to scout the situation, then return to coordinate plans with Ignis and the men at arms.\nThat part of the plan went smoothly, but when we approached the bridge, we saw a dozen crookhorns, led by an especially tall and strong specimen. He must have been at least seven feet tall. Luckily, the smaller ones were poorly armed and armored. u-Heury and I returned to Ignas and discussed our plans. She would call upon her god to hold the leader in place and prevent him interfering while we attacked with missile weapons from cover. A blessing from Ignas would tilt the odds further in our favor.\nIf their leader managed to resist her magic, however, that could complicate things. There is no telling what he would be capable of. However, should they reach melee range, our two men at arms might provide an unpleasant surprise. With luck, and our 5 blades, we could likely prevail.Unfortunately, Lord Osric had given us no way to positively identify the particular crookhorn\u0026rsquo;s head he wanted. It\u0026rsquo;s not like they wear name tags. We resolved to bring him the head of the big one and call it done.\nOn a positive note, my withered arm has now fully healed. I look forward to fighting at my full strength once more.\n","date":"30 April 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-167/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-167.webp\nBern # The first order of business in Fort Vulgar was to collect the information we had paid for concerning the Pillar of Ambule. The local priest had dutifully collected it for us. According to the records he had found, Ambule is a local God of earth, protection and good fortune. His symbol is a single black hexagonal eye. Ambule is reported to make pacts in return for protection from hags and other creatures, and those pacts apparently involve service for life. If the service is not granted, the soul will be collected. The details of these pacts and what collecting the soul might mean, aside from the obvious, death, was not clear. Most of this information came by way of another priest called Haymen, who had once lived on the northern shores of Lake Longmere. From the age of the records, that was some time ago, and that particular priest was unlikely to still be alive.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 167","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-166.webp\nBern # Our travels back toward the inn were interrupted by a rain of fire. We paused, took shelter and waited it out, but the delay was costing time we couldn\u0026rsquo;t spare. It cleared up by noon, and we moved on, but the next day was filled with storms. Normal storms, just rain and lightning and wind, not the burning. It cost us more time. And we were off schedule already. Pelf seemed antsy; she was on a timer to deliver her ingredients and they would likely go bad if she took too long.\nAnother unusual delay we encountered on the way back was a telepathic tree. It seemed to think both u-Heury and I smelled of death and didn\u0026rsquo;t want either of us to come anywhere near it. That seemed off \u0026ndash; the rest of the party were fine, according to the tree. More ominous hints about the pillar of Ambule, perhaps? The only party members smelling of death were the two of us who had signed the pillar.\nWe eventually agreed to detour around the tree. I wanted to get more answers about that from someone or some thing that might know, but Pelf was the only one the tree was willing to tell whatever it knew to, and Pelf was too cowardly to spend the time alone with a tree. We had to move on, but I marked the tree so I could find it again and ask more.\nWe made it to the inn in time only by pushing our pace, wearing ourselves out on the road. Pelf went directly to the kitchen with her sack of ingredients (which I had been carrying, you\u0026rsquo;re welcome). She was greeted warmly enough, especially when she announced that the ingredients had been successfully procured\u0026hellip; But the hag was disturbingly interested to hear the details. Especially how her pouch went missing along with its gold. Pelf provided the knight\u0026rsquo;s full name and everything else she had managed to collect about him. The hag promised he would not be a problem anymore. That seemed ominous.\nI had been scouting ahead, traveling twice the distance the rest of the party did just from walking forwards and then backwards and then forwards again. And it was wearing me out. I ate my rations and went to bed, but before it did any good, Pelf woke me by shaking my shoulder and demanding we go to look at the witch who is flying over the lake? Or living under it? Or some fool story? I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to, but my rest had already been ruined. I suppose I might as well. We took the opportunity to visit the Pillar of Ambrose, just to see if anything had changed there. But it all looked the same as before.\nWe did see something very strange on the lake. A mysterious island appeared to become visible after midnight, with strange lights and flying creatures of some sort circling overhead. They could have been witches, I suppose. Or bats. Or flying monkeys. Who knows? The island was mostly dark and few details were visible. Some parts of it had an eerie glow that I suppose could be some sort of luminescent moss or algae underwater, as the traveling merchant claimed.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll admit the place looks quite haunted and an island that only appears under a full moon is an impressive trick, but I\u0026rsquo;m just not motivated to go chasing down witches just because they exist. Maybe if there was money in it, or if the witches with causing problems. But if they want to take midnight broomstick joyrides, I suppose that\u0026rsquo;s their business. I have my own problems. We returned to the inn when the island faded out of view, having learned very little about the strange phenomenon.\nThat night, in the middle of my regularly scheduled Mossy nightmare, a terrifying Cry from the Leviathan of the lake woke me and sent me fleeing through the walls of the inn. Stark naked and mad with fear, I ran into the woods, with the full moon high above me and Pappy\u0026rsquo;s curse clawing at my heels. The trees flew by in the darkness, deeper into the woods. Finally, out of breath, I curled up under a tree and collapsed. I\u0026rsquo;d be fine by morning. That\u0026rsquo;s what Pappy always said.\nI had barely closed my eyes when a second trumpeting call echoed from the trees. I looked up to see a snake-like monster from the lake charging in my direction. This was a different lake monster, with six heads instead of tentacles, and nasty teeth. And evidently the ability to walk on land. Before I could think, my primal instincts answered its challenge with one of my own. A howl tore from my throat with all of my strength behind it. And then sanity took hold. Perhaps my Pappy could have taken this thing down with claws and teeth. I was all the man he was, but less of the wolf. Fighting this hydra head to head would be suicide even before taking into account the other five heads.\nIt was moving toward me as fast as I could run, even without my armor and shield. My only advantage was agility, and the terrain itself. I ran toward a small group of trees nearby, shading small pond, and threw myself inside. Taking advantage of the moment out of view, I jumped into the pond and slathered my body with mud and leaves from the shore. Lying flat in the water, still and silent, I watched the beast trundle past into the distance.\nDecades from now, the Hydra and the Leviathan and the Hag of the lake will meet on their little island, and tell tales of the Ghost Wolf that challenged all three on the night of the full moon and lived. Hah!\nWhen the creatures had vanished, my exhausted rest was interrupted again by a nagging telepathic voice. The \u0026ldquo;tree\u0026rdquo; is actually a miniature dragon of some kind. I was too tired to try to convince it to tell me anything. Perhaps I can find it again later, though I\u0026rsquo;m not sure it actually knows anything useful. I hope Father Dougan in Fort Vulgar found something. If not, well, even a very small dragon needs to and occasionally, and that will leave marks I can track.\nThe next day, Pelf chatted up a woman in a nun\u0026rsquo;s habit who was staying at the inn. She had rented the expensive tower room for twice the previous price due to Pelf\u0026rsquo;s bookkeeping \u0026ndash; we were also paying higher prices, except Pelf who was staying free, thanks Pelf! \u0026ndash; and seemed to be interested in the lake witches. Pelf scared her off with aggressive questioning, but she did mention that the Maidenhead Priory was located far to the west of here. That particular useful question was my idea. She might know more, but was headed away from Fort Vulgar, and we had more pressing research to collect there.\n","date":"16 April 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-166/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-166.webp\nBern # Our travels back toward the inn were interrupted by a rain of fire. We paused, took shelter and waited it out, but the delay was costing time we couldn’t spare. It cleared up by noon, and we moved on, but the next day was filled with storms. Normal storms, just rain and lightning and wind, not the burning. It cost us more time. And we were off schedule already. Pelf seemed antsy; she was on a timer to deliver her ingredients and they would likely go bad if she took too long.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 166","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-165.webp\nBern # We made our first few inquiries at the market. The prices inside the walls are no better than those outside the walls and if anything, possibly worse. Asking about sources of ale, the cheapest available was a barrel of old schweissner\u0026rsquo;s at 20gp each, and we would need two barrels to \u0026ldquo;paint the walls\u0026rdquo; of the abbey, but carts are sold for 5x the normal prices. When we asked about renting a cart, they laughed at us. We chose to look for liquor elsewhere. Tough was able to find most of the ingredients requested by the hag. But had to make the payments herself. The Unicorn meat, she was offered. Seemed somewhat sketchy. Apparently it does not come from a real unicorn, but a particular variety of local deer that is believed to taste and feel like Unicorn meat. Whether this will satisfy the hag, I have no idea. I\u0026rsquo;m still much happier giving a fake unicorn delicacy to a hag, then killing a real Unicorn for the same purpose.\nWe made our next stop at the chapel of St Dougan, on the way to Fort Vulgar itself to meet Lord Osric. The priest there had not heard of the Pillar of Ambule, but he offered to look it up in his archives. For a small fee of 20 gold, of course. I paid the fee, having a hunch that this pillar might be more significant than was obvious at first glance. I did let him know that we might be traveling over the next few days, so we would return for the information later on. He did mention that his church has a modest collection of illustrated manuscripts and he is always looking to add to that collection. So if we run across any such things, he would be an excellent buyer.\nWhile at the church, we met a number of. Local Fisher folk and boatsman. Who wore elaborate tattoos of tentacles up and down their arms. They claimed fairly aggressively that these tattoos protected them from the sea monster in the lake. I suspect it\u0026rsquo;s much easier to simply avoid boats entirely. There was certainly no discussion of what obligations having tattoos of a tentacled monstrosity might incur to the person being tattooed.\nWe continued on to the Fort proper where Lord Osric told us about crookhorns who raid travelers near Qog\u0026rsquo;s Creek bridge, led by Captain Gib Snarkscorn. He would like Snarkscorn\u0026rsquo;s head, preferably separated from its body, and offers a reward of a substantial amount of gold. Osric would like us to accompany a barge to defend it from the captain, which would be a place to start looking. He also offers a bounty on crookhorns in general. We declined for the moment; Pelf is a bit spooked by her hag bag and wants to fulfill the terms promptly. We expressed interest in returning when time allowed. We will need to return to collect our research on the pillar in any case.\nWith all of our errands taken care of, we returned to our camp to find that Morin had disappeared and Ignas had joined us. She did at least bring my three dogs. We explained the situation and satisfied ourselves Morin would not be returning and did not need rescuing, at least in the short term, and set off to return to the inn.\nIgnas does seem to be disturbingly attracted to the sea monster.\n","date":"9 April 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-165/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-165.webp\nBern # We made our first few inquiries at the market. The prices inside the walls are no better than those outside the walls and if anything, possibly worse. Asking about sources of ale, the cheapest available was a barrel of old schweissner’s at 20gp each, and we would need two barrels to “paint the walls” of the abbey, but carts are sold for 5x the normal prices. When we asked about renting a cart, they laughed at us. We chose to look for liquor elsewhere. Tough was able to find most of the ingredients requested by the hag. But had to make the payments herself. The Unicorn meat, she was offered. Seemed somewhat sketchy. Apparently it does not come from a real unicorn, but a particular variety of local deer that is believed to taste and feel like Unicorn meat. Whether this will satisfy the hag, I have no idea. I’m still much happier giving a fake unicorn delicacy to a hag, then killing a real Unicorn for the same purpose.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 165","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"2 April 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/morin/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Morin","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-164.webp\nBern # After a long stay at the inn. I was back in fighting shape. We agreed to rest one more night before continuing on. You hear? And I haunted to build up our supplies, while Pelf spent her time talking with the cook in the basement and doing the accounting for the inn. Pelf concluded that the inn was spending most of its income on raw materials for the cook and that was responsible for its noticeable lack of profits.\nThe cook seemed somewhat hostile to her investigation and complained about the situation, so Pelf volunteered to go to town and try to acquire the supplies she needed at a better price. Reluctantly, the cook agreed to the deal, providing a shopping list and a pouch of money covered in strange runes.\nWe set off the next morning for Fort Vulgar, which was supposedly close by and which might provide information on some of the other mysteries we had been investigating. On the way, we passed a hive filled with giant killer bees. We gave the bees a wide berth and they did not attack, though I suspected the honey would be effective at treating wounds. None of us were eager for a fight after spending so long recovering.\nThe road crossed a surprising number of bridges as well. I kept expecting a troll to demand his toll.\nFort Vulgar itself was a small town with a defended harbor and some kind of lurking sea monster which screamed at us as we approached. Despite the terrifying nature of the creature\u0026rsquo;s cry, most of us took it well and continued on toward town. Our barbarian, however, turned and fled. We waited for him to catch back up when the effect wore off and he regained his courage\u0026hellip; eventually.\nApproaching the gates of Fort Vulgar itself, we encountered a long line of people waiting to get in. Knights in armor were diligently questioning and searching everyone in line. Morin managed to strike up a conversation with some local businessmen and discovered the knights were very strict about who and what entered their city. The holy objects we had recovered from the abbey would not only be confiscated as contraband, but we would likely be unable to sell them at all. That said, we were still in need of supplies, and I needed to replace my lost gear, so we arranged for a camp outside of town where we could leave our contraband goods before entering the city.\nI left my enchanted shield there, figuring its orcish nature and the disconcerting effect that bearing it had upon my eyes would get me more attention than I would appreciate. Pelf left nothing, a decision that would haunt her a few hours later when we finally reached the gate.\nShe did take the opportunity to check the shopping list provided by the cook from the inn. Disturbingly, the shopping list included unicorn meat. Even setting aside the moral questions, such a meal would be very difficult to acquire, and certainly would not be for sale at a market. At least not a normal market. That did not bode well and raised dire questions about the nature of the cook herself. Another item on the shopping list was honey. Pity we did not check the list until after we arrived, the beehives we passed on the way would likely have some.\nAs we approached one by one, we were each questioned closely. The guards asked about my withered arm, and I explained how I came to acquire it. They asked me to step aside, wait for a moment, but did not seem unhappy or threatening. u-Heury carried no contraband, but they asked him to step aside as well, without further questions.\nPelf, on the other hand, had her pouch of ruins with the cook\u0026rsquo;s coins within them. The guards took one look at the pouch and confiscated it. They claimed the runes were hag runes, and questioned Pelf from where she acquired it. They did not seem inclined to let her enter the town, nor to trust her. If in fact the cook at the inn is a hag, it would explain a great deal. Luckily, only Pelf had made a deal with her, although the proximity of hag to the strange pillar that had apparently cured my arm was a matter of concern, as was eating her food while we stayed there. Perhaps Pelf will learn a lesson about cheerfully agreeing to do errands for strangers.\nAfter a great deal of arguing with Pelf, the guards let me and u-Heury pass. They did request that each of us meet with the local Lord as we seemed like adventuring folk and the local lord had need of such. Perhaps we can bring up the topics we need information about with him.\nThe location of Maidenhead Priory The Pillar of Ambule Local sources of cheap ale Inside the walls, the markets were extensive. But the prices were high. Almost double normal. I preferred not to re gear at such inflated pricing. So aside from replacing my weatherproof cloak, I left the rest of my shopping for later. Perhaps when we meet with the local Lord, we can negotiate for better prices In return for our service as adventurers.\n","date":"2 April 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-164/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-164.webp\nBern # After a long stay at the inn. I was back in fighting shape. We agreed to rest one more night before continuing on. You hear? And I haunted to build up our supplies, while Pelf spent her time talking with the cook in the basement and doing the accounting for the inn. Pelf concluded that the inn was spending most of its income on raw materials for the cook and that was responsible for its noticeable lack of profits.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 164","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-163.webp\nBern # We were all in bad shape, even the barbarian. Seeking a place of refuge, we left the area near the abbey and headed northwest following the road. Prior reports suggested to keep in this direction, but we were unsure how far we would have to travel to reach it. When it neared time to camp. We found a tree. Lit by fairy lights. Small creatures. Fluttering about with their wings. They did not appear to speak our language. But we offered them silver. And they allowed us to camp beneath their tree without molestation.\nThe following day we moved on. Around noon, we came across a small. Decrepit in. The building was in poor shape. But it offered shelter from the elements and a safe place to rest while we recuperated. While we were there, fish grew bored and wandered off. Shortly thereafter, one of her friends arrived: Pelf, a paladin of Denara. She claimed she did not know Oscar except by reputation, despite serving the same deity. She had been seeking the offices of the Gray Company in Prigswort, but those offices had been closed due to the siege. As we were the closest members of the Gray Company, she offered to join us.\nThe inn offered a safe place to rest and recuperate, so we took advantage of the opportunity while we could. Pelf, being the healthiest of the group, amused herself by looking over the accounting books of the inn, searching for \u0026hellip; financial tracks or something? I don\u0026rsquo;t know why that sort of thing interests her. I can barely mark my own name and have never needed more than that. But it did seem to hold her interest.\nThe rest of us listened to the innkeeper speak of local legends. Apparently the nearby lake holds the dwelling of the Witch Queen, and late at night her castle can be seen glowing from beneath the waves. The innkeep even has a special luxurious room which he claims has a view of the lake from which this can be seen. The rest of the group were skeptical of the price; 5gp a night is indeed dear. But I could use the luxury, in my wounded condition.\nI took the offered room, which is situated at the top of a dilapidated tower attached to the inn. Pelf tried to talk the innkeeper into offering one of his barmaids to go with the room, in the hopes that would increase sales. She might be on to something in general, but I was not interested.\nWe spent several days there, slowly healing and listening to the local legends. Morin made a point of speaking with some of the more skeptical passerby, one of whom attributed the strange glow in the center of the lake to an algae bloom. He said it was a perfectly rational explanation for a phenomenon that clearly had no magical or supernatural significance. That discussion inspired me on the second night to stay up late and observe the lake, but I did not happen to notice anything unusual. Perhaps I fell asleep too soon.\nThe next day, the innkeeper told us of a local pillar dedicated to Ambule. Supposedly those who wish the blessings of this spirit or Saint or godling or something could write their names upon this pillar, and it would favor them in some unspecified supernatural fashion. From his description, this being is associated with the wilderness. That sounded like a good fit for me and my withered arm, so we decided it was worth looking into.\nAbout a half days journey from the inn we came upon the pillar, which sits at the top of a hill, a stone staircase leading up to it from the shore of the lake. Climbing the stairs, we ascended to the base of the wooden pillar. The surface was covered with names scratched in chalk. There were no instructions or tools, no hints towards the nature of whatever strange being was being petitioned. Not even whether the creature was real or a mere figment of the imagination of the populace.\nI was skeptical, but the idea of this monument\u0026rsquo;s association with wilderness and nature offered me some comfort, and I decided it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t hurt to try. We built a fire to make charcoal to write with, and I wrote my name upon the pillar as many others had done before me. After a moment\u0026rsquo;s thought u-Heury did the same. We both felt a strange reaction as the wind seemed to go still, and the world felt more weighty. It seemed clear that there was some significance to the act, but not what that significance might be. We returned to the inn, preparing to bed down for the night.\nu-Heury chose to leave the inn during what remained of the daylight, seeking to spend time foraging. I was still too wounded to even contemplate such a task, at least not without dire need. Nevertheless, when the barbarian failed to return on time, I left the inn with the others to search. I was unable to follow the barbarian\u0026rsquo;s tracks, but the moment I set my mind to wonder where I would go to find herbs, I stumbled across his insensate body, lying in a field of poppies. Sighing, we made a makeshift lasso and dragged him out from the field. When he woke, he reported a strange dream of being tied to the pillar while moss ate his feet. We wrote that off to the influence of the poppies and returned to the inn.\nThat night, I had a similar dream. I dreamt I was chained to the pillar, with strong silver chains that made my skin burn where they pressed against it. I struggled, but with all my strength I could not bend the chains to free myself. How could they have known, I wondered, to bind me with silver chains and not mere rope or steel?\nLooking down, I too noted the moss growing at my feet\u0026hellip; appearing to grow up into my feet. As if it was taking over such a small part of my body and form. It was a terrifying, slow torture, made all the worse by its painless nature.\nAfter what seemed like forever, I woke from the dream to find Pelf attempting to comfort me. Her healing hands were certainly welcome, but knowing Oscar as I did, I kept expecting her to demand payment. Thankfully, she has so far offered her aid without such demands.\nAs I woke, I felt the faintest tingles of life beginning to return into my withered arm. Had the healing process finally begun? Had the strange pillar and its dream played some role in my recovery? I could not truly say, as I had only the faintest of sensations to judge by. Yet for the first time in years, I felt optimistic. At the same time I could not help but wonder if there would there be a price to pay?\n","date":"27 March 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-163/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-163.webp\nBern # We were all in bad shape, even the barbarian. Seeking a place of refuge, we left the area near the abbey and headed northwest following the road. Prior reports suggested to keep in this direction, but we were unsure how far we would have to travel to reach it. When it neared time to camp. We found a tree. Lit by fairy lights. Small creatures. Fluttering about with their wings. They did not appear to speak our language. But we offered them silver. And they allowed us to camp beneath their tree without molestation.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 163","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-162.webp\nBern # We gave the rag-man his ten skulls. In return, he told us that the portal could be closed by finding \u0026ldquo;the charge\u0026rdquo;, a strange creature born of fused chaos magic and divine magic, somewhere in the tomb of St Clewd. The creature would need to enter the portal \u0026ndash; willingly or not. Then the portal would close, if the rag-man was being honest.\nThe rag-man also claims his taxidermied creations don\u0026rsquo;t animate. I\u0026rsquo;m skeptical.\nWe discussed options, and decided that Morin and I would make camp to recover while u-Heury and Pish asked the drunken monk about local sources of ale. It would take 100gp worth of ale to \u0026ldquo;paint the walls of the chapel\u0026rdquo; with it, plus a horse and cart to bring it, if we brought it ourselves. The ghostly monk said there was no ale in the abbey, we would need to bring it with us.\nOn the way to have that conversation, Morin noticed that the monk reacted to the fire slime in the fireplace, and remembered another monk who wanted to feel warm. The two of them convinced the chilly monk to follow them to the slime in the fireplace. The monk seemed to appreciate the warmth while u-Heury fought the slime. The slime engulfed the barbarian in an epic struggle.\nThe monk, once warmed, told us of a secret compartment in the chapel filled with treasures. The treasures are near the altar, and the key we already found hidden behind a hollow mosaic near the organ\u0026hellip; and it was in my backpack when the rag-man ripped it off. We spent a day to find the key, and with it unlocked the cache of treasure.\n1′ high gilded Chapes holy symbol (75gp) a solid gold spiked orb (400gp) a solid silver chalice (200gp) a gilded decanter (60gp) an electrum rod and bowl (35gp each) Morin volunteered to fence it when we got back to town. She was concerned the religious authorities would confiscate it. To be fair, it\u0026rsquo;s a valid concern, but we might get less money going that route. Less is better than none at all.\nShe\u0026rsquo;s also worried we might need some of the items to close the portal, or otherwise deal with the situation in the abbey. That\u0026rsquo;s a serious concern too. Pish claims none of the items are magical, which isn\u0026rsquo;t necessarily dispositive. But there\u0026rsquo;s no real way to tell which items are important. That said, my guess is none are important. The ghostly monk didn\u0026rsquo;t specify anything specific by title, nothing like \u0026ldquo;The holy sceptre of St Clewd is stored here\u0026rdquo;\u0026hellip; so my gut says these are cash.\n","date":"19 March 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-162/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-162.webp\nBern # We gave the rag-man his ten skulls. In return, he told us that the portal could be closed by finding “the charge”, a strange creature born of fused chaos magic and divine magic, somewhere in the tomb of St Clewd. The creature would need to enter the portal – willingly or not. Then the portal would close, if the rag-man was being honest.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 162","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Bern # Something followed u-Heury and I up the stairs. I still cannot name it. It was a cloud with tentacles, and ominous crackles of lightning, like a storm cloud only smaller and much closer. Plus the tentacles.\nSpooked by the number of enemies following him, u-Heury called for us to run and hide. We both climbed through the nearby window to take advantage of the natural terrain, and concealed ourselves nearby. We were waiting to see if the ominous cloud would follow beyond the stairs, or retreat below. When it eventually did follow us out the window, the cloud overlooked me in my hiding spot. It moved towards u-Heury instead and moved towards him. Seeing my chance, I struck with sword and shield. It seemed insubstantial, but the enchantments on both of my weapons did damage. Substantial damage. I could see it waver and flicker for a moment. But then it let out a bright flash of light. It felt as if I had been sunburned.\nu-Heury swung at the cloud as the flash went off, and his blow went wide. I struck again, but it knew I was there and ducked out of the way of my sword. I followed up with another shield bash, driving it back and forcing it to take a blow from the barbarian\u0026rsquo;s blade as well.\nBut u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s blows had less effect. He could damage the creature, yes. But it was wary after my blows and avoided most of his. Still, working together, we struck it down in short order without being seriously hurt.\nHowever, the flash of light had attracted the attention of the rag man. Before we could hide again, he swooped down and. Grasped my shoulders in his crow like towns. Towns. Talons. Wings flapping, he lifted me into the air, despite my chain mail and oversized heavy shield. The weight seemed to bother him a little, but much less that I was bothered by dangling from the talons of a rag crow. We spoke.\nAt first I pretended not to hear his voice. The flapping of his wings and the rush of the air was certainly distracting, but it was a ploy; I sought to convince him to take me to the ground where we could speak properly. He refused and flew higher.\nThe creature seemed concerned about several things. First on his list, the children, who he called his wards. He wanted assurances that neither I nor the rest of my group would seek to take them from him. He insisted on knowing why we were here at the abbey, and grew incensed when I explained we had been hired by the mother of one of his wards.\nAfter the safety of his wards, the creature wanted teeth. He was very interested in the chattering skulls the rest of the party had previously encountered and which we were currently attempting to acquire. We were able to negotiate on this point. The creature set a price of 10 skulls per favor he provided; the primary favor he was able to offer was knowledge. He claimed to know how to close the portal. I don\u0026rsquo;t trust his honesty on that, but it\u0026rsquo;s the only lead we have at the moment since the Abbott misled us. The gold inside at least some of the skulls makes the effort potentially profitable. I promised to present this bargain to the rest of the group, and acquire at least 10 skulls if at all possible. Reluctantly. It\u0026rsquo;s better than being dropped.\nMeanwhile, the rest of the group were examining the skulls that Warren had managed to extract. There appeared to be no easy way to remove coins. Places on an ordinary skull which would be openings, such as the eye sockets and neck, instead were solid bone. The only obvious way to extract the coins was be to smash the skulls, and the rag man had been very specific about wanting the skulls still chattering. Smashing them would presumably ruin whatever magic was animating them and reduce their worth.\nOn the plus side. He didn\u0026rsquo;t care whether the skulls had a cross on them or not, so we could extract both and simply pass on the unmarked skulls to the rag man and keep the ones with gold.\nI eventually convinced the ragman to set me back on the ground and present the proposal to the party. They reluctantly accepted understanding that pretending to obtain skulls for the rag man would prevent him from seizing us at random and carrying us up into the air for a swift, sudden death. It seemed likely we would have to kill the creature eventually if we wanted to get the children back, but the abbey had its own set of problems and tackling both at once seemed unwise.\nWe planned our second raid into the Room of Skulls. u-Heury and I would lead, both carrying sacks to extract the skulls. Pish would use her ventriloquism spell to create a distraction, and Morin, who refused to re-enter the room under any circumstances, would stand guard and watch for interruptions.\nThe distraction was successful\u0026hellip; eventually. It took several minutes of increasing the volume and varying the noises to attract sufficient attention. When there was an opening. I ran for the room and the barbarian followed. We both rushed inside. I began hurriedly stuffing my sacks with skulls. Some magic took effect and I felt as if my head was trying to tear itself off of my body. I gritted my teeth against the pain and persisted. I was determined to get all 10 skulls in a single run and leave the money to the rest. Unfortunately, the barbarian turned and fled as soon as he saw the contents of the room, horror coating his face. He collected no skulls at all. I\u0026rsquo;ve seen worse than this skinning game, I don\u0026rsquo;t see why he has an issue.\nDespite the pain, and the admittedly disconcerting sight of the room, I managed to stuff 8 skulls into the sacks that I had brought, and two more into the hood of my cloak. Even as I grabbed them and put them away, they continued to chatter.\nGiving these sinister skulls to the rag man was sure to have bad consequences in the future. But what choice did we have? Very difficult to fight a creature that can lift you off the ground and drag you into the air, then threaten to drop you to your death.\nOnce I had my 10 skulls in hand, I fled the room.\n","date":"6 March 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-161/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # Something followed u-Heury and I up the stairs. I still cannot name it. It was a cloud with tentacles, and ominous crackles of lightning, like a storm cloud only smaller and much closer. Plus the tentacles.\nSpooked by the number of enemies following him, u-Heury called for us to run and hide. We both climbed through the nearby window to take advantage of the natural terrain, and concealed ourselves nearby. We were waiting to see if the ominous cloud would follow beyond the stairs, or retreat below. When it eventually did follow us out the window, the cloud overlooked me in my hiding spot. It moved towards u-Heury instead and moved towards him. Seeing my chance, I struck with sword and shield. It seemed insubstantial, but the enchantments on both of my weapons did damage. Substantial damage. I could see it waver and flicker for a moment. But then it let out a bright flash of light. It felt as if I had been sunburned.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 161","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"6 March 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pish/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pish","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-160.webp\nBern # No one felt quite ready to take on the rag man. After some discussion, we decided to investigate the Abbott\u0026rsquo;s study. The secret door into his study had been smashed open by the party prior to my arrival. Morin and Pish scouted ahead. The study itself was empty, but Pish heard voices from close by and moved to investigate. She was immediately spotted. As it turns out, the next room had a force of knights standing guard, the ones who had refused to flee after the exit was revealed. They were not at all happy to see Pish or Morin. We managed to talk them out of fighting, and found a small anteroom filled with knights and monks who appeared unwell. u-Heury speculated they had not come all the way back from being resurrected in he pool. The Abbot himself was among the disabled knights, and he essentially threw us out.\nAfter that, we discussed a plan to reach the room of skulls and flesh described by the ghostly monk whose task we completed. In hopes of obtaining some of the skulls and the coins within. We also sought to scout the conditions of the basement to see whether the strange cherub demons were still present.\nScouting ahead once again, Morin and Pish were able to confirm the cherubs remained present. Worse, they had supplemented their forces with what appeared to be zombie monks. Most likely the monks had been resurrected and changed sides; there is definitely a strange symmetry between the resurrection pools to the east and the west that suggests a kind of eternal battle with forces changing sides depending on which pool resurrects them. From our position in the southern staircase, we could see three pairs, one cherub and one monk engaging in mindless patrols.\nThe plan was simple. u-Heury and I would go down the north staircase to create a distraction, then withdraw upwards and attempt to fight them one by one at the top of the stairs. Pish would remain on call to create another distraction with Ventriloquism if needed. Meanwhile, Morin would descend the southern set of stairs, sneak over to the Room of Flesh and Skulls, and steal as many of the skulls as she possibly could. Hopefully, none of the creatures would be able to pursue us out of the underground area, and we could at least determine if the treasure in the rest of the skulls was worthwhile.\nWith u-Heury in the lead, I descended the stairs, leaving a lantern with Pish for light. We did run into an unexpected snag. There were more cherubs and zombies on the north side. We counted five pairs, more than the three pairs on the south side. It\u0026rsquo;s probably not a coincidence that the number of coffins to the north and south match the number of monks and cherubs. Despite that, we managed to attract the attention of the northern group and retreat up the stairs. As we did so, we caught a glimpse of Morin sneaking across the room and into the chamber of Flesh and Skulls. Hopefully she\u0026rsquo;ll be able to grab the money and run. In the meantime, it\u0026rsquo;s up to us to handle whatever attention we\u0026rsquo;ve drawn.\n","date":"26 February 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-160/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-160.webp\nBern # No one felt quite ready to take on the rag man. After some discussion, we decided to investigate the Abbott’s study. The secret door into his study had been smashed open by the party prior to my arrival. Morin and Pish scouted ahead. The study itself was empty, but Pish heard voices from close by and moved to investigate. She was immediately spotted. As it turns out, the next room had a force of knights standing guard, the ones who had refused to flee after the exit was revealed. They were not at all happy to see Pish or Morin. We managed to talk them out of fighting, and found a small anteroom filled with knights and monks who appeared unwell. u-Heury speculated they had not come all the way back from being resurrected in he pool. The Abbot himself was among the disabled knights, and he essentially threw us out.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 160","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-159.webp\nBern # After a few agonizing minutes, the rest of the group emerged from the tower entrance. Above, the dark bird-like construct of shadows and rags took flight towards the graveyard. Sensing an opportunity, I remained in hiding, allowing the group to visibly leave the bell tower grounds while the construct presumably kept a suspicious eye on them. Instead, I snuck into the bell tower myself.\nThe first floor was empty aside from an obvious statue, which presumably the others had examined thoroughly. I went straight to the second floor, this one filled with rough furnishings and possessions suitable for children. I quickly scanned the room for anything of note, anything that might be specifically linked to the missing child we were looking for, but nothing stood out. Upwards.\nThe third floor was filled with creepy creatures, as if a mad taxidermist shepherd had preserved his entire flock of sheep and added human teeth for extra insanity. The center of the room had ropes dangling through a trapdoor in the ceiling, presumably from the bell above, and it also had a live crow preparing to fly away \u0026ndash; luckily I got to it in time and put an end to that.\nThe top floor, literally a belfry with a small but heavy bell, held nothing else of interest besides a murder of crows. They stirred as I climbed into view, and there were far too many to stop from alerting the rag-man, who would shortly be heading back to discover my presence.\nWith nothing else of interest in the tower, and no kids to rescue, I rode the bell ropes down to the floor below, ringing the bell vigorously.\nI was expecting a reaction from the rag-man, and perhaps even from the creatures on the floor below. I was not expecting an earthquake, followed by blazing supernatural flames all around the walls of the abbey.\nI made it to the bottom of the tower, past the now-animating animals on the 3rd floor, and peeked out the front door right when the rag-man landed on the roof. I paused there for a few moments, trying to gauge the best chance. Some sort of noise from the north made the creature take flight again, and I darted out the door. A nearby bush offered some cover, and I made another dash to a much larger thicket to the south when the rag-man looked away for a moment.\nThe magical fire along the walls \u0026ndash; some sort of barrier around the whole abbey \u0026ndash; faded over the next few minutes as I made my way south, still in hiding. I passed a ghost who seemed to shiver with cold, and later one gestured to me near a thicket to the west of the compound. I ignored both, needing to escape the place. We would have to come back later, because none of us were in any shape for a fight.\nThe rest of the group made their way back to camp gradually, and filled me in on what happened inside the bell tower before I entered. There were three kids there, one of them the daughter of Lady Harrowmoor. They seemed friendly with the rag-man, and he gave them tasks, one of them to collect teeth from the graveyard. Morin was trying to make friends with the kids to lure them away from the rag-man, but the creature woke up and interrupted. Things went smoothly at first, and the rag-man offered to pay for human teeth from the skull room underground, the same one where the monk had been hiding coins. Two reasons to visit that place later and get some sort of reward for our trouble.\nBut somehow they ended up spilling the beans that we were here for the kids, and the rag-man turned suspicious, taking the kids with him to the graveyard and kicking the group out.\nMorin had thought to check whether the rag-man had left the kids behind in the graveyard when it investigated the bell ringing, but no luck; it appears a confrontation would be inevitable.\n","date":"13 February 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-159/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-159.webp\nBern # After a few agonizing minutes, the rest of the group emerged from the tower entrance. Above, the dark bird-like construct of shadows and rags took flight towards the graveyard. Sensing an opportunity, I remained in hiding, allowing the group to visibly leave the bell tower grounds while the construct presumably kept a suspicious eye on them. Instead, I snuck into the bell tower myself.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 159","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"13 February 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pisha/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pisha","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-158.webp\nBern # We rested and recuperated for a few days. I was still hurt, but not badly, when the blood moon was starting to set; Rowan and Pisha worried that might be a time limit for the missing children, so we needed to act quickly. We formed a plan.\nMorin would sneak trough the window into the gatehouse, grab the monk\u0026rsquo;s body, and sneak it out the window. Rowan and Pisha would use spells to create a distraction to draw the attention of the gargoyles. Sanfire and I would try to kill one of the gargoyles (the wounded one at least) and keep them away from Morin. I loaned Sanfire my sword so he would be a threat.\nEverything went smoothly at first. Morin successfully snuck into the window, located the monk\u0026rsquo;s body and a gargoyle watching over it. Rowan and Pisha tried their illusions\u0026hellip; and the gargoyles did not react at all. I moved closer and saw that two of them were on either side of the inner gate, motionless. Sanfire handed me a sack, and I put it over the gargoyle\u0026rsquo;s head\u0026hellip; but the creature animated and swiped at me before I finished. The fight was on\u0026hellip; but Sanfire suddenly realized he was badly wounded, and dropped my sword to run for his life, leaving me facing the gargoyles alone.\nI took several claw swipes as I bent down to retrieve my sword, and struck a mighty blow at one of them. After that, I noticed Morin sneaking out of the window with the monk\u0026rsquo;s body. I let them swipe at me once more time to keep their attention, then fled. Rowan and Pisha covered my retreat with a Wall of Fog, and Morin dropped the body into the first open grave we found.\nThe monk led his own burial service, and then disappeared. His final words revealed his secret: Brother Barris obsessively stole from the poor box for years and hid coins inside skulls in the undercroft, which he marked with a red cross.\nThe rest of the group had seen that room before and did not seem tempted to go back. But it seemed to me that it was better knowing where to find treasure than not knowing.\nAfter assessing our situation we decided it would be best to head back to town. We know of several other requests from the ghostly monks which we might be able to fulfill. One wanted us to pray at a specific chapel: \u0026ldquo;pray on his behalf at the tomb of Prior Jerome Gust at Maidenhead Priory\u0026rdquo;, which we might need to find with due research, and another to \u0026ldquo;paint the walls of the abbey with ale\u0026rdquo;, which could be fulfilled by simply buying a barrel of ale.\nSince the blood moon was in fact setting, though, we decided to check out one last unexplored building before we left, the bell tower where we had previously seen a strange crow-like creature land. And that\u0026rsquo;s where things got tense again.\nOur sneakiest folks, Sanfire and Morin, approached. The rest of us, nursing our wounds, watched from a distance. The pair told me later how it turned out. The first floor was empty, but had been cleaned thoroughly to remove most of the fire damage\u0026hellip; as long as that damage was not much higher than four feet above the floor.\nThe next floor up had three kids, all talking about tasks they had been given by \u0026ldquo;Mr Rag-and-Bones\u0026rdquo;. Things like collecting teeth from the graveyard. Strange, but good that we had found the missing children! Sanfire continued upstairs while Morin introduced herself, sat down for tea, and tried to convince the children to leave quietly with us.\nThe next floor contained strange taxidermied animals with human teeth, and the one after that, a golem of raw muscle and crow feathers that Sanfire presumed to be Rag-and-Bones himself. He snuck back down without appearing to awaken the creature.\n","date":"5 February 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-158/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-158.webp\nBern # We rested and recuperated for a few days. I was still hurt, but not badly, when the blood moon was starting to set; Rowan and Pisha worried that might be a time limit for the missing children, so we needed to act quickly. We formed a plan.\nMorin would sneak trough the window into the gatehouse, grab the monk’s body, and sneak it out the window. Rowan and Pisha would use spells to create a distraction to draw the attention of the gargoyles. Sanfire and I would try to kill one of the gargoyles (the wounded one at least) and keep them away from Morin. I loaned Sanfire my sword so he would be a threat.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 158","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"5 February 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/sanfire/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Sanfire","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-157.webp\nBern # I woke up late, with quite a headache. No idea exactly what happened\u0026hellip; except there was a waning moon, just a sliver less than full. Pappy\u0026rsquo;s curse must have taken over. The rest of the group had taken their gear and left, presumably when they saw my empty bedroll and couldn\u0026rsquo;t find me. No blood or signs of struggle, so I must have managed to get far enough away before the curse took over.\nLuckily, I could track them.\nThe trail led to an old abbey, down some stairs, and into a basement filled with purple demons fighting stone cherubs. I found them right away, trying to leave by the same staircase I was entering. Pisha and Morin gave me the details; they had followed clues about Lady Harrowmoor\u0026rsquo;s daughter to this abbey, found ghostly monks, and followed directions form one to poke a pool of darkness with an ornate scepter. Somehow, no one thought this might be a bad idea, so they went ahead and did that. This started some kind of fight between the ghost knights and the demon cherubs. We left the two to fight it out, choosing to explore the rest of the abbey in the hopes of finding something to make sense of it all.\nThe room above had three notable features; a large altar, a mosaic covered in vines, and an organ. After checking two doors to the south for activity and hearing nothing besides faint sounds of chanting prayers, we uncovered the mosaic. It depicted St Clewd slaying a red unicorn. Hidden within a loose tile of the mosaic was a key, which I pocketed.\nWe checked the organ next, but found little of note. It was in bad shape, but might still function. We did not risk trying to play it; that seemed likely to attract unwanted attention.\nThe doors to the south led outdoors. The western door simply led outside; the eastern door led to a small, garden-like space with a well and a ghostly monk pacing around it. The monk\u0026rsquo;s ghost was friendly enough; he promised to share a secret if we recovered his body from the well and buried it in the cemetery. We agreed, cleared the brambles from the well, and discovered the monk\u0026rsquo;s body.\nThe body wasn\u0026rsquo;t in the well, but on the surface nearby. The scene suggested he might have been attacked by surprise. The monk was clearly in the middle of sneaking a smoke when he died.\nWe picked up the body and carried it to the cemetery, planning to bury him quickly if possible or if not, wait out the night and bury him in the morning. Hanging around a haunted cemetery after dark seemed unwise.\nAs it turned out, hanging around a cemetery was a bad idea even in broad daylight.\nThe cemetery itself was surrounded by walls, with a small enclosed gatehouse. We got into the gatehouse without incident, but we were attacked by four animated stone gargoyles from inside the graveyard almost instantly. It took them a minute to break down the door, so we had some time to reposition. Sanfire and I were the front line, where only two could fit through the door to get to us.\nI fought mine, exchanging blows until it fell, my azure serpent blade slicing through their stone bodies like flesh. Then Sanfire managed to land a solid strike and yelled in dismay that his blade just bounced off. The others were doing no better; I was the only one with an enchanted blade and these gargoyles could ignore ordinary steel.\nRelying on the others to keep their numbers distracted, I went after the one on Sanfire with a shield bash as well as sword strikes. The shield was the one Oscar had passed on to me, bent and twisted but imbued with magic as well. The second gargoyle staggered back with wounds, but Sanfire took blows in return, and I heard the others behind me calling for a retreat. I was loathe to flee before striking down at least one more, when I had already wounded it, but the rest were in poor shape. We fled, and found a place to catch our breath and plan out next move.\n","date":"31 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-157/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-157.webp\nBern # I woke up late, with quite a headache. No idea exactly what happened… except there was a waning moon, just a sliver less than full. Pappy’s curse must have taken over. The rest of the group had taken their gear and left, presumably when they saw my empty bedroll and couldn’t find me. No blood or signs of struggle, so I must have managed to get far enough away before the curse took over.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 157","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"20 November 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/nara/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Nara","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"20 November 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/nottanis/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Nottanis","type":"tags"},{"content":" Bern # We investigated the skeleton found at the bottom of the tower where Violet, Lady Harrowmore\u0026rsquo;s daughter, had been abducted from. It was badly damaged, perhaps from a fall. A dosh of embalmer\u0026rsquo;s whiskey made it talk; it admitted to abducting Violet on the orders of Mister Rag-n-Bones. It claimed the girl had been taken to \u0026ldquo;the abbey\u0026rdquo;. I looked for tracks and found little, just a hint or two of something heading southwest. The lady suggested there were old religious buildings near a river to the southwest of her domain, which could be the abbey it referred to. We decided to travel there to look into it.\nThere were strange creatures that resembled both owls and stirges on the way there, but we managed to slip past and found an old shrine to set up camp in overnight.\n","date":"20 November 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-156/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # We investigated the skeleton found at the bottom of the tower where Violet, Lady Harrowmore’s daughter, had been abducted from. It was badly damaged, perhaps from a fall. A dosh of embalmer’s whiskey made it talk; it admitted to abducting Violet on the orders of Mister Rag-n-Bones. It claimed the girl had been taken to “the abbey”. I looked for tracks and found little, just a hint or two of something heading southwest. The lady suggested there were old religious buildings near a river to the southwest of her domain, which could be the abbey it referred to. We decided to travel there to look into it.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 156","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # I woke to Frisky pulling a massive thorn bramble out of my throat. That hurt, but everything else felt better. Our surroundings had changed completely, so I surmised I had been knocked unconscious and my companions had dragged me to safety. A very close call. I thought it over carefully and decided I was done for the moment; learning the spell would be beyond my ability for some time, and I had almost died. We would need to deal with the guardians somehow, and then I would need to return \u0026ndash; perhaps years later \u0026ndash; to learn the spell.\nSince Bern was in the area, still searching for a hag that was playing hard to get, I let him know I was leaving and introduced him to the newer Glorious Blades.\nBern # We discussed next steps. Rowen was in town and wanted to go visit the Gorthstone immediately once she realized what we had found. The rest of us wanted to give the Druune time to calm down before poking them again. But, apparently, Rowen has a magic amulet she nbeeds to touch the Gorthstone with, and then report back to Ygraine.\nSince we were in the area, we decided to return to Harrowmore a day after we petitioned for entry and see if they would let us in. This time they did. We had vague plans to explore some unknown territory after that.\nFritzy talked her way in to see Lady Harrowmorer and played her flute, which prompted a private audience. Lady Harrowmore spoke of her 6 year old daughter Violet, who either died or was abducted recently. The only clue is an unearthed skeleton found the next day. She suspects the nag lord, and would like us to investigate the matter, offering 500gp per person if we can retrrieve her daughter. We also passed on the message and invitation from Aspith Raptappin.\nSanfire met up with a young boy who claimed to be Violet\u0026rsquo;s sister, and said that there were a lot of crows around the night she disappeared. He thinks that the crows took Violet. There was also mention of cultists, who dress like goths, which could be viewed as \u0026ldquo;crow style\u0026rdquo;.\n","date":"13 November 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-155/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # I woke to Frisky pulling a massive thorn bramble out of my throat. That hurt, but everything else felt better. Our surroundings had changed completely, so I surmised I had been knocked unconscious and my companions had dragged me to safety. A very close call. I thought it over carefully and decided I was done for the moment; learning the spell would be beyond my ability for some time, and I had almost died. We would need to deal with the guardians somehow, and then I would need to return – perhaps years later – to learn the spell.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 155","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # We told Aspith about the ghost at the lake, who is known as the Phantom of the Lake. Aspith reacted strongly to the mention of the Druune, who wear tall black robes with cowled holds, smelling of mold; Aspith believes the Phantom is likely a divine figure, trapped by the Druune to guard the place. The Phantom is likely associated with a saint from the local church, Saint Waylani, in Brackenwood. Brackenwold is the capital of the area, and Mr Underhill runs an inn that Aspith recommends. We learned about the difference between craghorns (bad, diseased) and brilleaghs (good).\nWith raftbuilding supplies in hand we set out for the Gorthstone. Building the raft was easy enough, and we poled out to the central stone, which is surrounded by a low stone surface like a small island. The stone itself is covered in writing, but we would need to get closer to read it.\nThe phantom on the lake interrupted us as we closed in. I was able to ask her for information about herself that we could research, but mostly to distract her from our interest in the stone. She said she was once a high priest of the Greya sect, which gives us something to go on.\nThen a second ghostly apparition told us to stay away from the gorthstone if we value our lives. This one was just a grey mist without discernable humanoid form.\nThe stone is covered in silver writing with one line of magical script (Read Magic) and much more in old Druunic. I identified the spell as Trap the Soul (6th level arcane magic), and that I could learn the spell with about 6 hours of study. This pissed off the three Druunic priests and their three bramble minions. They cast spells at me, but I could see them coming and dodged \u0026ndash; right up until one of the spells hit and everything went black.\n","date":"6 November 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-154/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # We told Aspith about the ghost at the lake, who is known as the Phantom of the Lake. Aspith reacted strongly to the mention of the Druune, who wear tall black robes with cowled holds, smelling of mold; Aspith believes the Phantom is likely a divine figure, trapped by the Druune to guard the place. The Phantom is likely associated with a saint from the local church, Saint Waylani, in Brackenwood. Brackenwold is the capital of the area, and Mr Underhill runs an inn that Aspith recommends. We learned about the difference between craghorns (bad, diseased) and brilleaghs (good).\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 154","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # We found some langswith herbs that Nara claimed would cure the strange disease, burned the bodies, then spent the night at a camp. In the morning, Sanfire had recovered from immediate danger. He headed back to Prigswort to convalesce on his own. We discussed other possibilities. Apparantly there\u0026rsquo;s a ghostly lady in the lake at a place called Gorthstone insisting that the staff of the apostle must be restored. Gorthstone itself is a black obelisk in the middle of a circular, placid pool of water.\nWe decided to explore the possibility of building a raft to reach the obelisk, but no one had an axe. Back to Prigswort to get one.\nWhen we got there, Prigswort was under attack by a small force of craghorns, who were burning buildings in the northwest of town, mostly outside of town. We circled to the southeast and made a dark camp overnight, trying to avoid the battle. No such luck, as a craghorn snuck up on our camp overnight and knocked me out during Nara\u0026rsquo;s watch. She says it was a craghorn anyway. I just woke up with a headache and a wound in my forehead that spelled out \u0026ldquo;Carl\u0026rdquo;.\nWe headed to the outskirts of town looking for shelter, but the place seemed deserted. The largest building, Bag Manor, used to manufacture bags until that business came to an end. They had warding sigils up on their windows, but the building seemed deserted. We found refuge in a small cottage, inhabited by a man and his aging mother. We spent the night safely with Edwin and his mother; Edwin spent the time talking with Nara about the advbenturing life. In the morning, I gave him 7 gp, and told him to use it to buy a short sword and get training from the Grey Company, but specifically not to sign up as a torchbearer. There\u0026rsquo;s no future in torchbearing.\nWe stopped at a smithy for repaired gear and a hand axe to make a boat, then to Raptallen\u0026rsquo;s to report on our journey to Harrowmoore. Aspin paid modestly for the failed attempt, but seemed to enjoy hearing about our adventures, particularly my near-death experience with Carl\u0026rsquo;s club. It might be worthwhile for other members of the Grey Company to stop by and talk with her about actually being dead, and being brought back by a priest. Some of them have actually had that experience. I don\u0026rsquo;t envy them.\n","date":"23 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-153/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # We found some langswith herbs that Nara claimed would cure the strange disease, burned the bodies, then spent the night at a camp. In the morning, Sanfire had recovered from immediate danger. He headed back to Prigswort to convalesce on his own. We discussed other possibilities. Apparantly there’s a ghostly lady in the lake at a place called Gorthstone insisting that the staff of the apostle must be restored. Gorthstone itself is a black obelisk in the middle of a circular, placid pool of water.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 153","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # Sanford and I took in an exquisite dinner at Raptallen\u0026rsquo;s in company with Aspith Raptallen, the proprietor. We discussed matters of the fae with the lady Aspith, who told us of the nag-lord to the north and his goat-men threatening Prigswort. We told her about the hole in the oak with the cannibal goat-men, and our adventures near black mirror lake with Lady Ygraine. Aspith also mentioned the lady Harrowmoor, who normally trtaveled regularly to Prigswort, but had not been seen in some time. Aspith requested we take her card to Harrowmoor keep, also to the north, and make inquiries as when Harrowmoor would next return to Prigswort. She promised us a month\u0026rsquo;s lodging for us and our companions in return for this favor.\nWe undertook the journey to Harrowmoor Keep. The trip went without incident aside from the rain, but the Harrowmoor guards had no interest in letting us in or passing our inquiries and invitations along. We spent the night outside, on the shore of a lake with a strange whirlpool in the middle. In the morning, 4 goat-men were wading out of the lake. The locals call them crag-horns. They were hostile, disease ridden, and filthy, and luckily we saw them first. I magically put them to sleep, and we killed them all.\nThen things got complicated. They had no valuables, besides a severed and half-eaten human head. And their disease was contagious, a form of rabies. Most of us managed to avoid contamination by washing our hands, but Sanfire hadn\u0026rsquo;t been listening to Feverborne, and caught the infection. Nara went out looking for herbs to try to cure him, while the rest of us headed back to Harrowmoor. Perhaps the encounter with the goat-men will prove persuasive, or Fritzy can recite poetry to gain an audience.\n","date":"9 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-152/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # Sanford and I took in an exquisite dinner at Raptallen’s in company with Aspith Raptallen, the proprietor. We discussed matters of the fae with the lady Aspith, who told us of the nag-lord to the north and his goat-men threatening Prigswort. We told her about the hole in the oak with the cannibal goat-men, and our adventures near black mirror lake with Lady Ygraine. Aspith also mentioned the lady Harrowmoor, who normally trtaveled regularly to Prigswort, but had not been seen in some time. Aspith requested we take her card to Harrowmoor keep, also to the north, and make inquiries as when Harrowmoor would next return to Prigswort. She promised us a month’s lodging for us and our companions in return for this favor.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 152","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # I was wandering the Dolmenwood trying to get as far away from vengeful vampires as I could when two new members of the Glorious Blades asked for my help dealing with a carrion worm. Nara was a barbarian of some kind, and she had a friend with healing magic that could cure paralysis. The halfling Sanford was also along. They had been hired by an alchemist to collect the worm tentacles as ingredients. Those things are dangerous, but I had seen one before, so I might be able to offer useful information. And money to fund my magic studies (and lifestyle) never hurts. We left Prigswort and Nara found a nest of worms.\nUnfortunately the nest had several worms, not just one. We discussed our plans and decided to return later, after hunting up a corpse for bait. I would use my ring of plant control to keep the worm wrapped up in plants, the rest would shoot it from a distance, retreating in separate directions if it charged.\nOf course that plan went to shit.\nSanford shot at the thing from 10\u0026rsquo; away and promptly got paralyzed, Nara charged into melee to save him and got paralyzed next. I stopped trying to confine it with the ring and took a shot but missed; it grabbed me with those horrid tentacles next. Despite all my focus on my elven blood being immune to paralysis, it didn\u0026rsquo;t help much. Fritzy was having better luck hitting it, but she ran to Sanford and cast some sort of magic to free him while the worm ate me. Literally, it was chowing down, and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t move. Disgusting. The two of them eventually got their act together and finished off the worm, just barely in time.\nWe headed back to Prigswort with the tentacles, and I spent my share of the coin on a nice bath and a lovely room at a separate inn.\n","date":"3 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-151/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # I was wandering the Dolmenwood trying to get as far away from vengeful vampires as I could when two new members of the Glorious Blades asked for my help dealing with a carrion worm. Nara was a barbarian of some kind, and she had a friend with healing magic that could cure paralysis. The halfling Sanford was also along. They had been hired by an alchemist to collect the worm tentacles as ingredients. Those things are dangerous, but I had seen one before, so I might be able to offer useful information. And money to fund my magic studies (and lifestyle) never hurts. We left Prigswort and Nara found a nest of worms.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 151","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"28 August 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/abraxus/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Abraxus","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"28 August 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/oscar/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Oscar","type":"tags"},{"content":" Oscar # As we waited for a passing person to bring the canoe, Ygnas convinced one of the supplicants to devotre his life to St Anya instead of giving up everything to become a candle. He went off to devote his life to St Anya. The rest of us split up what proceeds we had gathered and returned to our own affairs for some time. The tower of abraxus would have to wait.\nI returned to Westkeep, trading in grain futures and making a small fortune. Feverborne continued his herbal regimen, looking noticeably healthier. Rumors in Threshold of a new mercenary group, \u0026ldquo;The Cult of Cal\u0026rdquo;, began to circulate. Disappearances began to spread, and by winter, even the nobility in Threshold were losing people.\n","date":"28 August 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-147/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # As we waited for a passing person to bring the canoe, Ygnas convinced one of the supplicants to devotre his life to St Anya instead of giving up everything to become a candle. He went off to devote his life to St Anya. The rest of us split up what proceeds we had gathered and returned to our own affairs for some time. The tower of abraxus would have to wait.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 147","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"28 August 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ygnas/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ygnas","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-146.webp\nOscar # We explored the rest of the small series of rooms that seemed to hold discarded equipment. The four pouches held 400gp, which we did not yet divide up among us. One room had barding for a horse, and another 4 sets of plate mail, along with an assortment of weapons. There\u0026rsquo;s value in those rooms, if we can get it out safely. The most interestikng room was the last, which had visible (and audible) ghosts along with a bricked-up doorway north.\nThe other item of interest was the locked box, which we took out of the room to examine elsewhere. The lock itself is a puzzle; three choices of rune, with bad consequences if the wrong runes are chosen. My examination also revealed a kind of hollow sounding space on the bottom of the box, which I took to mean a false bottom beneath which even more treasure could be concealed. Before we could try to open it properly, a strange ghost demanded we return the box with increasingly dangerous threats. After trying and failing to invoke Denara\u0026rsquo;s power to turn the undead away, we returned the box. With Minerva and her wolves nearby, and Ygnas still under some kind of mind control, provoking a fight was something we were not ready for.\nMinerva herself was spending time tending flowers in the chapel. For some reason, she seemed more human and less ethereal when within.\nI took the time to investigate the doors to the east. Both had staircases leading down. The southeast room was filled with skeletonlike creatures engaged in butchery of some kind of animal; clearly the operation was in violation of dozens of health codes and I would bring it to the attention of the appropriate authorities promptly. The northeast room had a single occupant, also skeletal, who seemed to be involved in paperwork of some kind. He did not appreciate the interruption, so we left him to it.\nFritzy tried to sing the wolves into obedience, and seemed to be making progress with one, but the others moved to attack her. Minerva restrained them, but had clearly reached the end of her patience. She was very reluctant to allow Oscar to explore within the rooms after the ghost retrieved the lockbox. Fritzy was allowed to examine the chapel, with Ygnas in tow, but reluctantly.\nYgnas and Fritzy spent a lot of time in the chapel, after which they both came out in a hurry. Ygnas looked to be back to her normal self, thankfully, and we ran out of the tower, pausing only to wake up Warnock. The canoe, and the guard we had left there, were long gone. We\u0026rsquo;ll figure out what to do next once we\u0026rsquo;ve had a chance to think it over, but Fritzy and Ygnas did give a quick summary of their experience in the chapel.\nFirst, Ygnas spent time praying at the altar of St Anya, the Yggian patron saint of lost causes, in the chapel. She was granted a vision, and when asked about it, recited this:\nA room of swirling black sand going down down down to a room of huge jaws of bone. A huge blue gem containing a screaming woman. Weapons bathed in moonlight upon the altar. A glowing silver disk held against a door. A large X shining on a red brick wall.\nI interpret these as such: The huge blue gem likely contains Minerva\u0026rsquo;s soul, trapped. Finding the gem may enable us to free her. Currently, I would assume the gem is in the lockbox, or if not, deeper into the tower. The weapons bathed in moonlight suggests doing so may be helpful, likely against the werewolves. The glowing silver disk \u0026ndash; likely one we found upon the altar \u0026ndash; may be either a key to unl;ock a door, or protection from a threat (ie, keeping the door closed). Ygnas, when she came back to lucidity, said she believes the X on a red brick wall means we should break down the walled up door in the ghost room. I\u0026rsquo;m not so sure abouting breaking it down; the red X could mean avoiding that wall as well. Either way, the bricked-up doorway in the ghost room seems like the best match for that phrase we know of.\nFritzy left her short sword on the altar briefly, and it seemed to glow, but the glow did not last after she retrieved the weapon. She left a handaxe there, without retrieving it, in case a longer amount of time on the altar is needed. And it may come in handy if anyone is stuck there without equipment.\nYgnas continued to pray, so Fritzy explored the various flowers around the room. A type of flower with large, spikey pollen balls appeared to be poisonous, and the pink bell-shaped flowers were what woke Ygnas back up.\nAnd now, we wait on the beach, figuring out what to do next.\nYgnas # There was more storage rooms, a room with horse stuff, and a room with a bricked up doorway and lots of ghosts. The waning moon doors across the pool room went to an abattoir with a skeleton butcher, and an empty room. They both had stairs down. I bet downstairs is worse. Oscar tried to open a box he found in the storage room, but a ghost appeared. He tried to turn the ghost, but the skeleton appeared and swatted it away. The ghost just laughed. I tried too, since I was up, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t work for me either. The ghost made Oscar give the box back, saying it belonged to its master, Vincent.\nFritzy managed to talk Minerva into letting her go into the chapel with me. Minerva said I looked ready, even though most don\u0026rsquo;t get to go in the chapel until a week of meditating, so she let us in, after instructing me to strip. I happily got rid of everything but my underwear and my frog lighter. I felt normal once I walked into the chapel. Where normal means I started panicking because I\u0026rsquo;d just voluntarily taken off my holy symbol. I doubt Zuul cares that I was under the influence of magic. I knew if I walked back out, I\u0026rsquo;d be back under that influence, but there weren\u0026rsquo;t any doors. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have anything to break out a window. I explored, but didn\u0026rsquo;t find any secret doors. I poked at the altar, and rearranged the moon phase discs on it, but nothing happened except that I scratched my frog lighter. More panic, but I breathed a sigh of relief when it still worked.\nI prayed at the altar out of desperation, and received a vision. I saw a room with black sand swirling down a hole in a corner into a room of giant bone jaws. I saw a screaming woman that looked like Minerva trapped inside a huge blue gemstone. I saw weapons bathed in moonlight on the altar. I saw a glowing full moon disc held against a doorway. Finally, I saw the bricked up doorway with an X shining on it. Unfortunately, praying at the altar broke my frog lighter. It sputtered and died. My heart died with it. I told Fritzy everything I saw, so someone would remember. She tried putting her weapons on the altar, and they did glow silver, but looked normal again when she picked them up.\nWe walked out, and nothing else mattered but I had to go back to my niche and complete my meditations. Then Fritzy shoved some pink flowers in my face. The smell banished the spell, and I bolted for the doors out. This time, I could get to the doors and leave. I\u0026rsquo;d have won the bet, the henchman and our boat were nowhere to be seen. He better be dead, or I\u0026rsquo;ll burn him alive like I threatened I would if he bailed on us after taking our money and entering Oscar\u0026rsquo;s excessively long contract. The others followed me out, and I put my holy symbol back on and prayed for mercy while getting dressed. While the rest discussed what to do next, I sat on the stairs, looking at my broken frog lighter in my cupped hands, and sobbed. The fire is gone. The beautiful light is gone.\n","date":"7 August 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-146/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-146.webp\nOscar # We explored the rest of the small series of rooms that seemed to hold discarded equipment. The four pouches held 400gp, which we did not yet divide up among us. One room had barding for a horse, and another 4 sets of plate mail, along with an assortment of weapons. There’s value in those rooms, if we can get it out safely. The most interestikng room was the last, which had visible (and audible) ghosts along with a bricked-up doorway north.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 146","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-145.webp\nOscar # Ygnas is still stuck in her niche, now minus her shield and one boot. We dragged her away to try a few things with little luck. We found Warnock in a niche in the north east niche room.\nI was able to cast Protection from Evil, which made the sand keep its distance from me. Bless failed, somehow intercepted by the power that rules this place. However, while Ygnas can technically cast spells, they tend to fail rapidly. Relying on her spells to hold Minerva and the werewolves seems unwise.\nMinerva, meanwhile, demonstrated some ability to issue magical commands, which she usderd to make Fritz let Ygnas go. Temporarily, but still concerning. She claimed to be able to stop fights by singing, and confirmed thast the werewolves three are (or were) her brothers, under a curse by Vincent. Vincent is the master of the tower, who claims to have loved her in many reincarnations. Clearly he is also the master of cheesy pickup lines.\nWe investigated the rest of the rooms in the initial corridor, all the same in layout, but some had workers fishing for bodies and one had some kind of semi-human candlestick creature helping to collect the bodies.\nTo the north, while talking to Minerva, we got a peek into the \u0026ldquo;chapel\u0026rdquo;. Apparently dedicated to the Yggian patron saint of lost causes, named Anya, it was filled with flowers and plants that Minerva tended with loving care. The chapel lies to the southwest of the pool room, behind a door made of platinum and onyx, which appeared quite valuable (albeit difficult to extract). The other four doors were made of similar materials. We can try to bring a removal crew back to them when it\u0026rsquo;s safe.\nWith Minverva distracted by her gardening, we ransacked the northwest room. This one was much smaller, where new visitors left their old clothes and belongings. We claimed 4 pouches from a table, along with a stack of papers and a marked map of Threshold. We could examine them later, as being caught in the act seemed unwise. The room itself had racks of clothing (which we did not have time to search immediately) and an exit to the west.\nYgnas # I tried to go back to my niche and meditate, but every time I did, they came back and pulled me away. Eventually they tied a rope to me so I couldn\u0026rsquo;t go back. We tried to leave, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t get to the doors. Halfway down the hallway, it felt like being stuck. No matter how much I tried to walk, the door was further away. Oscar tried to cast spells, but they fizzled and some skeleton appeared to swat the spells out of the air. Same when I tried. We explored the rooms in the hallway, which we knew from before were all the same niches with a pit of dead bodies in the middle. We saw some skeletons fishing things out of one pit with poles, supervised by a man shaped candle. There\u0026rsquo;s a reason we ran out of here last time. Minerva made them let me go, but they grabbed me before I got settled in my niche again. When Minerva went into what she called a chapel, we snuck by to explore other doors in the pool room. Some storage room, I think. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t paying attention. I was trying to meditate on my feet, since they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t let me go be comfortable in my niche. I did manage to chuck my shield down the pit before they stopped me. One of my unneeded possessions gone.\n","date":"1 August 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-145/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-145.webp\nOscar # Ygnas is still stuck in her niche, now minus her shield and one boot. We dragged her away to try a few things with little luck. We found Warnock in a niche in the north east niche room.\nI was able to cast Protection from Evil, which made the sand keep its distance from me. Bless failed, somehow intercepted by the power that rules this place. However, while Ygnas can technically cast spells, they tend to fail rapidly. Relying on her spells to hold Minerva and the werewolves seems unwise.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 145","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-144.webp\nOscar # The St Yggians held their Feast of the Virgins, a festival centered around finding the most pure and unsullied young womewn and putting them on display in a kind of beauty pageant. It seems like a contradictory idea to me, but I have minions who man the concession stands, so I\u0026rsquo;m all for it\u0026hellip; but this time, the pageant winner was abducted by a vampire. At least, that\u0026rsquo;s what Nottanis told me when he decided vampires were above his pay grade and called me in.\nI invoked Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessing on my holy shopping list:\nMallet and stakes Garlic and wolvesbane A mirror Torches, oil, rations, holy symbols for the hirelings We asked around for more men at arms and got several:\nHyrion - Elf Norman - Torch Bearer Wermox - Man At Arms Bulus - Man At Arms Colgash - Torchbearer (edited) We retrieved our canoe from long term storage and set forth without the three brothers who were supposed to accompany us. They never showed. Curious.\nAt the tower, a set of large double doors faced outwards, surrounded by strange figure murmuring about something \u0026ldquo;taking their shame away\u0026rdquo;. Some made wrapped offerings and were allowed inside. Ygnas mimicked their words and actions, which opened the doors for her, and the rest of us followed in her footsteps.\nInside, we found a long, wide hallway running north to south with smaller rooms off to either side. Niches in the walls held skulls, and many also held candles. The men-at-arms were visibly nervous. Ygnas wanted to try lighting one of the candles to see what would happen, and she got what she wanted: the candle seemed to place her in a daze as she walked steadily forwards further into the room, without saying a word and ignoring our inquiries.\nThe room at the far end was a surprise, mostly because it held Minerva herself, looking quite serene and very much not a captive, plus three werewolves. The werewolves seemed quite furious but somehow restrained from attacking us. The room also contained a large pool which appeared to reflect moonlight \u0026ndash; an odd fact considering we left at dawn. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to say for sure, but I don\u0026rsquo;t believe in coincidences; three brothers and Minerva, three werewolves and Minerva.\nYgnis walked forward and sipped from the moonlit pool, then put on a white robe Minerva handed her. She still seemed quite out of it, but no one was ready to step in and start a fight with the werewolves. Ygnis backed out of the room and went into one of the side chambers. We followed, cautiously bnut unwilling to leave her unsupervised.\nThe side chamber had a central pit with a disgusting smell. Ygnas ignored it, preferring to climb into one of the four niches in the corners of the room. The others were already occupied by humanoid forms wrapped in white robes similar to the one Ygnas was now wearing. Two of them were dead, but the third was alive, albeit uncaring for anything beyond sitting in his niche. He gave us two 100gp gemstones without much prompting. There was some sort of rune in the air above his head while he was curled up in his niche, and one had appeared for Ygnas, too.\nAround this time we noticed our guards and torchbearers were getting nervous and trying to slip away unnoticed. I offered to double their wages, and they agreed to stay \u0026ndash; at least for now. The conversation gave us the chance to peak into a difference room, where two strange humanoids were fishing in the central pit of that room, drawing up bodies, and forming what appeared to be undead servants from their skulls and the ubiquitous black sand.\nOur plan from here is simple. First, we try putting out the candle that YUgnas lit, in the hopes that will free her from the enchantment. If it does, we put out the rest. If not, we get Ygnas to try Hold Person on Minerva and the Werewolves Three, then drag Minerva out \u0026ndash; fighting the werewolves if necessary, and I expect it will be. We have wolvesbane and silver weapons among us, so such a fight will not be hopeless. Then we take Minerva and Ygnas out of the tower and see if they can be cured of their strange compulsions. The goal, after all, is to rescue Minerva; slaying the creature that abducted her is a bonus. It\u0026rsquo;s probably too late for the werewolves.\nYgnas # Following what was apparently a way more exciting festival of virgins than usual, Selaena bolted for the woods and I joined the party to help rescue the winning virgin from what appeared to be a vampire with magic. How did the entire city miss this guy living in the scary black tower floating above the creepy lake? And do nothing? So now it\u0026rsquo;s our job. One of the henchmen we hired saw people confessing their sins at the door, ok one was holding a dead body, and said he\u0026rsquo;d guard the boat. He\u0026rsquo;s bailing with the boat as soon as we\u0026rsquo;re gone. Should try to get Oscar to bet on it.\nSince I knew I would beat out anyone in our squeaky clean group on greatest shame, I went to the door and offered up mine. I\u0026rsquo;m a murderer. Twice over, but only the first one was intentional. Zuul told me through the fire to burn the tower down, so I did. With that cruel old bastard Sage still inside. The door approved, and opened to let us in. Since I got yelled at in Winter\u0026rsquo;s Daughter barrow for lighting stray candles, I asked if I could light the candles sitting in skulls along the hallway. Everyone said yes. It\u0026rsquo;s not my fault this time. Everything got weird once I lit a white candle. I had an uncontrollable urge to drink from a moon pool. Didn\u0026rsquo;t even know there was a moon pool in there, we never got that far last time we came in. There was a lovely glowing pool in the big room at the end of the hallway, with the virgin and her three brothers, now werewolves in it. The water in the pool was so clean and pure. I felt clean and pure when I drank it, relieved of the burden of my shame. The lady gave me a white robe to wear.\nAfter that, all I wanted to do was curl up in one of the niches in one of the side rooms off the hallway and contemplate how free I was of my sins. On being pure and clean and unburdened by anything. I didn\u0026rsquo;t need anything. None of my possessions, except my frog lighter, they didn\u0026rsquo;t mean anything and I didn\u0026rsquo;t need them. It was really important that I meditate. I don\u0026rsquo;t know why, but it was. The group kept bothering me and pulling me away to do things. Couldn\u0026rsquo;t they see I was busy doing something important?\n","date":"24 July 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-144/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-144.webp\nOscar # The St Yggians held their Feast of the Virgins, a festival centered around finding the most pure and unsullied young womewn and putting them on display in a kind of beauty pageant. It seems like a contradictory idea to me, but I have minions who man the concession stands, so I’m all for it… but this time, the pageant winner was abducted by a vampire. At least, that’s what Nottanis told me when he decided vampires were above his pay grade and called me in.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 144","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # When Pusha came running out of the southern corridor yelling about a cleric with a corpse crawler for a pet, we decided the better part of valor was to retreat and possibly come back later. Those crawlers are no joke; we heard about them from Feverborne when he was going after the sewer rats. And getting caught between the cleric and the trogolodytes likely already on their way would have been very difficult to escape.\nBack on the surface, we spent the night at the Druid and Whale. Nifty had made us all crowns for the festival of virgins, some sort of local beauty pageant. Not my cup of tea, but u-Heury seemed into it, so we planned to attend. I think the winner was named Minerva, but I really wasn\u0026rsquo;t paying attention.\nAfter the ceremony naming the winner completed, a dark form swooped down from above and took the winner captive. I thought it was all part of the silly human show at first, but Pusha hit the creature with a sling stone to no effect. The screaming and shouting from the audience suggested it was real after all. u-Heury charged the stage, but before he got there, the figure turned into a bat and flew off with the pageant winner. (It must be a very large bat?) The bat flew off towards the tower of black sand, also called Abraxus.\nPusha, u-Heury, and the rest agreed to escort a group of other adventurers to (and into) the tower. They plan to leave at dawn, after picking up vampire hunting tools. I don\u0026rsquo;t plan to go along. Are they nuts? That\u0026rsquo;s a vampire.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll stop by the local Denara temple and ask Oscar if he\u0026rsquo;s willing to go.\n","date":"17 July 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-143/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # When Pusha came running out of the southern corridor yelling about a cleric with a corpse crawler for a pet, we decided the better part of valor was to retreat and possibly come back later. Those crawlers are no joke; we heard about them from Feverborne when he was going after the sewer rats. And getting caught between the cleric and the trogolodytes likely already on their way would have been very difficult to escape.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 143","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"17 July 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/pusha/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Pusha","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"26 June 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/dolemwood/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Dolemwood","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-142.webp\nNottanis # The next room to the northeast had two strange vases, filled with earth and decayed flowers of some kind. u-Heury collected some in case they came in handy, and we found small bones that had been broken as if to suck out the marrtow, but a search turned up nothing else of interest in the room at first.\nWe had posted guards near the eastern entrance, and that turned out to be a good decision. They heard quite a lot of squeaking, enough to give us warning of an incoming rat swarm. With the door providing a natural funnel for the swarm, I thought quickly and poured oil there, and had one of our torchbearers set it alight. The rats diverted away from the fire, and we finished our search.\nWe found fresh trogolodyte tracks. They had been here, recently, perhaps even preparing an ambush. The rats might even have been part of it, or perhaps their presence or the fire I set scared off the troglodytes temporarily. We got lucky. Nevertheless, we were there in force, so we continued on, checking out nose plugs.\nThe next room had two statues in some form of ancient robes, one male and one female, along with a set of stairs upwards that had been crudely bricked off. Two doors led south, with a blood trail leading to the nearest. A pile of rat detritus was the final point of interest; we left it alone but probably should search it later. Just in case. We wanted to check the doors to the south first.\nBoth doors in that direction led to the same room. The layout was similar, two more exits to the south, but only one door. A door to the west, which our map strongly suggested would lead to a different corridor we had already explored. Three stone constructions were evenly spaced through the center of the room, looking vaguely like bathing pools that had run dry, and murals on the walls suggested something similar. The center pool had illustrations of people pouring water in; I donated the contents of a waterskin to the pool, and noticed a bright flash or arcane magic when water filled the container. Hmm. This bore more investigation.\nThe druid, Pusha, declared the contents to be pure water, which it probably was before the flash. I climbed in to taste a sip; nothing special. u-Heury tossed in flower petals from one of the vases, again nothing. We set guards on the doors and prepared to search the room. I had climbed into the central pool to taste the water, and after that magical flash, definitely wanted to thoroughly search it. Between that and Morin\u0026rsquo;s relentless tapping on everything,\nUnfortunately the troglodytes interrupted us. I heard their strange guttural voices speaking harshly to the hirelings we had placed on the northeast door, and quickly ducked down into the pool I was searching. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t a great hiding place, but it was enough to surprise them if they didn\u0026rsquo;t come close first. Oddly enough the troglodytes weren\u0026rsquo;t attacking right away and the hirelings were asking for instructions. Gestures were exchanged, but no one spoke troglodyte and they didn\u0026rsquo;t even speak common. Given that the fish-men were prone to ambushes and very good at hiding, there might well be more than the one I had seen talking to our hirelings. In fact, if they were talking to us instead of staying hidden, they almost certainly had more than just one, and the previous room had three sets of tracks.\nI stood up suddenly, surprising everyone, and cast Sleep on the one I could see. The trogolodyte fell over, and so did the one behind him, becoming visible as it did so, \u0026hellip; and so did four of the hirelings. Well, Sleep is nonlethal at least. I rushed towards the two troglodytes that had fallen asleep, planning to cut their throats before any others in the area could act. u-Heury thought quickly and did the same, and two fish-men bled out their stench on the floor. I directed the hirelings to start waking up those who had fallen asleep, anticipating more nearby.\nI was right, there were two more coming in the other northern entrance, striking two of the hired hands from behind. They picked on the ginger, Merwyn, and Garmar. Garmar fell, but Merwyn laughed in the face of the fish-man. We had another surprise for the scaly monsters in store \u0026ndash; Morin and Nifty came out of hiding behind the two new arrivals, knives out. Unfortunately they both missed. So did Lucky, Garmar\u0026rsquo;s dog.\nMerwyn did better when she struck back, dealing the creature a serious wound. u-Heury rushed back across the room and struck a telling blow on the other.\nThey both fled to the north, leaving a trail of blood, and we lost sight of them. We regrouped in the pool room to finish searching the central pool. Both Morin and I had noticed some sort of hollow space under the pool floor, and just needed time to figure out how to open it. Meanwhile, Pusha was talking to Lucky the dog, helping it get over the Garmar\u0026rsquo;s death and encouraging it to smell the surroundings for more troglodytes. The dog\u0026rsquo;s nose reported more fish smells to the north, but from the south, \u0026ldquo;dusty parchment\u0026rdquo;. That was intriguing. Pusha headed south, finding a short corridor that led to a small open room filled with books.\nA proper library. That got my attention, and we spread the group out, leaving Morin to figure out the pool\u0026rsquo;s secret door while Nifty, and the rest of us moved south. Even if the troglodytes returned before we could do a proper search, we could grab the books in bulk and sort through them later.\nUnfortunately, before we got there Pusha opened another door, and there was someone behind it.\n","date":"26 June 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-142/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-142.webp\nNottanis # The next room to the northeast had two strange vases, filled with earth and decayed flowers of some kind. u-Heury collected some in case they came in handy, and we found small bones that had been broken as if to suck out the marrtow, but a search turned up nothing else of interest in the room at first.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 142","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"26 June 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/punchman/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Punchman","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-141.webp\nNottanis # Pusha made crowns for the St Yggian feast of virgins, and then took us to a curiousity shop. We were discussing various job opportunities, and not really coming up with anything local. Without u-Heury to keep the troglodytes\u0026rsquo; attention, we weren\u0026rsquo;t confident of defeating them in a straight up fight, so we brainstormed tactics and evaluated alternatives. Eventually we settled on a strategy for the troglodytes: a chest of rotting fish left as bait, laced with pest-control poison from Nifty\u0026rsquo;s contacts, followed up with my spell of magical slumber from ambush as they suffered the consequences of the poison, Nifty and Morin to assassinate and backstab simultaneously, and as many hirelings as we can bring to back us up in the fight with the remaining fish-men. I guessed that the enchantment would likely be sufficient to remove either the chieftain or his two bodyguards from the fight, but not all three at once. We would need to be prepared to mop up whoever was left.\nI picked up some torches, a bullseye lantern (thanks Feverborne for the tip) and oil, and put out a call for men-at-arms to meet us at the Druid and Whale in the morning. We got quite an impressive group; two torchbearers, an elf with a bow, a man at arms with a war dog and a woman who looked as tough as the men. With this large a group, we would have a chance of surviving a direct confrontation with the troglodytes, though likely with some loss of life. I suppose that\u0026rsquo;s what we all signed up for. If our plan works, any troglodytes that survive poison and spell should fall to sword and arrow in short order.\nWe determined to explore further north first before provoking the fish-men, since Nifty\u0026rsquo;s contacts would require some time to provide the poison.\nI did notice Morin and Nifty eying Merwyn speculatively, almost greedily. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure what\u0026rsquo;s going on there, but the two of them are rarely up to anything strictly good. They\u0026rsquo;re looking at her the way I look at a nice, leafy salad.\n","date":"19 June 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-141/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-141.webp\nNottanis # Pusha made crowns for the St Yggian feast of virgins, and then took us to a curiousity shop. We were discussing various job opportunities, and not really coming up with anything local. Without u-Heury to keep the troglodytes’ attention, we weren’t confident of defeating them in a straight up fight, so we brainstormed tactics and evaluated alternatives. Eventually we settled on a strategy for the troglodytes: a chest of rotting fish left as bait, laced with pest-control poison from Nifty’s contacts, followed up with my spell of magical slumber from ambush as they suffered the consequences of the poison, Nifty and Morin to assassinate and backstab simultaneously, and as many hirelings as we can bring to back us up in the fight with the remaining fish-men. I guessed that the enchantment would likely be sufficient to remove either the chieftain or his two bodyguards from the fight, but not all three at once. We would need to be prepared to mop up whoever was left.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 141","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis is a very average half-elf, with his only notable traits being a slightly better archer than most, and slightly less robust. He\u0026rsquo;s interested in magic and matters arcane without showing particular skill for them, beyond his elven heritage of dabbling.\n","date":"12 June 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/nottanis/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" Nottanis is a very average half-elf, with his only notable traits being a slightly better archer than most, and slightly less robust. He’s interested in magic and matters arcane without showing particular skill for them, beyond his elven heritage of dabbling.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Nottanis","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # Feverborne called me in to help with selling three books in elvish the group had recovered some time ago and wanted to read before deciding whether or not to sell. I read a chapter from each, and decided two of them were worth reading more thoroughly. Worlds Beyond described alternative planes and dimensions, and Libraries of the Ancients was all about libraries and why elven libraries were better than all the others. Since some of the Glorious Blades have repoorted strange things happening in libraries, there might be some useful information. The third, Sense of the Beyond, was a fictional account of a romance with a ghost. That one we sold. I\u0026rsquo;ll read the other two over the next few days.\nNone of us felt enthusiastic about following up on the missing person case in the sewers. If the creatures were able to take down Feverborne with several friends, we would have a much smaller chance. Our one advantage would be magic; my new Sleep spell could very well take out the whole group of trogolodytes at once. But, if that didn\u0026rsquo;t work, we\u0026rsquo;d be dead. Any such mission would need more support than Morin and Pusha.\nWe did overhear the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild disussing another missing person, and Morin made inquiries. He turned out to be missing due to gambling debts, and his brother claimed he was a fan of the fighting pits. Morin was able to get answers there: the missing person was being held for a week. We conveyed that to the brother, who wasn\u0026rsquo;t pleased, but Morin wasn\u0026rsquo;t willing to go up against her guild to get the prisoner out when he would be released in a week anyway.\nMeanwhile, I was content to read one of the books. Worlds Beyond talked about how people in different dimensions might be nearly identical to someone in this dimension, but make different decisions at a crucial point, and it claimed those decisions and dimensions could somehow circle back to influence our own. It sounded like nonsense at first, but on further thought, there might be something to the idea.\nPusha busied herself recruiting a pigeon and raccoon as friends.\nMorin kept muttering something about an arm, a leg, and a female kidney. I don\u0026rsquo;t know what that\u0026rsquo;s about and I don\u0026rsquo;t want to.\n","date":"12 June 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-140/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # Feverborne called me in to help with selling three books in elvish the group had recovered some time ago and wanted to read before deciding whether or not to sell. I read a chapter from each, and decided two of them were worth reading more thoroughly. Worlds Beyond described alternative planes and dimensions, and Libraries of the Ancients was all about libraries and why elven libraries were better than all the others. Since some of the Glorious Blades have repoorted strange things happening in libraries, there might be some useful information. The third, Sense of the Beyond, was a fictional account of a romance with a ghost. That one we sold. I’ll read the other two over the next few days.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 140","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"5 June 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/feverborne/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Feverborne","type":"tags"},{"content":" Feverborne # There were three trogolodytes, one for me, one for Punchman, and one for Pusha. Verminbane sliced mine in half deftly; I took only a small scratch in return. The others did not fare as well, both falling to their opponents quickly. Morin, however, struck from the shadows and killed one. The remaining creature fled down the ladder into what I assumed was their hideous larder of rotting flesh. Trusting Morin to hold the lantern and watch over our friends, I followed the creature down the ladder, hoping to slay it before it could find reinforcements. My luck was no longer with me, however, and the thing escaped. A quick glance around showed a circular chamber filled with carrion, larger than expected. I swiftly ascended the ladder to help revive my friends, and by the time I finished \u0026ndash; healing Pusha through Clocea\u0026rsquo;s grace \u0026ndash; there were more trogolodytes climbing up out of the pit.\nWe lined up in the corridor to the north, hoping that I could hold the line with missile support from the others. We killed the first one that followed us, thanks mostly to Punchman\u0026rsquo;s dagger work, but then our luck ran out. I took more wounds in the process, and they were adding up. I called for us to retreat and open the secret door. The next one in line dealt heavy wounds, and none of my blows connected at all. He seemed to be some kind of elite warrior, as was the one behind him. Behind both of them was an even larger one, in some sort of armor and a headdress. A shaman or chieftain, perhaps. We retreated again, going through the secret door, and they followed. Before I could strike, claws and teeth tore my flesh, and I lost consciousness.\nThe others dragged me out, including a dip into the sewage, unfortunately. They managed to close the door, blocking the trogolodytes, and escape to the surface. Luckily Morin thought to grab my sword at the same time. Lucky for her as well, since she was vomiting up green mess. I invoked the power of Cloacea once more, channeled through Verminbane, and cleansed the disease from her. We made our way to an inn with a bathhouse to get cleaned up.\nThat led to some awkwardness. The innkeeper mentioned something about wanting to build a fence when I tipped him for his trouble with the filth. In gratitude fror his help and hoping to improve the cleanliness of our less well moneyed members, I offered to help keep the inn free of vermin using Cloacea\u0026rsquo;s powers to repel such creatures when our group was stayingt there, in return for a discount for my friends who would otherwise be unable to afford an inn with a bath. He seemed receptive, but I will need to practice my skills before I can invoke them properly. That might take a while longer.\nI mentioned the strange discussion to Morin later, and she said something about a guild. Now I\u0026rsquo;m really confused. Is this innkeeper a guild fence? What does that even mean?\nWe did manage to sell the old wine we recovered for 250gp, and made inquiries about three books in Elvish. They seemed to be worth about 50gp each, but Pusha managed to offend the buyer, so we\u0026rsquo;ll need to find another. Preferably not the library of Dogma.\n","date":"5 June 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-139/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # There were three trogolodytes, one for me, one for Punchman, and one for Pusha. Verminbane sliced mine in half deftly; I took only a small scratch in return. The others did not fare as well, both falling to their opponents quickly. Morin, however, struck from the shadows and killed one. The remaining creature fled down the ladder into what I assumed was their hideous larder of rotting flesh. Trusting Morin to hold the lantern and watch over our friends, I followed the creature down the ladder, hoping to slay it before it could find reinforcements. My luck was no longer with me, however, and the thing escaped. A quick glance around showed a circular chamber filled with carrion, larger than expected. I swiftly ascended the ladder to help revive my friends, and by the time I finished – healing Pusha through Clocea’s grace – there were more trogolodytes climbing up out of the pit.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 139","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # We spoke with Bryce and Tristan, getting directions to the place their friend went missing. I took the opportunity to buy a bullseye lantern and oil, hoping that the longer range would help our explorations, and the ability to close the lantern to shut off the light would help us avoid notice.\nWe descended into the sewers, following the directions given to us by the guild of sewermen. A slippery path downwards led to a long passageway north. A semicircular pool area preceded a porticullis blocking the way, but a lever set into the wall released a wave of water and lifted the porticullis. Shortly after that we were attacked by giant rats from the south. Somehow, they had gotten behind us. Verminbane made short work of the first, cleaving the rat in half in a single blow. Death to vermin!\nMorin killed the other before it could flee. I searched the bodies for treasure or clues to the fate or the missing man, but found nothing.\nWe continued north past the porticullis, finding a rubble-strewn passageway leading to a strange chamber supported by six pillars, each carved with scenes of the ocean. Strange for a city that has been landlocked for its whole history. Furthermore, bloody drag marks led from west to east through a passageway. We investigated a door in the south wall first, findingt another long passageway parallel to the entrance. A door in the east wall led to an ancient wine cellar. Most of the contents were ruined, but we did find a bottle of ancient wine, perfectly (and probably magically) preserved. Further south, a crossroads, and more drag marks. Our map suggested a secret door to the east, which we spent quite a lot of time looking for and eventually found. It led back to the semicircular pool next to the lever.\nTo the east from the crossroads the drag marks led down a short staircase into an octaganal room. A scaly creature was buried under a rubble pile; for exits, another passageway led north and a door to the east. We uncovered the corpse and found no treasure, but the form was familiar: trogolodyte. I fingered the faint magical ring that protected me from their stench, and advised the rest of the group to find a way to protect themselves. We managed to make crude noseplugs from corks in the wine cellar, and Pusha offered up scarves to use as face masks. Perhaps those would be enough.\nThe stench was strongest to the south, so we went in that direction. A small, oddly shaped room had a broken area that descended further down, perhaps another feeding pit as the drag marks led up to the edge. A ladder was leaning against the wall nearby. There were also four sleeping pads, hopefully meaning no more than four trogolodytes, and a passage leading briefly west then north. We turned the beam of the lantern north in that passageway, and it revealed thick spiderwebs filling the corridor about 50 feet away. Perhaps we can burn the webs out before we check further down that passageway; there can\u0026rsquo;t be too much there, as the layout suggests there just isn\u0026rsquo;t space for more than one small room.\nThat was when the trogolodytes came out of hiding and attacked.\n","date":"29 May 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-138/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # We spoke with Bryce and Tristan, getting directions to the place their friend went missing. I took the opportunity to buy a bullseye lantern and oil, hoping that the longer range would help our explorations, and the ability to close the lantern to shut off the light would help us avoid notice.\nWe descended into the sewers, following the directions given to us by the guild of sewermen. A slippery path downwards led to a long passageway north. A semicircular pool area preceded a porticullis blocking the way, but a lever set into the wall released a wave of water and lifted the porticullis. Shortly after that we were attacked by giant rats from the south. Somehow, they had gotten behind us. Verminbane made short work of the first, cleaving the rat in half in a single blow. Death to vermin!\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 138","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # The amulet and potion turned out to be magical under Pish\u0026rsquo;s examination, the rest did not. We estimated the value of the dagger at 1500gp, but determined that no one is Eastdale would want to buy such a thing after Retep the antiquities dealer lowballed us. We determined that the best chance to get full value was to travel to a larger city, either Threshold or Prigswort, and determined to go to Threshold as I had other business there. We took a caravan to Threshold and managed to sell the dagger for 2000gp, with Nifty claiming the magical amulet for \u0026ldquo;testing\u0026rdquo;.\nThe next morning we went about other business. u-Heury found Thomas and the two of thwm caught upo on their latest sexcapades. I found Forrest, and got pamphlets to show the church of Saint Ygg in Eastdale about Lady Closea. Forrest also mentioned that several men had gone missing from the guild of sewermen. I promised to investigate. Thomas also promised to set some of his gang on the matter, to find any clues they could.\nThen we traveled to the guild of sewermen itself, learning that Hale had gone missing after finding a new, uncovered entrance. Two guildmembers were with him, but ran. Their names and Bryce and Tristan, and the guild will pull them aside for us to talk to tomorrow morning. We alswo cleared up a small matter: \u0026ldquo;Wanted: Dead or Alivce\u0026rdquo; posters send the wrong message when you would prefer to recover a live guildmate rather than a dead one.\nIn the morning, we\u0026rsquo;ll talk to Bryce and Tristan about what they saw and where it happened.\n","date":"22 May 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-137/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # The amulet and potion turned out to be magical under Pish’s examination, the rest did not. We estimated the value of the dagger at 1500gp, but determined that no one is Eastdale would want to buy such a thing after Retep the antiquities dealer lowballed us. We determined that the best chance to get full value was to travel to a larger city, either Threshold or Prigswort, and determined to go to Threshold as I had other business there. We took a caravan to Threshold and managed to sell the dagger for 2000gp, with Nifty claiming the magical amulet for “testing”.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 137","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-136.webp\nFeverborne # We spent the next day hunting and recuperating. Nifty and Pish hunted up a nice fat deer, which was roasted over a fire. We kept watch over the entrance to the grotto, hoping to get some warning if the strange ooze creature left. It did not, at least not that we saw. We spent a second night, and Closea\u0026rsquo;s grace healed my wounds. The platinum ring turned out to not be magical. We went back down the next day, finding that most of the frog corpses had been dragged off, or perhaps consumed. There were drag marks leading east, and an awful stench. I suspected the trogolodytes, but the drag marks led in the wrong direction. We checked the remaining corpses for treasure but found nothing.\nThe ooze monster found us, however. We weren\u0026rsquo;t expecting it so far north of its territory, and in fact had hoped to avoid it completely. However, encountering the monster far to the north presented an opportunity as well as a risk. We ducked back through the doors to the south and slammed them shut behind us. I told the faster party members \u0026ndash; Pish, Morin, and Nifty \u0026ndash; to make a run for the slime circle room where the slime creature was obviously not guarding his magic-filled cabinet. The plan was simple: I would delay it as long as possible, leading it away from the treasure room, and keep its attention; the rest of the party would loot the room and run. Even those of us in armor should be able to stay ahead of an ooze, though it\u0026rsquo;s magical abilities were a bit of a wild card.\nI kept the hirelings on task and delayed by closing doors, but it was able to ooze under them. I took a swing with Verminbane, but the blow bounced off the creature\u0026rsquo;s hide. Apparently oozes are not vermin. I tried to get the torchbearer to hit the thing with hia torch to see if fire would work, but he refused and ran. I retreated slowly, taking a swing occasionally, but mostly trying to stay out of reach while keeping its attention. Right up to the moment when it cast some kind of spell, and my armor started heating up like a surgeon\u0026rsquo;s scapel. We had gotten to the mushroom room with some light by then, so I sent the torchbearer to help Morin and Pish, then dumped a waterskin on myself to keep the armor cool. It worked, sending clouds of steam throughout the room, though I still took painful burns.\nSomehow, from out of nowhere, u-Heury appeared and dumped a bucket of water on my head. That man has the strangest sense of timing sometimes. Between that and another waterskin, my armor was starting to cool off, but the ooze was close behind me. I explained the situation to u-Heury in as few words as possible (\u0026ldquo;You let the ooze out, it\u0026rsquo;s chasing us, we\u0026rsquo;re distracting it\u0026rdquo;). He got hit with the next Heat Metal spell, and I returned the favor with my last full waterskin. We led the henchmen out of the grotto\u0026rsquo;s depths, which was very tense as we had to pass carefully through the corridor of crystals without looking at them.\nThat was when I realized u-Heury had probably never ever had a bath, making him repulsive to Cloacea the Clenser and thus to me. I screamed at him to take a bath right away so he could be clensed of his sins and filth, and chased him into the grotto pool waving Verminbane at him to scare off any fleas. It was very satisfying.\nAfter a few minutes, we realized the ooze had not followed us out, and cautiously crept back in to help the others if they needed it.\nAs luck would have it, the ooze had chased them instead, but they managed to get away. Morin looted the locked drawers in the ooze\u0026rsquo;s magic cabinet like a pro, according to her telling, and she had the loot to show for it. Pish managed to decipher the magical runes in one of the more distant rooms, each of which appeared to be the name of a specific location. The runes are on the wall next to strange metal disks; perhaps they teleport people who stand on them? The names suggested destinations either deeper down or out to the surface. We\u0026rsquo;ll try to figure out how to activate them later.\nMorin\u0026rsquo;s take from the cabinet included a jar of pink slime, a clay potion bottle, a scroll with a melted wax seal, a disk-shaped obsidian amulet, and a ritual dagger (which she seemed to be rather possessive of).\nPish # Licking our wounds decided to rest for two nights before going back into the death caverns. The first day, I go out with Nifty to hunt and give an elf flex- we were able to take down a deer and get 8 rations from it which sustained us while we receded and decided what to do next. During that first evening I also had cast detect magic on the ring to see if it was worth more than the metal, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t magical. It was interesting to see however that Feverborne has magical ring and sword that detects vermin and gives off a pale green glow.\nAfter healing we decided to go back in to see if there was more treasure in the frog room. What we found was a very unsettling sound- of ooze! The non servant of barbie was lying in wait and cast some sort of mind control on me. I felt compelled to take the torch from Corton and snuff it out, but fortunately my low strength thwarted that action. It lasted for maybe 30 seconds, but the feeling left me feeling shaken. How dare that ooze try to mess with my elf mind!\nDuring the battle we decided to split the party- U-Heury and Feverborne went with the hiringings towards the monkeys and the entrances to lure the ooze out. Nifty, Morin and I were the fastest so we went for the loot from the cabinet from the room where we found the ooze. The cabinets were locked, so I walked around reading magic while Morin got to work on the locks. I looked at the cloak I was wearing and it read \u0026ldquo;Dominion of the Faceless Lord\u0026rdquo;- charming. I went in the room with the levers and read each lever and what they go (4 locations) and started to ponder who this faceless lord was and what the worship must be like when I came around the corner- and saw ooze! It was \u0026hellip;.time to pull a U ie! I ran around the u bend and snuck across the room to start hassling out. Our torch bearer took the brunt of the ooze attack, but the rest of us were able to gtfo.\nWhile regrouping we were able to escape with the main party members\u0026rsquo; lives, our best hireling, and - jar of slime , a dagger , a sealed clay jar, and a pendant. I was thrilled we made it out with some magical items to show for our trouble, but I was also pretty shaken by the power, cleverness, and menace of the ooze and whomever was able to trap it in the first place. I think I need some more magical knowledge and retorts to shield myself before going into any more dungeons. So instead of going with the group back to racist town, I elfed off into the woods to find a nice city with a friendly library in which to study.\n","date":"15 May 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-136/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-136.webp\nFeverborne # We spent the next day hunting and recuperating. Nifty and Pish hunted up a nice fat deer, which was roasted over a fire. We kept watch over the entrance to the grotto, hoping to get some warning if the strange ooze creature left. It did not, at least not that we saw. We spent a second night, and Closea’s grace healed my wounds. The platinum ring turned out to not be magical. We went back down the next day, finding that most of the frog corpses had been dragged off, or perhaps consumed. There were drag marks leading east, and an awful stench. I suspected the trogolodytes, but the drag marks led in the wrong direction. We checked the remaining corpses for treasure but found nothing.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 136","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-135.webp\nFeverborne # We left u-Heury negotiating with the slime monster and headed north, hoping to find the killer frogs by the underground stream and explore further. On the way, Nifty found all sorts of trouble: first she tried to dust the pillar of skulls and nearly died when it triggered some sort of magical effect. Then, in the next room, she bumped into a floating dust ball and had to be tied down with a rope to keep her from floating away. Just as we finished dealing with that, noises to the south suggested matters with u-Heury had come to some sort of conclusion; we met up with u-Heury again, who reported that the mysterious monster was free and hostile. We decided to continue with the frogs, as that plan would let us stay well away from where the slime monster was likerly to go. We were just returning to the frogs\u0026rsquo; area when the killer frogs arrived and attacked.\nTwo of them came for me; I killed one and missile fire from the second rank killed the other, but they got their claws into me first. The other frogs ate one of the hirelings, and the hirelings killed another in return. Morin tried to backstab one, but it knew she was there and bit her instead. Nifty dropped a flask of oil on another right before I killed it, the hirelings did for one more, and the last tried to flee with a hireling in its mouth. One of the dead frogs had a corpse in its belly, decaying, but with a shiny ring still visible on one of the corpse\u0026rsquo;s fingers. We claimed the ring and left in a hurry, as mysterious noises were approaching from the east.\nWe had hoped the ooze would leave the area after being freed, but Pish\u0026rsquo;s elven eyes spotted it lingering on the ceiling of the room with the secret door. We could think of no acceptably risky path to bypass the creature and loot the room it had occupied, so we resolved to retreat outside, rest, and consider our options in the morning.\nPish # Rather than try to reason with the barbarian, we went north a bit to look through the northern rooms of the dungeon. One room had a rather disturbing statue made of skulls with the words \u0026ldquo;The Acquiescent\u0026rdquo; and some writing in a language I didn\u0026rsquo;t know so it must be pretty obscure. In the adjacent room there was an \u0026ldquo;Honored Servant statue\u0026rdquo; which had little matching statues of each of us appearing at its base. I was an elf in a cloak, so it must have captured my likeness after we met the ooze. I was curious how that magic worked, but not enough to touch anything. Conversely, Nifty was on full clean patrol, and therefore was mesmerized by the crystals, got zapped by a statue, and turned into a murder balloon after dusting puffballs that made her float away until Feverborne tethered her. (I think those two clean cats might be more alike than even I can fangirl)\nMeanwhile- U-henry was realizing he wasn\u0026rsquo;t as smooth a talker as he thought and the ooze attacked him. Somewhere else in the dungeon the sight of no one being shocked (save nifty literally) could be seen. The ooze said \u0026lsquo;Starting my 100 days of service now\u0026rsquo; and cast a spell that heated his armor - more like dis-service! (sick burn!! Lol evil but funny). Fortunately Barbie boy seemed to evade most of the heat damage by jumping into the water and making his own hot bath. What is it with this group and cleaning needs???\nOnce we were all together again, we moved to the area where there was an interesting pictograph showing a series of man to ooze pictures It was easy to read since we had a floating assassin balloon with a torch but we didn\u0026rsquo;t have time to discuss the meaning as the sounds of toads caught my elf ears. It was full TTW- Tactical toad warfare- I shot through the door and bloodied one of the toads with my first arrow. Yeah, I Legolased his ass! I shoot again next round and take out a previously bloodied toad- I am a battle elf!! We did lose Mort the hireling- normcore no more! Mordin strait up fileted one toad (Nat 20) and it had a finger with a 200g platinum ring in its belly. We backtracked to see if the ooze had cleared out and we could see what that magic item in it\u0026rsquo;s room had been, but my elf eyes saw it hiding on the ceiling to ambush us, so we decided to exit the dungeon, rest and regroup.\n","date":"8 May 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-135/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-135.webp\nFeverborne # We left u-Heury negotiating with the slime monster and headed north, hoping to find the killer frogs by the underground stream and explore further. On the way, Nifty found all sorts of trouble: first she tried to dust the pillar of skulls and nearly died when it triggered some sort of magical effect. Then, in the next room, she bumped into a floating dust ball and had to be tied down with a rope to keep her from floating away. Just as we finished dealing with that, noises to the south suggested matters with u-Heury had come to some sort of conclusion; we met up with u-Heury again, who reported that the mysterious monster was free and hostile. We decided to continue with the frogs, as that plan would let us stay well away from where the slime monster was likerly to go. We were just returning to the frogs’ area when the killer frogs arrived and attacked.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 135","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-134.webp\nFeverborne # We met in Eastdale, hoping to finish exploring the Grotto. With Morin along, we hoped to open a door that had previously been locked and impassable; beyond that, there were areas on the second level that we had yet to explore. While the undead areas might hold serious danger, the river with the frogs seemed possibly safer. Eastdale itself was not at all friendly to elves; Pish had some trouble getting inside the walls, though she spoke little of it. The paladins of Ygg there charged me to bring proof of Ygg\u0026rsquo;s approval of my lady Closea, which I planned to satisfy by asking Forrest from Threshold (originally a paladin of Ygg himself) to write a letter of introduction. That would, however, require travel, so I put it off.\nWe hired several men at arms and a torchbearer, and paid for extra provisions. There was some sort of magician peddling his services, but the only thing he could do was read magical writing. While that has it\u0026rsquo;s place, Pish the elf is more capable and less expensive. One of the others, a common fighting man, claimed to be from Helix and to have seen the Barrowmaze. That gave me chills. I thought I had left that place in the distant past, aside from indulging Lyrian\u0026rsquo;s curiousity enough to get close a few years back.\nOnce at the Grotto, I explained the hazards to the new members. Don\u0026rsquo;t look at the pretty crystals. Beware of slimes, molds, and trogolodytes. Beware specifically of undead on an island in the second level (where Bern got his withered arm). Beware of giant frogs in the river (where Bern got that nasty bite mark on his chest). Especially beware of holding wires sticking out of the walls. And run from anything with too many mouths.\nGuess what turned out to be behind the locked door? Morin got it open in a jiffy by saying \u0026ldquo;skull\u0026rdquo; three times, which revealed a small room holding a very large \u0026hellip; slime demon? I have no idea. It looked quite a lot like the gibbering mouther, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to have the same paralyzing effect, and it seemed to be held captive behind a circle of magical slime. Instead, it spoke to u-Huery, who seemed to want to negotiate with it. It wanted us to break the containment circle using acid, and the prize for that was 101 days of servitude, plus the contents of a cabinet at the back of the room.\nPish made herself useful by casting Detect Magic, establishing that the slime circle was magical, and either the cabinet was magical or its contents were.\nI cautioned u-Heury against trusting such a foul creature, and reminded him of how hard the gibbering mouther had been to dispose of, but he was not inclined to listen. Eventually I walked away in disgust. He planned to set it free to roam the lower levels, eating whatever it found there, which would be a fine plan if we could trust the creature to keep its word, which obviously it would not. I planted myself and my men at arms solidly in front of the only route to the surface we knew of, resolved to fight the thing once it inevitably betrayed us and sought either escape or the nearest convenient food (ie, us). u-Heury was determined to carry out his plan to free it. This would not end well.\nPish # I was bored and wanted to get back into adventuring?! I think that second class magic teacher last season must have charmed me to tempt me back to mercenary life (or the lure of the magic of the ley lines\u0026hellip;.). Of course the place they all picked to meet is a city that is not friendly to my kind. Fortunately I made an instant \u0026lsquo;friend\u0026rsquo; of a guard and was able to slip in the city and meet everyone at the Saucy Tart (#1). I took a little damage sneaking in so I was glad to know we would have a paladin with the group\u0026hellip;.less glad when he asked me to wash my hands before being healed. Elves partially live as long as we do because we are slightly antimicrobial- basically the honey of races as my mom used to say. Anyway, the boys mentioned a lair nearby they had gotten magical items from previously (and minus one hand which was certainly understated when the danger level was asked) and made it sound very tempting for a trek. Being that that town is allergic to me, and I\u0026rsquo;m allergies to being killed, I was all in to leave. We hired a torch bearer, a fighter and another dude i think. There was a pompous mage that was super impressed with his ability to cast one spell- read magic\u0026hellip;.noob.\nOn the way U-heury, Feverbeck, Morin and I discussed the perils and pearls. I prepared detect magic since if there are any shiny buttons, I\u0026rsquo;d at least like to know what they do before U-heury pushes them with his sword. While keeping my keen elf eyes peeled, I was able to harvest 1 scarlet Pimpernel mushroom and we found some bubble moss if breathing becomes an issue. Once into the area the group hadn\u0026rsquo;t explored, I cast detect magic and found a slime trapped in a magic circle with a cabinet behind giving off a faint magical aura. There were also some robes that seemed to have been used by those who trapped the slime, so i snagged one. While I was exploring, our barbie (barbarian\u0026hellip;good thing he is good at smashing) decided he could make friends with the slime and create some sort of accord. I tried to warn him that it likely will lie and it was trapped there for a reason, but bless his heart, he still believes in slime santa. Needless to say, I put one of the robes and moved a room or two over while he tried to parlay.\n","date":"17 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-134/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-134.webp\nFeverborne # We met in Eastdale, hoping to finish exploring the Grotto. With Morin along, we hoped to open a door that had previously been locked and impassable; beyond that, there were areas on the second level that we had yet to explore. While the undead areas might hold serious danger, the river with the frogs seemed possibly safer. Eastdale itself was not at all friendly to elves; Pish had some trouble getting inside the walls, though she spoke little of it. The paladins of Ygg there charged me to bring proof of Ygg’s approval of my lady Closea, which I planned to satisfy by asking Forrest from Threshold (originally a paladin of Ygg himself) to write a letter of introduction. That would, however, require travel, so I put it off.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 134","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"11 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/nifty/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Nifty","type":"tags"},{"content":"Nifty also enjoys journaling our adventures, but is played by another player.\nShe is a 4\u0026rsquo; tall, 19-year-old Housekeeper who is obsessed with cleaning and wants to be friends with everyone. She has short black hair in pigtails and loves to wear cute maid outfits.\nJack of all trades - Nifty is shown to be talented in a handful of ways. She excels at cleaning, cooking, and sewing, and outside of work, she spends time reading and writing fanfiction.\n","date":"11 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/nifty/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nifty also enjoys journaling our adventures, but is played by another player.\nShe is a 4’ tall, 19-year-old Housekeeper who is obsessed with cleaning and wants to be friends with everyone. She has short black hair in pigtails and loves to wear cute maid outfits.\nJack of all trades - Nifty is shown to be talented in a handful of ways. She excels at cleaning, cooking, and sewing, and outside of work, she spends time reading and writing fanfiction.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Nifty","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Bern # Somehow we managed to escape the supernatural pull of the henge, and decided it was time for a break from adventure after that close call.\nI passed the tip about Aster\u0026rsquo;s fashions and the market in Prigswort to Oscar, who made an obscene amount of money trading on it.\nNottanis spent some time researching the ivy ring we found, which turned out to be capable of magically controlling plants. I\u0026rsquo;m sure he\u0026rsquo;ll find that very useful. I\u0026rsquo;m more useful hitting things, but his weak elf arms aren\u0026rsquo;t as strong as mine. The half-elf was also smirking about something he wouldn\u0026rsquo;t talk about, so no doubt he\u0026rsquo;s got some sort of surprise cooking.\nWorld events in year 108 # Summer # Eastdale priests and paladins are rising up and drumming up a religious fervor against Dolemwood.\nFall # A goat-headed general in Dolmenwood is planning to crack down on magic.\nWinter # In Threshold, Torbert (head of the temple of Doghma in Threshold) has died of unspecified causes.\nWe suspect he may have been eaten by an escaped gibbering mouther.\nPish # I want to live to Elf, not Elf to live. It felt like the latter my first season with this group - ending with a close TPC- total party cult- but we just saved them from the ritual. Lodging wise I\u0026rsquo;m prepared for life on the road, but magically I felt ill-prepared. I feel like I need a few more options when the weird skat hits the fan. For the rest of the year I needed to regroup and work on spells, my smarts, and my coin pouch.\nFirst things first, I needed to make some money. I spent the summer helping the Tanner\u0026rsquo;s guild translating documents. It was boring work, but a bit of boring is needed after that spring. I earned 200 gold (not great but I\u0026rsquo;m feeling +1 about my next attempt) and kept my ears open for rumors. It seems some Eastdale priests are rising up in a sort of crusade vs the Dolemwood. That\u0026rsquo;s all the wood needs- more encouragement for young haters.\nI focused mostly on my magic in the fall. I spent a bit of my new gold to learn a spell from a magical scholar. We had similar areas of focus but I was able to get a ventriloquism spell. The greater success is when I studied on my own. I found a few spells in previously captured books and was able to pick up almost all of them thanks to my big Elf brain. My only regret is I couldn\u0026rsquo;t (and likely will never) master Aztazars acrid finger. I might try to come up with my own, better version in the future. I didn\u0026rsquo;t pay too much to the comings and goings of the world, but did hear a general is riling up folks against the awakening of the ley lines which is pretty rich for a Goatman (breggle) in the Dolmanwood.\nI focused mostly on my magic in the fall. I spent a bit of my new gold to learn a spell from a magical scholar. We had similar areas of focus but I was able to get a ventriloquism spell. The greater success is when I studied on my own. I found a few spells in previously captured books and was able to pick up almost all of them thanks to my big Elf brain. My only regret is I couldn\u0026rsquo;t (and likely will never) master Aztazars acrid finger. I might try to come up with my own, better version in the future. I didn\u0026rsquo;t pay too much to the comings and goings of the world, but did hear a general is riling up folks against the awakening of the ley lines which is pretty rich for a Goatman (breggle) in the Dolmanwood.\nDuring the final few months of the year, I focused on mastering my new spells and generally smartening myself up for winter (¼ seasons to increase int). Three of the spells I learned I can\u0026rsquo;t cast yet, but I found ruminating on the theory of detect evil, Gartzee\u0026rsquo;s Incredulous Apostate, and phantasmal force has really stretched my brain. All this studying has also made me restless for the road. I heard that Master Torbert of the Library of Dogma died and my first reaction was wondering if he was eaten by some creature or spell gone wrong. It\u0026rsquo;s time to meet back with these crazy adventurers, if only to have someone carry this heavy bag!\n","date":"10 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-133/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # Somehow we managed to escape the supernatural pull of the henge, and decided it was time for a break from adventure after that close call.\nI passed the tip about Aster’s fashions and the market in Prigswort to Oscar, who made an obscene amount of money trading on it.\nNottanis spent some time researching the ivy ring we found, which turned out to be capable of magically controlling plants. I’m sure he’ll find that very useful. I’m more useful hitting things, but his weak elf arms aren’t as strong as mine. The half-elf was also smirking about something he wouldn’t talk about, so no doubt he’s got some sort of surprise cooking.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 133","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Bern # We traveled further towards the southwest, but ended up walking in circles. I made the best of it and hunted up a small fox. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough left for a hat.\nLater on we encountered two groups of four strange walkers. We evaded them and watched the two groups meet up and become a circle of eight. They headed off in a new direction together, one close to a weird magnetic pull we were all feeling. We went in the same general direction, figuring it might be a pull leading us towards the hag\u0026rsquo;s lair.\nInstead it lead us to a small stone henge, with strange shapes milling around inside it. There was some sort of strange humming noise\u0026hellip; and that\u0026rsquo;s all I remember, aside from a splitting headache and some sort of dream about the maid killing everything with one blow.\nPish # These woods with these people and these zoms\u0026hellip;.the Hag Addle better be interesting. The trekking seems to be more about a tingle in the air or maybe Bern really just wanted to go hunting for half the day, but not too much progress was made during the day. In the afternoon 4 zombs got near our camp\u0026hellip;.we hid, but they seemed to be searching and moving int he general direction we were trying to head. I\u0026rsquo;d been hearing the faint crys from the YWYR necromantic layline along our path so it isn\u0026rsquo;t so strange when undead show up.\nSomeone got a little too close and got noticed by the creepies and then all went sideways. Everyone got mesmerized save Unhurny, Nifty and me and were compelled towards a stonehenge. The larger collection of zombs were ahead and hadn\u0026rsquo;t seen us yet, and the three of us were desperately trying to pull back our party members and hide.\nI took a shot from 140 ft out and took out the one grabbing bern\u0026hellip;.I\u0026rsquo;m an adventure Elf! I think he then tried to pretend to be a zomb, but that only works up until you try to move away from the shrine. Nifty was super helpful\u0026hellip;.she dusted those zombs like a dirt assassin\u0026hellip;or just a regular assassin?\u0026hellip;and helped keep 2 of the party from being carried off. Even after healing Ygnas, she just got mesmerized again so it seems maybe we just let folks stay unconscious for a bit.\nI started dragging Domi and Kai towards the wood edge. There is some powerful magic going on at the shrine and I just hope we aren\u0026rsquo;t all dragged into it.\nNifty # I was following my friends in the woods, and we came across these weird things with dark skins similar to Bern\u0026rsquo;s arm. I kind of wanted to clean it, but I was deterred, and Bern told me to warn our other friends. I warn them, but then all of a sudden, everyone, except for Pish, Uheruy, and me, wanna walk towards the weird things I wanna clean. It seems like Pish and Uhuery want me to make everyone go nighty night. So I made everyone go nighty night with one of my daggers. The dagger\u0026rsquo;s name is Chad. Overall, everything looks so dirty and makes me wanna clean everything.\n","date":"3 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-132/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # We traveled further towards the southwest, but ended up walking in circles. I made the best of it and hunted up a small fox. There wasn’t enough left for a hat.\nLater on we encountered two groups of four strange walkers. We evaded them and watched the two groups meet up and become a circle of eight. They headed off in a new direction together, one close to a weird magnetic pull we were all feeling. We went in the same general direction, figuring it might be a pull leading us towards the hag’s lair.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 132","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Pish also enjoys journaling our adventures, but is played by another player.\n","date":"3 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/pish/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Pish also enjoys journaling our adventures, but is played by another player.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Pish","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-131.webp\nBern # We sold the smurf balls and devil\u0026rsquo;s grease to the herbalist Wyrmspittle for about 50 gp. u-Heury somehow showed up while we were there, asking about herbs of a rather more delicate nature. He was a normal size again by then, and we introduced him around to the new folks and vice versa. I made some inquiries about setting up a trade in fashion garb on Oscar\u0026rsquo;s behalf, he\u0026rsquo;ll want to try to take advantage of the trade opportunity in selling Aster\u0026rsquo;s works in Prigswort.\nAfter that we stocked up on provisions and left town, looking for Hags\u0026rsquo; Addle. It rained; we marched through fog. I scouted ahead for the group and lead us around what I can only assume was a raiding party of orcs. Twice, flying things nearly ambushed us in camp; both times I detected them first and tried to maintain stealth. I would have succeeded both times if Nifty hadn\u0026rsquo;t yelped when I woke her. Luckily Pish the elf talked us out of that one, speaking some language she claimed was Sphinx to the flying cats. Frankly I can\u0026rsquo;t tell a sphinx from a minx. Well, ok, I can. But I can\u0026rsquo;t talk to either one.\nWe found a stream, but not the river we\u0026rsquo;re looking for that says we\u0026rsquo;re at the right place.\nI feel like I\u0026rsquo;ve learned a lot from this bizarre trip into the land of the plants, but I\u0026rsquo;m ready to be done with it. Let\u0026rsquo;s let the hag offer whatever sort of deal she can to fix my arm, and I\u0026rsquo;ll think it over for a good long time before I do anything about it. Dealing with hags is rarely wise, and usually has a price. I don\u0026rsquo;t mind asking the price, but I\u0026rsquo;ll give it a big long think before I pay it.\nPish # Nothing more civilized than shopping- or selling in our case. We all went to Wyrmspittles Herb shop and Bern was able to interest him in his blue (smurf) balls for gold. We also inquired about any other items he might want to buy if we found them, and learned of several funguses and their effects that we might find near Hag\u0026rsquo;s Addle. Speaking of mushroom bruisers, We also met up with a former coworker in the group U-Heury (more like U-Horny?) who appears to be a barbarian type, so should be useful on the protection in the woods front. There was also some goat lady that walked in at the end as we concluded business.\nInto the woods we go! Traveling SW we camped the first night and thankfully I volunteered my elf eyes to share a watch. Two large winged beings landed near our camp and were whispering. Fortunately, they were speaking Sphinx, an erudite and uppity language I happen to know. The sphinx and her brother were chatting about whether they should eat us, but I stepped out and talked like an Egyptian to avoid them eating my friends and to go north instead. My words are my weapons, and tonight I was victorious.\nMy keen elf eyes in support helped us avoid some eagle/stag/griffin/wolf creature that was digging up a body near our campsite. After its departure, we surveyed the ground and found a shallow hole where perhaps the body had been left for a late night snack. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t much of note save 5 silver and a strip of clothing with a stripe.\nThe third night we narrowly avoided 6 hound sized toads- seriously what is up with these woods?? I know i wanted to adventure some, but I can only speak so many languages and one of them is definitely not monster frog.\nFor part of the time in this forest there has been this weird fog that feels like it dampens my magic. However, I also couldn\u0026rsquo;t hear the creepy baby whispers in the fog from the ley lines in it, so that isn\u0026rsquo;t so bad. We have been traveling generally parallel to the Ley Lines\u0026rsquo; path -going NE to SW and are near the crossing of two of them. Such a nexus of power makes sense as a place to find other magically sensitive folk. I suspect the Hag\u0026rsquo;s Addle is near.\n","date":"27 March 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-131/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-131.webp\nBern # We sold the smurf balls and devil’s grease to the herbalist Wyrmspittle for about 50 gp. u-Heury somehow showed up while we were there, asking about herbs of a rather more delicate nature. He was a normal size again by then, and we introduced him around to the new folks and vice versa. I made some inquiries about setting up a trade in fashion garb on Oscar’s behalf, he’ll want to try to take advantage of the trade opportunity in selling Aster’s works in Prigswort.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 131","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Bern # We went to the Wrinkled Medley to further the investigation into Mr. Klepp. My finely tailored weatherproof cloak and an outlandish haircut got me in past the generally hoity-toity doorman. The bard Hugh was auditioning for a musical act of some time, and the rest of us were tagging along to get information\nOne of the guests, Mr Wyrmspittle, mentioned Mr Klepp, noting that he had been unwell and not getting out much. The guest, who owns a herbalist shop (#9), mentioned that Klepp lives near his shop (at #21). I promised him first right to purchase any grey poupon seeds, which I described as a type of mustard seed particularly suited for crustless sandwiches, in return for the information.\nThe herbalist invited us to stop by his shop in the morning to investigate selling the Devil\u0026rsquo;s Grease and Papa Smurf\u0026rsquo;s 4 blue nuts.\nNifty, a strange woman who works at the inn as a maid, but also somehow moonlights with the Glorious Blades, overheard a conversation about poisonous trees to the west of town. I perked up at that, as the hag\u0026rsquo;s lair is supposed to be west of town as well.\nWe stopped by Mr. Klepp\u0026rsquo;s house on the way back, dropping the letter from the clockwork dwarf off with the butler there.\nWhen we stopped at Brandybile\u0026rsquo;s, he reacted negatively to Aster\u0026rsquo;s cloak (and the rest of my outfit) and refused to deal with me. It seems that Brandybile and Aster have a historic rivalry, and until now, Brandybile was unaware Aster still lived, much less was still working. This encounter will likely have consequences later.\nNifty was able to inspect his shop closely, however, and determined that it was magically warded, and the wards were in fact quite dangerous. Breaking in, should we have reeason to do so later, would be perilous.\nWe did not get chance to visit the herbalist\u0026rsquo;s shop, so that is where we will go next.\nPish # The Bard\u0026rsquo;s big day is this afternoon! I got up early to get our clothing delivery and to make sure the Heoh was woken before his show. Nifty who cleans the place\u0026hellip;.let\u0026rsquo;s be honest, she cleans all places, offered to join us on our mission as she moonlights in the guild. I decided to wear my new ambassador costume under my cloak in case some official b.s. Is needed, but hopefully the show will go on without a hitch and Bern will get the info he needs. I\u0026rsquo;m not particularly impressed that we all had to stay in the back room instead of near the show, but it sounded like it went well- I peeked out to add any aid and saw mr. neeve waving his hankie at all the ladies- such a macaroni.\nWhen the show was over, Heoh was told anyone who was awesome might get a special invite from the Bard scout, so hopefully there will be a message for him in the next few days. I am a sucker for wordplay. Bern heard some good rumor words- about how the guy he is looking for hasn\u0026rsquo;t been seen in a while and that there is something going on in the west woods giving inflamed poisoned flesh to folks. He also met the herbalist that lives by Kleps summer house and seemed super interested in helping him. Before going to #9 (Herbalist\u0026rsquo;s shop) we stopped by that guys house and Bern delivered his message to the house gue. We then had a a BRIEF stop at the tailors. It was a snippy visit for sure with Bern managing to insult the owner enough to get his fancy invite nulled and the door slammed in our face. Somehow Ygnas has been the level headed one this day- it\u0026rsquo;s a weird one and we haven\u0026rsquo;t even met the dude to discuss grey poupon seeds yet..on to the herb man, kookookachoo (\u0026ldquo;onwards\u0026rdquo; in high elven)\n","date":"20 March 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-130/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # We went to the Wrinkled Medley to further the investigation into Mr. Klepp. My finely tailored weatherproof cloak and an outlandish haircut got me in past the generally hoity-toity doorman. The bard Hugh was auditioning for a musical act of some time, and the rest of us were tagging along to get information\nOne of the guests, Mr Wyrmspittle, mentioned Mr Klepp, noting that he had been unwell and not getting out much. The guest, who owns a herbalist shop (#9), mentioned that Klepp lives near his shop (at #21). I promised him first right to purchase any grey poupon seeds, which I described as a type of mustard seed particularly suited for crustless sandwiches, in return for the information.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 130","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Snyfez # I\u0026rsquo;m going to need some more parchment and twine to properly chronicle all these clues- man this party needed an elf. It seems these folks have just been holding onto a mysterious letter- that they didn\u0026rsquo;t even open?! It seems they got it with a bag of gems from a (deceased?) courier and didn\u0026rsquo;t realize the real treasure is the written word, and the secrets it can tell us. There was the symbol of the Cobbsworth brewery. (you don\u0026rsquo;t need a 17 int to be curious, but it helps) Obviously, we had to open it, which I did with only a slight injury. I did end up with a -1 to hand stuff from that- might that be enough to discourage hooking me up with his racist son?\nThe letter was written to Wilfrinda Grump to acquire some Moss Mulch for a special brew. Now it gets interesting- It seems that in large quantities it is a poison, but in smaller amounts causes euphoria, so the brew could be a really good time or a really bad time. Could our group be the new supplier? Should we give it over like we didn\u0026rsquo;t read it? Could we sell it to a rival brewer? So many interesting possibilities.\nWe also learned more about the city- Hague Jerricorn is the Sea of Stars Jeweler and i think was fighting with this pirate for a map or something. Perhaps there is something there we could use. Our bard got a sweet gig at that fancy pub in the south , so we might need figure out how to blend in better. I don\u0026rsquo;t quite have the funds for these human\u0026rsquo;s frilly shirts, but I commissioned a elf ambassador-like costume from one of the festival vendors. The really interesting thing is that the maker said that was the second request for such an outfit in town. We have to be at the Meddler at 3 pm today for the Bard\u0026rsquo;s barding\u0026hellip;\n","date":"20 March 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-129/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Snyfez # I’m going to need some more parchment and twine to properly chronicle all these clues- man this party needed an elf. It seems these folks have just been holding onto a mysterious letter- that they didn’t even open?! It seems they got it with a bag of gems from a (deceased?) courier and didn’t realize the real treasure is the written word, and the secrets it can tell us. There was the symbol of the Cobbsworth brewery. (you don’t need a 17 int to be curious, but it helps) Obviously, we had to open it, which I did with only a slight injury. I did end up with a -1 to hand stuff from that- might that be enough to discourage hooking me up with his racist son?\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 129","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Madtoad # After a misspent youth as a seafarer on some, let\u0026rsquo;s say, less than reputable vessels, I was ready to get my land-legs back under me and spend some time doing some good in the world. I\u0026rsquo;d traveled about as far inland as I could stand (I still miss the smell of the salty sea-air, and can hardly sleep without the lapping of the waves against the boat) and found myself in a township called Prigswort. A sizable city, bigger than most of the port cities I\u0026rsquo;d spent time in, though not as big as the occasional coastal capital city. The whole place was buzzing with activity, as I seemed to arrive on some sort of festival day. I was low on funds and food, and hoping to find a way to make some gold appear in my pockets. A couple of nights in an inn where I could play for some locals for some spending cash and maybe a night in a cozy bed would be a good start, but I was thinking I\u0026rsquo;d need a bigger stake to breathe easy and figure out my next move. One of the things my minstrel instructors did manage to drill into my head was that if you were looking for work you could do worse than to find something like the Gray Company and ask about adventuring jobs, so the first thing I did was figure out where a Gray Company headquarters was in town and head directly there. There was a man there sitting at a table just inside the door. Bald, hair sticking out of his ears, nose like a bulb of garlic, he gave no credence to my existence, despite my saying hello, good morning, and excuse me, in that order. It was like whatever he was looking at on the piece of paper he had in front of him had transfixed him. Or he\u0026rsquo;d fallen asleep. I took the lute from my back and tried playing a tune. An ascending arpeggio from C-minor up got me nowhere. A quick double-time through a classic sea shanty also brought no attention my way. Finally, practically flummoxed, I pulled my hands together, tightening them on the strings, and let out a sustained discordant note that got him to jerk his head up and snort through his nose. He looked me over, leather jerkin, all-weather poncho, wild brown hair and unshaven face and frowned. \u0026ldquo;What do you want?\u0026rdquo; he asked in a voice as gruff as a billy goat\u0026rsquo;s. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m looking for work.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Isn\u0026rsquo;t everyone?\u0026rdquo; I didn\u0026rsquo;t know whether everyone was or not so I simply stared back at him. After a few seconds he said, \u0026ldquo;We don\u0026rsquo;t book musicians, kid.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m not looking for-\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;There\u0026rsquo;s a few inns up and down the main street, there\u0026rsquo;s, uh-\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m looking for something more interesting than that.\u0026rdquo; He looked me over again. I turned slightly so he could see the sword strapped to my thigh, and the quiver of arrows on my back. He squinted at me and said, \u0026ldquo;Hm.\u0026rdquo; A woman came dancing from somewhere in the back, slightly older and said, \u0026ldquo;Are you bothering this young man?\u0026rdquo; It took me a moment to realize she wasn\u0026rsquo;t talking to me, but to the man at the table. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve come looking for work.\u0026rdquo; I said. \u0026ldquo;And you\u0026rsquo;ll have it.\u0026rdquo; She answered back. \u0026ldquo;Try the Clashed Antler.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Is that an Inn?\u0026rdquo; I asked, crestfallen. \u0026ldquo;Yes.\u0026rdquo; She said, in a lilting voice. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m not looking for music work.\u0026rdquo; I said. \u0026ldquo;Nor should you. But there\u0026rsquo;s a group of adventurer\u0026rsquo;s staying there called the Glorious Blades. They may have some work for you. And if not, take this.\u0026rdquo; She shoved a crumpled piece of parchment into my hand. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s not much but it\u0026rsquo;s a start. Now go. Go on. I\u0026rsquo;ve got to get this one back to being useful.\u0026rdquo; She looked into the man\u0026rsquo;s eyes, he\u0026rsquo;d fallen asleep again. As I left the Gray Company\u0026rsquo;s office I heard her shouting, \u0026ldquo;Coffee! You need coffee!\u0026rdquo;\nThe Clashed Antler was everything I expected and less. Slightly dirty, a little smaller than I thought it might be, but still a nice common room with a few tables set up for breakfast. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure how to find the Glorious Blades, but an idea had occurred to me on my walk over, and I pulled my lute around as soon as I walked into the common area. I heard a couple of groans, but also a couple of semi-enthusiastic, grunts that I took to be encouragement. I started slow, quiet, just a little tune to get me going, then on the spot threw out some quick lyrics, incorporating the name I\u0026rsquo;d been given.\nIf adventure\u0026rsquo;s your lot, and you\u0026rsquo;re mind\u0026rsquo;s in the shade, then you should seek out the Glorious Blades, when steel clashes steel and the champions are made, there\u0026rsquo;s no one more popular than Glorious Blades.\nI was getting more into it as I continued. A couple of people had tossed some coins onto the table in front of me, but one vexed man in the back who was guzzling coffee like a fish drinks water shouted, \u0026ldquo;Shut up!\u0026rdquo;\nI ignored him and carried on.\nThe cold of the arctic, the heat of the glade, Where willows bend over and fae deals are made, Where games with life and death are well played, That\u0026rsquo;s where you\u0026rsquo;ll find the Glorious Blades!\nBy now I had a small pile of copper and a single silver coin on the table, not bad for two verses, but looking up I saw a woman coming towards me. I\u0026rsquo;ve never seen an angel, but she fit the description, shining silver armor, a mace the size of a large dog\u0026rsquo;s head, her eyes almost glowing. She said, \u0026ldquo;Who are you, and what do you know of the Glorious Blades?\u0026rdquo; Ah, now we\u0026rsquo;d come to a tricky question. Very early on my first ship\u0026rsquo;s captain had told me never to use my real name. It just led to complications, and so over the years I\u0026rsquo;d accumulated a large number of monikers, everything from \u0026ldquo;hey you\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;boy\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;First Mate Rickety Squibbets\u0026rdquo;, but none of those names seemed appropriate in this place. Instead it occurred to me that maybe this was the time to use my real name. It was clean and pristine. It had no mark or stench of piracy or trouble on it at all. The problem was, my name was hard to pronounce. My parents had been farmers from the old country, so they\u0026rsquo;d named me after a distant ancestor. My real name is Ouscisk Heoh. It\u0026rsquo;s prounounced OOH-Shisk Hay-oh. But that seemed like a lot to get through in the moment, so I simply said, \u0026ldquo;Heoh.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;A-yo?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Hey-oh.\u0026rdquo; I corrected her. \u0026ldquo;Ok. And you know the Glorious Blades?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;I was sent by the Gray Company. They told me I could find you here.\u0026rdquo; I nodded to the pile of coins. \u0026ldquo;I thought this might be a quick way to find you and make an introduction.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Hm.\u0026rdquo; She said. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t tell if she thought my plan was clever, stupid or both. She just said, \u0026ldquo;Well, I\u0026rsquo;m Ygnas. This is Pish.\u0026rdquo; She nodded behind her. \u0026ldquo;And that\u0026rsquo;s Hugj.\u0026rdquo; Hugj was a big bear of a man, he just nodded. He looked sleepy. Pish was an elf. I\u0026rsquo;d rarely seen them, occasionally glimpsing one in a crowd on a port dock. She had gray eyes and an exotic look. I wondered if Pish was her real name. In the stories I\u0026rsquo;d read most elves had an excess of \u0026lsquo;L\u0026rsquo;s in their names. Her real name was probably Pishlarlial or something. It was like the elves collected all the \u0026lsquo;L\u0026rsquo;s for later use, then at some point realized they weren\u0026rsquo;t using them and started dumping them into their offspring\u0026rsquo;s names. Ygnas gave me a cold glare and said, \u0026ldquo;We don\u0026rsquo;t actually have any work at the moment.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Ah.\u0026rdquo; I said. \u0026ldquo;Well, then you\u0026rsquo;ll want this.\u0026rdquo; I handed her the note the woman from the Gray company had given me, realizing only then that I hadn\u0026rsquo;t actually looked at it myself. Ygnas read it and handed it to Pish who also read it. Neither of them looked particularly excited. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re going to deliver beer?\u0026rdquo; Pish said. It was then that the Innkeeper wandered over, he was looking at the elf the way a hungry child looks at a steak. \u0026ldquo;Oh!\u0026rdquo; He said. \u0026ldquo;Cobbsworth brewery! They\u0026rsquo;re the best. Light, fizzy drinks. Very good, very good. You\u0026rsquo;re going to work for them?\u0026rdquo; Ygnas and Pish agreed that that seemed the most likely thing to do. We all had a lovely breakfast and the Innkeepr remarked that he\u0026rsquo;d enjoyed my music earlier and that if I were willing to play again this evening he would comp me a meal and a room. I graciously accepted his offer, though that seemed to annoy Ygnas somewhat. \u0026ldquo;Why don\u0026rsquo;t I get a free room? What is this place costing me, anyway?\u0026rdquo; No one wanted to answer that so we moved on. I followed the other three as we made our way to the Cobbsworth Brewery. \u0026ldquo;So this is a very beer-heavy town?\u0026rdquo; I asked as we traveled. I was told that there were several different breweries, all of them competing, and Cobbsworth was the brewery in the northern part of town that was most popular. \u0026ldquo;They\u0026rsquo;re trying to branch out, I guess.\u0026rdquo; Ygnas said. \u0026ldquo;Today\u0026rsquo;s the day of the Rising Remeberance Festival.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;What\u0026rsquo;s that?\u0026rdquo; She shrugged. The buildings were becoming more industrial as we walked. Lots of wood and stone. Finally we saw the sign for the Cobbsworth brewery. There was a large open door, and inside several wagons and people moving around. A lot of hustle and bustle. Eventually a woman made her way over to us to speak. She seemed to be in charge. \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re here to guard the beer?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Guard the beer?\u0026rdquo; I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure who asked it, but it could have been any of us. \u0026ldquo;This is Wilbert.\u0026rdquo; The woman said, jerking her thumb back to a balding man behind her. \u0026ldquo;He\u0026rsquo;s in charge of marketing. He\u0026rsquo;s going to take this wagon,\u0026rdquo; She slapped the side of a wagon with a giant beer keg strapped to it, \u0026ldquo;all the way down south to the Wrinkled Meddler. You\u0026rsquo;re going to guard him.\u0026rdquo; Again someone said, \u0026ldquo;Guard him?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Lots of pranksters out there.\u0026rdquo; The woman said, her eyes fixated through the doorway on the city outside. \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t want anything to happen to Wilber.\u0026rdquo; Wilber gave a half-hearted smile. He said, \u0026ldquo;Yes, yes.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;You take good care of him I\u0026rsquo;ll pay you 20 gold each.\u0026rdquo; The woman said. That got us all moving. Wilber had a plan. He had little flags with the Cobbsworth logo on them and he wanted to hand them out as we traveled through the town. \u0026ldquo;That doesn\u0026rsquo;t seem like a good idea.\u0026rdquo; I said. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s marketing.\u0026rdquo; He rolled his eyes as though I just wouldn\u0026rsquo;t understand it. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s great, but if all these people are your enemies, do you really want them to know you\u0026rsquo;re from Cobbsworth? If it\u0026rsquo;s dangerous we should probably be sneakier.\u0026rdquo; Pish was looking at the side of the wagon, where a giant Cobbsworth logo had been emblazoned. \u0026ldquo;Can we cover this up?\u0026rdquo; Wilber, flustered, shouted, \u0026ldquo;No! Of course not! It\u0026rsquo;s to let people know who we are!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s kind of what we\u0026rsquo;re trying to avoid.\u0026rdquo; Ygnas pointed out. \u0026ldquo;Look, you just take care of making sure no one bothers our beer, and I\u0026rsquo;ll handle the marketing part, ok?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;What is the Day of the Rising Rememberance, anwyay?\u0026rdquo; I asked him. He seemed a little confused, but rallied forth anyway, \u0026ldquo;Well, you know, we uh, remember all the saints that have sacrificed themselves for the world, um\u0026hellip;think about your ancestors, and, uh\u0026hellip;drink good beer!\u0026rdquo; He seemed pleased with himself. \u0026ldquo;Yes, that\u0026rsquo;s it.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Who are we worried about attacking us?\u0026rdquo; Ygnas asked. \u0026ldquo;Well, there\u0026rsquo;s uh, Soomerfish. That\u0026rsquo;s an enemy beer. And Houst Pilston, of course. They\u0026rsquo;re very low-grade, mass market. Lots of people drink it because it\u0026rsquo;s cheap. ANd then there\u0026rsquo;s House Oberon, that\u0026rsquo;s probably the most expensive brew in town.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;I hear it\u0026rsquo;s good.\u0026rdquo; Pish said. \u0026ldquo;But it\u0026rsquo;s not fizzy.\u0026rdquo; He told her. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s what makes Cobbsworth special.\u0026rdquo; I played a little ditty on the lute and sang:\nCobbsworth beer, it\u0026rsquo;s light and fizzy, you won\u0026rsquo;t get drunk, you\u0026rsquo;ll just get dizzy!\n\u0026ldquo;Oh, I quite like that.\u0026rdquo; Wilbert said. \u0026ldquo;We might get you a job in marketing.\u0026rdquo; At this point Hugj declared that he was going back to the Inn to get some more sleep. \u0026ldquo;You won\u0026rsquo;t need me anyway. This is a beer run.\u0026rdquo; Ygnas nodded. \u0026ldquo;Actually, I have some other things to take care of as well. You two got this, right?\u0026rdquo; Pish nodded. \u0026ldquo;We might stop by the Gray Company office. Hire a couple of hands.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Good idea.\u0026rdquo; Ygnas said. \u0026ldquo;You can take it out of our pay.\u0026rdquo; And like that she was gone. It was just me and the elf. \u0026ldquo;We need to figure out how to get him through the south part of town without handing out those flags, or shouting to the rooftops that we\u0026rsquo;re a target for any brewery that wants to cause trouble.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;I could play a tune.\u0026rdquo; I said. \u0026ldquo;If I can get him hooked on the groove he\u0026rsquo;ll just follow me. It\u0026rsquo;s an old trick I learned from a minstrel who called himself the piper. Or the pie? Something about pie.\u0026rdquo; I couldn\u0026rsquo;t quite remember. \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s good. See if you can do that. I\u0026rsquo;ll rustle up some help from the Gray Company and we\u0026rsquo;ll just get this done.\u0026rdquo;\n","date":"28 February 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-128/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Madtoad # After a misspent youth as a seafarer on some, let’s say, less than reputable vessels, I was ready to get my land-legs back under me and spend some time doing some good in the world. I’d traveled about as far inland as I could stand (I still miss the smell of the salty sea-air, and can hardly sleep without the lapping of the waves against the boat) and found myself in a township called Prigswort. A sizable city, bigger than most of the port cities I’d spent time in, though not as big as the occasional coastal capital city. The whole place was buzzing with activity, as I seemed to arrive on some sort of festival day. I was low on funds and food, and hoping to find a way to make some gold appear in my pockets. A couple of nights in an inn where I could play for some locals for some spending cash and maybe a night in a cozy bed would be a good start, but I was thinking I’d need a bigger stake to breathe easy and figure out my next move. One of the things my minstrel instructors did manage to drill into my head was that if you were looking for work you could do worse than to find something like the Gray Company and ask about adventuring jobs, so the first thing I did was figure out where a Gray Company headquarters was in town and head directly there. There was a man there sitting at a table just inside the door. Bald, hair sticking out of his ears, nose like a bulb of garlic, he gave no credence to my existence, despite my saying hello, good morning, and excuse me, in that order. It was like whatever he was looking at on the piece of paper he had in front of him had transfixed him. Or he’d fallen asleep. I took the lute from my back and tried playing a tune. An ascending arpeggio from C-minor up got me nowhere. A quick double-time through a classic sea shanty also brought no attention my way. Finally, practically flummoxed, I pulled my hands together, tightening them on the strings, and let out a sustained discordant note that got him to jerk his head up and snort through his nose. He looked me over, leather jerkin, all-weather poncho, wild brown hair and unshaven face and frowned. “What do you want?” he asked in a voice as gruff as a billy goat’s. “I’m looking for work.” “Isn’t everyone?” I didn’t know whether everyone was or not so I simply stared back at him. After a few seconds he said, “We don’t book musicians, kid.” “I’m not looking for-” “There’s a few inns up and down the main street, there’s, uh-” “I’m looking for something more interesting than that.” He looked me over again. I turned slightly so he could see the sword strapped to my thigh, and the quiver of arrows on my back. He squinted at me and said, “Hm.” A woman came dancing from somewhere in the back, slightly older and said, “Are you bothering this young man?” It took me a moment to realize she wasn’t talking to me, but to the man at the table. “I’ve come looking for work.” I said. “And you’ll have it.” She answered back. “Try the Clashed Antler.” “Is that an Inn?” I asked, crestfallen. “Yes.” She said, in a lilting voice. “I’m not looking for music work.” I said. “Nor should you. But there’s a group of adventurer’s staying there called the Glorious Blades. They may have some work for you. And if not, take this.” She shoved a crumpled piece of parchment into my hand. “It’s not much but it’s a start. Now go. Go on. I’ve got to get this one back to being useful.” She looked into the man’s eyes, he’d fallen asleep again. As I left the Gray Company’s office I heard her shouting, “Coffee! You need coffee!”\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 128","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-127.webp\nBern # After Ygnas announced that she had used the stone arch as a portal to the elemental plane of fire and burned down the town, we fled. We stuck to the road for about four hours, eventually meeting up with Kiba well outside of town and spending the night there. In the morning we investigated the signs of a battle between mosslings are some sort of winged creature. The details were unclear, but there was a dead mossling with four blue nuts. I took his nuts; they might be valuable.\nThe nexy day we continued down the road, eventually reaching Prigswort. It was a surprisingly large town, with 7 rival breweries competing for our attention. We managed to avoid choosing one by visiting the bathhouse instead, since we were all quite dirty from the road. They did seem unusually picky at the door; I had to duff the fancy cloak, and Pish was deemed too smart to come in until Kiba insisted. We all took baths, and the innkeep offered companionship. I tok him up on that, but the ginger was brainless as well as soulless, and knew nothing of Mr Klepp. Eventually we moved on to find a place to stay the night, eventually settling on the Clashed Antler, as it seemed rustic.\nPish wiggled her fingers at the innkeeper and became his friend for life or something. The locals didn\u0026rsquo;t like that much. Her tight skirts, pointy ears, and loose magical habits might become a problem.\nI asked around about Klepp and got a lead for pretending to throw Pish out of the Clashed Antler. Klepp is near Brandybile #4, according to the Bounders, a gang of human supremacists who view that inn as their stomping ground. In the morning, I\u0026rsquo;ll go down there and ask about him. If that doesn\u0026rsquo;t turn up any leads, then the hag\u0026rsquo;s den is supposedly nearby to the southwest. We should leave the road near a copse of dead trees. The Bounders could be antagonists or useful allies, depending on the mission, but I\u0026rsquo;d rather just avoid them completely from here on.\nPish # What an Elf must do for gold in this world. We were able to sneak out of town fairly successfully. I was super sneaky, but then I wasn\u0026rsquo;t on fire with campfires following me so that helps. While in the woods we found what seemed like tree homes for wasp Smurfs near some signs of battle. Besides the night of roughing it, we only had a few blue balls (left from battle) of interest at the site so we headed towards civilization.\nThank goodness for towns and for my keen awareness of social cues. It is a town known for it\u0026rsquo;s brews and folks take it seriously- hoppy opinions are currency and a the wrong ones might leave you flat. There was some smoozy nonsense from two places in town trying to offer free drinks to lure you in\u0026hellip;but drinks might have been the only comfortable thing about staying in such places. I just wanted a bath so I endured the tawdry place for the sake of a soak. My compatriots almost fell prey to the worst of all modern scams- paying too much for lodging! Fortunately either I was very persuasive or self-awareness dawned on my troop about how we present and where we should look to stay. Also, outskirts of town are not only our look, but a smart plan since somehow a neighboring town burned down and \u0026hellip;..yeah these folks don\u0026rsquo;t do lowkey well. I know my inns- esp. where free(dom) lies.\nThe old couple that owned the Clashed Antler where we decided to bed down were charming and full of hospitality. I was also super charming and got everyone\u0026rsquo;s room for half off which hopefully shows them how valuable I am to the party. I have a way with inn keepers across the land, what can I say? There was some hub-bub from some local yahoos itching to start a fight their human lives will never live up to, but we side stepped it by a ruse. It really isn\u0026rsquo;t worth worrying about the hearts and minds of hooligans- unless they get in the way of my good innkeeper network. Finally some tasty pie and a decent rest before we help our party member with his Kleptomania.\n","date":"7 February 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-127/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-127.webp\nBern # After Ygnas announced that she had used the stone arch as a portal to the elemental plane of fire and burned down the town, we fled. We stuck to the road for about four hours, eventually meeting up with Kiba well outside of town and spending the night there. In the morning we investigated the signs of a battle between mosslings are some sort of winged creature. The details were unclear, but there was a dead mossling with four blue nuts. I took his nuts; they might be valuable.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 127","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Bern # Somehow a bunch of fresh faces from the Glorious Blades joined us out here. How they found us I have no idea. Pretty sure I don\u0026rsquo;t know where I am at this point. But Rowen must have had something to do with it, since she wandered out of town muttering about ley lines about the same time. I let her go without comment. I don\u0026rsquo;t need ley lines, I need my arm fixed. I did ask Kiba if she brought my wardogs from camp. This was supposed to be a quick excursion to help u-Heury with his winter princess before a quick trip back to base to figure out a plan for the hag. Somehow we skipped the back to base part. She denied having the dogs. Oh well. They might have come in handy.\nI ducked out to sell off the herbs we had collected without the new folks noticing, but Kiba tagged along and insisted I share the bounty. Meh. I did get about 50gp more than I expected from the same, so maybe having a pretty face along helped. She did seem to be playing with her knives a lot.\nBy the time I got back to the inn, the rest of the newbies were trying the local bogwog. Judging by ther green color, it wasn\u0026rsquo;t going well. I sat down for my own meal and passed out the bounty, which came to 90gp each for four of us. Two people didn\u0026rsquo;t want the money. Silly druids. Even sillier when he started talking to the locals in Mulch, their own dialect. But he found out there was some kind of ceremoney planned for the evening, if the local adventurers brought their fugitive back on time. HBe wrangled an invitation, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t anything special aside from meeting another local group of adventurers.\nWe went to bed peacefully, and woke up to Ygnas screaming about a fire and elementals burning down the town.\nNot suspicious at all, Ygnas.\nYgnas # New people from the guild joined us out here in the middle of nowhere. Backup, because they think we\u0026rsquo;ll need help with the hag. Probably will. The mosslings refused to have a comforting fire, so, doubly bereft, I rubbed the burning pinecone brand on my forehead that only I can see and muttered to myself about how to appease Zuul and get my powers back.\nThe druid heard the mosslings talk about a ritual, so we stood around the stone arch waiting. The elf thought there were magic runes on it. The acolyte cast detect magic, and bits glowed blue. He then made up a story to explain the glow. Bet the overgrowth covering the arch would burn easy. Then we could see the runes. Some adventurers brought a body back and the ritual was some boring reincarnation thing, so we all went to bed.\nI had a dream that I could see the runes on the arch, and could read them. It was a spell to open a portal to the realm of fire elementals. I saw them burning everything and it was glorious. Even better, Zuul was pleased. I bolted upright. Well, this was going to piss off the locals. I snuck out and sat cross-legged in front of the arch. When the mosslings were gone, I cast the spell, and the portal opened. Fire elementals spilled out. Two mosslings saw, and I yelled that I tried to hold it but couldn\u0026rsquo;t and to tell everyone to run. Two elementals hung by me and I felt like I could control them. I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to annoy such beautiful creatures, so I bowed and told them to go play. They delightedly complied.\nThere was fire spreading everywhere. It was just as glorious as my dream. I reluctantly headed to the inn to make sure my companions got out. Probably rude to let them burn to death. Even if there is no higher honor for them then to be sacrifices for my God. If we say the blue glow was a sign of the portal opening, and I say I tried to hold it closed, we might not get lynched by the tiny plant people. Maybe.\nPish # You never know when you might need an Elf linguist, and so the Glorious Blades sent me to meet with an adventuring group. I think I totally impressed them by befriending (ok charming) the little moss man innkeeper and getting my room for free. Honestly their leafy bodies, obscure language, and devotion to group activity time really intrigues me. I tried the moon milk but passed on the globwob-which I think Bern the beefy and Kiba the Beastmaster tried. I spent a lot of the night with Hjug our druid water boy as he chatted up the locals speaking mulch.\nThere was a hubbub around the religious arches that had the whole town arriving and playing cosmic red rover I think. Domi had gone and watched one of their rituals so likely has a more detailed report. We waited until there weren\u0026rsquo;t eyes on us and I used my super generalizable ability to \u0026lsquo;Wilt\u0026rsquo; to remove some growth and reveal some ancient language that we will check out later. I am really interested in the strange language and symbology and am going to prepare languages for the morning. We are already making smart, stealthy choices in this group and are working. Kiba and Yagnas stayed up a bit but the rest of us went to bed at a reasonable hour so we could check out the writing with a language spell first thing. It takes a wiz to get everyone on board with a plan. When you plan, there is a chance of things going how they should.\nAt 4 am Ygnas came in like an adventurer on fire (well kinda on the hellish nose) and shared the shrine was on fire \u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;..I immediately felt the need for a hasty evacuation\n","date":"24 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-126/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # Somehow a bunch of fresh faces from the Glorious Blades joined us out here. How they found us I have no idea. Pretty sure I don’t know where I am at this point. But Rowen must have had something to do with it, since she wandered out of town muttering about ley lines about the same time. I let her go without comment. I don’t need ley lines, I need my arm fixed. I did ask Kiba if she brought my wardogs from camp. This was supposed to be a quick excursion to help u-Heury with his winter princess before a quick trip back to base to figure out a plan for the hag. Somehow we skipped the back to base part. She denied having the dogs. Oh well. They might have come in handy.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 126","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-125.webp\nBern # Ygnas caught up to join us, and we left town to the south after picking up the weatherproof cloak Rowen had ordered for me. About the cloak, the less said the better. It\u0026rsquo;s waterproof, and highly visible. I think the designer described it as plaid. Or maybe paisley. I don\u0026rsquo;t know what those words mean, but a blind elephant could see this cloak from miles away. I\u0026rsquo;m going to have to pack it back up any time I need to hide. As soon as I can afford a new one, I\u0026rsquo;m cutting this one up and making a ghilley suit.\nI caught a nice dear that would feed us for several days. It was late by the time we heard the ticking, so we chose to travel onwards towards Prigswort rather than stop by; perhaps we will find Mr Klepp there, and if not we can drop off the oil from the mossling dwarf on the way back.\nWe made camp later, and were rudely awakened by a strange man pursued by giant flies. They killed him before we were even properly awake, and started towards us. Rowen summoned some sort of bonfire, and Ygnas tried to cast a spell then shivered like she got hit with a poleaxe. For my part I killed one of the flies attacking the man in a single blow, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough to save him. I moved to block the flies from reaching Rowen so she could keep her spell up. Ygnas pulled herself together and did the same.\nThe remaining flies caught in the fire fled, but the others flew over our heads to get to Rowen. She managed to avoid their attacks, keeping her spell going. Ygnas and I traded blos with the flies, but only killed one before Rowen was bitten. With her concentration broken, Rowen fled into the woods to hide.\nThe dead druid had a staff with a birdlike theme, a pouch with a letter, and a green vial. Rowen claimed the vial; Ygnas wants to pass the staff along to Selaena.\nThe letter spoke of a reward for services rendered, and described a meeting place in a brewery with a bear symbol. It contained a few gems, worth 200gp together. None of us knew the symbol, but if we happen to encounter it before selling the gems, perhaps we can investigate further.\nWe traveled onwards, leaving the road at Rowen\u0026rsquo;s insistence (she wants to find the leylines), eventually finding a small village of moss dwarves and mushrooms. Ygnas insisted we stop at the inn to check her forehead for some kind of mark. No one else could see it, but it seems to have driven her to utter distraction.\nThe townsfolk didn\u0026rsquo;t seem interested in buying jewelry or gems, but I planned to sell some of the herbs we found while foraging. If nothing else they would fetch some spending money for expenses.\n","date":"10 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-125/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-125.webp\nBern # Ygnas caught up to join us, and we left town to the south after picking up the weatherproof cloak Rowen had ordered for me. About the cloak, the less said the better. It’s waterproof, and highly visible. I think the designer described it as plaid. Or maybe paisley. I don’t know what those words mean, but a blind elephant could see this cloak from miles away. I’m going to have to pack it back up any time I need to hide. As soon as I can afford a new one, I’m cutting this one up and making a ghilley suit.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 125","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Bern # The \u0026ldquo;not that simple\u0026rdquo; part started when Rowen burst through the door. We explained what was happening with the mossy dwarf, and trekked back to Blackeswell, passing a strange black iron cauldron on the way. Someone had hidden it next to a wolf\u0026rsquo;s den. When we woke up in the morning, it had moved closer to me, apparently by itself. Creepy.\nBack in Blackeswell, we stopped by the Klepp workshop. A number of folk kept a wary eye on the place, and tried to run us off, despite our clear and true explanation that we had a package to deliver. Since it was getting dark, we took rooms at the inn for the night and resolved to try again in the morning.\nRowen got distracted and wandered off to look at clothes, while I watched the place. Aside from getting run off by the local union, nothing much happened. I shifted to the local pub (with a view of the door, mind you) and eventually some men with a cart delivered a package to the door. I interrupted them in a variety of ways but got no useful information. The door did not open.\nHowever, the priest in the old temple to the south suggested he would pay a reward if I managed to investigate Klepp\u0026rsquo;s workshop. I vaguely agreed I would look into it, but he wanted it very much on the down-low.\nListening in the bar nearby, as well as to the priest\u0026rsquo;s complaints, it seemed that there were strange noises mostly at night, and if packages were going to be picked up, it must be overnight. I went back to the inn to get some rest, leaving Selaena to watch the workshop. Hours later she returned, smelling awful, but then somewhere found a bath. That freaked her out so much that she left town. Don\u0026rsquo;t blame her.\nRowen stayed, but no sign of a rain-cloak yet.\nOnce it got dark, I moseyed my way back to the workshop and found a cozy spot in the graveyard to watch the door. If I heard noise, or saw the packages disappear, I would know someone was home. Aside from the locked door, the chimney was the only way in. Pity I didn\u0026rsquo;t ask Rowen for a fake beard and a red suit.\n","date":"4 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-124/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # The “not that simple” part started when Rowen burst through the door. We explained what was happening with the mossy dwarf, and trekked back to Blackeswell, passing a strange black iron cauldron on the way. Someone had hidden it next to a wolf’s den. When we woke up in the morning, it had moved closer to me, apparently by itself. Creepy.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 124","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-123.webp\nBern # We traveled further south and encountered the town of Blackeswell, which was very fishy. All the food and drink smelled strongly of fish and was quite green. We refused to take more than a single sip or swallow of the stuff, fearing we would turn as green as most of the populace. We spoke to a priest who claimed to serve St Gondyw, but he was completely unwelcoming and would rather be rid of us. He also seemed to have an unholy interest in one Mr. Clep, who (according to other townsfolk) had recently arrived in the city and was buying up property rapidly for unspecified purposes.\nBlackeswell has only one inn; we stayed the night there, eating our own rations rather than the local fare. The locals did direct us to a nearby tavern with more of an active nightlife where Gillian, a waitress who had seen better days (and kept looking back on them), fed us the local rumors. Supposedly there is an evil hag living on an island in the black.\nWe also got directions to Prigswort: \u0026ldquo;Take the Black Path to Orbswallow, then go down the Mulcher\u0026rsquo;s Path to Swinney Road and take a right. Prigswort is there.\u0026rdquo; What an odd name. Supposedly there is a \u0026ldquo;good\u0026rdquo; hag nearby who may be able to help with my arm.\nWe left the town of Blackeswell heading south along the Black Road, and were treated to a majestic sight: three bronze dragons playing hide-and-seek with each other. As impressive as it was, we kept our distance. Our foraging netted us valuable herbs: Writhing Mandrake (100gp) and Angel\u0026rsquo;s Lament (200gp).\nOnce the dragon trio moved on, we continued our travels until a pervasive tick-tock noise seemed to fill the air around us. Searching for the source, we came across a small hobbit-hole made of oily mushrooms, occupied by a dwarf made of fungi who claimed to be the caretaker of some kind of mighty clock of fate. He called himself Briglomb the Clockmaker. Notably, he claimed that Meagre\u0026rsquo;s Reach was supposed to be a town filled with undead, rather than \u0026hellip; whatever weird things were actually happening. He offered to make inquiries about getting my arm fixed if we fetched oil for his clockwork device from Mr Clep in Blackeswell. The task seemed simple enough, so we agreed. It will never actually be that simple, of course.\n","date":"13 December 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-123/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-123.webp\nBern # We traveled further south and encountered the town of Blackeswell, which was very fishy. All the food and drink smelled strongly of fish and was quite green. We refused to take more than a single sip or swallow of the stuff, fearing we would turn as green as most of the populace. We spoke to a priest who claimed to serve St Gondyw, but he was completely unwelcoming and would rather be rid of us. He also seemed to have an unholy interest in one Mr. Clep, who (according to other townsfolk) had recently arrived in the city and was buying up property rapidly for unspecified purposes.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 123","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Bern # u-Heury finally made his wish: \u0026ldquo;I wish for my beautiful princess, who remains loyal to me through time, to come to me, riding on her mammoth when it is time to form my kingdom.\u0026rdquo; The kid spent a mighty long time thinking to come up with that. He seems to think he deserves a kingdom, a beautiful princess, and a mammoth. The loyal bit was an interesting twist, and I\u0026rsquo;m curious how tall his princess and her mammoth will be seeing as he was about 6 inches tall when he made the wish. That part, at least, wore off eventually.\nWe made our way to the manse of Ygraine, back on track to get my arm sorted out, and to meet up with Rowen. I got the chance to ask Ygraine \u0026ndash; by an exchange of notes, not personally \u0026ndash; for advice about fixing my arm. She said, first, tha t it couldn\u0026rsquo;t be done, second, that only a hag could do it, and third, never make deals with a hag. Well, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t hurt to hear the sales pitch, right? She also told me about a hag named Bertha Bogbottom who lived in the woods. We were supposed to follow the road to Prigworth, then turn southwest into a bog filled with dead trees.\nWe set off in that direction. Rowen was nattering on about ley lines. It rained on us, and I got a cold. We saw a phoenix, and a strange pillar that opened a stone eye to look at me when I approached. A flock (?) of pegasi circled around a field. We passed it all by because we had somewhere to be, and if I\u0026rsquo;m being honest, because none of those strange events looked like there was money to be made.\n","date":"7 December 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-122/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # u-Heury finally made his wish: “I wish for my beautiful princess, who remains loyal to me through time, to come to me, riding on her mammoth when it is time to form my kingdom.” The kid spent a mighty long time thinking to come up with that. He seems to think he deserves a kingdom, a beautiful princess, and a mammoth. The loyal bit was an interesting twist, and I’m curious how tall his princess and her mammoth will be seeing as he was about 6 inches tall when he made the wish. That part, at least, wore off eventually.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 122","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # When the ancient fortuneteller in Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s congregation told me I had to leave right away to save my friends, I didn\u0026rsquo;t ask many questions. She said to go to the manse of the lady Ygraine, near Westkeep, and I was familiar with the place. More, I knew Bern had been sniffing around that area \u0026ndash; probably literally, he\u0026rsquo;s as much beast as man \u0026ndash; in search of a cure for his withered arm. So I set off immediately on my trusty horse Antipesto.\nI reached Black Mirror Lake without incident, except that the lake was in fact the incident. Antipesto doesn\u0026rsquo;t see well in the dark, and dunked me in the lake as soon as we got there. I made my way to the manse a very sore, soaked, and bedraggled paladin just as a carriage flew out the gates. A very strange figure came running 0ut of one of the buildings after the carriage; the woman was wearing some hideously clashing ensemble of a dress and more makeup than a farmer would need to whitewash his barn. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t until she called out to the carriage that I recognized her voice as my friend and fellow member of the Glorious Blades, Rowen.\nThe carriage was long gone by the time Rowen mentioned that Morin had stowed away on it.\nWe returned to the manse and arranged to stay the night. Rowen apparently had some pull with the lady, despite her awful fashion sense, and I coasted in on her endorsement. The night passed without incident.\nMorin stumbled in the next morning looking very much worse for wear. She had followed the carriage until it stopped, then somehow knocked herself out trying to overhear a conversation. When she woke, there was nothing left but a few gold coins on the ground. That lead was at an end, at least for the moment.\nRowen was avoiding three strange figures we had met before. They wanted me to give her a strange blank card, and said to tear it in half if their aid was needed. I took the card; I\u0026rsquo;ll figure out what to do with it later.\nI also managed to introduce myself to one Jack Milktongue, a grimalkin bard. As a fellow hunter of vermin, he may be a good ally in the future.\nThe evening was not a complete waste, however. Rowen\u0026rsquo;s activities during the party, which apparently drove off Lope and his companions in the carriage, also attracted the attention of the lady Ygraine and gained her a private audience. In that audience, Rowen reported that they discussed the plight of Meagre\u0026rsquo;s Reach. Ygraine denied both knowledge of and responsibility for the problem, but seemed interested in fixing it. She gave Rowen a task: follow the ley lines south and west, to find and return with a certain magic rock. This assignment didn\u0026rsquo;t come with much in the way of explanation to the rest of us.\nWe discussed this over brunch by the lake, trying to decide what to do.\n","date":"29 November 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-121/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # When the ancient fortuneteller in Cloacina’s congregation told me I had to leave right away to save my friends, I didn’t ask many questions. She said to go to the manse of the lady Ygraine, near Westkeep, and I was familiar with the place. More, I knew Bern had been sniffing around that area – probably literally, he’s as much beast as man – in search of a cure for his withered arm. So I set off immediately on my trusty horse Antipesto.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 121","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # Shortly before we left the rebel camp, a young man named Gareth asked to join our group. He felt that leaving in our company might give him a better chance of escaping whatever curse held Meagre\u0026rsquo;s Reach in thrall. We agreed, having no real reason not to allow it, and set off at dawn. Despite the dire warnings and Gareth\u0026rsquo;s presence, we had no problem departing the area, and made our way to the manse of Ygraine. After a brief discussion, and observing a slow approach of swan boats carrying people we presumed to be guests, we chose to approach and find out what we could.\nThe gates opened on their own, which wasn\u0026rsquo;t creepy at all. Within was a compound of buildings, with a stables, a main hall, and several smaller buildings that might represent servant\u0026rsquo;s quarters, storage, barracks, or any number of other things. No one approached us; indeed it seemed as if no one was present at all until we knocked on the door at the main house. The door itself animated to answer us, and Rowen claimed an invitation from the three creepy nobles we had previously met here to get us past the door guardian. It worked, and the hunt for information began.\nMy first gambit was to ask about signing a guestbook. There was one, and most of us signed in; I specified my name as \u0026ldquo;Not Tanis\u0026rdquo;, hoping that might confuse any fae magic based on names, and the rest gave their own names\u0026hellip; or, mostly, made up ones. While they did, I tried to read the other entries to see if Lope or his father Reynold had signed up. I was a little too obvious looking, but I did see Lope\u0026rsquo;s name.\nAfter that we split up to investigate separately. Gareth went to volunteer at the stables. I joined the servants and claimed a uniform. Rowen talked a servant girl out of her fabulous orange-lime dress and planned to join as an entertainer, and Morin just disappeared.\nIt took quite a while, but Lope did eventually arrive, with two ladies on his arm and a few guards as well. I formulated my plan: listen to his conversations, get him drunk, follow him to his room, possibly search it and him for some sort of token that might allow him to pass in and out of Meagre\u0026rsquo;s Reach. Giving his clothes a close examination didn\u0026rsquo;t reveal anything that looked like a fae token.\nNot long after Lope\u0026rsquo;s entrance, the lady Ygraine herself appeared. She exercised a subtle touch, being seen and heard without sparking focused attention. Occasionally she would invite some of the attendees into a private audience.\nRowen took center stage then, performing some sort of illusion act that involved gremlins that shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be fed after midnight. She picked on the women with Lope quite harshly, infuriating Lope and both women. They stormed off in a huff. In my guise as a servant, I followed, affecting a look of offended dignity. On my way out I saw the lady Ygraine herself gesture to Rowen, an invitation to meet privately, but I kept my focus on Lope, who was making his way towards the stables and calling for his carriage to depart. I crept closer, hoping to hitch a ride or at least overhear something useful. I saw Morin doing the same, but Gareth was nowhere to be found. There was only room for one stowaway on the carriage in any case\u0026hellip;\n","date":"23 November 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-120/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # Shortly before we left the rebel camp, a young man named Gareth asked to join our group. He felt that leaving in our company might give him a better chance of escaping whatever curse held Meagre’s Reach in thrall. We agreed, having no real reason not to allow it, and set off at dawn. Despite the dire warnings and Gareth’s presence, we had no problem departing the area, and made our way to the manse of Ygraine. After a brief discussion, and observing a slow approach of swan boats carrying people we presumed to be guests, we chose to approach and find out what we could.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 120","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # We didn\u0026rsquo;t make it back tomorrow, or the next day. We dragged our coin, poorly hidden, past a traveling caravan; we paid extortion money to a gargoyle with two mossy statues; we suffered through blood rain and invisible hail and the worst cold I\u0026rsquo;ve ever had. We did finally make it to town, where absolutely everyone wanted to know what we had in the urns.\nWe did notice a few details in town. The road leading east was being repaved with strange new cobblestones that had a dark and glittery quality to them. Rowen commented that they looked almost as if they reflected the night sky. There appeared to be a workshop making the stones in town.\nThe other, stranger thing: several villagers were standing (or sitting, etc) in the village square, completely motionless, as if they had been turned into a statue right in the middle of whatever they were doing. Rowen poked one, and got no reaction from the frozen girl. One of the other villagers, an old woman, assigned her the task of cleaning the dust and lint from the frozen girl the next morning as an act of penance. It was very odd, but shed no light on what was going on. Perhaps it would become relevant later.\nThey followed us to the general store where we bought a chest and some sacks. Rowen was chatted up by one of the few young folk around, and he offered to get her some wine if she met him out of town after dark; he seemed very secretive about the whole idea.\nThe inquisitive townsfolk followed us to the moneychanger, where we dumped our 2000sp for a paltry 120gp. (Without a detect magic available, we held on to the jewelry). They followed us to the inn, where we got a room, had dinner, and left the chest in the room, along with a nice note to whoever stole it. They did not follow us out of town to meet the man with the wine.\nAs it turns out, the man with the wine also had a band of merry men and women, who claimed to be trapped near Meagre\u0026rsquo;s Reach due to the machinations of the fae Ygraine. The same who owned the manse by the lake, in fact. The head of the town council, a man named Reynold Barhaim, was supposedly in league with Ygraine. He had some means to leave the area, which his son Lope used to attend parties at Ygraine\u0026rsquo;s manse. They begged us to investigate the matter, starting with Ygraine\u0026rsquo;s manse and the son Lope. We avoided making promises, seeking only to return to Westkeep without being trapped here, but our path would take us past the manse anyway.\nWe stayed the night, as it was already dark, planning to leave for Westkeep in the morning. The jewelry we had uncovered in the barrow would bring a better reward than the silver, once we could check it for magic. The rest could wait.\n","date":"9 November 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-119/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # We didn’t make it back tomorrow, or the next day. We dragged our coin, poorly hidden, past a traveling caravan; we paid extortion money to a gargoyle with two mossy statues; we suffered through blood rain and invisible hail and the worst cold I’ve ever had. We did finally make it to town, where absolutely everyone wanted to know what we had in the urns.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 119","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-118.webp\nBern # Selaena managed to get us an update: the Princess was overjoyed to hear that her True Love yet lived and sought her embrace, but insisted on seeing the ring before actually doing anything. So we tried to arrange another distraction. The guests kept demanding new and obscure dishes (everything from roast swan to pizza rolls) and sending the waitstaff \u0026ndash; us \u0026ndash; down to the kitchens to get it. u-Heury was downstairs trying to arrange for his wrestling match with the ogre when Selaena managed to sneak upstairs again \u0026ndash; this time with the ring and and plan.\nSeleana somehow convinced the princess to open a window and climb down the outside of the tower with a rope. The princess was willing, but as this was her \u0026ldquo;first time\u0026rdquo; climbing down a tower, she begged Selaena to \u0026ldquo;take it slow and don\u0026rsquo;t hurt me.\u0026rdquo; Selaena obliged.\nBy this time u-Heury was creating his own distraction by arguing with the troll about when their wrestling match was, instead of feeding the guests. Since I was the only one feeding them and thus preventing them from investigating either the princess above or the servants hiding below, things got tense. My excuses were getting thin and tying some morsel to my belt for Kiki to chase after did not amuse anyone.\nEven pointing out the troll wrestling match failed, because it wasn\u0026rsquo;t happening; somehow u-Heury had eaten another mushroom and shrunk down to about half the size of my \u0026ndash; ahem. Anyways, when I threw open the windows to point out the troll fight there was no troll fight. Total fail. But I went back down with two guards for a refreshing investigation with a side of pizza rolls. While the guards were hassling the troll and goblin duo, I heard a quiet thumb from just out of sight. The Princess had landed!\nI quickly lured my two guards back up stairs and kept distracting them for a few more minutes. When I heard u-Heury and Kiba making a break for it, I decided it was time for me to do the same. I ran straight for the window, my new huge shield held before me, and crashed through. It was a bit of a fall, but only from the second floor; the shield took most of the impact. From there I made my way into the woods, circling around to return to the world of men.\nSadly, I must report the death of our colleague Arabash, who went missing while on a mission with the Glorious Blades years ago. He had wandered into the candlelit portal to the world of fae, and been pressed into service as a butler in the manner as the rest of us were. Based on when we last saw him, he\u0026rsquo;s been trapped here for years. I told him we would try to get him out, but he died when he fell from the 2nd floor of the tower during my escape. Tragic.\nIn the end, we all escaped safely (\u0026hellip; well, almost all), and regrouped in the burial chamber with a very fae living princess and her spectral betrothed. A happy ending for them, and for u-Heury, who was offered a wish.\nHe\u0026rsquo;s been thinking it over for an hour now.\n","date":"5 October 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-118/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-118.webp\nBern # Selaena managed to get us an update: the Princess was overjoyed to hear that her True Love yet lived and sought her embrace, but insisted on seeing the ring before actually doing anything. So we tried to arrange another distraction. The guests kept demanding new and obscure dishes (everything from roast swan to pizza rolls) and sending the waitstaff – us – down to the kitchens to get it. u-Heury was downstairs trying to arrange for his wrestling match with the ogre when Selaena managed to sneak upstairs again – this time with the ring and and plan.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 118","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"30 September 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/faran/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Faran","type":"tags"},{"content":"This is the record of a desperate escape from the demonic madness gripping the Underdark. Captured and enslaved, a diverse group of prisoners must band together to survive the treacherous subterranean world and the demon lords who rule it. This log details their flight through bizarre landscapes, their encounters with strange allies and terrifying foes, and their slow descent into the madness that lurks in the abyss.\n","date":"30 September 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"This is the record of a desperate escape from the demonic madness gripping the Underdark. Captured and enslaved, a diverse group of prisoners must band together to survive the treacherous subterranean world and the demon lords who rule it. This log details their flight through bizarre landscapes, their encounters with strange allies and terrifying foes, and their slow descent into the madness that lurks in the abyss.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Faran Magebane # We negotiated the agreement for oils to protect weaponry from acid in the coming gnomish dessert war. In the meantime, Soggy got stoned, Elania (?) ate some of Creeper\u0026rsquo;s green dragon jerky and felt sick, and Creeper himself got briefly arrested for trying to smoke Larry the mushroom. The rest of us asked for something we could do to pass the time while the three stooges sobered up, and were invited to go after a shambling mound that had been bothering prime mushroom-land. We agreed, and were provided three potions of greater healing, one each, as compensation. After a brief discussion of strategy and securing a small mushroom scout, we set off.\nThe mound snuck up on us despite our best efforts. I bounced it around with Thunderwave a few times, and a few more smacks with my torch-mace. Faolain kept us healthy and summoned some vaguely demonic looking things that chewed the mound up. Our new mage contributed mostly by being bait. After a short battle, we returned triumphantly to our still-disabled companions.\n","date":"30 September 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-23/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"Faran Magebane # We negotiated the agreement for oils to protect weaponry from acid in the coming gnomish dessert war. In the meantime, Soggy got stoned, Elania (?) ate some of Creeper’s green dragon jerky and felt sick, and Creeper himself got briefly arrested for trying to smoke Larry the mushroom. The rest of us asked for something we could do to pass the time while the three stooges sobered up, and were invited to go after a shambling mound that had been bothering prime mushroom-land. We agreed, and were provided three potions of greater healing, one each, as compensation. After a brief discussion of strategy and securing a small mushroom scout, we set off.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 23","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":"","date":"30 September 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/outoftheabyss/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Outoftheabyss","type":"tags"},{"content":" Nottanis # Rather than return to town immediately, we investigated some of the nearby barrows. While we walked, Rowen had the bright idea to put on the wight-making necklace we found in order to \u0026ldquo;make sure we kept her safe\u0026rdquo;. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure where she got this obviously bad idea but she should stop listening to them.\nThe first had a simple porticullis guarding the entrance, and no skull on top. After inspecting it for traps we managed to lift it and descend, with Rowan\u0026rsquo;s Dancing Lights lighting the way, and a log holding the gate up so it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t close behind us.\nA short passage led to a small chamber containing 6 vases. When I first approached using infravision, I caught sight of a mass of centipedes swarming over the vases. We retreated to discuss options and decided to try to lead them back to the gate with missile fire, then drop the gate and shoot through it.\nBeing the only one who could see clearly in the dark, I advanced and took a few shots at range, killing one. They headed towards me, according to plan, but the plan did not include two more dropping fr4om the ceiling right at my feet. I retreated and killed another. The other two yelled that they couldn\u0026rsquo;t see to shoot, so I retreated further behind the gate and dropped it. But the remaining centipedes did not follow.\nWe opened the gate again and went to the vases, but there were no centipedes. At least not until I picked up a vase and tried to carry it out. Then the remaining insects appeared. Rowan and Morin fired once and fled, killing one, but leaving me in the dark to fight alone. I managed to kill one more, but the second practically dissolved my shield before I could retreat back to the light.\nAt my urging, we took one final venture into the barrow, slaying the last two and retrieving all of the urns. They contained a total of 200gp (in silver) and two pieces of jewelry worth 300gp and 500gp. We set off for Meagre\u0026rsquo;s Reach, dragging the coin behind us.\nOn the way, we were attacked by three stirges; they followed us for most of the day and waited out the night before attacking. Rowen got sucked on for a bit, but we were able to kill the stirge before it drained her of blood. The rest died without tasting anyone.\nWith any luck we\u0026rsquo;ll make it back to town tomorrow, check the necklaces for magic, and perhaps acquire more tools and some laborers to help open the first barrow.\n","date":"28 September 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-117/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # Rather than return to town immediately, we investigated some of the nearby barrows. While we walked, Rowen had the bright idea to put on the wight-making necklace we found in order to “make sure we kept her safe”. I’m not sure where she got this obviously bad idea but she should stop listening to them.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 117","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-116.webp\nNottanis # We traveled further down the road, meeting a knight by the name of Richard the Lionhearted and his single merry (and weirdly mossy) dwarf. We discussed the road in both directions, and the dwarf inquired about peculiar mushrooms. Richard mentioned that there was someone already looking into the weirdness of time around the town of Meagre\u0026rsquo;s Reach, and advised us not to stay there long lest we be caught up in the time distortion ourselves.\nAll very interesting but not very helpful.\nWe traveled onward, leaving the forest, and found a sign reading \u0026ldquo;Distilerry\u0026rdquo;. Rowen was out of wine and craving a drink, so we followed the path leading off the trail for an hour or two. What we found was a hideous old woman, practically rotting in front of us, who was keeping company with several zombies. Peaceful zombies, albeit not very chatty. She offered Rowen a bottle of whiskey for 400gp, and I\u0026rsquo;ll be damned if the girl didn\u0026rsquo;t agree and pay in platinum on the spot. The hag claimed it would make the dead talk, at least for a minute or two, if we poured it down their throat. Supposedly the bottle of embalming fluid holds 10 shots. We left with the bottle, thoroughly creeped out, and camped near the road.\nAfter leaving the hag and following the ley lines for a while, we found Sanfire Wetkettle cooking out in the middle of the woods, and joined up with him. We found a strange barrow with a skull formation on top, and Rowen tried pouring some of her new embalmer\u0026rsquo;s whiskey down the \u0026ldquo;throat\u0026rdquo; of the central skull. It told us there were many nearby barrows, some of which had treasure, but this one was empty and trapped. We searched for others, eventually finding and marking one that appeared intact and was not marked with a skull formation on top. We had nothing to interrogate, but perhaps the skulls on top are meant to mark the trapped ones?\nAt any rate, we\u0026rsquo;ll need a set of pickaxes and maybe some laborers to crack that one open and see what\u0026rsquo;s inside.\n","date":"7 September 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-116/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-116.webp\nNottanis # We traveled further down the road, meeting a knight by the name of Richard the Lionhearted and his single merry (and weirdly mossy) dwarf. We discussed the road in both directions, and the dwarf inquired about peculiar mushrooms. Richard mentioned that there was someone already looking into the weirdness of time around the town of Meagre’s Reach, and advised us not to stay there long lest we be caught up in the time distortion ourselves.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 116","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-115.webp\nNottanis # Rowen had the idea to take a walk into the Dolemwood to follow some sort of ley line she supposedly can see in the sky. I could use a walk in the woods, so I agreed to come along, and apparently Morin was bored too. We wandered into the woods and spend a lovely night by the Dark Mirror Lake. A swan boat was collecting dreams.\nWe stopped by the manse of lady Ygraine the next morning, meeting three nobles on the way. They invited us to a party; I was willing but the two ladies declined. I think the nobles creeped them out; I had to grab Rowen\u0026rsquo;s hand to keep one from slobbering all over it. So we moved on, passing a strange field of very small tunnels. We stuffed a stick in one and lit it on fire to see if they were connected (yes) and then moved on since nothing came out and we had nothing to dig with.\nSeveral more days of travel in the forest brought us to a strange town of Maegre\u0026rsquo;s Reach, which had no young people at all. Except us, sort of (I\u0026rsquo;m older than I look). No one would say where the young people were. We found a few at the tavern, but they left when we tried to join them, without answering questions. The only other thing of note in the town was a statue in the central square. Eventually, we bought supplies and moved on.\nThe next stretch of road was covered in spiderwebs and kept trying to make us fall asleep at bad times. My mother, an elf, told me she had always been immune to such spells and I would be safe from them as well thanks to my elven heritage. Turns out she was wrong; I kept taking little naps. It was very awkward, especially when I was the only one on watch and woke up to a 7-foot spider sinking its fangs into my neck! I yelled and rolled away, just barely in time to avoid the poison. The yelling woke my friends, while I grabbed sword and shield.\nThe thing bit me again, and this time I wasn\u0026rsquo;t fast enough. The poison burned in my veins, making my muscles twitch in a macabre dance. Morin and Rowen were stumbling out of their tent in their nightclothes, tripping over each other. I was frantically backing away while trying to hide behind my shield when Rowen babbled something at the creature in the language of Chaos\u0026hellip; and it answered.\nThere was a back and forth. They were negotiating.\nThen, with trepidation, Rowen held out her arm, and allowed the spider to bite her. The creature scurried off, leaving us alone. Blood oozed from the two fang marks on Rowen\u0026rsquo;s arm as my twitching gradually subsided.\nI owe Rowen my life.\n","date":"31 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-115/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-115.webp\nNottanis # Rowen had the idea to take a walk into the Dolemwood to follow some sort of ley line she supposedly can see in the sky. I could use a walk in the woods, so I agreed to come along, and apparently Morin was bored too. We wandered into the woods and spend a lovely night by the Dark Mirror Lake. A swan boat was collecting dreams.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 115","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-114.webp\nBern # We returned to Westkeep for a few days to heal, sealing the tomb again on the way out. On the trip back, we noticed a strange tree shaped like a gigantic foot, and a flock of hawk-deer hybrids. We avoided both. In Westkeep, I passed on the news about the gnome and his grain to the local priest. Seleana volunteered to look for herbs to help our recovery, and I went hunting to help pay for her room at the inn in return. We all picked up proper winter clothes, then returned to the tomb. u-Heury complained of the ghost in the ring talking to him the whole time.\nPassing through the underground chamber led to a winter wonderland\u0026hellip; obviously a fae realm of some kind, with a strange crack in the sky that resembled the crack in the floor of the tomb above. There was a lake, and a tower in the center, like an egg fried sunny side up. And it was cold. We knocked on the door, which was opened by a large troll being ridden by a small goblin with a clipboard. He was checking names off of a guest list for a wedding. Methinks the lady in question has gotten cold feet.\nu-Heury couldn\u0026rsquo;t think of a way to lie his way in, so I said I was a ranger bringing human food for the guests. The goblin wasn\u0026rsquo;t fully convinced, but agreed to let me in if I ate a mushroom and helped out with the wedding. Sensing a way to achieve our objective, I agreed. The others did also. Selaena didn\u0026rsquo;t seem changed, but u-Huery grew to 12 feet tall and burst out of all his clothes. Awkward. I got about 6 feet of hair growth, so\u0026hellip; pretty much normal after a few months in the wild. I took the time to clean up a bit, but they sent Selaena and u-Heury in with refreshments right away.\nWhen I finally entered the room, u-Heury was backing away from a staircase leading further up under close eye of a frosty prince, while Selaena tried to sneak down that same staircase.\n","date":"23 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-114/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-114.webp\nBern # We returned to Westkeep for a few days to heal, sealing the tomb again on the way out. On the trip back, we noticed a strange tree shaped like a gigantic foot, and a flock of hawk-deer hybrids. We avoided both. In Westkeep, I passed on the news about the gnome and his grain to the local priest. Seleana volunteered to look for herbs to help our recovery, and I went hunting to help pay for her room at the inn in return. We all picked up proper winter clothes, then returned to the tomb. u-Heury complained of the ghost in the ring talking to him the whole time.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 114","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Faran Magebane # We cleaned up the last of the elements attacking us with the help of a Shatter spell. The familiar feeling of hallowed ground told me the mission was complete, and we headed back to the Foaming Mug for some well deserved rest. We woke to an elf removing Creg\u0026rsquo;s eyes, waving a wanted poster at us when we went to interfere. Not one from the drow, but from the surface. Honestly we were all too shocked to object, even when she said she wanted to go back to the surface with us because she was lost down here too.\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t know the old wizard very well, but if she could find him coming all the way from the surface, I figured she could find my brother. Since that\u0026rsquo;s why I\u0026rsquo;m down here, it would be nice to do that. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth all the same.\nThe next step was looking for some sort of Bane-Boon or Boom-Bane or Essence of Something. We wandered off into the caves for two weeks, and the only thing we found was a weird cavern of crystals and a couple narrow ledges. We crossed the ledges with rope \u0026ndash; useful when some of the humans slipped \u0026ndash; and met a derro fleeing from\u0026hellip; something. We never found what he was so afraid of. We did find, and fight, some sort of tentacle monster.\n","date":"20 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-22/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"Faran Magebane # We cleaned up the last of the elements attacking us with the help of a Shatter spell. The familiar feeling of hallowed ground told me the mission was complete, and we headed back to the Foaming Mug for some well deserved rest. We woke to an elf removing Creg’s eyes, waving a wanted poster at us when we went to interfere. Not one from the drow, but from the surface. Honestly we were all too shocked to object, even when she said she wanted to go back to the surface with us because she was lost down here too.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 22","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-113.webp\nBern # I had been putting this damn arm problem off long enough. I got the Glorious Blades back together in Westwood, planning to explore the Dolmenwood and make contact with a fae who might be able to fix my arm\u0026hellip; somehow. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t as well planned as I\u0026rsquo;d like but I was out of ideas and so were the local churches.\nOscar offered me the shield he had been using, a huge piece of twisted iron that I was surprised he could even lift, much less fight with. He said he mostly hides behind it. Apparently when he got around to researching it, he found out that it has ties to an orc leader of some kind, and he didn\u0026rsquo;t want to carry it. On the other hand, it\u0026rsquo;s perfect for me; I don\u0026rsquo;t mind the weight, and I don\u0026rsquo;t really have the religious scruples. I\u0026rsquo;ll cover the thing up and if I see any orcs, I\u0026rsquo;ll ask them about it. And maybe the fae would trade destroying it in return for restoring my arm.\nAnyways, Westwood was having one of their periodic anti-fae mini-crusades, this one led by a paladin of Ygg named Mariner. He was an ass, even from a distance, and he was planning to lead an armed mob into the Dolmenwood. Even the local priest of Ygg was skeptical. We spoke with the priest and then the general, briefly, but got little of use from either. We did hear mention of a lady Ygraine whose manse lay within the Dolmenwood; Oscar had spoken of its rough location previously, though he had not met the lady, and u-Heury knew the way.\nThe general marched before we did. In his wake, we found a burned wagon filled with grain and the corpses of several gnomes, peaceful merchants for all we could tell. Presumably the general had claimed his first \u0026ldquo;victory\u0026rdquo;.\nWe were in no hurry to catch up to the military force after that, so chose to divert to the burial site u-Heury had dubbed Winter\u0026rsquo;s Daughter. I had my serpent blade, and u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s very person was anathema to magical creatures; we felt it likely the stone dog could be defeated.\nWe prepared as best we could before opening the doors. We didn\u0026rsquo;t have a sack large enough to cover the stone dog\u0026rsquo;s head, but I tied its front legs together. Then we opened the door and the fight began. u-Heury and I traded blows with the beast while the others, lacking magic weapons, hung back out of reach. We struck several blows before I took a wound in return, and stepped back to let u-Heury finish the fight. The man is insanely tough. Too weak for a proper fighting man, but he just keeps going. Respect. The stone dog fell not long after that.\nBehind the doors lay a sarcophagus and a ghost, who claimed to be a long-dead hero who loved a fae and now regretted his part in the war, or so I surmised. He begged u-Heury to take a ring from his grave, to which his soul was bound, and bring it to his fae love as proof he still desired her. He promised treasure from his burial site as reward, but at that point I stepped forward and bargained on my own behalf, requesting his good word on my behalf with his lady regarding my arm. The ghost said he would speak on my behalf if we completed the task.\nHe also offered directions. The lake below us \u0026ndash; where u-Heury has disappeared briefly, long ago \u0026ndash; led to a realm of the fae where his lady could be found. He warned us of cold, so I spent the rest of the day hunting for food and to fashion clothes suitable for a colder climate. We would be well advised to rest for a few days to recover before venturing forth.\n","date":"17 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-113/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-113.webp\nBern # I had been putting this damn arm problem off long enough. I got the Glorious Blades back together in Westwood, planning to explore the Dolmenwood and make contact with a fae who might be able to fix my arm… somehow. It wasn’t as well planned as I’d like but I was out of ideas and so were the local churches.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 113","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"We made our way back to Thatchem on birdback. The wizards of matwoob were willing to buy what we managed to recover, and expressed some dismay at our description of the current occupants of \u0026ldquo;their\u0026rdquo; tower. They did offer us a magical staff that would enable us to climb to the floating island via a stairway to heaven for future trips. Elvinia agreed to take charge of that on behalf of the group.\nOscar donated the Magician\u0026rsquo;s Guide to Illusions to Rowan, who chose to study it over the next few months.\nI took the opportunity to restock my equipment, replacing what the rust monsters had eaten.\nWe also took the time to investigate some of the magical items we had acquired in our adventures.\nOscar\u0026rsquo;s shield, bent and twisted as it was, turned out to be an orc relic once dedicated to one of their strange gods. It was powerfully enchanted, both to protect its wielder in war as well as preserve their body in death. It also marked the wielder in some fashion as the leader of an orc faction. Oscar was unwilling to continue to carry it knowing this, and I felt the same. Bern volunteered, being both best capable of carrying the weight and in most need of extra protection while he sought a cure for his arm, but we all felt this was likely to be a temporary arrangement.\nThe ruby snake necklace turned out to be a different matter. We spent quite a bit of gold trying to identify it, with Elvinia leading the effort, before the wizard she was working with had the bright idea to put the necklace on a fresh corpse. The corpse immediately rose as a wight and killed the wizard; Elvinia barely escaped with her life. We weren\u0026rsquo;t sure what to do at that point; only a sadistic necromancer would actually pay for it, but finding and dealing with such would be morally questionable at best and outright evil at worst. Destroying the item would be better, but how? Selling the item without a warning would recoup our costs but eventually it would harm more people. Perhaps Denara would bless a sale to the priests of Dogma, as they enjoy studying strange and dangerous magic? Would Clocea accept that outcome?\nAfter that, and without making a decision, we all agreed that it was time for a vacation, and went our separate ways. We planned to meet up again in Westkeep in a year.\n","date":"10 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-112/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"We made our way back to Thatchem on birdback. The wizards of matwoob were willing to buy what we managed to recover, and expressed some dismay at our description of the current occupants of “their” tower. They did offer us a magical staff that would enable us to climb to the floating island via a stairway to heaven for future trips. Elvinia agreed to take charge of that on behalf of the group.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 112","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-111.webp\nAs soon as we stepped foot into the room below, a magical mouth appeared, shouting a word in some language none of us knew. It was obviously some kind of alarm. We hurried explored to the west, finding a staircase down and another alarm. We opened the door to the south just as some kind of creature entered the room, from the other staircase. With horror I recognized it from the tales of fellow guards: an armadillo with twin antenna, otherwise known as a rust monster. u-Heury started doffing his armor while I held the torch, letting Stria and Kiba take the front lines. Though Kiba\u0026rsquo;s attacks did nothing, Stria\u0026rsquo;s crystal dagger struck true, and u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s oiled thews grappled the strange beast, eventually strangling it. But not before it had managed to eat his sword and a number of other minor items.\nThe door to the south led to a corridor. We heard movement behind the first door, so bypassed it. The rest were silent. We checked the sdoutheast door first, finding a mostly empty room that nonetheless had a concealed space under the floor. we took the hidden box, which bore an eight-pointed star, and stuffed it into a backpack to open later, over Stria\u0026rsquo;s protests. There was no way we were going to take the time to open a possibly trapped small box on site under time pressure when we could just carry it out. Besides, the box itself might be valuable.\nWe heard noise outside of the door, from the corridor, but waited for it to pass. With the source of the noise out of sight, we dashed across the corridor into the northeast room. It was once a library, though the books were in awful condition. There was a pile of books in the middle of the room, oddly enough, in addition to the shelves. Three braziers might have offered light and heat, had they been lit. We spent almost half an hour sorting through the contents of the room, separating out the intact books.\nThe Blighted Legend (20gp) The Fractured Fortress by Grundanol the Sage (115gp) The Role of Toad-Skin in Spell Efficacy (125gp) Buboes and their Medicinal Properties (130gp) Gargyg\u0026rsquo;s Treatise on Cobbling for Beginners (75gp) Bubble and Brew: The Art of Alchemy (50gp)\nWe were interupted by the door crashing to the ground. On the other side were three more rust monsters. They had just finished eating the hinges, and went straight for me and ate my armor next. u-Heury lost his sword and some trinkets.\nRather than fight them, I ran for the door with u-Huery on my heels; the braziers were far more metal than either of us had left and the two leather-wearing folks could stuff the books into a sack and follow. As we ran I scattered the rest of my iron spikes on the floor, hoping to slow the rust monsters down after they finished with the braziers.\nOn the way out we peeked into the remaining rooms, including the one that we had heard noises from before. That room held a goblin corpse with unusual blue skin. u-Heury approached with caution, catching sight of motion from the corpse \u0026ndash; some sort of twitching. I hung back, keeping an eye out for the rust monsters, but rushed forward when several large maggot-like creatures burst from the corpse and slithered towards the barbarian. I recognize these from more tavern talk \u0026ndash; rot grubs. They would burrow into your flesh and seek your heart; a death sentence, if not an instant one. u-Heury slew one before it got to him, but without my armor, two found purchase in my exposed flesh.\nLuckily those tavern tales had also included the rather painful remedy: applying fire to the wound before the creature burrowed fully in. It hurt, but my prayers to Clocea eased the pain. I was too distracted to notice what we got from that room, if anything.\nWith that, we decided it was time to take our profits, such as they were for this expedition, and leave.\n","date":"3 August 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-111/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-111.webp\nAs soon as we stepped foot into the room below, a magical mouth appeared, shouting a word in some language none of us knew. It was obviously some kind of alarm. We hurried explored to the west, finding a staircase down and another alarm. We opened the door to the south just as some kind of creature entered the room, from the other staircase. With horror I recognized it from the tales of fellow guards: an armadillo with twin antenna, otherwise known as a rust monster. u-Heury started doffing his armor while I held the torch, letting Stria and Kiba take the front lines. Though Kiba’s attacks did nothing, Stria’s crystal dagger struck true, and u-Heury’s oiled thews grappled the strange beast, eventually strangling it. But not before it had managed to eat his sword and a number of other minor items.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 111","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-110.webp\nThe strange skeletal lampray latched on to u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s balls and bit down hard. Blood went everywhere, and the kid yelped like a eunuch. Before I could draw my sword, the thing detached and fled. Apparently u-Heury doesn\u0026rsquo;t taste fishy. I carefully offered prayers to Clocea to clense his body of injuries and his mind of impure thoughts, while laying my hands on his shoulders. It stopped the bleeding, but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to look closer to see what, if anything, was left. The boy was feeling his oats and asked Kiba to check. She also declined.\nWe decided there wasn\u0026rsquo;t any treasure here and moved on to the tower Oscar had first explored on the initial trip here on ravenback. We flew over the flying monkeys (well, baboons) on the way. They gave chase, but we were faster.\nWith the ravens, we were able to exploit the opening in the top of the tower once we arrived. Inside, we found a room with a lot of bats and a door further in. The bats left us alone as we slipped through the door into a wizard\u0026rsquo;s lounge filled with moldy tapestries and decaying furniture. On the bright side (heh) there was a mystical diagram made of blue quartz. We managed to remove 40 of the gems and guessed they were worth 10gp each. It took several hours, along with an overnight stay, to do that.\nThe room also had a hammer trap set up against the other entrance. Kiba managed to disable it. Frankly I had planned to leave it in place until we finished with the quartz, because I had clearly heard creatures outside trhose doors overnight, but the restless night creatures didn\u0026rsquo;t bother to open the door. In the morning, we finished extracting the quartz \u0026ndash; 40 gemstones, about 10gp each \u0026ndash; and opened the north doors to explore the rest.\nWhen we opened the door we were greeted by a squad of undead warriors, skeletons specifically. They didn\u0026rsquo;t last long.\nThe next room contained shelves of strange materials in jars, along with a detailed glyph inscrbed in the floor.\nBottled Moon Light (50gp) Tentacle of Octopus (125gp) Stems of Thorny Plants (55gp) Mistletoe Sprig (20gp) Kobold Toes (25gp) Eye of Newt (25gp)\nWe backtracked briefly and covered the glyph with a tapestry from the previous room, to ensure u-Heury wouldn\u0026rsquo;t accidentally vanish. Then we looted the place. As a soldier I had a great deal of experience with that, and as a paladin, well, Clocea needs funds to spread cleanliness. Sadly, aside from the weird components, there was little of obvious value. Midway through the process, we heard footsteps in the hallway. I passed some spikes to Kiba and had her spike the door until we were done, and we managed to finish without being interrupted.\nWhen we had our loot safely stowed, we moved on. One door to the northeast was blocked by some kind of a forcefield. T only thing we could see in the room was a painting of a wizard that shifted and seemed to move, all except for one hand. Presumably there is a way in somewhere, perhaps related to that, but the zombies caught sight of our party from the south before we could explore further possibilities. We ducked away to the west room, which turned out to be fillede with bats and open to the sky, but also had a staircase leading down.\nThe bats harassed us as we fled down the stairs. u-Heury and I fought a reargyard action against the zombies and managed to kill one, or at least knock it down, it\u0026rsquo;s hard to tell in the confusion. There were at least three more. Between the two of us fighters, plus Kiba and her little dog too, we could probably take four zombies. But finding a door to fight them one or two at a time seemed best, as we still had several levels to descend to ground level and we were both already hurt.\nIf nothing else the room below may let us make a stand using the staircase as a choke point.\n","date":"27 July 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-110/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-110.webp\nThe strange skeletal lampray latched on to u-Heury’s balls and bit down hard. Blood went everywhere, and the kid yelped like a eunuch. Before I could draw my sword, the thing detached and fled. Apparently u-Heury doesn’t taste fishy. I carefully offered prayers to Clocea to clense his body of injuries and his mind of impure thoughts, while laying my hands on his shoulders. It stopped the bleeding, but I wasn’t going to look closer to see what, if anything, was left. The boy was feeling his oats and asked Kiba to check. She also declined.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 110","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-109.webp\nOscar arrived in Thatchem by ravenback, still looking frazzled. His robes were scorched and burnt, but he had acquired a book of magic that seemed valuable to the mages in the tower of the leaning goose. He asked me to take his raven back to Highfell and help the others bring back more. With my promise to return Verminbane to Forrest fulfilled, it seemed a reasonable way to spend my time.\nThe raven flew me right to Stria as she hid outside the tower she had been exploring with Oscar. She was watching a chained griffon consume the body of a halfling. At least I hope it was a halfling. What a horrible way to die.\nWe flew by ravenback, first simply to escape any pursuit from the tower. We didn\u0026rsquo;t make it far before we had to camp for the night, and we agreed the best course of action was to fly the ravens to the tower we had already partially explored. We could scout others along the way and return with, hopefully, more goods and knowledge of this place to sell.\nThe next day we caught sight of a bit of bone sticking out of the ground, and landed to investigate. It was holding a scroll sealed with a crossed-sword sigil. Breaking the seal revealed a map that did not match our surroundings. We stowed it for further investigation later.\nThe ravens took us past several towers, and we had to stop for weather twice \u0026ndash; once for acid rain, preceded by green clouds, and once for an ice storm. One of the towers was protected by some sort of magical force that we were completely unable to penetrate.\nWe did gain entry to one tower populated by goblins after another storm forced us to seek shelter. They turned out to be willing to negotiate, seeking to hire us to kill either dragonmen or baboons. Stria showed them a holy symbol from a dragonman that the group had killed before I arrived. They promised us books from the tower as rewards. We asked to see an example, and they showed us A Guide to the Mating Habits of Giant Ravens. Given our ride here, that could be very useful. They claimed the baboons were in the third tower to the northwest of theirs, and the dragonmen mostly claimed the plateau. It would be easier to simply fight the goblins, but they had treated us peacefully so far. I would not strike the first blow against intelligent creatures. Eventually the storm passed and we moved on, still seeking the first tower Oscar had explored.\nFinally, another glint of bone caught our attention from above. We landed to find a pile of skulls. Remembering the map, we dug up the pile, revealing a strange fused shape of four skulls with a spine leading into the earth. We dug it up\u0026hellip; until it animated and attacked u-Heury.\n","date":"20 July 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-109/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-109.webp\nOscar arrived in Thatchem by ravenback, still looking frazzled. His robes were scorched and burnt, but he had acquired a book of magic that seemed valuable to the mages in the tower of the leaning goose. He asked me to take his raven back to Highfell and help the others bring back more. With my promise to return Verminbane to Forrest fulfilled, it seemed a reasonable way to spend my time.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 109","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-108.webp\nWe set off for the correct tower bright and early in the morning. The ravens flew us south, following the edge of the floating island, and we saw many towers around the edges. There were even ruined fortifications connecting some of the towers. We saw a tower made of sandstone, two more with a strange dome and a peaked roof.\nAbout a quarter of the way down, we came to a river, flowing off the edge of the island and disappearing into mist. This suggests some powerful magic is active here, above and beyond merely levitating the island; the water would surely have run out long ago were it not magically replenished somehow at a rate equal to the outflow of the river.\nJust south of the waterfall was the tower we were looking for, made of purplish quartzlike stone. We approached from the air, noting several holes about 50 feet up. They were small but might serve as entrances. The door, guarded by a massive symbol vaguely like a horned face, was intact but closed. We took the opportunity to scout another nearby tower, finding nothing especially noteworthy, but while doing so we caught sight of a captive griffon on the ground below.\nThe griffon was chained to the ground among a group of strange statues, clearly hurt and hostile. I approached carefully, offering food. It took the food, along with some blood, and didn\u0026rsquo;t seem any friendlier. Invoking Denara\u0026rsquo;s magic of parlay (Speak with Animals) I sought to communicate from a safe distance, but it did not seem to understand. Perhaps Selaena the druid would have better luck, or a knight with experience riding exotic creatures. I could see no way to approach it without being shredded, so we gave up on that and returned to the tower of Matwoob. The halfling Falduc was very impressed despite the lack of success.\nOur food supplies were running low, so u-Heury took it upon himself to hunt for supplies while the rest of us sought to find a way in. We approached and examined the door, which was made of the same strange material as the rest, with the only distinguishing mark being a circular depression that resembled a smaller version of the symbol above. Elvinia sought to Detect Magic on the door, which gave a positive result \u0026ndash; not surprising \u0026ndash; but also activated the symbol above the door, which challenged us about our presence there, and when we answered, had quite a lot to say about the \u0026ldquo;heretics\u0026rdquo; at the tower of the leaning goose. In fact, the symbol demanded we bring the head of the \u0026ldquo;heretics\u0026rdquo; to the tower in return for 5000gp. We retreated to consider the matter.\nNeither Stria (who could disguise herself) nor Elvinia (who could convincingly portray a wielder of the arcane arts) nor Falduc (who would fit conveniently in a sack) were willing to pretend to be the head of the order to claim the reward. The symbol had admitted it knew nothing of the current membership or leadership of the order it sought destroyed, however. If we could return later with a convenient corpse, we might be able to collect on that reward.\nWe resolved to scale the back of the tower to try entering through one of the holes. u-Heury had not yet returned, but a dangling rope would be obvious, and the young man can climb. He would follow soon.\nStria was able to make the climb with a rope and some spikes, which she fixed in place for the rest of us. The climb was 50\u0026rsquo;, so we had barely enough rope. At the top, we found a room with lit torches and prayer mats; someone was actively living here! I sent Stria to listen at the door for anyone nearby while I readied myself for combat. Luckily we were undisturbed. Taking the opportunity, I cast Bless and Cure Light Wounds. The latter nicely healed the wounds from the griffon, and Denara saw fit to bestow a goldem glow upon me.\nExiting the room, we found a square-ish corridor surrounding a central area, with multiple branching passageways and doors. Stria and the halfling again scouted ahead, finding more doors and a staircase heading both up and down. We prepared to listen at three of them, hoping to locate any inhabitants before they located us. Unfortunately, those inhabitants came from the stairs below us. Stria and the halfling were hidden around a corner, but I was in plain view. I tried to duck out of sight, but they had clearly seen me and shouted out a hue and cry for aid from below.\nI waited just around the corner, alerting Stria by gestures to remain where she was and ambush them when they followed me around the corner.\nIt was a good plan, except I heard the sounds of spellcasting inastead. They weren\u0026rsquo;t going to follow. Figuring I had the chance to reach them and fight in melee, I charged around the corner \u0026ndash; but they were gone. Figuring they had retreated for reinforcements, I dug out my oil flask and approached the stairs, planning to block the staircase with burning oil. Instead I heard chanting once more, and a wizard in robes pointed a baleful finger directly at me from scacely a few feet away. I ducked behind my shield just in time, as a bolt of lightning shot towards me.\nMy shield protected me from the worst of the blast, and I could feel Denara\u0026rsquo;s grace guiding the sparks around me instead of into my tender flesh. Still, the pain was terrible, and I must has looked quite intimidating to the wizard, still standing upright after his powerful magic, my whole body glowing with Denara\u0026rsquo;s grace and all my hair standing on end. Still, the wise course of action in the face of such dangerous magic and summoned reinforcements was flight. I taunted the wizard (\u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t most men your age have performance problems, sparky?\u0026rdquo;) and ducked back around the corner, pouring out my oil flask as I did so. The halfling followed and added more oil. Stria ran past and into the room we had come from, heading out.\nI yelled at trhe halfling to light the oil with a torch while I poured more just outside the door, but he complained that it didn\u0026rsquo;t catch. Neither did mine a moment later. Stria still had my spikes and hammer, and used them to quickly secure the door before heading out the hole in the wall. The halfling followed \u0026ndash; I heard a horrible scream and then a splat. Then it was my turn; no time to worry about Falduc or shuck my armor. They had already smashed the door down, and the wizard ran into the doorway just as I slung my shield across my back to climb down.\nWith a parting quip (\u0026ldquo;Maybe you\u0026rsquo;ll have better luck with the mistress tonight, sparky!\u0026rdquo;) I slid down the rope as fast as I safely could. I landed on the halfing\u0026rsquo;s body; the poor fellow had slipped and the fall was too much for him. On the bright side, we now had a convenient corpse for the guardian doorknocker at the front door to redeem for cash and prizes. A fair trade!\nStria stuffed the body into a sack and we ran off.\n","date":"13 July 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-108/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-108.webp\nWe set off for the correct tower bright and early in the morning. The ravens flew us south, following the edge of the floating island, and we saw many towers around the edges. There were even ruined fortifications connecting some of the towers. We saw a tower made of sandstone, two more with a strange dome and a peaked roof.\nAbout a quarter of the way down, we came to a river, flowing off the edge of the island and disappearing into mist. This suggests some powerful magic is active here, above and beyond merely levitating the island; the water would surely have run out long ago were it not magically replenished somehow at a rate equal to the outflow of the river.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 108","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-107.webp\nWe crossed the pit, finding a T intersection with two more doors. Between us, we listened to them all. We heard voices behind one; someone was chanting. Stria opened the one next to it, just a crack, and closed it quickly. She whispered that there were more Vol cultists there, discussing how to get past some monster obstacle. Behind the third door, yet more dragon cultists. There were no obvious valuables or reasons to reveal our presence, so we left.\nThe ravens had still not returned. We traveled south towards the ice tower, hoping to learn a little more while waiting for the ravens. In that we were successful; the entrance is guarded by two tree creatures. They are intelligent enough to speak, but refused to let us pass. We circled the base and found no other entrances. Perhaps linked to our closer approach, we were hit by a sudden ice storm. The rest made it to shelter in time, but my armor and limp slowed me down. The hailstorm hurt, but it passed quickly. I\u0026rsquo;ll petition Denara for her healing grace when we camp.\nShortly after, the ravens landed with news. We asked first if there were any entrances visible on the top of the tower. They said no.\nThe ravens reported that they had found the tower we were looking for, and it was about half a day\u0026rsquo;s travel away. Since it was already late, we planned to camp for the night and travel to our proper destination in the morning.\n","date":"5 July 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-107/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-107.webp\nWe crossed the pit, finding a T intersection with two more doors. Between us, we listened to them all. We heard voices behind one; someone was chanting. Stria opened the one next to it, just a crack, and closed it quickly. She whispered that there were more Vol cultists there, discussing how to get past some monster obstacle. Behind the third door, yet more dragon cultists. There were no obvious valuables or reasons to reveal our presence, so we left.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 107","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # I pulled myself to the top of the plateau just as Seleana was promising the ravens we had brought food. Just in time, too; one of them had given the druid a nasty peck on the shoulder that nearly tore her arm off. I laid the seed out according to the directions, while Selaena made silly caw caw noises. I can\u0026rsquo;t criticize too much, I\u0026rsquo;ll be doing the same thing later. They ate, and 7 of the ravens seemed amenable to becoming our companions. Which was good, as two new adventurers had joined the knight Stavros at the bottom of the cliff. Selaena and I struck a holy bargain of healing, and Denara smiled upon it enough to bless u-Heury for bravely keeping between the druid and the ravens.\nWe flew down on ravenback \u0026ndash; a nauseating experience \u0026ndash; and I recognized Landon the elf, along with someone new in robes. Turns out the leaning goose tower wizards had sent reinforcements.\nWe had just enough ravens for everyone, including the halfling. Selaena used the last hour of her spell to translate our plans into cawcawq, while I sent Stavros back to Thatchem with the horses. Then it was off to Highfell, which happened to be just a little ways southwest of the raven\u0026rsquo;s roost. We got there by evening, planning to circle the floating island and locate the right tower before camping, but time was short and a sudden chill convinced us to land and camp rather than risk being frozen while airborne.\nWe landed near two towers, one ruined and made of earth and satone, the other made of what looked like ice and intact. Since approaching the ice tower on birdback might be what produced the sudden chill, we kewpt our distance and made camp. The night passed without incident, save for a strange shift in the island itself, and an overflight by a bizarre chimerical creature. In the morning we found that the island had moved again, and we were over wastelands.\nFalling back to our plan, we sent the birds to scout for the tower we were looking for, while trying to explore the ruined one nearby ourselves. We found the doors unlocked, but marked with bloodstains. Ominous.\nInside, Landon scouted ahead while I lit a torch. Good thing he did; his elven eyesight caught a pit trap not far in. We levered it open; at the bottom lay a dead humanoid in robes with a dragon theme. Between u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s wire, my rope and pitons, and Landon\u0026rsquo;s polearm, we got the body back to our level and searched it. He had a holy symbol of the god Vol, which relates somehow to dragons, plus a dagger and short sword.\nWe checked for the ravens \u0026ndash; not back yet \u0026ndash; and tried to figure out how to cross the pit safely.\n","date":"29 June 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-106/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # I pulled myself to the top of the plateau just as Seleana was promising the ravens we had brought food. Just in time, too; one of them had given the druid a nasty peck on the shoulder that nearly tore her arm off. I laid the seed out according to the directions, while Selaena made silly caw caw noises. I can’t criticize too much, I’ll be doing the same thing later. They ate, and 7 of the ravens seemed amenable to becoming our companions. Which was good, as two new adventurers had joined the knight Stavros at the bottom of the cliff. Selaena and I struck a holy bargain of healing, and Denara smiled upon it enough to bless u-Heury for bravely keeping between the druid and the ravens.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 106","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-105.webp\nAfter bringing Ygnas back, and getting her settled in at the tavern to recover, we reported to the wizards at the tower of the leaning goose. They were so excited by the report that they proposed an immediate return to Highfell, this time on the backs of giant ravens. The wizards claimed to possess a kind of magical birdseed that would allow us to befriend them, for a period of months at least. We could then ride the animals to Highfell. We could return the same way, but I insisted on a potion of feather fall for each member of the group. Just in case. Ygnas insisted she needed rest, but recommended her friend Selaena the druid to accompany us. The wizards suggested we look for a specific tower within Highfell, an octagon with a rectangular annex, once occupied by their patron.\nWe met Selaena at the tavern and filled her in on our plans, then went shopping for food, climbing gear, and cold weather clothes. Several mercenaries responded to our call, but we kept only a halfling Rodney and a knight Stavros. The knight was to lead our horses back to town if we found and tamed the ravens; the halfling just because an extra warrior would come in handy and he would represent less weight on birdback than the others. We got a fix on Highfell\u0026rsquo;s location \u0026ndash; near Endtown \u0026ndash; and set off. Ironically we rode right past Highfell on the way to the ravens.\nThe roost was a plataeu near the top of the tallest peak in the area. The route there was nearly vertical, but u-Huery climbed up like a squirrel. The rest of us used ropes and pitons to follow behind, after giving instructions for the man with the horses to wait until we had made a bargain with the ravens, then return to thatchem with the horses and whatever . Near the top, Selaena cast Speak with Animals and joined u-Huery on the top. I could hear a growing commotion as I climbed with the birdseed. u-Heury was being pecked at and yelling at me to hurry up; the ravens were squawking and Selaena squawking back. Things didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to be getting any calmer, but I was almost at the top with the birdseed. Just a few more minutes!\n","date":"22 June 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-105/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-105.webp\nAfter bringing Ygnas back, and getting her settled in at the tavern to recover, we reported to the wizards at the tower of the leaning goose. They were so excited by the report that they proposed an immediate return to Highfell, this time on the backs of giant ravens. The wizards claimed to possess a kind of magical birdseed that would allow us to befriend them, for a period of months at least. We could then ride the animals to Highfell. We could return the same way, but I insisted on a potion of feather fall for each member of the group. Just in case. Ygnas insisted she needed rest, but recommended her friend Selaena the druid to accompany us. The wizards suggested we look for a specific tower within Highfell, an octagon with a rectangular annex, once occupied by their patron.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 105","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-104.webp\nBy the time I caught up with the old man and his cart, darkness had fallen. We exchanged pleasantries and agreed to be allies for the night in case of trouble. We both went to bed, hoping to hear my friends catching up, but I drifted off.\nI woke to Rowen poking me with a stick. The rest of the group had found horses somewhere and caught up. I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to ask where they got the horses, for fear I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t like the answer, but I least I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have to make the journey to Thatchem alone. Unfortunately they brought a huge panther with them. The panther promptly pounced on Morin\u0026rsquo;s horse and dragged it away while I healed her wounds.\nI sensed a certain disapproval from Denara during that healing, and again when I healed u-Huery. It\u0026rsquo;s probably something to do with how they acquired their horses. I encouraged them to make some sort of restitution, and u-Heury arranged to send a letter with partial payment through the peddler. It\u0026rsquo;s a step in the right direction at least. Morin\u0026rsquo;s horse was no longer a problem, thanks to the panther.\nWe rode south in the morning, pushing hard into the evening to reach Woodvale. Ygnas spent the night with the druids, the rest of us at the inn. They warned us of gnolls to the south, but we had no choice; Ygnas\u0026rsquo; time was almost up. We woke up early and rode south, u-Heury on a freshly purchased draft horse.\nWe passed two fiery salamanders on the way, merrily burning things by the side of tthe road. u-Heury rode by first, and was burned simply by the heat radiating from their bodies. The rest of us swung wide, and got a little lost. But u-Heury is tough; I\u0026rsquo;m not sure Rowen or Morin would have survived riding closer. It cost us a few hours, and we arrived at Thatchem after the gates closed. I managed to make a bargain with the guards for immediate entry, thank Denara, and woke the local patriarch. He claimed he could raise the dead after 8 full days, so the hurry had been somewhat unnecessary. We made an appointment in the morning and went to the tower of the leaning goose to sell what we had found in Highfell.\nThe scholars there were pleased by what we had found, and paid a fair price, By Denara\u0026rsquo;s grace we even had a few hundred gold in profit.\nYgnas will need bedrest for a few weeks. and Morin wants to look for training opportunities after getting backstabbed by her last party. I have a few business opporetunities to pursue myself\u0026hellip;\n","date":"14 June 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-104/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-104.webp\nBy the time I caught up with the old man and his cart, darkness had fallen. We exchanged pleasantries and agreed to be allies for the night in case of trouble. We both went to bed, hoping to hear my friends catching up, but I drifted off.\nI woke to Rowen poking me with a stick. The rest of the group had found horses somewhere and caught up. I didn’t want to ask where they got the horses, for fear I wouldn’t like the answer, but I least I wouldn’t have to make the journey to Thatchem alone. Unfortunately they brought a huge panther with them. The panther promptly pounced on Morin’s horse and dragged it away while I healed her wounds.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 104","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Faran Magebane # The next morning, we explored further, finding a large room with a central pedestal. The pedestal was surrounded by stone pillars, and had a stone structure in the center, covered with sockets as if gems had once been held there. One large gem remained, remarkably similar to the one the earth elemental had dropped. The rest claimed this was a something-something we were supposed to cleanse to stop the dessert wizard. I was confused. We eat desserts, we don\u0026rsquo;t cleanse them. But before I could protest, someone laid their hand upon the altar and more earthy elementals appeared. We handled the trio with relative ease despite there being three of them, mostly because killing the first one to appear made the other two disappear.\nAnother trio promptly appeared from behind Creg, beating the elderly wizard bloody. I threw a healing word in his direction and went back to smacking the closest one with my mace while he staggered away from the elemental. Creeper was peppering them all with arrows. No one had seen which of the trio appeared first, so it was going to be down to luck. At least there was no sign of the medusa, so far.\n","date":"10 June 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-21/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"Faran Magebane # The next morning, we explored further, finding a large room with a central pedestal. The pedestal was surrounded by stone pillars, and had a stone structure in the center, covered with sockets as if gems had once been held there. One large gem remained, remarkably similar to the one the earth elemental had dropped. The rest claimed this was a something-something we were supposed to cleanse to stop the dessert wizard. I was confused. We eat desserts, we don’t cleanse them. But before I could protest, someone laid their hand upon the altar and more earthy elementals appeared. We handled the trio with relative ease despite there being three of them, mostly because killing the first one to appear made the other two disappear.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 21","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-103.webp\nWe traveled northeast for hours, doffing our armor to make better time for Ygnas\u0026rsquo; sake. To be honest northeast was the only real choice for miles. Mountains blocked the north and south, and to the wet were salt plains. At least in grasslands there would be a chance of water and game, not to mention civilization. Eventually we came across a road, with diverging pathways northeast, northwest, and southeast. We chose northeast again, passing through a forest.\nu-Heury noticed blood spots along the trail, along with the howling of wolves in the distance. We stopped to replace our armor. Morin and u-Heury took 15 minutes to scout the trail quietly, finding a dead body with nothing else of interest. u-Huery collected a helmet, after cleaning most of the maggots off and eating the rest for snacks. Barbarians are the worst.\nWe continued on, seeing no need to follow the trail further and invite a confrontation. At the edge of the forest we met a man on a cart heading the other direction. He was headed south and, when we inquired for directions, said we were headed in the wrong direction. Lindysfar was the only town north along this road, and it claimed a few hundred souls. Thatchem was south, and a little west, but we would need to take the southeast fork in the road to get there. He was willing to offer a ride in his cart, but \u0026ndash; after thinking about it \u0026ndash; we figured it would be too slow to save Ygnas. We resolved to buy horses in Lindysfar and ride south.\nLindysfar turned out to be a disaster. The small farming town was barely civilized. They had no respect for Denara, thought Rowen to be a witch (and were not necessarily wrong, but she\u0026rsquo;s a useful witch). u-Huery was no help, talking about how women tended to end up dead when he came to town and partied hard. Morin at least kept her mouth shut and didn\u0026rsquo;t make things worse. Only one old woman was willing to help us, and she had only one horse to sell. Thanking Denara for her grace in adversity, I paid her, checked our finances, secured Ygnas\u0026rsquo; body to the horse, and prepared to ride out alone.\nThe plan was for the rest to follow however they could manage. On foot, if necessary. I would get Ygnas to Thatchem as fast as possible and meet the rest when they caught up. Only fools would brand themselves as horse thieves in a town full of cowboys.\n","date":"31 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-103/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-103.webp\nWe traveled northeast for hours, doffing our armor to make better time for Ygnas’ sake. To be honest northeast was the only real choice for miles. Mountains blocked the north and south, and to the wet were salt plains. At least in grasslands there would be a chance of water and game, not to mention civilization. Eventually we came across a road, with diverging pathways northeast, northwest, and southeast. We chose northeast again, passing through a forest.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 103","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-102.webp\nThe grinding noise came from the two statues in the hallway. An expected they had animated. As we heard their footsteps stomping towards us, I gave Morin my large sacks and a torch, telling her to stuff anything valuable from the secret room into the sacks as fast as she could while u-Heury and I tried to deal with the statues. u-Heury set himself up by the door, planning to hold it closed as long as possible. That would buy me some time to try other things. The most obvious, just closing the secret door, did not work. Carefully reviewing my instruction on Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessing of Hold Person suggested that living iron statues would not count as people. I expressed a certain doubt as to whether non-magical weapons could even damage such creatures, but was interrupted by a smash as the door broke down.\nu-Heury made excellent use of the opportunity and struck a deadly blow. So deadly in fact that his sword sunk deep into the iron form attacking him, and stuck therein. I could see the shock on his face as he nearly lost his grip \u0026ndash; then his brows tightened and spat a curse in some barbarian tongue, yanking it free. This did not reassure me on the magical weapon question, as u-Heury had previously demonstrated the ability to damage magical constructs and fae creatures otherwise invulnerable to harm from normal weapons.\nSeeing the man\u0026rsquo;s wounds, I pulled a scroll of healing from my backpack and sought to read it. I regret to say that when I saw that the scroll was blessed by Zuul, my voice stumbled and the spell was lost. u-Heury struck another desperate blow, but took one in return, and was clearly flagging. I pulled out my second, and last, healing scroll, and focused my mind on Ygnas\u0026rsquo; body lying nearby awaiting our aid. For her sake, I could petition Zuul for aid; Hopefully, Zuul would answer for the same reason. And this time it worked. The healing energy flowed into u-Heury as he struck again, once more damaging the foe.\nFrantically I cast about for more ideas as u-Heury traded blows, somehow managing to free his sword again after each one landed. his sword again after each one landed. Between the chance of losing my hammer and my doubts as to its effectiveness, I was reluctant to strike myself, preferring to pass the weapon to my friend if he should lose his. But I could stand next to him and present a second target, or perhaps provide light\u0026hellip; wait, my lantern oil!\nI dug the lantern oil from my pack and threw it at the statue. It bounced off and fell somewhere outside, uselessly. I was debating whether to risk striking the creature with my torch when u-Heury struck a powerful blow and the statue shattered into iron fragments.\nThe barbarian was a ragged mess, clawing at his belt for a healing potion. The second statue stomped into the doorway, and I blocked it briefly by slamming my heavy shield into it. I reasoned that the shield bore some unknown enchantment and that might be sufficient to harm the statue, and perhaps escape the trapping effect it had on u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s sword. Alas, aside from briefly blocking the thing, my blow had no effect. But u-Heury had quaffed his potion and stepped up to the front line again. Nevertheless it was clear the barbarian was nearing the end of his rope.\nOut of the corner of my eye I noticed the secret door open, then close again. Morin had filled her sacks of treasure, and was escaping! But the statues still blocked the door, even as u-Heury traded blows, and Morin\u0026rsquo;s entry into the room had distracted him from the foe. Two heavy blows landed, with the first shattering the barbarian\u0026rsquo;s shield and the second crashing heavily into his chest. u-Heury staggered back into the room, and the creature followed.\nI struck again with my shield, hoping to distract it and take some of the punishment to give u-Heury some relief and a chance to strike. It paid me no attention. It paid even less attention as Morin crept up behind it with her short sword drawn, and that lapse cost the creature dearly as her blade struck home in the back of a vulnerable joint. It spun to face her, and that\u0026rsquo;s when I saw the strange script written across its forehead. I now recognized it from my studies as a golem, carrying a magical animating force encoded in the written shem:\nA golem is inscribed with Hebrew words in some tales (for example, some versions of Chełm and Prague, as well as in Polish tales and versions of the Brothers Grimm), such as the word emét (אמת, \u0026ldquo;truth\u0026rdquo; in Hebrew) written on its forehead. The golem could then be deactivated by removing the aleph (א) in emét, thus changing the inscription from \u0026ldquo;truth\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;death\u0026rdquo; (mét מת, meaning \u0026ldquo;dead\u0026rdquo;). wikipedia\nWith Morin\u0026rsquo;s blow confirming that normal weapons could damage the golem, I struck a single precise blow and it fell to pieces. We had won.\nWith both golems destroyed, we tended to u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s wounds as best we could and searched the hidden room thoroughly. The contents could only be understood as a wizard\u0026rsquo;s stash of spell components:\nSmall Vial of Mercury (25gp) Small Box of Dried Crickets (15gp) Small Box of Hen\u0026rsquo;s Heart (20gp) Tiny Chest of Rose Quartz Shards (75gp) Small Box of Dried Skunk Cabbage Leaves (30gp) Small Clay Model of a Ziggurat (15gp) Satchel of Broken Bloodstones (45gp) Tiny Chest of Dried Carrots (10gp) Tiny Vial of Sulphur (45gp) I collected a piece of each golem in case those proved interesting to scholars, and we camped for the night. In the morning, I negotiated with u-Huery to provide Denara\u0026rsquo;s healing for his wounds. We agreed on a price, wrote out a contract for his share of the dried crickets and skunk cabbage sales in return for the healing, and Denara blessed the bargain. We prepared as best we could, drank our potions, and leaped from the bottomless pit, floating gently to the ground. We landed in a flat plane with nearby mountains. Our best guess of the way home was northeast, so we set off in that direction. Our horses (and my mule) were lost, or at least I could see no easy way to recover them.\n","date":"25 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-102/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-102.webp\nThe grinding noise came from the two statues in the hallway. An expected they had animated. As we heard their footsteps stomping towards us, I gave Morin my large sacks and a torch, telling her to stuff anything valuable from the secret room into the sacks as fast as she could while u-Heury and I tried to deal with the statues. u-Heury set himself up by the door, planning to hold it closed as long as possible. That would buy me some time to try other things. The most obvious, just closing the secret door, did not work. Carefully reviewing my instruction on Denara’s blessing of Hold Person suggested that living iron statues would not count as people. I expressed a certain doubt as to whether non-magical weapons could even damage such creatures, but was interrupted by a smash as the door broke down.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 102","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Faran Magebane # We met with the wererats, and despite my best efforts to provoke a fight, ended up with an agreement in principle to mutually defend the city with the deep gnomes. However, the agreement hinged on our group tracking down the source of the ooze and slime invasion nearby. Information from the wererats indicated the pudding invasion had a leader; Speaker for Puddings, or Oozemaster, or God of Slime, or something. Our task was to conclude the invasion by finding and slaying this dessert wizard. That\u0026rsquo;s right up my alley.\nThey also warned us of a medusa in the area. That was less my thing, but I can improvise with the best of them. Creg went back town to buy a mirror. I bought a Scarf of Dwarf Blinding, planning to wrap it around my head \u0026ndash; well, my helmet \u0026ndash; when we fought the medusa.\nWe were on the way to eat the dessert wizard when two winged gargoyles pounced on the goblin, who was scouting ahead for us. He was in bad shape, but the rest of us were too far back to help. Soggy transformed himself into a bat and got there faster, but started taking hard hits as well when a hidden earth elemental joined in. Soggy fell just as I got into range, destroyed both gargoyles with a divinely empowered shatter spell. The earth elemental took longer, but with the attention off of Soggy the risk level dropped substantially. It was just a matter odf time before the elemental was worn down and defeated. It left a gem of some kind behind.\nWe took the time to examine the area in more detail, finding a strange statue of a gnome holding a crystal. Creg performed a Detect Magic ritual, revealing a magical aura of conjuration from the stone, and a faint aura of transmutation magic from the statue itself. Clearly, the statue was not art; rather it was a victim of the medusa we had been warned about.\nIn light of that, we retired to Faolain\u0026rsquo;s Leomund\u0026rsquo;s Tiny Hut to rest and plan our strategy for the medusa. In addition to my scarf, I had two spells \u0026ndash; Fog Cloud and Sleet Storm \u0026ndash; that would conceal an area from view, hopefully blocking the medusa from turning us to stone. Faolain prayed to her deity for Darkness, to the same purpose. Once the medusa was hidden from view, I could blast the whole area with Shatter and Thunderwave with no need to see inside.\nWith our strategy planned, we rested.\n","date":"17 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-20/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"Faran Magebane # We met with the wererats, and despite my best efforts to provoke a fight, ended up with an agreement in principle to mutually defend the city with the deep gnomes. However, the agreement hinged on our group tracking down the source of the ooze and slime invasion nearby. Information from the wererats indicated the pudding invasion had a leader; Speaker for Puddings, or Oozemaster, or God of Slime, or something. Our task was to conclude the invasion by finding and slaying this dessert wizard. That’s right up my alley.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 20","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-101.webp\nThe last two rats fell or fled as we tore apart their nest, finding a few gold coins in the process, but with that Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessing faded away. We deferred searching the rest of the nest immediately, though we did make an effort to block the hole to the outside to prevent (or at least delay) reentry.\nWe chose to investigate the secret door in the back of the chamber. Turning the brazier affixed to the wall did nothing, but Ygnas stuffed it with cloth and lit it; this allowed a firm push to open the door itself, leading to a small chamber with an obvious trapdoor. We set that aside for the moment and focused on opening the coffer.\nWe used Ygnas\u0026rsquo; rope to drag it away from the walls into a different part of the room, in hope of avoiding traps. u-Heury set out to try to pick the lock. It took him three tries; meanwhile Ygnas and I searched the outside corridor. She found a small key, u-Heury yelled that he had managed to open the box; that\u0026rsquo;s when the giant scorpion broke through the door. I slammed the door closed and barricaded it with the table. We could figure out what to do with the scorpion later, with all three of us.\nu-Heury\u0026rsquo;s box turned out to contain a small bag and two clockwork centipedes, already busy attacking him. We rushed in. Between the three of us, u-Heury smashed his, something about his barbarian fury making its total destruction easier, even as he took wounds that dripped poison. I smashed mine, but not before it slashed through Ygnas\u0026rsquo; armor. She fell, bleeding badly. By the time we got to her, she had already passed. Her body was covered with scratches and gouges from landing in a thornbush earlier, wounds she bravely bore without complaint, yet no doubt contributed to her death at the mechanical centipede\u0026rsquo;s fangs.\nWe wrapped her body for transport to Thatchem, where we might be able to arrange for a resurrection. Such magics would be beyond our immediate means, but we might be able to scrape the funds together. Contributing to that would be the 350gp worth of diamond dust from the coffer, and perhaps we could sell the smashed centipede parts I had collected in a sack. We were in a race against time to bring her body to Thatchem, but we decided to look around for opportunities to gather more treasure while we were here. We would need both, after all, and traveling had fewer opportunities.\nBelow the trapdoor was a very long ladder. We had just barely enough rope to reveal a floor 50 feet below, along with persistent sounds of the howling wind. Perhaps an exit was nearby? We struggled to lower Ygnas\u0026rsquo; body down the ladder, then explored the room. Besides a huge pit that lead into open air with the ground clearly visible, the room had multiple other exits and a woman, tied up right next to the pit. She wasn\u0026rsquo;t moving, but we managed to wake her up without losing her through the pit.\nThe woman claimed her name was Morn, and she had been knocked out and left here by her own party on a previous expedition for unspecified reasons. Perhaps if she was less candid about her profession, she would have fewer interpersonal problems.\nWe looked around the rest of the immediate surroundings. To the east were two strange statues of the same man, one stern and one kind. Just south of that pair was a room with tapestry covered walls. One of the tapestries had a secret door behind it. After some investigation, including ripping off the tapestry, we managed to open the door, revealing a room full of carefully labeled bottles and small boxes. I quickly surmised they were spell components. The horrid grinding noise from somewhere nearby suggested that opening the door had activated something, however\u0026hellip;\n","date":"17 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-101/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-101.webp\nThe last two rats fell or fled as we tore apart their nest, finding a few gold coins in the process, but with that Denara’s blessing faded away. We deferred searching the rest of the nest immediately, though we did make an effort to block the hole to the outside to prevent (or at least delay) reentry.\nWe chose to investigate the secret door in the back of the chamber. Turning the brazier affixed to the wall did nothing, but Ygnas stuffed it with cloth and lit it; this allowed a firm push to open the door itself, leading to a small chamber with an obvious trapdoor. We set that aside for the moment and focused on opening the coffer.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 101","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"11 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/oiscar/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Oiscar","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-100.webp\nWe had landed in thick forest, so u-Heury climbed a tree to look around. He saw a few flying creatures in the distance and the cloest way out of the forest to the northeast. We headed in that direction, briefly interrupted by a harpy that didn\u0026rsquo;t seem interested in us. The harpy eventually flew off, asnd we made it out of the forest and approached one of several towers. Ygnas recognized the emblem above the tower entrance as belonging to Kelguumer, a wizard famed for his interest in insects.\nWe were about to enter the place when a wave of cold swept through. It was painful enough to damage anyone in metal armor, or without significant winter weather gear. Something to plan for next time we return. My holy mistress Denara grants protection from cold, now that I know to ask, but this cold snap lasted three hours; longer than even my repeated prayers can protect us. Perhaps if Ygnas and I shared our strength \u0026ndash; but that would leave little for healing.\nAt any rate the cold passed, and we set up camp for the night outside. Our camp was scouted by a chimera, luckily also uninterested in us. And in the morning we went inside the tower, invoking the blessing of Denara upon our endeavor. With luck, we may be able to secure a small, protected camp indoors to help avoid the cold.\nWe found lots of small rooms and doors. One of them, to the west, appeared to be a kitchen complex. There were many closets (some of which had dangerous rocks overhead, and others had suspicious slimes and oozes). That might be a good place to establish a base.\nTo the east we found another series of rooms, including one with a coffer and a secret door. We left ther latter two items to explore later, opting to make the most use of Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessing as possible while we looked for living enemies.\nWe found them to the north, in the form of a nest of rats. Ygnas held a torch, while u-Heury and I made short work of them with hammer and sword. Two fled into their nest, which we will shortly destroy and search for any valuables, then return to the room with the coffer and secret door.\n","date":"11 May 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-100/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-100.webp\nWe had landed in thick forest, so u-Heury climbed a tree to look around. He saw a few flying creatures in the distance and the cloest way out of the forest to the northeast. We headed in that direction, briefly interrupted by a harpy that didn’t seem interested in us. The harpy eventually flew off, asnd we made it out of the forest and approached one of several towers. Ygnas recognized the emblem above the tower entrance as belonging to Kelguumer, a wizard famed for his interest in insects.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 100","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"A note from Feverborne brought me to Thatchem. He has been flirting with the new goddess of clensing lately, and frankly it seems to be good for him. I sense a new confidence and strength of will in his manner, though the world seeks to test his faith. While Cloacina is clearly no match for the significance of Denara, even a bathhouse must engage in commerce. Mmhmm. At any rate he had found mention of the floating tower my church had requested I investigate some time ago. Important note: this tower floats on air, the previous tower floats on water.\nAs I rode into town, I caught side of u-Heury being led away by the locasl guards for questioning regarding a servant girl\u0026rsquo;s murder. Luckily u-Heury was able to produce the servant girl he had dallied with the night before, alive and \u0026hellip; she got fired for their tryst, so not well. Should we look into this mysterious death? Perhaps. But for now let the guards do their jobs.\nAfter discussion, the three of us decided to explore Highfell, and asked after Allinbroch at the Tower of the Unpronouncable Goose. Or so I named it after trying to say what the locals called it and being mistaken for a drunken cat. The butler, or seneschal, or some similar title, agreed to let us see the man once we explained our business. She has no desire for pastries, however.\nAllinbroch received us with enthusiasm, and we negotiated an agreement. He would provide potions of levitation to reach Highfell and potions of feather fall to leave. The floating toward apparently also moves, so he provided a starting location and a direction. We agreed to bring him what we found \u0026ndash; preferably books \u0026ndash; and give him the right of first refusal to purchase them. The contract had more ambiguity than I would like, but exploring the unknown (and making it known, recording its nature, cataloging it properly, and storing the scroll describing it on the correct shelf) is the nature of the job.\nWe bought what supplies seemed appropriate, made arrangements to store the cart in town, and rode to the location where Highfell was expected to be. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t, but it wasa close. We tied the horses (and my mule) loosely nearby and guassed at the timing to levitate up. We also prepared carefully by noting the colors of the potions by direction (red: , green: ) and collecting a sack of dirt so we could end the levitation by \u0026ldquo;putting our feet on the ground\u0026rdquo; if we happened to miss the floating island.\nWe also took the precaution of roping ourselves together before the ascent, which proved handy when I missed my grip and nearly floated away. After a few minutes of excitement, we were ready to explore the uncanny ayrie of Highfell.\n","date":"27 April 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-99/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"A note from Feverborne brought me to Thatchem. He has been flirting with the new goddess of clensing lately, and frankly it seems to be good for him. I sense a new confidence and strength of will in his manner, though the world seeks to test his faith. While Cloacina is clearly no match for the significance of Denara, even a bathhouse must engage in commerce. Mmhmm. At any rate he had found mention of the floating tower my church had requested I investigate some time ago. Important note: this tower floats on air, the previous tower floats on water.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 99","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"We found Thatchem to be very inviting. Their local temple even has a small shrine for the lesser known divinities. I made an appointment with the local priest (following the ritual clensing rites) and had a symbol of Cloacina the Clenser added, so those of my faith would have a place to express their veneration. It\u0026rsquo;s small, but a beginning.\nAt the inn, we met a man who calls himself Morrigyn and claims to be an adventurer who lost the rest of his party in Highfell. He mentioned dragons. Well, a dragon. I don\u0026rsquo;t think dragons count as vermin to be eradicated. He seemed to want to join us on an expedition there, perhaps to rescue his friends, perhaps simply to loot. He seemed competent and carried a nice blade, but I\u0026rsquo;m not here for Highfell. Perhaps one of the others will be interested.\nOur next stop was the local mercenary guild. They told us of many local opportunities for adventure, everything from a missing husband last seen at a nearby henge to a floating tower that used to house a wizard school named Highfell. (Shouldn\u0026rsquo;t that mean it has already fallen?) We asked specifically about Stone Hell there.\nThe mercenaries gave us the basics, but the real treasure was a vagrant named Hannibal. He claimed to be an escaped prisoner from Stone Hell, to have gone there weak and been made (or remade?) better. He seemed mentally broken, but willing to lead us to the location. None of us were inclined to trust him despite him seeming friendly enough, and it seemed likely to Ygnas and I that he may well be a lycanthrope of some sort himself. Which might well make the offer to lead us to Stone Hell a trap.\nWe tried to convince him to take a bath with soap and wolfsbane, but had no luck. And we could think of no way to test him with Verminbane privately. We could presumably arrange to test him on the way to Stone Hell, but that might provoke a fight. Better to let him lead us to the entrance first.\nWhen we finally found a private moment in the inn, I drew Verminbane and noticed with a queasy feeling that even in town it was glowing brightly. Lycanthropes were near. While we had a reasonable suspect in Hannibal the homeless, he had not reacted to wolfsbane and the sword\u0026rsquo;s detection range is 120\u0026rsquo;. Inside the inn, it could be anyone within that radius. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t think of a way to narrow it down without initiating violence against someone who might be innocent.\nAlso, written in glowing letters on the flat of the blade was: \u0026ldquo;ABLUERIT DOMINUS SORDES TERRAE\u0026rdquo;. I\u0026rsquo;ll have to research what that means later.\n","date":"20 April 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-98/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"We found Thatchem to be very inviting. Their local temple even has a small shrine for the lesser known divinities. I made an appointment with the local priest (following the ritual clensing rites) and had a symbol of Cloacina the Clenser added, so those of my faith would have a place to express their veneration. It’s small, but a beginning.\nAt the inn, we met a man who calls himself Morrigyn and claims to be an adventurer who lost the rest of his party in Highfell. He mentioned dragons. Well, a dragon. I don’t think dragons count as vermin to be eradicated. He seemed to want to join us on an expedition there, perhaps to rescue his friends, perhaps simply to loot. He seemed competent and carried a nice blade, but I’m not here for Highfell. Perhaps one of the others will be interested.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 98","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # I discussed the matter of what to do next with Forrest, and we decided to explore to the north where Verminbane and Cloacina sensed a threat. A town there known as Thatchem was reputed to be only a few miles away from the danger, so we planned to buy horses and scout the road there. Forrest agreed to lend me Verminbane for a week - whatever I chose to do with the blade during that time. Scouting out the threat that Cloacina sensed was the best use of that time, I felt, so we spent a day packing and preparing and then set off. Rowen and Ygnas joined us for the trip, Kiba staying behind to train Kiki.\nWe met a pack of dogs two days out, harassing a picnic where lightning had killed two young lovers. We followed the trail to their farmhouse, spending the night there since it was empty, but a two-headed snake attacked the horses overnight, killing Rowen\u0026rsquo;s. We fought it, and drove it off, but the poison claimed the horse. Rowen was drunk and slept through the whole fight.\nThe next day, we met snake-headed humanoids who traded some coin for Rowen\u0026rsquo;s now-unneeded food. They claimed Thatchem was a day or two further along the road. We would have barely enough time to reach town before turning around to return the blade, but at least we would know the way, and perhaps I could return it along while my friends undertook to scout the place.\nWe made camp and hoped to catch sight of Thatchem in the morning.\n","date":"13 April 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-97/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # I discussed the matter of what to do next with Forrest, and we decided to explore to the north where Verminbane and Cloacina sensed a threat. A town there known as Thatchem was reputed to be only a few miles away from the danger, so we planned to buy horses and scout the road there. Forrest agreed to lend me Verminbane for a week - whatever I chose to do with the blade during that time. Scouting out the threat that Cloacina sensed was the best use of that time, I felt, so we spent a day packing and preparing and then set off. Rowen and Ygnas joined us for the trip, Kiba staying behind to train Kiki.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 97","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # The dwarves melted down the Squeeblade while I watched, after which the high priest thanked me for bringing it to him and conveyed an invitation to see the dwarven king after lunch. I accepted, and arranged to meet with Hammerick on the way out. Hammerick agreed to find Mindy a safe home with a dog just like Kiki.\nThe king asked us to explore the King\u0026rsquo;s Gate entrance to a dwarven city known as Dwarrowdeep. Just to scout the area around the entrance would be worth a hundred gold each. It sounded tempting, so we agreed, but with the caveat that we would need to return to Threshold to report to the church of Cloacina there and retrieve Verminbane.\nWe returned to Threshold by river barge, helping guard the cargo. On the first day out of Hamelet, u-Heury spotted a skeleton on the shore and wanted to investigate. The merchants refused to stop, but he marked it on our map. We might investigate it later. The rest of the trip down river went without incident. We stayed the night at a small waypost before taking the short overland journey to Threshold.\nDisaster struck in the form of a manticore fighting with three stone giants. As soon as we saw what was going on, we ducked back behind a turn in the trail, but the creature had seen us and apparently preferred easier prey than giants throwing boulders. We all took cover. I drew my bow but I was the only person with a longbow; Kiba had a shortbow and u-Heury had a sling. The manticore launched 6 tail spikes at the group, most of them at Lyrian, from well outside the range of anything short of my longbow. One hit Kiba and gravely wounded her, another glanced off my armor. Lyrian was hit several times and looked like a pincushion, if pincushions bled. My return shot missed the creature, and u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s sling just didn\u0026rsquo;t have the range.\nI lined up for another shot, but the giants hurled their boulders first. One of them smashed into the manticore, and the beast flew off. u-Heury was already checking on Lyrian; he shook his head. No signs of life. She was dead. The silly girl was so determined to be a dual-wielding swordmaster she never listened when I told her to use a shield. Those things can save your life.\nI called on Cloacina to clense Kiba of her wounds, and she was able to stand up and walk around, though still weak. A few minutes later, one of the giants offered by awkward sign language to bury Lyrian\u0026rsquo;s body by the trail. We agreed, for she had expressed a wish to be left in peace after a death worthy of a legend. A manticore seemed legendary enough. Certainly we shall tell tales of her prowess against the wererats in the Druid and Whale.\nWhen we reported the whole mess to Forrest, he suggested that the Stonehell prison which Hammerick had mentioned on the way to Hamelet had been infested by wererats. Cloacina wanted it cleansed. The only problem was how to fulfill the obligation to the dwarven king, as both missions had time limits.\n","date":"6 April 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-96/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # The dwarves melted down the Squeeblade while I watched, after which the high priest thanked me for bringing it to him and conveyed an invitation to see the dwarven king after lunch. I accepted, and arranged to meet with Hammerick on the way out. Hammerick agreed to find Mindy a safe home with a dog just like Kiki.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 96","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"u-Heury and Kiba chose to accompany me to the dwarven town of Hamelet to see the Squeeblade destroyed. This actually caused problems. Hammerick the dwarf refused to allow Kiba\u0026rsquo;s dog to ride in the carriage, which offended her. u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s uncivilized nature presented a similar problem. We did eventually resolve the problem by using two separate carriages.\nThe road to Hamelet was eventful. On the second day, u-Heury came across a force of 30 or so men blocking the road ahead. He had been scouting ahead of our carriages, and was able to warn us of the obstacle before they noticed us. We stopped beside the road and made camp early, with Hammerick and his guards acting as bait. Sure enough a small group of men scouted Hammerick\u0026rsquo;s camp. u-Heury and Kiba snuck close while I offered ranged cover with my bow. Our ambush succeeded, and the attackers fled.\nThe next morning, we awoke to a pillar of smoke from the road ahead. It turns out a small farmstead had been set afire overnight. It was likely a target of the 30-odd raiders we avoided last night, though we had no proof. I regret letting those who attacked our camp flee with their lives, though we could have done nothing but die against 30 men.\nWe did find a young girl still alive, trapped in the burning farmhouse. I dragged her out to safety and called upon Cloacina to heal her wounds, and my prayers were granted. She will live, though likely with scars. Kiba and u-Heury collaborated to free a bull from the barn which had been abused by the bandits. They managed to untie the creature but could not convince it to leave the barn while the house still burned. We should remember to collect it on the way back, if it is still there.\nWe continued to Hamelet with the girl in tow. Perhaps a home could be found for her there. I did inquire whether she could recognize any of her attackers, but it was too dark. Once I have seen the Squeeblade destroyed, I will tell the leaders in Hamelet of the attack and see if anything can be done about the bandits.\nAfter spending the night at a local inn, \u0026ldquo;The Slovenly Troll\u0026rdquo;, Hammerick and I traveled to a dwarven temple of Thaneduhr, where he claimed the smiths would be able to destroy it. They indeed claimed they could do so, but like everyone else, were not inclined to allow me to watch. They did eventually agree that I could do so after charging a 150gp fee for some sort of blessing from their deity. I chose to view it as a clensing ritual and tolerated it with respect for their ways, but maintained my focus on Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s power.\n","date":"30 March 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-95/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"u-Heury and Kiba chose to accompany me to the dwarven town of Hamelet to see the Squeeblade destroyed. This actually caused problems. Hammerick the dwarf refused to allow Kiba’s dog to ride in the carriage, which offended her. u-Heury’s uncivilized nature presented a similar problem. We did eventually resolve the problem by using two separate carriages.\nThe road to Hamelet was eventful. On the second day, u-Heury came across a force of 30 or so men blocking the road ahead. He had been scouting ahead of our carriages, and was able to warn us of the obstacle before they noticed us. We stopped beside the road and made camp early, with Hammerick and his guards acting as bait. Sure enough a small group of men scouted Hammerick’s camp. u-Heury and Kiba snuck close while I offered ranged cover with my bow. Our ambush succeeded, and the attackers fled.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 95","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Faran Magebane # We made arrangements for the repair of my armor and went off to see the wizard \u0026ndash; err, the chief gnomes. On the way we met a musician playing a vast crystalline bowl like a musical instrument; Creeper and I joined in. He had some kind of flute, and I had the god of storms and war, by which I mean thunder.\nCreg chose that moment to speak up about an animated hand he had been carrying the whole time. Apparently he had picked it up from the remains of a zombie a ways back before I joined the group. After a few inquiries, we took it to the local burial grounds, as the spirit of the hand requested. The priest there promptly smashed it to a pulp, but did promise to give the pulp a proper burial. Creg seemed satisfied. The priest also mentioned a haunted house. We might try to clear it later. Who else are ya gonna call?\nSomewhere in there we saw a battle between the guards and a few gelatinous cubes \u0026ndash; not ours. We backed away to avoid confusion, but noticed a short sword that didn\u0026rsquo;t seemed damaged by the acid. Creg confirmed it was magical. Creeper tried to claim it, but the guard laughed in his face and left. Not rerally a surprise, goblins have a reputation and it isn\u0026rsquo;t for honesty or altruistic motives.\nAs we reached the seat a government, a ghost barred our passage and demanded to know our business. After we explained our need to return to the surface, he led us pass, grumbling about the lack of a retirement plan.\nThe chief gnomes, a married pair, told us that caravans to the surface were available occasionally but none were due soon. He did have some rather pressing local issues, however, and could arrange a guide to the surface if we helkped him take care of a local clan of wererat-gnomes, or an invasion of gelatinous cubes or perhaps both. We chose the wererats, to avoid straining the loyalties of our new cubical \u0026ldquo;friend\u0026rdquo;.\nBack to the market, where I added a silver axe to my order, and taught Cubie to hold the magic mace like a torch so he could feel useful. Then we goofed off for two days. I suggested we try buisting the ghost but no one else really seemed to care.\nFinally my gear was ready, so we set off to find the wererats. For some reason Creeper keeps wanting to negotiate. Where\u0026rsquo;s the fun in that? Negotiate from a position of strength after killing half of them and threatening to kill the other half.\nAnyways I walked right into a trap, followed by an ambush, so I brought down the wrath of Tempus. upon the wererats shooting at us, then charged. They fled in terror, leaving us with no one to fight.\nNow Creeper is muttering about trying to deal with the cubes instead, after I had a new axe made specifically for wererat gnomes. Rude.\n","date":"18 March 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-19/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"Faran Magebane # We made arrangements for the repair of my armor and went off to see the wizard – err, the chief gnomes. On the way we met a musician playing a vast crystalline bowl like a musical instrument; Creeper and I joined in. He had some kind of flute, and I had the god of storms and war, by which I mean thunder.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 19","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":"With my soul in a better place and a fresh herbal cleanse, it was time to seek out Forrest and my sword. He was surprisingly eassy to find, having set up a temple to Cloacina in the poor district. He actually seemed sincere, and after we had conversations about the matter, agreed that if the sword found me worthy, he would pass it over to me and focus on administering the church he had founded to spread Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s glory. The sword Verminbane agreed to try it, feeling there was still a need for Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s cause to be advanced in the world, over and above her newly founded church.\nOn that note, Forrest claimed (and the sword confirmed) that he had tracked down Vee about 6 months after the fight in te sewers. Vee had died, but her goal had been achieved. Somewhere in the world, probably in Helix, Armanieux was slouching towards godhood. It would be up to the two of us, and our allies, to do what we could to oppose that entity.\nWe agreed that I would take Verminbane out to fight, seeking out evil vermin, and check back with Forrest regularly. However, first I had to destroy the sword I had taken from the wererat Squee. Though of dwarven make and dweomered, it has the taint of a lingering curse, and Cloacina wished it destroyed. I set off to do that, leaving Lyrian teaching the beggers how to beg better. Strange lass.\nThe Yggians flat out refused to destroy the sword because I insisted on watching them do it.\nI found two smiths in the merchant distict. The first charged me 15 gold for failing to destroy the sword. The second, an elf, said the sword itself was an \u0026ldquo;artifact\u0026rdquo; from an ancient dwarf and referred me to a dwarven craftsman in the noble district, Hammeryx. Hammeryx claimed he could not destroy it himself, but offered up to 5,000gp to purchase it from me. I refused. Cloacina said it must be destroyed.\nWe decided to take the sword to Homlet, a dwarven settlement nearby, where they could destroy it. I was skeptical, but hadn\u0026rsquo;t had any luck finding someone who actually could destroy the sword in Threshold. Hammeryx will pick up the group in a carriage tomorrow morning at the Druid and Whale, and we\u0026rsquo;ll see what the dwarves there can do.\nAfter that, I\u0026rsquo;ll reclaim Verminbane, and go exploring the sewers. There was at least one passage we left unexplored (the one Vee fled down), and the bricked up entrance the kobold had been tasked to open. Not to mention the ominously named criminal Black Plague.\n","date":"9 March 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-94/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"With my soul in a better place and a fresh herbal cleanse, it was time to seek out Forrest and my sword. He was surprisingly eassy to find, having set up a temple to Cloacina in the poor district. He actually seemed sincere, and after we had conversations about the matter, agreed that if the sword found me worthy, he would pass it over to me and focus on administering the church he had founded to spread Cloacina’s glory. The sword Verminbane agreed to try it, feeling there was still a need for Cloacina’s cause to be advanced in the world, over and above her newly founded church.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 94","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Faran Magebane # Turns out there were at least three puddings and dessert was planning to eat us. And, oh yes, the water levels were visibly rising and someone had peaked inside the watery room and noticed large cracks in the walls from which water was pouring in to the whole complex.\nSomeone had the clever idea to use the cube to block the puddings and buy us some time. Well two of them. It was apparently up to the dwarf who had already been tasted by the cube and bitten by the first small pudding to feed the third. Between smacking it around with my new mace and more sparklefingers, I held it back for a while. By then the narcoleptic wizard had decided to shatter the ceiling of the water-filled cavern, bringing in even more water. Surprisingly, this actually helped. The water was coming from a source above us, an underground river, with air and a nearby shore.\nThe water genasi was able to shape the flow of the river enough to get us up through the new hole in the ceiling.\nAnd the cube wants to come with us now\u0026hellip; yay? Maybe it will make us harder to follow by smoothing our tracks at least.\nWe walked on for a while and found a set of city gates. The others say this is the way back to the surface, and if Buzz got lost down here surely he would be headed in this direction too. We were about to hail the guards and approach when four drow made an appearance from further down the corridor, yelling something about a priestess and wanting to capture our narcoleptic wizard, who is apparently \u0026ldquo;the only one left.\u0026rdquo; Since I\u0026rsquo;m not exactly a fan of normal surface elves, drow were right out; a Shatter spell and the wrath of Tempus made short work of all four in one go. Well, the goblin had to put an arrow into one of them.\nWe went up to the gate and talked the guards into letting us into the city. Yes, including the cube, which promised to ask permission before eating anything.\n","date":"6 March 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-18/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"Faran Magebane # Turns out there were at least three puddings and dessert was planning to eat us. And, oh yes, the water levels were visibly rising and someone had peaked inside the watery room and noticed large cracks in the walls from which water was pouring in to the whole complex.\nSomeone had the clever idea to use the cube to block the puddings and buy us some time. Well two of them. It was apparently up to the dwarf who had already been tasted by the cube and bitten by the first small pudding to feed the third. Between smacking it around with my new mace and more sparklefingers, I held it back for a while. By then the narcoleptic wizard had decided to shatter the ceiling of the water-filled cavern, bringing in even more water. Surprisingly, this actually helped. The water was coming from a source above us, an underground river, with air and a nearby shore.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 18","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":"We made our way from the temple of Doghma to the Happy Cow Inn, bumping into Sanfire in the process. The halfling offered to join us for the evening, even rented a room, but left to use the outhouse early in the evening. He didn\u0026rsquo;t return. Rowen and Lyrian were drunk, so I loaned them spikes for their door and went to check on the halfing. I didn\u0026rsquo;t find the halfling, but someone else was there. He claimed not to have seen any halflings. I puttered around long enough for Sanfire to make some sort of noise if he was being held captive in the outhouse. Nothing. If he was in there, it was consensual. Or he was unconscious. But I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to just bust in without something. What if there was no halfing there? I returned to the rooms, finding Lyrian and Rowen still drinking, but only Rowen actuallu drunk. I stayed the night in their room and we all traded watches.\nSanfire showed up the next morning, so I guess it must be ok. He didn\u0026rsquo;t say where he had been, and I didn\u0026rsquo;t ask.\nLyrian, Rowen and I went to the Yggian church the next morning to collect on the reward Xar offered. The matron there did not like our style, and shorted us the reward we were due. Xar had to intervene to get us 100gp. I returned his brother\u0026rsquo;s blade to him, a silver sword I had taken off the body of one of the other paladins to fight the rats. We mentioned we were looking for Forrest, the paladin who had stolen Verminbane. Forrest has parted ways with Ygg and taken up Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s service. This complicates things.\nWith the wererats temporarily routed, we all needed a long break. I undertook a long study of Cloacina, partially for my own benefit and partially to find Forrest. Cloacina gradually begin to grant me holy visions, and I felt she had accepted my petition for cleansing. My first task was a surprising one; my friend Bern wrote to ask about a cure for his withered arm. We researched it together, me from Threeshold. He started in Eastdale and traveled as needed. We did find hints that the fae may have a solution to the withering. It is certainly not cureable by standard divine magic. Finally, in preparation for the search for Forrest, I undertook my now-customary herbal cleanse and purge.\nEvents # Summer: Crime increased in the northern section of Threshold, rumored to be the work of a criminal known as the Black Death Fall: Construction in the north of Threshold (Cloacina temple) Winter: New arrival in estates south of Threshold ","date":"1 March 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-93/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"We made our way from the temple of Doghma to the Happy Cow Inn, bumping into Sanfire in the process. The halfling offered to join us for the evening, even rented a room, but left to use the outhouse early in the evening. He didn’t return. Rowen and Lyrian were drunk, so I loaned them spikes for their door and went to check on the halfing. I didn’t find the halfling, but someone else was there. He claimed not to have seen any halflings. I puttered around long enough for Sanfire to make some sort of noise if he was being held captive in the outhouse. Nothing. If he was in there, it was consensual. Or he was unconscious. But I wasn’t going to just bust in without something. What if there was no halfing there? I returned to the rooms, finding Lyrian and Rowen still drinking, but only Rowen actuallu drunk. I stayed the night in their room and we all traded watches.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 93","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Gradually, very gradually, we regained movement. When most of us had recovered, we moved to the southern room, where Thomas had befriended a kobold. We set the kobold to digging out a new sewer entrance from that room and explored a little to the east, finding a watery area we weren\u0026rsquo;t ready to explore further. It might still connect to the temple room to the north, but not that we could see from the shore. We also managed to search Squee\u0026rsquo;s body, finding his short sword (which I immediately dubbed Squeeblade). It looked to be of dwarven make, with an octagonal hilt. I\u0026rsquo;ll have it checked for magic later.\nThe paladins, meanwhile, were clearing out the wererat\u0026rsquo;s treasure room. One of them caught Clubeck being annoying and escorted him out. Two more carried out sacks of gold, leaving Xar and Forrest arguing over something we couldn\u0026rsquo;t make out. They almost left, but Gulson lured them back down for some inexplicable reason. Wizards, amiright?\nFinally Xar and Forrest left too. I had wanted to confront Forrest on the way out, when he had just the one ally, but they took a different route out. We decided to loot the wererat treasure room now and confront Forrest later. A hasty search turned up 1500gp before two wererats came into the temple room. We tried to ambush them, and succeeded in the ambush, but my bowstring broke and Lyrian somehow put a notch in her silver shortsword, Bertam missed his crossbow shot. It was a bit of a disaster, but not completely. Both wererats were badly wounded and ran, not before giving me a new facial scar.\nWe woke up and staggered out of the sewers, managing to make our way to the nearby temple of Dogma for healing and a magical cure disease for me. An expensive one. We paid a 10gp bonus to the survivors, gave the Dogma temple an accurate account of the wererat situation (with a sealed appendix detailing how Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s sword was stolen from its rightful owner), and made plans to confront Forrest at the Yggian temple in the morning. Xar and the other paladins will need to admit Forrest stole the sword. Who knows what Forrest will say? Likely plead necessity, but Ygg seems to think the threat has passed. Will they do the right thing? Will they be swayed by our tales of the wererats who returned to their nest on the way out? Should we even share such tales, since it would reveal where the rest of the treasure went?\nAfter that? I need a vacation.\n","date":"23 February 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-92/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Gradually, very gradually, we regained movement. When most of us had recovered, we moved to the southern room, where Thomas had befriended a kobold. We set the kobold to digging out a new sewer entrance from that room and explored a little to the east, finding a watery area we weren’t ready to explore further. It might still connect to the temple room to the north, but not that we could see from the shore. We also managed to search Squee’s body, finding his short sword (which I immediately dubbed Squeeblade). It looked to be of dwarven make, with an octagonal hilt. I’ll have it checked for magic later.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 92","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Faran Magebane # A cave-in blocked off the passageway behind us, and we were forced to look for alternate routes. We found a strange passage into the depths after a brief search, though the passages showed evidence of water leakage. I thought about warning this group of misfits that the caves were likely unstable. But then, it was the only path forward we could find, and we had just had a cave-in. If they didn\u0026rsquo;t know that much already, they are even bigger idiots than they look.\nExamining the area, I spotted a skeleton at the end of a long, narrow passageway. It hadn\u0026rsquo;t noticed me yet, though it was holding a mace, so naturally I charged right at it, raising my axe for a deadly blow. Immediately before I struck, however, I was engulfed in some painfully acidic translucent gelatinous substance.\nIt turns out the \u0026ldquo;skeleton\u0026rdquo; was not animated, just upright, suspend in the substance just as I was. And a strange telepathic voice spoke, asking why I had attacked it. After explaining about the skeleton, the strange creature spat me out and said it is something called a gelatinous cube. Never heard of them, much less that they were telepathic. But the evidence was currently eating my face. Some wiping \u0026ndash; well a lot of wiping \u0026ndash; and a few healing spells later, we moved on, with the cube seemingly friendly and not trying to eat us. I bargained with it to replace my axe, which had been damaged by the acid, with the mace the skeleton was carrying. The mace was suspiciously undamaged. Hmm.\nThanks for the healing, Faolain. I slept through that day in cleric school. I preferred smiting.\nMy armor was also damaged, but nothing to be done about that.\nThe rooms beyond contained even more water, with the puddles appearing to be deeper than before, and a black pudding. The cube seemed fond of it, but couldn\u0026rsquo;t keep it from trying to eat us, so it died to several swift blows from my new mace and a touch of the old sparklefingers. The cube did say there were more of them deeper in.\nThe next set of rooms had four passages leading west, and a smaller room to the south with a pool of water. I charged down the first passage. Turns out there\u0026rsquo;s a pit trap with one of the puddings the cube mentioned at the bottom. Luckily, I managed to climb out before I got eaten, but I heard the rest of the group falling into other pits and finding more puddlings. Since I had the foresight to climb out of the pit on the far side, I ran further in; the corridors did all converge into one small room with a temple and a fountain.\nFiguring this was a puzzle room and the puddings were more pressing \u0026ndash; what can I say, I\u0026rsquo;m a dessert first kind of dwarf \u0026ndash; I called out what I had found to the rest of the group and headed back. An owl passed over me on the way back; I hoped it was that soggy druid and not some new flying creature.\n","date":"18 February 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-17/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"Faran Magebane # A cave-in blocked off the passageway behind us, and we were forced to look for alternate routes. We found a strange passage into the depths after a brief search, though the passages showed evidence of water leakage. I thought about warning this group of misfits that the caves were likely unstable. But then, it was the only path forward we could find, and we had just had a cave-in. If they didn’t know that much already, they are even bigger idiots than they look.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 17","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Feverborne # I slew the wounded rat I was facing with one swift blow, but the big fucker stepped in to take it\u0026rsquo;s place. I gave him as nasty cut with my Yggian borrowed blade, taking a blow in return that destroyed my shield. Kiba stayed long enough to pull some spikes from my backpack to secure the southern door, but then fled. That rat bitch Vee joined the big rat, waving some sort of censor filled with toxic gas. Little does she know my pinkie ring from the sauhaugin protects my sense of smell; I f0ought on, undeterred. She tried a spell, but I shook it off and struck her in return, another solid blow. She fled, and another wererat joined Burly. That one died too.\nFrom behind, the rat swarms were getting closer. I heard one of the men-at-arms die screaming in a flood of rats. I heard Gulson chanting, the roar of torches, rats squeaking. From above, the rest of the group was fighting their way forward. Forrest fled; the thief is clearly unworthy of Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s blessing. I heard dialog between a rat named Squee and Lyrian, then the sound of blows. Apparently it didn\u0026rsquo;t go well for Squee because he came down to fight me instead. I was doing fine against him, but he brought a friend, one of the massive worms with paralyzing tentacles. It stuck me and I froze up. Squee kept biting me while I stood there helplessly trying (and failing) to dodge. At least Squee told the worm to go eat someone else while he killed me himself.\nInstead, Lyrian showed up, bleeding from her wounds, and killed Squee in a single blow, and the rat swarm Squee summoned to help with the next. Very fierce woman there. She yelled for Thomas and Kiba and Gulson, but they had fled behind the southern door. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t tell her because of the paralysis.\nSomehow, Lyrian drove off Vee and slew the worm. She dragged everyone into the room and kept watch until the paladins woke up and started being assholes. I tried to tell her to grab Squee\u0026rsquo;s short sword, but\u0026hellip; paralysis.\nThe paladins woke up first and herded us back to the entry room. They cured Lyrian of lycanthropy but didn\u0026rsquo;t offer the rest of us any help or any chance at whatever reward we could find in this rats\u0026rsquo; nest. Forrest returned while I was still paralyzed, my sword in hand, and stomped off to find Vee.\nGradually we regained movement, if not health, in the entry room. We\u0026rsquo;re about tapped out. Most of our mercenaries are dead or missing. Thomas and Kiba, old friend and new, likewise. But casualties are part of war, and Forrest has my sword. I\u0026rsquo;m inclined to camp here until he returns from his search for Vee and \u0026hellip; discuss the matter. I doubt the rest of the group will agree, though.\n","date":"16 February 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-91/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # I slew the wounded rat I was facing with one swift blow, but the big fucker stepped in to take it’s place. I gave him as nasty cut with my Yggian borrowed blade, taking a blow in return that destroyed my shield. Kiba stayed long enough to pull some spikes from my backpack to secure the southern door, but then fled. That rat bitch Vee joined the big rat, waving some sort of censor filled with toxic gas. Little does she know my pinkie ring from the sauhaugin protects my sense of smell; I f0ought on, undeterred. She tried a spell, but I shook it off and struck her in return, another solid blow. She fled, and another wererat joined Burly. That one died too.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 91","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-90.webp\nOf course the second guard paladin at the bottom of the stairs stopped me. I tried to reason with him, explaining that I was on a mission from thew Goddess. He was symapthetic and \u0026ldquo;let\u0026rdquo; me knock him over and run past with Kiba close behind. We didn\u0026rsquo;t get much farther \u0026ndash; yet another guard paladin blocked our way and this one wouldn\u0026rsquo;t let me pass. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t willing to fight him, so we got frog-marched back into the entrance room and disarmed. Godwin, the guard I talked to on the way in, helpfully left a knife for us to escape before leaving himnself to check on how the battle was going. We were hearing the sounds of distant battle almost continuously, beastial shrieks and the clang of swords.\nI put my efforts into distracting the other guards so Kiba could grab Godwin\u0026rsquo;s dagger, sacrificing my dignity in the process. She succeeded, but we turned out not to need it.\nA Yggian knight named Forrest demanded that I disarm, and after calling on his fellows to recognize my rights to my possessions, I did. He took a liking to Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s sword Verminbane and drew it \u0026ndash; and was immediately subjected to her visions. While he was distracted explaining hinmself to the goddess, Godwin stumbled back into the room and fell to the floor, dead, after gasping out instructions to free Kiba and I to help weith the battle, which was apparently going badly. Forrest finally recovered from his vision and, after a tense moment when I accused him of being a false paladin for failing to heal his dying friend, freed us.\nThat was when the rest of our group, including mercenaries and the wizard Clubeck, followed another paladin guard down the stairs. Clubeck had somehow talked the prison guard into letting him show them around the sewers. And after some brief exchanges, the paladins left us to join their breathren. Forrest took my sword, glowing green with the Goddesses favor, and ran off to the east. Damnit, that\u0026rsquo;s the second magic sword I\u0026rsquo;ve had taken from me.\nWe organized ourselves into two groups to cover both approaches to the main room, in case the bitch Vee had her spell set up again. I led the southern group, and surprised a wererat trying to backstab a paladin in the now open southern room. I slew one and sent those behind me into the new room to help the paladin there. I heard Forrest and Vee fighting to the east, the sounds of wererats, some sort of insectoid, and even a kobold squeaking to the south. Another wererat stepped up to face me, and I wounded it twice without a kill. My wererat was in bad shape, but things weren\u0026rsquo;t going well.\n","date":"9 February 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-90/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-90.webp\nOf course the second guard paladin at the bottom of the stairs stopped me. I tried to reason with him, explaining that I was on a mission from thew Goddess. He was symapthetic and “let” me knock him over and run past with Kiba close behind. We didn’t get much farther – yet another guard paladin blocked our way and this one wouldn’t let me pass. I wasn’t willing to fight him, so we got frog-marched back into the entrance room and disarmed. Godwin, the guard I talked to on the way in, helpfully left a knife for us to escape before leaving himnself to check on how the battle was going. We were hearing the sounds of distant battle almost continuously, beastial shrieks and the clang of swords.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 90","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"With purses fattened by wererat gold, we set our plans in motion. Ygnas held a party announcing her vacation to Candletown or some such place, honoring her bargain with the rats but leaving the gold they paid her with us. Rowen did the same with a different destination. Pluck was still detained. Old friend Lyrian and new friend Kiba with her dog Kiki joined us from the Glorious Blades. Rumor has it Kiki used to run a delivery service. We hired on several new mercenaries, including a wizard Golson, and shared out silver daggers among them all. One got to borrow my longbow and 10 silver arrows. Another got 10 silver bolts for his crossbow. We spent the night at an inn. This was all very expensive, but it was rat gold buying it.\nThe next day (and the last day of the blood moon) we descended into the sewers again, picking up urban barbarian tribe leader Thomas on the way.\nAlas the Yggian paladins were there before us, guarding the path downwards. This struck me as incredibly suspicious. Why would they leave people to guard the entrance? How did they figure out the valve system without being given the key and the combinations? Why are they trying so hard to stop us joining the fight?\nI think the Yggians have been corrupted and are defending the wererats instead. Maybe not all of them, maybe not even these two (that they were left outside the lair is a little suggestive of innocence). But the fact that the Yggians keep posing guards that want to stop people going in is troublesome.\nArguing didn\u0026rsquo;t work, and Pluck \u0026ndash; the brother of the other Pluck, strangely enough \u0026ndash; refused to use his one spell to get us past the Yggian guards without a fight, so we tried a few distractions. Eventually we lured them out of position to the south by way of Lyrian playing a damsel in distress, and I managed to slip past with Landon in one boat, plus the torchbearer with his dog. The rest of the group was still on the wrong side of the guards, though.\nI couldn\u0026rsquo;t think of a good way to get the rest of the group past without violence, and our options for distraction were exhausted. Either Pluck relented on his refusal to use magic to bypass the guards, or I did something to change the situation. So I called out to my friends \u0026ldquo;I got past the paladins, I\u0026rsquo;m going down!\u0026rdquo; and jumped down the staircase to the lower level. From above I heard faint cursing, probably from my friends and the paladins both.\nHopefully the rest of the group can sneak past in the chaos, or fight past if their spines stiffen, or the Yggians do something to reveal their true loyalties, or maybe I can find out what\u0026rsquo;s really going on.\nBut as for me, I swore a vow, and I\u0026rsquo;m done running.\n","date":"26 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-89/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"With purses fattened by wererat gold, we set our plans in motion. Ygnas held a party announcing her vacation to Candletown or some such place, honoring her bargain with the rats but leaving the gold they paid her with us. Rowen did the same with a different destination. Pluck was still detained. Old friend Lyrian and new friend Kiba with her dog Kiki joined us from the Glorious Blades. Rumor has it Kiki used to run a delivery service. We hired on several new mercenaries, including a wizard Golson, and shared out silver daggers among them all. One got to borrow my longbow and 10 silver arrows. Another got 10 silver bolts for his crossbow. We spent the night at an inn. This was all very expensive, but it was rat gold buying it.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 89","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"22 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/buzz/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Buzz","type":"tags"},{"content":" Buzz Stonebrew\nBuzz Stonebrew # It all started over a barrel of dwarven ale. My barrel, that is, which I planned to enter in the guild of brewers\u0026rsquo; contest. But the night before the contest, I started drinking early \u0026ndash; a bit of a pre-celebration of winning. And then I woke up before dawn, head pounding, to discover that my prize-winning barrel of dwarven ale was one of the barrels we tapped the night before. So I shouldered my pack and set out in search of ingredients for a new cask. Better late than never, right? But this one was going to have to be really, really special. I\u0026rsquo;d need the most unique of ingredients. Something no one could possibly expect in an ale, and yet, still a perfect complement to the traditional flavors.\nI would need a peanut!\nYes, a peanut would be the perfect complement to the rich, brown body of a solid dwarven ale. Like a hint of earth, a thin layer over the stone. A nugget of flavor. I would go look for a source of hey, peanut!\nI grabbed my pack, complete with the now-empty barrel of ale still strapped to the back, and set off to find a peanuthead!\nThere was a surprising amount of digging involved, starting in my back yard mushroom field with a pickaxe and some borrowed explosive powder. In fact, it seems I picked a thin spot in the stone over some sort of chimney. The plug collapsed, I fell through, and landed in a vast underground lake, still dreaming of the huge peanuthead! I would use to brew my prize-winning ale.\nLuckily the barrel strapped to my back was empty and watertight. It kept me afloat while I paddled to shore.\nFrom there, I wandered through a maze of twisting passages, all alike. Before long I was thoroughly lost. When I finally found the entrance, a strangely square archway, there was a sign reading kroZ.\nShortly after that I started thinking of peanuts again, and found a staircase heading down.\nAt the bottom of the very long stair \u0026ndash; don\u0026rsquo;t worry, peanuts are deep rooted vegetables \u0026ndash; I found a group of very strange folks arguing over a sarcophagus. Apparently the last person who touched a sarcophagus in this tomb died, so they were reluctant to touch a second one. Figuring there might be peanuts inside, I chose to hang around and help.\nThere were actually two peanuts inside, neither of them actually peanuts. One was mostly untouchable, which would make it difficult to brew with, and the other was a polearm. I think the first one was actually undead, which would make for a remarkable if bad tasting ale. I took a couple swings at the thing with my hammer. I felt a little resistance as each swing passed through the incorporeal creature, so something was happening, but the nasty woman in scale mail shoved the polearm at me and yelled to use it. Why? My hammer was working fine and I had a shield, no free hands. I said no thanks, doing fine here.\nSo their wizard hit me with a firebolt in the ass. He\u0026rsquo;s some aging human with a beard as tall as I am and he\u0026rsquo;s clearly not worthy of it. I retaliated by smacking their oversized halfling with my hammer. She gave me the sort of betrayed look an autistic puppy gives when you kick it, but their wizard hit me first and she was closer. Sorry-not-sorry, adorable giant halfling lady.\nAfter more yelling about the polearm from that nasty cleric, I humored her, dropped my shield, and grabbed the polearm. My head immediately filled with peanuts, but the creature disappeared. I think someone hit it while I was thinking of peanuts.\nI took off my pack for a moment and set it down so I could search for some sort of burn salve in my medical supplies. Before I found any, one of the idiots stumbled over something invisible. Sensing an opportunity, I poked it with the polearm, ignoring the peanut\u0026rsquo;s complaints. It turned out to be an invisible chest full of invisible coins, gems, and at least one necklace. Luckily, I had an empty barrel strapped to my backpack. I started scooping the coin and gems into the barrel while the idiots argued over something. I was ignoring them and listening to the peanut while the pretty pretty gold and silver flowed through my hands.\nWhen my barrel was full, I stood up and walked towards the stairs out, shouldering my pack while the rest continued arguing. Serves them right for shooting a gift dwarf in the ass. We had left one of their group smoking a mushroom in the upper chamber, I could wait there while the rest finished arguing.\nThat was when the nasty priestess hit me with some sort of glowing holy bolt as I started up the stairs, and the wizard was screaming something about stealing the loot and calling his unseen servant to arrest me. It was about that point when I decided I really didn\u0026rsquo;t owe them anything and just started running. My legs may be short, but once I get moving I\u0026rsquo;ve got inertia for days. I left them in my dust, carrying my barrel of coin and my shiny new peanut over my shoulder\u0026hellip;\n","date":"22 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-16/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Buzz Stonebrew\nBuzz Stonebrew # It all started over a barrel of dwarven ale. My barrel, that is, which I planned to enter in the guild of brewers’ contest. But the night before the contest, I started drinking early – a bit of a pre-celebration of winning. And then I woke up before dawn, head pounding, to discover that my prize-winning barrel of dwarven ale was one of the barrels we tapped the night before. So I shouldered my pack and set out in search of ingredients for a new cask. Better late than never, right? But this one was going to have to be really, really special. I’d need the most unique of ingredients. Something no one could possibly expect in an ale, and yet, still a perfect complement to the traditional flavors.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 16","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":"Joined by Rowen, Clubeck Pluck, Ygnas, and our three bandits, we descended once more into the sewers. I consulted Oscar\u0026rsquo;s notes and set the valves to drain the swamp around the base of Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s shrine. I would say vows before her image, and hope for her blessing to bring with me against the rats.\nWhen I swore my vows, she appeared before me in a vision, and told me of Arimaniux\u0026rsquo;s plans to use the sacrifice of children to rise from a demon prince to true godhood. I passed that message on to my friends, one of whom elected to pray with me, but seemed disappointed when Cloacina granted him neither a vision nor a magical weapon. I left 13 sp in the secret offering drawer (feeling that the silver coins were appropriate). Clubeck left 5 gp in the public offering tray, then took it back when he still received no divine benefit. I glared at him and replaced it from my own purse; the goddess will not be cheated.\nWe descended into the sewers after that, quite a crowd, observed by rats.\nThe first chamber was empty. We advanced cautiously, finding the next chamber empty as well. And the corridor after that. Turning the corner, we found stairs leading down, a door to the south, and the sound of chanting from below. we discussed what to do, and decided that we needed to interrupt the ritual in progress, if there was one. Landon the elf led the way, bow out, aiming to fill any rats inside with arrows. I was next, Verminbane at the ready. Trubeck Pluck followed, hoping to use his one spell on the enemy and then retreat rapidly. The others would follow once we had moved into the room. We hoped for suprise, and got it, but not in the way we hoped.\nThe room was filled with foes. Two giant rats guarded a corridor leading west. A priestess stood, chanting, at an altar just before a strange pool of sewage. A huge, green-furred rat stood to one side, a narrow-face sneak to the other. Cages were suspended from chains over the sewage, holding kids and rats. They were all looking at us as we charged in, the priestess waving her hands in a spell \u0026ndash; and suddenly I couldn\u0026rsquo;t move. Landon, ahead of me, was frozen. I heard voices from behind me, but nothing from Pluck. He must be caught in whatever foul spell the rat woman cast, too.\nSpeaking of the priestess, she was busy monologing and those behind us had the idea to drag our three paralyhzed corpses off the front line. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t much but improved our position a little. Then Rowen and Ygnas pushed their way to the front and started negotiating. I was furiously praying for mercy, for vengeance, for anything from Lady Cloacina. But I couldn\u0026rsquo;t move at all.\nThe negotiations seemed to take hours. At first, Rowen tried to stall for time, hoping we would come out of the spell and shift the odds back in our favor. Ygnas seemed more resigned, though. Given how long the three of us were frozen, Ygnas had it right.\nEventually, Ygnas settled on 2000gp and ten \u0026ldquo;extra\u0026rdquo; kids as her price for leaving. I took none of that money willingly, but I will spend it on swords \u0026ndash; well, silver daggers \u0026ndash; to complete the cleansing.\nWe led the rescued children to the temple of Ygg, where we obtained a further reward from the high priest for the children, along with a stern warning thaqt we were not to interfere further with his church cleaning out the sewers. And yet his church has done nothing to clean them out. They have even stationed guards on the one entrance we told them about, guards who do nothing to stop the evil below and may even be meant to give warning.\nPluck leapt to conclusions and action faster than I, throwing his wolfsbane bundle at the priest of Ygg. He missed, and was thrown in prison for his trouble, or his suspicions, or both. I played it cool, made it out quietly, confirmed that Pluck would be released in a week, and on the way back to the Druid and Whale informed Ygnas and Rowen of Pluck\u0026rsquo;s suspcion and resulting detention.\nWe face a difficult path forward, with little time to tread it, but at least we are well funded.\n","date":"19 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-88/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Joined by Rowen, Clubeck Pluck, Ygnas, and our three bandits, we descended once more into the sewers. I consulted Oscar’s notes and set the valves to drain the swamp around the base of Cloacina’s shrine. I would say vows before her image, and hope for her blessing to bring with me against the rats.\nWhen I swore my vows, she appeared before me in a vision, and told me of Arimaniux’s plans to use the sacrifice of children to rise from a demon prince to true godhood. I passed that message on to my friends, one of whom elected to pray with me, but seemed disappointed when Cloacina granted him neither a vision nor a magical weapon. I left 13 sp in the secret offering drawer (feeling that the silver coins were appropriate). Clubeck left 5 gp in the public offering tray, then took it back when he still received no divine benefit. I glared at him and replaced it from my own purse; the goddess will not be cheated.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 88","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"8 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/alamar/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Alamar","type":"tags"},{"content":" Alamar\nHey, Peanuthead!\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s that?\nHey, pesnuthead! C\u0026rsquo;mere!\nIt\u0026rsquo;s like my daddy\u0026rsquo;s voice when he dreams of torturing the souls I eat for him. Except\u0026hellip;\nNo, this way!\n\u0026ldquo;Can the rest of you hear that?\u0026rdquo;\nApparently they can. This is new. Also, my demonic daddy never called me peanuthead.\nWe decided to investigate. I sent my second son \u0026ndash; or was it third? anyways \u0026ndash; ahead to scout and he promptly got lost. Eventually we found a strange set of giant doors, so I resummoned the imp while we figured out how to open them. After about half an hour, I decided to try pulling on the handle on one side, and it rotated in a wide circle. We were inside. And the strange voice kept yelling about peanuts and not answering my questions.\nThe next room had a great big relief sculpture of me leading an army against beasts. It didn\u0026rsquo;t really look much like me, so I guess the artist was just awful. Creg spent ten minutes trying to find out of it was magical and then ten more trying to read the inscription under the sculpture. Boring. I wandered into the room to the east and found four sarcophagi.\nI was curious if dead people have souls, and if so, whether I could eat them, so I shoved open one of the sarcophagi and found out.\nThe answers are yes and no, respectively. I woke up back in Hell. Daddy\u0026rsquo;s gonna be pissed.\n","date":"8 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-15/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nHey, Peanuthead!\nWhat’s that?\nHey, pesnuthead! C’mere!\nIt’s like my daddy’s voice when he dreams of torturing the souls I eat for him. Except…\nNo, this way!\n“Can the rest of you hear that?”\nApparently they can. This is new. Also, my demonic daddy never called me peanuthead.\nWe decided to investigate. I sent my second son – or was it third? anyways – ahead to scout and he promptly got lost. Eventually we found a strange set of giant doors, so I resummoned the imp while we figured out how to open them. After about half an hour, I decided to try pulling on the handle on one side, and it rotated in a wide circle. We were inside. And the strange voice kept yelling about peanuts and not answering my questions.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 15","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":"We explored the sewer systems thoroughly, looking for any changes from the previously unknown configuration, but found nothing changed in the sewer layout. Except, possibly, the cow-eating tentacle monster was gone. We did happen upon two wererats carrying a young man names Giles (clearly destined for a life of vampire hunting) into the sewers. He called out for help, and we arrayed for battle. But our new friend Clubeck cast some sort of spell to knock them out without a real fight. We woke up Giles and tied up the wererats thoroughly, briefly discussing how to handle them. With the sewer rats watching the discussion was brief; we took them back to the surface and to the temple of Dogma.\nThe temple tested them for lycanthropy (positive) and offered to cure them if we paid. We agreed to a quest in retrurn for one cure, hoping a cured ex-rat would rat on his ex-colleagues. No luck, his mind was mostly destroyed, but it did come out that he had been captured as a child and raised by the rats. The second wererat we took to the church of St Ygg, where he was tested and then executed. Of the two he seemed to be the leader, and thus less deserving of mercy.\nThe Dogmans charged us 300gp (or an equivilent quest) to cure one of the wererats. He wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to tell us much, having been abducted years ago. He did mention the rat god Arimaniux who had some plot to take over or destroy threshold by rising from the sewers, led by a \u0026ldquo;red priestess\u0026rdquo; named Vee. We left him confined in the Dogma sanitarium, where they promised to allow me access to question him in the future. We suggested they find some young scholar seeking a career in academia and encourage them to specialize in lycanthropy now that we have a likely source of more information.\nThere were some hints that transformations to wererat form are not normally voluntary. Perhaps the abductions are on a schedule tied to the blood moon?\nThe quest for the Dogmans is to acquire for them the claw of a giant praying mantis, or a preserved ogre brain. Bern mentioned being attacked by a preying mantis once so he knows where to find one. Ogres seem common enough, so if we ask around the Glorious Blades, someone will have seen some recently I suppose. We have 7 weeks to find one or the other, and a scroll of preservation to use when bringing it back (I paid a 50gp deposit, which I want back when we return with the head or claw).\nThe priest of Doghma was interested in Verminbane, the magical sword granted to me by Cloacina the Clenser. After handling it, he said the blade was intelligent and that this was rare. In his hands, but not mine, it bears an inscription reading \u0026ldquo;ABLUERIT DOMINUS SORDES TERRAE\u0026rdquo;.\nIt seems Cloacina has not yet accepted me, though I plan to dedicate my life to her service in hopes of being found worthy eventually. Perhaps if I retuern to her hidden altar and swear to clense the sewers of wererats in her name? (Better be sure to specify were-rats; nothing I can do about the normal ones).\nThe Yggians paid us 200gp for the live wererat, but won\u0026rsquo;t pay for dead ones. They did offer a discount on cures if we signed up with them temporarily, wore their tabards, and did everything for the glory of Ygg. We declined, and they assigned two paladins to follow us to the entrance to the sewers. I led them back to the Druid and Whale, completely ignoring Ygnas and the bandits. I know those two groups would not mix well. Describing the effect of wading through sewage on their shiny tabards was not a deterrant.\nAll things considered I\u0026rsquo;d rather settle for dead wererats. Those cured are not themselves and seem forever lost to civilized society, and it\u0026rsquo;s a lot of trouble to capture them and bring them back. Recent captives might be salvageable, though. Also, I\u0026rsquo;m concerned that some among the city\u0026rsquo;s surface population may have been infected and operating in secret to advance the wererat\u0026rsquo;s plots. Just a hunch.\nThe next morning, we found that one of the bandits had deserted.\nI will attempt another call for mercenaries, then we shall descend into the sewers and prepare to stay for a few days to explore.\n","date":"5 January 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-87/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"We explored the sewer systems thoroughly, looking for any changes from the previously unknown configuration, but found nothing changed in the sewer layout. Except, possibly, the cow-eating tentacle monster was gone. We did happen upon two wererats carrying a young man names Giles (clearly destined for a life of vampire hunting) into the sewers. He called out for help, and we arrayed for battle. But our new friend Clubeck cast some sort of spell to knock them out without a real fight. We woke up Giles and tied up the wererats thoroughly, briefly discussing how to handle them. With the sewer rats watching the discussion was brief; we took them back to the surface and to the temple of Dogma.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 87","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-86.webp\nFeverborne # We left the poor dead wererat girl down in the sewers. Bringing her up to the surface and trying to collect a reward for a dead girl whose wounds matched our own silver weapons would be awkward at best, and very very awkwardly fatal for us at worst. Once back on the surface we took stock of the situation. My magic sword didn\u0026rsquo;t work, Ygnas\u0026rsquo; god was slacking off on the job, and our halfling had just walked off, admittedly after doing well for such a stout fellow. We were all hurt, I was feeling feverish, and without healing spells it would take time to heal back to fighting trim. Ygnas was complaining about her mace being broken, too. (How do you break a mace?) We decided to sleep on it and look at options in the morning.\nIn the morning, I had a new option to consider: whiskers, teeth, claws and a snout. I declined, which took the second of the two potions gifted to us by Cloacina. I hope we don\u0026rsquo;t need any more.\nBoth of us were low on funds, so we sold one of the remaining platinum ingots and divided it between us. We found a place for Ygnas to get her mace repaired, had a wrench made to fit the valve controls the rats had removed, and were wandering through the city trying to figure out how to fix a broken god when we caught sight of a procession of prisoners led by a noble and a small force of guards. The crowd said they were bandits due to be executed.\nAs my old friend Basldric of the Helix unbdertaker\u0026rsquo;s association was fond of saying, I was struck in the face by a very cunning plan. We followed the procession to the public square where the execution was to be held. I tried to intervene with the guard to get the prisoners released into my care, but that failed miserably. Ygnas had better luck convincing the noble, and the guard was more willing to accept a bribe when presented with a fait accompli. I had my force of four unarmed and unarmored bandits.\nI also had a very inconvenient parade following me. The guard was not at all impressed when I tried to recruit more volunteers from the crowd, but they followed us to the sewer entrance. I specifically led the parade to the smelliest and most awful entrance, and the crowd enjoyed pushing the bandits into the sewer pipes in lieu of the execution. Then, I had a tense conversation with the bandits, where I explained what would really be happening. They were not enthusiastic but agreed with the promise of 1gp each, per person per day. I agreed, and sent Ygnas to fetch 14 days of rations and meet us at the other entrance, the one with the moaning wind. She left, muttering something about marshmellows roasting on an open fire. Strange lady, that one.\nSomewhere in the confusion we noticed a new person in the group, who \u0026ndash; when called out on his presence \u0026ndash; introduced himself as Turblec Pluck, a wizard looking for his brother who had left the city after joining up with the Glorious Blades. He had noticed the disturbance, recognized one or both of us as members of the Glorious Blades, and asked to join up in hopes of meeting up with his brother at some point. We warned him that we hadn\u0026rsquo;t even met his brother and that we were planning to fight wererats in the sewers and he would probably die. He seemed remarkably unconcerned by the idea of a smelly death forgotten by man and consumed by beast, so he will fit right in.\nYgnas returned, smelling of smoke and brandishing a new holy symbol. Young Thomas looked shaken. I\u0026rsquo;m not going to ask.\nBefore descending, we acquired another batch of rations and tried one combination of valve settings we had previously overlooked. It did nothing we could identify.\n","date":"15 December 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-86/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-86.webp\nFeverborne # We left the poor dead wererat girl down in the sewers. Bringing her up to the surface and trying to collect a reward for a dead girl whose wounds matched our own silver weapons would be awkward at best, and very very awkwardly fatal for us at worst. Once back on the surface we took stock of the situation. My magic sword didn’t work, Ygnas’ god was slacking off on the job, and our halfling had just walked off, admittedly after doing well for such a stout fellow. We were all hurt, I was feeling feverish, and without healing spells it would take time to heal back to fighting trim. Ygnas was complaining about her mace being broken, too. (How do you break a mace?) We decided to sleep on it and look at options in the morning.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 86","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # I didn\u0026rsquo;t even get the chance to introduce my son around before we were attacked by four more huge spiders. The goblins promptly fled, leaving us to face them alone. Soggy was drugged out of his mind and did nothing useful. Creg was awake but spent more time wrapped up in webs than casting spells. Faolain was barely managing to keep us alive and Prim was the only star of the fight, killing all four of the spiders herself, though I made large contributions by hurting two of them very badly. My son ran around trying to free people from webbing and did nothing useful. Then he got killed. I had to get pregnant in a hurry. It was embarassingly slutty.\nWhen the last spider fell we camped for some time and then moved on, eventually encountering two strange drow and two quaggoths. They all had weapons, and appeared to be standing guard. After closer examination, and more waiting than was really necessarey, we noticed that the \u0026ldquo;weapons\u0026rdquo; were rakes and the creatures bore wounds and stank of decay. They also had mushrooms growing from their bodies. Our mushroom friend said they were gardeners and meant he was close to his home in the Neverlight Grove.\nGood for him. We could send him home now and move on back to our home, right? Right. Except we needed supplies. And Prim needed \u0026ldquo;supplies\u0026rdquo;. Me, I took one big look at the gigantic mushroom tower where their leader lived, remembered the creepy plant zombie gardeners, remembered the weird mushroom cult from the very first underdark settlement we explored, and decided I wanted no part of mushroom mind control. Our favorite helpful mushroom was home safe, promise kept. That was all. But Prim insisted on going in and talking to them.\nFaolain and I agreed that Prim could go deliver the mushrooms and collect supplies, but there was a harsd limit. After 20 minutes we would assume they had been mind-controlled by the mushrooms and continue on alone. It only took them thirty minutes to catch up to us as we walked away.\n","date":"11 December 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-14/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # I didn’t even get the chance to introduce my son around before we were attacked by four more huge spiders. The goblins promptly fled, leaving us to face them alone. Soggy was drugged out of his mind and did nothing useful. Creg was awake but spent more time wrapped up in webs than casting spells. Faolain was barely managing to keep us alive and Prim was the only star of the fight, killing all four of the spiders herself, though I made large contributions by hurting two of them very badly. My son ran around trying to free people from webbing and did nothing useful. Then he got killed. I had to get pregnant in a hurry. It was embarassingly slutty.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 14","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Nottanis # Free! I\u0026rsquo;m finally free of that damned ooze! (Probably).\nWe continued training through rain and wind at the same slow pace.. the pace of the ooze. After several days of this, during which Sanfire departed, we met up with the somewhat confused bard Brad. Brad was confused about the ooze. The ooze was confused about Brad, but I convinced it not to eat him. Temporarily.\nBrad dumped a lot of random gear in the forest for some reason. I picked up a small bell, just in case it came in handy, and we played music as we strolled through the trees. We kept playing until we came across a large owlbear. No, not the one from the cave; this one had cleaner feathers and the loveliest huge eyebrows. Anyway, knowing that discretion and silence are the better part of valor, I stopped playing and hid, as did Stria. Brad\u0026hellip; kept playing. The owlbear promptly ate him in one bite. We left. I hoped, very quietly, that the owlbear would step in the ooze. My wish was not granted.\nA wizard named Turbleck was lost in the woods leading a mule. Out of pity (and the desire to get a copy of his spellbook) we agreed to guide him back to civilization, and out of caution we warned him about the ooze. He didn\u0026rsquo;t seem bothered.\nWe next encountered a group of ogres, who were burying one of their own. They wanted the mule, named Chicken, to eat. They offered a jeweled ring and a fistful of coins. More than the mule was worth, to my eye. But no sale, so they wandered off to where ever ogres go, leaving their dead friend in a cairn. The ooze promptly ate the corpse. Let\u0026rsquo;s not meet these ogres again. We left, not waiting for the ooze, . It will follow, or not.\nThe morning brought an arcane storm of some kind, complete with mini-tornados made of lightning. We decided we needed to find shelter fast, so I used my elvish lore to find a cave. The good news is I found one; the bad news is it was occupied. By strange spiders with human hands, three of them, each 6 feet tall. I offered them Chicken the mule in return for shelter from the storm. They were amenable, but Turbeck was not. The wizard tried to surprise them with a spell. and got me instead. And himself, I found out later. What an idiot. Strias fed them the mule amd we left in the morning.\n","date":"8 December 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-85/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # Free! I’m finally free of that damned ooze! (Probably).\nWe continued training through rain and wind at the same slow pace.. the pace of the ooze. After several days of this, during which Sanfire departed, we met up with the somewhat confused bard Brad. Brad was confused about the ooze. The ooze was confused about Brad, but I convinced it not to eat him. Temporarily.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 85","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Nottanis # We set off towards Threshold, planning to cut through the forest to make better time. Our plan was foiled by the mold, or pudding, or ooze, or slime, or whatever it was. It simply moves slowly. So slowly that it took days to travel a few miles. And every single day was a nervewracking exercise in wondering if the spell had worn off yet, not to mention watching it all night to make sure it didn\u0026rsquo;t eat Rowen, Sanfire, or Stria. The magic protects me, not my companions, apparently.\nAlso it doesn\u0026rsquo;t protect my boots. Or my backpack. Or my belt. Or my pants.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re only a few miles closer to Threshold and already I\u0026rsquo;m a nervous wreck. Elvish serenity can eat my perky elvish ass, but it better hurry before the pudding gets there.\nWe met four goblins fleeing a large lizard. Everyone hid but me and Rowen. Rowen thought she was hiding until I started talking to her. Even the pudding hid, despite me encouraging it to eat the fresh goblins appetizers and the lizard entre. Between my arrows and Rowen\u0026rsquo;s illusionary magical attacks, we drove off the lizard, but not before it killed the goblins. They had a few coins, and one platinum piece the goblin seemed to consider special. Their most valuable treasure was inside them all along, though. The pudding ate well.\nWe discussed making a sled to drag the puddling with, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t seem like it would be much faster.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re going to have to send someone ahead to have a container made and maybe get the cart.\n","date":"5 December 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-84/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # We set off towards Threshold, planning to cut through the forest to make better time. Our plan was foiled by the mold, or pudding, or ooze, or slime, or whatever it was. It simply moves slowly. So slowly that it took days to travel a few miles. And every single day was a nervewracking exercise in wondering if the spell had worn off yet, not to mention watching it all night to make sure it didn’t eat Rowen, Sanfire, or Stria. The magic protects me, not my companions, apparently.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 84","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # We fought the \u0026ldquo;puppies\u0026rdquo;, which turned out to be gnolls. They mentioned Yeegnohu before they died. I ate one of their souls, but still felt unsatisfied. Empty. I was craving\u0026hellip; something. Pickles? Ice cream?\nAfter a short rest we resumed our journey, and eventually reached a large cavern filled with webs. Two goblins met us at the entrance, Spiderbait and Yum-Yum. Whoever named them had a truly morbid sense of humor, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to care, merrily using some sort of special grease to surf the webbing around the cave. They told us their might be spiders. We all rolled our eyes. Of course there are spiders, look at the webs. But then they offered to guide us past the spiders in return for a red bloodstone we found on the gnolls.\nThey promptly led us TO the spiders rather than away from them. And to make things worse, I was feeling nauseous. Swollen ankles, bloated. Definitely not in fighting form, though I wounded one after I got the webbingout of my mouth. The blue druid turned into a spider during the fight, too. I knew there was something off about him.\nBy the end of the fight I was feeling worse instead of better. Horrible cramps, intestinal spasms, gut-wrenching contortions that felt like a wrench to the gut. Finally, I gave the druid 10gp for a bowl of water and some incense. He promised they would help, but didn\u0026rsquo;t really explain how. I really should have asked.\nTen minutes later, in a puff of brimstone, I was no longer alone in my misery.\nWhen I\u0026rsquo;m feeling better, we\u0026rsquo;re all going to have a long discussion about which of them got me pregnant.\n","date":"27 November 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-13/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # We fought the “puppies”, which turned out to be gnolls. They mentioned Yeegnohu before they died. I ate one of their souls, but still felt unsatisfied. Empty. I was craving… something. Pickles? Ice cream?\nAfter a short rest we resumed our journey, and eventually reached a large cavern filled with webs. Two goblins met us at the entrance, Spiderbait and Yum-Yum. Whoever named them had a truly morbid sense of humor, but they didn’t seem to care, merrily using some sort of special grease to surf the webbing around the cave. They told us their might be spiders. We all rolled our eyes. Of course there are spiders, look at the webs. But then they offered to guide us past the spiders in return for a red bloodstone we found on the gnolls.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 13","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-83.webp\nNottanis # Feverborne, Sanfire, and Ygnas casme back from the sewers looking discouraged. Ygnas and Feverborne needed a few days to recover, but Sanfire was ready to go, so we gathered a few others and took a side trip to the Caves of Chaos. We traveled to the far western end of the valley, where a natural cave bore claw marks and scratches from a large beast. Sanfire went inside and found an owlbear \u0026ndash; and the owlbear found him. He left in a hurry and we set up around the outside of the cave, hoping to ambush it.\nQuick thinking by our illusionist and sorceress (and what a rarity it is to have humans capable of making dinner conversation about the arcane over a campfire!) produced a rather impressive illusion of a young and playful dragon. I understnd it was the combination of /Phantasmal Force/ and /Ventriloquism/ that made it so convincing. The owlbear was certainly convinced, and fled back into its cave. We had free rein to search the outer chambers as long as the dragon kept up a convincing act.\nThe search was mostly fruitless, turning up only afew coins. But Stria spotted a glint of treasure in a pool of mud, something that turned out to be a golden goblet with sapphires and rubies encrusted around it. She lifted it triumphantly before an ooze ofg some kind dropped onto her from the ceiling, and her horrible screams chilled up to the bone. Acidic sizzling could be heard, and an acrid scent, as those with her fled. To his credit, Ransom dragged her out, but she was unconscious, and the goblet remained in the pool of water where Stria had dropped it.\nWe managed to drag Stria to saftey and revive her, but it was a close thing. Her armor was destroyed, and she had a new collection of scars. We had retreated far en0ugh that the oozes were not pursuing us, so we paused, trying to think of a way to retrieve the goblet without dying. One of the arcanists produced a ten foot pole, which might be enough to fish the goblet out, but wouldn\u0026rsquo;t keep the slimes from dissolving us. Then I recalled that our wagon had a spell scroll intended to charm oozes, slimes, and similar monsters. We dug it out, and decided we thought it would work. I volunteered to read it, as the other two with arcane training were busy maintainintg the illusion of the dragon.\nThe remaining problem was being able to see the slimes without getting killed. I found a corner where I could see ino the slime pool from as far away as possible. Ransom volunteered to use the pole to fish out the goblet; hopefully they would attack him and leave me free to read the scroll. And, err, not kill him before I could do that.\nFor once the plan went off without a hitch. We have the goblet, Ransom returned the 5-foot pole to the illusionist, I have a new pet ooze, and I\u0026rsquo;m sure my acid burns will heal. There is still one ooze in the pool, so I hope there is nothing else in there we need.\nI\u0026rsquo;m contemplating taking this ooze to the university in Threshold, I hear rumors a scholar there likes to study such things and may pay good money for an ooze.\n","date":"24 November 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-83/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-83.webp\nNottanis # Feverborne, Sanfire, and Ygnas casme back from the sewers looking discouraged. Ygnas and Feverborne needed a few days to recover, but Sanfire was ready to go, so we gathered a few others and took a side trip to the Caves of Chaos. We traveled to the far western end of the valley, where a natural cave bore claw marks and scratches from a large beast. Sanfire went inside and found an owlbear – and the owlbear found him. He left in a hurry and we set up around the outside of the cave, hoping to ambush it.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 83","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-82.webp\nFeverborne # With one wererat fleeing from a snoutful of wolfsbane, the rest of us rushed into the room. Alas, we were not quick enough to reach them before we lost the advantage of surprise. Sanfire had told me where to find both of the rats, but I could only see the one choking on herbs. I ran to cut off his escape path, striking a blow with my silver dagger, but the second one fell upon me from behind. We managed to trap and kill one but the second escaped, still choking on wolvesbane.\nWe gave chase into the next room, but got ambushed. We killed two and the rest fled, but I was sorely wounded. Ygnas contibuted a healing spell, which took longer than usual, and I chased it with some of the wafers of St Yggthat Wohzniak is so impressed by. That got me back to fighting shape, but without much margin. Ygnas tried another healing spell for herself, but something went even more wrong and now she\u0026rsquo;s really looking worried.\nWe tried to rest for another ten minuters and had to fight off another ambush. Clearly they are trying to wear us down in a battle of attrition. We drove them off again, killing one more, I think. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to keep track. Then they fled, and we cautiously explored to the north and the east. Both paths appear to lead to some sort of undercity, long forgotten streets with no view of sun or sky. I fear we will need to retreat to the surface again with nearly empty purses and try to acquire funding for rations, mercenaries, and a safe rest. Exploring an underground city seems a lengthy undertaking.\nYgnas and Sanfire were discussing bringing one of the wererat bodies back, in case it was one of the missing children. Since in death it merely looks like a dead teenage girl with stab wounds, I suggested this would cause more trouble than it would be worth. We\u0026rsquo;ll see if they listen.\n","date":"17 November 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-82/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-82.webp\nFeverborne # With one wererat fleeing from a snoutful of wolfsbane, the rest of us rushed into the room. Alas, we were not quick enough to reach them before we lost the advantage of surprise. Sanfire had told me where to find both of the rats, but I could only see the one choking on herbs. I ran to cut off his escape path, striking a blow with my silver dagger, but the second one fell upon me from behind. We managed to trap and kill one but the second escaped, still choking on wolvesbane.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 82","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-81.webp\nFeverborne # We retreated to the surface and arranged to spend a few days at the Druid and Whale recuperating. u-Heury wandered off to tell his tribe about his innovations in urban barbarism, and the by some ill fortune his replacement was a halfling named Sanford. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know him well and it soon became obvious that the lazy little shit deserved every bit of my diligent efforts to avoid him. The first thing he did when he arrived was sell half his equipment to fund a party in some other inn without inviting us. (To be fair, I\u0026rsquo;m not sure how he moved while carrying so much, but after the party he had surely replaced the weight in food and drink). At least he kept his silver spear.\nOur torchbearer also left, a decision I understand completely. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t carry a torch for any of us no matter how much I was paid, and torchbearers aren\u0026rsquo;t paid much. The cleric stayed, at least. Maybe he will memorize a useful spell this time\u0026hellip; or maybe not.\nAfter Sanford spent even more time and money getting drunk in our tavern and attempting to entice a new friend to join us, he eventually stumbled into bed. I followed, more to watch his coin purse than anything else, Ygnas was already in bed. She had mentioned feeling unwell earlier in the evening. All went smoothly until I heard a knocking on my door well past midnight \u0026ndash; a now very hung over Sanfire and a visibly terrified Ygnas, both in nightclothes. (I perhaps dignify Sanford\u0026rsquo;s garb more than it deserves; it resembled a diaper more than anything else). I let them to find out what was wrong, hoping for nothing more exciting than a bad dream.\nAlas it was much, much worse. Ygnas reported dreams of the moon, of hair and teeth and claws. Wolfsbane made her sneeze and itch. Silver was actively painful. The conclusion was made obvious when, for a moment, she lost her temper and grew claws, teeth, and whiskers.\nLuckily my lady Cloacina had provided for this event, despite playing hard to get with her blessed sword Verminbane. For the first time I regretted my dalliances with camp followers and guard-chasers perhaps I would already be worthy of her blade. But I digress. Cloacina, blessed be her name, had provided use with two potions. I surmised they must be meant to resolve the lycanthropy curse, and Ygnas downed one promptly. Experimentation the next day suggested the issue had been resolved.\nWe might be wise to make arrangements for a cleric with the necessary knowledge to be available, should we use the other potion and still have need of more.\nEven the trip to the sewer entrance was not without problems. Sanford got distracted watching a cockfight, and then apparently got paid to distract the guards. That\u0026rsquo;s what he told me later on. What I actually saw was him running up to look at the commotion, then hide and pick up a rock, aiming at the approaching guards. I called out for him to stop, pretending he was my son, hoping that might get him out of minor trouble. Instead he turned and threw the rock right at me! I took the hit full on, not expecting my ex-friend to throw a rock full force at my face, and not expecting to need a helmet while walking through a city. I was wrong on both counts. The rock knocked me over, and almost knocked me out. I faked the latter for the benefit of the guards, who were by now thoroughly distracted.\nBut I swear I will spank that damned halfling when I catch him.\nWhen we finally made it into the sewers, the wererats had removed one of the handles to the control mechanism, presumably to prevent us going back down. I repurposed the winch from a crossbow to turn the valve control. This trip may be our last, as they seem to have figured out how we are getting down and will surely take additional steps if we give them enough time.\nThe halfling does offer the advantage of stealth. He was able to scout the first room on the lower level, where the wererats laid an ambush for us, and ambush them in turn. He threw a bundle of wolfsbane straight into the open mouth of one of the waiting wererats. And now the fight is on!\n","date":"9 November 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-81/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-81.webp\nFeverborne # We retreated to the surface and arranged to spend a few days at the Druid and Whale recuperating. u-Heury wandered off to tell his tribe about his innovations in urban barbarism, and the by some ill fortune his replacement was a halfling named Sanford. I didn’t know him well and it soon became obvious that the lazy little shit deserved every bit of my diligent efforts to avoid him. The first thing he did when he arrived was sell half his equipment to fund a party in some other inn without inviting us. (To be fair, I’m not sure how he moved while carrying so much, but after the party he had surely replaced the weight in food and drink). At least he kept his silver spear.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 81","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-80.webp\nFeverborne # The wererats charged us before we could charge them, trapping us in the staircase. Awkward. u-Heury pulled back further up the stairs to force them to come to us. I pulled out my (borrowed) longbow and shot over his head, hitting one of the wererats in the gut with a silver arrow. That pissed them off, but recognizing the poor tactical position, they withdrew and called for reinforcements. We charged into the empty room, but failed to catch them. Ygnas did manage to put a silence spell on one of them before the retreat, preventing further reinforcements, at least for the moment.\nIt turned out the retreat was less a retreat than an ambush. The wererats attacked again, dropping from above or from dark corners. We fought bravely, especially Kraznak, who killed one with a silver tipped bolt and went into melee with the silver dagger I had lent him when they closed in. They wounded him badly in return. For my part, Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s gift passed through the wererats as if they were mist. Clearly I was not yet worthy of the blade. I sheathed it and drew my silver dagger, retrieved from our tragically-fallen elf on the level above after his death. That blade did for two of the wererats, so I was not entirely out of favor. The last of the wererats fled through the eastern door.\nIt turned out that the reason they fled was\u0026hellip; concerning. Ygnas was deep in conversation with a flaming devil creature, asking her fill out some kind of form. Perhaps it knows Oscar. But I felt it was very unwise to give a devil her full name, whether she knew it or not, and said so. Never mind the rest of the strange parchment it was filling out, or the fact that it appeared in place of the healing spells she had meant to cast, and which we were sorely needing. That said, the creature\u0026rsquo;s appearance may have contributed to scaring off the wererats.\nAlas, they had spiked the door to the next room to slow us down as well, which worked long enough for several giant rats to arrive. The rats came from the same staircase we had, and we managed to trap them there, at a severe disadvantage. They fell to our blades quickly. Despite this my misfortune continued; the sword Verminbane turned in my hand and struck stone, marring the blade. I will redouble my efforts to prove worthy of Cloacina the Cleanser! But, I will also stop risking the sword until I am worthy.\nWith combat over for the moment we forced the door to the next room open, noting obvious signs of a trap near the north door. When we went in to check further, we were ambushed by wererats from above. We slew several, forcing the last to retreat, but took dire wounds in the process \u0026ndash; me especially, as the retreating wererat set off the trap we had spotted, filling the room with poison gas.\nWe retreated again to the main room, hurt and discouraged. Kraznak had died, the poison gas had nearly killed me, Ygnas was hurt as well. She did manage to burn out some of the poison from my lungs, at least, once we had all gotten over the demon appearing. u-Heury has some healing wafers which helped as well.\nWe may need to retreat to the surface and recover before we continue.\n","date":"3 November 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-80/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-80.webp\nFeverborne # The wererats charged us before we could charge them, trapping us in the staircase. Awkward. u-Heury pulled back further up the stairs to force them to come to us. I pulled out my (borrowed) longbow and shot over his head, hitting one of the wererats in the gut with a silver arrow. That pissed them off, but recognizing the poor tactical position, they withdrew and called for reinforcements. We charged into the empty room, but failed to catch them. Ygnas did manage to put a silence spell on one of them before the retreat, preventing further reinforcements, at least for the moment.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 80","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-79.webp\nFeverborne # Word arrived from Oscar that some of the Glorious Blades had found something interesting in the sewers under Threshold. A small shrine to a nearly forgotten minor goddess of cleansing, lost and surrounded by filth and wererats. The Venus Cloacina, protecting a beautiful sword. The answer to my prayers and my search for meaning.\nI had never been a healthy child, as my name suggests. but ever since I had taken up the adventuring life, it had gotten worse. Especially since that time in the barrow when \u0026ndash; well, when I died. I picked up a cough in hell that hasn\u0026rsquo;t left me since. No matter what herbal teas, vapor rubs, barbarian poltices, or clerical murmurings I got, the cough persisted. Admittedly, sometimes it got better briefly, but I could always feel it dragging me down. And any time I had a close brush with death, it got worse, and took months of carefully nursing my health back before I could even think of adventuring again.\nBut now I have hope. The sword Oscar brought me is a relic of the goddess Venus Cloacina the Clenser. I have sworn myself to her service, standing vigil through the night at the Druid and Whale, though she has not yet accepted me. I\u0026rsquo;m not surprised. A man of my failing constitution will inevitably be required to clense himself before I can possibly be worthy of her blessing. Nevertheless, I will accept the task She has given me, and clense the wererats from the sewers of Threshold.\nAnd about that\u0026hellip;\nOscar passed his share of the gold discovered in the statue to me, feeling honor-bound to do so as he had been unable to accept the task from Cloacina. It was as if the goddess had foreseen my need to re-equip. I spent the next morning shopping for the gear that seemed appropriate, along with transforming my platinum ingot into a retirement fund. I replaced my armor and shield, bought a sheath, oil, rope with a grappling hook, and a ladder, based on the expectation of a vertical descent to the wererat lair. I paid also for 10 silver arrows or bolts each for the elf and dwarf, which are to be returned to me following the expedition, and a sprig of wolfsbane for myself, u-Heury, and Ygnas. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t entirely clear why Ygnas was taking over from Stria, but Stria does seem to get bored quickly. Maybe she has had her fill of sewers, for which I can hardly blame her.\nUnfortunately, those hirelings who had not received a half-share of the find from yesterday left. Perhaps they felt it unfair, but it was the terms they agreed to.\nWe descended into the sewers once more. However, in the large room where Oscar claimed to have left a giant turtle, there was only a lifeless turtle corpse, nibbled extensively by rats along with larger, more serious wounds. At least the creature died fighting, but it is unfortunate that we lost an ally.\nFollowing Oscar\u0026rsquo;s notes, we located the control valves and set them to the proper configuration to expose the lower level. As expected, this attracted the attention of several rat swarms. They kept their distance from our torches, but eventually attacked as we closed in on the passage down. u-Heury and I in the lead both took wounds, but prevailed. Further back, the elven archer died when rats got to him before anyone could help. We wrapped his body in cloth and left it where we could retrieve it on the way back. I reclaimed the silver arrows, and his longbow, the latter temporarily.\nBy then the way down had finished draining, so we opened the trapdoor and went down. At the bottom of the stairs was a large room with four wererats waiting for us. After a brief exchange of threats, u-Heury and I charged them. Ygnas will guard the stairs while the dwarf will use his silver bolts from behind her.\n","date":"13 October 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-79/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-79.webp\nFeverborne # Word arrived from Oscar that some of the Glorious Blades had found something interesting in the sewers under Threshold. A small shrine to a nearly forgotten minor goddess of cleansing, lost and surrounded by filth and wererats. The Venus Cloacina, protecting a beautiful sword. The answer to my prayers and my search for meaning.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 79","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-78.webp\nOscar # Our testing of the valve configurations proved fruitful. We rapidly discovered that turning both valves to the right (east) raised the porticullis leading to the shrine, which is located just south of the valve room, and turning the left valve up and the right valve right raises a dam that allows the shrine to drain. Within the shrine of a statue, along with writing.\nIf a hero you would be and see my foe\u0026rsquo;s filth, vermin and plague destroyed, grant me a weapon and I will grant you the means to see it through.\nI recognized the statue as depicting a minor goddess of cleansing known as Cloacina, appropriate for a sewer in a way if you assume she was meant to be cleaning the place up. Stria prompted borrowed one of u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s spears and gave it to the statue. A drawer opened at the base, containing 2000 gp, two flasks of liquid, and a wrapped bundle. u-Heury grabbed the bundle and unwrapped it to find a very fancy sword, obviously magical, practically glowing. He dropped it immediately, of course. I caught the thing before it could fall into the muck, and was immediately caught up in a vision.\nCloacina offered me the use of the sword if I took up her worship and cleansed the sewers of the wererats. I was forced to decline, as my heart and soul both belong to Denara, but I was not without sympathy and vowed to find someone worthy of her cause and pass the sword along to them. Alas, neither Stria nor u-Huery were found worthy. Perhaps Feverborne, he is always muttering about clensing infusions and herbal teas.\nThe gold we divided up amongst the group, which made those three who had negotiated for half-shares quite happy, but also slowed us down. We resolved to return to the surface soon, to store the gold and find the sword a wielder, but hoped to resolve the question of how to proceed further down first. Exaustively searching the shrine revealed no more clues.\nu-Huery wanted to investigate a feature of the northern room that looked odd to him, and found some sort of barrel or chest beneath the water. He \u0026ldquo;found\u0026rdquo; it by having Mahra step on it, and it broke. We didn\u0026rsquo;t realize what it was until a piece of it floated by later wth a gem stuck to it; Stria grabbed it and said it was worth 20gp. It must have been a barrel or chest full of gemstones. Oops. After diving into the muck (eww) u-Heury brought back one more small gemstone. u-Huery declared he would come back with a net and a ten foot pole to fish for gems. I figure it\u0026rsquo;s worth a try.\nWe returned to the valves, and my meticulous record keeping brought the favor of Denara upon ouer endeavor. I quickly determined that turning both valves to the left started the sewage draining in that same direction. It also attracted the attention of the rats, who watched us from just outside the range of our torches. Stria is convinced they are spying for the wererats, and she\u0026rsquo;s not wrong. We attempted, and failed, several strategams to outwit the rats, and eventually mounted our dwarf and elf on Mahra\u0026rsquo;s back so they could ride her into battle against the rat horde. The rats fled.\nWe learned that the west room was in fact draining, but the outflow matched the inflow so the whole maze remained flooded. Further examination of the valves revealed that turning left to face left and right to point right would raise a dam to block the west passage, allowing that chamber to drain. The rats did not return.\nWith the way downward revealed, we resolved to return to the surface and seek a proper sword wielder and make what other preparations seemed wise. I plan to try to close the way down before we leave, so we do not tip off the wererats more than we have already.\n","date":"6 October 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-78/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-78.webp\nOscar # Our testing of the valve configurations proved fruitful. We rapidly discovered that turning both valves to the right (east) raised the porticullis leading to the shrine, which is located just south of the valve room, and turning the left valve up and the right valve right raises a dam that allows the shrine to drain. Within the shrine of a statue, along with writing.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 78","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # The guards escorted us out of the city, actually putting us out in front of a group of drow. Drow who happened to be looking for us. Well, me. And Creg, I guess. Of course I had already put them out of mind, and they attacked us immediately after leaving the city. In sight of the guards at the gate, even. We killed them, of course. I killed four myself! The rest only managed to kill one. The other one they let live, after telling him where the bodies of my ex-slave-friends were in the hopes he could convince the other drow we were all dead and he was just short two bodies. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure that was wise, but what do I know?\nI tried to sell the loot from the bodies to the guards, but they only offered ten gold for it. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to carry around a bunch of armor, but their hand crossbows had poisoned bolts and might be valuable or useful, so I kept those.\nAfter that I led the party away from the city towards our next stop, because I\u0026rsquo;m just that awesome and they have no idea where they are going. Before long we stumbled across a few hook horrors \u0026ndash; at any rate they had hooks and were horrible. I turned around and walk away because they looked like they were running from something else making a weird high pitched noise. I though it might be water at first. Flooding underground is bad. But it turned out to be gnolls giggling at each other, which is not all that much better.\nThe two drug addicts think these are puppies. That will be hilarious until the bleeding starts. Then I will eat their souls. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure which souls, but definitely some souls on the menu.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve been having these strange cravings\u0026hellip;\n","date":"2 October 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-12/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # The guards escorted us out of the city, actually putting us out in front of a group of drow. Drow who happened to be looking for us. Well, me. And Creg, I guess. Of course I had already put them out of mind, and they attacked us immediately after leaving the city. In sight of the guards at the gate, even. We killed them, of course. I killed four myself! The rest only managed to kill one. The other one they let live, after telling him where the bodies of my ex-slave-friends were in the hopes he could convince the other drow we were all dead and he was just short two bodies. I’m not sure that was wise, but what do I know?\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 12","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-77.webp\nOscar # Rowen opened the east door, but it was empty this time. At least empty of wererats. It did have some kind of sewage channel, and evidence that filthy creatures had camped there until recently. After a quick search we moved to the south door. This one was also empty of rats, but did have a closet, a staircase leaeding to the surface, and some creepy construction methods that made the moaning noises we had noted previously when the wind blew. The final door to the north led to a larger room, containing a pool of sewer water and a giant snapping turtle. Just one, not four, and no ninja rats. The turtle talked, and in fact had a lot to say.\nIt was friendly, and called itself Mahra. It had seen wererats and captive children moving around the sewers. It felt trapped in this chamber by the porticullis to the west and its own size (ten feet across at least).\nIt offered more infrormation and aid if we could free it by lifting the gates blocking the exit, which it claimed were operated by a steam engine or mechanism of some kind. We tried, and failed, to lift the gates by force even when riding on its back (with which young Thomas was especially pleased).\nCircling around and heading north where we had previously encountered the wererats, we instead found the place empty. There were two small rooms with nothing of note, and a larger one with a set of two valves that could be adjusted. Both valves began in the up position. We spread out in a line so keep an eye on the large porticullis, while I operated the controls. Experimenting with turning the right valve to point west raised the large porticullis, releasing the turtle, who was appropriately grateful. He told of seeing wererats carrying kidnapped children some time ago, but they did something to lower the water levels and descend to a lower level of the sewers with their captives. The turtle mentioned overhearing talk of a shrine they could not manage to open, perhaps locked behind some manipulation of the controls. He also warned us of a wererat with all white hair, their leader; a woman, perhaps a cleric, wielding a flail of some horrid poison or malign enchantment; and finally of a huge rat, even more giant than a giant. If we can gain entry to the shrine, the turtle said there would be baubles there.\nTurning the rightward valve to point east did\u0026hellip; something\u0026hellip; and unleashed a horde of rats from somewhere to the south. Mahra was an absolute rat-killing terror, u-Heury and Stria held their own on the front lines, and my canoe sailed into range soon enough to contribute a few stones and arrows. We did lose one hired man, and another broke and fled; but with no-where to go the latter may return to use once he realizes he is alone in the dark. If he does, I will convince Stria to let him live, if I can.\nWith the rats defeated, we will return to our study of the valves, primarily the leftward one. Our dwarf seems convinced these are the work of his people.\n","date":"29 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-77/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-77.webp\nOscar # Rowen opened the east door, but it was empty this time. At least empty of wererats. It did have some kind of sewage channel, and evidence that filthy creatures had camped there until recently. After a quick search we moved to the south door. This one was also empty of rats, but did have a closet, a staircase leaeding to the surface, and some creepy construction methods that made the moaning noises we had noted previously when the wind blew. The final door to the north led to a larger room, containing a pool of sewer water and a giant snapping turtle. Just one, not four, and no ninja rats. The turtle talked, and in fact had a lot to say.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 77","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-76.webp\nOscar # I had a plan. It was a good plan.\nWe would hire a group of mercenaries. Two groups, really. All of them would be armed with missile weapons. One group would take the new entrance into the sewers, and set up on the west side of the pool room where a small platform offered space for three or four archers or slingers. The other group would take the canoes to the east side of the pool room, where a larger platform could support up to six. It\u0026rsquo;s not entirely clear, but the map suggests the pool itself is about 50 feet across. Even slings have a range of about that much. If we have lanterns on both sides, both groups of mercenaries can fire on the creature whichever group it chooses to attack. When it gets within melee range of either group, they can retreat, forcing it to either leave the water to follow or attack the other group. I suspect it can\u0026rsquo;t leave the water at all, and we can safely run the creature from one side to the other while slowly whittling it down to size.\nWith the blessing of Denara upon our blows, I can guide them into the creature\u0026rsquo;s hide. This will reduce its advantages.\nThe Grey Company has sent us two more recruits, one an illusionist of some talent named Rowen. She has a spell that illuminates a wide area such as the pool for about 10 minutes \u0026ndash; more than enough for a combat like this, I think. The creature could otherwise hide in the middle of the pool to avoid our missiles. The other recruit is a paladin of Ygg named Johann. He kept mostly to himself. Unusual for a paladin. We found 8 more willing men-at-arms after announcing we would be seeking the missing children, and unlike last time, they were all willing to go into the sewers.\nSo, we hired the men-at-arms, including a very expensive elf and dwarf. 24gp. I bought those that lacked missile weapons a sling. 10 gp. I repaired my silver warhammer. 25gp. U-heury bought a second canoe. 50 gp.\nAnd when we got all set up, Dancing Ligts cast, Bless cast, monster clearly blinded by the bright lights in the middle of the pool, u-Heury decided to go buy a cow and feed it to the creature.\nPriceless.\nExcept, worse than that, because the cow cost 50gp.\nAnd thus my plan died. And the monster still wants to eat me because I was the only one who managed to land a blow last time.\nThe only successes from this venture so far are hiring a small army of mercenaries to rescue the children (hopefully) and making the acquaintance of a competent arcane caster. Hopefully Rowen will stick around.\nI did manage to test whether the strange effect of the shield on my eyes helped me to see in the dark. It does not. I will need to get the thing researched properly when I have time. Also, we should bring a hammer and spikes to keep the porticullis open.\nAfter feeding the monster a cow, we reformed the group near the location with three doors, and (remembering the bells) searched exhaustively for traps. The north and south doors had bells; the east door did not. Stria snipped the wires on the north door, u-Huery is working on the lock to the south, and \u0026hellip; fuck, did Rowen just open the east door?\nStria # Getting a cow for the monster seemed the most expedient way to get past it to the rest of the sewers. Oscar devised a complicated plan to try to kill it. I don\u0026rsquo;t think we can kill it, no matter how many people he hires, but he was adamant. U-Heury was all on board with killing it as well. It makes sense to remove it so we don\u0026rsquo;t have to worry about it ever again; I just don\u0026rsquo;t think we can. But, I was willing to try. I got stuck babysitting the new mage Rowen and the Ygg paladin with a few of Oscar\u0026rsquo;s new cannon fodder. Including a simpering torchbearer that Rowen was immediately attached to. Children. It pained me to watch. Annoyingly, the portcullis was again down. Did not improve my mood. It was entirely too tempting to accidently shove the simpering idiot into the pool once Rowen got her magic lights up. We didn\u0026rsquo;t need a torchbearer anymore, after all. Give the monster a snack.\nI saw the other team on the door side of the pool. They got in place. Then u-Heury started, and stared into space. Obviously talking to the monster. His hands waved. Then he turned and started talking to Oscar, and there was more handwaving. Then they yelled for us to go back topside. Sigh. Back up the damned rope. Once we met back up, u-Heury had changed his mind and decided we just needed to feed the monster a cow. Which is what I said all along, but nobody listens to me. Cows are regrettably expensive. But if we can get past it, maybe we can find a third entrance and not need to worry about it in the future.\nEveryone chipped in, and we acquired a cow. We walked the cow back through the ruins, to the bemusement of the citizens. I prodded the cow from the rear while u-Heury pulled from the front, and we got it down the stairs that Oscar\u0026rsquo;s cannon fodder had cleared off for us in the meantime. Poor cow really didn\u0026rsquo;t want to go through the door. With some shoving, we got it through and slammed the door behind it. There were several minutes of horrible sounds, then silence. When we peeked through the door, there was blood and guts everywhere, but the monster was quiet. If I can interest the monster in dead bodies, I\u0026rsquo;d have an excellent way to dispose of the kills that can\u0026rsquo;t be found.\nOscar and two of his cannon fodder grabbed one of the canoes and went the hole way. The rest of us made entirely too many trips across the pool with the other canoe. The monster stayed quiet. We met back up, and went to the far east, where the were rats were last seen. Three doors. I disarmed the trap on the south door, while u-Heury tried to do the same on the north door, but missed. Rowen insisted there was no traps on the east door. I switched places with u-Heury, to disarm the north door while he unlocked the south door. Then Rowen barged through the east door. There\u0026rsquo;s a reason mages die so fast, and that\u0026rsquo;s the reason. I think magic turns them all into brainless twits without the sense to stay behind people with armor and sharp pointy things who can protect them. Well, that removes any choice we had, apparently we\u0026rsquo;re going through the east door.\n","date":"22 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-76/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-76.webp\nOscar # I had a plan. It was a good plan.\nWe would hire a group of mercenaries. Two groups, really. All of them would be armed with missile weapons. One group would take the new entrance into the sewers, and set up on the west side of the pool room where a small platform offered space for three or four archers or slingers. The other group would take the canoes to the east side of the pool room, where a larger platform could support up to six. It’s not entirely clear, but the map suggests the pool itself is about 50 feet across. Even slings have a range of about that much. If we have lanterns on both sides, both groups of mercenaries can fire on the creature whichever group it chooses to attack. When it gets within melee range of either group, they can retreat, forcing it to either leave the water to follow or attack the other group. I suspect it can’t leave the water at all, and we can safely run the creature from one side to the other while slowly whittling it down to size.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 76","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"22 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/stria/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Stria","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-75.webp\nOscar # We put together a small group to explore the sewers, looking for the missing children. I engaged two bodyguards, Stria brought herself and her two favorite daggers as usual, and u-Heury recruited the young Thomas, a street urchin and apparently the first member of the Ice Skulls, a new tribe of urban barbarians. I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to watching u-Huery explain this to his ancestors or shamans or foster fathers or whoever is theoretically in charge of him.\nBy Denara\u0026rsquo;s Scales! That might be me! I\u0026rsquo;m the closest thing he\u0026rsquo;s known to a father figure for most of his adolescence.\nu-Heury bought an extra canoe, I got mine repaired, and we set off to explore. The hirelings nearly ran off when I pulled out the new shield; apparently no one mentioned it makes my eyes glow. I meant to test whether I can see in the dark, but didn\u0026rsquo;t get the chance.\nThere was a porticullis lowered over the entrance. Normally it\u0026rsquo;s raised up. We raised it and nailed it in place; next time bring a hammer and spikes.\nWe turned south at the first water-filled passage after that, just to fill out our map and perhaps locate another entrance. We found a large pool with at least two raised areas on the east and west (the former one we had explored before). The platform to the east had a door, but before we could probably investigate, we were accosted by a telepathic dungheap demanding we leave the area immediately. I stalled for time, hoping to open the door and leave that way, but it attacked. The monster is quite fierce and it\u0026rsquo;s sucker-like arms have an acidic component to them that poses a severe threat. We should prepare for thwt next time, if we can think of a way. It is also quite difficult to land a solid blow on the viscuious form. I managed to hit it once, and I think one of Stria\u0026rsquo;s bolts stuck. Another note for next time: I shall petition my goddess to bless our enterprise before we enter the dungeons. Waiting for combat to begin is too late. Such a blessing would perhaps have guided our blows.\nThe men-at-arms acquitted themselves well and did not flee, despite not landiung any blows.\nBeing the only one to damage it, I took the brunt of the creature\u0026rsquo;s retaliation and had to call for a retreat since none of us could reliably strike the creature. However, with our canoes up on the landing and the creature eager to crush then as much as us, the only way was through the door. Luckily it wsas unlocked, though we discovered another of those bell traps the hard way. We had the hirelings pull the canoes into the next room while u-Huery and I kept the creature\u0026rsquo;s attention, then we both slipped away and closed the door. We rested, and I invoked Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessings to heal our wounds. We were not back up to full strength, and resolved to find another exit if possible.\nI did attempt to negotiate safe passage with the creature, a very difficult natter. We might be able to trade a cow or a giant rat the size of a cow for safe passage.\nThe room we found ourselves in connected to another, with staircases leading up. Thomas reported he heard surface noises from above, so we had found our exit, and perhaps a secure base to store equipment between delves. The romm held tools and construction materials sufficient to seal off at least two passageways. We could potentially use this to trap the creature and starve it, or to our advantage in some other way. Another possibility would be to fed the wererats or their minions the giant rats to the dungheap.\nWe left through the newly discovered exit and retrieved our stashed gear from u-Huery\u0026rsquo;s burgeoning tribe of urban barbarians, resolving to heal and ponder our next move.\nStria # Ygnas buggered off again, and I was getting nowhere coming up with a catchy name for myself in order to set up shop here in Threshold, so when Oscar said he was putting together a crew to go back into the sewers, I went along. Rescuing children does nothing for my reputation, but there\u0026rsquo;s a bounty for every kid we drag out of there. Did it say dead or alive? I didn\u0026rsquo;t read the paper Oscar waved around to find out if the kids have to be alive for us to get paid. I haven\u0026rsquo;t blooded my magic blades in a while. Still don\u0026rsquo;t actually know what either of them does. I should probably find that out. Rats are a menace to society, and were rats are ten times the menace. I may need the sewers as a way to get around the city unnoticed. Or stash bodies. It\u0026rsquo;s just good business to clear them out.\nOscar hired two men to come along. One is twitchy. We hired some of Thomas\u0026rsquo; friends to watch the wagon. I warned them what would happen if the wagon and our stuff wasn\u0026rsquo;t there when we got back. We dropped the canoes in the hole and climbed down the rope. The portcullis that had been up was now down. The men made me get out in the muck and lift it up. We wedged it up so we could get back out. Before we went to the last place they saw were rats, we decided to explore south. South led to a deep pool which was full of shit. This must be the intake area. For the whole city. It reeked. There was a walkway and a door on the other side.\nWe rowed over to investigate, and were accosted by a voice in our minds telling us to leave. When we didn\u0026rsquo;t immediately leave, a monster attacked from underneath a giant pile of shit in the corner of the pool. A mouth with rows of teeth, and tentacles. I shot at it with my crossbow, but only hit it with a glancing blow. Oscar managed to hit it once, but didn\u0026rsquo;t do much damage. No one else landed a blow. It however, hit Oscar and u-Heury several times. Thomas was whining, so I told him to check the door. Instead of checking, he barged right in, setting off one of those bells. Nothing untoward happened, so we all fled into the room beyond the door.\nOscar said that it wanted a cow or something big to eat, and maybe it would leave us alone. I wonder if he knows that his eyes have turned black. The room turned out to be a storage area of some kind. Lots of tools. The room beyond that had stairs that were partially covered by debris. We cleared enough to get out. A second way in and out of the sewers will come in handy.\n","date":"14 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-75/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-75.webp\nOscar # We put together a small group to explore the sewers, looking for the missing children. I engaged two bodyguards, Stria brought herself and her two favorite daggers as usual, and u-Heury recruited the young Thomas, a street urchin and apparently the first member of the Ice Skulls, a new tribe of urban barbarians. I’m looking forward to watching u-Huery explain this to his ancestors or shamans or foster fathers or whoever is theoretically in charge of him.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 75","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"10 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/ancientfealty/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Ancientfealty","type":"tags"},{"content":"[Non-character: Jaswand went off to plant a seed in some soil the fae thread worms made; Lawrence gets a chaos feeling, and heads off in the escort ship to investigate, finding the robbers on the train shooting at the pursuing automatons in scout ships, which try to shoot carefully at the train, but end up derailing the engine car]\nBarty, Mariah and I discussed where to head first to meet contacts. We heard the escort ship take off, as Lawrence sped away. Then we noticed Jaswand was missing. Lawrence flew by us at a fast clip, did a loop around a building, and sped off again. I mentioned this to Mariah and suggested we go after him. She seemed dismissive, saying that was just Lawrence, but I persisted. He did a loop around that building on purpose, after attracting my attention with the fly-by. Reluctantly, our captain consented to get the ship moving. It\u0026rsquo;s a good idea to move it periodically anyway, since they have people after them.\nAs we were getting moving, Jaswand ran up, and Barty threw her a rope so she could swing on board. We got to the building Lawrence had looped around, heard a big explosion, and saw a train being pursued by scout ships. The ships shot at the train, and people on the train shot back. The engine car had derailed, and was heading for the next platform, with guaranteed disastrous results. We had no intention of getting involved, but then Lawrence landed on the platform.\nBarty rigged himself up to swing over to the train. Seeing fate involved, and the potential to get a favor from an entity in power, I followed, much more clumsily. Barty helped me get hold of the railing at the end of one car. Then he broke out the window and swung through. The way he went through wouldn\u0026rsquo;t work well for my longer frame, so I followed him successfully, if with a distinct lack of grace. There weren\u0026rsquo;t any shooters in this car, so we headed for the next one. Through the window between cars, we could see two people shooting out the windows. Then there was a great crash, and the train came to an abrupt stop. Barty and the passengers in the car went flying. I foresaw it coming a second before it happened, and braced myself by holding a pole.\nLawrence came running up behind us. He opened the doors to the next car, and Barty and I dove through. I threw a star at the goblin as Barty shot at the humaeni with a rifle. The star cut across the goblin\u0026rsquo;s throat, and I ignored him, since he would bleed out soon enough. Barty\u0026rsquo;s gun shot something that was not a normal bullet, and stunned the man with the rifle. Lawrence started running towards a crate with a destructive gleam in his eye. Two automatons barged into the car after Lawrence.\nI have plans within plans. I\u0026rsquo;ll try to get Lawrence to go after the man with the rifle first, since he\u0026rsquo;s still a threat, and stall him from going after the crate. I\u0026rsquo;ll try to talk the automatons into going into the next car after more shooters. At that point, maybe Barty can jam the door to delay them getting back through long enough for us to get away. Or we have to destroy them. I was hoping to get a favor from someone, but if Lawrence is going after the crate that the automatons undoubtedly want back, the easy way is out. We\u0026rsquo;ll need to arrange for an unfortunate \u0026ldquo;accident\u0026rdquo; with the crate, and likely the automatons if they either don\u0026rsquo;t leave or see what Lawrence does with the crate. Then we can go to the entity that sent the automatons and still try to claim the favor, since we kept the crate from the robbers clutches despite the robbers destroying it in the process. This is a fulcrum point of fate, and the future can go either way.\n","date":"10 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/ancientfealty/sessions/session-3/","section":"Ancient Fealty: Chronicle of the Fallen Gods","summary":"[Non-character: Jaswand went off to plant a seed in some soil the fae thread worms made; Lawrence gets a chaos feeling, and heads off in the escort ship to investigate, finding the robbers on the train shooting at the pursuing automatons in scout ships, which try to shoot carefully at the train, but end up derailing the engine car]\nBarty, Mariah and I discussed where to head first to meet contacts. We heard the escort ship take off, as Lawrence sped away. Then we noticed Jaswand was missing. Lawrence flew by us at a fast clip, did a loop around a building, and sped off again. I mentioned this to Mariah and suggested we go after him. She seemed dismissive, saying that was just Lawrence, but I persisted. He did a loop around that building on purpose, after attracting my attention with the fly-by. Reluctantly, our captain consented to get the ship moving. It’s a good idea to move it periodically anyway, since they have people after them.\n","title":"Session 3","type":"ancientfealty"},{"content":" Nottanis # Seasons passed. I had greenleaf tea with Selaena on the regular, after a chance meeting in the woods outside Eastdale. She was talking to the farm cows, which I found charmingly naive. (What could they possibly say that would be interesting?) Turns out they actually did have something interesting, complaining about giant frogs eating their friends. Maybe we will look into that later.\nYes, about that, she talked me into getting up off my log in the forest to actually make a difference in the world. The tales she told \u0026ndash; second or third hand, about the exploits of her friends Ygnis, Oscar, Bern, Feverborne, and u-Heury \u0026ndash; caught my interest, and I signed up with the Glorious Blades. Of course, I immediately wandered off for a few months. It\u0026rsquo;s going to take some getting used to, working with humans and their ticking life-clocks on the regular. I suppose I can understand their frustration by remembering the time I pestered my father to teach me how to use a sword. It took him nearly 30 years to get around to it!\nRumors suggested Bern was still ignoring his withered arm. That idiot should see a healer. He trained his dogs instead, and apparently they are all actually useful. Maybe we\u0026rsquo;ll see them in action soon.\nFeverborne came to me for advice on herbal teas, since we have similarly poor constitutions. I shared my recipes, and I hope they helped. He gave me a few to try as well. Apparantly he was digging through the captured items over the last few year and made arrangements to investigate and sell some of them. Turns out, if you fill the ruby chalice with the blood of a humanoid and drink it, there is a significant healing effect. That will come in handy where goblins and orcs are plentiful foes. He mentioned a significant windfall from selling a necklace with some kind of curse. I hope that doesn\u0026rsquo;t come back to bite us.\nYgnas # I started learning the fire language. It\u0026rsquo;s really hard. It\u0026rsquo;s going to take a long time. But it\u0026rsquo;s so beautiful! I travelled near Helix and met some followers of Zuul. There is a barrow in Helix with followers, and others I could convert. The followers I met asked for news, and I told them about the portal. They were most appreciative. They said there were rumors of more elemental portals north in a floating city. I could go to another town in the north and get more information on the floating city.\nSince I was there, I stopped by Threshold, and met up with the rest of the Blades. Stria has taken up residency in Threshold, and was frowning mightily into a flagon of ale trying to think up a nickname for herself, since she\u0026rsquo;s already wanted and all, and will only get more wanted as she kills more people. In between her mental gymnastics, Stria had the ruby necklace researched, and that one was a doozy. Stole people\u0026rsquo;s souls and turned them into wights. She promptly dumped it on Feverborne to sell in a pawnshop. Here. In Threshold. This\u0026rsquo;ll be exciting. Not only is Stria convinced that the gibbering mouther is loose in the library, but now there\u0026rsquo;s a wight-making necklace in town. Yay. Somebody didn\u0026rsquo;t think that one through. Lyrian had spent her time doing exercises trying to be more nimble on her feet and such. Selaena was, of course, wandering around the woods somewhere.\nShe did, however, send a friend of hers, a scruffy looking elf. There was also a new face - an Ygg paladin. I have my holy symbol safely hidden in town, as always. Waiting to take his measure. We\u0026rsquo;re probably not going to be friends. He is a former rat catcher, before he got his calling, so maybe he\u0026rsquo;ll be useful in the sewers. We did promise the kid we\u0026rsquo;d try to stop the child-poaching wererats down there. Bern had three dogs with him now. He gets annoyed when I pet them, because they\u0026rsquo;re in training or something. Oscar looked pale and had lost weight. He still frowned at me whenever I got caught up in the flames in the fireplace, though. There\u0026rsquo;s probably a form for daydreaming that he thinks I should fill out.\nWe were discussing where to head off to. Nobody had a destination, so I, thinking of the floating city and the portals, suggested north. Everyone agreed, so, north it is. I feel Zuul\u0026rsquo;s hand in making this happen.\n","date":"8 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-74/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Nottanis # Seasons passed. I had greenleaf tea with Selaena on the regular, after a chance meeting in the woods outside Eastdale. She was talking to the farm cows, which I found charmingly naive. (What could they possibly say that would be interesting?) Turns out they actually did have something interesting, complaining about giant frogs eating their friends. Maybe we will look into that later.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 74","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Tonya # As I was fetching and carrying and generally making myself useful, I encountered a troll on the stairs. He was half again as tall as I was, and looked to be in bad shape. His fur was singed and patchy, although his hands were shiny, as if newly made. We greeted each other politely, and he said his name was Lawrence. I asked if he needed healing, but he said he was fine. I called to Jaswand, since she\u0026rsquo;s the healer, to give him a look over anyway. He\u0026rsquo;s likely to take the brunt of any assault against us, and needs to be kept in good shape. So I can hide behind him, and throw my stars from cover.\nOur captain, Mariah, worked with single minded focus on the guns the spirit in the camouflage system wanted. Barty sketched out plans for artillery guns. I peeked over his shoulder on the way by once; very complicated plans. There was some discussion about all going out and meeting our respective contacts in the area to get information. Barty decided he was too recognizable and needed to be disguised. No ordinary fur dye or disguise would do for him, though - he wanted a magical means of changing his appearance.\nJaswand decided to knit him a fae cloak. I opted to help her. Barty and Mariah set about a ritual to imbue a mask with a spirit. Lawrence began running around the ship, leaping and rolling. Impressive athletic skill. I wonder if he could teach me that. The cloak turned out to be a sparkly rainbow animated creation. It would, indeed, alter someone\u0026rsquo;s appearance, if it felt like it. However, it wanted attention, and it wanted it\u0026rsquo;s wearer to get attention, so it might decide sparkly rainbow was the way to do that. Or the alteration might be something even more eye catching than the wearer intended. Having a prankster streak, I will endeavor to tell Barty how fabulous he looks whenever he puts the cloak on. The cloak will like that. Barty, not so much.\nBarty obtained his mask. He neglected to ask the spirit to actually alter his appearance. So the mask does something else. Barty can vanish from one spot and appear in another spot through some unknown means. Handy for backstabs. Not so handy for just walking through public without being recognized. Except for the fact that his face will be covered by the mask, and he\u0026rsquo;s wearing a sparkly rainbow cloak that no self respecting character of the not-so-law-abiding ilk would ever wear. I hope we can go now. I\u0026rsquo;m eager to explore this new place, and also eager to get the information to get back to where there is sunlight and clean air.\n","date":"3 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/ancientfealty/sessions/session-2/","section":"Ancient Fealty: Chronicle of the Fallen Gods","summary":"Tonya # As I was fetching and carrying and generally making myself useful, I encountered a troll on the stairs. He was half again as tall as I was, and looked to be in bad shape. His fur was singed and patchy, although his hands were shiny, as if newly made. We greeted each other politely, and he said his name was Lawrence. I asked if he needed healing, but he said he was fine. I called to Jaswand, since she’s the healer, to give him a look over anyway. He’s likely to take the brunt of any assault against us, and needs to be kept in good shape. So I can hide behind him, and throw my stars from cover.\n","title":"Session 2","type":"ancientfealty"},{"content":" Image not found: session-73.webp\nFeverborne # We took a few days to heal. U-Huery provided some strange tea that helped a little. Despite going over what we had available, we weren\u0026rsquo;t inclined to sell anything else right away, and the mysterious elf Landon reappeared, eager to adventure. Perhaps his purse was as flat as mine. We chose to head to the Grotto, as it was close by and there were sections we hade not yet explored. The place to start was the altar room, now that Oscar had managed to remove the gibbering mouther from its position.\nWe made our way there, taking the northern route, and examined the room without the distraction of a hostile ooze. Halfway through the search, our torches went out for a moment and started to burn with purple flame. This coincided with the stench of rotten meat coming from a pit trap in the center of the room. I wrapped a sack around my nose and mouth hoping for protection from poison gas, and I was very thankful for the trogolodyte ring that protected my sense of smell.\nThe room held two statues to the south of the altar, and with proper lighting and time, I noticed one of them (the western one) had red liquid coating the floor behind it. Guessing after some examination that it was lubricating oil, I put my shoulder up against the statue and pushed it to the south. It moved, revealing a large stash of treasures wrapped in rough cloth. Jackpot! I don\u0026rsquo;t blame Oscar and his friends for capturing the mouther and bugging out without searching the room properly, I hear that was a mighty prize in itself, but I\u0026rsquo;m also very glad we four chose to return and clean up after them. My purse was in dire need of something to fill it. Indeed, I was within a few days of running out of food, after having spent the money to equip myself properly again.\nThe cache under the statue turned out to contain 6 platinum ingots with an impression of a birch tree surrounded by a diamond on them. By weight, 30pp each, or 300 gold. Not a bad haul. We each took one for ourselves, leaving two to be devided properly later. There was a silver ring with ivy engraving, on twine. Probably magical. A heavy shield of black metal, very heavy, possibly of orcish design. Likely also magical. Those items would need further investigation.\nu-Heury kept insisting on trying to push the other statue, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t budge, and we were interrupted by three prism knights in funny glowing helmets. We ran. Why fight them?\nWe spent the night outzide, and went back into the grotto in the morning, though I voted for town instead. I could live for a good year on the haul from today, and I had had far too many close calls lately. I was about to have one more\u0026hellip;\nWe chose to take the nearby stairs down. By our maps, it\u0026rsquo;s likely the area which so scared Landon earlier was almost directly under the altar room, and having defeated the mouther, it might be safer to explore down there. (It was not).\nWe found a short corridor with bronze urns in niches along the sides of the corridor. Noting that there were lids, I whispered to u-Heury to simultaneously approach the first pair of urns and put the lids back on firmly. (It didn\u0026rsquo;t work.)\nInstead when we approached the urns, strange slug-like things crawled out and attacked. They had baby-like faces on slug bodies, with tentacles coming from their eye sockets. Three of them came right for me. I dropped the lid and drew my sword, slicing one in half. It exploded, covering me and u-Heury with acidic discharge. That set off alarm bells, as there were a total of four of them on us already and more on the way. u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s attack killed another, and it\u0026rsquo;s explosion took out the remaining two, but we were both covered in acid burns. Selaena, close behind us trying to get in a blow herself, cried out and fell unconscious as the acid hit her.\nKnowing how absurdly healthy u-Heury was compared to either Selaena or I, and with Landon busy admiring a statue somewhere, I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to stick around and get killed by acid splash. I sheathed my sword and picked up Selaena, carrying her out of danger from the splash, then went back to grab the torch she had been carrying. I could stay out of splash range but be close enough to help u-Heury if he needed it. He didn\u0026rsquo;t; eventually the last few babyface slugs fell to his blade, and we went back to the top of the stairs to rest.\nSelaena came to after ten minutes or so, but she will likely have horrible scarring from the acid burns. I\u0026rsquo;m not exactly in great shape myself and u-Heury actually looks tired. I\u0026rsquo;m probably going to head back to town after I catch my breath, and if they decide to stay out here, I\u0026rsquo;ll send some other member of the Glorious Blades to join them. I need to spend some time focusing on my health, and maybe hiring some competent mercenaries to help retrieve my sword from the centaurs.\nSelaena # I spent my alone time wandering around the farmlands and talking to animals about possible dangers in the area. One cow was particularly forthcoming. It said that a companion had been eaten by giant frogs a few days ago, and it pointed out the direction the frogs came from. The giant frogs appear to be the only danger recently. I spent a few nights sleeping under hedges, as the Ygg folk around here are too stuck up to let a stranger work in return for sleeping in their hay lofts.\nThe men returned from the town with the supplies I\u0026rsquo;d asked for, and an elf who was itching for adventure. No hirelings. I\u0026rsquo;d prefer they spent the extra gold on hirelings rather than giving it back to me. I told them about the giant frogs, in the hopes of interesting them in killing the menaces, but they ignored me. They decided to go to something called the Incandescent Grotto, although Feverborne tried to convince the elf to go after some centaurs. It was in the same direction as the cow said the frogs came from, so it\u0026rsquo;s a start. The front of the grotto was a standard underground area, with a pool and possibly natural caverns with crystals. U-Heury said not to look at the crystals. Pretty glowing purple crystals, but he seemed adamant, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t look straight at them.\nBeyond that cavern though \u0026hellip; worked stone halls and rooms. With truly disturbing murals and statues of people dissolving into slime. This whole place needs to be destroyed. It\u0026rsquo;s \u0026hellip; wrong. Unnatural. They knew exactly where they were going, some room they had been to before that was now safe since some monster had been captured. We arrived at double doors, black, with ten foot high statues of skeletons with swords on either side. U-Heury insisted on putting sacks over the heads of the statues. Over the doors was written: Final dissolution awaits those who plead. That\u0026rsquo;s not ominous at all. After an untold amount of time holding a torch for the men and standing guard while they searched for things they never found, we actually went through the doors.\nThere was more hallway on the other side of the doors. The torch promptly went out briefly and returned with a purple flame. Slightly creepy, although a nice color choice. The floor of the hallway on the other side had black tiles with screaming faces etched in them. Charming. The hallway opened into a room with a hole in the center, and beyond, a black altar flanked by two more skeleton statues. The altar also had screaming faces. I very much do not want to meet the people who worship here. Or what they sacrifice to. There was a great deal more standing around holding a torch while they searched the room. Feverborne eventually pushed one of the statues, and revealed a hidden compartment. There was a twisted black shield, that I graciously agreed to carry on my back, even though I didn\u0026rsquo;t want that thing touching me. There was a silver ring with ivy leaves that I would have happily offered to try on. There were six ingots of platinum with an engraving of a diamond with a birch tree on them. Feverborne returned to idiocy by asking me to talk to the trees on the ingots, because I\u0026rsquo;m a druid.\nI was holding myself back from shoving his stupid ass into the smelly hole when three heavily armored knights with glowing helmets walked in from the way we\u0026rsquo;d come. The men fled through a secret passage between the statues, and I followed. They knew something about the knights I presume, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t say. We camped outside, and I was never so happy to be in the comforting embrace of nature after that horrible place. Feverborne wanted to go back to town, and for once, I was in agreement to go to town. Anything but back down in that nightmare place. Little did I know, the nightmare was only beginning. The elf and the teenage boy wanted to explore more. With a reluctant sigh, Feverborne and I agreed. After fruitlessly trying to push the other statue in the altar room, U-Heury led the way to a stairwell going down. At the bottom were copper urns that made \u0026hellip; noises. Terrible squishing, crunching noises. The elf vanished. There\u0026rsquo;s a smart lad. Coward, but smart.\nFeverborne and u-Heury tried to put the lids back on the two closest urns. Before they could do so, there was an ear piercing shriek and white things crawled out, like slugs but with the faces of babies. I prayed to my green lord that the cultists in this terrifying place weren\u0026rsquo;t twisting actual babies into their slime creatures. Further down the hallway, we could hear more noises and urns crashing over. More of the creatures. U-Heury stabbed one with his sword, and it died, but not before splashing all of us with acid. The acid from the first one killed two more, splashing us with more acid. Then, everything went dark.\nWhen I came to, I was at the top of the stairs. My entire left side, from my arm up my face, burned from the acid. Feverborne looked worse for wear, and even u-Heury looked bad. They said all the creatures that came out of the dark were dead. I\u0026rsquo;m praying that they won\u0026rsquo;t insist on going back down looking for treasure. Not without hiring a whole lot more people to go down first. Even the claustrophobia of a city would be preferable to this cursed place.\n","date":"1 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-73/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-73.webp\nFeverborne # We took a few days to heal. U-Huery provided some strange tea that helped a little. Despite going over what we had available, we weren’t inclined to sell anything else right away, and the mysterious elf Landon reappeared, eager to adventure. Perhaps his purse was as flat as mine. We chose to head to the Grotto, as it was close by and there were sections we hade not yet explored. The place to start was the altar room, now that Oscar had managed to remove the gibbering mouther from its position.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 73","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"1 September 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/selaena/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Selaena","type":"tags"},{"content":" Feverborne # Ygnas got bored and left to pursue her newfound obsession with the language of the fire creatures. She contacted a friend of hers, a druid named Selaena, to help us out. Selaena was not impressed with any of us. Also, it turns out the bugbears are actually hobgoblins.\nUpstairs was more of the same: filthy goblin trash mostly picked clean. Nothing but bits of copper and a few silver. We did run into three more goblins in the process of looting a crude prison facility. They fled, leaving behind a few coins and a set of manacles. Shit treasure. But the prison had an orc in it, still alive, named Throk. After some discussion, we let him go after he agreed to help us explore and kill the hobgoblins to the east, the ones we had already met. We agreed, figureing they had already told us to fuck off and we were weak at the moment. Even a single ally could be useful, and if he lived, he could introduce us to his tribe of orcs for more possible allies. These monsters seem more than willing to turn against each other, which seems likely to be to our benefit.\nWhen we met the hobgoblins later, there were 6 of them; 3 crossbows and 3 melee. Throk short-circuited negotiations by charging immediately. u-Heury and I charged a step or two behind. My mind was mostly on the treasure these hobgoblins had \u0026ndash; treasure in the form of useful gear, like crossbows, swords, and armor. Unfortunately it should have been on the fight. My handaxe, an unfamiliar weapon at best, barely connected with the hobgoblin I was facing. Thruk the orc killed his in one blow. u-Heury had the same bad luck I did but didn\u0026rsquo;t have the backup, so his hobgoblin lived. Then the crossbows fired; I took one of the shots right through my leather armor, and it weakened my sword arm considerably. I had no luck attacking, it seemed like all of their attention was on me. u-Heury could have taken the abuse better, the man\u0026rsquo;s still in his proper armor and healthier than a horse, but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t doing so well and they had us thoroughly outnumbered. I ordered a retreat down the corridor so we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have to fight in melee while under crossbow fire. Thruk refused to fight with his big head and died for it. But, he did take out at least one more.\nThe rest of us engaged in a fighting retreat to a nearby entrance, higher on the hillside that the one we had previously used. I nearly caught a crossbow bolt in the face; I managed to catch it on my borrowed shield but it destroyed the handle, so I had to leave that behind too. And one of them was fleeing to fetch reinforcements, so I threw my handaxe at him. That and a goblin spear from Selaena dealt with the fleeing hobgoblin, but not before he had yelled out, and I didn\u0026rsquo;t have time to even retrieve my handaxe. I switched to a goblin spear and continued the fighting retreat, but we did not manage to kill any more. No doubt we put at least a small dent in their total numbers, for the loss of only a single impromptu orcish ally, but we came out of the encounter with less equipment than we began with. That was very definitely not the way we had hoped things would go.\nu-Heury was feeling his oats and kept taunting the hobgoblins. The most effective of his insults appeared to be \u0026ldquo;Whistlekittens\u0026rdquo;. I have no idea what that was about.\nDispirited, we returned to Eastdale and took inventory of the party treasures. We had many small, marginally valuable knickknacks to sell, so we did. That brought in roughly 60 gp each, enough to outfit me with a proper sword, shield, and chain mail again. We resolved to bring the more arcane items to the local wizard, mostly scrolls and a spellbook or two, in the morning when fresh pastries for the butler are available.\nSelaena # I was ministering to a patch of woods (and by ministering I mean I was gossiping with the dryads) when I heard an ungodly crashing. Upon inspection, I saw Ygnas blundering through the forest. There is no one who makes more noise in the woods than Ygnas. She babbled something about fire language and how she had to go, and asked if I would go to the caves and assist her two companions that she\u0026rsquo;d left high and dry. Well, her god is unpredictable, so he must be ok with her dropping everything and wandering off rather than completing a task. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have anything better to do, and I was curious about the companions she\u0026rsquo;d talked about, so I went to the caves. Found the companions easily. One makes almost as much noise as Ygnas, even in leather. The younger one, the barbarian, he has potential with passing through nature quietly.\nThe men were in the process of clearing out a cave of goblins. Since goblins are nasty vermin, I was willing to help out. We got to know each other, which means the men got their fill of oggling me and making dumb jokes. U-Heury went hunting. I went foraging. Made myself a quarterstaff along the way, since a backup weapon would be a good idea. U-Heury passed by, having had no luck with hunting, and said there was a pond with dead animals. I checked it out. There was something wrong under the water that was poisoning the water and making animals sick immediately after drinking it. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t see a way to fix it from above-ground. Left the dead to warn other animals of the danger. Brought the men the food I\u0026rsquo;d foraged, and had to sit through snide comments about being vegetarian. Hey, u-Heury hadn\u0026rsquo;t found any meat either. The predator-prey cycle is perfectly natural, and I have no issues with eating meat. But, like bears, I also have no problem eating plants when there isn\u0026rsquo;t meat available.\nThere were stairs in this cave section. Stairs in caves isn\u0026rsquo;t something you see every day. Goblins aren\u0026rsquo;t usually that ambitious. The area before the stairs, and the area up the stairs were all empty and stripped clean. We surprised three goblins carrying sacks coming from a tunnel to the south. Feverborne was all for killing them on sight. u-Heury tried to intimidate them into dropping the sacks. One did. They all ran. We opted not to follow them. The sack had chains and manacles in it, and a metal pick with blood on the end. Ominous. We went down the south tunnel and found a torture chamber. There were dead bodies chained up along the walls, and at the far end, an orc that wasn\u0026rsquo;t quite dead yet. He said hobgoblins had been capturing people, torturing them, and killing them. At the point creatures start torturing or enslaving in my woods, they need to go. One breath of that to the Ygg priests, and those fanatics will burn down my woods looking for the \u0026ldquo;monsters.\u0026rdquo; Since I doubt the hobgoblins will just up and leave if I point this out to them, I suppose we\u0026rsquo;ll have to kill them.\nAfter some prompting about manners, the orc said its name was Throk. All he wanted was a chance to kill the hobgoblins. We searched the room and found a set of keys. We freed him, and Feverborne gave him a mace. We followed the tunnel the goblins ran down, and came upon a small room with 6 hobgoblins in it. They threatened us, but Throk charged in. We all shrugged and followed him in. We managed to kill one and Throk killed one, then the hobgoblins bashed Throk\u0026rsquo;s head in. Feverborne had taken a hard hit, so we retreated backwards down the tunnel to one of the exits. U-Heury was behind Feverborne and I, and kept taunting the hobgoblins. When we got outside, he refused to follow at first. Like any teenage boy, stupid as a rock, and refuses to listen to people that know better. He did kill a third hobgoblin, though. Maybe he\u0026rsquo;ll grow out of the stupid. Some do.\nI\u0026rsquo;d lost one of my spears, u-Heury had lost a dagger, and Feverborne had lost spears and a hand ax. I let him borrow one of my spears so he had a weapon. Ygnas said he was ungrateful to her, but he thanked me. Although he then ruined it by stupidly asking me if I could identify a livery patch we\u0026rsquo;d found on a dead prisoner \u0026hellip; because the patch had trees on it. How someone hasn\u0026rsquo;t killed him yet for the dumb things that come out of his mouth, I don\u0026rsquo;t know. The men decided to go to town to heal up and sell stuff so they could resupply. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have money to pay the fee to get into the town, and had no desire to go in anyway. I said I would stay outside, and asked them to pick me up a few items with any gold they happened to set aside as my share. I don\u0026rsquo;t need money. I gave that up when I heard the woods calling to me, and left begging. Gold is the crutch and drug of the so-called civilized folk. I\u0026rsquo;ll wander the farmlands and talk to cows while I wait for the men. Not sheep. Sheep are idiots.\n","date":"25 August 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-72/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # Ygnas got bored and left to pursue her newfound obsession with the language of the fire creatures. She contacted a friend of hers, a druid named Selaena, to help us out. Selaena was not impressed with any of us. Also, it turns out the bugbears are actually hobgoblins.\nUpstairs was more of the same: filthy goblin trash mostly picked clean. Nothing but bits of copper and a few silver. We did run into three more goblins in the process of looting a crude prison facility. They fled, leaving behind a few coins and a set of manacles. Shit treasure. But the prison had an orc in it, still alive, named Throk. After some discussion, we let him go after he agreed to help us explore and kill the hobgoblins to the east, the ones we had already met. We agreed, figureing they had already told us to fuck off and we were weak at the moment. Even a single ally could be useful, and if he lived, he could introduce us to his tribe of orcs for more possible allies. These monsters seem more than willing to turn against each other, which seems likely to be to our benefit.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 72","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"An unusual game with an unusual system.\n","date":"22 August 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/ancientfealty/","section":"Ancient Fealty: Chronicle of the Fallen Gods","summary":"An unusual game with an unusual system.\n","title":"Ancient Fealty: Chronicle of the Fallen Gods","type":"ancientfealty"},{"content":" Tonya # The instructions I received from the journeyman were cryptic, to say the least. Go to this exact location at this exact time. Go here, go there, walk backwards this many steps, turn in a circle three times here, skip to the left three times there. But, with every step, I could feel the warp of reality bending. Then, when I completed the last step in that set of instructions, I felt reality spin, and suddenly I was somewhere else, in a different realm. Somewhere dark and cold, smelling of metal. By a river of something that, if it was water, you definitely don\u0026rsquo;t want to drink or bathe in. This world was filled with all kinds of machines. All different shapes and sizes, with unknown functions. None of the machines bothered me. I followed my second set of instructions through and up the buildings. When I came to the window the instructions said to be at, I tucked both sets of instructions into a hidden inside pocket of my clothes. I memorized this building and the surrounding buildings, noted landmarks, and counted which floor I was on. If nothing else, I can retrace my path and get home by reversing the ritual steps.\nMy instructions said to talk to the people outside the window and tell them I could get them back to where there were plants. I know better than to question the oddness of those instructions. Prophecy is like that. There was an airship outside the window. There was a female feline maahaesi looking at some substance on the envelope of the airship. She had a sparkly animated rope with her, and appeared to be having a conversation with it. I decided it would be polite to address them both, to ingratiate myself with her. I greeted them, and said I had been sent to help them get back to where plants were. The rope arranged itself in a net and loops so I could climb from the window to the envelope, then wrapped itself around me and a cable, so I could climb down. I asked the female who was in charge, and she led me down to the deck. There was a female valtaeri and a male canine maahaesi. I greeted them warmly. None of them even blinked when I stated I was sent. No questions, didn\u0026rsquo;t care who I was sent by. I know the Truthsayers are an important order, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t think the order would garner that kind of immediate trust. Unless this group is so desperate they\u0026rsquo;ll take any help. That would explain why I was sent, if so. It does make it rather more difficult for me, if they\u0026rsquo;ve gotten themselves into desperate straits.\nI again asked who was in charge, so I\u0026rsquo;d know where everyone\u0026rsquo;s place was. They didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to know. Deciding as a group goes against everything I was taught as a child, and made me decidedly uncomfortable. I suggested that the valtaeri was navigating the ship, so she was the captain, and she was probably in charge. This was immediately accepted by the rest, and reluctantly by the new captain. I felt better, anyway. They seem a nice enough bunch. Apparently I joined them during repairs after being chased by the forces of someone they had angered. Stealing the ship would do that. They were on the way to a portal to get back home. Promising. After some gentle prodding, I ascertained that the portal was surrounded by security that would be hostile. And that there was a sphere somewhere in the realm with little spheres that controlled the machines in the various areas. So if we destroy the little sphere that controls the area where the portal is, and fly really fast, we have a chance to get through the portal. My new canine friend was extremely enthusiastic when I mentioned that. An overly dramatic method, though. I\u0026rsquo;d rather find the person in charge of that area and convince them to let us out, or find someone I can convince to give us a pass through the security, but I\u0026rsquo;ll need more information.\nIn the meantime, I helped with repairs, and learned about airships. I\u0026rsquo;ve never seen one before. Fascinating things. Our captain is truly skilled at artificing and alchemy. She wanted to fix the camouflage system on the ship. She wanted to see if we could attract an octopus spirit to live in the system and help us. We started the ritual and invoked the spirit in our various ways. I sat and meditated on the fabric of time and reality. After a while, I felt the spirit. I spoke to the spirit, telling it about this wondrous ship that flew through the air instead of on the water, and how we had many enemies we needed to hide from. I praised the spirit for its excellent ability to misdirect its enemies, and begged it to aid us. It was intrigued. It listened to our captain talk enthusiastically about the system. It eventually agreed to come live in the system, but it wanted guns mounted on the hull that would squirt \u0026hellip; something\u0026hellip; into the air similar to the black ink an octopus would squirt in water to evade enemies. The captain eagerly got started crafting the system to make this work. The one that I first greeted is our healer, and she started planting in boxes along the railing. Fresh food would be welcome to them. My new canine friend bemoaned the lack of food in this realm. Apparently the only food is mushrooms. I\u0026rsquo;m sick of them already, and I haven\u0026rsquo;t had a meal yet. I fetched and carried and generally made myself helpful and useful. The occasional suggestion here and there, since I\u0026rsquo;m so helpful, and I\u0026rsquo;ll easily get the group moving where I want them to go. I have to not get distracted wanting to pet the giant flying squirrel, or the captain\u0026rsquo;s dragon.\n","date":"22 August 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/ancientfealty/sessions/session-1/","section":"Ancient Fealty: Chronicle of the Fallen Gods","summary":"Tonya # The instructions I received from the journeyman were cryptic, to say the least. Go to this exact location at this exact time. Go here, go there, walk backwards this many steps, turn in a circle three times here, skip to the left three times there. But, with every step, I could feel the warp of reality bending. Then, when I completed the last step in that set of instructions, I felt reality spin, and suddenly I was somewhere else, in a different realm. Somewhere dark and cold, smelling of metal. By a river of something that, if it was water, you definitely don’t want to drink or bathe in. This world was filled with all kinds of machines. All different shapes and sizes, with unknown functions. None of the machines bothered me. I followed my second set of instructions through and up the buildings. When I came to the window the instructions said to be at, I tucked both sets of instructions into a hidden inside pocket of my clothes. I memorized this building and the surrounding buildings, noted landmarks, and counted which floor I was on. If nothing else, I can retrace my path and get home by reversing the ritual steps.\n","title":"Session 1","type":"ancientfealty"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # We didn\u0026rsquo;t really remember the questions we were supposed to ask the derro Drogi. Well, I mean, mostly I didn\u0026rsquo;t, because I\u0026rsquo;m not used to handling that stuff. The boss told me to go find Drogi, I found Drogi. Creg remembered a little. Mostly I remembered that the dragon, the dragon priests, and the guard captain all wanted Drogi, but for different reasons. The rest of the group really had no idea of any of this, but they wanted out of the city and out of the underdark, so they were following my lead. Which is weird, and I\u0026rsquo;m not used to it.\nAnyways, I led them out of the caverns and back to the city proper. That part was easy, except for the water weird that tried to eat Faolain. I\u0026rsquo;m convinced it was really just Soggy\u0026rsquo;s subliminal desires manifesting. We got past it without bothering to kill it, figuring any treasure would be too hard to bother getting to.\nThe guard captain honored our deal, gave us some goods including a breastplate for me, and got us out of the city. I hope the dragon doesn\u0026rsquo;t eat her.\nI feel strange, like some important change is about to descend upon me. I\u0026rsquo;ve been throwing up every morning, and feeling nauseous. I thought it was something I ate. Now I\u0026rsquo;m not so sure.\nFaolain # No torture, as it turns out. It would have made a nice diversion. Alamar said it would be easier to just drag the derro back to the city where a city guard captain wanted him for questioning, then to question him ourselves. From what Alamar and Creg said, there were multiple authority figures, including the dragon itself, that wanted this derro. The guard captain had promised them a way out of the city, and supplies, though. I was all for getting out of the city. It took some doing to get the derro into a sack. I tried a sleep spell, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t work on him. He struggled and yelled in desperation. Eventually we got him tied up, gagged, and knocked unconscious. A search of his belongings included notes of what Alamar said were list of the names of demon generals, and a note to someone promising more information in return for more scrolls and \u0026ldquo;time.\u0026rdquo; I wonder what he wanted more time for. He also had pouches with giants\u0026rsquo; skin and nails.\nThere was a statue of a stone giant with a lump next to its head in the middle of the circle. There was a big crate filled with stones the size of that statue. There was a broken statue with two heads beside the circle, which crumbled to dust when it was touched. I have theories, none of them good. Creg and Alamar described a fight in the city when a stone giant suddenly grew a second head and went mad. It seems someone is using the circle and the samples from the derro to make that happen. But are they summoning or invoking demons to do it, or are people the derro was taking notes about using the names of demon generals? My lady of pain would not approve of the ritual either way. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t sanctioned by her, and the Underdark is hers. I tried to break the circle, but it was made of something that I couldn\u0026rsquo;t scuff or scratch out. Prim did throw bodies into the circle and get the statute out of the center at least. I burned the samples in a brazier on our way out. As we walked out, a plant on the wall screamed, then fell silent. Soggy said it was an alarm.\nAlamar led the way out of the caverns. We were attacked by a water elemental on the way. It seemed to focus on me, even though I kept to the wall of the tunnel and tried to stay away from the end of the pond it was in. It even dragged me under once, but I broke free. We all got out of the way, and then it seemed more work than it was worth to try to find the thing in the water and kill it.We climbed out of the tunnels into a warehouse. Got some odd looks carrying the derro in a sack, but nobody stopped us. The guard captain was surprised to see us three new people with Creg, and didn\u0026rsquo;t know Alamar at all. But she honored the original deal in exchange for the derro. We\u0026rsquo;re staying at an inn tonight, please not in a room anywhere near Alamar, and being given supplies and an escort out of the city in the morning. I can finally get on with my mission to find the relic my lady of sorrows wants found. I wonder if we\u0026rsquo;ll hear gossip in the inn about more giants with two heads.\n","date":"22 August 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-11/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # We didn’t really remember the questions we were supposed to ask the derro Drogi. Well, I mean, mostly I didn’t, because I’m not used to handling that stuff. The boss told me to go find Drogi, I found Drogi. Creg remembered a little. Mostly I remembered that the dragon, the dragon priests, and the guard captain all wanted Drogi, but for different reasons. The rest of the group really had no idea of any of this, but they wanted out of the city and out of the underdark, so they were following my lead. Which is weird, and I’m not used to it.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 11","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-71.webp\nFeverborne # Ygnas approached the burning tree portal and tried to speak with the fiery beings surrounding it. She didn\u0026rsquo;t say what they talked about, but the creatures seemed to respect the holy symbol of Zuul she presented and when we left the area, the fire was spreading to the northwest. The next day brought rain, and Ygnas seemed disappointed.\nWe arrived at the caves of chaos and investigated the entrance where other members of the Glorious Blades had previously encountered goblins and ogres. The cave system was almost empty; no ogres, their cave clearly abandoned, and only four goblins. Those four were evasive and sneaky, preferring to attack from just outside the torchlight and then flee. We chased them throughout the complex, in the process exploring more of the place, and found a larder to the west. We killed a goblin there, and shortly afterwards met hairy, red-furred creatures who emerged from a secret door. I\u0026rsquo;m no beastiary sage, but I would guess bugbears. They seemed amenable to peaceful conversation and offered to pay us for exterminating the goblin vermin. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t much \u0026ndash; 6 gold \u0026ndash; but it was something we were doing anyway and getting paid more wasn\u0026rsquo;t bad.\nWe found them and killed them, mostly by throwing things, and collected from the bugbears. They told us not to come back.\nI kept thinking this empty level would make an excellent place to fortify as stock up so that we can explore without constant trips back to town and paying for rations. We take over the ogre cave, build a door over the entrance, close off the other entrances to this section with a hired stonemason. Bern, u-Heury, and maybe some hired help can hunt for enough food to stockpile and preserve. Then we bring a few hirelings and methodically clean up the first floor, build a door to block off the second floor unless we want to go exploring.\nOh, yes, we found a staircase leading upwards. Didn\u0026rsquo;t explore that yet.\nWe haven\u0026rsquo;t found anything worth going home to sell, so tomorrow we discuss whether to go up or try one of the other caves at the low level.\nYgnas # Feverborne crept back down from the top of the hill and said there was a fiery portal in a tree and fire elementals torching everything in sight. I had to see! I shed my armor and snuck up to the top and peeked over. Well, I would have snuck, except Barbarian Boy followed me and he fell into a bush, making a huge noise. The fire elementals looked at me, saw my holy symbol, and one approached. I stood up and did not back down. The other two elementals kept burning. The lead one motioned to the portal and said something but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t understand. It was the language of fire. It was so beautiful. I told it that Zuul said I wasn\u0026rsquo;t ready to go through the portal. It was the same tree that was struck my lightning before that I had the premonition would turn into a portal. And it did. The lead elemental moved in all directions and looked at me questioningly. Eventually I figured out it wanted to know what direction to burn. I thought for a bit and told it to go northwest, in the hopes they would burn out the corruption in the red trees that way. It came up very close to me. I burned, but I stood firm. It tried to tell me something, but I still didn\u0026rsquo;t understand no matter how hard I tried. I must learn their language as soon as possible. All three elementals started burning towards the northwest. I felt honored, to have been asked for the direction of this demonstration of Zuul\u0026rsquo;s power.\nI grabbed the kid, still on his butt in the bushes, staring wide-eyed at the elementals. I got my armor back on and we started on our way to the caves again. I was singed outside, but the real fire was inside. Once we reached the caves, I showed my companions the rough map from my last visit, and explained what was in the few caves I had been in. They opted to go visit the goblins. The goblin cave was oddly empty. No goblins, no belongings. We searched one entire side until we came to stairs. Stairs in a cave seemed like a novelty we would want to explore, but no, Feverborne wanted to search the rest of the cave on the lower level first. And just past where we fought the goblins last time, we finally found goblins. Nasty things shot at us from outside our torchlight. Cowards. We got one, then went after the other three that fled. In doing so, we found a large room piled with bags and crates and all sorts of food items. We would have happily plundered that, but some big hairy red creatures came through a hidden door. There were four of them, they were big, and they were armed and unfriendly. We made a deal with them to kill the remaining goblins in return for a small bounty of 6 gold. It was a crappy deal, but better then having to fight them right then.\nAfter getting sniped some more by the remaining goblins, we chased them down. One of them tried to climb a wall and hide. Ugh. I hate goblins almost as much as kobolds. We got the last one in the larder room. Well, actually it killed itself by falling off the top of the pile, but we didn\u0026rsquo;t tell the hairy red things that. Got our gold and retreated out of their territory to decide what to do. Feverborne and the kid are probably going to explore what\u0026rsquo;s up the stairs next. I think I\u0026rsquo;m going to head back to town and find some way to learn fire language. I\u0026rsquo;ll send someone to assist them. I can\u0026rsquo;t wait. I hear that beautiful language in my dreams. It\u0026rsquo;s all I think about. I have to go.\n","date":"18 August 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-71/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-71.webp\nFeverborne # Ygnas approached the burning tree portal and tried to speak with the fiery beings surrounding it. She didn’t say what they talked about, but the creatures seemed to respect the holy symbol of Zuul she presented and when we left the area, the fire was spreading to the northwest. The next day brought rain, and Ygnas seemed disappointed.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 71","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Ygnas # Me and Barbarian Boy whispered together, trying to figure out how to get Feverborne out. Or whether to leave him there. Ultimately, we decided to try to get him out, but we couldn\u0026rsquo;t see any way to get his gear from by the leader\u0026rsquo;s tent. Definitely not the sword, which was strapped to the lead centaur. The kid can be sneaky. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t willing to take off my armor and try to sneak into the camp to get the gear, risking getting attacked without my armor on. And the timing would be tricky. Someone could notice the gear gone before Feverborne was freed, and vice versa.\nBarbarian Boy left his chain mail and gear with me, and snuck up to the tree Feverborne was face planted against. Chain mail is heavier to hold onto than to wear. The kid cut the ropes in between centaur guard patrols, then snuck back. He put his stuff back on, and we waited for Feverborne, who took his damned sweet time getting to the meeting point. Just as we saw him, we heard the alarm go up from the centaur camp. I was all for climbing a tree, but Barbarian Boy said no. He said we should huddle in a thick clump of ferns. I was skeptical the centaurs wouldn\u0026rsquo;t just ride through the ferns and run over us, but he\u0026rsquo;s the one taught all the sneaky nature stuff by his clan, so I went with what he said. Feverborne ran a little ways away and dumped his pee-stained pants so it would look like he ran in a different direction, then he hid too.\nAfter the guards clomped around for a while, one of them took the pants back to camp, while the other two went off in the false direction. We ran. When we thought we were far enough away that my somewhat pyrotechnic healing wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be noticed, I healed Feverborne some. Zuul gave me a premonition of something to the southwest that I should see on the first attempt. He was less than pleased with my second request, but granted it. We let Feverborne rest that night. We camped by a lightning shattered tree, and I slept inside it. There were lots of splinters, and they hurt at first, but I thought of them as my penance for not going out in the acid rain, and they became comforting. I was having a lovely dream about something important Zuul wanted me to know, when the kid frantically woke me up. He was whispering about burning. Sighing for my lost dream, I used my magic tinderbox for light, and saw he wasn\u0026rsquo;t actually burning, but had gotten lots of thorns in him. We picked them out.\nI healed Feverborne once again in the morning. He looked back to normal. Well, except for being pissed off at losing his sword and stuff. And, being mostly naked. Pretty sure he blamed us for not getting his stuff too. He did not thank us for freeing him. I\u0026rsquo;ve never seen a naked man. I admit, I peaked once or twice. Eventually, the kid gave him a sac to cover himself with, like short pants. That was a relief. I don\u0026rsquo;t have to try to not look. He had the kid\u0026rsquo;s spare shield, and my spare mace, so he wasn\u0026rsquo;t completely bereft of equipment.\nWe made our way to that worthless piss-ant village. We had a lovely wind pushing us along. I knew it was Zuul favoring me. After a meal and sleep in the stable, I bought Feverborne pants, and leather armor. He griped about wanting chain mail and a sword, but I only had 20 gold, and it took all I had just to give him that. Still waiting for a thank you. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have to help him at all. Not sure the pants were a huge improvement. They\u0026rsquo;re tight leather pants. Having only two gold left, not enough to buy food for the trip to the Caves of Chaos, I wandered around the village offering to heal people. It\u0026rsquo;s really hard being polite when I\u0026rsquo;m bored to tears physicking gout and chilblains. Only got the equivalent of one gold out of it. Still not enough for food. Apparently I\u0026rsquo;m fasting, if my companions don\u0026rsquo;t take pity on me and share. Feverborne, however, made a handful of gold fighting some snooty noble in a carriage. And got a hand ax. As if a mace isn\u0026rsquo;t a perfectly good weapon. No real noble would be caught dead in this backwater. I have him pegged as a vampire. He said he was going to Kirkleston. Wonder what he plans to do there. It\u0026rsquo;s only a step up from this bilgewater place.\nHaving scraped what little we could out of Worthless, we headed out towards the caves. I remember when we went before, it was because some other Grey Company adventurers had talked about being there, and losing a couple people. Maybe their armor is still there for Feverborne to pick up. And a sword. Man won\u0026rsquo;t stop whining about needing a sword. Along the way, I had a sudden premonition that the important thing Zuul wanted me to see in the southwest was nearby. I didn\u0026rsquo;t think my companions would be willing to wander around looking for it, but Barbarian Boy was all for it. Feverborne grumbled. After searching, we saw a red glow up ahead. Feverborne, being in non clinking leather armor, crept up to the hill to take a look. I\u0026rsquo;m bouncing with excitement to know what\u0026rsquo;s going on. The number of times Zuul has poked me about this, he really wants me here.\nFeverborne # I woke up tied to a tree after they beat me unconscious for the second time. Apparently calling the leader\u0026rsquo;s horse-dick \u0026ldquo;my little pony\u0026rdquo; during his attempts to copulate with the female centaurs did not go over well. Unfortunately, I did not succeed in goading them into fighting each other, even if I saw the second in command snickering. Eventually, the little horse stuck it into the littler horses and fell asleep. As did the rest of them, save for two guards.\nu-Heury snuck up on me around that time and sawed through my ropes. It took him two trips to avoid the guards, and it took me even longer to finish untying myself after he left. I took stock of what I had: no armor, no weapons, no food, no water, just some rope and a pair of pissed-on pants. I glanced over at the leader, who still had my sword. He was asleep, but had his two concubines draped over him. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t wearing armor but I have no particular talent for stealth and there was no way I had a chance in a fight. I vowed to return and kill them all, someday, somehow, and snuck out of the camp to rejoin u-Huery and Ygnas. We all made it as far as we could before a hue-and-cry rose from the camp behind us. They both hid right away in a region of heavy ferns. I dragged my smelly, soiled pants another hundred yards further away from the camp, then retraced my steps to rejoin the other two.\nMy improvised distraction worked, and we got far enough away to be out of immediate danger. Ygnas healed me, which made me a bit better disposed towards her god of natural disasters; I\u0026rsquo;d be willing to make a deal to deliver some natural disasters on the centaurs right about now. I\u0026rsquo;m still too goddamn furious to even thank people properly for their help, and I hate being helpless, needing rescue, or asking for charity.\nBut we made it far enough away from camp to spend the night in a lightning-shattered tree. u-Heury slept in stinging nettles, poor kid. Ygnas slept in the tree. Weird, but she offered me her tent, for which I am silently thankful. Still too furious to think happy thoughts.\nThe next day we made our way back towards Raven\u0026rsquo;s pass, where Ygnas\u0026rsquo; charity again provided food, armor (albeit leather), and a spare mace. We were all low on funds and needing work. Ygnas had little luck offering healing for common ailments. In a fit of inspiration, I offered sword lessons, and a passing noble of some kind took me up on it; a man by the name of Lord Romulet. I bartered for a sword, hoping to use my training effectively, but there were none to be had. Instead, he wielded two handaxes against my (borrowed) handaxe and shield. I paid a kid three coppers to pass a hat around the crowd, which turned our later to have gained me a few silvers. Every bit helps.\nI traded blows with Romulet, and it was obvious from the beginning the man was as skilled as I \u0026ndash; with a handaxe, at least. I got in a solid hit to his shoulder early on, but he took the next two blows, both times feinting with his right and swinging hard with his left. I missed my return blows, off balance from his strikes, and I could see the glow of expectant victory in his eyes. He flipped his axes from one hand to other in a practiced move, proclaiming like he was quoting a line in a play, \u0026ldquo;I have something to tell you. I am not left handed!\u0026rdquo; I barely stepped out of the way of his axes that time, and he was leading with his right hand now. But, I had one last trick up my sleeve. Before he was in position to strike again, I quipped, \u0026ldquo;I have something to tell you as well. I am not right handed either!\u0026rdquo; and hit him in the face with my shield.\nWell, the shield missed, to be honest. Saying the line sort of telegraphed the strike. But he totally missed that I was lying about being left handed and my right hand with the hand axe clocked him quite solidly in the head and knocked him flat on the ground. Were it not for the helmets we both wore and the fact that I had pulled my attack to honor the good-natured aspect of the duel, the blow would have killed him. (As, to be fair, his might have killed me, had they landed solidly with full force).\nHe was quite impressed as I offered a hand to lift him back up, declaring that perhaps Raven\u0026rsquo;s Pass was not so worthless after all. I demurred as to the name of the town, but collected my winnings \u0026ndash; the borrowed axe and a few gold, plus the silver from the hat \u0026ndash; in good cheer. Romulet claimed to hail from Kirkleston, so perhaps I will look him up there one day when I am sure the bounty on Stria\u0026rsquo;s head has been forgotten.\nYgnas was grumbling about being out of money, which was mostly my fault, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t do anything about it right now and we needed gear more than apologies. So I bought 7 days of rations and resolved to feed her if u-Heury couldn\u0026rsquo;t find enough food on the way to the Caves of Chaos, and we set off.\nOn the morning of the second day, Ygnas felt the urge to investigate something, so we searched the local area until she felt like we were in the right place. That happened to be a hill which was making some extremely strange noises. Since I was wearing leather instead of chain, I volunteered to go take a look over the hilltop\u0026hellip;\n","date":"11 August 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-70/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Ygnas # Me and Barbarian Boy whispered together, trying to figure out how to get Feverborne out. Or whether to leave him there. Ultimately, we decided to try to get him out, but we couldn’t see any way to get his gear from by the leader’s tent. Definitely not the sword, which was strapped to the lead centaur. The kid can be sneaky. I wasn’t willing to take off my armor and try to sneak into the camp to get the gear, risking getting attacked without my armor on. And the timing would be tricky. Someone could notice the gear gone before Feverborne was freed, and vice versa.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 70","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Born into the handler\u0026rsquo;s guild of House Vadalis, Faolain bears the Mark of Handling. She grew up handling exotic beasts as easily as domesticated animals. She had everything: snug home, loving family, friends, community, respect, and a purpose. Then the House got a new leader, and he wanted war. The war consumed and twisted everything. The beloved beasts were trained to kill and maim. The men in her family and the community were sent to the front. People were ordered to do horrible things. Soldiers were barracked in homes on their way to the front lines, and some of those soldiers took more than just a bed and food. Food, tools, the basics of everyday life, became scarce. People took to thievery to survive, and were hung when caught. If anyone tried to speak out against the atrocities, they were branded traitors, and publically drawn and quartered.\nFaolain lost everything. Her father and brother died in battle, alongside their beasts. Her mother expressed her anger and grief, and was executed as a traitor. Her sister was dragged off to serve the soldiers as a camp follower. Faolain fled before she faced either of those fates. In the city, she found work in a stables. One night, a man found her crying in a stall, and said that he could bring her to his temple and relieve her grief. She went with him, and was brought to a hidden temple of Shar. After spending a few months talking to the clerics there regularly, her grief and loss turned to anger and bitterness. She found a calling in the temple, and joined the order to show others the truth.\n","date":"4 August 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/characters/faolain/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Born into the handler’s guild of House Vadalis, Faolain bears the Mark of Handling. She grew up handling exotic beasts as easily as domesticated animals. She had everything: snug home, loving family, friends, community, respect, and a purpose. Then the House got a new leader, and he wanted war. The war consumed and twisted everything. The beloved beasts were trained to kill and maim. The men in her family and the community were sent to the front. People were ordered to do horrible things. Soldiers were barracked in homes on their way to the front lines, and some of those soldiers took more than just a bed and food. Food, tools, the basics of everyday life, became scarce. People took to thievery to survive, and were hung when caught. If anyone tried to speak out against the atrocities, they were branded traitors, and publically drawn and quartered.\n","title":"Faolain","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-69.webp\nYgnas # We decided to do some nice quiet exploring on the way to the Caves. Famous last words. Somewhere in the first day of travel, the kid \u0026ldquo;lost\u0026rdquo; the bloodthirsty spear while hunting. Kinda think he did it on purpose, and I don\u0026rsquo;t blame him a bit. On one day, we got up and noticed our waterskins were empty. All of them. And Feverborne and Barbarian Boy have a lot of waterskins between them. They were empty one day after we got out of the barrow too. So, whatever was pulling pranks in the barrow followed us out. I\u0026rsquo;ll burn the bastard alive when I catch it.\nThen we encountered owl bears happily scratching their backs against trees. We backed away slowly, Feverborne holding his hands and bow above his head to make himself look bigger. They followed us. We kept going, and eventually they lost interest. Phew. I got a sudden premonition of a coming wind storm. When it hit, it was going right over us. Oops. Probably should have said something right when I got the premonition. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t any shelter to be had, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t a bad wind storm. It seemed quite playful. Feverborne and the kid were mad that the wind made a hole in a tent and a bedroll, and took some things with it that they had on the outside of their packs. It just swirled around me, like a hug. Wind is almost as nice as fire.\nAfter a storm went through, we saw a red glow ahead. We investigated, and lightning had struck a tree. It was burning from the inside out. I was fascinated. I got another premonition that if left alone, this would become one of the portals Zuul uses to connect the world to the chaos plane. I could go through one in the future, if he favors me enough to give me special fire protection. Since I really want to do that someday, I made Barbarian Boy drop the rock he wanted to throw at the tree. The premonition was quite specific that the tree had to be left alone.\nThe worst thing was the centaurs. We met a group of nine very drunk centaurs. I\u0026rsquo;ve never seen centaurs. They don\u0026rsquo;t wear pants. They immediately made comments about taking us as slaves. I saw the kid vanish into the bushes, so I tried to do the same thing. I felt sort of bad leaving Feverborne there facing them, but if he couldn\u0026rsquo;t con his way out of a fight, at least the kid and I could get a sneak attack on a couple of the centaurs. But it was going to be long odds, being so outnumbered. The leader was especially interested in Feverborne\u0026rsquo;s magic sword. They charged at Feverborne, and several hit him with clubs. I tensed, ready to get into the fight. Feverborne yelled out that if he fell, he hoped that the fey blade would avenge him. He meant that if they knocked him out and one of them grabbed the sword, that they would fight each other. I stayed where I was, since that was as good a plan as any.\nUnfortunately, it didn\u0026rsquo;t work. They did knock Feverborne unconscious, but the leader grabbed the sword with no ill effects. Damn. They tied him to the leader\u0026rsquo;s back and stumbled off. I found the kid and we followed them at a safe distance to their camp. The centaurs tied Feverborne to a tree on the edge of the camp. He tried to taunt the leader into fighting one of the others, but they just knocked him unconscious again. I had to smack the kid, who got distracted by a pair of female centaurs. They don\u0026rsquo;t wear shirts either. Then he had to smack me when I got distracted by the lovely big bonfire the centaurs built. We whispered plans. The kid wants to gather ingredients to make the centaurs sick, follow them for a few days, poison their kegs of whatever vile fermented crap they\u0026rsquo;re drinking, then free Feverborne and loot them blind when they get sick. It seemed like an awfully complex plan where lots could go wrong. I was all for freeing Feverborne right then, and going back for the sword later. Or leaving the damned sword. I imagine he\u0026rsquo;d object to that, despite the sword taking control of him. We have to decide what we\u0026rsquo;re going to do, and how we\u0026rsquo;re going to free Feverborne.\nFeverborne # The plan was to explore the territory around the caves of chaos. Just a big circle to understand the terrain before we resupplied and came out with some mercenaries. Didn\u0026rsquo;t exactly go according to plan.\nLast time the rain ate my tarp, this time the wind stole the blanket I had been carrying around to cover an enchanted mirror with. I let it go, figuring it wasn\u0026rsquo;t much use anymore. The kid lost his bedroll, and I lost one of my spares, so I tossed the kid the remaining spare and we traveled on. Those had been meant for our hires, but those hires died and we never got new ones.\nWe saw a giant preying mantis from a lot closer up than we wanted to, but managed to evade it after tossing rations to slow it down. Close one. I remember Bern mentioned it stole a deer from him when he was up this way.\nWe kept losing water from our waterskins. I thought it was the spear, but the kid went hunting and \u0026ldquo;lost\u0026rdquo; the spear, and we still kept losing water. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure what\u0026rsquo;s going on there. I have a lot of spare waterskins \u0026ndash; for the henchmen, again, that we don\u0026rsquo;t have any of at the moment \u0026ndash; so it hasn\u0026rsquo;t been life threatening. But we need to figure it out before we go anywhere water is hard to find.\nWe managed to de-escalate an encounter with a trio of owlbears. Not likely to have treasure, so no thank you. Ygnas met a burning tree that she took as a sign from Zuul. Yup, uh-huh, right, whatever you say, blondie. Just keep with the free healing and I\u0026rsquo;ll nod along with whatever the burning tree says to you.\nWe met with some centaurs after that. The leader opened negotiations by threatening to take me as his personal slave. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t impressed, but I think that was the moment when both Ygnas and u-Heury hid in the underbrush or ran away or something. They certainly weren\u0026rsquo;t backing me up. I think I made a mistake when I called the leader a \u0026ldquo;fine piece of horseflesh I would love to ride sometime.\u0026rdquo; He charged, I swung and missed, and his underlings basically trampled me \u0026ndash; but I got up and the fae blade bit deep into the leader\u0026rsquo;s flesh. I figured there was no way I could win a straight up fight with all of them, but maybe if I killed the leader it would break their morale. And, they were using saps, so they didn\u0026rsquo;t want to actually kill me. I had an ace in the hole; they didn\u0026rsquo;t know about the downside of the fae blade. I figured, if they took my sword, it would force them to fight each other.\nTurns out it doesn\u0026rsquo;t work that way. Let me make a note of that for when I wake up from the beating I am about to receive\u0026hellip;\nI woke up later, tied to the back of the lead centaur, so I got my wish. I\u0026rsquo;ll remind him of that when I kill him. The centaurs were basically partying in camp, the very image of drunk and disorderly conduct. If only their sergeant was here, he would kill all of them for me. The leader still has my sword, and I tried to goad him into dueling his second in command, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t work well. Still, they don\u0026rsquo;t know what it does; I just have to wait for my chance. Maybe they will run into the preying mantis or something.\n","date":"4 August 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-69/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-69.webp\nYgnas # We decided to do some nice quiet exploring on the way to the Caves. Famous last words. Somewhere in the first day of travel, the kid “lost” the bloodthirsty spear while hunting. Kinda think he did it on purpose, and I don’t blame him a bit. On one day, we got up and noticed our waterskins were empty. All of them. And Feverborne and Barbarian Boy have a lot of waterskins between them. They were empty one day after we got out of the barrow too. So, whatever was pulling pranks in the barrow followed us out. I’ll burn the bastard alive when I catch it.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 69","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Ygnas # We made out way to the wagon, which had of course been pilfered. Finally, we camped. I healed Feverborne. Our supplies in the wagon now gone along with one of the mules, we decided to head south to the closest town for supplies. After more rest and prayers and healing along the way, we were all almost as healthy as we were going to get. We had a disturbing day during the trip huddled in my tent under both tarps, waiting out acid rain. I prayed during the whole thing, because it wasn\u0026rsquo;t natural, but I had a niggling feeling Zuul was testing me, and I shouldn\u0026rsquo;t have cowered away from it.\nAs we were approaching the town, we met a band of obvious bandits, looking like they got the worse end of whatever fight they were in. Barbarian boy scampered off into the brush to ambush them if needed. There were 30 of them, and we were seriously outnumbered. We shouldn\u0026rsquo;t survive a ghoul only to be killed by a bunch of criminals. Nobody wanted to fight them. Well, the spear did. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t count. Given the haunted look in the kid\u0026rsquo;s eyes lately, the spear needs to be burned.\nThe bandit leader struck me as a blowhard who would be susceptible to my charms. He asked if we had anything to patch up his men with. I batted my eyelashes, and said I could heal two men, but what would I get out of it? He offered coin, and in the interest of getting out of this with our skins intact, I made a bargain with him. He called two men forward, one with an eye gouged out, and the other with an arm hanging uselessly. I prayed to Zuul, and was able to partially heal both of them. It satisfied the leader, who paid me. He was much taken with me, and also offered me a job with them, which I politely declined behind gritted teeth. Scum. If Zuul would grant me the power, I\u0026rsquo;d have fried them all. Since I had used my day\u0026rsquo;s prayer\u0026rsquo;s on the bandits, not my companions, I split the bandits\u0026rsquo; money with them.\nCloser to town, we came across a home in the middle of twisted and corrupted trees. This time I managed to drag both males away. Not going near that. Nope. Nothing we need there. Not even a little bit curious what corrupted those trees, because it\u0026rsquo;s bound to be much, much worse than a ghoul. Turns out, the bandits actually had the balls to attack the town. And those peasants bit back and did a good deal of damage. I\u0026rsquo;m impressed with the peasants. They\u0026rsquo;re still illiterate and patronizing, but they\u0026rsquo;ve got spine. They did not have much in the way of supplies, though. We stayed overnight in the stables of the tavern, then headed further south to the next town.\nFeverborne oddly refused to enter the town, and stayed outside. The kid came in with me, but slept outside the inn in the stable. I\u0026rsquo;m not dumb, I got a room. I blocked the doorhandle with the back of the chair, because paranoid habits die hard, but I very much enjoyed a private room and a real bed. I dreamed: I was running from a fog that was chasing me. There were more of those corrupted trees. I turned and saw a tower with flames bursting from the top. Then the fog caught me, and I woke up. I swear we heard something about a tower. I can\u0026rsquo;t remember where now. Maybe it was a mage creating all the giant bugs and other monsters? It if was his tower, I suppose its too much to ask that he got caught in the fire.\nWhile we were in town, we saw wanted posters with a description that sounded awfully like Stria. I seem to recall Feverborne had accompanied Stria on one of her vendettas this way a while back. Guess the assassin wasn\u0026rsquo;t as sneaky as she thought. Perhaps it\u0026rsquo;s better that Feverborne stayed away. I bought supplies and brought them out to where Feverborne was waiting. He was muttering about Orphan Annie, but wouldn\u0026rsquo;t explain. We started towards the Caves of Chaos. In the middle of the trip, I woke up to find something warm tucked up against me. A really big snake. I have nothing against snakes, but they don\u0026rsquo;t belong cuddled up next to me. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t figure out how to move without potentially getting bit, and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t see behind me to tell if it was poisonous. I was embarrassed, but had to call out for one of my companions to help. Barbarian boy scooped up the snake and let it go somewhere that wasn\u0026rsquo;t my tent. I\u0026rsquo;m not going to live that one down, I bet.\nFeverborne # The goddamned rain ate my tarp. So much for stealing wilderness survival tricks from the kid. Not sure I want to let him stand watch alone with his new spear, either. The one-sided conversations he keeps having with it are disturbing. Sure, he\u0026rsquo;s arguing not to kill us. But the fact that he has to argue that isn\u0026rsquo;t reassuring.\nWe encountered a band of people pretending to be bandits and Ygnas healed them in return for coin, which she shared with the rest of us. Kind of her. I don\u0026rsquo;t see why people keep complaining about Oscar, priests seem handy to have around.\nI stayed out of Kirkleston, and intend to keep doing so. A little bird told me they have wanted posters up with a description of Stria on them, and I don\u0026rsquo;t want their to be any confusion or mix-ups. Better to avoid trouble. Besides, that shit took our money and ran, he deserved it.\nI spent the night in a barn on an outlying farm, overpaying the farmer for the privilege. I was joined in the middle of the night by a small orphan girl, taller than a toddler, with bright red hair under the dirt and mess. She called herself Annie once I convinced her I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to hurt her or throw her out of the barn. What the hell, it\u0026rsquo;s not like it\u0026rsquo;s my barn anyway. I did toss her a few of my older rations, since they were getting close to the end of their useful life and we were resupplying anyway. She ate them all at once, must have been very hungry. Poor thing. She was gone in the morning, though. I talked to the farmer and told him what \u0026ndash; or rather, who \u0026ndash; was sneaking into his barn at night. Paid a little extra on her behalf and suggested maybe the farmer could talk to her and give her food and shelter in return for labor. Farms always need labor, even unskilled labor from kids. I\u0026rsquo;ll probably never know if anything comes of that.\nAfter we left town, Ygnas woke up suddenly with a small something curled up against her leg. I assumed it was Little Orphan Annie following me. Turns out it was a snake. The kid and I saved miss nature priestess from her unexpected experience with nature and moved on.\n","date":"2 August 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-68/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Ygnas # We made out way to the wagon, which had of course been pilfered. Finally, we camped. I healed Feverborne. Our supplies in the wagon now gone along with one of the mules, we decided to head south to the closest town for supplies. After more rest and prayers and healing along the way, we were all almost as healthy as we were going to get. We had a disturbing day during the trip huddled in my tent under both tarps, waiting out acid rain. I prayed during the whole thing, because it wasn’t natural, but I had a niggling feeling Zuul was testing me, and I shouldn’t have cowered away from it.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 68","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # I woke up 15 minutes later inside a bloody cave bear\u0026rsquo;s guts. No one found me so it all went according to plan.\nSo all of my friends\u0026hellip; well they weren\u0026rsquo;t really friends\u0026hellip; are dead. I can say that now that they are dead, right? They were useful, and now they are not useful. Well, not completely useless yet; let me go check their bodies for useful stuff. Back in 5 minutes.\nOK, now they are completely useless as well as being dead, except for Creg, who is alive but almost completely useless because he is unconscious and bleeding. I\u0026rsquo;m really not sure what I can do to help him. I refuse to kiss him like in the first aid classes I pretended to take because of that hot half-elf. The only useful things the others had were money and a set of lockpicks on Alia\u0026rsquo;s body. Some \u0026ldquo;friends\u0026rdquo; they are. \u0026ldquo;Friends\u0026rdquo; means useful, right? Definitely no longer useful. Neither are the derro, their bodies didn\u0026rsquo;t even have any money on them.\nSince I was no longer in immediate danger of death I went to look inside the circus again. No more bears or derro, but some of the cages had people in them. I snuck into the room, looking for anything interesting, but the people in cages kept shouting at each other and waving their hands in the air. Finally one turned into a snake and slithered out of the cage right towards me, so I made sure to hide behind a pillar. For some reason one of them kept calling to be let out of the cage! No idea who he was talking to, maybe the snake, but eventually the shouts got annoying and were going to draw attention, so I walked over and asked if she wanted to be friends. (\u0026ldquo;Are you useful?\u0026rdquo; means friends, right? Or am I supposed to say friends and mean useful?) Anyway she claimed she could heal people, so I insisted she demonstrate on me before I let her out. She did, so I opened the cage on like the first\u0026hellip; second\u0026hellip; ok third try. New set of lockpicks.\nThe snake and the genasi kept talking about weed and getting high. Is that like flying? I tried some and didn\u0026rsquo;t fly. Maybe if I point my eldritch blast at the ground? I\u0026rsquo;ll have to try that later.\nAnyways after my new friends healed me I remembered Creg was outside in the corridor dying in his own blood covered in derro and bear corpses and stuff, so I brought him into the cave with the cages. That way if he wakes up I can claim I\u0026rsquo;ve been taking care of him like a good friend. Friends are useful; they die instead of me and if I\u0026rsquo;m almost dead I can eat their soul. It\u0026rsquo;s sort of like making friends with emergency rations. You don\u0026rsquo;t really want to eat them and they don\u0026rsquo;t taste very good, but you\u0026rsquo;re glad you kept them around, just in case.\nSo eventually Creg woke up when my nice new emergency rations healed him. He promptly muttered something about a long rest and went back to sleep. I did too. Being the only survior is tiring! Well, I guess Creg survived too but only because I remembered to drag him into the cave. I saved his life doesn\u0026rsquo;t that mean I own him now or something? I\u0026rsquo;ll ask him when he wakes up again. \u0026ldquo;HELLO CREG! GOOD MORNING! I SAVED YOUR LIFE! DO I OWN YOUR SOUL NOW?\u0026rdquo; I hope he says yes, that would be so much fun.\nSomewhere in there I saw the derro in the funny hat. I remember we were chasing him because the guard captain wanted to know what he knows and the dragon priest wanted to know what he knows. They both think he knows something different though. Anyways, I pointed at him and yelled at my new rations to grab him before he got away.\nOne of them wanted the derro\u0026rsquo;s hat with its funny tails. Weird. I guess it is a nice hat.\nAnyways Drogi the derro led us into an ambush with quasits. We killed some but more of them fled into a larger cavern. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t see much. There was an Ettin. I had to climb a wall to see that, and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t even blast it with just one hand. I could, however, throw some handy alchemist\u0026rsquo;s fire on it, which eventually killed it, maybe? I really can\u0026rsquo;t see much besides Soggy\u0026rsquo;s buttcrack. Not even a good buttcrack. I contemplated twerking for Faolain who was stuck behind me but I hadn\u0026rsquo;t even had the chance to try to seduce her properly yet so it didn\u0026rsquo;t seem like the time.\nEventually the ettin died and we broke out into the larger cavern and killed most of the other things there too. Next up: find out what Drogi knows!\nFaolain # I woke up in a cage. I remember the raid by the derro and being overwhelmed. I must be in the Underdark. Granted, I wanted to be in the Underdark anyway, but being taken by those vermin is humiliating. Anyone who saw it has to die, so nobody lives to contradict my story that I let them take me so I could continue my mission. There were two other creatures in cages in the room, but the other cages were empty, and there were no derro. One was a giant barbarian named Primrose that oddly enough had halfling features, and the other a genasi, water by the way he dripped. He said his name was Soggy, appropriately enough. He had been sleeping, and apparently whatever woke me up woke him up too, because he changed into a snake and went into the giant\u0026rsquo;s cage. Druid, then, and apparently stupid as all nine hells, or he could have tried to free me and Prim instead of slithering over to visit her. Oblivious to the option to get free, he and Prim happily started smoking something from a pipe. They probably saw me be taken. They\u0026rsquo;ll have to die at some point.\nAbout that time, a tiefling wandered in. He fancied himself to be sneaking, and ignored all of us calling to him to let us out. When he realized we could see him, he gave us the \u0026ldquo;who me?\u0026rdquo; look cats give you when you catch them doing something dumb. Pretty, but empty head, perfect. I told him to let me out, and he had the gall to ask me what he got out of it. He looked a bit worse for wear, so I said I\u0026rsquo;d heal him. He asked me to swear on my soul. Enterprising twit, I\u0026rsquo;ll give him that. I said I swore by my goddess, and that satisfied him, so he let me out. The other two offered him a hit from the pipe, and he let them out for that. He really is dumb. After smoking, he turned to me and demanded his healing. I prayed and cast one spell. I could have healed more, but he didn\u0026rsquo;t deserve it. He introduced himself as Alamar. He didn\u0026rsquo;t see me get captured, so he can live until he stops being amusing. It seemed that he and his previous companions had gotten into a fight with the derro and bears that used to be in this room, and only he survived. Bears. I said a brief prayer of thanks for their sacrifice, since it meant I wasn\u0026rsquo;t trying to figure out how not to be bear food.\nWe collected our gear from a pile in the corner and started out down a tunnel. We were promptly attacked by quasits. I cast a sphere around us to heal us, and the others made short work of the things. I wonder what they\u0026rsquo;re doing down here. This isn\u0026rsquo;t usually demon territory. Then, Alamar spotted a derro running past us, and said something about needing to get it for a mission, and everyone ran off. I got everyone around me during the run and gave everyone extended infravision so we could get the jump on whatever else was down here. The tunnel ended into a large open room. I caught a brief glimpse of more derro, one attempting a ritual, a devil dog, and an ettin, before Prim backed up and blocked us all in the tunnel. Alamar tried climbing a wall at one point, and Soggy turned into an eagle. It was galling to not be able to see what was going on, but apparently they all did something, because they moved out in the room. The ettin and the devil dog were dead, and they were working on the derro. I put three derro to sleep, healed Prim, and helped bring down the caster. I think there were more quasit in there somewhere. I remain disturbed by the presence of demon ilk here.\nPrim looks ragged, so I should heal her back up. She\u0026rsquo;s an exceedingly good meat shield, and I need her to stay that way for a while yet. Then we need to kill the sleeping derro, and interrogate the derro Alamar wanted, who is cowering in the corner. I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to the interrogation, since Alamar didn\u0026rsquo;t seem the slightest bit distressed when I asked about more \u0026hellip; severe \u0026hellip; methods of interrogation. All we need to do is keep it alive, at least long enough to get whatever information Alamar wants. I can keep it alive and screaming for a really long time. Not a problem. Soggy looks squeamish about violence outside of combat necessity. Maybe we can send him and Prim scouting while we take care of that business. Or just let them get stoned enough that they don\u0026rsquo;t notice. I suppose we could gag the derro during the \u0026ldquo;interrogation,\u0026rdquo; even if it would smother the lovely screams.\n","date":"24 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-10/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # I woke up 15 minutes later inside a bloody cave bear’s guts. No one found me so it all went according to plan.\nSo all of my friends… well they weren’t really friends… are dead. I can say that now that they are dead, right? They were useful, and now they are not useful. Well, not completely useless yet; let me go check their bodies for useful stuff. Back in 5 minutes.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 10","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Feverborne # We fought the ghoul, but the fae blade couldn\u0026rsquo;t touch it, and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t attack anything else \u0026ndash; it was like I was possessed, even though I kept my head for the first minute or two. I\u0026rsquo;m getting more and more reluctant to draw that damn magic sword, especially since it couldn\u0026rsquo;t even hit the damn thing I was so focused on. The sword just passed right through despite perfect form. It was the most frustrating fight of my life, as the thing\u0026rsquo;s summoned minions choked me with their boney fingers. Last time I go with the kid on one of his personal quests, I swear. Ygnas managed to scare off the first three undead minions, which probably saved our lives, but the ghoul struck her down and summoned three more right away. At least they weren\u0026rsquo;t all attacking us at once.\nSomehow, with both Ygnas and I out of the fight, the kid pulled off a win. No idea how, I was dead at the time. I\u0026rsquo;ll have scars on my neck to match the ones on my face.\nWe searched the room, finding 100gp and a silver dagger under the altar, as well as a skull with a gem in the forehead. The kid has the skull in sack, along with the ghoul\u0026rsquo;s spear. He says the spear is talking to him, and from his side of the conversation, it\u0026rsquo;s a bit bloodthirsty and maybe the kid shouldn\u0026rsquo;t stand any watches alone.\nBefore trying to climb back out, we burned the ghoul\u0026rsquo;s body on the wolf altar and the wolf spirit appeared. This time the wolf spirit offered a reward and the kid asked questions. Sometimes he does everything backwards.\nWe managed to avoid the goblins on the first floor, but as soon as we got back to the surface, the drow chain mail went up in smoke. I\u0026rsquo;ll tell Landon an elf beat me up and took it back to his people.\nOn the way back to the cart, we found a boar fighting a man in leather armor. Or maybe a bard in his performing clothes. We fought the boar. The man fled, I got gored, and eventually the boar fled. This has not been a good few weeks back on the adventuring trail for me. I need to go back on my herbal teas and spa treatments, or one of these days I\u0026rsquo;m going to go down and stay down.\nYgnas # The ghoul was delighted, and said maybe I was the one that should fight it. Creepy, and no, but I was sort of pleased that someone recognized me being braver than the men. Then it promptly summoned three skeletons. Damn. I was positive that if it could do that, it would have done it ages ago to get itself out. Well, shit.\nI prayed fervently to Zuul and He answered, giving me the holy power to turn those three skeletons, who ran for the door and stopped dead. Interesting. At least the moved bones didn\u0026rsquo;t mess with whatever wards were put on the tomb. My prayer did not, unfortunately, affect the ghoul. The kid couldn\u0026rsquo;t seem to land a hit. Feverborne had gotten out his magic sword from the other barrow the kid dragged us into, and after a minute, he got that glazed look in his eyes that meant the sword took over. He kept whacking at the ghoul, even though his sword passed right through it. Spooky, that. It\u0026rsquo;s obviously corporeal, but only to the kid, it seemed.\nI was getting ready to wade in myself, when the ghoul summoned three more skeletons. Apparently I was going to be on prayer duty for the whole fight. Then one of the skeletons bashed me over the head, and everything\u0026hellip; well, it didn\u0026rsquo;t go black like they say it does. I was wreathed in lovely warm flames, and I saw Zuul, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t move to Him. Something was blocking me.\nThen I woke up, with the kid groping around for my magic tinderbox. The fight was over. The kid had pulled off yet another miracle last hit and destroyed the ghoul. Feverborne was also down and not moving. As I sat up, Feverborne coughed and stirred. I demanded my magic tinderbox back, now that he had a torch going. The kid picked up the ghoul\u0026rsquo;s spear, and said it was talking to him about blood. From his discussions with it, it had been created by the shamans from his own tribe, but all it wanted was blood, constantly and indiscriminately. There\u0026rsquo;s something seriously wrong with those shamans to create such a demented thing. Or the spear got corrupted in the hands of the ghoul. Maybe the kid can cleanse it somehow.\nWhile he was talking to the spear, I found a hidden compartment in the altar with 100 gold and a silver dagger. Then we pried the gem out of the skeleton that almost killed me. I healed both Feverborne and the kid. We rested, and I healed them again. But they were both still wounded. We burned the ghoul on the \u0026ldquo;good\u0026rdquo; altar in the north room, and the smoke rose up again. The kid said the wolf spirit was pleased he had killed the bad thing.\nMy desire to slaughter the goblins was thwarted. Seems they fled the barrow for parts unknown. We made our way outside to blessed fresh air and sky. I wanted to camp and rest so I could heal the others some more, but the kid was itchy to keep moving. We encountered a man trying to fight off a pissed off boar. I was all for backing away and going around, because entire hunting parties have trouble killing boars, but the kid barged right in. Because, stupid boy. With a sigh, I followed Feverborne after the kid. The man immediately fled, leaving us to the boar. Ingrate and coward. Then, the kid got off without a scratch, and Feverborne was almost killed by the boar. And I couldn\u0026rsquo;t do a damned thing about it until we rested and I had time to do my morning prayers.\n","date":"21 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-67/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # We fought the ghoul, but the fae blade couldn’t touch it, and I couldn’t attack anything else – it was like I was possessed, even though I kept my head for the first minute or two. I’m getting more and more reluctant to draw that damn magic sword, especially since it couldn’t even hit the damn thing I was so focused on. The sword just passed right through despite perfect form. It was the most frustrating fight of my life, as the thing’s summoned minions choked me with their boney fingers. Last time I go with the kid on one of his personal quests, I swear. Ygnas managed to scare off the first three undead minions, which probably saved our lives, but the ghoul struck her down and summoned three more right away. At least they weren’t all attacking us at once.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 67","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-66.webp\nFeverborne # As it turned out, I found the trap mecvhanism myself, and got a mouthful of poison gas in the process. The kid was busy having a barbarian staring contest with a spirit wolf. Seems he asked it for a gift when it offered a question answered. Wolf spirits are prickly things. It especially did not appreciate being asked to bless Snausages. After he got that sorted out we demonstrated the trap mechanism, and figured out a way to safely discharge the trap when opening the door. It involved using the dead giant centipede heads. Don\u0026rsquo;t ask.\nTurns out the goblins above had betrayed us by blocking the trapdoor with a chest full of rocks. We took a day of rest, burned and broke apart the trapdoor, moved the chest to ensure our escape, but stopped short at killing the goblins, figuring it would be safer to face the ghost first and the goblins later (possibly after resting, especially with Ygnas available to heal us faster than normal).\nWhile we were up there I eyed the Drow elf\u0026rsquo;s armor again. We were about to face the ghost, and we would need every bit of help we could get. Landon hadn\u0026rsquo;t memorized Detect Magic, so we diced for the elven armor. I won the roll after u-Heury consulted with his spirit guides and decided he didn\u0026rsquo;t want it since elves are unclean to his animal spirit gods or something. With the armor on I felt a lot more mobile. Landon will probably stab me in the back for it later, but hey, why would an elf want drow armor? Seems like an easy way to spark confusion to me.\nOnce we got the door open, the kid heard a voice from a ghostly barbarian named Humpty \u0026ldquo;Bloodskull\u0026rdquo; Dumpty. The ghost was only responding to the kid, not to the rest of us, even though we could hear it just fine. There was a lot of back and forth here as the kid tried to lure the ghost out of its room filled with the carpet of bloody skulls, and it tried to lure us in. It won, but only after u-Heury managed to clear a space of about 10\u0026rsquo; square of the bones. u-Heury, Ygnas and I went in front, Landon taking up position at the back with his bow. The only thing we could see was the creature\u0026rsquo;s red eyes at first, and I\u0026rsquo;m hoping the Fae Blade\u0026rsquo;s compulsion to go after the biggest enemy isn\u0026rsquo;t TOO literal. Eyes on a ghost aren\u0026rsquo;t very big and I\u0026rsquo;m not too clear on the \u0026ldquo;enemy\u0026rdquo; part of the definition yet. But I\u0026rsquo;m hoping seeing those eyes is enough to keep me from \u0026ldquo;accidentally\u0026rdquo; running the kid through due to the sword\u0026rsquo;s strange compulsion.\nI warned the kid about the sword. I told him it might get dicey. He didn\u0026rsquo;t think it was funny. I don\u0026rsquo;t really blame him.\nCloser up, Dumpty Bloodskull looked more like a demented hobbit, only closer to human size. I guess we\u0026rsquo;ll find out the hard way if the sword discriminates between friend and foe, or if size is the only thing that matters. And I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure we don\u0026rsquo;t have enough men to put Humpty back together again.\nYgnas # I wandered around between both areas, guarding. I\u0026rsquo;m getting better at not being lost in the fire on the torch, but it\u0026rsquo;s really hard. Our young barbarian was in the north room before the altar, doing some barbarian ritual. He did something right, because a cloud of smoke rose over the altar and he stared at the smoke for a really long time. In the south room, Feverborne was fiddling with the wolf head doors. He was awfully pleased with himself when he figured out the trap and how to disable it. Now we won\u0026rsquo;t die of gas poisoning at least.\nBarbarian boy came back from his trance, disgruntled at what the spirit he saw in the smoke told him. He\u0026rsquo;s supposed to be a great leader of his tribe. Most people would be happy with that kind of prediction for their future. Not our kid. It ticked him off. Too boring. I\u0026rsquo;m fond of the kid, even if I absolutely hate the barrows he keeps getting us into. We heard a thump from the trap door. The goblins had blocked the trap door, trying to lock us down here. And the males were mad at me for killing one of them! We should have killed all the ungrateful bastards. Barbarian boy shoved and pushed and unblocked the trap door. Then he and Feverborne took the stones out of the chest that the goblins used to weigh it down with. They pulled the lightened chest back over the trap door, so if the goblins checked, it would look like we were still trapped. If they ignore the stones all over the room. They\u0026rsquo;re goblins, they\u0026rsquo;re dumb.\nWe rested, with me grumpy at our diminishing sources of firelight, and still paranoid about the invisible person. Feverborne snitched the drow armor and put it on. I didn\u0026rsquo;t tell him the armor was pretty, since men are touchy about being called pretty, but it was. Then we were set to tackle the wolf head doors. Barbarian boy, as usual, made things way more complicated than necessary, by rigging the left wolf head door with a rope. We all heard someone \u0026hellip; or something \u0026hellip; inside talking to him. It ignored the rest of us. Once open, the door kept closing, despite being propped open with piles of stones. Inside, from what we could see in our torchlight, the room was at least as huge as the north room. And full of bones. I mean full. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t any space that wasn\u0026rsquo;t piled high with bones. People. Animals. Giant bugs. I kept watch while the kid and Feverborne carted about 10 feet of bones out. For some reason, standing on bones freaked them both out. There was lots of back and forth between the kid and whatever was in the room, with the thing trying to taunt the kid into coming in and fighting him.\nAll we could see was red eyes. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure that moving the bones was a good idea. Whoever put this bastard in this tomb obviously wanted him to stay there. If he could get out, he would have. It\u0026rsquo;s possible that it was trapped in there with the bones of all its victims. It may be that moving some bones outside would break the hold and allow it to get out. But, eventually I got sick of the back and forth. The kid and Feverborne were squeamish about going into the room. I got annoyed at the lack of backbone. Haven\u0026rsquo;t checked, but I\u0026rsquo;m sure they both have the requisite male appendages. They were, in that instance, however, lacking any male courage said appendages usually convey. Whatever it is, it\u0026rsquo;s undead, and I need to see it before I can try to turn it. I walked all the way into the room, until I revealed what looked like a walking corpse. The menfolk were forced to follow me into the room. So there.\n","date":"7 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-66/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-66.webp\nFeverborne # As it turned out, I found the trap mecvhanism myself, and got a mouthful of poison gas in the process. The kid was busy having a barbarian staring contest with a spirit wolf. Seems he asked it for a gift when it offered a question answered. Wolf spirits are prickly things. It especially did not appreciate being asked to bless Snausages. After he got that sorted out we demonstrated the trap mechanism, and figured out a way to safely discharge the trap when opening the door. It involved using the dead giant centipede heads. Don’t ask.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 66","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-65.webp\nFeverborne # Bern sent a message that he needed me to help u-Heury explore some barbarian tribe burial mound, so I went over to check it out and met up with Ygnas and Landon, who were presently dangling u-Heury down a well from a rope. The rest of us followed, and the kid promptly stuck his spear into the wall and opened a secret door, revealing a small group of drunken goblins. We negotiated and found out they were being oppressed (\u0026ldquo;Help! Help! I\u0026rsquo;m being oppressed!\u0026rdquo;) by a new dark elf arrival named Skazzic, who had convinced their old chief or shaman to be friends. We went and talked to the dark elf, who seemed to hit it off with Landon remarkably well. One might almost say suspiciously well. Landon immediately proposed we go convince Hogarth (the goblin leader) to submit to Skazzic, for\u0026hellip; no discernable reason aside from a vague promise of a reward. We returned, negotiated further with Hogarth, poisoned most of his goblins, drank with the rest, cowed Hogarth into submission, then convinced him to pretend to submit to Skazzic so we could double-cross and kill Skazzic. (And it made even less sense than that as it happened).\nThe battle with Skazzic was over remarkably quickly. He was on to our planned double-cross immediately and started spellcasting, as did Blekh his goblin friend. Neither of their spells took effect. Landon\u0026rsquo;s also fizzled, as did all the melee attacks. I nearly dropped the fae blade, but managed to recover; switching between two different swords on the regular is trickier than it seems. We all looked at each other like idiots and tried it again. This time the fae blade took Skazzic right through the heart, and I immediately threatened Blekh with the bloody blade. The goblin surrendered, but refused to hand over his holy symbol. I was about to ask Hogarth to take it, when Ygnas just smashed his head in. That cost us the goodwill of Hogartb and the help of Carl, the goblin rogue.\nI looted the drow; he has interesting chain mail, and less interesting cloak, boots, and sword. No spellbook. I\u0026rsquo;ve got my eye on that chainmail but I bet Landon does too. We\u0026rsquo;ll see if it turns out to be magical before we fight over it. He also had a small chest with some coin. Apparently he was here trying to raid barbarian tribes for\u0026hellip; something? Makes no sense to me; elves rarely do. Finally, three books that seemed to express a theory that libraries held portals to other worlds. From some of the rumors spreading among the Glorious Blades there may be some truth to that.\nThe room also had a trapdoor leading downwards, with a ladder and another room below. The lower room held two centipedes, swiftly dispatched, and two exits. To the south, a room with a large set of double doors and two goblin skeletons clutching their throats. Obviously poison, probably from a trap. The kid thought he could open the door because of his special barbarianness. I pointed at the goblins and reminded him barbarians are famous for curing poison with poultices; no doubt they use poison traps assuming a group of barbarians could cure each other and goblins or other people couldn\u0026rsquo;t. If I can get the kid to slow down long enough I\u0026rsquo;ll tie a rope around his waist so we can drag him back out of the cloud of poison gas and make sure we take anything useful he\u0026rsquo;s carrying, since he seems to have forgotten he\u0026rsquo;s our only barbarian.\nIf Ygnas hadn\u0026rsquo;t basically murdered Blekh for being reluctant to part with his holy symbol, we could have had Carl the goblin rogue open the doors (and thus die to the poison cloud). Now it\u0026rsquo;s going to have to be one of us.\nMaybe I can convince u-Heury to tie a rope to the handles so he can pull them open from a distance instead.\nYgnas # So, somehow, the entrance to barbarian boy\u0026rsquo;s ancestral barrow is down a well? Barbarians are weird. Why not just put in a door? We all dropped down with a rope into a rough hewn room. With shelves full of garbage. The elf tried the passage to the south, and fell down a pit trap. We dragged him out. Feverborne\u0026rsquo;s boot laces somehow got tied together. I swear nobody was near his feet. Barbarian boy found a secret lever in one of the shelves, and it opened a door into a room full of goblins. Drunk goblins. At least they weren\u0026rsquo;t attacking us. Although they didn\u0026rsquo;t like the elf at all.\nAfter a sob story about how a drow took over his raiding group, the lead goblin said he\u0026rsquo;d help us find the entrance to the barrow if we killed the drow. Seemed straightforward. We went to talk to the drow, and he talked to Landon for a long time. Suddenly Landon wanted us to tell the goblin leader to submit to the drow. The elf should want to kill the drow on sight. That\u0026rsquo;s how it\u0026rsquo;s supposed to work. Hell, I want to kill the drow on sight, and I\u0026rsquo;m not an elf. We went back to talk to the goblins.\nWhile they were babbling on about whether to submit to the drow or just pretend so we could get the jump on the drow, as if it mattered since we\u0026rsquo;re killing the drow anyway, my frog lighter went missing. I announced to the room as a whole that unless the thief gave it back immediately, everyone died. The goblins panicked and started madly searching. Feverborne, barbarian boy, and the elf didn\u0026rsquo;t take me seriously. I have no problem burning the whole barrow down, and everyone in it. It didn\u0026rsquo;t help when the lighter suddenly turned up in my backpack. They all thought I just misplaced it. I didn\u0026rsquo;t misplace it. Someone took it. I never put it in my pack, because I want it accessible at all times. There\u0026rsquo;s something else going on. I started looking for shadows moving in the torchlight that shouldn\u0026rsquo;t be moving. It can\u0026rsquo;t be a spirit, since spirits can\u0026rsquo;t affect the physical like that. It has to be someone using an invisibility spell. And I\u0026rsquo;m going to catch them and make them beg for death.\nMeanwhile, barbarian boy thought it would be fun to poison the goblins, by pouring some dried fungus from his pack into a cask of the swill they were drinking. So half of the goblins were sick and blind. We went back to the drow, only nobody shut the doors or thought to be quiet, and he heard the whole plan, so we had no surprise. He and the goblin with him started casting spells. Luckily their spells fizzled. Not luckily, so did every one of our attempts to hit them with weapons. Eventually we got some hits in, and the drow died. The goblin turned out to be a cleric. He refused multiple requests to give his holy symbol to Feverborne, or even the goblin leader. So I bashed him in the head, because the holy symbol made him a threat. I should know. Everyone got mad at me for killing him, even the goblins he betrayed.\nThe entrance down to the actual barrow was a trap door. We went down and were promptly attacked by giant worms. They were easy to kill at least, but yuck. The room we were in had a doorway into a big room that the elf said had an altar at the far end, and another room to the south with double doors with wolf heads. That room had to goblin bodies clutching their throats. I gave thanks to Zuul for the warning that those doors are trapped. Barbarian boy was all for barging in there, and we had to talk him out of it, because that was suicide.\n","date":"30 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-65/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-65.webp\nFeverborne # Bern sent a message that he needed me to help u-Heury explore some barbarian tribe burial mound, so I went over to check it out and met up with Ygnas and Landon, who were presently dangling u-Heury down a well from a rope. The rest of us followed, and the kid promptly stuck his spear into the wall and opened a secret door, revealing a small group of drunken goblins. We negotiated and found out they were being oppressed (“Help! Help! I’m being oppressed!”) by a new dark elf arrival named Skazzic, who had convinced their old chief or shaman to be friends. We went and talked to the dark elf, who seemed to hit it off with Landon remarkably well. One might almost say suspiciously well. Landon immediately proposed we go convince Hogarth (the goblin leader) to submit to Skazzic, for… no discernable reason aside from a vague promise of a reward. We returned, negotiated further with Hogarth, poisoned most of his goblins, drank with the rest, cowed Hogarth into submission, then convinced him to pretend to submit to Skazzic so we could double-cross and kill Skazzic. (And it made even less sense than that as it happened).\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 65","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # (Interlude)\nSo Lyrian and I got to drinking and talking (in that order) and decided to go investigate the strange lack of rumors from Helix, seeing as I grew up there. We signed up with a caravan heading to Ironguard Motte, and managed to get there in just under two weeks. A glorious dinner at The Bloated Halfling led to an attempt at a conversation with the wizard Mazah, but he wasn\u0026rsquo;t in. The rumor mill suggested that the undead in Helix are seasonal; the winters slow them down, apparently, and then the spring thaws bring them up out of the earth again. Weird.\nThe last day of travel to Helix we took by ourselves, and didn\u0026rsquo;t quite make it before nightfall. We camped overnight, but our rest was interrupted by travelers from Helix \u0026ndash; on a wagon, at 2am. As if that wasn\u0026rsquo;t odd enough, they were attacked by two giant spiders. They fled. The humans, I mean; the spiders chased, and won, wrecking the wagon. I was in favor of intervening, but Lyrian was reluctant; there were two giant spiders, in the dark, likely poisonous, for no one we knew, and given the hour they might well have been up to no good. There was almost nothing left. Almost.\nWe found a kid. Infant really. Fed her some oatmeal meant for the mules, who would certainly not be needing it. Turned around and went right back to Ironguard Motte, baby in tow. Dumped it \u0026ndash; her? \u0026ndash; at the temple of Crom in return for Ragnar and Hagetha, two followers with an interest in going to Helix. We planned to return to Helix in the morning, and maybe we would find out what was going on in my old hometown.\n","date":"23 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-64/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # (Interlude)\nSo Lyrian and I got to drinking and talking (in that order) and decided to go investigate the strange lack of rumors from Helix, seeing as I grew up there. We signed up with a caravan heading to Ironguard Motte, and managed to get there in just under two weeks. A glorious dinner at The Bloated Halfling led to an attempt at a conversation with the wizard Mazah, but he wasn’t in. The rumor mill suggested that the undead in Helix are seasonal; the winters slow them down, apparently, and then the spring thaws bring them up out of the earth again. Weird.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 64","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-63.webp\nBern # So we stumbled around in the forest for a while, looking for a mound and finding nothing. We did find a nest of phase spiders, which are like normal spiders except they can disappear, and have an absolutely vicious poison that takes ten minutes to kill you. We didn\u0026rsquo;t realize they were phase spiders at first; the kid shot one with his bow and hurt it a bit, but I put in a solid hit with mine and it just bounced off. Something about the kid lets him hit the spiders when I can\u0026rsquo;t. Maybe he\u0026rsquo;s dipping his arrows into one of those poltices he is always talking about. I\u0026rsquo;ll have to watch him more closely, maybe I can learn something.\nAnyways, my arrows weren\u0026rsquo;t going to do much and really I prefer using a sword, so I drew that. Before I could shrug my shield into place, a ghostly image of an old man appeared and started talking to me. He was trying to give me tips on swordsmanship while I was fighting the spider. I listened with half an ear, and it cost me. I landed a solid blow or two on the spider, but it bit me right in the gut, and its poison began eating away at my insides right away. U-Heury shattered another shield blocking a bite, but didn\u0026rsquo;t have time to draw his own sword and strike. None of the attacks from the others were doing anything; Stria had taken her magic daggers back to the city and sent Ygnis to take her place, but Ygnas didn\u0026rsquo;t have anything to hit the spiders with that was magical. (I meant to ask if she tried her frog-lighter, but I don\u0026rsquo;t think so).\nRealizing that these things could kill us in a single bite and only two of the party couold hurt them, we chose to retreat. We escaped mostly because the spiders stopped to eat the corpse of the hireling, and u-Heury managed to make one of his poltices to cure the poison that was eating my guts from the inside out. Kid saved my life. Again. He did good, and maybe he actually knows his way around the outdoors.\nThe ghostly old man disappeared when I sheathed the sword, without saying anything much useful. He did say he once owned the blade I had, and that one of the other blades is in a prison. I need to ask the old ghost when he shows up next if a city elf is close enough to a ranger to wield one of the other blades. Not sure if Landon wants one, but he\u0026rsquo;s the closest to another ranger in the Glorious Blades at the moment. Feverborn already has a magic sword, even if he clearly doesn\u0026rsquo;t trust it, and if they are all like this I don\u0026rsquo;t blame him.\nWe spent a restless night after that, the kid dreaming of something about going south. When he woke up he said it was a message from the frog prince, and since we were trying to follow that map, we went south and looked around again over some of the same territory we had been examining before. This time, we found a small shrine done in the strange ways of the kid\u0026rsquo;s people. There was a burial mound with a small hollow section, a nearby well, and a small wooden structure. We accidentally destroyed the structure (oops), investigated the mound and killed three beetles inside. Their internal organs have a strange glow about them that will serve for torches.\nAfter we fought the beetles, the others said I had an extra eye on my forehead. It didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to be anything I could control. We tried to communicate with it by writing on the ground,but it didn\u0026rsquo;t seem willing to cooperate. Eventually we decided to ignore it \u0026ndash; after tearing some cloth into a bandana. For some reason that made me want to talk in a drawl and call myself Rham-Boh, but I managed to resist.\nWe rigged some ropes to a nearby tree and let them down into the well. The kid went first. He doesn\u0026rsquo;t lack for courage. I\u0026rsquo;m the only one strong enough to pull people up in full armor, so Ygnis is probably next. Then I\u0026rsquo;ll go back to town and send Feverborn to help them while I look into why my arm is still mostly ooze. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t really hurt, so I keep forgetting about it, but people are relying on me here. Between the sword ghost and the weird eye, I have some issues to sort out. The kid\u0026rsquo;s good, he\u0026rsquo;ll keep the rest of them safe. And Feverborn is no slouch either, even if he\u0026rsquo;s less savvy in the woods.\n","date":"16 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-63/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-63.webp\nBern # So we stumbled around in the forest for a while, looking for a mound and finding nothing. We did find a nest of phase spiders, which are like normal spiders except they can disappear, and have an absolutely vicious poison that takes ten minutes to kill you. We didn’t realize they were phase spiders at first; the kid shot one with his bow and hurt it a bit, but I put in a solid hit with mine and it just bounced off. Something about the kid lets him hit the spiders when I can’t. Maybe he’s dipping his arrows into one of those poltices he is always talking about. I’ll have to watch him more closely, maybe I can learn something.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 63","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" map\nAlamar # So the dragon gave us 31gp (each) for the dragon egg. Damned stingy dragon.\nWe explored further in the underground complex after delivering the egg. I volunteered to take a mushroom and explore the small tunnels, since I can actually hide, unlike Alia.\nI found zombies, watched over by a humanoid figure of some kind from the top of a cliff. Alia and Thea went after the watching figure, leaving the zombies to Craig, K-9, and my small but still incredibly potent eldritch self. We made short work of the zombies after a tense moment when K9 got himself surrounded. But he should get used to it. It\u0026rsquo;s his role, to be loud, obvious, and attention-getting. Not at all like my subtle, shadowy, seductively charming role as party leader, rogue extraordinaire, and sex object to the ladies.\nAdmittedly the audience of ladies is slim pickings in the Underdark, but after that one Drow priestess, no thank you, I\u0026rsquo;ll stick to sticking it to my party members and the occasional passerby not trying to kill us.\nAfter a little further exploration, I snuck ahead of the party and looked around a corner. The corner had an odd sort of metal gate, with bars, but one that opened inwards rather than outwards. More importantly, I could see through it. And more importantly than that, I could see three huge bears. THREE HUGE BEARS! They were locked in cages, though. Like maybe a circus? Except, not like a circus. Like a circus with clowns that eat people. There were derro among the bears, apparently feeding them.\nI noped right out of three bears at once. I may have tripped a little and fallen over a little and made just a teensy bit of noise in my haste to get away from the three circus bears. I reminded myself firmly that I meant to do that and saundered back to the party casually. I whispered loudly \u0026ldquo;THEY HAVE BEARS. WE SHOULD RUN.\u0026rdquo; No one ran. Why don\u0026rsquo;t they ever listen to me?\nBut it seems the circus had heard me, as they sent the bears after us. K9 tried to feed the first one. Since the rest of the group wasn\u0026rsquo;t running like I told them to, I tried to hide instead, and put some serious hurting on one of the bears before it put some serious hurting back, and I had to go talk to Daddy for a while. He didn\u0026rsquo;t like me showing up that way and slapped me back to my senses.\nWhen I woke up, almost everyone was dead or unconscious, including my group. The two derro were still standing, finishing off Creg and Alia. I debated charging them in my badly woundwd state and maybe saving their lives, or taking care of myself first and maybe surviving. I chose taking care of myself first, of course. I spent a few seconds getting my breath back and calling on my Daddy\u0026rsquo;s infernal wrath before attacking the derro\u0026hellip; from safely behind cover. The only life I saved was my own, but it was worth it! I managed to kill both derro before they killed me.\nUnfortunately, I\u0026rsquo;m not very good at healing other people, so I sliced open the belly of one of the bears for a good hiding place and took a nap in its intestines. No one will think to look for me there.\n","date":"12 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-9/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" map\nAlamar # So the dragon gave us 31gp (each) for the dragon egg. Damned stingy dragon.\nWe explored further in the underground complex after delivering the egg. I volunteered to take a mushroom and explore the small tunnels, since I can actually hide, unlike Alia.\nI found zombies, watched over by a humanoid figure of some kind from the top of a cliff. Alia and Thea went after the watching figure, leaving the zombies to Craig, K-9, and my small but still incredibly potent eldritch self. We made short work of the zombies after a tense moment when K9 got himself surrounded. But he should get used to it. It’s his role, to be loud, obvious, and attention-getting. Not at all like my subtle, shadowy, seductively charming role as party leader, rogue extraordinaire, and sex object to the ladies.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 9","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-62.webp\nBern # Oscar sent word that he had found a sword that might work well for me. Apparently it has some history with the White League, a group of rangers dedicated to opposing \u0026hellip; things. It\u0026rsquo;s a little unclear exactly what things. This one is supposed to oppose scales, even though we found it in the barrow of a dead lizard king, and the blade itself is covered in serpent markings. When I drew it to test the balance, it spoke to me, briefly, and asked if I was willing to oppose scales. I said sure, I\u0026rsquo;m all about the fur. My pappy was a werewolf, after all, I have no truck with scaly things. I think I can get along with this sword.\nApparently it has two brothers, one opposing flesh, another opposing \u0026hellip; a different type of scale? But no ideas on how to find either one, so we\u0026rsquo;ll just have to see what comes up.\nCome to think of it, do swords normally talk? That seems a little odd, but no one else mentioned anything unusual.\nWe were headed to the barrow marked on the kid\u0026rsquo;s treasure map. He said he got it from a frog? Weird. Anyways, we took a man-at-arms and a torchbearer, and it\u0026rsquo;s kind of out of the way, so the kid and I had a little friendly foraging competition. It got a bit less friendly when he kept winning. He must be cheating somehow but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t figure out how.\nFinally with food running low, we decided to try hunting instead. We felled a nice juicy haunch of venison right outside of a cave where some creepy thing with eyes on tentacles lived. We fought the thing off, but not before it manged to poison me. One of the kid\u0026rsquo;s poltices saved me. Maybe he knows what he is doing in the woods after all.\nWe dragged the carcass back to camp and went looking for Stria and Landon. We found them hiding under rocks and cursing at them for some reason, but got them back to camp safely and decided to maybe try going after the tentacle creature. Perhaps it has treasure, and perhaps the cave it lives in is the barrow we seek.\nWhen we put thought to action, it turned out the creature is very difficult to hit with missile weapons and no one wants to get within range of the poisonous maw.\n","date":"9 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-62/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-62.webp\nBern # Oscar sent word that he had found a sword that might work well for me. Apparently it has some history with the White League, a group of rangers dedicated to opposing … things. It’s a little unclear exactly what things. This one is supposed to oppose scales, even though we found it in the barrow of a dead lizard king, and the blade itself is covered in serpent markings. When I drew it to test the balance, it spoke to me, briefly, and asked if I was willing to oppose scales. I said sure, I’m all about the fur. My pappy was a werewolf, after all, I have no truck with scaly things. I think I can get along with this sword.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 62","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # Through rain, through mist, through flood and foul weather, we finally made our way to Threshold. U-heary and I camped outside while Stria went to find Basil, and we arranged to meet at the gate in case the guards had awkward questions about our exotic zoo animal. They did, but after taking our names (I gave my real name, and my companions did not) and paying taxes, they let the creature into the city and into Basil\u0026rsquo;s hands. I was very careful to describe it only as an exotic beast, so I was completely truthful. If the guards wrote down that we brought in a panther, well, that\u0026rsquo;s not on me. And if a gibbering mouther escapes into the sewers, I won\u0026rsquo;t be blamed, because I brought in a panther according to the official records. Bureaucracy is a wonderful thing when you know how to use it.\nBasil described the sword we left with him thusly:\nPale blue metal (unnaturally light). Slender blade (but stronger than steel). Serpent engravings (twisting along the blade). This symbol is attached to the White League, a group of holy rangers that fought against the reptile cultists. The insignia of the White League is a stag's head with ivy woven into the antlers. Part of a set of three blades, made by the White League. Basil had us place the cage with the exotic zoo animal into a basement under the Library of Dogma. It was secured behind a locked door with guards nearby, but nonetheless seemed insufficiently secured for our peace of mind. I commissioned a sign (\u0026ldquo;Observe Mouther Protocols at all times! Earplugs required! Extreme Danger!\u0026rdquo;) and sent it to him. If nothing else, his workplace will be compliant with Denara\u0026rsquo;s wishes as expressed in the Book of Iso, verse 9000: \u0026ldquo;Let all things be labeled; and be those labels true and accurate, all else may be forgiven in her eyes.\u0026rdquo;\nI quickly deposited most of my share of our earnings with the church, for when I have the opportunity to found my own. Stria was followed by a man with amorous intent; apparently there is a local festival of fertility. Our young barbarian found \u0026ndash; or perhaps was found by \u0026ndash; a lady barbarian named Aleena, a priestess of Crom, who apparently made him a man in the ahem traditional way. He seemed quite happy.\nI plan to devote myself to study of Denara\u0026rsquo;s mysteries and file the forms necessary for gaining rank within the church. I feel that I have learned much in my travels and can aspire to greater things. I also need to track down Thomas; the young urchin promised to become an acolyte of Denara, and I wrote it down, so it must be done.\nThe others plan to seek further adventure. Stria promises to deliver the Azure Blade to Bern, who is the most likely suited to use it, as he is a ranger himself and currently lacks any magical weapons. Likely the three of them will explore u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s treasure map, the one near Threshold, since we have passed it several times already and he is clearly itching to investigate.\n","date":"2 June 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-61/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # Through rain, through mist, through flood and foul weather, we finally made our way to Threshold. U-heary and I camped outside while Stria went to find Basil, and we arranged to meet at the gate in case the guards had awkward questions about our exotic zoo animal. They did, but after taking our names (I gave my real name, and my companions did not) and paying taxes, they let the creature into the city and into Basil’s hands. I was very careful to describe it only as an exotic beast, so I was completely truthful. If the guards wrote down that we brought in a panther, well, that’s not on me. And if a gibbering mouther escapes into the sewers, I won’t be blamed, because I brought in a panther according to the official records. Bureaucracy is a wonderful thing when you know how to use it.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 61","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-60.webp\nOscar # With the gibbering mouther not where we had expected it, and not visible in the darkness, I had to retreat without attempting to neutralize it\u0026rsquo;s magical powers. Luckily not all of our group had fallen to the creature\u0026rsquo;s unholy powers. I hurried back towards the group, swapping places with u-Heury. While the brave boy held off the creature, I called upon Denara, and silenced it\u0026rsquo;s gibbering. The creature failed to resist. Our first step was complete.\nThe second step, getting it actually into the cage, proved harder. We gradually backed away, luring it closer to the room with the trap, pausing occasionally for u-Heury to detach himself from the mouths. While it feasted upon his flesh, we lured it southwards. The hired halfling hit it with a shot from his sling. Everything was going\u0026hellip; if not smoothly, at least according to plan, until we actually dragged the creature into the room where the hirelings could see it. It latched onto one, poor Bilto, and sucked him dry in a few seconds. This caused almost all of the remaining mercenaries to flee, even Thomas the loyal torchbearing kid from Threshold.\nNevertheless, we still had a plan. I picked up u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s rope while the barbarian parkoured his way behind the mouther and the remaining mercenary picked up his end of the rope again. Together we heaved, and u-Heury hoed, and Stria swung at the thing with her daggers from the top of the cage, and we managed to stuff it in! Stria yelled the command word to close the cage, and\u0026hellip; silence. She couldn\u0026rsquo;t speak. None of us could speak, we were all within 15\u0026rsquo; of the mouther and my still-active spell preventing it from driving us mad.\nI think at that point it realized we were trying to capture it, and tried to go north. The rope wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough to hold it, and the creature tore out of the cage.\nI gestured frantically at Karva, the newest member of the Glorious Blades, a fledging mage who had expressed a desire to see a creature as strange and bizarre as a gibbering mouther in its natural or unnatural habitat. I wanted him to run out of the room, as far as necessary, and shout the command word for the cage once we managed to stuff it back in. It was absolutely vital that he stay out of the range of the silence spell so he could activate the cage. Instead, he cast a Light spell at the creature\u0026rsquo;s eyes, hoping to blind it. The spell made the creature glow, but didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to blind it at all. Perhaps it simply has too many eyes.\nMeanwhile the thing was still attached to u-Heury, draining him slowly. The barbarian was tough, though. With the way north blocked, the creature shot 6 of its mouths directly at me! Not all of them latched on, but four did. With only one mouth I could have lasted nearly as long as the barbarian boy, perhaps. At least with Denara\u0026rsquo;s help. But with four draining me at once I had only moments to live. u-Huery was having no luck freeing himself. I smashed my shield down against the floor, trying to cut the tentacles off together, but the rubbery things were tough and held on. Stria was waving her daggers around and doing nothing, the hireling couldn\u0026rsquo;t hit it with his short sword either. All seemed lost\u0026hellip;\nUntil u-Heury remembered his sword, coated in Stria\u0026rsquo;s expensive and potent paralysis poison. He drew, hand shaking on the hilt, slick with blood and terror, and swung. And missed. Somehow the blade caught on the cavern walls, so much closer in then we had been aware of, and bounced out of his hand. He scrunched up his face and closed his eyes, clearly wishing for something as hard as he had ever wished before. I muttered a prayer to Denara, an old one from my gambling days, and thought of how the creature represented great wealth to us all. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s time to toss the dice\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\nAnd u-Huery\u0026rsquo;s bouncing, uncontrolled sword fell straight into one of the creature\u0026rsquo;s mouths. For many frozen moments it twitched, and shuddered\u0026hellip; and then its mouths fell limp. The poison had worked. Hurriedly, knowing it would wear off, we stuffed the creature the rest of the way in, then sent the mage Karva to activate the cage from outside the effect of the silence spell. The trap closed. We had succeeded.\nWhile I called upon Denara\u0026rsquo;s aid to restore my life forces, u-Heury claimed the ruby chalice from the altar. The chalice itself we know to be magical, though we will check again just to be sure the creature did not pull a bait and switch on us. Perhaps we can research it later on, and understand what it actually does.\nWe traveled with the captive creature, disguised by magic as a captive leopard, to the lands north of Kirkleston. We resisted many temptations. We avoided bringing the creature into towns proper, sending only one party member inside to buy rations. We will take this creature directly to the scholar who asked us to collect it, and collect in return our funds for doing so, and the return of the magical sword we left as collateral, along with the research into the sword\u0026rsquo;s function which he also owes to us upon completion of our bargain.\nStria # Oscar disappeared into the room with the altar. Next thing I know there are voices in my head. Screaming and talking and whispering and singing all at once. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t even move. Then, suddenly, the voices stopped. One of the hirelings was by the entrance and looked around sheepishly. The mage we picked up in Eastdale put his arms down, looking like he\u0026rsquo;d been about to attack another hireling with a dagger. Oscar was now in the room with us, with the gibbering mouther close behind, blessedly silent, and the kid \u0026hellip; no, I can\u0026rsquo;t call him that anymore, can I? We have a new kid now, Thomas, the boy who came with us from Threshold for adventure and riches. Our young barbarian interposed himself between the gibbering mouther and Oscar. Only to get a tentacle mouth thing on him. I got on the box and laid down and shot my crossbow at the monster many times, to no avail. The halfling hireling got a lucky shot with his sling, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t do much damage.\nThe barbarian led it towards the box, pulling himself away from the mouths, until he no longer could. The mage cast light on the monster, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t blind it as he hoped. Not satisfied feasting on the barbarian, the monster latched onto the halfling, and killed him, sucking him dry even after death. Two of the hirelings and Thomas fled in terror. Oscar and the remaining hireling grabbed an end of the rope the barbarian had laid out, and pulled the monster into the box. I said the word to close the box. And nothing happened. The silence spell Oscar had cast on it extended past it.\nThe monster lurched out of the box, pulling the barbarian with him. I pulled out my magic daggers. I swear my relfection in the silver one winked at me. I attacked the monster, finding no purchase on it, but hoping I was distracting it and keeping it from moving north with the barbarian still attached. Then the monster latched onto Oscar. With way more mouths then we had been told it could attack with. He looked drained very quickly. Then the monster latched onto me. That brought up memories I\u0026rsquo;d rather forget. It was looking grim. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t hit it, and even if we did, did no damage. The mage waited outside the room, hoping to be able to say the word to close the cage if we managed to get it back in. It was looking like it would finish us off this time.\nI yelled at the barbarian, asking if he put the paralyze poison on his blade. He pulled out his sword and swung, missing. My heart sank. He swung again, and hit. The monster went slack. We were all free. The barbarian pushed with his shield, and me and the hireling pulled with another rope, and we got the monster back into the box. The mage said the word, and the box closed. It glowed, and it now appeared we had caught a panther. I can\u0026rsquo;t believe it\u0026rsquo;s finally over. We got the bastard, after so many tries. The barbarian ran into the other room and got the chalice from the altar. We hightailed it out before something else could get us.\nFound one of the hirelings and Thomas by the entrance. They looked repentant, so I let them live. Hamish won\u0026rsquo;t be so lucky. You don\u0026rsquo;t bail out on a valid contract in the middle of a fight and expect to still live afterwards. We did not go to Eastdale. We didn\u0026rsquo;t want any questions from the Ygg priests about our magic box or what it\u0026rsquo;s carrying. Stopped briefly by Kirkleston, but only the mage went in to pick up supplies. When we camped that night, he came into my tent to tell me there were wanted posters up with what looked like my picture on them. Oops. I thought Feverborne and I got off clean killing the last henchmen who fled. I guess someone saw us after all. Or those idiot peasants are smarter than they look and someone put two and two together. So, maybe I don\u0026rsquo;t kill Hamish. Maybe I let Oscar do his bureacratic nonsense and just ruin his chances of ever getting a contract again, or something boring like that. Or, I kill him and wear a disguise out in public for the rest of my life. Could be worth it.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s taking an obscenely long time to get to Threshold this time. We\u0026rsquo;re all a bit paranoid, and just want to get there and get our reward before something happens. Oscar and I practically jumped down our young barbarian\u0026rsquo;s throat for suggesting we stop at the barrow on his map on the way. I\u0026rsquo;m almost out of rations, and we still have several days ahead. Our barbarian isn\u0026rsquo;t having any luck hunting or foraging. I might have to resort to bargaining in order to eat.\n","date":"19 May 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-60/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-60.webp\nOscar # With the gibbering mouther not where we had expected it, and not visible in the darkness, I had to retreat without attempting to neutralize it’s magical powers. Luckily not all of our group had fallen to the creature’s unholy powers. I hurried back towards the group, swapping places with u-Heury. While the brave boy held off the creature, I called upon Denara, and silenced it’s gibbering. The creature failed to resist. Our first step was complete.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 60","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # We wondered around the caverns below the Derro section of the city until we found a large cavern with two multi-tiered mesas. One held a large red egg, which I immediately assumed to be a red dragon egg given my recent memorable encounter (thankfully, not a CLOSE encounter) with one. The other held a derro woman conducting some kind of ritual. She appeared to \u0026ldquo;summon\u0026rdquo; a shiny object of some kind, reacted joyfully, and made notes in a book.\nI wanted that dragon egg something awful. I mean, how cool would it be to have a dragon egg all my own after I stole it and ditched the rest of these do-gooders? I figured the first step would be to get close by out of sight, so I just sprinted straight for the derro and plastered myself against the lowest wall. I got there without being noticed, but the big clanky-clanky paladin didn\u0026rsquo;t have the sense to stand still, and the wizard just kind of strolled out into the open like he didn\u0026rsquo;t have a care in the world. Of course, one of them or both of them were immediately noticed by a strange hovering eyeball. It had multiple smaller eye stalks, and some kind of tentacles on the bottom. The eye stalks had some kind of magical effect \u0026ndash; confusion from one, wracking pain from the other. And it was telepathic, with multiple voices competing to murder us in ever more horrible ways. Luckily it didn\u0026rsquo;t notice me, just the rest of the party. While it was busy confusing them and torturing them with its eyestalks and telepathy, the derro on the plateau lined up and zapped about half the group with a lightning bolt.\nThat made it clear to me that the derro had to die for the rest of the party to live. And my chances of getting back to the surface without them weren\u0026rsquo;t great, even with a dragon egg. So I quickly climbed two more of the plateau walls while the floating eyeball and the derro wizard electrocuted, confused, and tortured everyone else. Neither of them laid a finger on me or even saw me until I jumped out from behind the derro\u0026rsquo;s giant obelisk (didn\u0026rsquo;t I mention that? She had a giant blank obelisk), cursed her with my daddy\u0026rsquo;s demonic powers, and swung my glaive straight for her head. She spun away from the blow, bleeding and burning. I pursued, carving her to pieces. The rest of the group was not doing well, though. Between the lightning bolts and the eyeball, Alia was bouncing up and down on Death\u0026rsquo;s trampoline, and Thea was swearing bloody murder trying to get to the eyeball. Eventually, Thea gave in to her bloodlust and helped me corner the derro. Together we took her down and stopped her spells electrocuting the rest of the party.\nThat still left the floating eyeball. Thea rushed to the dragon egg, following my cunning plan, and threatened the egg as a distraction. The eyeball wasn\u0026rsquo;t buying it, though, so I hit it with a solid blast of Daddy\u0026rsquo;s eldritch power after that. That was enough to put it down for good, and we managed to keep everyone alive. It was a close thing though. Some of them almost didn\u0026rsquo;t make it. I don\u0026rsquo;t really remember who, except both the pretty ones got hurt bad. Which means I saved their lives by killing the derro, right? They should be very grateful later.\nUpon closer examination the shiny object proved to be a gold coin. A surface coin, magically transported here to the Underdark. This is both good and bad news; it\u0026rsquo;s information we can barter to the powers that be down below, and thus may be worth something to us, but it is also proof that whatever means the derro were using to get surface goods is very unlikely to get us back to the surface.\nOh, and Thea hit the dragon egg a couple times. I should go stop her before she breaks it open, it\u0026rsquo;s got to be more valuable intact.\n","date":"16 May 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-8/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # We wondered around the caverns below the Derro section of the city until we found a large cavern with two multi-tiered mesas. One held a large red egg, which I immediately assumed to be a red dragon egg given my recent memorable encounter (thankfully, not a CLOSE encounter) with one. The other held a derro woman conducting some kind of ritual. She appeared to “summon” a shiny object of some kind, reacted joyfully, and made notes in a book.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 8","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-59.webp\nOscar # I spent most of the last year in a sanitorium. They thought my obsession with black sand was unhealthy. Fools. They only taught me to shut up about it. I see a bright new future in carbon trading! By regulating the burning of fuel, the church can tax absolutely everything! Transportation, farming, even lighting your home at night! Ahem. Where was I?\nAfter they let me out, I took a role with the church running a small gambling operation in partnership with the temple of Crom. The deal was simple: Crom runs the fights, I hold the bets and set the odds. I did very well for myself. The rest of the group split up to tend to their various activities and industries. We agreed to meet in Eastdale after I retrieved the device intended to trap the gibbering mouther. (And what a pain that was \u0026ndash; it required the whole wagon, when the roads could even support a wagon, and once we left the roads for the forest we were reduced to a rope sling between two mules and a LOT of porters.)\nIt turns out Sanford researched an amulet we found nearby and discovered it protects the wearer from the mental powers of slimes and molds. Normally, I would reject this as useless \u0026ndash; since when do slimes and molds have mental powers? However, all things considered, it does seem quite useful now.\nWe packed the trap down into the grotto, all the way to the skeleton room, and discussed our plans. Stria offered wax for everyone\u0026rsquo;s ears. Since I was the one with the spell to disable it\u0026rsquo;s magic (hopefully), I wore the amulet, and entered the room alone. The plan was for me to grab the goblet and run out the secret door, luring it towards the rest of the group, and using the Silence spell in the narrow skeleton room rather than the big altar room. That would allow for a better plan if the creature avoids the spell. However, all did not go according to plan; the altar had a decoy monster. The real monster was off to the side. It gibbered, and while I was unaffected, I heard sounds of chaos from outside the room. Likely I will need to try the spell from where I am, and hope it works, and hope the rest of the group recovers and joins me. We will likely need to subdue it in combat.\n","date":"12 May 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-59/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-59.webp\nOscar # I spent most of the last year in a sanitorium. They thought my obsession with black sand was unhealthy. Fools. They only taught me to shut up about it. I see a bright new future in carbon trading! By regulating the burning of fuel, the church can tax absolutely everything! Transportation, farming, even lighting your home at night! Ahem. Where was I?\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 59","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # Before we could use the entrance we found, a crazed halfling called to us from the other side of the moat wanting a boat ride. We brought him over to the island once we realized it was Sanfire, a fellow member of the Glorious Blades And Hammer. We descended into the area below the floating tower.\nWithin, a large room with several wall sconces holding candles on top of skull pyramids. The large room had smaller rooms off to one side, and a floor covered with black sand that seemed to be magically (?) drawn into pits. One of the rooms had similar sconces holding skeletal men in fetal position. One of them seemed to still live, asking for water, but was not helped when he got it. Then, a sigil of some kind flashed, and he returned to the fetal position and said no more.\nKeeping my mind on our mission, I demanded to know whether the parched man had seen a small dog in the area. He said nothing. When I poked his body with my hammer, a flash of light from the runes occurred, and some sort of spell took me. Vaguely, I remember my friends dragging me from the place..\nWe bedded down for the night, but I woke later, with the window open, showing me the tower in the distance with the moon hanging directly over it. I woke Sanfire and asked him to watch me as I slept, so I could not be magically drawn to the tower as I slept. He refused, but did consent to switch rooms.\nThe next day was a blur. The last thing I remember is listening to a discussion about unicorn horns, owlbear vocal chords, and poison glands from a two-headed snake.\n","date":"5 May 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-58/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # Before we could use the entrance we found, a crazed halfling called to us from the other side of the moat wanting a boat ride. We brought him over to the island once we realized it was Sanfire, a fellow member of the Glorious Blades And Hammer. We descended into the area below the floating tower.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 58","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-57.webp\nOscar # Lyrian had a damaged sword and no funds to repair it. I offered a loan, but she preferred to look for work in the city instead, a matter in which my own purse \u0026ndash; dwindled as it was by inflated city prices and the purchase of a canoe, though not yet completely flat \u0026ndash; agreed. We inquired at a noble\u0026rsquo;s home, who had a package he wished delivered to the temple of Crom. However, he wished it delivered in secrecy and could not show me any documents indicating he had paid proper taxes on the contents, whatever those contents might be, nor did he have the basic courtesy to offer a bribe. We left without employment, which I felt was quite appropriate. Lyrian disagreed.\nOur next stop was a man in the poor district who wanted help moving out of the poor district. He claimed to have found a windfall profit that would enable him to better his life. On the way out, we encountered four ruffians who claimed they had been promised payment for helping secure this windfall. No one actually wanted to fight, and eventually all involved agreed to submit the matter to my jurisdiction in my role as Denara\u0026rsquo;s Judge. I weighed their arguments upon her holy scales, and took truthful testimony from all parties (eventually). Balthazar, our client, agreed that he had contracted to pay these individuals for their services and failed to do so; moreover he admitted that he had sought to leave without paying them at all. Upon due consideration of their arguments and Denara\u0026rsquo;s justice, he agreed to pay what was owed, and we continued peacefully. We earned only ten gold, yet the opportunity to dispense Denara\u0026rsquo;s justice was worth more.\nFrom there, unable to find our companions and thus unwilling to return to the sewers, we sought other oppotunities. It turns out that a noble named Silas has lost his pet, a \u0026ldquo;blink dog\u0026rdquo;. We made many inquiries, and obtained a scarf the animal was said to favor. The blink dog left a trail of sightings leading north to the Tower of Abraxus, located deep within the ruined part of the city and, uniquely, 50 feet above the ground. It rests on \u0026ndash; err, above \u0026ndash; an island in the middle of a small lake. After briefly considering whether the sewer passages filled with wererats would lead us to the tower, we instead chose to use my canoe to reach the island and see what might be found there. The blink dog might be free enough to come with us (how could a teleporting animal be imprisoned?), or we might find an entrance not infested with rats.\nWe did find an entrance, though the nature of the lakewater and shoreline were extremely disconcerting.\n","date":"28 April 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-57/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-57.webp\nOscar # Lyrian had a damaged sword and no funds to repair it. I offered a loan, but she preferred to look for work in the city instead, a matter in which my own purse – dwindled as it was by inflated city prices and the purchase of a canoe, though not yet completely flat – agreed. We inquired at a noble’s home, who had a package he wished delivered to the temple of Crom. However, he wished it delivered in secrecy and could not show me any documents indicating he had paid proper taxes on the contents, whatever those contents might be, nor did he have the basic courtesy to offer a bribe. We left without employment, which I felt was quite appropriate. Lyrian disagreed.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 57","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # Of course, as soon as we opened the east door, we were attacked by giant rats driven by a (presumed) wererat with a set of pipes. We fought them off at the cost of all but one of the hirelings; I was out of spells, the two new folks from the Gray Company were badly hurt, and there were more rats on the other side of the door and a wererat we hadn\u0026rsquo;t even seen yet. Going to mark this one up as a failure; too wounded to continue with a reasonable chance of success. Why Stria and u-Huery ditched me in this sewer I have no idea, but their replacements lack a lot in the toughness department and numbers just aren\u0026rsquo;t helping. That said, we did clear out quite a few rats. Attrition will have an effect on the enemy too.\nWe took a brief rest at the Druid and Whale to figure out what to do.\n","date":"24 April 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-56/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # Of course, as soon as we opened the east door, we were attacked by giant rats driven by a (presumed) wererat with a set of pipes. We fought them off at the cost of all but one of the hirelings; I was out of spells, the two new folks from the Gray Company were badly hurt, and there were more rats on the other side of the door and a wererat we hadn’t even seen yet. Going to mark this one up as a failure; too wounded to continue with a reasonable chance of success. Why Stria and u-Huery ditched me in this sewer I have no idea, but their replacements lack a lot in the toughness department and numbers just aren’t helping. That said, we did clear out quite a few rats. Attrition will have an effect on the enemy too.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 56","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-55.webp\nOscar # Staying at the Druid and Whale proved profitable. We shared our tale with several strangers who happened to share our table, and they committed themselves to the cause. Apparently this is quite the inn for adventurers, as we were also able to find a number of souls willing to sign up to help for a fee. Sadly, none of them possessed silver weaponry. We would need to improvise. I sold Frederick\u0026rsquo;s cache of treasure, which he apparently stored in his boot and forgot about, to help fund our expedition. The money paid for a silver dagger and a silver handaxe for our new companions, along with a canoe, which was by far the most expensive item. We also bought barrels and scrap wood to make a raft. The weapons would take time to prepare, so we made arrangements to return in the morning. Feeling paranoid after hearing reports of a rat from the kitchen, I insisted we move to a different inn. We visited the Howling Knight, which was filled with shadows and shadowy characters. We tried the Elf and Lamb after that, an interesting place with an open courtyard in the center surrounded by walls.\nUnfortunately one of our new companions, Nor, was attacked overnight. Stabbed, nearly to death, with a note left to stay out of someone\u0026rsquo;s affairs. Presumably the wererats.\nWe gave our new companions another two nights to order weapons and heal from the attack, as Nor chose not to contribute to Denara for healing.\nEventually, we got our canoe and more properly-built raft into the sewers, along with our new friends and four men-at-arms, one of which is a halfling. Sadly the hirelings did not bring silver, but there are other dangers in the sewers and additional fighters can be helpful as distractions while the core party deals out damage to wererats.\nInstead of following the known path north into the wererat lair, we proceeded to the east, finding a small area with three doors \u0026ndash; north, east, and south. North and south doors are trapped, probably with an alarm. The east door appears unlocked and untrapped, so we determined to explore it first, hoping to use the room to hide in if we failed to disarm the traps on the other doors, or at least ensure we weren\u0026rsquo;t attacked from three sides at once.\n","date":"14 April 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-55/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-55.webp\nOscar # Staying at the Druid and Whale proved profitable. We shared our tale with several strangers who happened to share our table, and they committed themselves to the cause. Apparently this is quite the inn for adventurers, as we were also able to find a number of souls willing to sign up to help for a fee. Sadly, none of them possessed silver weaponry. We would need to improvise. I sold Frederick’s cache of treasure, which he apparently stored in his boot and forgot about, to help fund our expedition. The money paid for a silver dagger and a silver handaxe for our new companions, along with a canoe, which was by far the most expensive item. We also bought barrels and scrap wood to make a raft. The weapons would take time to prepare, so we made arrangements to return in the morning. Feeling paranoid after hearing reports of a rat from the kitchen, I insisted we move to a different inn. We visited the Howling Knight, which was filled with shadows and shadowy characters. We tried the Elf and Lamb after that, an interesting place with an open courtyard in the center surrounded by walls.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 55","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # A strange man named Roger joined us in the sewers. He seems pleasant enough, and a fine warrior, albeit short a few of his marbles. We told him of our plans for the crocodile and he was in favor.\nThe alligator fell to our blades and my mace, and quickly, despite the size of the beast. I give thanks to Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessing for that. We struggled to haul the creature\u0026rsquo;s body to the surface, but eventually succeeded. There, we found it was already twilight, and our makeshift carrying mechanism seemed inferior to simply fetching the wagon. That\u0026rsquo;s where it all went wrong\u0026hellip;\nWe couldn\u0026rsquo;t get to the wagon before dark and the gates are shut until morning. Knowing our friends were waiting, we returned to the Druid and Whale, and there rented a cart, telling the innkeeper it was to help our friends move. We didn\u0026rsquo;t tell her what we would be moving. And then, trying to find the entrance, we got lost. By the time we arrived, no one was there, though there were discarded alligator innards and tracks like a large creature was being dragged led north towards one of the main roads. We followed those, but found no one. Also no one at the Druid and Whale. Also no one at the shops (where I asked the weaponsmith to coat my new dragonscale hammer in silver for wererats). Also no one back at the Druid and Whale. Also\u0026hellip; oh, FINALLY, we found them at the church square, waiting for us. If they had waited for us at the entrance to the sewers we could have saved so so much time.\nu-Heury mentioned that he tried talking to the guard about the wererat cult and they were excessively interested in finding the entrance, to the point of detaining him. At least the authorities know what is going on now. We bedded down at the Druid and Whale to plan our next steps.\n","date":"7 April 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-54/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # A strange man named Roger joined us in the sewers. He seems pleasant enough, and a fine warrior, albeit short a few of his marbles. We told him of our plans for the crocodile and he was in favor.\nThe alligator fell to our blades and my mace, and quickly, despite the size of the beast. I give thanks to Denara’s blessing for that. We struggled to haul the creature’s body to the surface, but eventually succeeded. There, we found it was already twilight, and our makeshift carrying mechanism seemed inferior to simply fetching the wagon. That’s where it all went wrong…\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 54","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # We went poking around the section of the city where the derro are supposed to stay, and where our particular derro might have a home or someplace we could find him or at least we could wander around hoping to see him by chance, which is what we ended up doing after paying street urchins to look for our derro while they urched. Some of them had seen him, but not recently, or at least that\u0026rsquo;s what they told us. It\u0026rsquo;s what I would tell a bunch of strangers spreading money around looking for a neighbor, so it\u0026rsquo;s not unexpected. We went all the way to fhe far end of the main street \u0026ndash; conveniently, only one street in derro slums \u0026ndash; and turned around to come back. On the way back we noticed a cave entrance hidden off to one side, and because we were bored, decided to explore it. It had some water, a couple side caves we are definitely too big to explore, and another side cave filled with strange bones arranged in ritual patterns and one of our fellow former prisoners who wanted us to worship him? Weird. We killed him instead. No regrets.\nFurther back in that cave were giant mushrooms and other plants, which we explored because exploring fields of mushrooms is better than swimming. At least, it is unless the fields of mushrooms are infested with spiders. We killed the spiders. They nearly killed me and several other less important people. We\u0026rsquo;re currently reconsidering whether we want a pleasant swim in the cave lake.\n","date":"3 April 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-7/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # We went poking around the section of the city where the derro are supposed to stay, and where our particular derro might have a home or someplace we could find him or at least we could wander around hoping to see him by chance, which is what we ended up doing after paying street urchins to look for our derro while they urched. Some of them had seen him, but not recently, or at least that’s what they told us. It’s what I would tell a bunch of strangers spreading money around looking for a neighbor, so it’s not unexpected. We went all the way to fhe far end of the main street – conveniently, only one street in derro slums – and turned around to come back. On the way back we noticed a cave entrance hidden off to one side, and because we were bored, decided to explore it. It had some water, a couple side caves we are definitely too big to explore, and another side cave filled with strange bones arranged in ritual patterns and one of our fellow former prisoners who wanted us to worship him? Weird. We killed him instead. No regrets.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 7","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-53.webp\nOscar # We ended up fighting the wererats, of course. Because of course they were wererats. We did manage to get some additional information from their spokesrat first, though. They worship Arimaniux, a sewer god who was thought to be eradicated 30 years ago. Their nefarious plan appears to be to nap kids (more sinister than it sounds!) and raise them to worship their god of filth. Probably infect them with lycanthropy, too. I trid to reassure the kid we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t sell him, but the wererats have good ears. They warned us off going north, into their territory, so of course u-Heury did exactly that. I stepped forward as well, as did Landon. We both killed our share of rats; I saved Landon from a nasty bite by killing the rat about to sink it\u0026rsquo;s teeth into him.\nHowever the rats ahead of us were a ruse. We were ambushed by two more who attacked from behind. One of them tried to grab Thomas the lanternbearer and drag him off. The kid has guts, and fought back. Stria and u-Heury fell back to protect the kid, leaving the rats ahead to Landon and I. The kid got dumped into the sewer and nearly drowned, but I brought him back with Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessing. Stria paid 10gp for the kid\u0026rsquo;s healing. She doesn\u0026rsquo;t want to kill him nearly as much as she pretends to.\nWe were victorious against the summoned rats, but the wererats fled after Stria\u0026rsquo;s silver dagger did brutal injury to one and he warned the rest that we had silver. Since really, only Stria had silver, we decided retreating was the better choice. Also, the authorities need to know that there is a cult of Arimaniux in the sewers again. I\u0026rsquo;ll ask the weaponsmith to coat my warhammer in silver, and maybe get some silver sling bullets.\nOn the way out we found another island, but this one had an alligator on top of a debris pile. That means treasure, which we haven\u0026rsquo;t found any of yet, and we\u0026rsquo;re not badly hurt. And our weapons should be able to hurt it. Maybe we fight the croc on the way out?\n","date":"24 March 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-53/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-53.webp\nOscar # We ended up fighting the wererats, of course. Because of course they were wererats. We did manage to get some additional information from their spokesrat first, though. They worship Arimaniux, a sewer god who was thought to be eradicated 30 years ago. Their nefarious plan appears to be to nap kids (more sinister than it sounds!) and raise them to worship their god of filth. Probably infect them with lycanthropy, too. I trid to reassure the kid we wouldn’t sell him, but the wererats have good ears. They warned us off going north, into their territory, so of course u-Heury did exactly that. I stepped forward as well, as did Landon. We both killed our share of rats; I saved Landon from a nasty bite by killing the rat about to sink it’s teeth into him.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 53","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-52.webp\nOscar # We collected our gear from the wagon and headed back towards the cellar, stopping on the way to chat with a weaponsmith. I had him mount the two dragon scales that were Frederick\u0026rsquo;s legacy to a warhammer, which I will carry in his name. The smith swears the scales will have no effect on the hammer\u0026rsquo;s actual function, but I am not so sure. Surely a blow from a dragon\u0026rsquo;s scales is more potent than one without such materials! Tis a pity Frederick could not have slain the dragons rather than merely driving them off.\nWe continued on to the ruined celler, meeting up with our native guide as we had arranged. The passage led into the sewers, as I should have expected. We set up a rope ladder and built two makeshift rafts so wading in the sewage would not be necessary. At least not on purpose. Swimming with the crocodiles is a real risk, because there definitely were crocodiles. Stria distracted the closest one with a ration. And somehow kept the kid calm. Luckily we found walkable platforms further in, along with a door, behind which were rats, because of course there are rats in the sewers. I got swarmed, and was so disgusted it took me three tries and an assist from a torch to get them off. Note to self: rats are afraid of open flame. Next time we hear rats, light torches for everyone.\nBehind that door we met mysterious voices who refused to identify themselves. They wanted to negotiate a gift of passage, but seemed disturbingly willing to take the kid as payment. I don\u0026rsquo;t think any of us were inclined to let that happen (even if Stria was tempted), but playing along might let us surprise them.\n","date":"17 March 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-52/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-52.webp\nOscar # We collected our gear from the wagon and headed back towards the cellar, stopping on the way to chat with a weaponsmith. I had him mount the two dragon scales that were Frederick’s legacy to a warhammer, which I will carry in his name. The smith swears the scales will have no effect on the hammer’s actual function, but I am not so sure. Surely a blow from a dragon’s scales is more potent than one without such materials! Tis a pity Frederick could not have slain the dragons rather than merely driving them off.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 52","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-51.webp\nOscar # We made it to Threshold and stored our wagon and gear just outside the gate. We stayed the night at the Druid and Whale, because the alternative inn, a place called The Drunken Knight, only allows women and elves. On our way to the temple of Denara, we witnessed a mugging; a minor merchant had been set upon by three ruffians from an organization called the Debased Currency or something similar. Furious at the practice of unlicensed debt collection, I demanded to see their authorization forms, and the authority of the goddess (not to mention a timely appearance from Stria) ran them off. I escorted the merchant back to his store and healed him, accepting his payment and sharing it among the party as a reward for protecting commerce.\nMy superior there, a man named Rheingold, took my reports and duly filed them, noting that I had been delayed. I noted that it was unavoidable due to the strange and fickle rules of the fae which held me paralyzed while Bern trained his dogs. He suggested looking to the north, near Thatchum, where a school of magic exists; a consortium of salt merchants there have requested aid from the church. I assured him I would make that my next order of business once I had completed my business in the city. I told him about the fae deed I had acquired for land near Westkeep, and he was deprecatory, failing to see the potential for trade between the fae and the mundane world. Still he is my superior in the church; I will at least investigate his location as well. And, if there is a school of mages there, perhaps we can find Landon some more useful spells. In particular there is one I have heard of which sends creatures into a kind of nocturnal slumber; if he can learn that, it may allow us to capture the gibbering mouther with less difficulty. The spell is not especially powerful, but nonetheless worth a try. If it fails, I will silence the creature \u0026ndash; honestly, I will probably silence it anyway \u0026ndash; and into the box it goes.\nAs for the other business in Threshold\u0026hellip; we journeyed to the library of Doghma, and inquired therein concerning gibbering mouthers. They directed us to a scholar named Basil, who seemed very eager to have a gibbering mouther of his very own. He promised to make us a containment facility, glass lined, inside a wooden chest with a frame. As surety for the effort, we left him a magical blue longsword, the one we captured from the wight. He agreed to research the sword. If we capture the mouther, we get the sword back and the research results at no charge plus 2500gp for the mouther itself. If we fail but bring back the mouther cage, we get the sword back and can pay for the research results. It will take perhaps a month to build the cage, which time I will spend investigating Thatchum.\nOf course, u-Heury had other plans to find adventure. He joined a group of kids and persuaded them to guide him into a cave in the ruined section of town where they had heard orcs. One of the kids was even brave enough to hold our lantern in return for a gold piece. Landon scouted first, and reported three orcs discussing a difficult decision. We entered, and spoke with them, Landon (who speaks orc fluently) translating. The orcs agreed to leave the city peacefully, heading north. We let them go. The kid \u0026ndash; not u-Heury, the new one \u0026ndash; was impressed.\nIt was dark, so we spent the night at the Druid and Whale. We plan to get our gear and return to the ruin entrance in the morning.\n","date":"10 March 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-51/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-51.webp\nOscar # We made it to Threshold and stored our wagon and gear just outside the gate. We stayed the night at the Druid and Whale, because the alternative inn, a place called The Drunken Knight, only allows women and elves. On our way to the temple of Denara, we witnessed a mugging; a minor merchant had been set upon by three ruffians from an organization called the Debased Currency or something similar. Furious at the practice of unlicensed debt collection, I demanded to see their authorization forms, and the authority of the goddess (not to mention a timely appearance from Stria) ran them off. I escorted the merchant back to his store and healed him, accepting his payment and sharing it among the party as a reward for protecting commerce.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 51","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # So it turns out the knights were in fact bandits; they demanded a toll of three gold each to cross their ford. Honestly, I never knew trolls could be knighted, nor fit into a suit of heavy armor. They complained about barbarian attacks in the area, and questioned u-Heury closely, but I vouched for the boy and he was not of the same tribe causing the problems. They let us pass without issue once the toll was paid.\nOnce past the ford, they mentioned we would come to a fork in the road; to the right lies Threshold, the capital city of the region and our destination. To the left, a godforsaken little town named Helix, which lies near the better-known castle of Ironguard Motte. Apparently one of the guards is from Helix and thinks of the road that way. I sympathized with him, as Feverborne has occasionally mentioned Helix himself and his descriptions, while pithy and full of foul words, make it clear that the small town was scourged by the undead in recent memory. Perhaps someday we will visit there and see if there is treasure to be found in the ruins still.\nTheir description, and our subsequent travel, did confirm that u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s frog map matched the nearby terrain. If the map is accurate a hill-barrow lies north and west of the ford. We resolved to investigate the hill-barrow on the way back to Eastdale, as I was aleady a season late reporting in to my superiors in Threshold.\nWe camped overnight about an hour past the ford. Shortly after midnight we were attacked by giant ferrets, at least 11 of them. Landon distracted a few, and almost lost his life to the rest. Like with the hyenas, our weapons did nothing. Was this some sort of divine punishment? We fled with the wagon and the surviving horses. When we returned to the camp, most of our rations had been eaten, along with my beautiful and ostentatious tent!\nThe discussion after the battle did spark an idea that I think is quite the stroke of genius. u-Heury suggested he could pay in advance of a battle for healing performed during the battle! It would, of course, be at a discounted rate as the healing might not actually be used and I may be unable to reach him in the heat of battle. Still, if I could get the whole party to sign up\u0026hellip; and then later, whole towns, or even whole nations! A steady, reliable income stream for generations! Perhaps something similar for diseases, and even death! Could resurrection be made affordable even for peasants by the application of a small monthly payment over a lifetime? I see endless possibilities. I drafted a contract,we\u0026rsquo;ll see if he accepts. In order to allow my thoughts to flow freely without the support of traditional acolytes, I engaged Stria to take dictation of the draft. If this venture succeeds I will have them mass produced\u0026hellip; I can imagine some kind of plate, dipped in ink and then pressed to a piece of paper firmly\u0026hellip;\nStill, we traveled onwards, and eventually reached Threshold, where they insisted we peace-tie our weapons and confiscated Landon\u0026rsquo;s halberd. Perhaps if we are attacked he can run to the gates to reclaim it, or use the chit they gave him to defend himself. They also insisted we stable the mules and wagon. We made sure our true valuables stayed with us, and hopefully the rest will still be there when we return.\nThe Contract # Credit to Stria # This insurance agreement (\u0026ldquo;Agreement\u0026rdquo;) is made and entered into as of this _____ day of _______________, by and among ________________________, hereinafter known as the party providing healing services (\u0026ldquo;Cleric\u0026rdquo;), and ________________________, hereinafter known as the party providing fighting services (\u0026ldquo;Fighter\u0026rdquo;). The representations and warranties of the Cleric to provide healing services at a discount herein are a material inducement to Fighter to enter into this Agreement. The representations and warranties of the Fighter to effectively deal damage during combat, or otherwise absorb damage on Fighter\u0026rsquo;s person, herein are material inducement to Cleric to enter into this Agreement. Fighter may not transfer or assign any rights under this Agreement to another person.\nThe parties intend that, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, the Cleric will provide a discount for healing services to the Fighter in the amount of 1 gold piece for every 10 points of damage the Fighter dealt to adversaries during combat. The combat must have been within a reasonable amount of time before the request for healing services, but not to exceed one half hour after the conclusion of combat with that set of adversaries. Fighter must be alive and conscious at the time of healing in order to receive the discount.\nFighter hereby represents and warranties that Fighter will effectively deal damage to adversaries during combat, and that Fighter will absorb damage dealt by adversaries upon Fighter\u0026rsquo;s person, to the benefit of other, less durable, party members.\nHowever, any discount for healing services will be offset and reduced by an amount proportionate to damage dealt by Cleric during combat with said adversaries in excess of the damage dealt by Fighter during that same combat with the same adversaries. The discount will further be offset and reduced by an amount proportionate to any damage absorbed by the person of the Cleric in excess of the damage absorbed by Fighter during said combat. Further, regardless of whether Cleric dealt or absorbed damage in excess of that dealt or absorbed by Fighter, any damage dealt or absorbed by Cleric will result in the price required by the Deity to perform healing services to increase by 1 gold piece per hit point, to adequately compensate Cleric for the exertion of performing healing services after the exertion of combat.\nCleric hereby represents and warranties that Cleric will, upon request by Fighter, provide healing services at a discount, at the rate indicated herein. There is a non-negotiable delivery fee of 1 gold piece per healing spell, as required by use of the \u0026ldquo;HealDash\u0026rdquo; intermediary processor. Cleric is not in breach or default of this agreement, is indemnified, and is not liable or otherwise responsible for the Deity declining to provide healing power to Cleric, or if the healing provided is not as much as Fighter expected.\n","date":"3 March 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-50/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # So it turns out the knights were in fact bandits; they demanded a toll of three gold each to cross their ford. Honestly, I never knew trolls could be knighted, nor fit into a suit of heavy armor. They complained about barbarian attacks in the area, and questioned u-Heury closely, but I vouched for the boy and he was not of the same tribe causing the problems. They let us pass without issue once the toll was paid.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 50","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"23 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/alia/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Alia","type":"tags"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # In Grindlebuck we bought some clothes (and I bought a glaive) and were promptly attacked by a stone giant with two heads who didn\u0026rsquo;t enjoy our fashion sense. We hurt him badly, particularly Alia, who seems quite effective with a bow. I\u0026rsquo;ll have to make sure to steal her bowstring before trying to steal a kiss. But the fight attracted attention from the guards, who subdued the giant while we returned to our inn. Where the guards were waiting to arrest us for drawing weapons in the streets or some such stupidity. I was the only one smart enough to hide and pretend not to know any of them, but I did follow after the guards left, so that I could meet up with them when they got out of prison, or maybe until I got bored and left. If there was a public execution maybe I could stage a rescue. Or wave at them and disappear into the crowd if there were too many guards. Come to think of it this is a dwarven city. I\u0026rsquo;m taller than all of these dwarven fucks. Hiding in crowds will be a problem. Maybe if I shave one and crouch?\nThere was a guard captain who told us no caravans were leaving the city because wild creatures were going crazy and attacking the caravans. She didn\u0026rsquo;t have any work for us guarding caravans but did want us to find out how the derro were getting surface goods. We told her we would look into it.\nBut the guards apparently are unclear about the definition of \u0026ldquo;arrest\u0026rdquo; and seem to confuse it with \u0026ldquo;hire\u0026rdquo; or perhaps \u0026ldquo;deputize\u0026rdquo;. The rest of the group were \u0026hellip; arrested \u0026hellip; and told to find some weird derro who wears a hat with two tails and sneaks around the city. And they got a giant escort to the giant\u0026rsquo;s part of the city where the giants talked to them about boring giant things and gave them a huge giant dildo made of stone. Apparently it is our destiny to take this giant stone dildo and\u0026hellip; I stopped listened at that point. Clearly it\u0026rsquo;s not MY destiny to take anything. Alia or Althea can take one for the team as far as I\u0026rsquo;m concerned. Or maybe Eldath. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure the other two would survive. Dwarves are tough, though.\nAlia # I went with the old man to sell the bracelet to a jeweler. I don\u0026rsquo;t know why he was the one doing it, but it seemed appropriate to have someone more \u0026hellip; charming\u0026hellip; along. We managed to talk the jeweler into buying the bracelet for 50 gold more than he originally stated, and without killing anyone, which he really wanted to do. Dwarves. Although, had he insisted, we both looked at each other and were perfectly willing to offer up Alamar as the sacrifice. We split the wealth with the party, and between that and the gold I found on the dead guy, we were able to equip ourselves. I have pants! There\u0026rsquo;s a layer of clothing between me and any \u0026ldquo;accidental\u0026rdquo; touching my ass by Alamar. He hasn\u0026rsquo;t yet, but it\u0026rsquo;s only a matter of time. I have a bow and arrows again. Darts suck. I used the remainder of my gold on two daggers. As soon as I get more money, I can be fully equipped with the six daggers I\u0026rsquo;m missing. We rested at an inn where the \u0026ldquo;rooms\u0026rdquo; were little alcoves cut out of the rock. No privacy, very unsafe.\nWe saw a weird derro with two tails of something on its hat. It scampered off and we did not follow. We should have. We went to the caravan place to try to hire on to get out of the city, but there were no caravans going out. It\u0026rsquo;s too dangerous outside the city, and creatures are going mad. The caravan master did, however, want us to find out where people were getting gold. She opened a drawer and it was full of gold and jewels. We agreed to see what we could find out. Alamar wanted to case the place to come back later and empty that drawer, but there are too many unemployed guards around. Conveniently, we were promptly accosted outside by a gnome with an earth elemental, who offered to sell us gems. Said it got them from Blendenstone. The person it usually sold the gems to was not in his shop. It didn\u0026rsquo;t want to sell the gems itself, as it was illegal. We declined, because we already stand out uncomfortably.\nWe did, however, wander by the shop. It had a sign on the door that indicated that the owner had not left voluntarily. Seemed a great opportunity to pick the locks and see what was left inside. Before we had the chance, there was a crash, and a giant with two heads came barging through the gate towards us. It had one head screaming, and the other looking very confused. I nocked an arrow. Everyone else got out of its way and it ignored them. I got out of its way, and it backhanded me. I got up and shot it, staggering it. We battled it briefly. The grey dwarf guards approached, and actually yelled at us for having weapons out illegally. Really? Fine, the giant is all yours. We bailed. I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure K9 healed the giant as we left, just out of spite. I tried to hide behind a stall in the market, and bumped into an invisible grey dwarf. I hate them. I hate this city. I hate the Underdark.\nWe got back to the inn, where the guards walked in right after us. I again tried to hide, and failed. I noticed Alamar managed it, and that burned. We were marched into their version of a prison, and asked nicely to wait in a cell. They\u0026rsquo;re polite about it, at least. We were finally brought to someone in charge. She said she had talked somebody else out of selling us as slaves. Yeah, been there, done that with the drow. Not impressed by that threat. Instead of killing us or enslaving us, she wanted us to search for \u0026hellip; a derro with tails of whatever the hell it was on his hat. Yup, should have followed him the first time. Now we have to find him all over again, because of course we agreed. She also wants us to do general spying and find information on anything interesting. Oddly enough, it seems being strangers means we have an advantage over her guards. I\u0026rsquo;m all over this, because stealing information is my thing. We got a few passes that should get us through the gates.\nUpon being let out of the prison, we were met by a giant, who wanted us to come talk to some other giant. Sure, it gets us towards the derro section of the city.I spotted Alamar following us. Demon boy is sneaky. The giant who wanted to talk to us said that there was a great evil loose causing all the trouble down here. He gave us a stone that he said talked to him, and said it would lead us where to go to deal with the great evil. I don\u0026rsquo;t recall volunteering. The great evil can do whatever it wants down here. I just want to get to the surface. We accepted Alamar back into the group, and got him caught up to speed. I hate to admit it, but I agreed with Alamar that we very much need to break into that shop. Don\u0026rsquo;t tell him, I\u0026rsquo;ll never hear the end of it.\n","date":"23 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-6/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # In Grindlebuck we bought some clothes (and I bought a glaive) and were promptly attacked by a stone giant with two heads who didn’t enjoy our fashion sense. We hurt him badly, particularly Alia, who seems quite effective with a bow. I’ll have to make sure to steal her bowstring before trying to steal a kiss. But the fight attracted attention from the guards, who subdued the giant while we returned to our inn. Where the guards were waiting to arrest us for drawing weapons in the streets or some such stupidity. I was the only one smart enough to hide and pretend not to know any of them, but I did follow after the guards left, so that I could meet up with them when they got out of prison, or maybe until I got bored and left. If there was a public execution maybe I could stage a rescue. Or wave at them and disappear into the crowd if there were too many guards. Come to think of it this is a dwarven city. I’m taller than all of these dwarven fucks. Hiding in crowds will be a problem. Maybe if I shave one and crouch?\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 6","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Oscar # Go to Threshold, they said. Bring your wagon, they said. It\u0026rsquo;ll be fun, they said.\nNope.\nSo far, we have been rained on by blood, cursed at by peasants, solicited by naked elven ladies and a golden dragon, and had a very expensive mule eaten by hyenas that were, apparently, better armored than most humans.\nWe ended our trip at a ford guarded by 6 heavily armored bandits\u0026hellip; err, knights, until proven to be bandits, which is likely to be shortly. Stria and u-Heury are hiding in case things go badly.\nAt least I made a small profit hauling wood from Eastdale to Kirkleston.\nThe kid had a watery visitation from the frog prince, and apparently received a map. It looks like it might match some of the local terrain. We\u0026rsquo;ll check it out if we survive the bandits.\nStria # We started off for Threshold with Oscar\u0026rsquo;s wagon loaded with lumber he hoped to sell up north. The peasants at Kirkleston were annoying. The barmaid mentioned the murder they\u0026rsquo;d had a while back that was still unsolved. I bit my tongue, looked innocent, and promised to let the authorities know if we heard anything. Since it happened when I was with Feverborne, the other two don\u0026rsquo;t know anything about it, so there isn\u0026rsquo;t anyone to tell on me. She also mentioned awful roads further north and a someone that repaired wagons and had wagon parts. It seemed a good idea to get some parts just in case, even though she was absolutely taking a cut of the referrals, no matter how much she tried to deny it. Oscar only got a spare wagon wheel, though. He\u0026rsquo;s awful penny pinching for a cleric of a god of commerce. Concerned about the weight putting pressure on the wagon over rough roads, he sold his lumber for a small profit, and bought bags of fodder to sell north instead.\nWe traveled through the weirdest forest of white trees with blood red leaves. It was disturbing. Even more disturbing was when it started raining blood. We made it to the next village, Raven something, where the peasants were even more annoying and condescending. Luckily for them, it stopped raining blood after a few hours and we were able to leave before I killed the entire lot of them. At one point, we were attacked by two giant dogs after our mules. We fought valiantly, but we could not do any damage to the beasts. The kid even jumped on one and tried to stab it while astride, but he missed and it threw him off. Luckily for us, given our ineptitude, they were more interested in the mules than in us. One of the mules got free of the traces, and they killed it and began eating, ignoring us. So we got away with the remaining three mules.\nFurther on, we saw a gold dragon lying across the tree tops, and two naked female elves dancing and laughing. They beckoned us to come speak to them. I sternly ordered Oscar to keep driving, do not stop. The situation screamed trap. Elves don\u0026rsquo;t run around naked, and they absolutely don\u0026rsquo;t want to speak to humans. The kid gave me a heart attack when he dove off the side of the wagon, but he was hiding from the dragon, not going after the naked elves. Good lad. The dragon did not attack us, and the elves went back to dancing once we were past. The kid jumped back in the wagon once it was safe. We had an interesting discussion about \u0026hellip; initiating him into manhood. Once he\u0026rsquo;s a little older.\nWe escaped the creepy trees and encountered a river. There were men in armor, three on each side of the ford. We\u0026rsquo;re pretty sure they are bandits, no matter how much they look like knights. The kid and I dropped off into the underbrush to sneak up on the knights, should Oscar not be able to talk his way through.\n","date":"17 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-49/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # Go to Threshold, they said. Bring your wagon, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.\nNope.\nSo far, we have been rained on by blood, cursed at by peasants, solicited by naked elven ladies and a golden dragon, and had a very expensive mule eaten by hyenas that were, apparently, better armored than most humans.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 49","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # I write once more with a heavy heart. The dwarf Girm, accompanied by friends Stria and u-Heury, brought me the ashes of Denara\u0026rsquo;s paladin Frederick. I knew Frederick but little; we rarely adventured together, fearing that two servants of Denara in close proximity would be too much risk of an irrepairable loss to our goal of founding a temple in this region. I\u0026rsquo;m inforemed those who knew him better referred to him as \u0026ldquo;The Apocalypse\u0026rdquo;, and he certainly lived up to his name, if the tale Girm told is even a little bit true. And the dwarf has the fire of some kind of passion in his eyes when he talks about Frederick.\nI must admit my own impression of the paladin was mixed. He was neither strong nor swift; neither smart nor wise. If anything his greatest asset was his cheerful face and friendly nature. And yet those are no small assets, as my own history shows.\nGirm described a trip from Eastdale into the woods along the road known as the Gauntlet, where Frederick somehow faced down two dragons at once by threatening them to a duel. I would have discarded the tale at once as the mad ravings of a lunatic (or perhaps the guilty lies of a coward seeking to excuse his flight) but Stria and u-Heury confirmed at least the broad outlines of the tale, and gave me two black dragon scales as confirmation that there had, in fact, been at least one dragon. And from the size of the scales, an adult specimen.\nGirm described Frederick\u0026rsquo;s wish that these be made into a kind of punching weapon the dwarves name \u0026ldquo;brass knuckles\u0026rdquo;. I am not much of a brawler myself but I will see if I can have this done, and perhaps they will be useful. If nothing else, they would make for a blunt weapon that might damage magical creatures or undead otherwise immune to normal steel.\nThe dwarf also described his own cowardice during the confrontation, which \u0026ndash; while it clearly shamed him \u0026ndash; was also the chink in his soul\u0026rsquo;s armor that opened him to Frederick\u0026rsquo;s peculiar kind of inspiration, and perhaps eventually to Denara\u0026rsquo;s wise teachings. It certainly increased his credibility in my eyes. Denara terms this an admission against interest.\nThe trio described descending into the dungeons beneath the holey oak, finding a new area that my own journeys there had not unconvered. I may have to go there myself; the powers that Denara has granted me may help fend off the shadows that lurk there. Yet, the peril that Frederick and friends encountered will not be one that I need face.\nThey told of entering a room filled with female statues covered in slime at the north end of a bridge over the underwater stream. The room has a secret door on the north wall, and within it lies a sarcophagus; within the sarcophagus \u0026ndash; which of course they opened \u0026ndash; lay a wraith, armed with a glowing blue sword and wearing a jeweled necklace.\nFrederick, already weakened from the shadow\u0026rsquo;s touch earlier, initially stood back with his bow. Girm, armed with a crossbow, did the same. u-Heury stabbed at the thing with his spear, Stria drew her daggers (both of them enchanted) and stabbed at it. The spear did nothing, neither did the missile weapons, but one of Stria\u0026rsquo;s daggers went right into the thing\u0026rsquo;s eye and it wailed in terrible pain and breathed on her. Apparently only magical weapons could harm the creature. Stria flinched from the cold foggy breath but did not seem harmed, just disoriented.\nThe blue sword was another matter. When it struck her, it seemed to tear her very soul. But it did not deter her at all.\nSeeing the terrible wounds inflicted by that blade, and knowing his bow was useless, Frederick knew a change of tactics was necessary. He dropped his bow and pulled out Denara\u0026rsquo;s holy scale medallion. Perhaps the holy force invested in it would be enough to harm the creature. Tragically the sarcophagus blocked him from reaching the creature easily, and Sir Frederick has never been the most agile of individuals. The creature\u0026rsquo;s blade tore into Stria again and again, laying her low. u-Heury too felt its dire kiss, and the kid almost seemed to shrink.\nWith Stria down, Frederick grabbed for her blades, passing one to u-Heury. Together the two of them stood firm against the creature. Girm and the other hireling continued missile fire, but it was ineffectual. Neither u-Heury nor Frederick could consistently strike the creature, despite wielding Stria\u0026rsquo;s magical daggers. The wight\u0026rsquo;s deadly blue sword tore into u-Heury again and then again.\nSensing disaster, Frederick called out to Girm to try fire, even as the other hireling fell to the wight\u0026rsquo;s sword. A moment later, as Girm dragged Stria away from the battle, Frederick gave his life to protect their retreat. u-Heury too decided to flee, taking Stria\u0026rsquo;s body \u0026ndash; still breathing, but unconscious \u0026ndash; from the dwarf. Girm turned back to the fight and saw Frederick fall, and as he did, a great rage filled him. He took up the dagger Frederick had been wielding, called out the fallen paladin\u0026rsquo;s name \u0026ndash; \u0026ldquo;For Frederick!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ndash; and stabbed the silver dagger directly between the wight\u0026rsquo;s eyes.\nThat blow ended the fight, and the wight collapsed into dust.\nSadly, there was nothing left of Frederick and the hireling Girdue but small piles of ash that swirled strangely in the air. The survivors collected the wight\u0026rsquo;s treasure and returned to Eastdale.\nMy research suggested the victims of a wight could rise themselves as wights, given time. When I went to show the priests of St Ygg the ashes, the sacks were empty. We may have two more wights to content with in the holey oak. If we return to that area, we should come well prepared. And we will; I will not allow Frederick\u0026rsquo;s noble, if simple, soul to be confined in an undead prison.\nAs for the prizes, both necklace and sword glowed with magical power.\nI invited Stria and u-Heury to accompany me to Threshold. I needed to return there to consult with my church, and they both seemed in dire need of rest and relatively safe travels to regain their poise.\nStria # We checked off the prophecy of the treasure on the beach. Now we check off the prophecy of the serpent lord guarded by his queens. I was really hoping the guarding part wasn\u0026rsquo;t literal. Turns out, the statues might have been easier. The idea was for the coffin lid to be slid down only a little bit, so if something was in there, it couldn\u0026rsquo;t get all the way out. Well, that didn\u0026rsquo;t work. There was indeed a walking corpse in there, and he was awfully limber. Slithered right out of the little gap and stood up wielding a glowing blue sword. Sort of impressed with that level of limber. Could have come in handy in my previous profession. Nobody\u0026rsquo;s weapons seemed to do any damage. I drew both daggers and attacked. A glancing blow first, but it proved the daggers would hurt it. While the others distracted it, I swung again, and hit it hard. It screamed, and focused its attacks on me. I dodged a few swings, but eventually it landed a couple blows. I could feel the life draining out of me. Then everything went black.\nWhen I came to, only the dwarf and the kid remained. There were two swirling piles of dirt, and the now un-walking corpse. They told me that the creature hit the henchman and turned him to ash. His dog fled, showing way more sense than the rest of us. When I fell, Frederick stood over my body protectively, grabbed my daggers, tossed one to the kid, and they both attacked. But, they were unable to hit it. The creature hit Frederick and turned him into ash. The dwarf, filled with vengeance, grabbed the dagger and attacked, while the kid dragged my body towards the door. Unexpectedly, the dwarf landed a killing blow and felled the monster. Re-killing blow?\nI\u0026rsquo;m \u0026hellip; oddly moved by the heroics of all three of them. This is a new thing for me. Maybe it has something to do with losing a great deal of my life to the undead creature. Or the sword. Maybe my life is inside the sword. I wonder if it can be gotten back out, if it is. Anyway, to hide my untoward sentiment, I praised the dwarf and growled at him to give me back the dagger. He promptly handed over the magic dagger like a good lad, but asked if I had another dagger. He seemed to think the magic was in the silver. I happened to have a normal silver dagger, so I gave that to him, and he was content. Not magic, but silver can be handy against some beasts. After I rested for a bit, we searched the room, but found nothing but what was on the creature - the glowing blue sword and a gold and ruby necklace. The kid put the ashes in the coffin, but they swirled their way back to the places where the bodies fell. He put the ashes in sacks and we headed back to town.\nWe met Oscar, who said he came to town after a feeling that something bad had befallen Fred. We told him the story. He said a prayer, and the sword and necklace both glowed to show they were magical, complicating the plan to sell the necklace for enough money to set us up for a good long time. Oscar believed that the ashes could actually reconstitute into walking corpses, and devised a plan to soak the ashes in holy water, bless them, and bury them in consecrated ground. He went to consult with the Ygg priests about that, only to discover that the sacks contained no ashes. It seemed wise to go immediately and try to recover the ashes to put the plan into action, but maybe it was already too late, because Oscar instead wanted to go to Threshold. Not having anything better to do, and feeling as fragile as I did when I first became an assassin, I agreed to accompany him. Company would be good right now, as I feel like just stubbing my toe could be fatal. The next time we venture into the creepy tree, now we\u0026rsquo;ll have to deal with walking corpses of Frederick and the henchman trying to kill us. Yay. We\u0026rsquo;ll need more cannon fodder\u0026hellip;\n","date":"12 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-48/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # I write once more with a heavy heart. The dwarf Girm, accompanied by friends Stria and u-Heury, brought me the ashes of Denara’s paladin Frederick. I knew Frederick but little; we rarely adventured together, fearing that two servants of Denara in close proximity would be too much risk of an irrepairable loss to our goal of founding a temple in this region. I’m inforemed those who knew him better referred to him as “The Apocalypse”, and he certainly lived up to his name, if the tale Girm told is even a little bit true. And the dwarf has the fire of some kind of passion in his eyes when he talks about Frederick.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 47","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"3 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/frederick/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Frederick","type":"tags"},{"content":" Image not found: session-47.webp\nFred # We were all badly hurt, so we focused on recuperating while Stria mixed up a lovely treat to feed to the basilisks before we killed them. Some kind of fish stew that came from a faraway land. She said it was poy sin stew.\nWe hired a dwarf named Girm and a man and his toothless dog and set off towards the big tree, with two mules pulling Oscar\u0026rsquo;s cart that I should really tell him I\u0026rsquo;ve been borrowinmg.\nWe were interrupted along the way by a huge black dragon landing nearby. It noticed us, after a few tense moments. Err, noticed me, I should say. Stria and u-Heury were nowhere to be seen, and Girm had already run off back down the road. The other hireling had his hands full trying to keep his dog from running away.\nI immediately recognized this as the moment I had been waiting for. This creature was challenging me to single combat. I would meet its challenge, as dictated by fate, and two would enter this forest arena, while only one would depart. Err, three would enter and either one or two depart; I would need a mount to challenge a dragon. u-Heury had disappeared, which meant no one was driving the cart, so I jumped up into the driver\u0026rsquo;s seat and begin trying to figure out how to detach a mule.\nAfter flapping its wings and arching its back to look as intimidating as possible, the dragon demanded a magic item in tribute. I had none, so I shrugged and politely asked for a moment to locate my helmet and detach a mule before the duel commenced. The dragon ignored me. Stria, on the other hand, came out of hiding and displayed her odd crystal dagger, offering it to the dragon.\nThat was when the second dragon landed and the two dragons began to fight. The second one was too much for the mules, and they both ran off. I shifted my efforts from detaching them to stopping them, and Stria disappeared again. u-Heury reappeared once I stopped the mules \u0026ndash; never mind how he kept up, I have no idea \u0026ndash; and tried to convince me not to charge both dragons as they fought. Meanwhile I implored the dragons to wait their turn. One of them smacked me with its tail, and I went flying into a tree, but I was only stirred, not shaken.\nA few minutes later, I was ready. u-Heury had convinced me that I could not in fairness risk Oscar\u0026rsquo;s mules without his permission, so I would face the dragons alone. I found my helmet, grabbed for u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s spear, and set off back to where the dragons were fighting.\nSeeing my approach, full of sound and fury, they took to the air and fled.\nVictory!\nThe dwarf Girm had fled before the dragons did, but we searched the sight of the battle and recovered two small dragon scales, about two inches across. They were too small for use as armor, but might go well on a necklace, or \u0026ndash; getting creative here \u0026ndash; if I could mount a metal ring perpendicular to the plane of the scale, it would make a very nice set of black knuckles. Like brass knuckles, only black for a black dragon, right? Perhaps a smith will be able to make me a pair. If not, a necklace would be quite fashionable.\nSince we were lacking a dwarf we returned to town and found him hiding in the cellar of the general store, and convinced him that he needed to go back out with us to redeem his cowardice. And I showed him the scales. He was very impressed that I defeated two dragons with only a few scratches.\nWe traveled to the Holy Oak without incident this time, and Stria even brought treats for the basilisks. We planned to lure them with the treats and attack with missile weapons, hopefully just one or two at a time, and retreat into a narrow corridor for a defensive position if necessary.\nBut our plans were sidetracked when we decided to take the boat downriver from the trogolodyte beach. We were expecting to end up at the basilisk beach, but before we arrived, we found a bridge and stopped to explore it. On one end, a secret door led into a garden room filled with shadows who guarded black tomatoes. The shadows seem to want us to ask permission before touching the plants, and their touch saps strength! Hopefully, my sword arm will recover with rest. On the other end it had a room filled with statues coated in slime, likely from the moisture.\nWe were briefly interrupted by a wizard who is looking for something, I don\u0026rsquo;t recall what, and denied being Henry Slippuims.\nWe resumed searching the statue room and found a secret door, leading to a room with a sarcophagus. Expecting the worst, we surrounded it and prepared to push it only halfway open, so any mummy will still be trapped inside\u0026hellip;\nStria # Fred and the kid decided to try the creepy tree again. Maybe take the boat down the river to see what we can find. Maybe try to tackle the giant lizards. I took my half of the spider venom sacs and Retep got me to where I could make two vials of poison strong enough to kill giant lizards when put in their fish. I put in an order for two more doses from some unknown supplier. If we go for the lizards, we\u0026rsquo;ll have to make do with partially incapacitating all four or killing only two. The kid hired a guy with a toothless dog and a dwarf with a heavy crossbow. The former is cannon fodder to distract the lizards. The latter might be useful.\nOn our way, we noticed that the woods were too quiet. Dead silent. Then a black dragon landed on the treetops above us. The kid, probably wisely, promptly vanished into the bushes. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t looking at us right off, so we could have tried to sneak past. Unfortunately, Fred got his back up, and was yelling about charging at the thing. Even trying to unharness a mule after grabbing one of the kid\u0026rsquo;s spears. The dragon is in the trees. You can\u0026rsquo;t charge it. But Fred was incapable of logic. I tried to knock him out with the pommel of my dagger, but he was so fanatical, he brushed it off. The dragon turned to us, and said how adventurers tasted good, and it looked forward to eating us, unless we had a bribe. I asked what kind of bribe was acceptable. The dragon said something magic. So, in the interest of all of us not being eaten alive, I offered the dragon the magic crystal dagger. It expressed delight and started reaching down to take the dagger, when there was another crash and a second black dragon said something in dragon language. It sounded pretty snotty, whatever it said, and the two dragons began fighting. That was the part where I dove into the bushes.\nThe mules bolted. I saw the kid run after the wagon and leap on. Frederick followed him, still wanting a mule to charge a dragon with. Dragons that are in the friggin trees. He seemed to think they would accept a challenge to personal combat and come down on the ground and fight by rules. Boy really is dumb. I saw him manage to jump onto the moving wagon as well, and he and the kid struggled over the reins. The kid wanted to keep the mules moving away, while Frederick was trying to turn them back towards the dragons. By this time, I was dodging acid falling from the dragon battle, and thinking I should make a break for the wagon myself. The kid must have convinced Fred to leave the mules alone, because he started running back just as the dragons flew off. He now believes they fled from him. I\u0026rsquo;m letting him have his illusions.\nThe dwarf had run off. The other guy fell for Frederick\u0026rsquo;s story about beating the dragons. Definitely cannon fodder; his dog has more brains than he does. Ignoring my and the kid\u0026rsquo;s superior climbing skills, Frederick clambered up a tree in search of dragon scales or blood or something. He managed to find two scales. We decided to go back to town to hunt the oath breaking dwarf and maybe sell the scales. We talked to the dwarf shopkeeper, and I had to step in when he started getting insulted by the boys disparaging the oathbreaker\u0026rsquo;s courage. I said all we wanted was for the oathbreaker to come back out with us and fulfill the contract, or give us our money back. He said he\u0026rsquo;d find the oathbreaker, and to come back tomorrow. Honestly, Fred can be so charming when he wants to be, but, idiot boys. By that time, it was too late to get fresh pastries, and the magician\u0026rsquo;s butler wouldn\u0026rsquo;t give us the time of day. He\u0026rsquo;d better pray I never get bored, because he could do with being taken down several pegs before I let him die.\nIn the morning, we went back to the shop, and confronted the oathbreaker, who admitted he had run. He was ashamed and agreed to come back out and honor the contract. Good lad. Now I won\u0026rsquo;t have to hunt him down. This trip to the creepy tree was uneventful. The boat appeared to have come loose from where we left it on the beach, but the kid dragged it in using a pole. We got in, and he used the pole to steer the boat through the current. He insisted he knew exactly what he was doing, but I\u0026rsquo;m skeptical, because it was a wild ride. We found a bridge just before we got to the gnomes\u0026rsquo; fishing spot, and the beach where the lizards feed. We climbed up to explore. We discussed whether we could shoot the lizards from the safety of the bridge, but we\u0026rsquo;d need lights on the beach first. We so need a mage. One side of the bridge ended in a suspicious blank wall that just screamed secret door. The other end went off into darkness. The dwarf earned his keep by opening the secret door.\nThe kid flat out refused to go through it. Weird smell of growing things. I followed Fred into what was a black and twisted garden, with what looked like black tomatoes on some of the plants. I saw the black thorn vines, and knew we were beyond the passageway we hadn\u0026rsquo;t gone through, the one where the black thorn vines moved and had killed someone. In this room, shadows moved on their own. Fred started to reach for a tomato. Because that was ever going to be a good idea. The kid egged him on, and wanted to eat one. Which would have gotten him way more than a tummyache. Mother Night, why do I have to be the only grownup? We\u0026rsquo;ll never know what it would have done to him, because the shadows condensed into a vaguely human shape and threatened Frederick. He tried to say he would leave and not touch anything, but the shadows wanted him to die and taste the fruits of their labor. We ran, and the kid and the dwarf got the door shut behind us. I hate this friggin tree. Why can\u0026rsquo;t we find normal dungeons with normal bad things?\nWe went across the other side of the bridge, and a mage appeared out of nowhere. Mages like that trick. They think it impresses people. Just makes me want to backstab the arrogant bastards. He wanted us to find jars with teeth. He\u0026rsquo;s the mage, why can\u0026rsquo;t he find his belongings? I don\u0026rsquo;t know that there\u0026rsquo;s enough gold in this for me to find teeth for him to start a skeleton army with, since that\u0026rsquo;s what teeth usually means - sow them in the ground and an army springs up. Across the bridge was a room with lots of statues. They seemed to be the queens to match the king statues to the south. We searched the room, and the kid found a secret door. It burns that the barbarian boy is better in a dungeon than me. They\u0026rsquo;re all about the wild and stuff. He\u0026rsquo;s annoying, but the kid\u0026rsquo;s good. Through the secret door was a room with a coffin. Lots of snake imagery, which was not comforting. I set up with my bow. The kid and one of the henchman went closer, to move the lid halfway down. If there\u0026rsquo;s something in it, it\u0026rsquo;ll only be able to sit up, not get out and attack us. I\u0026rsquo;d really feel better killing walking corpses with something longer than daggers\u0026hellip;\n","date":"3 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-47/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-47.webp\nFred # We were all badly hurt, so we focused on recuperating while Stria mixed up a lovely treat to feed to the basilisks before we killed them. Some kind of fish stew that came from a faraway land. She said it was poy sin stew.\nWe hired a dwarf named Girm and a man and his toothless dog and set off towards the big tree, with two mules pulling Oscar’s cart that I should really tell him I’ve been borrowinmg.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 47","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Fred # My plan worked! I took off my armor, lay down my weapons, and armed only with two vials of holy water, snuck up on the ghouls as they feasted on the (relatively) fresh corpse of one of our guards. Invoking Denara, I threw the vial and hit one of them right between the eyes! It screamed and gave chase. I ran all the way back to the rest of the group, who had set up an ambush around the teleporting rug. At least three of them followed me, but I was faster. I made it all the way back to the rest of the group, who waited with missile weapons. I jumped over the little table we had set up, only stumbling a little, and the ghouls ran into a hail of arrows \u0026ndash; and, after a moment, my second vial of holy water. Another deadly throw to the face of the enemy! The ghouls who followed me fell, save one who stepped on the carpet. No doubt that one will reappear at the worst possible time.\nSadly, not all of them had followed me, so we sent Stria to scout the rest. (I was already back in my armor and out of holy water). Instead of returning with a report, or a horde of ghouls, she screamed in terror, so we all ran to save her. It turns out two of them had stayed on the beach, and one of them was actually fishing in the river and thus was able to surprise her. We fought and killed them both, though Landon came very close to death.\nHaving defeated the ghouls at substantial risk, we searched their beach. We found a sack with substantial amounts of coin, gems, and a magical dagger, which Stria claimed as no one else wanted a dagger.\n","date":"27 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-46/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Fred # My plan worked! I took off my armor, lay down my weapons, and armed only with two vials of holy water, snuck up on the ghouls as they feasted on the (relatively) fresh corpse of one of our guards. Invoking Denara, I threw the vial and hit one of them right between the eyes! It screamed and gave chase. I ran all the way back to the rest of the group, who had set up an ambush around the teleporting rug. At least three of them followed me, but I was faster. I made it all the way back to the rest of the group, who waited with missile weapons. I jumped over the little table we had set up, only stumbling a little, and the ghouls ran into a hail of arrows – and, after a moment, my second vial of holy water. Another deadly throw to the face of the enemy! The ghouls who followed me fell, save one who stepped on the carpet. No doubt that one will reappear at the worst possible time.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 46","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # We finally got to Grindlebuck or whereever we were going, a city filled with dwarves, which is only marginally better than a city filled with fish that got ate by a demon. The first thing we saw was someone get murdered, so of course Alia took their purse. He had only 17gp so he certainly wasn\u0026rsquo;t killed because he was rich.\nGetting there was a bitch. We scared off the stirges, or maybe exterminated them entirely (I hope!), but we ran into some underwater spikes that damaged our boats. That forced us to stop and repair our boats with \u0026hellip; some kind of cactus that functions sort of like wood? Well, beggars can\u0026rsquo;t be choosers, and we\u0026rsquo;re begging. So now our cactus-canoes are tied together with rope. How is that watertight? Answer: It\u0026rsquo;s not, really. We\u0026rsquo;re bailing water out constantly.\nAlso we ran out of food and they didn\u0026rsquo;t let me eat for TWO DAYS!\nAs if that wasn\u0026rsquo;t enough, we ran into some ixa\u0026mdash;itza\u0026hellip;chattle-whatzas. Mostly they ran into our boats, and sank one. We used the parts to make slightly better repairs to the other two and sailed on.\nThen a floating brain with dangly tentacles dwarfnapped Eldath, which really sucked because she\u0026rsquo;s the only one who can find food reliably, and I\u0026rsquo;m hungry. Luckily we shot it before she died, and fishface made himself useful by rescuing her before she drowned.\n","date":"22 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-5/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # We finally got to Grindlebuck or whereever we were going, a city filled with dwarves, which is only marginally better than a city filled with fish that got ate by a demon. The first thing we saw was someone get murdered, so of course Alia took their purse. He had only 17gp so he certainly wasn’t killed because he was rich.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 5","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-45.webp\nFred # After spending a few days healing in Eastdale, u-Heury felt well enough to walk around town. We visited the wizard and sold him the scroll of dim-in-you-son. I bought some gear and hired a guy and his dog, and we went out to the holy oak to try to trick the ghouls out of their treasure. When we spent the night there, we were attacked by glowing balls of light and had to use our pillows to fight them off! It was the most fun I\u0026rsquo;ve had since I was 8!\nThen we set up our plan to kill the ghouls.\nI\u0026rsquo;m going to take off my armor, sneak up on the ghouls with my torch, and attract their attention, then run as fast as I can for the teleport rug. The rest of the party will shoot them as they run down the corridor after me. This is a very complex plan with many moving carts, which could end in a series of unfortunate accidents!\n","date":"20 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-45/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-45.webp\nFred # After spending a few days healing in Eastdale, u-Heury felt well enough to walk around town. We visited the wizard and sold him the scroll of dim-in-you-son. I bought some gear and hired a guy and his dog, and we went out to the holy oak to try to trick the ghouls out of their treasure. When we spent the night there, we were attacked by glowing balls of light and had to use our pillows to fight them off! It was the most fun I’ve had since I was 8!\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 45","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # I hate the underdark.\nWe fought stirges, mermen, a water weird and it\u0026rsquo;s pet soggy mummy, and something else that I can\u0026rsquo;t even remember on our way between two cities that I definitely can\u0026rsquo;t pronounce. At least the mummy had treasure, even if the tapestries were waterlogged and probably now worthless. Do people mummify their ancestors, stuff treasure into their sarcophagi, and drop them down wells? Is that a thing?\n","date":"13 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-4/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # I hate the underdark.\nWe fought stirges, mermen, a water weird and it’s pet soggy mummy, and something else that I can’t even remember on our way between two cities that I definitely can’t pronounce. At least the mummy had treasure, even if the tapestries were waterlogged and probably now worthless. Do people mummify their ancestors, stuff treasure into their sarcophagi, and drop them down wells? Is that a thing?\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 4","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Fred # We headed north, finding another beach along the underground river. This one had a gnome tending fish traps. He said there are big lizards that take a tithe of his fish catch just to the east of his Beach, and we saw them for ourselves. Probably basilisks because they have weird swirly eyes. Ogbond the gnome introduced us to Grim, another gnome, who promised a 159gp gem if we killed two basilisks and a treasure map if we got all four.\nWe tried. Gardash died. U-heury nearly did. We ran.\n","date":"13 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-44/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Fred # We headed north, finding another beach along the underground river. This one had a gnome tending fish traps. He said there are big lizards that take a tithe of his fish catch just to the east of his Beach, and we saw them for ourselves. Probably basilisks because they have weird swirly eyes. Ogbond the gnome introduced us to Grim, another gnome, who promised a 159gp gem if we killed two basilisks and a treasure map if we got all four.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 44","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-43.webp\nFred # The ghouls came at us fast. Stria killed one with a headshot, and I landed a solid hit in return, but then everything seemed to go stiff and everyone started moving really fast. Their voices buzzed like flies! I kept trying to talk but no one listened, until somehow I fell into a boat and we sailed away from the ghouls. Everyone slowed down again once they were out of sight, but u-Heury was playing at being a statue, so I gave him a mousetache. I can play too!\nWe went back to the surface and rested overnight. Tolmyr was still there with Oscar\u0026rsquo;s mules and wagon. That\u0026rsquo;s good. I suppose I\u0026rsquo;ll have to mention to Oscar that I borrowed them if they get lost. I\u0026rsquo;m afraid he\u0026rsquo;ll make frowning faces at me if I have to do that.\nRather than try the ghouls again we went back to the room that u-Heury and Stria said had a tele\u0026hellip; tele\u0026hellip; teledoor rug. We weren\u0026rsquo;t supposed to touch the rug, but we did open a door facing west and found a small table with many jars. Each jar had a small person inside, apparently dead, and naked. I squeezed my eyes shut tight and made Stria look. I need to worry about my purity!\nWe didn\u0026rsquo;t find anything interesting until I opened the green winebottle, which turned out to have two sheets of paper inside the neck and smelled of vinegar. One of the sheets I couldn\u0026rsquo;t read. The other had a simple story about someone who went to the \u0026ldquo;Hall of Sleep\u0026rdquo; to ask about leylines, and was told about standing stones at Gorthstone. What this has to do with little people in jars I don\u0026rsquo;t know. But I thought maybe pouring some of the liquid in the green bottle into or on one of the little people might wake them up. Nothing happened though. I resolved to burn them at the stake as soon as I could find the right cut of beef for someone their size.\nThen we all decided to hop on the rug at once. It took us somewhere else with a lot of bats and three doors; one lion, one bull, and I forget one in the middle. After discovering that the bats in the area reacted poorly to sound, we went into the one in the middle. It had a small room with a strange circle of stone benches, and it was very, very quiet. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t hear each other speak! I couldn\u0026rsquo;t hear myself think, even. But that\u0026rsquo;s pretty normal. The only thing we found was an odd hat with \u0026ldquo;Property of Henry Slippums\u0026rdquo; sewn into the silk lining. Stria mentioned researching the hat later. Why would we want to know about hats?\nThe other two doors led to a connected set of rooms. The southern rooms had a dead iguana being eaten by glowing beatles. We snuck past them, being quiet and without carrying a light, and went north. A room with heavy stalag\u0026hellip; mites? Yes, mighty tighty ceiling rocks. We snuck around the edges and didn\u0026rsquo;t find anything but another corridor heading north, this one ten feet wide and smelling of bovine excrement. Seemed likely we would find a bull somewhere this way. The walls in the corridor had these strange, deep holes, but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t about to stick my hand down one.\nThe far end of the corridor had a larger room with some sort of altar. We immediately backed off to secure our rear before a possible confrontation. Two westward corridors remained. The more northern one led to an oval room with the walls covered in slime. u-Heury donated a sack, and we cleaned off the walls to read:\n\u0026ldquo;PRAY FOR THE BENEDICTION OF KEZEK. THE BLESSED MAY PASS THE FALL AND COME TO THE DEEP SHRINE\u0026rdquo;\nStria # I retreated behind the boys and got out my crossbow. Landon jumped in the river and disappeared. I shot the first undead thing in the head and it dropped. Fred hit the second one in the shoulder, then it got him and he froze up. The kid missed, and the henchmen killed it. The third one got the kid, and he froze up. We dispatched the third one, then I dove for the rowboat, telling the two henchmen to drag Fred and the kid into the boat as well. I paddled us down a little ways to tiny beach area on the other side of the trodlodyte den. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure about trying to explore further with the boat overloaded and my companions paralyzed. We dragged them out of the boat and waited for a long time before they both were back to normal.\nThe kid was all for going back and finishing the undead off, even though they almost killed us, or trying for the troglodytes, even though the last time we tackled those things in the Grotto, they almost killed us there. We settled for some nice tame exploring. We snuck through the serpent arch, hoping there were no more spiders. Fred whined about the hunter statute until I climbed up and confirmed that, yes, the sword was stone too. The tree door by the teleporting rug revealed a tiny room with just a table and lots of jars. Jars filled with dead tiny people. It was highly disturbing. Once Fred realized the tiny bodies were naked, he refused to look at them. Dead is ok. Naked is a problem? That boy has his priorities wrong. He shook one of the jars, and the body didn\u0026rsquo;t come to or anything. Looking at it being shaken like that made me ill. Fred uncorked the bottle on the table, and it smelled like vinegar. There were parchment pages rolled up in there. One of them I could read. It was a mage detailing how he went to the hall of sleep and found out that a ring of stones would let him go to the realm of the tiny people if he did a ritual. Apparently the ritual worked, and the bastard took specimens. He\u0026rsquo;s on my hit list.\nFred poured some of the liquid in the bottle in a jar, but the body stayed dead. He wanted to burn them, and I cautiously agreed that it would be nice to give the tiny people a proper funeral pyre. But then he started talking about toothpicks to burn them at the stake as witches. The kid was outside the room muttering about magic and approving. What did the tiny people do to deserve that kind of disrespect? The wizard took them from their realm and murdered them. I should have left those two to the undead instead of saving them. Of us all, the former prostitute who kills people for a living has more conscience than them. I at least don\u0026rsquo;t disrespect the dead once they are dead.\nBeing out of exploring options that didn\u0026rsquo;t involve trekking through bat infested tunnels, we opted to all step on the teleport rug. It brought us to a cavern with three doors. One had a picture of a bull, the middle had a picture of a jester, and the last one had a picture of a lion. We could hear bats everywhere. I listened at the bull door, and heard a bull snorting and stamping on the other side of the door. The kid heard giggling behind the jester door. We discussed what we heard, and were attacked by bats. The sound also made something scream to the west. The kid said to turn the lantern out and drop to the ground, which we did, and the bats went away. We quietly went through the jester door. I shut the door behind us, and all sound went away. Couldn\u0026rsquo;t even hear myself breathing. I opened the door again, and we could hear. We searched the room, but other than a ring of stone benches, the only thing I found was a hat that said it belonged to Henry Slippums. I wonder if that\u0026rsquo;s the mage. Or if he knows the mage. I\u0026rsquo;ll find him and make him talk.\nWe next went through the lion door. Luckily, there wasn\u0026rsquo;t a lion behind it. There was a giant dead lizard being eaten by giant glowing beetles. Yay, more giant bugs. The bugs didn\u0026rsquo;t like the lantern, so we shut it and hugged the wall to get by them to the corridor to the west. The corridor met up with the bull room, which was full of stalagmites that we had to maneuver around. No bull, but we could smell bull shit, so there is one somewhere. The corridor continued on, filled with random holes in the walls. That\u0026rsquo;s not ominous at all. There were two manmade hallways to the left, and the corridor opened up into a cave. With piles of bull shit. Did I glimpse an altar? I hope I didn\u0026rsquo;t.\nWe decided to check out the hallways first, to make sure nothing would come behind us when we went into the cave. The top hallway went to a round room filled with slimy algae, and another hallway beyond. We could see writing on the walls of the little room, so we wiped off the slime. Something about praying to Kezec, to pass a fall and get to a deep shrine. I wonder what Kezec is. I hope it isn\u0026rsquo;t as awful a thing as the Faceless One in the Grotto. There is some seriously messed up shit in this part of the world.\n","date":"6 January 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-43/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-43.webp\nFred # The ghouls came at us fast. Stria killed one with a headshot, and I landed a solid hit in return, but then everything seemed to go stiff and everyone started moving really fast. Their voices buzzed like flies! I kept trying to talk but no one listened, until somehow I fell into a boat and we sailed away from the ghouls. Everyone slowed down again once they were out of sight, but u-Heury was playing at being a statue, so I gave him a mousetache. I can play too!\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 43","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-42.webp\nFred # The big hairy ranger called Bern came back with his friends on a stretcher. They said he was dead, but when I asked the head priest of Ygg about him, the priest said Bern was just resting and seemed eager to wash his hands of the man. I don\u0026rsquo;t understand. Bern\u0026rsquo;s a bit gruff and uncouth, but his heart\u0026rsquo;s in exactly the right place, slightly left of the spine and between his ribs. So shouldn\u0026rsquo;t that make everything ok?\nI joined his friends at the tavern with a glass of milk to ask what had happened, and they told me a harrowing tale of jellylike undead. Obviously I signed up; who wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want a taste of undying eternal jello? Jello is great!\nSo we headed out to this place called the Holy Oak. I kinda borrowed Oscar\u0026rsquo;s wagon and mules on the way. We\u0026rsquo;ll have them back in a jiffy filled to the brim with treasure so it won\u0026rsquo;t be a problem.\nDescending into the hole in the Holy Oak, we found some grabby roots that Stria and u-Heury wanted to burn for some reason, so we did. Then we headed north while the fire raged behind us. Avoiding a few doors to the east that u-Heury said led to trogolodytes, and very carefully not stepping on a mysterious telarug (I\u0026rsquo;ve never heard of such a creature!), we found a short corridor filled with some kind of creepy, dangerous grass. Landon used his halberd to mow the swamp. Are all elfs so concerned with horticulture?\nWe came upon a small underground beach with a river flowing past, and a large pile of bones and trash, next to a small rowboat. Stria was just saying something about possible treasure in the pile when we were attacked from behind by these ghastly, ghoulish creatures. I have no idea what they might be!\nStria # I hung on to Bern and kept his head above water while the kid dragged us to shore. Bern wasn\u0026rsquo;t breathing. We hefted his body outside and slung it on a mule to bring to town. We found that Bern had money saved up, and I supplemented it to pay the Ygg priests to resurrect him. They say he\u0026rsquo;ll be ok, although his arm will never be the same, black ooze tainted as it is.\nWith Bern needing to rest up, we discussed what to do while resting at the tavern. A lad named Fred joined us. One of those prudish fanatical types. Seems a bit simple. But he has armor and can hopefully use that sword, so he\u0026rsquo;ll be useful cannon fodder.\nThe creepy oak tree was the destination of choice. It seemed the option with the least amount of things actively trying to kill us. I donated some of my oil flasks to the kid, who wanted to burn the thief roots. We left them burning (Ygnas would be so happy), and went north to skirt around the teleport rug. There was a wooden door with a tree sign on it to the left of the rug. North of that were two doors on the right, and one on the left. Landon opened the bottom door on the right, despite me telling him it was the backdoor to the troglodyte den. He closed it quickly, having confirmed that, yes, I do know what I\u0026rsquo;m talking about. Luckily, they didn\u0026rsquo;t come after us. Then Fred had to open the top right hand door to again confirm that I know what I\u0026rsquo;m talking about. They didn\u0026rsquo;t come after us then, either, so I count that as a win.\nThe door to the left had a pit and what appeared to be a pile of treasure on the other side. I climbed the wall to avoid the pit. But the treasure was an illusion. All that was there when I swiped was a black chess piece. It has to go to something in this blasted place, so we bagged it. The corridor to the north that led to the river was filled with weeds and dead bodies strangled in the weeds. Landon hacked at the weeds, and the kid poked at the dead bodies with a pole. They didn\u0026rsquo;t move. We got to the river and saw a partial body by a rowboat. Then the body started moving and attacked. The boys dispatched it easily, but not before I heard moving behind us. Guess the dead bodies aren\u0026rsquo;t as dead as they were pretending to be.\n","date":"29 December 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-42/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-42.webp\nFred # The big hairy ranger called Bern came back with his friends on a stretcher. They said he was dead, but when I asked the head priest of Ygg about him, the priest said Bern was just resting and seemed eager to wash his hands of the man. I don’t understand. Bern’s a bit gruff and uncouth, but his heart’s in exactly the right place, slightly left of the spine and between his ribs. So shouldn’t that make everything ok?\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 42","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-41.webp\nBern # When I woke up the next morning, the weird barbed sword was gone. We looked and couldn\u0026rsquo;t find it anywhere. Weird.\nWe took our two mules, 3 fighting men and a torchbearer. Well. Lantern bearer since I paid for a lantern. Feeling guilty about that damned box for some reason. And went back to the grotto after the magic box, in case it was worth something, whether still magical or just as a curiousity. We got to the grotto without incident, though it rained, which raised water levels. Got the box (which did not re-close when the door was replaced) back up to the mules outside the grotto and rigged to carry. Then went back in to see what else we could find.\nExploring further down the passage with gelatin murals, we found a large chamber with statues and a set of double doors to the south. There were two large statues guarding the doors to the south, and three more on the north wall depicting three different colors of ooze \u0026ndash; pink, green, and orange(?). Looking at the map, Stria thought the doors to the south would lead to the gibbering mouther, and it looked to me like she was right. We weren\u0026rsquo;t ready for that confrontation; Oscar has a spell to make it shut up, and we need that. So we went down the stairs where the undead mummy was. I was a bit nervous, since we didn\u0026rsquo;t have any trustworthy magic weapons; Stria said her silver dagger was magic but she hadn\u0026rsquo;t ever used it before. And the mummy needed magic. So, this was risky. But we did have three men with us. So down we went.\nThe doors to the south had an incription: \u0026ldquo;Final Dissolution Awaits Those Who Plead\u0026rdquo;.\nDown the stairs, the first north room was just a trap that would collapse and kill you. u-Heury poked it with a pole, and it crumbled further. The door to the south had the mummy. (No body, otherwise undisturbed). A little further down, the next north door led into an open area with a rushing river, and what might once have been a bridge to an artificial island, and some strange mushrooms growing on the walls. Tolmyr took a 5 gold bribe to eat one and said he could see in the dark. I tried one too, and it worked for me. u-Heury got blurry vision, but Stria could see in the dark.\nThe pillars on the bridge had the inscription \u0026ldquo;She Who Adored the Faceless One\u0026rdquo;.\nWe were here to explore, so we rigged a rope bridge and I tied myself to the rope to cross. The small island held three sacrophagi, each with a small coffer, probably holding treasure of some kind. Above each sarcophagi a cold set of eyes hovered, and the center shape had a third eye.\nThe others were preparing to cross behind me when I heard an ancient female voice ask me what I was doing there. I tried to make conversation so the others could climb across, but she wasn\u0026rsquo;t having any of it. I swung the pole I had used to help me across at her, but missed. She didn\u0026rsquo;t, and her touch turned my arm to some sort of black goo. The pain was horrific, and a moment later the black sword of one of her minions struck me, and I lost consciousness\u0026hellip;\nStria # By the time we headed out, Bern seemed back to normal. We noticed the jagged sword was missing. Coincidence? I bet not. We made it safely to the grotto, although through a terrible storm. Ygnas\u0026rsquo; praying may be working out for her. We left one of the henchmen with the mules. The rest of us waded through the water to get to the troglodyte den. The sword hadn\u0026rsquo;t materialized here. I wonder where it went. The box did not go back together, and appeared to no longer have magic. Maybe we can still get something for it. Bern took one end of the rig to carry the box out, and the two henchmen the other. Which they promptly dropped in the water. The kid and Bern ate moss and dove into the water to retrieve the box, while I eyed the henchmen and fingered my dagger, rethinking the need for cannon fodder if they\u0026rsquo;re going to be so incompetent. Box retrieved, and safely out with the mules waiting for transport.\nWe decided to explore some more. We set out down the wide hallway to the northeast. It turned at a corner with pink, green and blue ooze statues in various forms. The blue one had tentacles. The corner ended at double doors flanked by two ten foot skeleton statues. I immediately warned everyone that this was probably the other end of the big room with the obsidian altar that the gibbering mouther was in, because those same statues were in that room. It was tempting to try for the chalice, but we opted to wait for Oscar and his silence spell, since blocking ears with wax hadn\u0026rsquo;t been a complete solution.\nWe went down the stairs back to the crypt area. The first room collapsed when the kid poked at it with a pole. The mummy was gone. I hope it didn\u0026rsquo;t get back up and wander off. I had enough of it last time. There were a few more rooms, and a middle door that went to a hallway sounding of running water. The kid wanted to clear the hallway first, so we went there. We could see what looked like it used to be a bridge, but was now just a dock. There was an island across a river. And weird antler black mushrooms. One of the henchmen offered to eat one for 5 gold. The kid took him up on it. The henchmen said he could see in the dark. The kid tried it, and it just made his vision blurry. Then we heard music, and we closed the lantern. We could hear voices, and footsteps, and music. It sounded like a parade passing outside in the corridor. Bern and I tried the mushrooms, and we could see in the dark as well.\nIt took several tries, but I got a rope over the other island side. We tied it on our side, and we had a rope bridge to get across. Bern went over first. As he stepped onto the island, we heard him talking to a female. Then he swung a pole. I started crossing. Bern fell, one of his arms black. I caught a glimpse of a horrible undead female figure dripping ooze, and two spiky shadow figures. I grabbed Bern and dragged us both back into the water. The kid jumped in and dragged us back to shore. No idea if Bern is alive or dead. If he\u0026rsquo;s dead, maybe there\u0026rsquo;s something in the remaining crypt area that would be worth enough to the Ygg priests to resurrect him. Or maybe we can pledge to do some service on behalf of the priests in exchange. I could offer to find and remove the person that hired the assassin that tried to kill the high priest.\n","date":"16 December 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-41/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-41.webp\nBern # When I woke up the next morning, the weird barbed sword was gone. We looked and couldn’t find it anywhere. Weird.\nWe took our two mules, 3 fighting men and a torchbearer. Well. Lantern bearer since I paid for a lantern. Feeling guilty about that damned box for some reason. And went back to the grotto after the magic box, in case it was worth something, whether still magical or just as a curiousity. We got to the grotto without incident, though it rained, which raised water levels. Got the box (which did not re-close when the door was replaced) back up to the mules outside the grotto and rigged to carry. Then went back in to see what else we could find.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 41","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # We made our way, with much starvation and thirst, to the underground city of Sloobubaloodoop or something like that. It was on the edge of an underground lake complex which we later learned was filled with fish very eager to eat or be eaten. However, our welcome to the city itself was somewhat lacking. First we met a group of fish people who wanted to sacrifice us to their father-god of fish. Then we met a second group of fish people who killed the first group. They worshipped the mother-god of fish and wanted to pretend to offer us as sacrifices to the father-god of fish as a sort of peace offering. We were supposed to start a fight when the father-followers tried to sacrifice us, so the mother-followers could kill them all. That\u0026hellip; didn\u0026rsquo;t go as planned. But we got a chance to rest, some food, and slightly improved gear. A longsword and shield for me.\nThat bit about not going as planned? A two-headed demon at least 30 feet tall attacked in the middle of the sacrificial ceremony. We ran. (It wasn\u0026rsquo;t Daddy, thank his scaly nethers!)\nWe fled on a boat, or really three canoes, since this area of the underdark is, apparently, wet.\nWhen we made camp for lunch, we met three duergar. They were surprisingly hospitable for a place with such a grave reputation as the Underdark. They were headed for the place we had just left, so we told them it had been eaten by a demon. They did not believe us, of course, so continued on their way.\nWe talked over our future path and decided to go from Sloobadoodle to some other place near the Neverlight Glen. Our mushroom was headed to the Glen. From there, to Mont someplace which might have a connection to the surface.\nIf that didn\u0026rsquo;t work out, Gauntlygrym was far away but definitely has a surface connection. The mushroom is sure of it.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re down to trusting a telepathic mushroom.\nThis is bad.\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s worse is that the person who has been finding our food went temporarily insane when we walked through a haunted cave. She doesn\u0026rsquo;t seem all there anymore.\nAnd on the way to Glinglefruck (I can\u0026rsquo;t keep any of these names straight, no wonder people get lost down here) we met a pack of stirges. It was a close thing \u0026ndash; the only benefit is that Thea had to bite one to get it off of Eldath, and if I can just mentally edit the stirge out of THAT picture in my head, I\u0026rsquo;ll be able to tease Thea about it mercilessly.\nBut as soon as we settled down to rest after the first group of stirges, another group appeared.\nI hate the Underdark.\nAlia # The gear we grabbed from the dead drow lasted us until our destination, barely. A brief incident through a cavern with screaming and murmuring. Thea started babbling and doing everything in triplicate. A naked man ran by, screaming. We didn\u0026rsquo;t see anything, but that\u0026rsquo;s probably a good thing. Our fish-man guide finally led us to his village. Before we reached it, a band of fish-men accosted us, and demanded we surrender. Our guide tried to ask for an explanation, but they attacked us. They outnumbered us, were fresh, and had armor and weapons. We were no match for them, although we did kill one and knocked a couple more unconscious. I could have run. I should have run, probably. But without supplies, having no idea where anything is down here, it didn\u0026rsquo;t make sense. I stayed, and was knocked unconscious with everyone else.\nWhen we recovered, we were bound, and the fish-men led us towards the village. Another group of fish-men approached, and there was a fight between the two groups. The new group won. They freed us, and made us an offer: help them defeat the rivals worshipping the father god instead of the traditional mother god, and they would reward us handsomely. We had no choice really, so we agreed. We were brought into the village and put in a building near the altars. We were given gear and weapons. I was hoping for clothing, but all they had was fabric tied with rope. I had better freedom of movement naked under the leather armor. I\u0026rsquo;m never going to be warm again, I swear. I do, however, have a ton of darts to throw, so it\u0026rsquo;s a slight improvement in my arsenal.\nThe mother god priest led us towards the altar of their rivals. He stabbed a rival, who bled onto the rival altar. The battle began. It seemed to be going well, but Alamar was moving towards the edge of the battle, and urging us to leave. We were promised a reward, and where else were we going to go? This was supposed to be where we\u0026rsquo;d find help. Then the lake started churning and tentacles reached out. A huge demon rose out of the water, with tentacles and two heads. It started indiscriminately slaughtering everything, and destroying the village. So now, I have to wonder, did Alamar know this was coming? He\u0026rsquo;ll need watching.\nOur fish guide led us to boats by the docks, and we fled the destruction across the lake. I looked between the 30 foot huge demon and Alamar. Is his father demon that big? If so, how exactly did that work\u0026hellip;? The upside to being on water was there were fish to eat and water to drink. Fish that wanted to eat everything else, but at least it\u0026rsquo;s food. We smacked fish with our paddles and chucked them in the boats, which resulted in bites if we weren\u0026rsquo;t careful. We stopped at an island to camp. A boat with three duergar pulled up. We told them about the massacre, but they were determined to see for themselves. They believed we could find passage to the surface at a city to the northeast. Our female dwarf companion believed we could find passage to the surface at her city to the northwest. Both beyond the home of our telepathic mushroom friend. We had promised it we would bring it home, and it had been useful. We really should honor the promise. Hopefully we can get close enough that it can guide us the rest of the way.\nWe arrived at a spot of land we would need to carry the boats over. We were promptly attacked by stirges. I was hit hard, but fought on. Thea bit one of the things, which was just gross. Thea went down, but was revived by Hans and K9 after we killed all the creatures. We were about to start moving the boats back to the water on the other side, when another pack of stirges approached. Is it too much to hope that, if I\u0026rsquo;m going to die here, I can at least get warm once first?\n","date":"12 December 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-3/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # We made our way, with much starvation and thirst, to the underground city of Sloobubaloodoop or something like that. It was on the edge of an underground lake complex which we later learned was filled with fish very eager to eat or be eaten. However, our welcome to the city itself was somewhat lacking. First we met a group of fish people who wanted to sacrifice us to their father-god of fish. Then we met a second group of fish people who killed the first group. They worshipped the mother-god of fish and wanted to pretend to offer us as sacrifices to the father-god of fish as a sort of peace offering. We were supposed to start a fight when the father-followers tried to sacrifice us, so the mother-followers could kill them all. That… didn’t go as planned. But we got a chance to rest, some food, and slightly improved gear. A longsword and shield for me.\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 3","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-40.webp\nBern # Once we finished picking up the treasure from the box, we took the time to search the bodies of the dead trogolodytes and the rest of their throne room. They were keepin\u0026rsquo; skulls of their dead in a display case, complete with little labels. We took four of those. There was a snakeskin map and some blank snakeskin parchments. And, there was a short sword with jagged, serrated edges hidden in the cushion of a trashed sofa of some kind. (Are the trogolodytes fishy frat boys or something?) I claimed the sword, suspecting it was magical and knowing u-Heury wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want anything to do with it, Ygnas couldn\u0026rsquo;t touch it, and Ahnjela had a magic sword already. We also found a little more loose coin.\nThen we headed back to town. Muirrion wasn\u0026rsquo;t in, despite bringing pastries. I ate them, but got sick after four. Snausages turned up in his nose at the rest. Smart dog. And speaking of, I left him with Feverborne to heal up, and took Left instead.\nRetep was interested in the skulls, but only to grind into bone meal. We kept the nametags. I tried to talk him into a better price for the malachite bracelet and jewelry box, but had no luck; he said he found some sort of flaw in the bracelet and would only pay 350gp for it, rather than the 500gp he offered before. Just another reason to hate civilization.\nWe took the stuff to the magician in the morning. Seems the butler, Rheingold, took quite a shine to Ahnjela and let us right in. The short sword turned out to be magic, which is nice. Something to keep in my off hand maybe, or just switch to the shorter sword with my main hand all the time. We\u0026rsquo;ll see. It has all the jagged edges and stuff, I want to learn what this thing does, how to use it properly. Nothing else turned out to be magical, though. That was disappointing, so I went straight to the tavern spent the night gambling. Lost quite a bit of gold in the process, but I had a plan to win it back, and I put up the jewelry box for temporary stakes. That \u0026hellip; made it worse. But at least I didn\u0026rsquo;t owe anyone outside the Glorious Blades any money.\nOn second thought, at least two of those Blades are assassins, and they were both being very, very attentive over the next few nights, so I had better start paying off that debt fast.\nMuirrion did mention that Vortis, at the Temple of the Seven Stars, knows trogolodyte. We could stop in and ask if we ground up the skulls of their most famous warriors. Or more likely, to translate the map we found.\nWe started putting together another expedition to the grotto. I paid for a town crier to announce the hiring call, counting that towards my debt. I had two plans really \u0026ndash; one was to fetch back the magic puzzle box. It\u0026rsquo;s heavy, but might be worth something, especially if the magic resets when the box is closed. The other plan was to make another go at the gibbering mouther. My share of that goblet would help with the debt. On the other hand, Oscar was muttering something about a spell that would stop it from gibbering. Maybe I should let him handle it and focus my explorations elsewhere.\nWe hired a torchbearer and 3 men at arms who will fight and possibly help carry back the magic box. Probably we\u0026rsquo;ll do some exploring first and grab the box on the way out.\nStria # Ygnas returned with Bern, Ahnjela, and u-Heury from the latest trip into the Grotto. She told a tale about them solving the puzzle box in the troglodyte den, a massive amount of treasure, and the troglodytes attacking them after the chief killed himself drinking the bottle of poison. They searched the den and found a chest of skulls and snakeskin scrolls, one of which had a map, a jagged sword, and more coin. Ygnas was shaken from the breaking of her holy symbol and the loss of her god\u0026rsquo;s favor. She headed out somewhere to meet a secret follower of Zuul with a hidden shrine that she could pray at and get back in Zuul\u0026rsquo;s good graces.\nBeing bored and having nothing else to entertain myself with, I tagged along with the others\u0026rsquo; errands after Ygnas left on her mission. They tried to sell the skulls and scrolls to Retep, who wasn\u0026rsquo;t particularly interested. Bern, oddly, tried to haggle with Retep over the bracelet and jewelry box, and got a lowball offer. We went to the magician to see if anything they found was magic. The butler fell all over Ahnjela. It got us in, where he was otherwise going to turn us away, but he was practically drooling. It was creepy. The only thing of the lot that was magic was the jagged sword Bern had claimed. Impractical thing. You\u0026rsquo;re as like to cut yourself as your enemies, not being able to sheath it. We went to the goldsmith, who was only interested in the bracelet, and gave them a fair offer.\nBern immediately vanished in search of a game. He\u0026rsquo;s never shown an interest in gambling before. He\u0026rsquo;s always been one of the more financially responsible of the group. Maybe the stress is getting to him. The next morning, he sheepishly confessed to gambling away the jewelry box. Ahnjela was livid. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t my loot, but I warned him that touching party loot again, I\u0026rsquo;d cut his fingers off. He seemed contrite, but he continued to behave oddly, wanting to wager on things around us and such. Ahnjela and I contrived to keep watch on Bern at night while we remained in town waiting for the kid to recover from his wounds. I took first watch, and settled myself in Bern\u0026rsquo;s room without a by your leave. He was surprised, but didn\u0026rsquo;t protest. He wanted to dice, so I agreed. I don\u0026rsquo;t have a problem with him gambling with party members, and I\u0026rsquo;ll go along with whatever wagers he wants to come up with, as long as he isn\u0026rsquo;t giving in to gambling away the group\u0026rsquo;s stuff with outsiders. Ahnjela took second watch, and settled herself with a dagger to Bern\u0026rsquo;s neck while he slept. Seems extreme, since he wasn\u0026rsquo;t resisting our presence in his room. I hope she didn\u0026rsquo;t stay like that all night, or she\u0026rsquo;ll get a cramp in her hand.\nI tried to find chains, but there were none to be had in town. How do they restrain criminals? Maybe they just kill them. I was sad. I\u0026rsquo;m fond of chains. I settled for two coils of rope. Pretty sure Ahnjela and I can figure out how to hogtie Bern, should we need to, in a way that negates his strength. And tying people up is fun. We kept a close eye on Bern as we were out the next day, making sure he didn\u0026rsquo;t sneak off. I spent another watch in Bern\u0026rsquo;s room that night. He\u0026rsquo;s oddly cooperative. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure I trust it, but we had a fairly pleasant time. Ahnjela came in for her turn, and again sat with the dagger to Bern\u0026rsquo;s throat as he slept. I apparently haven\u0026rsquo;t had sufficient training to be bloodthirsty enough. Or she\u0026rsquo;s still just really pissed. The next morning, the kid decided he was sick of waiting to heal naturally, and paid the exorbitant prices the Ygg priests charge. Bern paid for a cryer to announce that we were hiring, saying he was paying off his debt. We made the kid choose from the lot, since the rest of us have no love of hirelings. He picked a torchbearer and three men at arms. I\u0026rsquo;m happy I don\u0026rsquo;t have to hold a damned torch. So, we\u0026rsquo;re all set to head out. We just need to decide where we\u0026rsquo;re heading to.\n","date":"9 December 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-40/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-40.webp\nBern # Once we finished picking up the treasure from the box, we took the time to search the bodies of the dead trogolodytes and the rest of their throne room. They were keepin’ skulls of their dead in a display case, complete with little labels. We took four of those. There was a snakeskin map and some blank snakeskin parchments. And, there was a short sword with jagged, serrated edges hidden in the cushion of a trashed sofa of some kind. (Are the trogolodytes fishy frat boys or something?) I claimed the sword, suspecting it was magical and knowing u-Heury wouldn’t want anything to do with it, Ygnas couldn’t touch it, and Ahnjela had a magic sword already. We also found a little more loose coin.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 40","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar # We wandered in the caverns for days, trying to find out way to the Dark Lake. Our fishy guide didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to know the way very well. And there was no food, no water. I was very hungry! Not something I am used to, normally it is the best of food and drink for the great Alamar. Fine wines and fine dining lead to fine ladies smiling!\nEventually we found a mushroom called a barrel-something that held water and could be used as food. It was NOT a delicacy! It was better than starvation, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t get much more than a sip and a bite. So hungry.\nThe next day we met two escaped slaves, both moon elves. They barely had the chance to say two words to us (admittedly I was saying quite a few words myself, as one of them was a lady clad mostly in leaves and bark), before we were spotted by a squad of drow scouts. That kicked off a hurried flight. I saw Alia slip away into the darkness, hoping to ambush one of them from the shadows, while most of the group fled. Me, well, I understand a tactical retreat, but I was feeling so, so, so, so hungry. So I reached out my hand, feeling some kind of internal magical force, and a blast of\u0026hellip; something, like a flaming arrow, shot forth from my hand. It hit one of the drow and I heard the dark elf grunt in pain!\nStill, the others shot at me, and I took a few hits. The rest of the party fled into a tunnel and set up an ambush just behind a turn. I kept up the fighting retreat, trying to lead them into the tunnel ambush, but a group of four more dark elves appeared further back. One of them was the priestess I had thrown a bowl of nightsoil at earlier! We weren\u0026rsquo;t ready to face the priestess, but our ambush worked on the scouts, and we managed to grab a few items from the dead bodies before fleeing deeper into the tunnels.\nThe two moon elf slaves we had just met went crazy when they saw the priestess, charging at her and screaming obsenities. The fight was noisy, but brief. Hopefully they bought us enough time to escape!\n","date":"2 December 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-2/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"Alamar # We wandered in the caverns for days, trying to find out way to the Dark Lake. Our fishy guide didn’t seem to know the way very well. And there was no food, no water. I was very hungry! Not something I am used to, normally it is the best of food and drink for the great Alamar. Fine wines and fine dining lead to fine ladies smiling!\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 2","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-39.webp\nBern # I was itching to try out my new trained wardog Snausages. Got him from Feverborne when I mentioned buying some wardogs, he figured three were better than two and he ain\u0026rsquo;t wrong. Sanfire mentioned he figured out the riddle of the mystery box, and told me the answer\u0026hellip; didn\u0026rsquo;t make me promise not to go get it first. His mistake. Since the Gray Company had been pestering us to change our name, we talked it over and decided we should become the The Glorious Blades.\nYgnas, u-Heury, Ahnjela, Snausages and I went out to the Grotto. Along the way we met a weird, boar-headed creature that nearly froze Ahnjela in her tracks. She shook it off, but it was big and angry. As our first official act, the Glorious Blades ran away.\nAt the Grotto, we met with the trogolodytes. The old leader was gone and one of his subordinates was in charge. He took a little convincing and wanted to see Oscar, but we were able to remind him that we were friends of \u0026ldquo;the smart one\u0026rdquo; and we had an answer that would open their box. And we did! The box opened up for the correct password from Sanfire\u0026rsquo;s research. It contained 1200gp, a potion, a malachite bracelet (500gp), a jewelry box (200gp), and 5 iridescent arrows.\nOur agreement with the trogolodytes was to split the treasure evenly. We took the jewelry box and the arrows, they took the potion and the bracelet. Their leader promptly drank the potion (I egged him on a bit), and it turned out to be poison! The leader of the trogolodytes fell dead at our feet.\nThe remaining two immediately attacked, but we had an excellent defensive position. u-Heury took the hits and the trogolodyte fell to missile fire and a few gnawing bites from Snausages. u-Heury was badly wounded from the one he has faced, and though Ygnas prayed to Zuul, Zuul was not answering.\nWe knew there was at least one more in the room, but he was either hiding or had gone for help. I lit a torch and set up a guard on the door and spiked it closed while u-Heury took up a position for missile fire, hoping to stay out of danger. Ygnas and Ahnjela quickly gathered the coins and searched the bodies for anything nice.\nSadly the danger was already inside the room, as two more trogolodytes appeared from the darkness and attacked, one on me and one on u-Heury. I sent Snausages to help u-Heury, figuring I could take one myself, but instead of attacking it kicked out the torch I had left in the ground near the door. I ran blindly towards the light from Ygnas\u0026rsquo; torch, luckily missing the one Snausages was fighting, and put my back to the wall where I would be relatively safe. They were slicing up Snausages pretty bad, but I whittled the first trogolodyte down pretty fast with my sword and axe.\nThe last fish-man managed to put Snausages down before I got there, and I had my share of cuts and scratches from the fight. We managed to bandage Snausage\u0026rsquo;s wounds and get him back on his feet, though he was badly hurt still, and walked with a noticeable limp.\nWe took a few minutes to rest, pick up the coin from the box, and search the bodies of the fish-men. u-Heury mentioned trying to bottle some of their stench-slime into a bottle and using it as a weapon. That would be perfect for Feverborne, he has some old soldier\u0026rsquo;s trick to ignore the stench.\n","date":"2 December 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-39/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-39.webp\nBern # I was itching to try out my new trained wardog Snausages. Got him from Feverborne when I mentioned buying some wardogs, he figured three were better than two and he ain’t wrong. Sanfire mentioned he figured out the riddle of the mystery box, and told me the answer… didn’t make me promise not to go get it first. His mistake. Since the Gray Company had been pestering us to change our name, we talked it over and decided we should become the The Glorious Blades.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 39","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"101 SY: 102 SY: Tensions increased between Eastdale and Dolemwood\n103 SY: Summer - Treaty with Dolemwood Fall - Assassination Attempt of the St Ygg high cleric. Unsuccessful attempt by a shadow criminal sydicate out of Helix. Winter - Wild Magic in Archaia that is expanding past the wasteland.\n104 SY: Summer - Alliance between Dolomwood and Eastdale has been broken Fall - Helix news dropped off the map. Winter - In Threshold, the Denara religion is having a bad PR campaign from the populace.\n105 SY:\n106 SY: Summer - In Westkeep, the group known as \u0026ldquo;The Verdant Protectors\u0026rdquo; have changed their name to \u0026ldquo;The White Council\u0026rdquo;. Their designs include protecting the forest around the area from the rise of lizardfolk and hydras that have cropped up in recent months.\nFall - In Eastdale, the Church of St. Ygg pledge their support in strengthening ties to Ironguard Motte, with a contingent of fighter-protectors and paladins moving to support the rise of undead in that area. The undead are of a different variety, from all reports. Bloated and full of blisters.\nWinter - As people settle down for the long winter, several towns and villages have reports of a wasting disease that has ravaged through the populace. People hunker down as well as they can.\n","date":"25 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/events/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"101 SY: 102 SY: Tensions increased between Eastdale and Dolemwood\n103 SY: Summer - Treaty with Dolemwood Fall - Assassination Attempt of the St Ygg high cleric. Unsuccessful attempt by a shadow criminal sydicate out of Helix. Winter - Wild Magic in Archaia that is expanding past the wasteland.\n104 SY: Summer - Alliance between Dolomwood and Eastdale has been broken Fall - Helix news dropped off the map. Winter - In Threshold, the Denara religion is having a bad PR campaign from the populace.\n","title":"Events","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # We discussed whether to return to town immediately or proceed northwest to investigate the strange pointing, ectoplasmic hand that Ygnas had reported. I believe she reported something similar in the hollow oak, pointing in roughly the same direction. I wonder if they were the same entity trying to communicate with her, or if she is simply hallucinating. As far as I know, Zuul has no doctrine on recreational use of hallucinogens, neither for nor against.\nA strange child brought us two new recruits from the Gray Company. Apparently we are the only people who actually ever leave the tavern, because all the greenies seem to come straight to us. Do none of them think to check our statistics on how often these fresh faces actually make it back to town with treasure \u0026ndash; or at all? Nevertheless, we were joined by Ransom and Ruby. We\u0026rsquo;ll see how long they last.\nZt any rate we proceeded to the trogolodyte area without difficulty, aside from some angry glares from the monkeys, explaining the hazards of the grotto to the new blood as best we could. They didn\u0026rsquo;t get killed right away and didn\u0026rsquo;t attack the trogolodytes on sight. Ruby even managed to keep her breakfast where it belongs when they showed up.\nIt is very odd and disgusting to be conversing with fish-men. They are stupid and have a hideous stench.\nSanfire did almost cause an incident. He managed to escape the trogolodyte notice when he was scouting, but when he revealed himself (despite my attempts to gesture him back), the fish-men viewed him more as a meal than a friend of mine. Nonetheless, when we agreed to speak with the interim leader of the fish-men, Sanfire snuck off to try to search the room they had vacated. (The same room wherein we had found a dwarf who died of a strange impact wound to his head, with strange burn marks, despite being tied upside down a hundred feet above a rushing river).\nHowever, one of the trogolodytes that had been eyeing the little man as more food than sentient being snuck off from our main group while Sanfire was poking around, and there was a mysterious crash. We investigated and found the \u0026ldquo;fish sticks\u0026rdquo; hole where the dwarf had been hung had had it\u0026rsquo;s wooden frame shattered and would need extensive repairs. It seems the construction was shoddy and the thing simply collapsed. Ransom and I circled the hole several times, lowering a torch by a rope to see below. There is, in fact, flowing water there, almost exactly 100 feet down.\nSanfire did pass me some gold when he returned to the group, which I accepted as payment of his debt to Denara for prior healing. The man is perhaps shy and does not wish to admit that he has reconsidered his initial refuse. He did look rather the worse for wear, but Ygnas healed him without charge. How can I compete with those who undercut me so? I must ponder this. For now, at least, my connection to Denara is significantly stronger than hers.\nu-Heury researched the puzzle box after we failed to solve it, and thinks the answer is \u0026ldquo;castle\u0026rdquo;. If this works, it will apparently allow the trogolodytes to resolve a leadership dispute among them and put \u0026ldquo;our fish\u0026rdquo; in charge. Our agreement with these creatures only extends to opening the box; perhaps, if we open it, we can then remove their threat from the board completely. We should consider this carefully.\nI worked on improving the condition of my wounded leg, and it appears to be becoming significantly more limber. Perhaps in another year I will have recovered a normal range of motion. At the end of the year, I receive a message suggesting I return to Threshold to consult with the church at the earliest opportunity.\nBern worked on training his wolfpack. It did not go qwell for him, though the animals did learn a few basic commands, and Snausages is ready to seek his namesake in the wilds with Bern.\nYgnas researched the gibbering mouther. Her notes will have more detail, but we learned enough to formulate a plan. The creature is very difficult to damage, and fears fire without being more vulnerable to it. We may be able to use flame to drive it away from the goblet, or keep it from attacking us. However, the true breakthrough came when Ygnas was reading my prayerbook over my shoulder; she mentioned that my new powers could Silence the gibbering mouther and prevent it from confusing anyone with its noise. The creature could then be more easily killed with only the mouths and the difficulty in damaging it to contend with.\nOr\u0026hellip;.\nApparently the sage would like a captive mouther and will pay 2500gp for one. A strong glass container might be enough to contain such a creature with the aid of magic (presumably including, but not limited to, the Silence spell). And the sage is in Threshold, where I need to check in with my church anyway. Commerce is holy to My Lady of Liabilities, and this conjunction of obligation and opportunity is clearly a sign.\nYgnas # Oscar and Sanfire were ready to go back to town, but I mentioned we might want to check out the northwest area, since that\u0026rsquo;s the direction Stria said the ghostly hand pointed when she was here last. Before we could start out, a boy brought two new members of the company to join us. Thief named Ruby and a man in shiny armor named Ransom. Very shiny armor. I wonder if we reflect light off it, would it blind the gibbering mouther? I have no idea why they choose to give us the new people. We have to have the lowest survivability rate of all the Grey Company. We started off, and the new people immediately got lost in the crystals, despite us all telling them not to look. I don\u0026rsquo;t know how they made it in through the crystal passage on the way in, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t make it back out. Oscar found sacks in one of their packs, and put sacks over their heads, so we could lead them out. Once we were through, we sat and watched the monkeys play in the water while waiting for them to come back to their senses. We waded along the edge of the water to the northwest passage, while I eyed the monkeys, wary of their poop throwing ways.\nThe troglodyte area smelled like the worst possible combination of skunk and rotting fish guts. Nobody threw up, but it was a close thing. Sanfire seemed unaffected. Maybe halflings don\u0026rsquo;t have a sense of smell. He snuck off to poke his nose into things \u0026hellip; I mean, scout the area. Oscar talked to the creatures, who were excited to see him. Something about a box with a riddle to be solved so they could crown a leader. They look like fish, and they eat fish. Does that mean they are cannibals? Although, from their talk about eating anything \u0026ldquo;not smart,\u0026rdquo; apparently they\u0026rsquo;ll eat anything that doesn\u0026rsquo;t run faster than they do. Sanfire appeared during the conversation, and the troglodytes all got a look in their eyes like a starving man looking at a buffet. One of them drooled. We started to go in the room with the box. Sanfire snuck off again. The drooling fish creature followed him. There was more conversation. I was pondering the inefficacy of having to fight the creatures, since they are too wet to properly light on fire. Then we heard a crash.\nWe went to investigate the sound, which appeared to be a deep hole past where the creatures had been sitting around a table eating rotten fish guts. There were signs of some sort of struggle, and wooden pieces in the hole were smashed. Neither Sanfire or the drooling creature were to be found. Ransom and Oscar spent some time dropping a torch down the hole with ropes, to see what in its depths. Ruby and I kept watch, not trusting the fish creatures. The men got the torch soaked in some water far below, and gave up. I\u0026rsquo;m offended at the treatment of the flame.\nOscar must have had some inkling that Sanfire caused the destruction of the creatures\u0026rsquo; wooden construction over the hole, because he was nervous and said we\u0026rsquo;d be leaving now. The creatures immediately got suspicious, so I suggested that I be allowed to see the box at least, since my background might give me some insight into the riddle. That seemed to smooth things over. Sanfire appeared on the way back, slipping us each some gold pieces he must have stolen from the creatures. It seems he survived whatever encounter he had at the hole. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t make heads or tails over the box either, so we promised to do more research in town, and we\u0026rsquo;d be back. I think we left on good enough terms that they won\u0026rsquo;t attack us on sight next time.\nBack in town, Sanfire researched the box riddle, and learned the answer was castle. There was some excitement in the next few months, as an assassin made an unsuccessful attempt on the town\u0026rsquo;s head priest of St. Ygg. I have no love for them, but the man is the only one who has the power to resurrect people, so I don\u0026rsquo;t want him killed just yet. Worse, the assassin was from Helix, which made our group\u0026rsquo;s name suddenly fraught with peril. We were urged by Grey Company to change our name. Stria was gone during this time, so at least nobody can accuse her, and by extension us, of having anything to do with it. But the name is still a problem.\nStria came back from traveling to Threshold to research the gibbering mouther. She told everyone what she found out about it: It can surprise almost every time. It can disguise itself as dirt or stone. It latches on when it attacks, and the latching on does damage. It has a total of six attacks. It can\u0026rsquo;t gibber and attack at the same time. The gibbering causes people to stand still, run, or fight the nearest creature. The gibbering is to hold someone so it can feed on them. It will detach when it starts to feed. There is a chance when a person detaches themselves from an attack that they will slip and fall from the oil it produces, and will be attacked again. The creature is fearful of fire, but not vulnerable to it. It is almost impossible to hit, and it takes a lot of damage to kill. It moves as slow as a person in plate mail.\nIt sounds more formidable than we thought. She also relayed that a scholar in Threshold would pay 2500 gold pieces if we could capture the gibbering mouther and bring it to him to experiment on. Stria was more in favor of the lifetime of torture for the monster than she was of the reward. It would be as much of a feat to capture it as it would to kill it. The scholar told her that the one he had was captured with magic and put in a glass cage to transport to him. Oscar was considering the powers his god would grant him, and mentioned a silence power. That sounded promising. It would remove one part of the danger, at least. Then we\u0026rsquo;d just need to try to herd the thing into a glass container with fire and poking with spears. Once we figure out how to get someone to make a glass container that big.\n","date":"25 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-38/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # We discussed whether to return to town immediately or proceed northwest to investigate the strange pointing, ectoplasmic hand that Ygnas had reported. I believe she reported something similar in the hollow oak, pointing in roughly the same direction. I wonder if they were the same entity trying to communicate with her, or if she is simply hallucinating. As far as I know, Zuul has no doctrine on recreational use of hallucinogens, neither for nor against.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 38","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-37.webp\nOscar # We returned to Eastdale with our prizes, having discussed the idea of trying the gibbering mouther and deciding against it. The guards on the south gate were suspicious and did not want to let Sanfire into town, fearing he was linked to the fey because of his (lack of) stature.\nAfter a day or so of rest, I asked Denara for her wisdom about the treasures we had recovered. The silver dagger and obsidian amulet we\u0026rsquo;re both magical; the crown and necklace were not. The sale of both came to 556 gp each, the majority of which went to my temple fund immediately. The rest I would invest in further adventures to find yet more treasure.\nWe took a few hours to investigate a prominent windmill near town. Nothing there but a fanatical miller with a basement and an overly inquisitive halfling. (We brought the halfling).\nAfter restocking our gear we decided to try the gibbering mouther once more, with a little bit of a plan. We would put candle wax in our ears, send in the halfling to lure it into the u shaped hallway where the black pudding is, and then let the halfling out the second door while closing it in. This seemed promising; perhaps the pudding and the mouther would kill each other, or at least the mouther would be locked away from the goblet.\nIt didn\u0026rsquo;t chase the halfling.\nAlso it might be growing.\nSanfire suggested a ten foot pole with a loop of rope at the far end to grab the goblet without waking up the creature. Worth a try. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to strategize against a creature that can keep you from acting on your plans. Perhaps some other members of the gray company will want to try our ideas. Bern seems to have a dislike for this creature\u0026hellip;\nYgnas # Stria came back to town talking about a big haul they brought in from the Grotto, and how the guards wouldn\u0026rsquo;t let the new halfling group member in. Yggians, so paranoid. She banked 600 gold towards her assassin school. She said she needed a break after almost being strangled to death by the walking corpse. Don\u0026rsquo;t blame her. I offered to take her spot in the group for the next trip. She\u0026rsquo;ll keep our room rented at the inn.\nMet up with Oscar, Ahnjela, and the halfling, Sanfire. They wanted to inspect a windmill just outside of town, so we headed there. Lovely storm as we walked. They didn\u0026rsquo;t enjoy it as much as I did. The windmill was occupied, and the man didn\u0026rsquo;t want to let us in when Oscar knocked. Oscar had to offer him a gold piece per person before the stingy bastard would open the door. I tuned out most of the conversation, staring into the fire contentedly. Lots of babbling about St. Ygg. Oscar stepped on my foot pointedly for some reason, but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t even doing anything this time. He should have been reining in the halfling, not picking on me. Sanfire had proceeded to rudely wander around checking for hidden doors. The man noticed him, of course, and threw us out. I lost the fire, but at least I got to go back out in the lovely storm. We passed a group of trolls carrying a body, but we gave them a wide berth, and they must have been satisfied with the dinner they were carrying, because they didn\u0026rsquo;t come after us.\nWe kept heading towards the Grotto, and made camp along the way. Ahnjela and Sanfire were sniffling, so I took a watch and Oscar took the other one. Nobody looked at me funny, maybe because the woods were too wet to burn anyway if I did play with the fire. The morning dawned bright and burning hot, so another lovely day from Zuul, just for a different reason. Again, the others didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to enjoy it as much as I did. We were almost to the Grotto when we came across unnatural little hills. Then we saw giant centipedes. At least six. Eating animals they had killed, and fighting over the corpses. Sanfire disappeared. Ahnjela, Oscar and I climbed trees. AFter a while, the centipedes all left. I wonder if giant bugs are approved of by Zuul, or if they are unnatural things I should destroy. I\u0026rsquo;ll have to pray about that.\nThe walking in the heat made Ahnjela more sickly, so we camped once we got in the grotto, in a little room. Oscar and I took watches again. Oscar said a mushroom grew from the wall and beckoned to him during his watch. Our purpose for being there was to get the chalice back. And kill the monster, if we could. We stopped our ears with softened candle wax after making our plans. The original plan was for the group to shoot the monster and get it to attack us, while either Sanfire or Ahnjela snuck past it and got the chalice off the altar. I was looking forward to this plan, because it meant I could set the monster on fire. The plan morphed into Sanfire luring the monster into the arching hallway, so we could shut it in there. Then we could get the chalice safely. So, Sanfire set off through the first secret door. And we waited. And waited. Heard a dim noise through my plugged ears. Ahnjela and Oscar suddenly started staring off into space. Finally, Sanfire came running back out, shutting the secret door behind him. Divesting ourselves of the wax earplugs, we discovered that as he stepped on the floor, there was a click, and the pile of what he thought was dirt and trash around the altar started making the noises that drives people crazy, and he ran. So, we at least learned two things. One, the chalice is on the altar. Two, the monster sounds bigger than what everyone said it was before, and was disinclined to chase anyone who didn\u0026rsquo;t attack it, so maybe it\u0026rsquo;s full at the moment. The original plan of torching the thing is still an option.\n","date":"18 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-37/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-37.webp\nOscar # We returned to Eastdale with our prizes, having discussed the idea of trying the gibbering mouther and deciding against it. The guards on the south gate were suspicious and did not want to let Sanfire into town, fearing he was linked to the fey because of his (lack of) stature.\nAfter a day or so of rest, I asked Denara for her wisdom about the treasures we had recovered. The silver dagger and obsidian amulet we’re both magical; the crown and necklace were not. The sale of both came to 556 gp each, the majority of which went to my temple fund immediately. The rest I would invest in further adventures to find yet more treasure.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 37","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Alamar is a tiefling fighter/warlock who does most of his thinking with his tail.\n","date":"14 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/characters/alamar/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar is a tiefling fighter/warlock who does most of his thinking with his tail.\n","title":"Alamar","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":"No one will tell me how my parents died. The priest that took me in and eventually brought me to the temple, he said it was a horrible accident. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t until I\u0026rsquo;ve gotten older that I realize that the look on his face, in his eyes, when he said that meant it wasn\u0026rsquo;t an accident at all. The need to know how, why, my parents died, burns in me.\nI loved that priest. I loved the temple once he brought me there. They accepted me. They taught me the skills needed to spy out information for our god. Admittedly, I lived a luxurious life at the temple. A life I very much enjoyed. I was ready to make my vows. Then a new high priest took over. I could not serve under that person. I was kicked out of the only home I\u0026rsquo;d known for most of my life.\nI found refuge with the criminal element. The Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild took me in. I stole, to pay off my debt to the Guild. But my skills were as a spy, and I am mainly used as such. I spy out information for the Guild Boss now. Extortion of government officials. Checking up on city bosses. I\u0026rsquo;m paid handsomely, and can afford to live in almost the style I was accustomed to at the temple. I still worship the god, just in my own way.\n","date":"14 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/characters/alia/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"No one will tell me how my parents died. The priest that took me in and eventually brought me to the temple, he said it was a horrible accident. It wasn’t until I’ve gotten older that I realize that the look on his face, in his eyes, when he said that meant it wasn’t an accident at all. The need to know how, why, my parents died, burns in me.\n","title":"Alia","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":"","date":"14 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/characters/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"","title":"Characters","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Alamar\nAlamar # Hey, baby! You wouldn\u0026rsquo;t believe what just happened to me! I was Having a little bit of lovin\u0026rsquo; n\u0026rsquo; canoodlin\u0026rsquo; with the mayor\u0026rsquo;s favorite daughter up in the hayloft over the stables behind the inn, y\u0026rsquo;know the place, when there was all sorts of ruckus and such! Well never fear I made some ruckus myself, made the girl scream and say my name .. because they always do! But then I stuck my head out of the window and the whole place was filled with elves! Not your normal elves though, these are dark elves, black skin and white hair. It\u0026rsquo;s a bold color choice, all winter and chilly! I\u0026rsquo;m much more of a warm, red blooded type, y\u0026rsquo;know?\nAnd they sure were no-nonsense types. I guess they heard Sally screaming my name, \u0026lsquo;cause they were calling it too, only it was more like \u0026ldquo;Alamar, come out with your hands up!\u0026rdquo;. Only they were lying, see. As soon as I came out to explain to the mayor it was all a mistake and his daughter is just a bit of a screamer when there\u0026rsquo;s a surprise tail involved, they shot me with some sort of drugged dart. Out like a light!\nI woke up in a cave, really just a crude prison, being manhandled by a pair of rude assholes. There were a bunch of Drow Guards outside and a random collection of dweebs inside. But hey the day was looking up, two of them were hot! Not hot like me hot, but I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t kick em out of bed for eatin\u0026rsquo; crackers if ya get my drift. I was just trying to introduce myself to the ladies when the guards kicked me inside the door and slammed it shut behind me. Right in the middle of my introduction! Rude!\nAnyways it was supposed to go like this: (imagine me speaking in the accent of Antonio Banderas, because he\u0026rsquo;s almost as sexy as I am)\n\u0026ldquo;My name is Alamar, and I have come to slay my enemies and taste the lamentations of their women! I shall lick their tears of grief with my long, red tongue, and carry them into their boudoirs for some uhm uhm UHM!\u0026rdquo;\nTheir names are Thea and Alia, by the way, a rhyming pair. Sweet! I\u0026rsquo;ve never had a rhyming pair at the same time before! I\u0026rsquo;m writing down their names so I will remember them later and remember that they rhyme. Wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want to forget something like that right away like I usually would! Alia is the half-elf and Thea \u0026hellip; She\u0026rsquo;s probably an elf I guess but really pale. Bright red lips though.\nThe ladies were chilly at first. I can\u0026rsquo;t blame them. They took most of our clothes and there were lots of weird freaks in here.\nI am did my best to keep them warm and talked up the rest just to avoid boredom. There was some kind of dwarven golem protecting Thea, a friendly dwarf, a couple unfriendly dwarves, a gnome obsessed with gambling, a large creature who claimed to be an elven prince in disguise (not likely), and a telepathic mushroom.\nI warned you they were all freaks.\nSo the drow kept working us during the day and telling us they would sacrifice us to their spider goddess Lloth soon. We figured \u0026ndash; since the ladies were absolutely NOT going to put out in a jail cell with an audience, especially not at the same time, not even as a final fling before being sacrificed \u0026ndash; that escape was really in our best interests, and the sooner the better.\nWe tried to get watch schedules and stuff but I\u0026rsquo;m not really good with numbers or decisions or plans. I\u0026rsquo;m a people person! A people pleaser even!\nFinally we decided to break out at the end of a shift, right after they opened the door to the cell. That part went like a charm! The drow had this priestess who was also kind hot in a very chilly ice queen bitch kind of way. She wouldn\u0026rsquo;t give me the time of day no matter how many times I catcalled her from my cell, so when we broke out I threw my chamberpot in her face and tried to cut down the bridge she was standing on. She ran away rather than face such a humiliating rejection!\nSomeone hit me from behind right about then and I lost track of things. When I came to we were all grabbing weapons and armor and jumping off the bridges! That sounds like fun! When I was a young tiefling my mom always asked if all my friends jumped off a bridge, would I jump too? And now I can answer her! Yes! Yes I would! And I did! Of course I can\u0026rsquo;t tell her that. She\u0026rsquo;s probably still in prison after I told the guards she killed someone and planted the murder weapon in her kitchen. Oh well. I\u0026rsquo;m sure they\u0026rsquo;ll let her out eventually.\nSo I jumped too.\nWe all landed in these great big webs, but the spider had so many things to eat it couldn\u0026rsquo;t figure out who to chase. So we all got away. Well, everyone I cared about got away. Which is me. And, well, Alia and Thea too. I\u0026rsquo;ll pretend to care about them for awhile. Until I can get them together at the same time speaking in rhyme. Maybe the spider got some of the others though. This one old guy, Craig, said he was a wizard. Maybe he actually is because they didn\u0026rsquo;t get him and I thought for sure they would since he\u0026rsquo;s so old. And the metal dwarf made it. I guess he\u0026rsquo;s not really edible.\nWe found a place to hide for a night. Thea and Alia said absolutely not. Separately AND together. Huh. That\u0026rsquo;s never happened before. Is this what rejection feels like? No wonder lesser men hate it.\nI had a strange dream, sleeping alone. I used to have them when I was a kid, before I stopped sleeping alone. It was daddy\u0026rsquo;s voice, calling out to me as if over a great distance. \u0026ldquo;Feed me their souls, son\u0026rdquo; he said. That sounds like a great idea. Saute of soul coming up just as soon as I can skewer someone. Daddy\u0026rsquo;s hungry, and so am I.\nAlia # I was on a second story job, getting information from the local city crime boss\u0026rsquo;s study, information that he very much would not want me or the Guild Boss to have, when all hell broke loose. Some small army was raiding this city on the outskirts. I climbed to the roof, thinking to roof run, but I was shot with a dart of something that paralyzed me and knocked me out. I woke up manacled and chained, underground, surrounded by drow and monstrous creatures. I was separated from the other prisoners, and after a journey, thrown in a cave cell. In the cell was an elf named Thea that looked \u0026hellip; off. She had a metal construct as a companion that was called K9. There was a female dwarf, an orc, some gnomes, other creatures, and a drow. One of the creatures said it was really an elven prince who had been cursed. Over the days, we added a dwarf named Hanz, an old mage named Creg, and a tiefling named Alamar, who was entirely too full of his alleged physical prowess.\nAfter days of being taken out to do useless labor like coiling ropes, moving them, re-coiling them, hauling water, or hacking at a wall for no reason, we whispered about escaping. One time, I tried to grab a dagger from a guard while the construct distracted the guards, but the other guards saw me. I wanted to throw the dagger. I wanted to fight. But the guards had crossbows on us, and they would shoot my fellow prisoners, so I reluctantly dropped the dagger. I was not brought out again after that. Idiot dirt headed drow are smarter than they look.\nWe came up with a plan where the group that went out next would create a disturbance just as the cell gate was opened, and we would all rush out and try to overpower the guards. Then we could grab weapons and fight our way to where we thought the drow were storing our belongings. It sort of worked. The creature who said it was an elven prince was thrown over into the giant spider web, and promptly dealt with by those horrible things. The orc fought with the guards. The mage shoved a guard over the edge. We got quite a few guards by shoving them over the edge into the web. A few of us made our way into the guard room across the rope bridge, while the rest dealt with the guards outside. A good bunch of the other prisoners dove onto the webs and dropped into the water below, making their way into the dark cavern below. Bowls of piss and shit were thrown into the guard\u0026rsquo;s faces. In the guard room, I grabbed a short sword and traded blows with a guard. But the guards kept coming, from both sides, and we had the priestesses to deal with too.\nIt was very crowded in the small guard room. Thea joined me attacking the guard. Alamar took on the guard captain. Hanz worked his way in. Alamar fell to the guard captain, but Hanz healed him. Demons appeared, fighting each other, and the drow were shooting at some of the demons. We realized that the fellow prisoners had all made straight for the river below the webs, and apparently had escaped. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t looking promising for us, fighting guards while we were unclothed and not well equipped. We too fled for the webs and the river below. Luckily the spiders were busy with all the guards we\u0026rsquo;d shoved off, and we escaped the webs. A demon dropped in front of us, but Alamar seemed to threaten it, and it flew away. We found a few of the fellow prisoners, and made our way into a passageway. One of the creatures said there was a village nearby. Maybe we can find supplies, or rather, work we can do to obtain supplies. Like clothes. Clothes would be good. If Alamar is warm, he might have a chance at displaying that prowess he seems to think he possesses. I\u0026rsquo;m freezing.\n","date":"14 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/session-1/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":" Alamar\nAlamar # Hey, baby! You wouldn’t believe what just happened to me! I was Having a little bit of lovin’ n’ canoodlin’ with the mayor’s favorite daughter up in the hayloft over the stables behind the inn, y’know the place, when there was all sorts of ruckus and such! Well never fear I made some ruckus myself, made the girl scream and say my name .. because they always do! But then I stuck my head out of the window and the whole place was filled with elves! Not your normal elves though, these are dark elves, black skin and white hair. It’s a bold color choice, all winter and chilly! I’m much more of a warm, red blooded type, y’know?\n","title":"Out of the Abyss -- Session 1","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":"","date":"14 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/outoftheabyss/sessions/","section":"Out of the Abyss","summary":"","title":"Sessions","type":"outoftheabyss"},{"content":" Image not found: session-36.webp\nOscar # We took some time to bring the new halfling up to speed. He had now recalled that his name is Sanfire and denies any connection with the wizard Invar. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure if I believe that, where else would he have come from? If a wizard dies from a lightning bolt, and physically reverts to their childhood, do they lose their memory of being a wizard? Or of being an adult at all? Wizards are.. strange.\nThe door to the south was the only remaining unopened door nearby, and it remained stubbornly closed. We tried many possible passwords while wearing the robes, the opal choker, and the necklace. (Actually it was mostly Sanfire trying all of the jewelry on. I counted the stones before and after he handled them!) None of them helped, and neither did the key we found on the body in the vat.\nWe discussed trying to take the magical goblet from the gurgling monster, but decided against it. We did explore the staircase leading below the gurgling monster room a little further. Sanfire did, actually, since he sees in the dark better than we do. (Does that mean Invar also did? Hmm.). He reported a room filled with 4 metal containers,that smelled of strong acid, and made digestive noises. He then refused to go back down. Smarter than he looks. (Of course, he looks like a sheep, thanks to flowing, curly white hair). Maybe smarter than Invar, too, which is a higher bar. Hmm.\nWe moved further north, giving Sanfire a four of the weirder parts of the Grotto. When we looked again at the long room with eight wall niches, I noticed that each niche had (in addition to piles of ash) a few straight pieces of wood that had been smashed and burned. I guessed these might once have been picture frames, perhaps even portraits.\nWhile we conducted this investigation, Stria (who was standing guard) noticed a strange, disembodied hand pointing northwest. The direction appeared to be directly towards the troglodyte lair with the puzzle box. The hand then promptly disappeared. Ahnjela wondered if it was perhaps the Prismatist trying to encourage us to return to the troglodytes? Perhaps she had been captured? We resolved to explore the possibility soon, but first to check down the nearby stairs since we were already here.\nSanfire explored first on his own. He certainly has courage! The staircase leads to a corridor of doors and debris, both stone and crushed bone; all the doors save one were slightly ajar. Two doors immediately at the bottom of the stairs, north and south, several more further east. From one to the east Sanfire reported a sound like cloth rubbing against stone. We took much greater care to be quiet after that.\nOf all the doors, the first one to the south was the most interesting. The door and room were neat and clean and free of debris. The room itself was barely large enough to contain a sarcophagus, completely unmarked and undamaged. Nothing on the door or the sarcophagus itself indicated who might be buried here. Sanfire thought the undamaged condition of the room hinted at an undisturbed treasure within. I thought it hinted at an undisturbed undead within. We were both right\u0026hellip;\nTaking care to be quiet, we positioned ourselves to extract the (still hypothetical) treasure. Ahnjela and Stria prepared to lift the lid. I held a torch in one hand and Denara\u0026rsquo;s golden balancing scales in the other (still chained to my body by a special harness \u0026ndash; never again will I allow myself to be parted from her soul-weights and holy measure!). Sanfire kept watch down the corridor in case we attracted more attention.\nCarefully the ladies lifted the lid from the sarcophagus and set it aside. Within lay a dessicated, mummified corpse wearing a crown of smokey quartz. It had brilliant green eyes, literally burning with magical flame as they stared up at us. The creature began to rise \u0026hellip; But I must state quite firmly that none of us were surprised, for I had duly warned everyone that this sarcophagus likely contained a dangerous undead!\nI began a prayer to Denara, fixing my eyes upon the crown. Surely such a thing would go far towards funding her new temple! Sanfire slipped around behind it and threw his axe \u0026ndash; a solid strike but the creature laughed it off, unharmed!\nThe thing lurched towards Stria, hands outstretched for her neck, and and it began to choke the life from her. My prayers to Denara finished, and I felt her holy power flowing through me as I commanded the filthy thing to die and stay dead, or flee the righteous glory of the Goddess, for in her wisdom she lays a tax even upon death itself!\nAlas at the last moment I realized my mistake. The creature was too strong for my prayers alone to return it to the grave. If they were instead only strong enough to force it to flee, the crown and it\u0026rsquo;s promise of golden grace would go with it!\nI choked, and the creature snarled and hissed as it strangled my friend.\nAhnjela advanced to try to free Stria from it\u0026rsquo;s grasp. Sanfire leaped at the thing, knowing his weapons would not hurt it, but trying to pull the crown from its head. I know not whether he felt that would deactivate the creature, or simply wanted to secure wealth from the encounter. To be honest I would bless either course of action. But he missed. Fearing the worst for my friend, i was already intoning a prayer for healing. Stria frantically fought to free herself, but to no avail, even with Ahnjela\u0026rsquo;s help. She gasped out a promise to pay double the rates for healing. Denara heard her, checked her credit score, and approved the loan! My hands glowed with healing energy, and with that newfound strength Stria broke free of the grasp from beyond the grave and regained her health.\nStill, nothing we had done so far had hurt the thing in the slightest. Hoping to try fire, I threw a flask of oil at the mummy, coating it in flammable liquid. At the same time, Sanfire leaped at it again, this time landing on the mummy\u0026rsquo;s greased and oil-slick shoulders. He waved his arms wildly about, yelling the battle-cry of his people, an obscure sect of rodeo-halflings: \u0026ldquo;yeehaw!\u0026rdquo;. Somehow he kept his grip, and grabbed for the crown! Only to regret it a moment later when Stria\u0026rsquo;s torch followed my flask of oil, and the mummy went up in flames. Sanfire lasted 7 seconds riding bareback on a greased flaming mummy. Somewhere, that is surely a record worthy of fame and fortune\u0026hellip;\nBut the flames did nothing either. At least not to the mummy. Sanfire dropped to the ground without his prize.\nWe had one chance left. With Stria out of immediate danger, Ahnjela drew her blade Faerloch and struck! The blade of the five-eyed frog, her gift from the Frog Prince, struck true, and the thing\u0026rsquo;s screech of pain and fury split the air. Even as the creature burned, it reached for Ahnjela\u0026rsquo;s throat with murder in it\u0026rsquo;s flaming eyes. Ahnjela calmly stood her ground and struck once more, sending the creature back to it\u0026rsquo;s grave.\nMetaphorically, of course. It was actually at least five feet from it\u0026rsquo;s grave and in several pieces besides, as Ahnjela sliced it\u0026rsquo;s legs off at the knees, muttering \u0026ldquo;just in case!\u0026rdquo; As she did so. I resolved to ask her to elaborate on the source of that particular life lesson later. And did I mention it was still on fire, and old dead burning meat is a truly foul odor?\nSanfire grabbed for the crown again, saving it from the fire, and we made the decision to return to Eastdale with our gains. With the crown and the necklace from the upside-down vat man, we could live comfortably for some time, and I could contribute to Denara\u0026rsquo;s temple as well. Stria paid her debt as promised, and promptly too.\nI must remember to ask Denara\u0026rsquo;s wisdom regarding whether any of our collection has magical properties before we attempt to sell them. And with Invar gone, perhaps the elf Landon would be willing to examine the strange markings on the four plinths we found near the vats of death.\nStria # Having exhausted our options in the area beyond the robe hallway, we again tried the door with the fist symbol, since we had a medallion and a key. Nothing worked, no matter what words or phrases, or combination of robe, medallion, and choker. The door said \u0026ldquo;Submit to the Faceless One\u0026rsquo;s will. What remains after utter acquiescence?\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;s a clue, and we swore we\u0026rsquo;d seen something about that somewhere else, but nobody could remember what or where. We discussed what else to explore. Sanfire offered to go swimming so we could check behind the waterfall. We tied a rope to him after he had eaten some of the stuff the monkeys eat to breathe underwater. He came back with a pouch of money. Having success with that, he offered to next try the stream, to see if it connected to the stream up north. Nothing came of that, since we didn\u0026rsquo;t have enough rope, but he seemed to think we could swim that way, we just wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be able to come back this way. The monkeys were not best pleased with Sanfire\u0026rsquo;s presence in \u0026ldquo;their\u0026rdquo; waters, and kept throwing shit at him. Luckily, they weren\u0026rsquo;t good at aiming.\nThere were some areas with stairs that hadn\u0026rsquo;t been explored yet, so we went there next. The first set of stairs, Sanfire came running back up right away. He said there were urns down there making eating noises, and it smelled like burning acid. While exploring the gallery with alcoves that the next set of stairs was off of, I saw a blue glowing hand floating in the air, and it pointed towards the northwest, then vanished. I told the others about it, and wondered out loud if the Prismatist could do that, if she wanted us to find her. The alcoves had tiny animal bones amidst twisted and crushed wood, almost like picture frames. Someone thought rat bones in picture frames was art? Sanfire went down the next set of stairs. He said there was lots of debris and lots of doors cracked open. Behind one of the doors at the far end, he heard a sound of linen on stone. Everyone immediately thought mummy.\nAfter peeking in the doors, we opted to explore one clean room right off the stairs with a sarcophagus in it. Sanfire watched the hallway, Oscar held the torch and prepared to try to turn whatever was inside, and Ahnjela and I quietly lifted the lid. There was a mummy in there, and it was still moving. Glowing green eyes glared up at us as it started to rise. It had a crown on its head, so it must have been someone important. We got out of the way, so it had room to run if Oscar\u0026rsquo;s prayers worked. The prayers did nothing, so this must have been someone very important and very powerful. It came straight for me, wrapping its skeletal hands around my neck and began strangling me. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t get away. Ahnjela tried to help, but I still wasn\u0026rsquo;t strong enough. Sanfire threw his ax at the mummy, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t affect it.\nI was staring death in the green glowing undead eyes, but Oscar prayed for healing. I croaked that I\u0026rsquo;d pay double for healing, and apparently his goddess favored my background of transacting services for money, because strength flooded back. With Ahnjela\u0026rsquo;s help, I finally broke free. Ahnjela shoved me backwards out of the way. Oscar threw oil on the mummy. Sanfire, determined to get that crown, made a leap onto the mummy\u0026rsquo;s shoulders. He grabbed for the crown, but the mummy pulled the crown back down on its head. Ahnjela drew her frog sword, and hit the mummy, and her sword did damage it. I lit a torch from Oscar\u0026rsquo;s torch, and threw it, lighting the mummy on fire. Fire didn\u0026rsquo;t do a damned thing. Sanfire dropped off the mummy so he didn\u0026rsquo;t get burned. Ahnjela hit it again with her sword, and it went down. Sanfire quickly bagged the crown, and we headed back up the stairs to relative safety. I paid Oscar for the healing, double, as I\u0026rsquo;d promised his goddess. It\u0026rsquo;s best to keep one\u0026rsquo;s promises to a god. We\u0026rsquo;ll bring our loot back to town, and I\u0026rsquo;ll probably take a break for a while.\n","date":"10 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-36/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-36.webp\nOscar # We took some time to bring the new halfling up to speed. He had now recalled that his name is Sanfire and denies any connection with the wizard Invar. I’m not sure if I believe that, where else would he have come from? If a wizard dies from a lightning bolt, and physically reverts to their childhood, do they lose their memory of being a wizard? Or of being an adult at all? Wizards are.. strange.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 36","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-35.webp\nOscar # We argued for a little while about where to camp for the night, and eventually settled for a small room near the skeletons\u0026rsquo; room. It had a few rat holes, so we blocked most of them and Ahnjela set up deadfalls at the rest.\nA very strange mushroom grew from the walls overnight, and Ahnjela caught a rat. While I studied the proper forms for invoking Denara\u0026rsquo;s healing power, Ahnjela\u0026hellip; Skinned, cooked, and ate her rat. I truly don\u0026rsquo;t know what to say! I told her I had spare rations. I offered to sell her some! At a discount! But she wasn\u0026rsquo;t at all bothered to be eating rat.\nSometimes I wonder how I fell in with these people.\nAfter that disgusting breakfast, we checked out a room nearby that had been filled with a pink slime trap previously. It was empty, with just pink slime residue, no sign of treasure.\nAfter discussing what to do next, we decided to explore further behind the jelly skellies doors. Taking the turn south led to a room with four pedestals, each with ch ataotic writing upon them. After a brief examination we decided to leave them alone until Invar could memorize Read Magic, which would decipher the writing.\nThe north fork had a strange lever, sparkling wires, and a strangely musical porticullus. It hummed. I suggested we lower the lever using my mace as a weight in free fall, wrapped in a sack for insulation. Ahnjela offered to do the honors and drop the mace, as she was wearing leather armor and would be less conductive.\nAlas all our preparations were in vain. When the lever dropped a mighty shock passed painfully through all of us as we were clustered tightly together. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t badly hurt, neither were Stria or Ahnjela, but our newest companion, the wizard Invar, was fried to a crisp, and this time we could not revive him. He was a brave man, and intelligent, but sadly, not wise enough to step away from a lightning storm. Of course neither was I. I was, however, hardy enough to withstand the consequences.\nOddly, a few minutes later a halfling crawled out from under Invar\u0026rsquo;s robes. He didn\u0026rsquo;t remember his name, and seemed confused, so I dubbed him Sparky temporarily. Perhaps wizards magically revert to their childhood when slain? I confess I did not understand these events, and for reasons that shall become clear in a moment, I am quite sure Invar is dead.\nWith the lever in the down position and exploded, the porticullus could be lifted without danger, and we did so. I instructed Sparky to bring us something to brace the gate open with. He brought us Invar\u0026rsquo;s body. I was shocked at the callousness with which Sparky treated the remains, but perhaps this is some strange wizard thing where the old body is discarded in favor of the new? At any rate, Invar\u0026rsquo;s body did a superb job of holding up the porticullus for us. Thank you for your final service, Invar. It was not, I think, what you expected. But it was well done even so.\nBeyond the porticullus lay another room with three tanks, filled with a jelly like substance. One yellow, one orange, one red. The yellow tank had a body in a robe floating upside down within it. The red tank had some sort of cage suspended over it. To the south were two more porticulli, along with a shimmering blue force field filled with floating pink spheres.\nWe were just about to leave when Sparky noticed something shiny around the dead body\u0026rsquo;s neck. (The one in the tank, not Invar). We fished the body out carefully. He had a black disc amulet and a perl choker necklace. The latter looked to be worth a good thousand gold.\nSparky couldn\u0026rsquo;t leave well enough alone and splashed some of the liquid from the orange tank on his arm. It was bubbling like some kind of alchemical reaction or perhaps halfling soup. Fearing the worst, I rushed to his side and dragged him away from the spill, calling upon my goddess to heal his wounds and promising to go over the charges later. He rebuffed my healing at that point and refused to pay. Denara heard his Words of Welching and withdrew her healing grace from him and offered it to Stria instead. I made a note to negotiate payment from Sparky before administering any further healing.\nProbably best to wait for when he is begging and pleading for his life and crying out from the pain. The goddess curses those who welch.\nWe went back around and through the melting skull door, which we guessed (correctly) led to the other side of the porticulli. A system of control levers were here, still humming with power. I surmised they would operate the claw hanging above the tanks, selecting which tank and raising or lowering the claw to dip things into the tanks and remove them. It was almost like some of the demented games of chance I once played. Each lever had a symbol, reading from left to right: Lightning, plus, portal, capsule.\nWe paused there to consider our next move.\nUpon reflection, the answer comes to me: Invar was really two halfings standing upon one another\u0026rsquo;s shoulders all along! This explains everything!\nStria # Having retreated to a safer area of the Grotto, we debated where to camp. Outside risked unknown monsters. In the Grotto risked things dropping on our heads from the ceiling. We eventually decided on barricading ourselves in a small defensible room. But first Oscar wanted to check out another room that had, and possibly still had, an acid spewing gelatinous thing. I listened at the door, but there was nothing in the room. Ahnjela and Invar retreated down the hallway anyway. Oscar eased the door open, but there was, as I said, nothing in the room. Just dried pink slime. So we went to our chosen room and settled down for the night. During my watch, a strange green mushroom sprouted from the wall and beckoned. No way in any hells was I touching it. Between the giant bugs and the beckoning flora around this place, it\u0026rsquo;s seriously creepy. I should go back to the city. Maybe nobody is looking for me anymore, and I won\u0026rsquo;t get hung on sight. It was only a few murders.\nIn the morning, I told everyone about the mushroom, which was still on the wall, if wilted. Ahnjela had caught a rat in a trap overnight, and cooked it for breakfast. I\u0026rsquo;ll take nice civilized rations, thanks. We decided to explore some more past where the robes were hanging. Everyone wore a robe, and nothing dropped on our heads this time. We checked west, where there was ominous sparking. A lever, some frayed cables sparking lightning, and a portcullis. Beyond that, it looked like tanks of ooze. One had a man hanging upside down in yellow ooze. We walked east, and there was a room with red polka dot floors with four silver cylinders. Invar couldn\u0026rsquo;t read the magic writing on them, so we left them alone.\nWe went back west, and debated the best way to push the lever down. Ahnjela finally did it, by holding a sack with Oscar\u0026rsquo;s mace in it, and just dropping the sack on the lever. Worked like a charm, and shut off the lightning. After it exploded and shocked us all. Invar was shocked to death, his charred body falling to the floor. In the aftermath, we noticed a halfling get up from a corner. Must have been hiding before. Sneaky little bastards, halflings. Dimly remember him as a new member that promptly wandered off instead of joining a group. Pretty sure he robbed Invar\u0026rsquo;s corpse when we weren\u0026rsquo;t looking, because the spell book wasn\u0026rsquo;t there when I looked, hoping to grab it for one of our other mages. The halfling didn\u0026rsquo;t remember his name at first, so Oscar called him Sparky. Oscar, Ahnjela and I lifted the portcullis, and Oscar told Sparky to find something to prop it up with. He chose Invar\u0026rsquo;s body. Cold, on top of sneaky. Or lazy. He did keep complaining about doing things with the party without getting paid. As if anyone gets paid on the spot while exploring a dungeon.\nWandering around the tank room showed three tanks. One yellow with the man in it. One orange with nothing in it, but looking squished. And one red with a skull at the bottom, with a case suspended by a chain above the tank. On the opposite side of the room were two more portcullises, glowing blue, with pink bubbles bouncing around in between. Pink in a dungeon is never a good sign. We checked the room in the middle, but it was empty. There were four levers with symbols on them, that would probably do something to the portcullises and bubbles. We weren\u0026rsquo;t dumb enough to test them.\nBack in the tank room, We pulled the man out of the yellow tank. He had a disk medallion around his neck along with a choker that Oscar said would sell for a lot. He also had a key in his pocket. Maybe we can get in the door with the fist on it in the hallway now. Before we could try that, the halfling, who now said his name was Sanfire Wetkettle, managed to crash the orange tank down on top of himself while trying an experiment to see if the yellow ooze interacted with the orange ooze. Well, the orange ooze certainly reacted with him. His hands and arms started to blister. Oscar dragged him out of the ooze and offered to heal him. Sanfire bickered with him about paying for it because he hadn\u0026rsquo;t paid for anything he\u0026rsquo;d done so far. I don\u0026rsquo;t think the recruiters adequately explained how adventuring works to this guy. Oscar agreed the halfling could pay later, and said he believed his goddess would let him heal more than one person this time. Ahnjela was nowhere around, so I volunteered and happily donated my two gold to Oscar\u0026rsquo;s goddess. We\u0026rsquo;ll have to come back to this area when we have a mage who can read the magic symbols so we know what the levers and cylinders do.\n","date":"4 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-35/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-35.webp\nOscar # We argued for a little while about where to camp for the night, and eventually settled for a small room near the skeletons’ room. It had a few rat holes, so we blocked most of them and Ahnjela set up deadfalls at the rest.\nA very strange mushroom grew from the walls overnight, and Ahnjela caught a rat. While I studied the proper forms for invoking Denara’s healing power, Ahnjela… Skinned, cooked, and ate her rat. I truly don’t know what to say! I told her I had spare rations. I offered to sell her some! At a discount! But she wasn’t at all bothered to be eating rat.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 35","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-34.webp\nOscar # We loaded poor u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s body into the wagon, and made it to Eastdale without further incident. The prelate of St Ygg was quite willing to intercede on the boy\u0026rsquo;s behalf once we emptied our pockets. He will need weeks of bedrest before he can recover fully, and the rest of us were not at our best. I negotiated the sale of my load of lumber from Westkeep at precisely 10gp profit, and we discussed where to go next. Eventually we decided on the incandescent grotto, and a pair of new recruits spoke up, Invar and Draca. A wizard and a warrior, respectively. Draca was in full plate mail, clanking up a storm and moving very slowly. Eventually we got him to take it off and let the mule carry it. More henchmen weren\u0026rsquo;t really an option because our purses were all rather flat after donating to St Ygg. At least the commercial transaction is itself an act of worship to my lady of labor!\nWe came prepared to face the gurgling monster, but chose to explore the rooms behind the skeletons instead (since the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s were close by and the skeletons themselves were dead). We had a robe with us, one that Bern had found and determined was magical since he was last here. It is black silk and covered in weird magical writing that invar was about to read. Something about Dominion of the faceless.\nBehind the skeleton doors is a u shaped corridor linked both doors together, and a new pair of doors. One has a melting skull (east) and the other a fist.\nStria put on the robe and opened the skull door, revealing a room filled with more robes. And Some kind of black ooze thing fell on Invar, who was right behind her. And unfortunately he had the lantern. It looked like he was dead right there, but the black thing wasn\u0026rsquo;t and we were out of light. I withdrew a bit and started trying to light a torch. Draca hit it with his sword and then with a crowbar; neither seemed effective. The thing ate his shield, and then took a couple bites out of him in return. Stria started passing out robes once I got my torch lit, and we lured the thing off of Invar; Ahnjela dragged the unconscious recruit our of the combat zone.\nThe ooze seemed afraid of the torches, and unwilling to attack anyone in a robe, so we all put them on. The ooze squeezed through cracks in the stone and returned to it\u0026rsquo;s ambush position. Ahnjela somehow manage to revive Invar, and I explained how healing works; I, Oscar, roll a small six sided die to determine how much to charge for the grace of Denara\u0026rsquo;s healing, and Denara heals a commensurate amount of their wounds. Both graciously donated to Her holy cause, and their wounds were fully healed.\nI was accused of gambling with their lives, but I assured them I am a reformed gambler, and in fact I had joined the church of Denara because I had learned my lesson: the house always wins. As a priest of Denara, I am not gambling, I am running the game!\nWe took a few minutes to catch our breath, and Invar mentioned he had learned something from the experience of being oozed. I have no idea what that could possibly have taught him, but kudos for looking on the bright side!\nStria # We gathered up our coins and brought the kid\u0026rsquo;s body back to town. The Ygg priests were more than happy to bring him back to life in return for a boatload of money. He needs bedrest for a while, but he\u0026rsquo;ll be good as new. The rest of us pondered where to go next to find loot to refill our diminished coin pouches. Some wanted to go back to the Caves of Chaos, some the library, some the Grotto. Ended up going to the Grotto.\nThe party decided not to tackle the gurgling monster just yet. We tiptoed into the room the skeletons had been in, since we could go through their doors now, hoping not to make too much noise and alert the gurgler. The skeleton doors ended up connected by a half circle hallway. Two doors in that hallway, one with a skull on it, and one a fist. Then I guarded while people poked and prodded for secret doors or traps, babbling about what the robe might be for, and what to do. Invar said the design on the robe said something, but it was just another riddle. I finally put on the robe, since everybody else was too chicken shit to do it. Too much talking, and not enough doing. Oh, look at that, NOTHING HAPPENED. I was prevented from opening the fist door by some sort of static barrier. I went out to the closet room and tried that lever to see if something different happened if the person was wearing the robe. Not so much. Strobe lights and for a second I was overwhelmed by killing rage. Since I generally want to kill things all the time anyway, I managed not to succumb to doing it mindlessly. Tried the fist door again, but the lever didn\u0026rsquo;t do anything. I tried the skull door, and it opened.\nI could dimly see a short hallway with robes on hooks. Then Invar came up behind me with his lantern, and something black and oily dropped onto him. I was pretty sure he was dead. His lantern also went out, plunging us into darkness. I grabbed three robes from the hooks. Threw one to Ahnjela, and one to Oscar, telling them to put it on. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t reach Draca, but tossed one for him over my shoulder while I tried in vain to light a torch. I was standing right next to the monster, but it ignored me. The monster attacked Draca, and he and Ahnjela hit it, but did no damage with edged or blunt weapons. We needed fire. Oscar finally got a torch lit and approached. Ahnjela retreated after lighting a torch from Oscar\u0026rsquo;s torch, and Oscar came up behind Draca. After I lit my torch from Oscar\u0026rsquo;s torch, I switched places with Draca, who was looking worse for wear. Oscar wanted me to go all the way around and flank the monster. He was right last time about going the long way around, but not this time. I was the only one with a robe on, since nobody listened to me about putting them on. I was the only one the monster wouldn\u0026rsquo;t attack. I was between the monster and the rest of the party. I had to stay where I was. I swiped at the monster with the torch, and it oozed its way back up to hide in the ceiling.\nI tossed Draca the robe. Ahnjela started pounding on Invar\u0026rsquo;s chest, and he actually came to. The mage is tougher than he looks. I grabbed a robe for him too and bullied everyone into putting the damned robes ON, not draped over their shoulders. Invar and Draca negotiated with Oscar for healing, which his goddess granted, and we let them rest before continuing on.\n","date":"28 October 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-34/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-34.webp\nOscar # We loaded poor u-Heury’s body into the wagon, and made it to Eastdale without further incident. The prelate of St Ygg was quite willing to intercede on the boy’s behalf once we emptied our pockets. He will need weeks of bedrest before he can recover fully, and the rest of us were not at our best. I negotiated the sale of my load of lumber from Westkeep at precisely 10gp profit, and we discussed where to go next. Eventually we decided on the incandescent grotto, and a pair of new recruits spoke up, Invar and Draca. A wizard and a warrior, respectively. Draca was in full plate mail, clanking up a storm and moving very slowly. Eventually we got him to take it off and let the mule carry it. More henchmen weren’t really an option because our purses were all rather flat after donating to St Ygg. At least the commercial transaction is itself an act of worship to my lady of labor!\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 34","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-33.webp\nBern # So I was drinking with the Butchers of Helix when a couple of the new recruits stumbled in telling tales of some caves to the north full of treasure (and also goblins and kobolds). Sounded worth exploring so I grabbed Ahnjela and Ygnas (not literally) and we talked out our plan. They didn\u0026rsquo;t want to pay for any cannon fodder. I don\u0026rsquo;t get along with people so good. I did buy two war dogs, complete with their armor. Most money I have ever spent on anything. And we got someone to hold a torch. I thought Ygnas liked to hold torches, but a mace is more useful really.\nTook a couple days to make it to the area they described, and the land was too civilized to really offer much food on the way, but I came prepared even though the dogs ate a lot. There were three caves close by on the lowest levels \u0026ndash; goblins, kobolds, and \u0026ldquo;the big guy\u0026rdquo; according to the others. Supposedly orcs and hobgoblins around somewhere too, but not located yet.\nWe approached the kobolds first, but man, I knew they could talk and had lives and hopes and dreams and little eggs and stuff. I even tried to learn their language once after meeting a small group in the caverns of Archaya. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t bring myself to just go in and slaughter them all. The one I talked to even said he had a cousin in Archaya! I just couldn\u0026rsquo;t. So we left the kobolds alone and went to look into the goblin cave.\nSupposedly there are two groups of goblins, east and west, and they don\u0026rsquo;t like each other. We went west. They had a guard room with at least six goblins pretty much right there, all with braced spears. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to charge into that, not even with dogs to back me up, so negotiations were called for. I threatened to kill them all and take their stuff. They threatened to call \u0026ldquo;the big one\u0026rdquo;. I asked how much money the big one had so I could kill him and take it too. This confused them, and we weren\u0026rsquo;t getting anywhere, so I took the dogs and wandered off southwards. I yelled that I was just going to go smash their stuff and kill their women and children down the south passage until the big one got here to stop me since they were obviously such horrible guards that they weren\u0026rsquo;t going to stop me themselves.\nUnfortunately the south passage led to a dead end. They laughed. A lot. Have I mentioned that goblin laughter is really really annoying?\nBy the time we got all turned around again, the goblins has been joined by \u0026ldquo;the big one\u0026rdquo;. That\u0026rsquo;s an ogre named Brutus. He had a tree in one hand and a giant sack of coins in the other. I could tell by the way they clinked against each other, and the little round impressions on the surface of the bag. Thinking quickly, Ahnjela offered Brutus 10 gp for each goblin he killed.\nApparently goblins pay better than humans.\nBrutus swung his club at me. Have I mentioned that he has a big fucking club? It\u0026rsquo;s like he\u0026rsquo;s compensating for something. I met his swing with my shield and the wooden slats just flew all to pieces. I felt my pappy\u0026rsquo;s rage building like a growl in the back of my throat, and snarled at the dogs to attack. They just looked at me like I was nuts. I want a damned refund. I swear their internal monologue was just more goblin laughter. It felt like the laughter of all the village girls when I was a kid trying to be all civilized and shit. That was it, I had had it, I was furious. Red rage poured like rivers of blood as I ripped my hand axe free from my belt and stared up at Brutus like he was a tree I was about to chop down.\nI saw Ahnjela\u0026rsquo;s sword cut into his shoulder from the corner of my eye. I swung for the arm that held the club and gave it a painful slice, but the real strike came from my axe; right in the fucking knee. It staggered backwards, bleeding heavily, but still in the fight \u0026ndash; until a sling stone from Ygnas hit it smack in the forehead, and Brutus didn\u0026rsquo;t take that any better than Goliath did. Down with the ogre.\nThen the goblins swarmed us all at once. You would think they would run for their lives after seeing their big fucking ogre get his ass wiped by two chicks and a Bern without a single drop of blood spilled and in under a minute no less. But no. They wanted revenge, I guess. Or they are just stupid. There were at least six of them and I was on a fucking roll. Ducked two spears from the back row, took a niggling cut from the one on the left on my sword arm, killed him with that same sword in the face and then did for the one on the right with my axe.\nTwo more stepped up and I felt something go wrong with my sword arm. Muscle cramp, or maybe that scrape had some kind of poison. No matter. Leftie died with my axe in my brain and I apologized to Rightie for splattering his friends\u0026rsquo; brains all over his face. Rightie slid over to make room for his friend and died to the axe right quick. I managed a stop-cut with my sword and wounded the new one, but the missile fire from behind me had stopped and I risked a glance over my shoulder to see what was wrong. Ygnas was facing off with a group of two more goblins coming from behind us. The tactical situation was worsening fast.\nQuickly we fell back down the south corridor. It was a dead end, but the narrow space would force them to come at us only two at a time, and the curve would prevent massed missile fire. The two from behind us stepped up and I took a few minutes to kill them both. Caught my breath for a second before I heard a dragging noise \u0026ndash; they were stealing the ogre\u0026rsquo;s giant sack of gold!\nI charged forward, determined to regain the bag of gold. Two of them were waiting in ambush while the third did the dragging. I killed them both, with some minor assistance from the second rank, but they each got a lucky hit in first while I was facing the wrong direction. I was alive, but badly bleeding. Ygnas had been hurt too, but her prayers to Zuul sealed off her wounds. (Alas she was not yet familiar enough with the spell to use it more than once each day). The third goblin got away with the gold, and neither Ahnjela nor Ygnas wanted to chase it without me. So we took a few minutes to try to bandage my wounds.\nSince they were healthy, the two of them explored the area behind the secret door the ogre had come from. There were sacks of coin (silver and copper only, damnit) and another sack of hard cheese. Also, a sleeping bear. That ended all further exploration, and a horde of fully alarmed goblins showed up to eject us from their caves. I left, but vowed under my breath \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll be back\u0026rdquo; while flexing my muscles threateningly.\nWe camped out for three days in the wilderness nearby. Hunting in the area was good, I found two deer and a nice hog. The dogs were loving it even though they were damned useless shits in the actual fighting. I named them Left and Right until they earned something better. Their whining sounded like they were quite content to be called left and right while eating my deer and my boar. Meanwhile Ygnas lounged around the camp practicing the words to her spell over and over again without, it seemed, actually learning anything. Twice she accidentally healed scrapes I got from my hunting expedition, little things, rather than the huge gash in my side or the deep spear wound in my shoulder. Maybe because they were fresher? She damned well better get it right next time.\nI went hunting for the third day, bagging a nice fat dear, and a twelve foot tall praying mantis followed me back to camp.\nYgnas # I was in the tavern having a drink with a couple Butchers I hadn\u0026rsquo;t met yet, Bern and Ahnjela. Me, in a tavern, and drinking! So many new experiences after being stuck in that tower all my life. A couple new Butchers came in, looking worse for wear, bragging about slaughtering kobolds in some caves up north. Caves of Chaos, they called it. They said they made a deal with goblins to kill kobolds, and there were also orcs and a hobgoblin in those caves. Bern decided to go check it out, and I tagged along, since wiping out monsters in caves was much better than being in town. Ahnjela came too. We decided to bring the new folks\u0026rsquo; torchbearer with us. I was loathe to give up having a fire in hand, but packs of monsters in something called the Caves of Chaos, it seemed better to actually use my shield for once. And the lad\u0026rsquo;s enthusiasm for carrying a flame was heartwarming. They seemed like good companions. Ahnjela was quiet, and I approved of Bern being a ranger and having that connection to the wild.\nIt took a few days to reach the cave. We inspected a couple cairns outside, but there was nothing on the bodies. We started first at the kobold cave. We\u0026rsquo;d been warned about a pit trap, so we approached cautiously. Ahnjela scaled the tree to a makeshift watchtower, but didn\u0026rsquo;t see anything of note. As she approached the cave entrance, she got in a conversation with what I presumed was a kobold guard within. She said it insisted they were many. They couldn\u0026rsquo;t be that many, if the new Butchers slaughtered as many as they bragged about. Bern tried to talk to it as well, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t seem like either of them got very far. Bern seemed loath to actually engage the kobolds. Apparently he\u0026rsquo;d made friends with one before, and this one said it was a cousin. Well, they\u0026rsquo;ll be there for the next group that isn\u0026rsquo;t so squeamish. So, we trooped down to the goblin cave instead.\nWe\u0026rsquo;d heard that there were two groups of guards in the goblin caves, and Bern hoped to pit one against the other so they would fight themselves. That plan would\u0026rsquo;ve worked much better if any of us spoke goblin. Attempts to intimidate or rile up the goblins to the west didn\u0026rsquo;t work. They set their spears instead and stood firm, saying they would call the \u0026ldquo;big one.\u0026rdquo; Bern shouted threats to their mates and children and valuables, and we walked south, trying to draw them out. Instead, we hit a dead end, much to the goblins\u0026rsquo; amusement. We headed back up quickly, before we could be trapped there. We met the \u0026ldquo;big one\u0026rdquo; as we approached again. An ogre. Bern wouldn\u0026rsquo;t stay in the back with his bow and let me take the lead, insisting he was better with his sword. I\u0026rsquo;m much quicker on my feet, but I let him go in front, because heaven forbid his male pride got wounded. Ahnjela hit the ogre, and Bern hit it with his sword. The ogre destroyed his shield into toothpicks with it\u0026rsquo;s club. Bern grabbed his hand ax. And guess what, he\u0026rsquo;s not as good with the sword after all. He was much better with the ax. He wounded the ogre more, and I finished it off with a rock from my sling. The two supposed war dogs that Bern bought before we left were absolutely useless. Didn\u0026rsquo;t fight anything, just made noise barking their fool heads off. I think he got conned.\nWe then engaged the goblins. Unfortunately, the tight quarters meant I was useless in the back. Couldn\u0026rsquo;t get a good shot off with my sling. Ahnjela and Bern took out three goblins. I heard noise from the east, and figured the battle had attracted the attention of the east set of guards. I turned to face them. Set on from both sides, we retreated back down the south passage, so they could only come at us two at a time. They didn\u0026rsquo;t follow us. Instead, we heard dragging noises, and Bern barrelled back up, swearing that they were making off with the ogre\u0026rsquo;s bag of gold. We engaged two goblins left in ambush. Herman, the torchbearer was killed, so I let Bern borrow my shield and took over as torchbearer. I was wounded, badly, and one light hit would kill me. Bern was wounded as well, and made comments about healing him, but I deemed his injuries less than my own. The goblins eventually fled or were killed, but we had the east set of goblins yet. For the first time ever, I tried a healing spell, and Zuul favored me by granting me full healing. My healing spell wreathes my hands in fire, and I love it so much. The east set of goblins fled. Bern rested, while Ahnjela and I poked our heads in the room beyond the secret door we noticed. We found sacks of copper and silver, which we grabbed. And a huge bear. We backed out hastily and shut that secret door. Then more goblins appeared from the west, and demanded we leave, because there were a lot of them. I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure they were bluffing, but Bern was wounded, so we decided to go outside and camp, then come back and finish the job. And bring Herman\u0026rsquo;s body out so I can give him a proper funeral pyre.\nI tried the healing spell a few more times as we camped, at Bern\u0026rsquo;s urging that I practice, and gave Bern light healing. He complained that I wasn\u0026rsquo;t as good as Oscar, and I wasn\u0026rsquo;t healing him enough. He\u0026rsquo;s a very whiny ranger. Almost as whiny as the dogs of his. Perhaps that\u0026rsquo;s why Zuul wasn\u0026rsquo;t gracing him with greater healing. Since he bitched and complained, maybe I won\u0026rsquo;t heal him anymore. I deserve appreciation for doing a thing I\u0026rsquo;ve never done before, not insults. On the third day of camping, Bern went out hunting and was followed back by a huge praying mantis.\n","date":"23 October 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-33/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-33.webp\nBern # So I was drinking with the Butchers of Helix when a couple of the new recruits stumbled in telling tales of some caves to the north full of treasure (and also goblins and kobolds). Sounded worth exploring so I grabbed Ahnjela and Ygnas (not literally) and we talked out our plan. They didn’t want to pay for any cannon fodder. I don’t get along with people so good. I did buy two war dogs, complete with their armor. Most money I have ever spent on anything. And we got someone to hold a torch. I thought Ygnas liked to hold torches, but a mace is more useful really.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 33","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-32.webp\nOscar # I write with a heavy heart. Tragedy has struck our little group. But I will come to that in time.\nWe were staring at three troglodytes, all stuffing their faces with fish. After thinking it over for a few shocked seconds, I decided the wise course of action was to leave them to their meal. I waved, apologized for opening the wrong door, and slammed it closed. Lodikai dumped a bag of marbles in front of the door, and I added a flask of oil to the mix. We retreated to the next corridor and waited ten minutes to see if the troglodytes would follow us out. They did not, perhaps because the door opening would be an obvious giveaway.\nThat corridor led to a river, with a small beach covered in fish guts. Likely where the troglodytes got their meal. Lodikai borrowed another oil flask and launched some fire arrows over the river, looking for a bank on the far side that might make it worthwhile to attempt a crossing. Nothing obvious, but maybe something. Better lighting would help. We left it alone for lack of an obvious reason to attempt a dangerous crossing, and headed back south.\nLodikai volunteered to check the two weeping statues, and determined there were no traps. However, the room immediately beyond was an obvious trap, with a completely metal floor and a large round bolder sitting at one end of the room. On the far wall were 6 levers and a plaque reading \u0026ldquo;Authorized Users Only\u0026rdquo;. I immediately pulled out the slate I keep for such emergencies and wrote out a form authorizing our party to enter the room and operate the controls. Denara looks upon such things with favor.\nI checked for secret doors, while the others looked around for traps. Lodikai immediately determined that the floor on either side of the room could tilt up and presumably down, like some demented teeter totter. Of course this would cause the boulder to roll around and crush anyone in the room in the process.\nHe verified this by examining the levers and pulling one of them, which immediately set the room to tilting like crazy, and the boulder to crushing people. Oops. It ran over my lame leg, twisting the already weak ankle. u-Heury was trying to push the boulder at the time and got it worse than I did. We all backed out of the room and took a break to tend our wounds. u-Heury was generous enough to offer a donation on return for my prayers to Denara on his behalf. Such a promising young man\u0026hellip;\nBefore we could get back to our explorations, a strange purple vortex appeared a little bit into the larger room. I called out a warning, and Lodikai swore he hadn\u0026rsquo;t touched anything. The vortex didn\u0026rsquo;t seem dangerous, exactly, but I tossed one torch into it and it grabbed another right out of My hand when I approached. I speculated that the portal was intended to return the boulder to it\u0026rsquo;s original position after crushing anyone in the corridor, which would be confirmed if the torches were in the spot the boulder originated. But they were not.\nu-Heury speculated the vortex might be connected to the strange rug portal he had traveled through previously. We decided to head in that direction and see if the torches were there. There were two paths to that rug, one longer but known, the other passing through a very short unexplored area containing a carved archway. The other two carved archways were trapped in some fashion, so good money says \u0026hellip;. No, no, I am reformed. Anyways, it seems likely this archway would also be trapped in some fashion. We approached and observed no obvious clues, but when Lodikai sought to make a closer examination, a huge spider dropped from above and attacked!\nWe traded blows with the thing, doing some damage, but it got fangs into u-Heury when the man bravely advanced to keep the creature\u0026rsquo;s attention on him rather than our rogue. Lodikai managed to escape due to some very impressive acrobatics. Well, he said they were impressive, but no one saw anything. It was pitch black once you got out of range of the torchlight.\nu-Heury was turning green from the bite so we backed off and left it alone. It did the same, staying out of the light\u0026hellip; Or so we thought.\nFiguring we needed to regroup, we made camp near the entrance and set a watch. The first watch passed without incident. The second was interrupted by Stria\u0026rsquo;s scream of fury and disgust as the same giant spider we had just fought was descending on u-Heury!\nI lept to my feet clad in nothing but Denara\u0026rsquo;s golden glory, grabbing my mace and shield, rushing to attack. Lodikai was up and shooting arrows. Stria\u0026rsquo;s daggers were bouncing off the chitin bit by bit. But u-Heury was thrashing about like he was caught in a nightmare, vicious fangs sunk deep into his flesh and pumping deadly poison into his veins.\nFinally Lodikai landed a lucky shot that felled the thing. I rushed to u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s side, calling out to Denara for aid, but I had not yet filled out the proper requisition forms. I could do nothing for his wounds, and alas, even if I could the poison was beyond my power to neutralize. How cruel that the man whose wilderness skills had once saved my own life from the fangs of a two headed snake would die to a similar cause. I bear the marks of that venom upon my neck to this day, and \u0026hellip; Now u-Heury will bear the wounds from this arachnid for the rest of his life and into eternity.\nI mourn his loss. Though he was far from civilized, and sometimes chased elven lasses wearing too little clothing in his dreams, I know that such things are a part of every boy\u0026rsquo;s passage into manhood. And he was already seeking to better himself by learning to read. Such a brave soul deserves respect, and even admiration. Perhaps in death he will find the embrace of the elven lady he dreamt of. I will file the proper forms, and speak the proper words.\nUnless\u0026hellip; Rumor has it that the priest of Ygg in Eastdale can reach beyond the doors of death. Such a thing is beyond my power, yet the young man\u0026rsquo;s courage deserves the attempt. If we hurry, perhaps u-Heury may yet be saved. But such a service would not come cheap.\nLodikai and Stria are cutting into the spider\u0026rsquo;s corpse, in search of it\u0026rsquo;s poison glands. What they would do with such a thing I am very carefully not thinking about, for poison is a very uncivilized weapon.\nStria # Faced with the troglodytes, we decided caution was the better part of valor, closed the door, and backed away. The thief scattered marbles on the floor in front of the closed door, and Oscar poured oil over them. We waited to see if any of them would come out after us, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t, so luckily their rotting fish was more appetizing than we were. We went to check out the north passage, and it led to a river, as the smell indicated. Rotting fish pieces on the little patch of beach. Otherwise just sheer walls. The thief tried shooting a few fire arrows to see across, but it looked like there was no other beach areas on the other side. I was stuck holding the torch. It made perfect sense, the kid and Oscar need two hands for their shields and weapons. But I absolutely hate standing around being decorative and not having both daggers in my hands.\nLodikai wanted to check out the passage with the creepy crying statues, so we went that way. He said there wasn\u0026rsquo;t a trap between the statues where the crushed crossbow was. Well, something crushed it. We went further down the passage into a room with a metal floor, levers along the back wall, and a huge stone ball. Oh, that\u0026rsquo;s what crushed it. I immediately got away from the doorway, since standing in the hallway was a death trap. Also stayed away from either way the ball looked likely to roll if the floor titled. Because the thief was all over touching the levers. It seemed the last thing in the world you would want to do, but I was the only one that thought it was a phenomenally bad idea. Lo and behold, he pulled the first lever, and the floor did indeed tilt. The ball rolled over the kid and Oscar. There was then wrangling between the two over payment for Oscar asking his god to heal the kid.\nHealing accomplished, we got out of the death trap. To see a purple portal had appeared in the main statue room. That can\u0026rsquo;t be a good sign. Oscar speculated that perhaps it was to return the ball. He threw a torch into it, and the thief checked the other room, but no torch on the floor with the ball. The kid wanted to check the room with the rug, that he teleported from some other visit. It seemed shorter to take the snake archway, although Oscar wanted to go the long way around. The thief went into that hallway to check for traps, and found none in the archway. Didn\u0026rsquo;t need any. A huge spider dropped down on him. He said later that he did some epic backflip to get around the spider back to us, but we couldn\u0026rsquo;t see that far down past the arch. The kid attacked the spider, which then vanished back into the ceiling. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to be flushed out into the open room so we could all have at it. We absolutely should have taken the long way around.\nThe kid was injured by the spider, so we decided to go to the entrance and camp. While I was on watch, the damned spider crept towards us. I yelled to wake the others up, but it dropped on the kid before he could wake up. Bit him, and injected its poison. He never even woke up. Hopefully he didn\u0026rsquo;t feel a thing before he died. The rest of us attacked it. I went at it with my daggers, but couldn\u0026rsquo;t get a hit in. It got me pretty bad, but I dodged the poison. Finally, the thief got a shot in and killed it. He got the poison sacs out. I can make poison to put on our blades later. Oscar and Lodikai and I debated whether the kid would want to be resurrected, like Feverborne was. I was saving up money for my assassin school someday, but I\u0026rsquo;d put it towards that. The kid is a good cause. We\u0026rsquo;ll need a good bit more, or something magic, to persuade those Ygg priests, though.\n","date":"21 October 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-32/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-32.webp\nOscar # I write with a heavy heart. Tragedy has struck our little group. But I will come to that in time.\nWe were staring at three troglodytes, all stuffing their faces with fish. After thinking it over for a few shocked seconds, I decided the wise course of action was to leave them to their meal. I waved, apologized for opening the wrong door, and slammed it closed. Lodikai dumped a bag of marbles in front of the door, and I added a flask of oil to the mix. We retreated to the next corridor and waited ten minutes to see if the troglodytes would follow us out. They did not, perhaps because the door opening would be an obvious giveaway.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 32","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-31.webp\nOscar # We left Ahnjela to guard the wagon with the mules and lumber outside the hole in the oak. The rest of us \u0026ndash; briefly regretting that we had failed to hire a torchbearer or mercenaries \u0026ndash; descended in the space below the tree.\nThe thieving roots had grown back somewhat, but were too weak to actually steal anything, and the special harness I had made for my new set of holy scales kept them safe. I grasped my wooden symbol firmly just in case.\nBeyond the roots, we followed a passage north to the lair of the lambkin. Just a quick pass to see if anything had changed. Nothing had, except everything smelled of rotten meat and filth. We did find Stria a pouch of tea in case she needs to knock someone out and tie them up in bed. They also had a collection of fairy tales about stupid human children with suspiciously abrupt endings.\nWe proceeded to the east, past the talking roots. u-Heury sought information from them, and I consulted my notes as to their prior answers.\nAfter brief fruitless inquiries, we continued into a large cavern. u-Heury remembered flappy bat-like things. Probably stirges. We took a left at the first opportunity. There was a large archway in the middle of the passage that we would need to pass through to continue. The archway was carved of decorative skulls, with a single larger skull as the keystone. A real skeleton lay on the floor of the archway, clearly dead of a large slashing wound.\nA trap, obviously. Were I not a reformed gambler I would lay money on it.\nI made a loop of my rope and fished the body back. It had some small amount of coin, a longsword, and a brass skull necklace.\nSome poking with u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s spear found the floor tiles that triggered the trap, which we marked with the skull and jumped over.\nShortly beyond the archway we found a large chamber filled with doors and statues, along with two doorless passageways. Like the one we entered by, two of the passageways out had archways. One of them was carved with vines and had a dead dwarf, not yet skeletal. The dwarf had a vine around his neck, and appeared to have died in what was either an elaborate autoerotic asphyxiation play scenario or a non consensual strangulation by tree root. The other archway had snakes and no body, probably leading back to areas we had already explored. The dwarf had nothing of interest on him, but was missing a boot.\nThe statues were roughly carved humanoids with carved weapons and accessories \u0026ndash; save the last one, which had my silver holy symbol around it\u0026rsquo;s neck, the one I was here to find. Vindication! My lady of the balanced deal will smile upon me once more.\nWe also found a lone boot behind the statue. It matched the one on the dwarf.\nAround that time a group of four lizardmen came through performing some sort of ritual involving salt. They seemed drunk, but talkative enough, though they did not speak the language of civilized men well. Something about not going north, and guarding their territory from a great big rock with many eyes.\nAt least the words of the roots earlier were becoming clear. \u0026ldquo;Reptiles guarding a great enemy\u0026rdquo; clearly referred to these lizardmen, but also mentioned queens.\nWe let the lizardmen continue uninterrupted, then opened the southernmost door leading east. It turned south almost immediately, leading us between two statues \u0026ndash; humanoid, one fish and one mantis, both crying some white substance. A broken crossbow lay on the floor between the statues. We all looked for traps, found nothing, and noped out. Another door has strange, smelly lava flows, and we closed that one immediately too.\nDown the next passageway we found spiderwebs, then an open room with two translucent figures fighting. One human with a spear, one giant (at least eight feet tall) lizardmen. The human died quickly and the lizardman charged. We all retreated, but I pulled out my holy symbol and called upon Denara\u0026rsquo;s power to protect us all from those who no longer pay taxes. Alas, it seems this lizardman was paid up with his local assessor. Still, Denara protected me from his claws, and we fled out the door, shutting it behind us. Stria nailed it\u0026rsquo;s eye with a thrown dagger as the door was closing and it did seem to be hurt by the blow.\nI still don\u0026rsquo;t understand the translucency.\nEventually we went north, into an area of increasing stench, and surprised three troglodytes in the middle of a meal.\nStria # We stopped by some big tree with a hole in it. Oscar said his old holy symbol was stolen in there. Roots that try to steal my daggers and a room with talking faces demanding money for information, those he neglected to mention. He said the information the faces gave was useless, since he tried that the last time he was here. But what they told him sounded pretty important to me. A room of horrors holding a treasure, a sword in a pillar, reptile worshipers who entombed a great enemy guarded by his queens. I\u0026rsquo;ll be looking out for what those mean as we wander around in here. We went around the inside rooms, and Oscar found a bag of tea that was pretty much the only thing not decomposing. He said it would put someone to sleep. Could come in handy.\nThen we started through a hallway past the faces. It led to an archway decorated with skulls. That\u0026rsquo;s not ominous at all. A skeleton was lying in the archway, with a big gash in the armor, so there was obviously a trap there. The kid poked with his spear, and the trap was a scythe contraption. They put the skull on the tile that triggered the trap, so we\u0026rsquo;d know where it was. Beyond that was a room with statues split by a door on the left and doors on the right. The statues all had crowns. The one on the far end had Oscar\u0026rsquo;s old holy symbol. He borrowed the kid\u0026rsquo;s spear to switch his old holy symbol for a wooden one. We checked the southern most door on the right side. It led to a hallway with two statues facing each other, and a smashed crossbow on the floor between them. Both statues were crying white liquid. Obviously a trap, but we couldn\u0026rsquo;t figure out where. I looked at the ceiling, and a little root came down and motioned to the north, then I swear the thing giggled. This tree seriously creeps me out.\nWe checked the next door, from which the kid said he heard battle sounds. I was going to sneak down the hallway beyond, but ran smack into spider webs. Big thick spider webs. I hightailed it back and grabbed the torch from Oscar. Screw sneaky, I needed to burn the webs and make sure no insects got on me. That hallway led to a room where a see through lizard man was fighting a see through warrior. Great, ghosts. The lizard man handily beat the warrior while we watched. Then he came for us. I was thinking it\u0026rsquo;s a ghost, what can it do to us, but the things claws scratched at Oscar\u0026rsquo;s armor, so there went that theory. I threw a dagger for the first time ever, and hit the bastard in the eye. That proved we could hurt it in return, but we ran for the door anyway and locked it behind us.\nBack in the main room, the kid listened at the next door while Oscar looked for secret panels on the other side. I stood holding the torch in between, so they both had light. We really should have brought cannon fodder to hold the torch. Then more lizard men came in the room from the north hallway. They were chanting and sort of stumbling over their feet. The leader spoke some common, and said we were disturbing their ritual of protection against some rock thing with many lights. Whatever the hell that is, I wanted them to keep protecting the place against it. They went through the door between the statues. They hadn\u0026rsquo;t wanted us to go north, so that\u0026rsquo;s where I wanted to go, but I was overruled. We checked out the next door on the right, but it opened onto a foul smelling room with something snoring. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t see it, but the snoring was like a volcano erupting, and nobody wanted to see what made that sound or smell, so we shut that door.\nThe last door opened onto a hallway with another arch, this one decorated with thorned vines. Another dead body. Looked to be a dwarf. I got a note out of the pocket that said something about the possibility of tricking river ghouls out of their treasure. I don\u0026rsquo;t know what a river ghoul is. I\u0026rsquo;m not in a hurry to find out. They can keep their treasure. We decided to check out the north hallway after that. Smelled like rotten fish. A hallway to the right, one straight ahead, and one to the left. We opened the one to the left and surprised three troglodytes. I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure I can take out one of them.\n","date":"14 October 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-31/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-31.webp\nOscar # We left Ahnjela to guard the wagon with the mules and lumber outside the hole in the oak. The rest of us – briefly regretting that we had failed to hire a torchbearer or mercenaries – descended in the space below the tree.\nThe thieving roots had grown back somewhat, but were too weak to actually steal anything, and the special harness I had made for my new set of holy scales kept them safe. I grasped my wooden symbol firmly just in case.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 31","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-30.webp\nOscar # Another year flew by. I set up my stall in the Eastdale market and preached the doctrine of Denara, and spent some time commissioning a proper holy symbol to replace the one stolen from me \u0026ndash; only this time in good, an upgrade from the previous silver. I commissioned at the same time a silver symbol as a replacement for the wooden one i had borrowed from a lay worshipper in Westkeep. My adventures were turning a profit, and I could now afford the expense\u0026hellip; Still, the loss of my first silver scales burned in my mind. I gathered a few companions and set out from Westkeep towards Eastdale with a load of lumber in the wagon we had used to transport Feverborne\u0026rsquo;s body for revival. The path would take us past the tree where the theft of the silver scales occurred. My friends and I would explore the roots beneath and see if my property could be recovered.\nBefore we had even reached the scene of the crime, however, we were attacked by four giant frogs. Well, toads. I killed mine after four swings of my mace and an assist from u-Heury; I must be out of practice after spending an easy year. But since when are toads poisonous?\nThe mules almost got away from us, but we managed to catch up before they got too far.\nStria # I spent the off season doing some soul searching. I announced my intention to research that creature, so we could go in next time with a plan. Bern offered to help. I took him up on the offer. Libraries and talking to people aren\u0026rsquo;t my strong points. If he wants one of my favors, he\u0026rsquo;s welcome to one. We found out that the monster is a gibbering mouther. If we can block our ears, we can avoid the gibbering part. It can attack up to six times, and it doesn\u0026rsquo;t like fire. I have some candles that we can use to make wax earplugs, and I bought some oil flasks and torches. I wonder if I can fire flaming crossbow bolts? I did a job in the town to the north. No poison this time, just dagger action. With the money in hand from that, I spent the rest of my time conditioning and trying to get stronger. I think it worked. I definitely feel better.\nMost of the party seemed to spend off time at Oscar\u0026rsquo;s mill, so I went there and met up with Oscar, Landon and Barbarian Boy. Landon had snuck out earlier, to escape the crazy Yggs\u0026rsquo; inquisition. Ygnas wandered in from whatever religious meeting she\u0026rsquo;d been to. She had a crazy look in her eyes, and she was twitchy, eyeing the woods around the mill and muttering about burning everything. I hadn\u0026rsquo;t met Oscar before. His god seems entirely reasonable, for a god. Commerce is good, for both my professions. Too many forms, though. And that man has a prodigious ability to talk. I wonder if anything else about him is prodigious? We devised the plan to find Oscar\u0026rsquo;s stolen holy symbol in some tree place, then wreck vengeance on the monster in the grotto. Oscar decided to bring a load of lumber on the way back, to trade. Weird, but it is commerce. There are worse ways to worship a god, I suppose.\nOur peaceful trip back was interrupted by giant frogs attacking the mules. Frogs. They don\u0026rsquo;t even have teeth! Barbarian Boy discovered the hard way that the froggies did have poison, though. His horse got hit and almost went down. He and Landon backed off. Oscar and I engaged the froggies up close, while Barbarian Boy shot at them, and Landon poked at them with his polearm from a distance. It took a while of misses and wild swings, but eventually we killed them all. Unfortunately, they spooked the mules, who started to run off. Barbarian Boy slowed them with his horse, and I jumped on the back of the wagon and grabbed the reins. Oscar\u0026rsquo;s trade prospects saved. If there are giant poison froggies in these woods, I wonder what\u0026rsquo;s in this tree thing we\u0026rsquo;re going to?\n","date":"7 October 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-30/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-30.webp\nOscar # Another year flew by. I set up my stall in the Eastdale market and preached the doctrine of Denara, and spent some time commissioning a proper holy symbol to replace the one stolen from me – only this time in good, an upgrade from the previous silver. I commissioned at the same time a silver symbol as a replacement for the wooden one i had borrowed from a lay worshipper in Westkeep. My adventures were turning a profit, and I could now afford the expense… Still, the loss of my first silver scales burned in my mind. I gathered a few companions and set out from Westkeep towards Eastdale with a load of lumber in the wagon we had used to transport Feverborne’s body for revival. The path would take us past the tree where the theft of the silver scales occurred. My friends and I would explore the roots beneath and see if my property could be recovered.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 30","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Bern # When I saw that thing with too many mouths behind the secret door, there was only one thing to do. I braced myself to resist it\u0026rsquo;s gurgling and slammed the door shut, then took a good look around me.\nEveryone else was nuts, even the jelly skellies.\nI did the only thing that made sense. I ran to the middle door, the one the skellies didn\u0026rsquo;t care about, opened it and ran in, closing the door behind me. I tried to ignore the noise from outside while I felt around the dark room. It had a strange black robe with an embroidered design and a lever on one of the shelves.\nI thought the lever might open a door or turn off the skellies, so I pulled it. There was a flash of light and I felt my pappy\u0026rsquo;s rage come over me in an uncontrollable wave. I burst out of the door screaming bloody murder and swung at green skellie. Some new guy who came outta nowhere clocked me with the hilt of his sword.\nI woke up with a headache as big as my pappy\u0026rsquo;s tail is long, and lying on top of Landon the elf to boot. Luckily I woke up first and got offa him before he woke up. That woulda been awkward. I ain\u0026rsquo;t no fae-lover ever if the Yggians are all dirty racists who hate lycanthropes. Ta each their own, I say. I eat ma deer meat raw, elves like their pointy ears. Nothin\u0026rsquo; agin\u0026rsquo; em, but ma ears ain\u0026rsquo;t got points.\nSo the new fella introduced himself. He\u0026rsquo;s some kinda date-rape victim, met a cute elf chick and woke up behind pink skellies\u0026rsquo; door. That pissed off pink skellie something awful, but not enough to attack. Name\u0026rsquo;s Lodikai.\nAlso there was a new corpse in the room, one of the guards with forehead prisms. Not sure how he died. And Graeph ran off while I was unconscious.\nStria was making noises about feeding the dead guard to the mouthy thing. I said nope nope I ain\u0026rsquo;t having no part in that. It\u0026rsquo;s shut behind the door let\u0026rsquo;s leave it there. I need a god-damned vacation with a nice wolf bitch ta warm my bed. No more of this unholy shit. Outta the corner of my eye I caught Stria filling the chalice with blood from the dead guard. Didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to do anything. Course she didn\u0026rsquo;t try drinking it.\nI started walking towards the exit when Stria started moving towards the secret door again. Bumped into some guy, magic type, said his name was Jellinnajar. He was coming in while we were leaving. Popular place, this grotto. Told him he\u0026rsquo;d be best off coming with me and leaving. He didn\u0026rsquo;t believe me. Landon and the Prismatist did. The new guy, the one in leather, he stayed with Stria.\nI was just starting to drag the body of the other guard out of range when the gurgling started again and I said duck all this shit, I am outta here, dropped the body and ran.\nI made it back to town. So did everyone else, eventually, even Stria and the new folks. Two of them looking a lot worse for wear. Stria already looked a little weathered but now she has sucker-marks all over her face. That\u0026rsquo;s gonna give me nightmares, no mistake about it. I\u0026rsquo;ve felt that damned thing eating my flesh before and it\u0026rsquo;s gonna remind me every time I see her face.\nI need a vacation. Maybe I\u0026rsquo;ll take Snausages down to Oscar\u0026rsquo;s new temple and help him build it up for a while. No adventure, just chisel to stone. The life of a mason may be dull but that\u0026rsquo;s what I need right now.\nLodikai # After being duped by an elf in town over a drinking game, I found myself bound and gagged in some dark dungeon near town. To my surprise the hall door flew open and a old man with acid all over his face collapsed at the door.\nAfter freeing myself i tried to help this group of fellows who were being attacked by their own fellow.\nHe was dispatched quickly by the assassin with a flat blade to the noggin.\nNext after much debate i decided to help the Assassin open a door and WHOA was me the peril!\nBarely surviving the blabbering blob after I nearly killed Stria in my madness, and it even killed the 2 black skeletons in the room.\nWe managed to loot the amulets, re-shut the blubbering oozes\u0026rsquo; door and escape back to town. The price was heavy. But I am alive.\nStria # Bern got the door shut on the dirt monster. He then ran into a closet and shut the door. The soldiers after the prismatist stubbornly refused to come down the hallway. We needed to feed something to the monster so it would shut up and everyone would stop going mad. I turned my attention to the skeletons, since shoving Landon through the door would horrify the rest of the party. The pink one looked affected and most vulnerable. Greif shoved it out of the way of its door. Lo and behold, behind the door was a tied up man. I attacked the skeleton, but didn\u0026rsquo;t do any damage to it. Everyone seemed to wake up, and move around. Landon looked down the hallway and one of the guards was coming. Got back into position by the door.\nThere was a flash of light from the closet, then Bern came busting out looking even more wild than usual. He attacked the green skeleton, but didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to damage it. It tried to knock him out, but didn\u0026rsquo;t succeed. The guard came in the room. Landon struck him. I stabbed him between the plate armor, and now we had our sacrifice to the dirt monster. I turned to Bern, and knocked him out with the pommel of my dagger.\nI filled the magic chalice with the blood of the dead guard, but the chalice didn\u0026rsquo;t do anything, so we still don\u0026rsquo;t know what magic it has. Nobody wanted to drink it. Dumped the chalice out and put it back in my backpack. Everyone wanted to run away at that point. I wanted to make the monster stop making that horrible noise. Yelled at Bern and Landon for being cowards as they ran off.\nThe guy that was tied up had freed himself and run through the door before the pink skeleton regained its senses and shut its door. He stayed, and was willing to help me. He opened the secret door, and I threw the guard\u0026rsquo;s body on top of the dirt monster. Unfortunately, it wasn\u0026rsquo;t interested in dead meat, and came for us. It also didn\u0026rsquo;t shut up. Then I felt a burning pain in my side and everything went black.\nWhen I woke up, it was dark. I heard the monster eating, and Lodikai groaning. I sneakily shut the secret door, so the monster couldn\u0026rsquo;t get at us. At least it had shut up. I lit a candle, and saw both skeletons dead. I grabbed their amulets. AS I was dumping those in my pack, I noticed the chalice was gone. Damned monster must have somehow gotten it out of my pack. Well, with the skeletons dead, nothing will stop us next time from going through those doors, finding the back way to the altar, and getting the chalice back. There has to be a back way, since somebody dumped Lodikai behind the pink skeleton door.\nHelped Lodikai up and we staggered to the exit of the grotto. He had scars around his neck as if he was strangled. I have marks all over my body from the monster. Bastard is going down. I\u0026rsquo;ll make it my mission to research it in the library and find out how to kill it. Met up with the rest of the party in the inn, after running the gauntlet of the Ygg paladins, who were especially grumpy about anything Fae suddenly. Landon cast a spell to see if anything we had was magic. Nothing was. Time to rest up a bit, then hit the library for that research\u0026hellip;\n","date":"25 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-29/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # When I saw that thing with too many mouths behind the secret door, there was only one thing to do. I braced myself to resist it’s gurgling and slammed the door shut, then took a good look around me.\nEveryone else was nuts, even the jelly skellies.\nI did the only thing that made sense. I ran to the middle door, the one the skellies didn’t care about, opened it and ran in, closing the door behind me. I tried to ignore the noise from outside while I felt around the dark room. It had a strange black robe with an embroidered design and a lever on one of the shelves.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 29","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"This log chronicles the harrowing journey of a small band of survivors navigating the ruins of civilization. In a world ravaged by an unknown cataclysm, they must contend with mutated creatures, scarce resources, and the darkness that resides within humanity itself. Their mission: to endure, to uncover the truth of the apocalypse, and perhaps, to find a sliver of hope in the desolation.\n","date":"19 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/missionapocalypse/","section":"Mission Apocalypse","summary":"This log chronicles the harrowing journey of a small band of survivors navigating the ruins of civilization. In a world ravaged by an unknown cataclysm, they must contend with mutated creatures, scarce resources, and the darkness that resides within humanity itself. Their mission: to endure, to uncover the truth of the apocalypse, and perhaps, to find a sliver of hope in the desolation.\n","title":"Mission Apocalypse","type":"missionapocalypse"},{"content":"We had a real milkrun today. Good thing too cause it wasn\u0026rsquo;t really a paying deal. Billy, alocal kid, wanted about of an escort moving simchips from the plant to his place. He was worried there might be trouble. Smart kid. There always might be trouble. So we \u0026ndash; that\u0026rsquo;s me, billy, and elf-boy, plus new girl miss Theo who joined the team or something \u0026ndash; drove to the pickup spot and waited. They took there own sweet time loading up and elf-boy was getting nervous, started nagging \u0026rsquo;em. I walked around a bit but it did seem like they were making progress on a pallet that eventually got loaded into our truck. We drove off without incident and made it home the same way, despite a few nearby sirens.\n","date":"19 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/missionapocalypse/sessions/session-3/","section":"Mission Apocalypse","summary":"We had a real milkrun today. Good thing too cause it wasn’t really a paying deal. Billy, alocal kid, wanted about of an escort moving simchips from the plant to his place. He was worried there might be trouble. Smart kid. There always might be trouble. So we – that’s me, billy, and elf-boy, plus new girl miss Theo who joined the team or something – drove to the pickup spot and waited. They took there own sweet time loading up and elf-boy was getting nervous, started nagging ’em. I walked around a bit but it did seem like they were making progress on a pallet that eventually got loaded into our truck. We drove off without incident and made it home the same way, despite a few nearby sirens.\n","title":"Mission Apocalypse -- Session 3","type":"missionapocalypse"},{"content":"","date":"19 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/missionapocalypse/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Missionapocalypse","type":"tags"},{"content":"Lyrian was born a street rat. She was such a pretty child, her parents gave her to the beggars guild. Lyrian made the guild their investment many times over before she was a teenager. Having aged out of the beggar child role, she started begging with fake injuries or diseases. Always moving, never in the same part of town, or the same city or town, more than a few days. She\u0026rsquo;s seen thieves in action every day, and can spot a con a mile off. She disdains nobles, is a good actor, and has no qualms about using her looks to gain her pity or advantage.\nShe was begging by a fountain in a city square when she saw them. Sword masters. They gave a demonstration in the square to encourage the rich to hire them. Lyrian was dazzled. The sword masters swaggered, confident and aloof. They danced as they fought, and the sword forms with fancy names flowed like water.\nShe tagged after them when her begging shift was done. They didn\u0026rsquo;t think she was serious, but they let her hang around as they travelled. She watched them practice. She did chores in their camp. They treated her like a pet and let her play with a practice sword, following their moves. When she didn\u0026rsquo;t leave on her own, the leader decided to try tough love. He became like the worst drill sergeant the army ever dreamed up. Up before dawn, physical exercises, sword training, screaming at her if she forgot a fancy name for a form, or messed up the forms. He was somewhat dismayed when she took to it. He was surprised when she started to get the hang of it.\nWhen the sword masters got hired by a prince to guard him, they could not bring a trainee with them. So Lyrian went out on her own, with her rudimentary knowledge of the forms, and the code those sword masters followed. She\u0026rsquo;s determined to be the best sword master ever seen. In the meantime, she\u0026rsquo;s determined to make her mark adventuring and getting rich, jumping into danger with the same unthinking abandon as when she gave up her life as a beggar.\n","date":"18 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/lyrian/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Lyrian was born a street rat. She was such a pretty child, her parents gave her to the beggars guild. Lyrian made the guild their investment many times over before she was a teenager. Having aged out of the beggar child role, she started begging with fake injuries or diseases. Always moving, never in the same part of town, or the same city or town, more than a few days. She’s seen thieves in action every day, and can spot a con a mile off. She disdains nobles, is a good actor, and has no qualms about using her looks to gain her pity or advantage.\n","title":"Lyrian","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"THE GODS - THEIR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE - WHAT THEY DETEST\nArcantryl - Stars and Prophesy - Mundane and the Earth\nSt. Ygg - Righteousness and the Light - Irreverence, Blasphemy and Darkness\nBaracus - Wrestling and Athletics - Work and Inactivity\nCrom - Strength and Battle - Weakness and Cowardice\nBormanus - Salt and Minerals - Tempests and the Sky\nDenara - Wealth, Bureaucracy, Trade - Poverty, Anarchy, Isolation\nDogma - Knowledge, Scholars, Learning - Ignorance, Stupidity\nFortuna - Luck, Gamblers and Adventurers - Predictability, Bureaucracy\nHerne the Hunter - The Hunt, Swamps, Forests - The Wasted Kill, Wastelands, Civilization\nSilvanus - Nature and Balance - Cities and Fanaticism\nSyldina - Northern Wilderness - The Wasted Kill, Civilization\nValdghar - The Valdghardt Nomadic Barbarians, Bloodlust - Weakness and Cowardice\nZuul - Storms, Infernos, Tornados and Earthquakes (Natural Disasters) - Taming the Elements\nImpurax - Decay, Corruption and Pestilence - Growth, Sterility and Health\nOrcus - Undead, Death and the Underworld (Brother with Set) - Life and the Afterlife\nSet - Serpents, Death and the Underworld (Brother with Orcus) - Life and the Afterlife\n","date":"17 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/gods/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"THE GODS - THEIR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE - WHAT THEY DETEST\nArcantryl - Stars and Prophesy - Mundane and the Earth\nSt. Ygg - Righteousness and the Light - Irreverence, Blasphemy and Darkness\nBaracus - Wrestling and Athletics - Work and Inactivity\nCrom - Strength and Battle - Weakness and Cowardice\nBormanus - Salt and Minerals - Tempests and the Sky\nDenara - Wealth, Bureaucracy, Trade - Poverty, Anarchy, Isolation\n","title":"Gods","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-28.webp\nFeverborne # So the kid disappeared right after he stepped into the pool. Nobody wanted to try to follow him in. I tried tossing some pebbles where he was, but they passed right through the spot he was standing. No luck with that. I played out some rope and tossed it into the water, basically fishing for a barbarian. No luck with either. Well, hate to say it, kid, but you\u0026rsquo;ve got a habit of running off and then coming back just fine. We\u0026rsquo;re gonna give you some time, pack up the mirror, explore the rest of this place. Hopefully we\u0026rsquo;ll find you in one of the other rooms or you\u0026rsquo;ll find your way back eventually. If not, we\u0026rsquo;ll hold a wake. You were a good kid. Brave and strong and wise in the ways of your people. Almost too brave, really.\nAfter we got the mirror wrapped up and attached to Eddie the Mule, we looked around some more for the kid.\nNah. I can\u0026rsquo;t in fairness call him a kid. He earned a man\u0026rsquo;s name. u-Heury was a good friend and a good man. I will mourn his passing. So sad.\nAnyways we looked down the other staircase. It looked like it led to the same room, but still no sign of u-Heury. The only places left to look were the central room and the room guarded by dogs to the north. We chose to enter the central room by the northern pair of doors, reasoning that those were less likely to be trapped. Boarface volunteered to open them himself. After u-Heury disappeared he seems to have found his courage. Almost like he was a different person entirely\u0026hellip;\nThe central room contained five sarcophagi and a pair of skeletal ghosts dancing in a shower of iridescent slime, ten feet over the floor. Below them the slim dripped bit by bit into a huge fissure on the floor, as of the slow forces of erosion had worn their way through stone floor and the earth below over millennia.\nWe talked to the ghostly dancers. Well, mostly the husband, he was the talkative one. He told us the names of the people interred there, and insisted we all dance if we entered the room, but didn\u0026rsquo;t have anything to say about the rest of the place. Boarface played with the slime a bit and learned that it will levitate anything you coat with it for a minute or two. (Really, like a different person entirely, this newfound intellectual curiousity; it\u0026rsquo;s almost like someone woke him up and told him he had agency and to stop acting like a supporting character).\nWe tried to look down the fissure to see if it led to the same room u-Heury had disappeared in, but couldn\u0026rsquo;t see far enough down to be sure. We did remember not noticing any slime dripping from the ceiling in there, so probably not connected.\nThe only thing the ghostly dancers seemed to care about was dancing and that we not disturb their \u0026ldquo;family\u0026rdquo; in the graves. We preferred not to start a fight, so it was time to move on to the northern doors guarded by stone dogs.\nBoarface seemed willing to open the doors himself, so we let him. The rest of us took positions where we thought we would be out of reach from the chains restraining the dogs in case they animated, except for Boarface on door duty.\nHe touched the doors, there was a flash of light, and of course the dogs animated and rushed us.\nI took a shot with my bow and missed. Ygnas swung her mace and missed. The crossbow Merc hit, but the chunk it knocked off the dog\u0026rsquo;s beastial grimace healed up instantly. Not only were the dogs practically still made of stone, this really hard to get a solid hit on, but they appeared immune to damage from most of the group\u0026rsquo;s weapons. Crossbow guy ran off into the darkness without a light, through the central room with the fissure. I heard his feet running, then suddenly they stopped. I think he tried to jump the fissure blind. A moment later, a bloodcurdling scream.\nIt was going to be up to me.\nI slung my bow and drew my shiny new magic sword.\nBoarface stood his ground, bless the man\u0026rsquo;s fighting spirit. For a moment he reminded me of u-Heury my boon companion in arms. But then the dog ate him.\nI took two quick swings, coming close but missing each time. The corner between me and the dog was cramping my style, and a kind of furious focused rage filled my soul. That dog ate my friend Boarface and it was going to die! I stepped forward to take Boarface\u0026rsquo;s place, the floor slippery with his blood, and swung viciously. My sword sliced clean through the stone, and a large chunk fell to the floor without reforming. My sword worked! I taunted the beast and swung again as Ygnas fell to the floor in a bloody mess beside me. Another chunk of stone dog fell, buy this time it\u0026rsquo;s teeth grazed my arm, and blood flew. I winced at the pain, even through my armor, but a soldier knows how to fight through pain.\nThe sword was as light as the wind in my hand, the sword forms a dance that would have put the ghost dancers to shame. With a flourish I pulled the blade free of the first dog, only to see the second ravaging Ygnas\u0026rsquo; leg like a chew toy. She wasn\u0026rsquo;t moving, not even to scream. For a moment indecision filled my soul. Could I drag the dance was over, and the dog\u0026rsquo;s slavering stone teeth heading for my face was the last thing I saw.\nAt least until I woke up, weak as a kitten, naked as the day I was born, and covered in henna body paint with some obscure symbology, and a priest of Ygg looking down at me and to my mind enjoying the sight of my scrawny, naked, rail thin form a lot more than a priest really should. Ygnas filled me in on what happened.\nShe woke up a little while later, covered in her own blood and my blood. The dog got me, I fell over onto her unconscious body and bled out. By the time she woke up the dog was back to stone statue mode. She dragged me out, carried me back to Westkeep on her back, bought a cart and 3 more mules, traveled all the way to Eastdale with the mirror and my corpse, and convinced the church of St Ygg to bring me back to life, trading the mirror we had acquired for the service.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not sure how I feel about that. The back to life bit. I mean I\u0026rsquo;m grateful to Ygnas for the effort. I don\u0026rsquo;t want to die. I know it\u0026rsquo;s a risk in this line of work, but I want to live. But do I owe some kind of debt to St Ygg for bringing me back? Or is the debt paid by the fae mirror they took as payment? Is there a moral debt as well as a financial one, to be settled by simple trade of value for value? If indeed it was a trade of value for value, than is it not Denara, the goddess of commerce Oscar is always blathering about, who I truly owe? I will need to ponder this, and decide what I truly wish to do with my life. I feel so weak,and the priests tell me it will last two weeks, so I will have ample time to contemplate.\nI feel my cough coming back, too. I can tell that I will need to focus intently on my health if I am to thrive as an adventurer.\nThe St Yggians said they would destroy the mirror. Good riddance. But I doubt they would be happy about my sword from the same place. And I\u0026rsquo;m not happy that the damn thing won\u0026rsquo;t let me run when that\u0026rsquo;s the sane thing to do. Since I was gonna be stuck in bed for a while anyway, I figured I would have a custom harness made for two swords. One normal one and then this \u0026ldquo;fae blade\u0026rdquo;. Saw a guy named Geralt do that once, he said the silver sword was for monsters and the steel sword for men. Sounds about right. Cept in my case the steel sword is for when I think I might need to run.\nAlso got a whip. Something about the phrase \u0026ldquo;the fae blade\u0026rdquo; just says I need a whip, and maybe to start carving my initials into things.\nThe kid was back when I woke up. Turns out he spent a few seconds in some kind of frozen landscape where he badly needed winter clothing and left by backing out a few steps. But, the catch is, he was gone for days so he had to catch up after the rest of us had died and left.\nNow I have a lot less money, but I do have a wagon and four mules to pull it, and I need a vacation. I need a vacation badly. Maybe I\u0026rsquo;ll go out one more time to get these mules and wagon back to Westkeep, where I can help Oscar out clearing forest and logging trees for a while.\nYgnas # With Barbarian Boy missing, the first thing Feverborne thinks of is to get the mirror covered and loaded on the poor mule. That accomplished with the muscle of the cannon fodder, we checked out the other stairs to see if they led to the same water logged room. Looked like they did. Same pool, same statue, same floating ghost candles moving to some unheard music.\nWe decided to look for Barbarian Boy in the first room with double doors, going in from the north side. Well, the cannon fodder went in. No danger in there, and no kid. Plenty of oddities. The two floating and dancing skeletons were in there, along with five coffins, a fissure in the floor, and dripping glowing slime from the ceiling. We haven\u0026rsquo;t found stairs, and the top of the barrow certainly wasn\u0026rsquo;t covered in slime from the outside, so where is the slime coming from? The male skeleton identified the people in the coffins as \u0026ldquo;family.\u0026rdquo; But there weren\u0026rsquo;t any other coffins, so why were the skeletons drawn here, and where were they laid to rest. They didn\u0026rsquo;t know who they were. Only that they awakened and needed to dance to the music. Still unheard music. Then again, if I hear that music, I\u0026rsquo;m probably dead. Considering this was supposed to be the barrow of the hero, there are way more dead people here than I expected. His whole family?\nWe decided to check the next set of double doors with the chained dog statues. I stayed well back and ordered the cannon fodder to open the doors. As soon as they cracked the doors open, the dog statues, as expected, animated. Since the words on the doors said something about calling the companions, I warned Feverborne to check the room with the companion statues. They didn\u0026rsquo;t move, thank Zuul. The dogs were enough. The cannon fodder fled back. The archer and Feverborne shot at the dogs, but didn\u0026rsquo;t hit them. What did hit them healed over new stone immediately. Boarface showed commendable resolve, and tried to hit one of the dogs. He did no damage, but the dog killed him. I faced the second one, but it got me and slammed me around like a toy. Everything went black, and I heard it, the music.\nThen I woke up. I guess Zuul didn\u0026rsquo;t want me in the afterlife yet. With Feverborne on top of me. I got out from under him, and checked him over, but he was dead. There was a pile of stone rubble by Boarface\u0026rsquo;s body, so Feverborne must have killed it. The other dog was back by the door as a statue again. No sign of the archer. Bastard coward. No sign of Barbarian Boy. I had a vague idea that the St. Ygg priests could resurrect people for a price. Feverborne had said the mirror was worth a lot. It was already loaded up on the mule. I looked at the body for a while, and felt like it\u0026rsquo;d be a shitty thing to do to just leave someone who had my back and pulled me out of danger several times. Feverborne died a hero. Seemed the least I could do is try to save the man.\nI was weak as a kitten, but I got the body over my shoulders in a carry, and headed out with the mule. It was a tense few days getting to town. I was afraid to sleep. Kept the body in the tent with me, so the flies and carrion eaters wouldn\u0026rsquo;t get at it. Didn\u0026rsquo;t know how to wrap it, or what to wrap it with. It was grim company. In town, people wanted to help me, but they couldn\u0026rsquo;t help me, and I didn\u0026rsquo;t have time to waste on useless people. They actually suggested burying the body. Burying! Of all the gross, disrespectful, heretical notions. Bodies get burned as is proper. The priest there was good only to heal me up. As much as he could; I have scars on my leg, and a limp. I used Feverborne\u0026rsquo;s money to buy a wagon and three more mules, so I could carry the body and mirror to the bigger town. Makes sense to use the dead man\u0026rsquo;s money to try to save the dead man. Another tense few days to get to town. I was stopped at the gates by paranoid guards babbling about occult things. They inspected the cart and charged me an outrageous amount of gold to get in. I paid it, but I was thinking of those two bastards burning at the stake the whole time.\nWent immediately to the Ygg temple. The paladins about fell all over themselves when I said I had a magic donation to the church in exchange for a resurrection. They led me to a priest with a title bigger than he was. I hid my holy symbol and played nice. Simpered, batted my eyes, flattered him. We found the mirror in ruins in the Fae forest. I said we were bringing the Fae mirror to him, so Ygg could protect the world from it, and we were set upon by bandits with dogs. Idiot ate it up. Especially after they tested the mirror on some poor novice. He was saying he agreed the magic mirror was worth the price of a resurrection when Barbarian Boy strolled in. I thanked the idiot high priest profusely and grabbed the kid to drag him out, telling the priest we would leave him to his meditations to prepare for the ritual. I was terrified the kid would say where we really were. I\u0026rsquo;d been deliberately vague to try to throw the paladins off. Because the priest will send the paladins out after the Fae. He had that fanatic gleam in his eyes. I feel sorry for the Fae, giving the Ygg priests a reason to target them, but better to sacrifice the Fae to the Yggians than make ourselves their target.\nBrought Barbarian Boy back to the tavern and grilled him none too gently. Here he is fine and not a scratch on him, and two of us died. Granted, I came back to life, and Feverborne would be back in the morning, but still. He said he was transported to a place with a tower and snow on the ground. He backed out and returned to the room with the pool. He swore it lasted a few seconds. I was intrigued about the tower in the snow, because somewhere in the barrow we\u0026rsquo;d read that the hero interred there had killed some frost lord or something. Seems the kid found the lord\u0026rsquo;s tower. I\u0026rsquo;m wondering if he was really killed, if the pool in the barrow celebrating his killer goes to his tower.\nIn the morning, after warning Barbarian Boy to keep his mouth shut, we went back to the temple for the ritual. He\u0026rsquo;s a self righteous idiot, but the priest knew his business. Feverborne popped right up. Has some manly scars on his face now that will undoubtedly impress the ladies. We left him in the inn on bedrest for a few weeks to heal back up good as new.\n","date":"16 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-28/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-28.webp\nFeverborne # So the kid disappeared right after he stepped into the pool. Nobody wanted to try to follow him in. I tried tossing some pebbles where he was, but they passed right through the spot he was standing. No luck with that. I played out some rope and tossed it into the water, basically fishing for a barbarian. No luck with either. Well, hate to say it, kid, but you’ve got a habit of running off and then coming back just fine. We’re gonna give you some time, pack up the mirror, explore the rest of this place. Hopefully we’ll find you in one of the other rooms or you’ll find your way back eventually. If not, we’ll hold a wake. You were a good kid. Brave and strong and wise in the ways of your people. Almost too brave, really.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 28","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-27.webp\nFrederick # Well, I do say I had the strangest experience of my life today. I was talking, well drinking really, with one of the newest members of our little band. Odd girl likes to use a sword and a dagger at the same time. Who does that?\nAnyways she reminded me of some missing members, people who had found some sort of secret thingamajig in the library and gone to explore it and never came back. So we walked the company dog Snausages over to the library and negotiated admittance. The sticking point was Snausages, and I told them how much I loved the dog and how he was my emotional support animal and threatened to cry. I think it was the last part that got them to let me in, they\u0026rsquo;ve never seen a paladin cry before.\nThey did make me cut his lead down to 5 feet from 50.\nSo they let us in and guided us to the architecture section because I asked about doors. Why did I ask about doors? It was what the note said to look for. We looked for hours, but finally, Lyrian found the door. She said something about looking for where people aren\u0026rsquo;t, which makes so sense to me?\nBut she did find a door and we went through it. Behind it we found a hallway with a door at the far end and a heavy vault door to one side. The vault door had a combination lock and a key, but Lyrian had a hairpin and I remembered that there were only a few possibilities to check. Turns out the combination was 1-2-3! We got the door open!\nInside the new room we found 5 vats of ink being stirred by some strange mechanism. Black, red, blue, green, and \u0026hellip; Iridescent?\nThere was also a mess of papers over the floor, from which emerged a massive bookworm. I struck It a firm blow with my sword, and it nibbled on my big toe before Lyrian killed it. For a brief moment I was almost paralyzed! But I comforter myself by imagining filing a form to Denara for relief of paralysis, and it worked! We shoved the body into the tunnel the worm came from to block it off, in case there were more.\nBrad eth Bard wandered into the room about that time, and was able to decipher a little bit more from the discarded papers, but nothing useful. He did experiment a bit with the ink, and it turns out that anything you coat with the blue ink turns invisible! I dipped my sword in, leaving only the hilt uncoated, and now I am The Man With The Invisible Sword! I\u0026rsquo;m going to be famous!\nHowever, all the poking and prodding woke up an ink elemental and we fled out the door, locking it behind us.\nThe passageway continued, oddly getting smaller and smaller, until finally we came upon a door only four feet tall. Lyrian and Brad went through while I stood watch. They found a bunch of maps, including one of the caverns of Archaya, which would be very useful to the other Butchers. But I sternly reminded them whole keeping watch that we are not thieves, we are only here looking for our friends. I didn\u0026rsquo;t notice anything missing when we all continued through the tiny room.\nThe next room was some sort of bizarre mechanism powered by undead turning wheels and gears. I wanted to destroy them, but that would be vandalism, and they seemed\u0026hellip; Tame? At any rate none attacked us and we did not attack them. I\u0026rsquo;ll report the skeletons to Oscar later. He will know what to do.\nAfter that a room filled with boxes. Lyrian opened one, checking for our friends, and found candles\u0026hellip; And bees. Lots of bees. We left quickly.\nThe next room had a lectern with a book chained to it. The book was open to a passage about initiation rites for St Ygg. After a few minutes there, a mist monster formed, so we ran.\nThe next room contained a strange sarcophagus with musical notation and instruments carved into it. Lyrian and Brad lifted off the lid to make sure our friends weren\u0026rsquo;t inside while I examined the carvings and tried to remember whether they were representative of a particular deity. (No, they are not. At least I couldn\u0026rsquo;t think of one.). They found a skeleton inside, with a pouch around it\u0026rsquo;s neck.\nBrad did something horribly noisy, too. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure what, just that it made quite a racket. I cringed but didn\u0026rsquo;t look. No respect for the dead! Anyways, Lyrian distracted me by offering a pretty gemstone as a gift! I wonder where she got it, and why she chose this exact moment to give it to me, but clearly she is the soul of generosity and friendship. Or perhaps this is a courting gift? I will never understand women.\nNor do I understand how to donate ten percent of a gemstone. Perhaps I keep the gemstone and donate ten percent of its value? It would be crude to sell a gift from a friend. Perhaps I shall wear it around my neck in a pouch so I don\u0026rsquo;t lose it until I figure out how to properly handle the matter. Oscar will know, he understands women!\nLyrian # I met up with Frederick, another probationary member of the Butchers, at the tavern. He was feeding a dog. The company must be okay if they have dogs. Frederick seems like a nice sort. He has stories for everything. I like the stories. Frederick wanted to visit the library. Something about missing Butchers. Then he forgot all about wanting to go to the library. I had to remind him, and then he took a note from under his helmet and he remembered. We went to the library. Frederick conned the guards at the door to let the dog in with us. Something about an emotional support animal. Never head of that, but if it lets us keep the dog, I\u0026rsquo;m all for it.\nThe librarian at the desk wouldn\u0026rsquo;t let us browse around, but Frederick said we wanted to look at doors, so she led us to the architectural section and left us alone. It took several hours trying to figure out where people didn\u0026rsquo;t want to be to find the door we were looking for. Through the door was a hallway and a vault door. A vault in a library was too much of a curiosity to ignore. Frederick said he had gone to something called math class and learned all about combinations. He fiddled with the circular handle and figured out the combination, then he picked the lock with my dagger. Amazing! I was really impressed with that math stuff.\nInside the vault were five vats of ink in suspended cauldrons with spouts underneath, being stirred by giant whisks hanging from the ceiling. I have no idea why ink would need to be in a vault. We didn\u0026rsquo;t have anything to put ink in, and we were about to leave, when a giant worm came out of a bunch of papers on the floor. It attacked Frederick, he hit it, and I finished it off. Dual wielding is harder than it looked when the swordmaster did it. I\u0026rsquo;m gonna keep trying, and I\u0026rsquo;ll be the best swordmaster ever. Brad was very clever, and dipped string into each vat of ink. The blue ink made the string invisible. Ok, maybe that deserves to be in a vault after all. The boys dipped their weapon blades in the invisible ink, and they became invisible. I didn\u0026rsquo;t want invisible blades. I want everyone to know I\u0026rsquo;m armed and I\u0026rsquo;m coming for them. The multicolor ink probably did something too, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t tell what. Then something started to come out of the ink, and we ran and shut the door behind us.\nWe went down the hallway, which became short. It led to a small door into a tiny room with lots of maps in frames hanging on the walls. I found a cavern one that looked important, and took a few others. Frederick grumbled about not being thieves. They certainly aren\u0026rsquo;t doing anyone any good hanging down here in a room you have to crawl to get into. Besides, they might be worth money. A former beggar never turns up an opportunity for money. We left the tiny room from the door on the other side, and the hallway became big enough to stand up straight again. It led to a room with lots of steam and noise and equipment, run by skeletons. Luckily, they weren\u0026rsquo;t interested in attacking us, being busy making the equipment run, so we sidled by and out the door on the other side. Distressing lack of architectural diversity in this library.\nThe next room was another vault. Frederick picked the door with my dagger again, but cut himself this time. This vault had a bunch of locked books hanging from chains from the ceiling. Somebody does not want whatever is in those books to get out. I looked in one of the crates along the wall, and it had candles \u0026hellip; and bees the size of my hands. I put the cover back on fast, and ran for the door. As we got out the door, the bees were buzzing louder and starting to crawl out of all the crates. Yikes.\nMore hallway to another door. This door opened into a sort of meeting room with a book nailed to a lectern. Again, somebody does not want that book going anywhere. Seems awfully weird for a library to be confining books so much. The book was about initiation for St. Ygg. Frederick was complaining about wanting to go back and turn the unnatural undead skeletons in the other room, and I said go ahead, but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t dealing with skeletons or bees, and to let us know how it turned out. We turned back around and saw a mist coming through the closed door at the other end of the room. The mist floated towards the lectern, which began to rattle and shake. The mist became thick fog, and we couldn\u0026rsquo;t see. Brad sang that he was making his way along the wall towards the far door. I made my way to the wall on the opposite side and felt my way to the door. Split up the targets. Frederick must have charged down the middle, because he bumped into us soon after. We stumbled out the door as the fog started to solidify, and slammed the door behind us. Fog tendrils caught by the door fell to the floor and disappeared. That\u0026rsquo;s some scary shit. Bet it would have suffocated us, if we\u0026rsquo;d stayed in the room. I can\u0026rsquo;t figure out for the life of my why such a room to St. Ygg would be in a library that is a temple to a different god.\nMore hallway to a small square room. On one side was a black sarcophagus. On the other was a staircase down into depths we couldn\u0026rsquo;t see the bottom of. In front was another door. The boys insisted on checking for traps or whatever. Finally I was able to open the sarcophagus. It had a skeleton holding a pouch. Frederick inspected the lid of the sarcophagus, so I grabbed the pouch when he wasn\u0026rsquo;t looking. At the same time, Brad, paranoid about the skeleton animating, pulled off it\u0026rsquo;s arms, and got bones all over. There was no need to desecrate the corpse like that. If the skeleton animated, Frederick could try turning it like he wanted to with the others. No problem. I opened the pouch and found gems. I gave one to Brad and one to Frederick. I\u0026rsquo;ll keep one, and we\u0026rsquo;ll split the sale proceeds of the other one. The door led to more boring hallway, so of course we\u0026rsquo;re going down the stairs. It seems the most likely place to look for the missing folks.\n","date":"12 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-27/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-27.webp\nFrederick # Well, I do say I had the strangest experience of my life today. I was talking, well drinking really, with one of the newest members of our little band. Odd girl likes to use a sword and a dagger at the same time. Who does that?\nAnyways she reminded me of some missing members, people who had found some sort of secret thingamajig in the library and gone to explore it and never came back. So we walked the company dog Snausages over to the library and negotiated admittance. The sticking point was Snausages, and I told them how much I loved the dog and how he was my emotional support animal and threatened to cry. I think it was the last part that got them to let me in, they’ve never seen a paladin cry before.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 27","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Ygnas was sold by her parents to the Sage when she was a small child. Intended to be a servant, the Sage discovered that the girl was bright and curious, so she became his apprentice. When she got a little older, she started asking questions about everything. This annoyed him, and he put a gag on her for a few weeks. She learned to find the answers herself in the tower library, and to be quiet.\nThe tower was her home for years. She rarely left it. She knew nothing of the world except what was in books. In her early 20s, she started hearing a voice in the fireplace. She thought she was going mad. The voice talked about the God Zuul. She had never heard of this God, and researched him. The voice, and the flames, became her only friends.\nShe determined to leave to follow Zuul. But the Sage would not part willingly with his property. Ygnas followed the fire\u0026rsquo;s instructions, and killed the Sage. She couldn\u0026rsquo;t bear to destroy the books, so she didn\u0026rsquo;t burn the tower. With no formal priestly teaching, she set off to do Zuul\u0026rsquo;s will out in the world.\n","date":"10 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/ygnas/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" Ygnas was sold by her parents to the Sage when she was a small child. Intended to be a servant, the Sage discovered that the girl was bright and curious, so she became his apprentice. When she got a little older, she started asking questions about everything. This annoyed him, and he put a gag on her for a few weeks. She learned to find the answers herself in the tower library, and to be quiet.\n","title":"Ygnas","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-26.webp\nFeverborne # So we dragged u-Heury through the big room with the pillars and the dog statues. Whatever was on that needle really put him out. We left him propped up in another corner to investigate another room. This place has been pretty symmetrical so far, but the Eastern version of this room had statues and a moldy tapestry on the east wall. All the statues had solid weapons, real ones. One of each type; sword, spear, halberd, mace,etc.\nOf course the statues are going to come alive and try to kill us, that\u0026rsquo;s just what statues do. But I had a plan. I walk in bold as brass and start clicking my tongue and criticizing the place. That mold is a health hazard. Can\u0026rsquo;t breathe that stuff. Talking like I was inspecting a barracks, only for a museum. Got a good look behind the tapestry with u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s spear. Got a Nasty whiff of the mold doing it, had a coughing fit for a few minutes. Didn\u0026rsquo;t see anything behind the tapestry, but it really wasn\u0026rsquo;t a good look so I explained we were gonna have to burn the whole thing because of the mold but we would come back with a new one, still talking like a Sargeant, or maybe a museum curator. Almost the same thing, right?\nAbout that time u-Heury woke up, so we took him out into the woods to make some treatments for the mold, then came back to burn it. I had to drag Ygnas away from the smoke. So glad Oscar warned me about her. Nothing animated and killed us. But the cultist girl was dead on the altar and being eaten by wolves. It was messy. Oh well; I had figured taking their sacrificial knives would keep the girl alive. Guess not. Maybe we can sell the knives?\nSo I inspected the weapons for rust and declared they all needed to be removed for cleaning. And we removed them, in several trips. Nothing animated and killed us. u-Heury did look at the mirror on the way out and promptly froze, so we had to drag him out too. Took him a few minutes to come back.\nHe did say the mirror looked valuable, though. Carvings of unicorns in silver and such. And, y\u0026rsquo;know, it freezes people. If we can find a rich guy who can\u0026rsquo;t get his wife to shut up it\u0026rsquo;s worth it\u0026rsquo;s weight in platinum. And it\u0026rsquo;s damn heavy.\nI gotta remember to ask the kid what he saw when he was out of it. If anything.\nWe decided not to press our luck further, and headed back to town. Stopped at Oscar\u0026rsquo;s new temple. Zero stars, would not recommend until after extensive renovations are complete.\nThe local priest of st Ygg told us the sword from the statue is magical. Nothing else was. Good thing I use swords. The other two must be so disappointed. Kinda wondering where Oscar got off to if he\u0026rsquo;s not at his temple or in town.\nBought a bunch of supplies, two men at arms and a mule. It\u0026rsquo;s like that Merc group Oscar met, two and a half men, but the half man is a mule. I named him Eddie, because he reminded me of a story about an ogre who befriended a talking donkey.\nOne of the armsmen calls himself Taserface. No, wait, Boarface. What a sad, sad name. Apparently this guy\u0026rsquo;s own mother failed to love his face.\nWe made our way back to the barrow, prepared to haul out everything that could be hauled. We\u0026rsquo;re gonna be rich.\nWe poked our head into the staircases leading down. There\u0026rsquo;s a pool of water at the bottom, and a statue. u-Heury took the lead. Kid doesn\u0026rsquo;t lack for courage so long as you don\u0026rsquo;t mention magic; brains are a different story. He poked at the water a bit, walked in, and disappeared.\n\u0026hellip;\n\u0026hellip;\n\u0026hellip;\nWe\u0026rsquo;re gonna go pack up the mirror and put it on the mule (we left it tied to a tree outside) before trying to go after the kid. Maybe he\u0026rsquo;ll come back in the meantime?\nYgnas # We took a quick look at the next room, with four pillars in the middle, two sets of double doors on either end, and stone dogs chained to the north set of doors. Ahngela wandered off. Neither Feverborne or I were keen to open either set of double doors. Feverborne lugged the unconscious Barbarian Boy to the hallway to the east and we investigated the room connecting to the room with the mirror.\nThere were a bunch of statues of men holding real weapons in that room, and moldy tapestries along the wall. We were positive the statues would come alive and attack us. Feverborne poked at the tapestries with a spear, and promptly had a coughing attack from the mold. I dragged him back out of the room to limit his exposure to the mold. I heard a noise like bones. Looking in the room with the pillars, I saw two shiny skeletons floating in the air, as if dancing around. I ducked and hid the torch, trying not to attract their attention. Eventually, they faded away. That freaked me out, because they were not there when we came through, so where did they come from?\nBarbarian Boy woke up about then. He didn\u0026rsquo;t seem impressed that he missed dancing skeletons. Feverborne stopped coughing his lungs up. After some discussion about taking the weapons, because the boys were lusting after those weapons, we went outside so Barbarian Boy could make something to treat the mold. Well, we tried to go. He looked into the mirror that the rest of us have assiduously avoided and froze. Feverborne threw him over a shoulder and took him outside, where the sunlight revived him. He didn\u0026rsquo;t say what he saw in the mirror. Feverborne immediately wanted the mirror, saying it would sell for a ton of money. Zuul isn\u0026rsquo;t interested in money, but I\u0026rsquo;ll help them acquire more money.\nWhile the kid was assembling the herbal treatment, we noticed that the cultists were gone from the stone ring. Wolves and vultures were picking at the remains of a girl. So, she got her wish after all, regardless of the lack of silver knives. Fine. But dumb on their part, because now the rest of the party doesn\u0026rsquo;t know where to go to deal with the lake monster, and the villagers will just have to keep killing girls who might not be as willing as this one was.\nWe went back inside. I got to set fire to the tapestries. I was happily lost in the lovely flames, but Feverborne dragged me away. I sputtered at him in protest, but it was getting smoky in there, and it was nice of him not to let me die of smoke inhalation. I watched the rest of the fire from the doorway. No secret doors on the wall under the tapestries on this side of the barrow. We each grabbed a weapon and prepared to run. The statues didn\u0026rsquo;t move. Yet. So we took the rest of the weapons. I fully expect those stone bastards to come alive at some point as we investigate the rest of the barrow.\nNot wanting to press our luck, we headed back towards town. A self righteous cleric of Ygg cast a spell to see if the weapons were magic. Useless spell good only for morons of that useless god. The sword Feverborne grabbed was magic. We set the rest aside to sell. He talked me into keeping the flanged mace, so I\u0026rsquo;d have a spare. It is pretty, so I did. Barbarian Boy required a few days to rest, so we did what shopping we could. Feverborne hired two men and I split the cost of a mule with him. Seems only fair. I\u0026rsquo;m not using my money for anything else. If I\u0026rsquo;m helpful, it\u0026rsquo;ll lull them into complacency, and they won\u0026rsquo;t watch me so closely.\nI offered to take first watch on the way back to the barrow, but Feverborne ruined my fun by having the hirelings sit watches as well. Boarface muttered I was a witch when I innocently stirred the fire maybe a teensy bit too hard. I glared at him, instructed him on the difference between a cleric and a witch, and told him all about Zuul. His eyes glazed over by the time second watch got up. He\u0026rsquo;s the first one getting pushed through the double doors with the stone dogs. I hope they eat him.\nYet again, no one wanted to touch either room with double doors. So Barbarian Boy tied a rope around himself and started down the stairs to the room below with water. I was offended that he put out my torch I let him borrow. He said there were floating ghost candles down there. Creepy. He promptly vanished when he touched the water. Well, that\u0026rsquo;s exciting.\nI\u0026rsquo;m betting he\u0026rsquo;s in the mirror, but I\u0026rsquo;m not about to look.\n","date":"8 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-26/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-26.webp\nFeverborne # So we dragged u-Heury through the big room with the pillars and the dog statues. Whatever was on that needle really put him out. We left him propped up in another corner to investigate another room. This place has been pretty symmetrical so far, but the Eastern version of this room had statues and a moldy tapestry on the east wall. All the statues had solid weapons, real ones. One of each type; sword, spear, halberd, mace,etc.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 26","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-25.webp\nFeverborne # I dropped Snausages off with the group and headed down to Westkeep, where Oscar has gotten himself off to. I guess the man was chasing rewards from the talking frog. I bumped into him in the Dolemwood,I guess after he interrupted some sort of ceremony. He wanted to make arrangements for some sort of new temple on the woods. I thought his god was all about civilization? Anyways I agreed to investigate this ceremony thing and the barrow on his behalf. He had some sort of claim on Yvette, the self-sacrificing redhead. Something about becoming an acolyte? It wasn\u0026rsquo;t very clear. I\u0026rsquo;ll try to stop by his temple on the way back to Westkeep to ask what to do with her.\nAfter asking a few questions about the ceremony, I figured the best way to keep everyone out of trouble was to confiscate the silver ritual sacrifice knives while we explored the barrow. No murders or suicides without the special knives. At least I hope not.\nFor future reference they each had some sort of symbol on a golden torc. An owl. Ygnas said it was a Drune symbol, which means nothing to me.\nWe found some sort of hole in one side of the barrow. Almost big enough for u-Heury to fit. He refused to take off his armor to do it, which was smart, but I think he was mostly trying to hide that he doesn\u0026rsquo;t have any hair on his chest yet. Kid, we know already.\nInstead we used a rope to pull the front door (a solid slab of stone) down. That led to a staircase down, into a square room with strange artifacts. A cross, a book, a candle, and a cherub, all covered in yellow mold. The room had a dust covered mural on the floor, passageways east and west, and a pair of doors to the north.\nI was just telling everyone that we should clean up the mural in case it had clues to what was obviously a puzzle. While I was talking Ygnas lit the candle on fire and all four objects animated, bleeding about sinners. We killed them all, though they left a puff of dust behind that choked us a little each time. Then we cleaned off the mural. It\u0026rsquo;s a depiction of St Clyde. No obvious clues, unless we were supposed to pick the cross because St Ygg?\nThere was some writing. Turns out Ahnjela\u0026rsquo;s frog sword \u0026ndash; she\u0026rsquo;s named it Faerloche \u0026ndash; lets her read frog-speak.\nTo the east is a room with a mirror that once held a display point for a statue. Marks on the floor show where the statue walked out? Or was dragged out? Also a stair down and passage north.\nTo the west is a similar room, only with a statue. It\u0026rsquo;s the elf chick haunting u-Heury. Blindfolded. Weird.\nWe went north and found a small chapel with a statue and pews. Light a candle in the statue and wind blows out your torch with weird sound effects. Who puts a chapel in a tomb? There\u0026rsquo;s also a secret door behind a tapestry, leading to a smaller room that might be an office, with two desks. I found a moldy book in one, after we killed three strange worms.\nYgnas found a loose flagstone with some treasure inside. Healing wafers and some other stuff. It was in a lockbox, which u-Heury managed to open. He also managed to get poisoned by a trap on the lock, which knocked him out. Ahnjela recognized the poison, and said he would be awake in an hour or so.\nI took the opportunity to draw a moustache on his face. It\u0026rsquo;s doing him a favor; the chicks will dig it.\nNorth from the chapel room is a larger room with pillars and two statues that resemble guard dogs. We left u-Heury just outside that room while we explored further.\nYgnas # My babysitter is gone! Oscar wandered off, probably to the mill where he wants to put a temple. Feverborne showed up and got up to speed on the villagers wanting to perform ritual sacrifice. I noticed they had gold torques around their necks, some sort of Drune symbol of an owl, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t know any more than that. Feverborne took the silver knives, and the others hoped that would prevent the ritual from going forward while we investigated the barrow. I don\u0026rsquo;t know why everyone is in such a tizzy about going to their village and helping them with some monster. If an entire village, multiple generations, weren\u0026rsquo;t willing to just kill the thing, and instead caved to it, killing their virgin women instead to appease it, then they deserve to live with it.\nAll of us had to struggle with the stone in front of the barrow entrance. We finally pulled it open with a rope and lots of effort. The dust in the passage to the first room indicated no one had been in the barrow in some time. The room just inside the entrance had a cross, a cherub, a book and a candle. Of course I lit the candle. That made all the artifacts start floating and talking about the rest of the party being sinners. They seemed shocked when I helped the others destroy them. The artifacts poofed into choking dust. Feverborne cleared the mural on the floor. I was busy holding the torch, of course, so I couldn\u0026rsquo;t possibly help. Ahngela discovered she could read the words in the mural if she held the frog sword. She then named her sword.\nThere were double doors ahead of us, and passages to the east and west. I don\u0026rsquo;t know why we didn\u0026rsquo;t go through the double doors. It seems like that would be where the dead guy would be that Barbarian Boy needs to get the ring off of. The room to the east had a base where a statue should have been, in front of the mirror. Nobody was dumb enough to look into the mirror. It made me think of the mirrors in the creepy tree place, where the statue of the hunter and two dogs had disappeared when someone looked in one of the mirrors.\nThe room to the west had a statue of the elf lady that Barbarian Boy had seen in his dream. Only with a blindfold on her, and with a hand raised as if urging quiet. That wasn\u0026rsquo;t ominous at all. I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to go west, because that side of the barrow was where there had been a hole with slime outside, but everyone else wanted to clear the place out. We found a deteriorated chapel with tapestries on the walls. There was a candle on the altar. There can\u0026rsquo;t be two creepy candles, right? Feverborne grabbed me before I could light it. He\u0026rsquo;s stronger than me, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t struggle or bite him. Eventually he let me go and let me light the candle. The torch blew out in a wind that came out of nowhere, and we heard sounds of a battle. I relit the torch, the candle blew out, and the sounds disappeared. Apparently there can be more than one creepy candle in this place. And also apparently, I\u0026rsquo;ve only substituted babysitters. Oscar must have warned Feverborne to keep an eye on me. Interfering busybodies. I have to wonder, though, why a chapel in a closed barrow? If it wasn\u0026rsquo;t always closed, then why was it suddenly closed up?\nI found a secret door behind a tapestry along the west wall. Barbarian Boy rammed into it and opened the door. In that room were three gross pink worms with teeth. Well, that explains the slime outside. The worms attacked, but Barbarian Boy, Ahngela and Feverborne killed them. The room had a roll top desk on one end and a table on the other. Feverborne pried open the desk drawer and found a moldy book. Ahngela found a hidey hole in the floor that had a metal box in it. Barbarian Boy made himself lockpicks out of wire. Who carries a spool of wire on an adventure? He successfully pried the box open, but also missed the poison trap and fell unconscious. The box had a prayer book, a cross, a scroll, and a box of wafers. I ate a wafer and my injuries didn\u0026rsquo;t feel as bad.\nFeverborne borrowed some ash from my torch and drew a mustache on Barbarian Boy. Ahngela said he\u0026rsquo;d be out for about an hour. We propped his body in a corner in the hallway to the north of the chapel, while we explored a bit more.\n","date":"2 September 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-25/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-25.webp\nFeverborne # I dropped Snausages off with the group and headed down to Westkeep, where Oscar has gotten himself off to. I guess the man was chasing rewards from the talking frog. I bumped into him in the Dolemwood,I guess after he interrupted some sort of ceremony. He wanted to make arrangements for some sort of new temple on the woods. I thought his god was all about civilization? Anyways I agreed to investigate this ceremony thing and the barrow on his behalf. He had some sort of claim on Yvette, the self-sacrificing redhead. Something about becoming an acolyte? It wasn’t very clear. I’ll try to stop by his temple on the way back to Westkeep to ask what to do with her.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 25","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-24.webp\nStria # I searched around town for the three henchmen that abandoned us in the tomb. No one had seen them. Met up with Feverborne. He at least agrees with me that the absconding henchmen need to be dealt with. He got the name of the mother of one. I went with him and he talked to the mother, and learned that the absconder liked to go to another town for carousing. We agreed to be caravan guards to travel to the other town. First night, during my watch, I heard clicking. Clicking is never a good sound. I snuck between wagons and saw huge worms with feet dragging another worm. Ran back and woke Feverborne up, because giant worms are not something I can handle alone. We watched, and luckily the worms passed us by.\nWe got to the other town without incident. Found the bastard in the tavern, half drunk and gambling. We paid for a room, and Feverborne paid for a round of alcohol to get the bastard more drunk. I kept watch on him, and Feverborne waited in the room. The bastard stumbled off to his room, dog at his side. Feverborne had bought sausages to feed to the dog. I picked the lock on the door, and Feverborne led the dog out. I killed the bastard with a dagger under the chin into his brain. He wasn\u0026rsquo;t worth waking up and pissing his pants as he saw his death coming. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t a contract after all, just a personal grudge. Two more to go. We dragged his body into a bit of trees and left.\nI found the grotto where I\u0026rsquo;d been with Bern, so I went in to see how he was doing with his exploring. Found him and a prismatist and the others battling giant frogs. What is it with the bugs and reptiles and amphibians around here. Bern went down during the battle. Landon skewered a frog, getting guts all over me. I killed the final frog with my daggers. Bern got up, but wasn\u0026rsquo;t looking too hot. It\u0026rsquo;s good that he didn\u0026rsquo;t die, because we still need to figure out what magic the second chalice has. He wanted to check the river below, and hooked up a rope. I went down the rope and got frog guts cleaned off me. While there, I saw little glowing crystals on the ceiling and walls of the other side of the river. The river seemed too deep to get across. To the west, was a passage that glowed purple and orange. Those colors make me think that\u0026rsquo;s not a great place to go. We decided to go around the long way so we could check out the crystals.\nWe were met by two men in plate mail and prisms on their helmets. When they spotted the prismatist, they ordered her to surrender in the name of the empire. None of us had any idea what empire they were talking about. The prismatist seemed scared. I don\u0026rsquo;t have any attachment to her, and no reason to get in the way of the armed men who wanted her, but Bern wanted to keep her safe so she could answer some riddle after she finds where her missing guard Meg went. So, he hatched a plan to lead the men to the skeleton room, stash the prismatist in the secret room, and tell the men she ran into one of the doors the skeletons guard, so the skeletons would kill them. So we led them in that direction.\nIn the room, Bern opened the secret door, and the remains of the eaten henchman tumbled through. Bern slammed the door shut, but we could hear the dirt creature muttering. I may have forgotten to mention that it was at this secret door, not the one further in. Oops. I was unaffected, and Bern managed not to fall under the dirt creature\u0026rsquo;s spell this time. Everyone else was affected. I\u0026rsquo;m going to put candle wax in my ears, since I bought candles for just this purpose. I thought Bern would just shove the prismatist through the center door to hide, and keep to the original plan, but it looks like he is going with her. So, I won\u0026rsquo;t offer him any candle wax, if he\u0026rsquo;s just going to bail.\nFeverborne # Was just kicking back in Eastdale when Stria walked in saying she had a line on where Grieg might have gone. Grieg is the shit Merc who ran out on us earlier, after we paid him and bought him gear. Turns out Stria got bored and wanted to hunt him down as am example. I figured that was a good idea; it\u0026rsquo;s one thing to die in battle, another to take our coin and flee the field.\nHe hadn\u0026rsquo;t been back to the Gray Company, but they had his next of kin listed. Mom was quite helpful when I mentioned how worried I was after he went missing on mission, and dropped a few coins. She said he went to Kirkliston sometimes to get away from it all when the Yggfolk got to be too much. So we hopped a caravan headed that way.\nThe place has just the one tavern, and Grieg was in it. He didn\u0026rsquo;t see me, and atria put on some sort of disguise. I got a room, had the bartender send some doubles to Grieg\u0026rsquo;s table. And bought a couple sausages, because a good dog deserves a better human.\nGrieg stumbled up the stairs and went to bed. We waited till about 2am before picking the lock (Stria needs practice, she must have bent half the picks, but got it open in the end). I lured Snausages the dog out with my sausages and played with him in the common room while Stria took care of matters in the bedroom all quiet like.\nI took Snausages back to Eastdale. Stria got bored again and went looking for humanoids to kill in the Grotto, since Been and Landon were out that way.\nBern # The frogs killed me. I shit you not. I had a sword and a torch, and there were four of them. Landon at my side with his goddamn SLOW pike or halberd or whatever the fuck kind of polearm it is, Stria and Grief and the mystery woman Prismatist firing completely useless missile weapons at the great big fucking frogs. I killed the first one with my sword in one blow, but not before the thing fucking bit me. Smacked the other with my torch, ineffectually, while his buddy hopped up to take the place of the one I killed. Killed that one next, but he got a piece of me too. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t feeling well, but my best bet was to kill the third before it killed me, so I stayed on the line. It was the wrong move. Fucking frog bit me. That\u0026rsquo;s gonna fucking scar.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll tell folks it was a bear. A great big fucking bear. He was hibernating in a cave I wanted to spend the night in, so I wrestled him for it and won. He was so pissed he bit me. Great big grizzly bear. That\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;m telling em. Not a word about a goddamn frog.\nAnyways I woke up with someone bandaging the frog bite. The rest of the frog\u0026rsquo;s were down. I didn\u0026rsquo;t see who got the rest but Stria was covered in frog guts and Landon was trying to kick one of them off the end of his polearm. Grief and the Prismatist looked pristine.\nOne of the frogs had a severed hand in it\u0026rsquo;s belly. The hand had a platinum ring on it. It didn\u0026rsquo;t belong to Meg, the bodyguard that the Prismatist is looking for.\nWe took a look at the stream about 20 feet down, where the frogs had come from. We could follow it north or south. South probably leads back to the underground passage at the grotto. No idea where north goes. We decided to walk around through the caves to get to the other side so as not to risk any of our walking wounded (me, god-damned frog) taking a fall. But on the way out we met two assholes with plate mail and prisms for helmets. They claimed to be from the \u0026ldquo;empire\u0026rdquo; and wanted to arrest our Prismatist. She didn\u0026rsquo;t want to be arrested. Can\u0026rsquo;t say I blame her.\nCooked up a plan real quick. We would lead them back to the skellies. Our Prismatist would go through the first secret door and hide there, while the rest of us convinced the weirdos in colorful hats that she had taken one of the doors the skellies were guarding, thus hopefully killing guards and skellies both.\nPlan worked out like a dream right up to the point that Stria neglected to mention she had shut the dirt-mouth creature behind the last door rather than the first one, so when I opened the secret door from the skellies room expecting to find a nice safe 5\u0026rsquo; cubical to stash the Prismatist, the corpse of our hiring fell out at my feet and the dirt monster started gurgling.\nIt got me for a moment, but I shook it off with an effort of will. I think Stria did too. Everyone else looked a little nuts, even the Prismatist and the skellies. I was so fucking ready to check out of this dungeon, but the guards were between us and the exit and the secret door led to the dirt monster.\nRealistically, there are three doors out. Two guarded by skellies, one in the middle they claim is free passage. But the skellies look like the dirt monster got em, so\u0026hellip; Maybe this is our chance to slip through one of their doors? Just pick one at random and run. No way I\u0026rsquo;m facing that thing again when I am already hurt.\nI feel like I learned a lot today. Mostly that there is a time to fucking run. If I live, running away becomes an important life skill.\n","date":"28 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-24/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-24.webp\nStria # I searched around town for the three henchmen that abandoned us in the tomb. No one had seen them. Met up with Feverborne. He at least agrees with me that the absconding henchmen need to be dealt with. He got the name of the mother of one. I went with him and he talked to the mother, and learned that the absconder liked to go to another town for carousing. We agreed to be caravan guards to travel to the other town. First night, during my watch, I heard clicking. Clicking is never a good sound. I snuck between wagons and saw huge worms with feet dragging another worm. Ran back and woke Feverborne up, because giant worms are not something I can handle alone. We watched, and luckily the worms passed us by.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 24","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"A listing of quests the party has encountered.\n","date":"27 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/quests/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"A listing of quests the party has encountered.\n","title":"Quests","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"u-Heury is dreaming of a woman. That in itself would not be alarming. However, this woman wants him to dig up a barrow, steal a ring from a dead body, and bring it to her.\n","date":"27 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/quests/the-barbarian-boys-barrow/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"u-Heury is dreaming of a woman. That in itself would not be alarming. However, this woman wants him to dig up a barrow, steal a ring from a dead body, and bring it to her.\n","title":"The Barbarian Boy's Barrow","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"In Eastdale, reports of bandits raiding caravans. We investigated, and found orcs in the process of slaughtering a caravan and taking the wagon back to their den. We followed them there, briefly fought, and fled with the wagon. The wagon contained a small lockbox with treasure (dwarven?) and was otherwise filled with dismembered corpses, human, orc, and otherwise. We returned, and negotiated with the orcs not to attack caravans from Eastdale. The orcs said something about wanting the corpses for their deity. We should investigate further to see if there is a dire threat we failed to nip in the bud.\n","date":"27 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/quests/a-cartful-of-offal/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"In Eastdale, reports of bandits raiding caravans. We investigated, and found orcs in the process of slaughtering a caravan and taking the wagon back to their den. We followed them there, briefly fought, and fled with the wagon. The wagon contained a small lockbox with treasure (dwarven?) and was otherwise filled with dismembered corpses, human, orc, and otherwise. We returned, and negotiated with the orcs not to attack caravans from Eastdale. The orcs said something about wanting the corpses for their deity. We should investigate further to see if there is a dire threat we failed to nip in the bud.\n","title":"A Cartful of Offal","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"In Westkeep, u-Heury met a grandmother whose cattle were being killed. Yip met and spent the night with a band of unnatural hyenas. Later, we all met another adventuring band, two men and a halfling, who called themselves \u0026ldquo;Two and A Half Men\u0026rdquo;. They mentioned seeking a reward for finding the person or creature killing cattle and stopping it.\n","date":"27 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/quests/two-and-a-half-cattle/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"In Westkeep, u-Heury met a grandmother whose cattle were being killed. Yip met and spent the night with a band of unnatural hyenas. Later, we all met another adventuring band, two men and a halfling, who called themselves “Two and A Half Men”. They mentioned seeking a reward for finding the person or creature killing cattle and stopping it.\n","title":"Two and a Half Cattle","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Within the Dolemwood, we found a group of three individuals. Two wore hooded black cloaks, wielding silver daggers. One, a young woman, was bound to a stone in ritual negligee. Surprising them, we slew one of the men, after which the other surrendered and the woman insisted she be sacrificed according to strict ritual requirements to save her village from a monster apparently named the \u0026ldquo;Big Chuck\u0026rdquo;, which lives in a nearby lake and demands a virgin be sacrificed in a ritual involving a silver knife and a copper bowl, or else some unspecified violent harm will come to the village. The monster has not been seen in about 10 years.\n","date":"27 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/quests/the-willing-sacrifice/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Within the Dolemwood, we found a group of three individuals. Two wore hooded black cloaks, wielding silver daggers. One, a young woman, was bound to a stone in ritual negligee. Surprising them, we slew one of the men, after which the other surrendered and the woman insisted she be sacrificed according to strict ritual requirements to save her village from a monster apparently named the “Big Chuck”, which lives in a nearby lake and demands a virgin be sacrificed in a ritual involving a silver knife and a copper bowl, or else some unspecified violent harm will come to the village. The monster has not been seen in about 10 years.\n","title":"The Willing Sacrifice","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"In the Incandescent Grotto, we found a talking frog who claimed to be a prince near a trogolodyte lair. He was looking for his pond, which he claimed was nearby, and promised a reward for everyone who got him there. We took him up within the group, and researched where his lake might lie. Eventually, we learned of a place called the Dolemwood, near Westkeep, and brought him there \u0026ndash; the journey from Eastdale was somewhat perilous through something known as the gauntlet, and we encountered a strange hollow tree on the way.\nIn Westkeep, we learned of a place named Mirror Lake within the Dolemwood, which matched the frog\u0026rsquo;s description. Nearby lay the Manse of Ygraine. We traveled to the lake, returned the frog, and received our rewards.\n","date":"27 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/quests/the-frog-prince/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"In the Incandescent Grotto, we found a talking frog who claimed to be a prince near a trogolodyte lair. He was looking for his pond, which he claimed was nearby, and promised a reward for everyone who got him there. We took him up within the group, and researched where his lake might lie. Eventually, we learned of a place called the Dolemwood, near Westkeep, and brought him there – the journey from Eastdale was somewhat perilous through something known as the gauntlet, and we encountered a strange hollow tree on the way.\n","title":"The Frog Prince","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-23.webp\nYgnas # We left the altar the next morning and headed into the hills. Almost ran into a caravan of orcs. Lots of orcs. Luckily, they didn\u0026rsquo;t notice us, because there were way too many for us to handle. Wonder what they had in their wagons, though. I took first watch twice during our travels. No one was watching me, so I could over-enthusiastically poke the fire all I wanted. None of the embers that fell out started a wildfire, though. Sad.\nWe headed into a damp forest. Too wet to burn. While we were walking through, we stumbled onto a huge snake thing with seven heads. Oscar said it was a hydra. We ran. It didn\u0026rsquo;t come after us. Which was good, because apparently the heads grow back if you manage to wack one off. Or maybe Oscar was just trying to scare me.\nNext we ran into three weird dog things. They seemed smarter than normal animals. Yip wanted to talk to them. He did some druid thing and went off to try to talk to them. Oscar thought (hoped?) he\u0026rsquo;d get eaten. I was planning the lovely fire to burn his remains, but he came back unharmed. Didn\u0026rsquo;t tell us anything about what they said, just to leave them alone. But not why. Without a why, a warning carries no weight with me.\nWe made it to town. I got my mace fixed, and went shopping for supplies. It was nice to sleep in a bed and have hot food someone else cooked. Oscar\u0026rsquo;s right about that part of his civilization rants. Barbarian child and Yip ran around committing criminal mischief and got disciplined by the guards. Ahngela got her frog sword made. Creepy thing. Way too many eyes on that thing. Open eyes. Could have sworn they were closed when she got that present at the lake. Oscar did \u0026hellip; whatever paperwork or whatever he does.\nWe headed west to try to find Barbarian Boy\u0026rsquo;s barrow from his dream. I think it was west. I\u0026rsquo;m directionally challenged. Encountered a group of adventurers along the way. They let slip they were looking for whatever was killing cattle around town. Oscar ruined my fun by straight out telling them about the hydra. I wanted to say the cattle killer was north of town in the wet woods. Coming across the hydra would have been a fun surprise for them. I pouted the rest of the way to the barrow.\nWe found the barrow, but there was some sort of ritual going on in the standing stones in front of it. Two men in black cloaks with silver daggers chanting over a stone with a woman bound on it. The males all immediately attacked, thinking they needed to save the woman. Ahngela killed one of the men with one strike. The woman started yelling and screaming that the ritual had to continue, and that she wanted to sacrifice herself to save her village from \u0026hellip; something. They needed virgin blood poured into the lake by their village in order to keep the something from attacking the village.\nThe males all patronizingly assumed the woman was drugged or brainwashed. Heaven forbid a woman be willing to sacrifice herself to save her village. Apparently they think that\u0026rsquo;s a male thing. I whispered to her to play along and they\u0026rsquo;d let her go, and she could use the knife at home to pour her blood into the lake, but she insisted it had to be done by the ritual. I wonder who came up with the ritual in the first place. After discussions, and me strenuously objecting to any suggestion that they \u0026ldquo;save\u0026rdquo; her by making her no longer a virgin, we asked them to wait while we investigated the barrow. Then we\u0026rsquo;d accompany them to the village to see what we could do. I\u0026rsquo;m not telling anyone about my \u0026ldquo;unicorn approved\u0026rdquo; status, lest someone decide I\u0026rsquo;d make a good substitute for the sacrifice. Oscar insisted that in return for saving the village, the woman be an acolyte in his new temple. I guess his god doesn\u0026rsquo;t mind if people are forced to serve her under duress and without consent. Now, I make a lovely big fire as a funeral pyre to the dead guy. Such pretty flames\u0026hellip;\nOscar # So I forgot to mention something about where we stayed last night. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t a holiday inn express. Instead it was a standing stone, kind of an altar, with a few more stones around it in a pattern. It was probably an altar of the old gods, mostly forgotten (for good reason!). Yip tried praying to it and sleeping on it. He\u0026rsquo;s weird, dangerous and unreliable. Nothing he did seemed to get any reaction, which is probably for the best.\nWe got a little lost after that. (Perhaps our guide was suffering a sore back and little sleep?). Eventually we found a large party of orcs, leading wagons. There were several dozen of them, so we did not approach. It would have been nice to know where they were headed and whether the wagons held more of the dismembered corpses we had found before. Something about that lingers, worrying. But with the numbers so far against us, it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be a safe bet to make contact.\nNo one among us felt confident enough to follow them in stealth. They did, however, leave enough tracks for us to find our way northeast, into a forest, and apparently a dangerous one. We lost the orcs but did encounter, first, a hydra (we ran!) And then a strange group of jackals or giant hyenas. Even the druid was unable to say which. He wasted his spell talking to them and came back the next day telling tall tales.\nOur next stop was Westkeep itself, to restock provisions and engage in the worship of commerce. Sadly our journey was not profitable by mundane measures, though the deed to the mill is surely of substantial value\u0026hellip; In fae courts, not mortal ones.\nI conducted research on the mill itself, and the local authorities disclaimed any authority over the mill. Apparently there are villages to the south that may make such a claim, so I will search them out and see what can be found. I found two local laborers willing to help me establish a temple on the site. My first task will be to make the place livable, and then profitable; I will employ woodsmen to bring down trees from Dolemwood and sell those to begin with.\nAhnjela had her gift from the fae attached to a sword blade. When she did the frog\u0026rsquo;s eyes opened; all five of them. That is one very weird frog.\nu-Heury made friends with a local grandmother who had issues with something attacking her cattle. I have a feeling that the not-quite-jackals we met earlier, the ones the druid spent the night with, are responsible. I am not sure how to bring this up with the druid. It\u0026rsquo;s always hard when your friends are against your new girlfriend.\nAfter reprovisioning we left town again, this time seeking u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s mysterious barrow of dreams. I\u0026rsquo;m not surprised at a young man dreaming of women, but not usually in barrows advocating for grave robbing. The young man may need counseling. Yet the first step to any such spiritual advice (after filing \u0026ldquo;Notice of inquiry regarding nocturnal visitations\u0026rdquo;, of course, along with \u0026ldquo;Authorization request for rendering advice to those outside the faith\u0026rdquo;) is to confirm whether his dreams are internally generated, or the result of some, possibly malign, external influence.\nWe didn\u0026rsquo;t find an answer, at least not right away. We did find a small party of adventurers, a halfling and two bodyguards. They called themselves \u0026ldquo;Two and a half men.\u0026rdquo; They mentioned a reward for whatever beast is savaging the cattle. I may have to get the druid arrested by the town guard (not difficult, he keeps digging up the streets to plant acorns) so the rest of us can go kill his girlfriend the hyena before she kills more cattle. We just won\u0026rsquo;t tell him where she went or what we did; she\u0026rsquo;ll be the girl whose parents moved away during their summer romance. Probably for the best. How long before she starts wanting kittens and settles down with a nice hyena from a nearby pack?\nWhile I was ruminating on this, we found a barrow, and in the process interrupted a ritual sacrifice. A young lady lay bound to a rock, dressed in what appears to be the latest fashion in single-use negligees. Two men in black robes stood over her conducting a ritual with silver knives. It seemed they were about to kill her, so we attacked; Ahnjela snuck up to interrupt the ritual at close range and the rest of us readied missile weapons and prepared to charge.\nAhnjela struck first and slew her victim, the one chanting and waving his dagger around, with a single blow. The rest of us fired upon the other man, wounding him badly, and he surrendered. At this the young lady protested that the ritual must go on! (I have heard of actors dedicating their lives to the role but this seems excessive!)\nThis brought the whole fight to a halt in utter confusion.\nEventually they explained that their village is required to sacrifice a virgin occasionally (how often?) To avoid the wrath of the Big Chuck? Whatever a big chuck is. The young woman volunteered and claims to qualify. I don\u0026rsquo;t believe her; who volunteers for their own ritual sacrifice? Clearly some kind of charm spell is at work here. The man says they have a week to complete the ritual, which requires the blood of a virgin spilled with a silver dagger into a copper bowl then poured into a lake, \u0026ldquo;or else.\u0026rdquo;. The monster was last seen ten years ago when they tried to exploit a loophole in the wording and failed.\nBut, they didn\u0026rsquo;t have Oscar Blaine, a dedicated cleric of Denara, to look for that loophole. I have ideas.\nAlso, if we find a way to save this village without this sacrifice, the girl can live, and will owe me her life. And I need acolytes for my new temple. Works out perfectly, except she is very, very insistent on going through with the sacrifice, which I really can\u0026rsquo;t just let happen. Not without the young lady signing all the required consent forms first, and that would take weeks of paperwork. (Sigh. Be still my beating heart. Weeks! Of paperwork!). And surely I could talk her into taking up Denara\u0026rsquo;s cause after such an experience. Clearly so much better than being stabbed in the heart!\nSeeking to at least get this particular young lady out of danger, I asked if there was perhaps a young man in her village she fancied, so we could arrange for her to no longer qualify for the sacrifice. This did not go over well. (Pity; I haven\u0026rsquo;t ever had the chance to file for a replacement sacrifice due to virgin disqualification before).\nWe came to only two conclusions: we, the adventurers, would explore the barrow before making any decisions about sacrifices; and they, the sacrificer and the sacrificee, will wait until we have the chance to try to find a better solution before continuing their murder-suicide pact. We have a week, surely I can find a loophole in whatever strange bargain is involved here.\n","date":"26 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-23/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-23.webp\nYgnas # We left the altar the next morning and headed into the hills. Almost ran into a caravan of orcs. Lots of orcs. Luckily, they didn’t notice us, because there were way too many for us to handle. Wonder what they had in their wagons, though. I took first watch twice during our travels. No one was watching me, so I could over-enthusiastically poke the fire all I wanted. None of the embers that fell out started a wildfire, though. Sad.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 23","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-22.webp\nYgnas # I returned to town after not finding any blasphemous dams. Oscar wanted to bring a talking frog home. In return for a promised reward, of course. A druid named Yip agreed to guide us. We came to an abandoned timber mill with 2 dead bodies. Yip was just going to leave them out in the woods, but I said I\u0026rsquo;d be happy to build a pyre. Lovely flames. They were consigned to the flames, their souls purified. Zuul was pleased. Oscar announced that he was claiming the mill for his god. Weird.\nWe headed deeper into the woods, and came across two unicorns trying to free a horse tied to a tree. They vanished when Yip approached. The horse was skin and bones. He was going to free the horse, but a man appeared, claiming the horse was his, and Yip was a thief. He said he was a noble and could beat the horse if he wanted. Anything unicorns wanted freed, I was on board with. Yip cast a spell that caught the man and horse up in plants. He started casting rocks at the man with the sling. Oscar objected, yelling about resolving it in a civilized manner. As if abusing an animal to the extent unicorns involve themselves is civilized. He started to intervene. I pushed him and he fell down. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t stop him the second time.\nThe man then promised Oscar a reward for freeing him, saying he was an ambassador for Lady Yggraine. That\u0026rsquo;s the lady that owns the area we were headed to. While he was blocking Yip with his shield, I hit the man with my mace. We absolutely needed him incapacitated before he ran back and turned the lady against us, or we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be able to return the frog to its home. He called me a harlot, which was incredibly insulting, given the unicorns would\u0026rsquo;ve stayed with me if men hadn\u0026rsquo;t been around. Wanted to incapacitate him more permanently then. Oscar pried the plants off and let the man go. Yip ran after him, leaving me to endure Oscar\u0026rsquo;s lectures and disapproval. I settled the horse down and freed it from the plants, then untied it. Swear I felt something from the woods behind me when I did. I wanted to bring the horse along, but Oscar insisted on giving it back to that horrible man, so I just let it go.\nWe started off the next morning, but were completely lost. Luckily we found Yip. Oscar almost walked away, but decided to finish the mission. Yip wouldn\u0026rsquo;t say what happened to the man. That\u0026rsquo;s fine, we can honestly say he ran off and we have no idea what happened to him. Seemed a perfect out to me. Oscar of course disagreed. Yip led us to the manse with the mirror lake. We went to the lake, wet and miserable from storms. The frog was delighted to be home, and asked us our dreams as our reward. Something about fishing in dreams to get them. I said my dream was to have fire with me always. Ahnjela appeared out of nowhere. Then a swan boat arrived and took the frog away. I rested in my tent for a while. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t a natural lake, all starry, so I wasn\u0026rsquo;t interested. Then Ahnjela and Yip brought back boxes that had come ashore for us. I have a magic tinderbox. Best present ever. Oscar was determined to bring the horrible man\u0026rsquo;s saddlebags back to him. He said it would ne dangerous for us to go, but it would only be so if he was going to blame us. Yip and I went, to tell the whole story, if necessary. We got to a set of twisty gates, Oscar made a speech about returning the belongings, and left the bags by the gates. A man rode up, very strange looking and sounding, and he rode right on through. Both jobs done, we set up tents again at the woodline. I went to sleep. The rest stayed up to watch the swan boats and their alleged dream fishing. Apparently there were also creatures that came out of the woods and did something at the lake, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t notice us. We left the next morning and met up with the barbarian child. We found a ring of standing stones that hurt my ears. Oscar said it was a transportation magic. Then, in grasslands, we found an ancient altar. The barbarian was all for me helping clean around the altar with fire, but Oscar was eyeing me and frowning, muttering about us all dying in a grass fire, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t give in to my urges.\nOscar # Once we had made arrangements to hire a guide, I dragged him into out rooms at the inn to make the last introduction. Yip the druid meets the Frog Prince. That went well, the talking frog didn\u0026rsquo;t phase our guide a bit.\nWe hiked into the forest, and around dust ran into an abandoned carpenter\u0026rsquo;s mill. There was a small building, mostly intact, with three corpses inside, covered in flies. We dragged the corpses out. Yip and Ygnas burned them to a crisp while I filled out the proper forms (disposal of unidentified corpse, human, by cremation, location unmarked, form 627-a2). I should have probably searched them for goods for resale but the flies were disgusting.\nYip determined they had died by grinding poisonous insects into their grain. Disturbing indeed. But not an immediate threat, probably.\nWhen I realized the place was a carpenter\u0026rsquo;s mill in the middle of a forest with a source of nearby running water and currently unclaimed, I was sharply reminded that Denara had suggested this area would be a good place to found a temple. And this place had all the necessary elements to be a paper mill, a place simultaneously holy, necessary, and profitable.\nI claimed it in Denara\u0026rsquo;s name immediately. (Paperwork to be filed later).\nWe spent the night there, and continued our journey in the morning.\nAbout noon, Yip led us to a horse. More specifically, to a horse tied to a tree, a man napping under said tree, and two unicorns trying to untie the horses. The unicorns bolted when Yip approached; I guess being out alone in the woods handling your own wood counts after all? Of course, you then have to ask how they knew\u0026hellip; Unless they were watching!\nAt any rate the unicorns ran off when Yip approached, trying to finish untying the horse from the tree. I called out to stop Yip from commiting horse theft (form 6754, theft of animal, horse, by paid companion, not whore). And the sleeping man woke up.\nDenara teaches to always wrote down the argument of the other side, even when it lacks merit. So I will note that the horse appeared to be underfed. Yip considered this to be mistreatment, apparently worthy of freeing the horse by force and without even offering the rider a chance to explain himself. The rider protested, calling Yip a thief (which charge I thought had merit at that point!) And claiming to be some sort of noble or ambassador to Ygraine.\nYip immediately did some sort of druidic thing and wrapped horse and man alike in plants. Then he pulled out a sling and started lobbing stones at the man. I don\u0026rsquo;t see how possibly mistreating a horse equates to a death sentence without a trial. I would have been glad to oversee such a thing. Think of the paperwork! With nobility, a priest of Denara as both judge and witness, unicorns, questions of fact concerning the horse\u0026rsquo;s mistreatment, territorial and diplomatic concerns from Ygraine and whoever the man was ambassadoring for.. it would have been glorious.\nAnyways, I inserted myself between Yip and the man, trying to spare his life. Ygnas promptly joined in with her sling! An unexpected betrayal. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t block the stones from them both, so I had to change plans. I rushed to the man and began pulling him free of the plants entangling him. He tried to offer a reward for turning on my companions, but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to do that. We were a company, bound together for the duration of this task. I told him to shut up and flee. He did.. eventually.\nYip, apparently in a murderous rage, took off after him. In chain mail neither Ygnas nor I could keep up, so we just shrugged and waited. And argued, and waited, and argued, and waited. Ygnas let the horse go and I claimed the man\u0026rsquo;s saddlebags, planning to return them to Ygraine where they would hopefully get back to the right place.\nEventually we returned to the building I had claimed for Denara, and spent the night there, still arguing over their criminal and even dare I say evil actions. Dawn rose and we set off, hoping to find the Mirror Lake, but without our guide it seemed unlikely. I was no woodsman and Ygnas would rather burn the woods down so she could see. Or just for fun. More the latter, probably.\nYip finally found us about noon. He looked smug and unrepentant. I avoided further argument, merely adding the dirty little man to my list of people to avoid traveling with if at all possible. I would hate to be associated with any of his crimes \u0026ndash; (and, I must add with shame) \u0026ndash; AGAIN.\nPerhaps this was Denara\u0026rsquo;s plan in allowing her Holy Scales to be ripped from my grasp beneath the oak tree. She will not be associated with this, only the pathetic wooden representation was there, and that I hid under my tunic from shame.\nYip did lead us to the Mirror Lake eventually. It turns out the Manse of Ygraine is not just nearby but actually overlooks the lake itself.\nWe dropped off the frog at his pond; it\u0026rsquo;s actually a place called Mirror Lake, and the first thing he did was summon a swan Uber from fairyland to take him home. Seems he actually is a fairy prince just like he claimed. His folk spun dreams from fishes, or fished dreams from lakes, or something something something. It was actually quite impressive once you got past the fact that the prince is a small and slightly slimy amphibian.\nThe offered rewards turned out to be manifested dreams themselves. The Prince (and note that I render him his proper title, now that it is confirmed!) granted me a deed to the mill. It will come in handy should any fae creature challenge my stewardship of the place. Likely not very useful in human courts. Ygnas was granted a strange device that makes fire on demand. Ahnjela, who had joined us, received a hilt for a sword. Perhaps once assembled, it will be magical? I didn\u0026rsquo;t pay any attention to what Yip received, but he almost lost it later while trying to negotiate with a coterie of thieving gnomes.\nAfter dropping off the Prince, we continued to the Manse of Ygraine, which was limned in an odd purple glow as night fell. I knocked at the gates several times \u0026ndash; they did open \u0026ndash; and even called into the courtyard. No one presented themselves to receive us, however.\nEventually I gave up and wrote a note explaining the circumstances of the saddlebags, loudly announced I was leaving them just inside the gates for their proper owner, and we departed. On our way out, we did meet a man headed to the manse on horseback, and explained the circumstances to him. He did say someone would retrieve the saddlebags, but was not willing to sign a receipt for them himself.\nWe spent the night near the lake, curious to see what would happen around midnight. And sure enough, mysterious portals opened, revealing strange swan boats filled with elves who were, if the Prince could be believed, fishing for dreams. This went on for some time. Ahnjela took a swim in the lake and was chastised for it. This is when the gnomes tried to steal Yip\u0026rsquo;s dream-gift.\nIn the morning, we set out to return to town by the scenic route, hoping to find a small barrow u-Heury said he had dreamed about. Hopefully will get together and burn down a forest somewhere else so I can see about acquiring the legal right to my little mill in human courts as well as fae.\n","date":"14 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-22/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-22.webp\nYgnas # I returned to town after not finding any blasphemous dams. Oscar wanted to bring a talking frog home. In return for a promised reward, of course. A druid named Yip agreed to guide us. We came to an abandoned timber mill with 2 dead bodies. Yip was just going to leave them out in the woods, but I said I’d be happy to build a pyre. Lovely flames. They were consigned to the flames, their souls purified. Zuul was pleased. Oscar announced that he was claiming the mill for his god. Weird.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 22","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-21.webp\nYgnas # I was traveling through the woods on a mission for Zuul. I don\u0026rsquo;t remember what happened after that. I woke up with a splitting headache, tied up in what looked like the inside of a tree, but smelled like a barnyard. There were \u0026hellip; things\u0026hellip; that looked like an unnatural cross between sheep and men. They had a bunch of other people there. They killed and ate them. It was horrible. I was the only one left, and I consigned my soul to Zuul. I think I passed out again. The next time I woke up, there were people there and they untied me. They looked like mercenaries. One of them was a cleric, but didn\u0026rsquo;t have his holy symbol displayed. All the creatures were dead or gone. I was never so happy to see anyone in my life. I joined them, since I had no idea where I was or how to get out, and being with other people seemed like a good idea for a while. We passed a creepy room with faces in the roots. I lit that room on fire with my torch. The flames are so pretty dancing, and I can hear Zuul in the sound of the fire. Someone rudely pulled me away from my contemplation, and I continued on with the group. I hoped the fire would spread, since the whole place was wood. At a circular room with a big red rug in the middle, a white haired man in wizard robes announced some garbled message about staying somewhere provided for our safety, then he vanished. One of the group lifted the rug up with a spear, and there were magic runes on the floor. He stepped on the rug over the runes, and vanished just like the wizard. The other cleric and I discussed how to get the rug up and take it with us to sell. The other guy came running back from behind us. Then he stepped on the rug again as he was saying it was fine. He came running back again, saying this time he had been transported to a room a little further from the last one, and attacked by bats. Our explorations had revealed another room with a statue of a huntsman and two hounds with big mirrors on either side. I said how it would be fun to smash the mirrors, and the guy who kept stepping on the rugs was going to throw rocks at them, but the assassin stepped into the room between the statue and one of the mirrors. Then the statue disappeared, and we heard a horn and hounds baying. The assassin smashed the mirrors, to the dismay of the other cleric, who wanted to bring those out to sell as well. He worships a weird god. Some of the group didn\u0026rsquo;t look too good, so they decided to leave then, fearing the statue was coming for us. We went outside. There was a caravan out there, and they were all nervous about the fire I set, so they moved camp. Unfortunately, the fire didn\u0026rsquo;t spread, and there wasn\u0026rsquo;t a beautiful bonfire, much less a forest fire. That would have pleased Zuul. I\u0026rsquo;ll do a better job when we go back. I\u0026rsquo;m assured we will go back. The caravan pushed all through the next day and into the night to reach town. I think I saw a dam in the darkness, though, and I have to go check. Blasphemy. The water must flow free. I will destroy it in Zuul\u0026rsquo;s name\u0026hellip;\nOscar # It seems the young u-Heury was not the only captive of the humanoid sheep. A muffled banging and crashing led us to open the wardrobe, inside of which \u0026ndash; tied and bound no less \u0026ndash; was a blonde haired, blue eyed woman. Once I got her free (after filling out form 69-d4, freeing victim of bondage, nonconsensual) she introduced herself as Ygnas, a priestess of Zuul. Interesting\u0026hellip;\nWe allowed her to join the caravan because leaving anyone to the mercy of the sheep creatures seemed like a bad idea.\nIt was late and we were all tired and wounded after the fight. Ahnjela was in bad shape, and I was only a little better. We negotiated, and she agreed to engage in an act of Holy Commerce in return for healing, paying gold on a sliding scale depending on how much the Goddess was willing to heal her. And indeed Denara blessed her wounds, reducing them to mere paper cuts! I determined on the spot that I would perform all future healing services in this manner. (Excepting only those performed on my own person, for self dealing in such a manner is frowned upon).\nSadly, I had to give up the holy symbol for lost, at least temporarily. We were in no shape to thoroughly explore the tree now, especially when it seems to lead to an extremely large underground space. I vowed to replace it at the earliest opportunity, and even to upgrade it to gold now that I could afford to do so\u0026hellip; Along with a set of discreet steel security chains to protect it!\nWe returned to the first intersection, the one with the talking roots. Ygnas burned them, and they retreated. Can\u0026rsquo;t blame her.\nI thought it wise to explore at least a little further north before returning to the caravan. And it turned out things were equally strange there, if not yet as threatening.\nAs we headed north we first encountered a mysterious ghostly figure. It appeared to recite some sort of warning or welcoming message, but the message glitched and it wasn\u0026rsquo;t clear what we were supposed to do or not do. The figure then disappeared.\nPast that strange apparition was a circular room with a central rug covering some sort of arcane design. I told everyone to stay off the rug and methodically checked the other exits.\nWest, a door without handles. East, a corridor.\nNorth, a corridor with a small room to the east, holding a statue of a huntsman with three hunting dogs. There were two mirrors reflecting the statue, and a door at the far end.\nu-Heury promptly woke from his shocked state and said he wanted to look for a concealed door under the rug. So he grabbed the rug by one end, started to roll it up, and promptly disappeared.\nI shrugged and continued my investigation into whether the mirrors could be removed from the wall for resale. The impetuous barbarian would turn up again on his own, or wouldn\u0026rsquo;t; we had no idea where to go and were in poor shape to face danger, so rushing around would do us no good and might get us killed. For all we know he could have teleported to another plane.\nSure enough he turned up a few minutes later, insisted that it was perfected safe to remove the rug so long as you didn\u0026rsquo;t step on any of the uncovered bare sigils, and disappeared again as soon as he stepped on the rug.\nMeanwhile Ahnjela entered the statue room and admired her face in the mirror. She seemed disturbed by what she saw and immediately wanted to smash the mirrors and the statue disappeared. Very odd place, everything keeps disappearing. Eventually I let her smash the mirrors because I couldn\u0026rsquo;t figure out how I would get them out of the tree passage, which was much smaller than the mirrors themselves.\nEventually u-Heury came back from where he had disappeared to and stayed long enough to explain. He was teleported (both times) to a long open corridor, sort of in a funnel shape, with at least three doors leading out. And lots of bats, which he apparently disturbed.\nEventually we decided this was a problem too large to solve at an overnight caravan stop and left, but not before Ygnas tried to set fire to the tree roots. I didn\u0026rsquo;t object; they were due a touch of Denara\u0026rsquo;s wrath after their despicable theft of her symbol. Regrettably the tree was only faintly smoldering when we left.\nThe rest of the trip to Eastdale went without incident.\nDavos left us in Eastdale. Gurg stayed.\nI made inquiries after a goldsmith to craft a new holy symbol, but the town is tiny. No luck. I did find a merchant who secretly followed Denara, and paid a fair price for his wooden balance scales. I will return it to him, or even a better version, when I can. I give thanks to my lady of letters for her foresight in positioning this worshipper here for my day of need.\nAfter a quick episode of worshipful shopping to replace my damaged mace and sling, we rested and I sought out information on the true purpose of our expedition. We had a talking frog who wanted to go home, and promised great rewards for our aid in achieving this. For my part, I was already preparing a lost of expenses for reimbursement.\nIt seems we were quite close to the Dolemwood, but it contained within it many ponds and lakes. A man in the market, rather ruled by his superstitious nature, was at least a le to direct us to a ranger with knowledge of the area. We made contact with that worthy if rather rough fellow and learned that the frog\u0026rsquo;s pond is likely Mirror Lake, which lies near (or perhaps fully surrounds) a place known as the Manse of Yggrane. Perhaps it has some connection to my fellow men of the cloth? I shall try to make inquiries before we depart. The ranger agreed to guide us there and back for a total of 10gp.\nTonight, I will ask the frog some tough questions concerning this Manse.\n","date":"12 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-21/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-21.webp\nYgnas # I was traveling through the woods on a mission for Zuul. I don’t remember what happened after that. I woke up with a splitting headache, tied up in what looked like the inside of a tree, but smelled like a barnyard. There were … things… that looked like an unnatural cross between sheep and men. They had a bunch of other people there. They killed and ate them. It was horrible. I was the only one left, and I consigned my soul to Zuul. I think I passed out again. The next time I woke up, there were people there and they untied me. They looked like mercenaries. One of them was a cleric, but didn’t have his holy symbol displayed. All the creatures were dead or gone. I was never so happy to see anyone in my life. I joined them, since I had no idea where I was or how to get out, and being with other people seemed like a good idea for a while. We passed a creepy room with faces in the roots. I lit that room on fire with my torch. The flames are so pretty dancing, and I can hear Zuul in the sound of the fire. Someone rudely pulled me away from my contemplation, and I continued on with the group. I hoped the fire would spread, since the whole place was wood. At a circular room with a big red rug in the middle, a white haired man in wizard robes announced some garbled message about staying somewhere provided for our safety, then he vanished. One of the group lifted the rug up with a spear, and there were magic runes on the floor. He stepped on the rug over the runes, and vanished just like the wizard. The other cleric and I discussed how to get the rug up and take it with us to sell. The other guy came running back from behind us. Then he stepped on the rug again as he was saying it was fine. He came running back again, saying this time he had been transported to a room a little further from the last one, and attacked by bats. Our explorations had revealed another room with a statue of a huntsman and two hounds with big mirrors on either side. I said how it would be fun to smash the mirrors, and the guy who kept stepping on the rugs was going to throw rocks at them, but the assassin stepped into the room between the statue and one of the mirrors. Then the statue disappeared, and we heard a horn and hounds baying. The assassin smashed the mirrors, to the dismay of the other cleric, who wanted to bring those out to sell as well. He worships a weird god. Some of the group didn’t look too good, so they decided to leave then, fearing the statue was coming for us. We went outside. There was a caravan out there, and they were all nervous about the fire I set, so they moved camp. Unfortunately, the fire didn’t spread, and there wasn’t a beautiful bonfire, much less a forest fire. That would have pleased Zuul. I’ll do a better job when we go back. I’m assured we will go back. The caravan pushed all through the next day and into the night to reach town. I think I saw a dam in the darkness, though, and I have to go check. Blasphemy. The water must flow free. I will destroy it in Zuul’s name…\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 21","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Dear Daisy, From Vance # So our whole mixed group rode back ta town with Running Dog or whatever his Indian name is. We had our buried box for Johnny the mysterious guard, and we passed that over to Johnny the next morning unopened \u0026ndash; not for lack of trying from Pam the drone-girl. I had kinda figured we should hold the box back until he delivered on his favor, but it worked out ok anyway.\nWe went back to looking for options to move the residents to. Pam got lucky and noticed a warehouse run by Aries was closing up shop, so we set up a low budget surveillance operation to verify that. The rumor seemed to pan out, and the place had power and water. If we could actually take control when Aries moved out it seemed like a great solution. Unfortunately, Aries has pretty good security, including mounted robotic guns, at least one mobile defense robot, a couple human security types, and according to our pet gnome an elemental spirit. On the upside all that would leave when they did I guess. On the downside of someone else was moving in they might bring their own stuff. But we were banking on being able to move in first and fastest, possession being nine tenths of the law.\nWe called Miller, the head of the Tenant Cooperative League at the place we were trying to clear out, and told him we had a line on a new place and to be ready to move in in a hurry Friday evening. Elf-boy did the talking that time and basically laid all our cards on the table for free, including the location of the new building. I gotta get that kid inna poker game sometime.\nI had lunch with some of the folks from Aries and heard some office gossip that pretty much amounted to Sam being a slacker. Dunno who Sam is or what he does so not very helpful, but I did know a name, which might be useful.\nThere was a brief detour when elf-boy ordered lunch at the corner store and accidentally came home with a huntin\u0026rsquo; rifle. He got the same model my pappy taught me to shoot with.\nThen our comlinks beeped and gave us a mission. We were supposed to find a specific person and put them in fear for their life to find out what they really, really wanted to do with their life. And then tell em to do it or else.\nI was supposed to pick a guy up from the airport. Mr. Robbins. I didn\u0026rsquo;t think to ask if he know Mr Baskins. Now I want ice cream. But the mission cane with a car and a sign with his name on it. The car said Uber; I dug into my just in case stash and slapped a little sticker on the door so I was driving the General Uber.\nThe pickup went smooth. I got the cargo in the back seat and the cargo\u0026rsquo;s cargo in the trunk. He said to take him to the Hilton. I ain\u0026rsquo;t gonna lie, I had no idea where that might be, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t really need to. I took off like a bat outta hell.\nMe and Mr Robbins, we had a real heart to heart that evening with the fear of death putting some solid grade truth serum in his corp-faced veins. He ain\u0026rsquo;t been following his dreams rising in the corp suit world. See, what he really wants is ta be a bartender. Mix drinks, pour em, mix the lonely lady with the shy guy in the corner, listen to people\u0026rsquo;s problems and pretend to be sympathetic. I mean he seemed sincere enough. I was giving him the ride of his life and gosh darn it he didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to like the excitement. Not everyone is cut out for a life on the edge I guess.\nSo I dropped him off.. um, near his hotel, and told him if he was a bartender in a year he wouldn\u0026rsquo;t ever have to see me again. Then I drove around the block and came back to give him his comlink with all the mixed drink recipes he would ever need. And then I dropped his bags off at the actual hotel once I could look it up on a map, and waved as he came runnin\u0026rsquo; up all out of breath.\nWe kept up surveillance on the Aries building and Pam teamed up with the gnome to scope out the guards. Got confirmation they were moving out Friday and were going to pull the automated security out too. That was good enough to let our Mr Johnson know we had a line on a good solution for him, and the Tenant Cooperative the same. It was all gonna go down Friday evening.\nI bought lunch for made-up name Tim and real name plus insult Slacker Sam and tried to deliver it. Didn\u0026rsquo;t get in the building, but no big deal, everything appeared to be going according to plan anyway. By end of day Friday the place was empty and dark.\nSo we moved in to check it out. I jumped the gate, tried to open it from the guard shack. No power, but Pam jury rigged something and got the gate open. We had a couple gawkers so I took up a position in the guard shack to keep people out while everybody else explored the place and got Johnny on his way to look it over. Elf boy watched from the rooftops with his brand new hunting rifle, and wouldn\u0026rsquo;t you know it, he almost caused an incident. Couple folks tried to move in from the back and he took a warning shot at them. Then when they stopped and asked to talk he very nearly shot at them again. Luckily I had started running over there when I heard the first shot, and between us we got everybody together inside the building to talk it out. We offered rooms if they agreed to help us guard the place for a little. It worked out.\nJohnny\u0026rsquo;s people were nice enough to offer us some space in the building we found for them. Mr. Johnson was nice enough to loan us a generator to work the gate until we could get power sorted out, and pay us the agreed.\nSo I guess we\u0026rsquo;re in business now. Real shadowrunners. Team Red.. or if I have any say about it, Team Burnt Orange.\n","date":"8 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/missionapocalypse/sessions/session-2/","section":"Mission Apocalypse","summary":"Dear Daisy, From Vance # So our whole mixed group rode back ta town with Running Dog or whatever his Indian name is. We had our buried box for Johnny the mysterious guard, and we passed that over to Johnny the next morning unopened – not for lack of trying from Pam the drone-girl. I had kinda figured we should hold the box back until he delivered on his favor, but it worked out ok anyway.\n","title":"Mission Apocalypse -- Session 2","type":"missionapocalypse"},{"content":" Image not found: session-20.webp\nFeverborne # I stumbled into the common room after a particularly long night of drinking. These damn yggians insist on alcohol only during meals. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t stop me for a moment; I just order as many cups as I think I will need to drink with my dinner and pour them into my wineskins for later. Amateurs study tactics, generals study strategy, and professionals study logistics.\nBut anyways. I stumbled into a discussion about a venture into the Tomb of the Serpent King. Didn\u0026rsquo;t know most of the folk except by reputation as fellow Butchers, but that\u0026rsquo;s usually a pretty good recommendation. And I can\u0026rsquo;t let the younguns get kilt too early. So I signed up to keep em alive and pad my coin a bit.\nI cornered Bern to get the skinny on his last trip up here. He had some good info, including the location of a snake-man skeleton with a greataxe and the risk of black pudding from above. Good to know about.\nWe went down with the Butchers and two hirelings. Grig and Gilthanus. Grig had a dog called Snausages. Good dog. Bad hirelings.\nTook the snake-man skeleton first. Plan was for our acrobat to open the door and get his attention, then retreat (that\u0026rsquo;s what professionals call running away) and pole vault over the pool in the center of the room. Snakey would chase the acrobat , the rest of us would line up to smack it as it went by, Stria could slip in and loot it\u0026rsquo;s room while we finished it off. All went according to plan until it took a swing at me instead of the acrobat. That was a nasty blow, but I caught it on my shield. Shattered the shield but didn\u0026rsquo;t get to me. I was lucky.\nI got in a couple good hits myself. Then we backed up a couple steps trying to lure it out so Stria could rush in and loot the place. Gilthanus set his spear and took the charge, a solid stroke that ended the thing.\nSomewhere in all the confusion one of the wizard types tried to hit it with holy water. Missed, but the vial ended up in the black pool in the center of the room. There was a lot of hissing and screeching when that happened and the pool turned sort of clearish. I wonder if more holy water would have an even stronger effect? Maybe something to try next time.\nWe searched the room and found some clay vessels with good and silver trim. About 150gp. Enough to turn a profit on the expedition.\nNext step was the stairs down. After some arguing with the hirelings I took the lead. Made it just three steps before I felt something shift, so I froze. Some sort of trap. One of the wizards, Slinger, figured out what it did: transform the whole staircase into a ramp all the way to the bottom and whatever lay beyond. I sent everyone else back up and grabbed a rope then stepped off the trap; the expected slide happened but the rope held. Back up top myself to figure how to beat it.\nTurns out there were spikes at the end of the ramp. We planned to throw rubble down on the spikes to make them less dangerous, but it turns out the trap reset itself. Varrus went down and marked the bad step with chalk so we can avoid it.\nWe planned to use the rope as a safety measure and go down one at a time, carefully avoiding the marked step, but that plan too had a flaw. Namely the huge stone snake-man creature in the room at the bottom, who gave Varrus a terrible fright but couldn\u0026rsquo;t actually reach far enough into the staircase to get to him. Still it was clear that one at a time would be suicide.\nOur first plan was to just hang out on the staircase and shoot it from there with missile weapons. The thing was damned tough; I scored a lucky shot but the rest of our crossbowmen missed. And that one lucky shot was enough to drive it back out of view from the stairs. So, again, new plan.\nWe\u0026rsquo;d rely on the chalk mark to avoid the trap. Risky, but no choice. Gilthanus was all puffed up with pride after his spear took down the skeleton. So we would go first and set up at t he bottom of the stairs. Grig, the other Merc, and Snausages would set up to one side of us. Everyone else with missile weapons on the stairs, hopefully out of reach.\nWhile we were planning, Ahnjela snuck down the stairs and into the room below. So it was do or die time. The rest of us followed behind according to plan. The mercs and I set up in position at the bottom, but there wasn\u0026rsquo;t anything\u0026hellip; Until a horrid thudding noise from back in the darkness, just beyond the reach of our torch, sounded the alarm. A moment later a giant stone snake-man creature was falling towards us, practically on top of us. It slammed into the ground, knocking all of us in the front line off our feet.\nI got up quick and struck the thing a solid blow. I was shaken, not stirred. A volley of missile fire knocked a few more chips off. But the mercenaries showed their true colors that day; they up and ran! Except for Snausages; that dog\u0026rsquo;s jaws latched on to the snakes weapon hilt and just hung on for dear life\u0026hellip;\nI called out orders for them to stand firm, but couldn\u0026rsquo;t put my heart into it since I was too busy swinging my sword. This is why officers carry prissy little pigstickers rather than real swords. They are meant to be yelling not fighting. I heard somebody trying a speech further back, something about St Crispin\u0026rsquo;s Day by some idiot who fancied himself a bard. Didn\u0026rsquo;t work any better, the shits were running like diarrhea.\nEven if the mercenaries were running I figured it might go for them instead of me, and I knew Ahnjela was down here somewhere with me. I still had a backup line of archers and I figured I could take a hit or two and give the archers the chance to wear it down even if their arrows kept bouncing off. I moved far enough to get out of their way and hit the thing again. Another solid hit. All my practice over the last few months was paying off. Some more arrows bounced off. Then I heard scraping from the other side, beyond where the light was visible \u0026ndash; that would be Ahnjela introducing the thing to her sword from behind. Not sure she hurt it, but I tried the oldest of tricks \u0026ndash; \u0026ldquo;look out behind you!\u0026rdquo;\nWith Ahnjela\u0026rsquo;s presence as a threat the thing turned just enough to look behind it\u0026hellip; And it turned back to me just in time to meet the tip of my blade in a picture perfect lunge with the tip of it\u0026rsquo;s nose. The enchantment broke and it collapsed into dust.\nThe mercenaries were already gone, dragging an unwilling Snausages with them, and Stria was muttering dark threats to deal with them during her next off-season. I chose not to inquire about what she meant by that. Desertion in the face of the enemy is a capital crime.\nThere wasn\u0026rsquo;t much immediate loot. The room at the bottom of the stairs had shields lining the walls. They were decorative and might be worth something. I grabbed one to replace mine in any case and we packed up the rest.\nBeyond that room lay a bottomless chasm with narrow passages to the north and south. We resolved to come back and explore further later on.\nOh, damn. I just realized we should have brought back their weapons and checked them for magic too. There\u0026rsquo;s more of value in a place like the Tomb than just gold. Even an ordinary greataxe could save us buying one or sell for reasonable coin.\nStria # Met up with a couple Butchers I hadn\u0026rsquo;t worked with before. We decided to go back to the snake temple and dig around some more. Varros took supervision of the three hirelings and a dog. We arrived without incident. The hirelings continued the trend of being uppity. Feverbourne didn\u0026rsquo;t help by telling them they should insist on a contract, and had rights. First thing to deal with was the door with the thumping. Turned out to be a huge snake man skeleton. What is it with giant skeletons in this place? The plan was for the boys to lure the giant out and drown it in the icky pool, while I would sneak into the room and grab any loot. That plan lasted as long as it took Varros to yell at it from the doorway and run away. Then Feverbourne had to go all hero and whip out his sword to fight the thing. He managed to kill it, with help from the elf hireling with a spear. But still, what\u0026rsquo;s the point of a plan if you aren\u0026rsquo;t going to stick to it.\nAfter getting a couple of the boys to dig a sarcophagus put from under the debris caused by the mad giant skeleton too stupid to open the door and let itself out of the room it was trapped in, we eyed the other door we hadn\u0026rsquo;t explored yet. Fancy door. Led to a stairway. Feverbourne started down and froze, swearing a step was wobbly. He actually expected me to do something about it! I\u0026rsquo;m not a bloody thief. I kill people. I didn\u0026rsquo;t see anything. One of the others did. Feverbourne did something and the stairs turned into a ramp. He almost slid down into spikes. Then the stairs turned into stairs again. Slinger went down with a lantern and Varros\u0026rsquo;s staff to check out the stairs. There was a big room down there. With an even bigger stone snake man. Luckily it was too big to fit through the doorway to the stairs, and couldn\u0026rsquo;t get to the mage. Honestly, what is it with moving skeletons and statues? Please gods can we just find living priests so I can kill something for once. Ahnjela snuck down and hid in the room. More power to her, we can\u0026rsquo;t backstab stone. The fighters assembled at the bottom of the step. Me, the mage, and the bard Brad, spread out on the stairs to fire bows or crossbows. It looked hopeless. No one could hit the thing. Except Feverbourne. The dog got in one good bite. Ahnjela was lucky to escape her attempt and hide again. The hirelings, the cowards, ran away after taking our money and one of our lanterns. Feverbourne got in one last hit, and the statue crumbled. All that for only a few old shields. Damned thing should have been guarding something at least. Big room led to a huge chasm and ways alongside it. It was too dark to see, but I wonder if the chasm was a natural one, or if it\u0026rsquo;s rounded and smoothed. Because snake temple. Giant things. Hopefully I\u0026rsquo;m just being paranoid. So, we still have more to explore.\nNow I have some hunting to do in town for those hirelings. You don\u0026rsquo;t walk away with our money or gear until we say you\u0026rsquo;re done. Dead men walking.\n","date":"8 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-20/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-20.webp\nFeverborne # I stumbled into the common room after a particularly long night of drinking. These damn yggians insist on alcohol only during meals. It doesn’t stop me for a moment; I just order as many cups as I think I will need to drink with my dinner and pour them into my wineskins for later. Amateurs study tactics, generals study strategy, and professionals study logistics.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 20","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-19.webp\nBern # Huh. Grunty\u0026rsquo;s back.\nLast I saw him, he disappeared while I was looking into one o them crystals in the grotto for just a moment. (Still a silly name for a silly place). I searched for tracks and eventually headed back to town without seeing any sign of him, then went back with Stria. And then today he shows up wanting to try again.\nWell, ok. Did pretty well last time, with Stria, but dammed if I am going to pay to outfit another mercenary. We\u0026rsquo;re going on our own this time. Grunty grunted. Guess he\u0026rsquo;s fine with that.\nI talked to Sir Jiles the Stick of Ygg about what I found out about the jellytons. He agreed, not Imperax, and suggested we ask at the temple of Arcantryl. Neither Grunty nor I are fond of libraries but a quick visit can\u0026rsquo;t hurt\u0026hellip; Much. So I walked in with two freshly gutted pheasants hanging from my belt in case they wanted to barter. Them\u0026rsquo;s birds not farmers so you know. But I forgot about how tall the counters are and I don\u0026rsquo;t think miss Tuesday even noticed them. Well, not until one of the acolytes started shrieking about a mess on the floor on my way out.\nAnyways I was gonna ask about something else first but I guess I just forgot so I showed her the rubbing I took from the jellyton and said I would be glad to mention her name to Punchman. She said yes please and thank you and sent me ta a guy named Fred, who said he was a Sage in Training who could help us find good answers to simple questions on a budget. We didn\u0026rsquo;t have any good questions and we didn\u0026rsquo;t get any simple answers. Apparently he\u0026rsquo;s known for answers that are filling but not very nourishing; they call him the Fast Food Sage. Well they do now after I listened to his useless answers and asked if I could have fries with that. I was a bit miffed after paying 5 gp for something that useless. So I stopped by miss Tuesday\u0026rsquo;s desk and suggested she start off Wednesday with a career change \u0026ndash; start competing with the fast food guy in a walk-booth outside the temple, but with better tasting answers. I even offered her my two pheasant chicks\u0026rsquo; filets to get started!\nI .. think that\u0026rsquo;s when the acolyte started screaming, so I left, without any fries.\nGrunty and I headed back out to the Grotto after that. Since we were by our lonesome, I left a note in case any other Butchers wanted to come along. We were joined by Greaph on the way. He was trying to sneak up on us for his own amusement and didn\u0026rsquo;t call out till we were about to go into the grotto. (Still stupid name). I knew he was there the whole time though. Wanted to see Grunty jump. I was disappointed. Apparently white dwarves can\u0026rsquo;t jump. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know they came in other colors.\nSo we decided to explore around the first level of the place before taking any stairs down or pressing our luck with the dirt monster. We found some weird rooms, including a pile of skulls with gems inside. Seemed like a trap, so we used arrows to lever the skulls we wanted off the floor and into our packs.\nThen Landon stumbled in. Another Butcher I hadn\u0026rsquo;t met before, I seem to remember he said he was going to the library to check out a door \u0026ndash; oh! That\u0026rsquo;s what I was going to ask Tuesday about!\nAnd THEN we met an old lady who called herself Prismatist. Weird name. Landon kept muttering that she is really a dragon?\nAnyways, Prismatist is looking for Meg, her bodyguard. Meg went missing (no, she wasn\u0026rsquo;t looking for Wednesday or Thursday!) When P went to get some mushrooms from the forest. After much discussion and some accusations of dragon good, we decided to look for Meg together, and then escort P to the fishfolk so she could try her luck at answering their box riddle. We agreed to split the reward halfway if she could solve it. Sort of.\nWe went a little further north looking for Meg, into a big corridor with a slime motif. And also a fresco. Landon was very insistent that it was a fresco, not a mural. Almost as bad as a grotto.\nWe turned left, around an underground river, and were attacked by frogs.\n","date":"6 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-19/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-19.webp\nBern # Huh. Grunty’s back.\nLast I saw him, he disappeared while I was looking into one o them crystals in the grotto for just a moment. (Still a silly name for a silly place). I searched for tracks and eventually headed back to town without seeing any sign of him, then went back with Stria. And then today he shows up wanting to try again.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 19","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Stria # I spent the off season profitably poisoning farmers who had mistreated their wives. Bern said he had a lead to possible profit, so I tagged along with him after we decided there was no emergency requiring us to look into acquaintances missing behind a mysterious door in the library. We hired a naive fighter named Bran for the trip. He got off on the wrong foot with me by insisting on 3 gold a day as his fee, just because he didn\u0026rsquo;t like the look of us.\nThe trip to the grotto was uneventful, but once there, Bern unloaded a bunch of details he neglected to bring up before. Like crystals we can\u0026rsquo;t look at, and talking skeletons. We followed him down inside regardless. We came across a few kobolds scrabbling in the dirt. They fled, and Bern chased them to see where they went. Since we were there looking for emperox proof, I didn\u0026rsquo;t know why he was chasing kobolds. The kobolds passed through the chamber with two skeletons, and vanished. Very creepy walking and talking sacks of bones encased in glowing ectoplasm. Bran wanted to attack the pink one. Bern got a rubbing of the medallion the skeletons wore. While Bern talked to the skeletons, I found a hidden door in one wall, but there was no way I was going to stick anything in the hole to open the door. Bran refused to help. Bern stuck a bolt in the hole and opened the door. The door led to a small room with a skull in ectoplasm and two kobold skulls in piles of ashes. The skull rose up and attacked Bern, making his armor sizzle. Bran refused to attack the skull thing at first, the coward. I shot it with my crossbow, and finished it off. Bern found silver in kobold backpacks in the ashes. We found another hidden door.\nThat door led to a temple with a black altar decorated with screaming faces. On the altar were two gold chalices studded with gems on either side of a pile of dirt. The altar was guarded by two huge skeleton statues. Bern was sure that stepping foot into the temple would awaken the statues, without some aid. He ate some purple moss he found in the kobold backpacks, even though it had tiny hands. Disgusting. Then he glowed purple. He went to the altar, planning to switch the chalices for the skulls. Turned out the pile of dirt wasn\u0026rsquo;t a pile of dirt. It did something to stun Bern, and it had eyes and mouths. Two of the mouths latched onto Bern. Bran and I shot at the dirt creature, and distracted it enough that it lost its hold on Bern. He tried pulling the thing off him, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t work. At his urging, Bran and I ran in to grab a chalice each, while Bern struggled. We were supposed to run back after that. He looked like he was dying though, so I tried to help, but one of the mouths latched onto me. We drew weapons, but nothing worked, and it was looking like that temple would be our grave. Then, the thing let go and started making gurgling noises. Bern and I grabbed a chalice each and we all ran for the door. I ran through, then Bern made it through as if possessed, and I shut the door while Bran stood there on the other side, in a daze from the creature\u0026rsquo;s power. We heard a terrible scream and crunching noises. The pink skeleton approved, and I gave it a little bow. I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to pay for the whiny brat another day anyway.\nBern and I made it safely back to town. The moneylender offered a boatload of money for the chalices. We got them looked at the antiquities place, and they\u0026rsquo;re old. We brought them to the magician, and one of them is magical. We sold the normal one. Bern wants to test the other one to find out its magic. He wants to start with water and wine, but its going to take blood, given that we found it in a temple of screaming faces and animated bones. I wonder who we\u0026rsquo;ll have to kill to get that much blood. I don\u0026rsquo;t know if we got what we went for, but the journey was certainly profitable.\nBern # So I went out not long ago in the company of a dwarf named Grunty. Well ok I named him that because he did nothing but grunt. We found the glowing hole in the woods easily, after a quick detour to track a pair of panthers to their den. Went down into it and looked around. There were these crystals\u0026hellip; I looked at one and the next thing I knew Grunty had run off. Damn flighty dwarves. So I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to go into a cave filled with bandits and who knows what else all by my lonesome. Forests, fine, I spend most of my time there anyway, but I do that by knowing what not to tangle with. This place I knew not to tangle with alone. So I headed back to town hoping to find Grunty\u0026rsquo;s tracks on the way. No luck with that.\nWhen I did get back I bumped into one of the other members of the Butchers or Helix, an aging whore known as Stria. She was looking for a career change I guess. We had worked together earlier in the Tomb of the Serpent King and that had gone well. We decided to give the same plan I had with Grunty another try. We\u0026rsquo;d go out to the grotto, talk to the talking skeletons, and see if we could link them to Imperax like the Yggfolk wanted. I bought some parchment and ink in case we got any useful information from the skeletons. Asked ms. Tuesday at the library about some of the junior members of the Butchers who said they were looking into a mysterious doorway in the library. She remembered them after a second or two but said they had only gone in an hour or two ago, so I figured it wasn\u0026rsquo;t time to worry about them yet. Besides, there wasn\u0026rsquo;t anything unusual at the library anyway.\nWe both figured it would be better to bring some help, but pickings were slim and Stria outright refused to talk to hirelings. I\u0026rsquo;m not great at handling people but if I growl orders they usually obey, so I hired this guy named Bran. He had a sword. Just a sword. Stupid. I bought him a shield and leather armor, told him those things were just on loan, so if he ran off he better leave them behind. They weren\u0026rsquo;t cheap, the shit. And gave him a crossbow we had lying around, with a quiver and a few bolts. The idea was he would fire once and then rush to melee. That didn\u0026rsquo;t work out well either.\nWe made it to the Grotto easily. After all I knew the way now. Went down the stairs and looked around. I pointed out the sites like a good tour guide. Stria seemed flustered I hadn\u0026rsquo;t mentioned them before. Silly bint. I\u0026rsquo;m a guide not a bard. I did warn them about the crystals. About not looking into them.\nLooking through the small porthole in the wall I remembered the other Butchers mentioning, I saw kobolds digging up something from the floor. I could see two, but there could be more. At first I thought they were gnolls, but then I realized that gnolls would be a lot taller and not have any scales.\nAnyways. The other Butchers, particularly this pragmatic merc called Feverborne \u0026lsquo;cause he\u0026rsquo;s always sweating and shivering like he\u0026rsquo;s sick, had actually made friends with a kobold tribe out near Archaya. I had spent the a month or two trying to learn kobold in case I ever went out that way. Wasn\u0026rsquo;t easy without anyone to practice on. But I figured I had a few of their nasty words down.\nSo we snuck around the corner and I leapt at them, sword and torch out, screaming in my best and worst kobold, demanding that they throw down their weapons and surrender. They ran instead, which I was fine with. I chased them, didn\u0026rsquo;t bother catching them, just keeping them running. They ran off to the east, right where we were going anyway, and I had a hunch\u0026hellip;\nI was right!\nThey led us right to the cave with the two talking skeletons and there ain\u0026rsquo;t no kobolds. The room has two skeletons, three doors, no kobolds. I ask the skeletons where the kobolds went. To the north. No door to the north! Aha!\nConfirmed that with tracks. They went north through a blank wall. Aha again!\nStria looked for the mechanism to open the door while I chatted up green skellie. Got a close look at his medallion. It has an eight sided figure on it. Not Imperax. Damn. Took a rubbing of the design so I can get someone else to look it up later. Someone else who likes libraries.\nStria found a hole in the wall that she figured might open the door. She refused to stick a finger in it to try to open it. Can\u0026rsquo;t really blame her. Bran refused too. See, this is what comes of paying more for mercenaries who think they are smart. They start refusing to do the stupid shit that you hire mercenaries to do.\nI grabbed a bolt from MY quiver that Bran was carrying and jammed it into the hole. Success; the wall slid aside and opened. Beyond was a human skull in some kind of green jelly substance, two kobold skulls on top of a pile of ash, and \u0026hellip; Wait, the human skull was standing up? To arms!\nI smacked the skull hard with my sword. Bran missed. Stria hit it with her crossbow. It smacked me just a little. Same thing next time around, except it smacked Bran and he screamed like a baby. But he did hit it harder after that. Stria killed it with her crossbow shot.\nI scraped the corrosive gunk off everything and stuck the skull in my backpack. Might be worth something to a wizard, or maybe the church for a bounty. Searching the ash piles turned up 24sp and some kobold sized backpacks filled with purple moss with little hands. That went into my backpack. Hmm.\nTurns out there was another secret door right after that one. We opened it. Beyond was a much larger room, with an altar, two huge skeleton statues, and a strange pattern on the floor made from bricks, like lightning. Everything was facing away from us, like we slipped in the back of a church facing the congregation. But it was too dark to see the whole room. Stria took a moment to listen. Nothing.\nBut there were two chalices on the altar. Big ones. Gold, jewels. Worth more money than I have ever seen in my life, I bet. We were going to get those chalices and run back to town right afterwards, no risks. But laying out the way they were, obviously they were guarded. Not just by the jellyton we killed in the secret room. If that was all the kobolds would have taken them. There was also a pile of dirt on the altar, between the chalices. It seemed\u0026hellip; Odd.\nI remembered the floor markings, a pattern like lightning. And the lightning bolt that zapped a poor torchbearer in the Tomb of the Serpent King. And the kobolds with their backpacks stuffed full of purple moss\u0026hellip;\nThe plan was simple. I\u0026rsquo;d eat some of the moss and be immune from the floor zap trap just like the kobolds. Sure it was thin, but I knew from prior experience that the stuff wasn\u0026rsquo;t poisonous. So ok. Then, Stria and Bran would get their crossbows ready, while standing next to the secret door. I\u0026rsquo;d approach the altar with my backpack ready, sweep both chalices into my backpack with my free hand, and run for the secret door. The skeletons would probably animate, but I would be through the door before they could get more than one or two swings. Then the door would close and we would all run like hell. I asked green skellie to point the pursuit down the middle door.\nThings did not go according to plan.\nI was about to sweep the chalices when the pile of dirt opened it\u0026rsquo;s eyes and it\u0026rsquo;s mouths and gurgled at me.\nWhat can I tell you about the mad gurgling of a pile of dirt? Very little. I don\u0026rsquo;t remember much. Stria tells me I froze in place for nearly a minute. Then it stopped gurgling and latched on to me with all three mouths. They were attached to tentacles, and not in a good way. I grabbed at the things and tried to tear them loose even as I could feel the teeth chewing and swallowing. I roared at the other two to grab the goblets and run while I distracted it.\nNormally I am pretty confident about my strength. My muscles have muscles. It\u0026rsquo;s a product of good clean outdoor living and my pappy having a touch of the lyncanthropy. I could tell I was stronger than this thing, but not by much, and it had one more mouth than I had hands and my hands lacked mouths. It was a losing contest, but if I could distract it long enough to get the chalices away\u0026hellip; Well then I would die rich, and that helped no one. I drew my sword and started hacking at the thing. So did Bran. Stria pulled a dagger after an ineffective crossbow shot. None of it actually hit the thing hard enough to do any damage, but I guess with three of us nearby it felt a little threatened and let go of me to start gurgling again.\nI won\u0026rsquo;t lie. I ran. But I didn\u0026rsquo;t run for a failure of courage. The truth is I don\u0026rsquo;t even remember running. I blinked my eyes and then I was back in the room with the friendly skellies, smack up against the south wall and still trying to run.\nThe secret door was shut behind me, Stria standing next to it. Bran\u0026hellip; Bran\u0026rsquo;s screams from the other side of the door were barely audible with it closed. It was too late to help him.\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t realize till later that he had my leather armor, crossbow, shield, bolts, and quiver still on him when he died. Damnit.\nWell, I didn\u0026rsquo;t actually see him die. Maybe he lived. Maybe he ran in the other direction and lived like I did. If so he owes me for the armor and weapons, the little useless shit.\nWe went back to town and talked to the folks at the Golden Crown to get their estimate on the chalices. I won\u0026rsquo;t say here how much. It was a good score. We made a profit even with the money spent outfitting Bran. Was it worth Bran\u0026rsquo;s life? I dunno. He was too smart for his own good and too much of a damn fool where it mattered. I don\u0026rsquo;t think his life was worth much. And he screamed like a baby when the jellyton laid just a little bit on him.\nOh. We only sold one of the chalices. I remembered a juicy tidbit and bribed the butler at Muirrion\u0026rsquo;s to let me talk to the wizard. And split the cost of a detect magic with Stria. (This was before we sold the chalice, I was low on funds).\nTurns out the second chalice was magic. We kept that one and will try filling it with various liquids to see what it does.\nAll in all a good run. I feel sorry for Bran, but not very. He knew the risks and I invested a lot of coin in trying to keep him alive. Not my fault he didn\u0026rsquo;t make it. Stria, on the other hand .. well, if she has a conscience that troubles her, I haven\u0026rsquo;t seen any sign of it yet.\n","date":"1 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-18/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Stria # I spent the off season profitably poisoning farmers who had mistreated their wives. Bern said he had a lead to possible profit, so I tagged along with him after we decided there was no emergency requiring us to look into acquaintances missing behind a mysterious door in the library. We hired a naive fighter named Bran for the trip. He got off on the wrong foot with me by insisting on 3 gold a day as his fee, just because he didn’t like the look of us.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 18","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-17.webp\nOscar # Well.\nWell, well, well.\nMy lady of liabilities and legalities continues to watch over me, despite my unfortunate blunder in the matter of the theft of her holy symbol.\nI was filling out the proper form for such a thing while making idle chatter with the odd sheep-man Ramius. He was offering everyone tea And crumpets, so very hospitable. Gurg the dwarf accepted, as did Davos the mercenary. I turned it down, not wanting to stain the holy form. u-Heury had wondered off deeper into the roots. I had lost track of where OhYeah was and one of the guards from the caravan, Dalmanes, had joined us.\nI heard a latter from the kitchen where u-Heury had run off too. Just as I looked up, Gurg and Davos were eyeing their tea. Gurg, a doughty dwarf, rasped out \u0026ldquo;what did you put in this tea?\u0026rdquo; I took in the telltale signs of a man fighting off a potent sleeping drought on his face, and Davos as well.\nI stood and drew my mace to smite the treacherous muttonhead, but even as I did he cast some sort of spell on his chairs. The wooden furniture animated, while Ramius fled, bleating frantically. I sent Ahnjela in pursuit, fearing for u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s safety. Surprised by the furniture, Gurg and I took several swings to little effect, though I connected solidly once. Davos smashed the first chair almost immediately, and I sent him after Ahnjela, think Gurg and I could handle one chair. Eventually we did.\nWe found Ahnjela and Davos facing a line of sheep skulls floating in the air. Davos had already smashed one but Ahnjela was not looking well. Gurg and I relieved her on the front line with Davos, and quickly finished the skulls off, though Davos took wounds in the process. I handed Davos my sling and instructed him to protect Ahnjela and be missile support for Gurg and I. Forward!\nWe charged into the next room to find a horrifying scene. Ramius and his two ewes stood over u-Heury, tied to the bed and drugged senseless. Gurg and I charged forward even as the ewes struck at u-Heury. Our helpless companion took wounds, crying out, and beginning to wake, but at least he was alive!\nIt was a close thing. The two ewes fell. Gurg landed a dramatic blow on Ramius and the traitor gulped down a potion that turned him invisible. Dalmanes, the caravan guard, sprayed wine everywhere in a vain attempt to detect Ramius when he went by. It worked, but no one could connect. I tossed a rope to Ahnjela and rigged a trap across the corridor further down, hoping to reveal the creature on its way out. Again, it worked but our strikes were in vain. Ramius, the master-ram, escaped.\nOn the plus side, we found over 500gp in their chest, along with quite a lot of questionable meat, and a spell book of some kind. (I wonder how the meat is preserved and whether the chest itself is magical). The rams also had quite a pleasant little hidey hole here, well furnished. And we have a merchant caravan with wagons above. We should be able to cart off some of their possessions, or at the least, come back for them later with a horse and cart of our own.\n","date":"29 July 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-17/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-17.webp\nOscar # Well.\nWell, well, well.\nMy lady of liabilities and legalities continues to watch over me, despite my unfortunate blunder in the matter of the theft of her holy symbol.\nI was filling out the proper form for such a thing while making idle chatter with the odd sheep-man Ramius. He was offering everyone tea And crumpets, so very hospitable. Gurg the dwarf accepted, as did Davos the mercenary. I turned it down, not wanting to stain the holy form. u-Heury had wondered off deeper into the roots. I had lost track of where OhYeah was and one of the guards from the caravan, Dalmanes, had joined us.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 17","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"25 July 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/missionapocalypse/characters/","section":"Mission Apocalypse","summary":"","title":"Characters","type":"missionapocalypse"},{"content":" Dear Daisy, From Vance # Well it\u0026rsquo;s been a weird few days since you stopped by with that package for me! It was a hoodie. Bright red, the ridin\u0026rsquo; roughnecks logo. Some sort of sportsball team. Weren\u0026rsquo;t nothing I ordered, though I admit I sometimes put your address on stuff when I\u0026rsquo;m between jobs or houses.. anyways I got a call the next day saying put it on and go to this local sports bar. I was curious so I did. Turns out there was a game. The roughnecks were playing and they were the away team. The bar was full of local fans of the other team. Well, at least the hoodie would be easy to spot. I ain\u0026rsquo;t the most educated feller but even I can tell you wearing that hoodie had nothing to do with sportsball.\nSo I sidled up at da bar and ordered a beer. Some stinking troll tried his intimidation routine to take my chair. I told him no deal, back off. He did! Polite about it too. I was surprised some of those freaks can have manners.\nAbout that time some girl walked in wearing a jersey like mine and a paper bag over her head. Curiouser and curiouser. At least one more red jersey in the crowd, too. Something was up; the hairs onna back of my neck were standing an talkin'.\nAfter a few minutes a group of men came out of a room in the back of the bar and left. They looked armed and unhappy. And a voice on my comm said hurry up and get in that room! So I did! And the other folks in red hoodies did too! Plus one fur faced freak with pointed ears who I found out later left his jersey on the bar stool. Idiot. I thought elf\u0026rsquo;s were supposed to be good at it this shit?\nObviously we were supposed to be doing some kinda problem solving that the other guys turned down, so I fed the guy a line of red team blue team BS based on the jerseys. He was desperate so it worked. We \u0026ndash; four of us it turns out on team red \u0026ndash; are supposed to arrange for a building to be empty by next week. $15k if we do. Money\u0026rsquo;s not bad for a job with no violence.\nI suppose I should mention the other folks on team red. Aside from furface, we had some kinda wizard who thinks ghosts are real. The chick wearing the bag on her head runs a drone with a computer in her head or somethin. And me. I\u0026rsquo;m Vance. I drive fast and sometimes punch people.\nWe went out to the building we were supposed to evict and checked it out. Lotsa po\u0026rsquo; folk squatting. I figured I had better talk to em and see if mebbe their daddy\u0026rsquo;s cousins uncle\u0026rsquo;s boyfriend had the real deed ta the place and maybe I could do a solid for truth and justice by fightin\u0026rsquo; da Man and Boss Hogg.\nAnyways the local color knew nuttin. We made an appointment with the local Boss Hogg type collectin rent unofficially and met with him the next day. Names Willard, not Hogg. He seemed reasonable enough, said he\u0026rsquo;d move on if we found his people a better place. We mixed carrot and stick, promising to find a better place before the developer sent his goons. (I guess we are goons, but we\u0026rsquo;re the nice goons, the next goons will not be so nice).\nOne of his goons pulled us goons aside on the way out and asked if we were shadowrunners. I told him we were people who solved problems for people who had problems, which is close enough to a yes to count without being incriminating. He told us about his pappy gettin\u0026rsquo; kilt and how he would be chief of die indians ifn he hadn\u0026rsquo;t been framed fer the Killin. Real sob story. Anyways he wanted us to go collect a box his pappy \u0026hellip; Or was it his brudder? Left for him if anything ever happened. Buried it next his dead dog under a red Fern like the book. We figured a favor for a favor might get people moved so agreed. And if it didn\u0026rsquo;t maybe we would have sum dirt on this goon. Uncle used ta call that leeverage.\nRunning Dan got us out of the city to a campground near the spot. He spent the night camping in his van while we went hiking. I led the troupe of non boy scouts through the woods, none of them had much experience. We passed a spot where two wendigos were mating! Ghost documentary boy wanted to film it, but we kept him on mission and thus alive. Retrieving the box from the dog\u0026rsquo;s burial wasn\u0026rsquo;t hard\u0026hellip; Except we all forgot shovels.\nWe were attacked by devil rats on the way back. I had fun playing with them while drone-girl blasted them with her shotgun.\nWe made it back to camp and tried briefly to open the box. No dice. Guess I will give you a call when we get back into town tomorrow.\n","date":"25 July 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/missionapocalypse/sessions/session-1/","section":"Mission Apocalypse","summary":"Dear Daisy, From Vance # Well it’s been a weird few days since you stopped by with that package for me! It was a hoodie. Bright red, the ridin’ roughnecks logo. Some sort of sportsball team. Weren’t nothing I ordered, though I admit I sometimes put your address on stuff when I’m between jobs or houses.. anyways I got a call the next day saying put it on and go to this local sports bar. I was curious so I did. Turns out there was a game. The roughnecks were playing and they were the away team. The bar was full of local fans of the other team. Well, at least the hoodie would be easy to spot. I ain’t the most educated feller but even I can tell you wearing that hoodie had nothing to do with sportsball.\n","title":"Mission Apocalypse -- Session 1","type":"missionapocalypse"},{"content":"","date":"25 July 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/missionapocalypse/sessions/","section":"Mission Apocalypse","summary":"","title":"Sessions","type":"missionapocalypse"},{"content":" Bern # Met a new feller today. Short and stocky, grunted a lot. Asked his name, he grunted. Asked how he got \u0026rsquo;ere, he grunted. Ask where he wanted to go, he grunted. Asked if he wanted ya pay me ta guide him into the forest and find treasure and kill monsters. You guessed it, he grunted, so off we went.\nFirst stop was Jiles. Padawan of Ygg\u0026rsquo;s Stick he said. Knows about the outlaw band in the forest. Said he hadn\u0026rsquo;t heard nothing bout them in some time,but did want to know about Imperax cultists. I don\u0026rsquo;t know nuttin about imperax. Somethin about a raven and an eyeball. Anyways, good money if we can link the outlaws to this Imperax cult.\nFrom there we went into the woods. Finally. We headed for the incandescent grotto. Which means glowing hole in woods. Stupid big words for simple things. Probably an elf word. It sounds leafy.\nWe found some violet mushrooms, on top of a pair of panthers. Funny, Grunty thought they were tigers! Just panthers. I cut off a slice from the mushrooms for u-Heury. I hear he likes mushrooms.\nAnyways, Grunty and I went down to the swimmin\u0026rsquo; hole and I told him to look at the crystals and not the ground like they told me. And about the Monkees swimming with the mossy fish-men.\nI figured we could go ask the skeletons to the east if their master knew anything about this Imperax feller and make a quick 500 gold if they say yes. Gotta stare at this crystal for a while first though.\n","date":"22 July 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-16/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # Met a new feller today. Short and stocky, grunted a lot. Asked his name, he grunted. Asked how he got ’ere, he grunted. Ask where he wanted to go, he grunted. Asked if he wanted ya pay me ta guide him into the forest and find treasure and kill monsters. You guessed it, he grunted, so off we went.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 16","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Bern # So we decided to stop sniffing around doors and start opening them.\nThe ornate snake door led to a staircase leading down. That\u0026rsquo;s a nope, at least for now. Maybe when we\u0026rsquo;re done here.\nThe room without a door led to a small hallway filled with clay snake statues. They all had real metal swords with visible rust, meaning likely they animate if disturbed or somehow activated. We carefully slipped past without touching the statues and checked the far end; nothing noticeable.\nOne of the cinnamon doors led to an unfinished room with ancient masonry tools. I picked up a few just in case. Not in great shape.\nBehind the primitive door was a coffin. I stepped forward and shoved the lid off, hoping for treasure. Instead I got some kind of liquid slime that oozed out of the coffin and swung bulbous arms at me. It got to one of the hires pretty bad, and tagged me, too. I got in a good hit that didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to do much, so we retreated and slammed the door. Investigating later, it got out and I tracked it to the ceiling?! We\u0026rsquo;ll have to be careful of ceilings in here. We found five small snake figurines made from clay in the coffin; I smashed one (it had ash or powder of some type) and we took the rest. The same room had a silver figurine of a snake with emeralds and some scrolls, all of which we also took.\nWe tried the door with a thumping noise. It had a huge snake skeleton with a two handed axe! We slammed that door shut and moved on.\nThe penultimate door had some simple quarters, perhaps for snake priests, and scrolls in an ancient language mentioning \u0026ldquo;baltoplat\u0026rdquo;. Nothing else of interest, but perhaps we can have the scrolls translated somehow and learn more about this tomb.\nThe last door was one that Les had warned about potential danger from just behind the door. We brought some rocks from the construction room and I rolled them onto the floor just beyond the door. The first one did nothing; the second rolled over some kind of trap and set off a bolt of lightning! I ducked; armax, behind me with the torch, was slower and is now burnt to a crisp.\nThe other hirelings deserted at that point when Lesley revealed she was out of cash. Good timing; we were about done here and wouldn\u0026rsquo;t need to pay them for the trip back, if they even brought enough food and water for that. We did explore the room and take the silver plaque where the lightning bolt originated right off the wall.\nOur own trip back went smoothly, except for running from a band of giants. Les lost her tent, but I just grabbed my backpack and went. Traveling light has benefits.\nI stayed outside while Lesley negotiated sales. Nothing turned out magical, but we got good coin for the silver plaque that nearly killed me and the silver and emerald figurine. We kept the scrolls in case they had useful information.\nLesley did bring out a bedroll, and it helped keep me warmer on the cold nights. It might help a bit in winter and fall. Maybe she\u0026rsquo;s not all bad. Spent most of the coin from the sales helping out a couple folks who got hurt and couldn\u0026rsquo;t work, so I worked a but myself doing real basic masonry on farms and such, just building stone walls for fields. Earned back a little coin that way.\nI heard the others talking about a kobold pet, so tried to learn a little bit of that language. It didn\u0026rsquo;t go very well. I think I got a few swear words? Maybe.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been a few seasons, I had better check in with Lesley and see if tree-hugging taught her anything about those scrolls.\n","date":"3 July 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-15/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Bern # So we decided to stop sniffing around doors and start opening them.\nThe ornate snake door led to a staircase leading down. That’s a nope, at least for now. Maybe when we’re done here.\nThe room without a door led to a small hallway filled with clay snake statues. They all had real metal swords with visible rust, meaning likely they animate if disturbed or somehow activated. We carefully slipped past without touching the statues and checked the far end; nothing noticeable.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 15","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" A strange tree in the forest to the south of Eastdale, with an extensive and hollow root system.\nDenizens include strange sheep-people and thieving roots.\n","date":"1 July 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/locations/undertheoldoak/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" A strange tree in the forest to the south of Eastdale, with an extensive and hollow root system.\nDenizens include strange sheep-people and thieving roots.\n","title":"Under the old oak","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # After my brief foray into the world of the adventurer, the rest of the year seemed to just fly by. I had much to learn from the near death experience at the fangs of a two-headed snake, and indeed spent many days and nights in contemplation, filing form after form with the goddess Denara seeking a boon of her wisdom. Eventually I received her insight; I must work on a series of stretching exercises every day, to improve the flexibility and strength of my lame leg; it will likely always be a weakness, but even a little improvement could save my life. I was diligent and meticulous, every day filing form 47a (\u0026ldquo;Report of Daily Exercise For Physical Therapy\u0026rdquo;). The goddess approved, and blessed me with improved range of motion by 15 degrees in the knee and ankle. I shall be better able to duck in the future. Praise be to the lady of letters!\nI was so inspired by this success that I took my efforts to the market in Eastdale! I set up a stall and had a sign made up: \u0026ldquo;The Cleric is In!\u0026rdquo;. I charged a carefully calculated fee (for the goddess spoke of price discrimination, saying \u0026ldquo;from each according to their ability to pay, that profit may fill the area under the supply and demand curve most efficiently\u0026rdquo;) and offered the wisdom of Denara to all who sought it. My efforts were quite successful, to the point that the worthies of St Ygg nearly drove me from the marketplace in a fit of jealous rage!\nBefore then I was able to help one man in particular, a mercenary named Feverborne. He sought to improve his health, and so I prescribed an apple a day (and a form to report the results of course). He was quite pleased and donated 20 gp to my efforts.\nAfter St Ygg brought that enterprise to an end, I turned my efforts towards research, seeking a location where I could found a temple to serve the merchants and bankers and bureaucrats of the region. I received an answer eventually in the form of an omen, which I analyzed according to the rules (worksheet 56f, animal sacrifice, conducted at dawn, extraction of entrails, meaning thereof, from rooster, loud and obnoxious, conducted in haste). I compensated the farmer 2 gp for his contribution to my communion with the goddess and fined him 1gp for disturbing my peace of mind while filling out forms. He was confused but grateful, as were my fellow travelers at the inn.\nThe direction I received would take me out of town and towards the Dolemwood, so when a chance meeting with my old companion Punchman brought up that same location as the place to return his strange amphibian friend, I considered it mark of divine guidance and immediately agreed. We hired several guards, for travel is dangerous, including a dwarf named Gurg who came highly recommended from Feverborne the mercenary and a man named Davos who swears to port and starboard that he\u0026rsquo;s never been near a ship nor knows a thing about onions. Odd. And a man named Pelisus, who claimed to be a fortune teller and died the first night out.\nSpeaking of that first night, to control travel costs we hired on as caravan guards for most of the trip through the Gauntlet. The first night out we camped at a tree in the woods. I tried to warn the caravan masters that the tree was reputed to have strange and arcane events surrounding it, but they refused to listen.\nWe paid the price for their lack of faith later. Or I should say I paid it for them\u0026hellip;\nI took first watch, and we were attacked by wild dogs towards the end of that watch. We drove them off, though Pelisus lost his life and I took a serious wound. After checking to see if I could do anything to help Pelisus (I could not), I healed my own wounds with the grace of Denara and the application of a Form 23-1-b (\u0026ldquo;Application for Cure Light Wounds, Self\u0026rdquo;). We filed Form 13 (\u0026ldquo;Field burial for those not of the proper faith\u0026rdquo;) and Form 2b (\u0026ldquo;Temporary requisition of property from deceased for return to next of kin\u0026rdquo;) for Pelisus.\nCloser examination of the tree in light of the wild dog attack revealed an entrance into some sort of hollow below. We descended, figuring it was better to face the threat now than be surprised again later. The passage opened a small room with two exits, along with a small carving labeling the hollow \u0026ldquo;Nolly\u0026rsquo;s Kingdom\u0026rdquo;; we turned right,which let us to a strange root system. When u-Heury and I passed through,the roots animated and stole my Holy Scales! How can I possibly continue my services to Denara without her blessed measurements and balance? They also took u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s spear, which I suppose is fair, he seems to worship that more than anything else.\nWe spent an hour attacking the roots with axe, sword, torch, and finally shovels, but to no avail. The items were gone and the roots themselves were clearly no longer animated. We would need to proceed deeper into the hollow beneath the tree; perhaps some creature within would have the items that had been taken. We resolved to proceed, and that\u0026rsquo;s when things went weird\u0026hellip;\nThe next hollow split into two passages. The one continuing east had a strange chill breeze. The one to the north seemed normal. With no other distinguishing factors, I chose north, believing that heading towards the center of the tree would be best.\nWe encountered a strange hollow, filled with carved wooden faces? They were animated, proclaiming something about questions answered for payments given. Feeling somewhat desperate, I demanded the return of my holy symbol and offered a platinum piece. They muttered something about the sheep-head\u0026rsquo;s treasure being guarded in a room filled with horrors. Sheep-head????!\nThe others asked silly pointless questions without comparable worth (as demonstrated by the payment they offered). Nonetheless I transcribe the results here in case they have meaning:\n\u0026ldquo;The sheep-head\u0026rsquo;s treasure is guarded in a room of horrors\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;A silver sword lies hidden in a pillar of stone\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Reptile worshippers dwelt here long ago. They entombed a great enemy, guarded by his queens.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Do not meddle with the hunter. His presence still haunts these caverns.\u0026rdquo;\nWe continued onward towards the center of the tree. We came to a series of small hollows in the side of the passage, almost like closets. The first had cloaks and strange little hats! I announced that I was going to search for my holy symbol in the cloaks, and did so. I turned up a small key on one of the cloaks, but returned it as it was not what I sought, and moved on. I think I noticed one of the people behind me putting that cloak on, but I am not responsible for the sins of others; I did the right thing myself.\nThe next alcove held a picture of a strange little man, perhaps a dwarf or a gnome. I passed on. Again I noticed one of my companions taking the picture down from the wall behind me. I frowned, but if there was no one here and this place was abandoned\u0026hellip;\nThe next hollow was larger. It held a table and chair. I stopped and announced myself: \u0026ldquo;I am Oscar Blaine, devotee of Denara, seeking redress for the theft of valuable items from my person!\u0026rdquo;\nI was answered by a sheep-headed humanoid creature with hooves and horns offering me tea. He named himself as Rammeus.\nI made inquiries about my missing holy symbol. The creature disavowed any knowledge of the theft but suggested proceeding east where others also resided beneath the tree. I was ready to proceed, but the rest of the group wished to take him up on the offer of tea and explore the rest of the quaint little nook. Two other sheep creatures (he called them his \u0026ldquo;flock\u0026rdquo;) lived within, complete with a kitchen and bedroom. The portrait was of a friend of his, as he explained when he noticed one of my companions carrying it.\nDespite the somewhat rude explorations of my companions \u0026ndash; a less biased man might call them searches! \u0026ndash; we remained on peaceful terms with the sheep-folk. We did not find my holy symbol or u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s spear. Rammeus is offering tea, which I suppose we can accept in the name of hospitality before resuming our search to the east.\n","date":"30 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-14/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # After my brief foray into the world of the adventurer, the rest of the year seemed to just fly by. I had much to learn from the near death experience at the fangs of a two-headed snake, and indeed spent many days and nights in contemplation, filing form after form with the goddess Denara seeking a boon of her wisdom. Eventually I received her insight; I must work on a series of stretching exercises every day, to improve the flexibility and strength of my lame leg; it will likely always be a weakness, but even a little improvement could save my life. I was diligent and meticulous, every day filing form 47a (“Report of Daily Exercise For Physical Therapy”). The goddess approved, and blessed me with improved range of motion by 15 degrees in the knee and ankle. I shall be better able to duck in the future. Praise be to the lady of letters!\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 14","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # After spending the night camped in a secret room, we took stock of our gains and losses and decided it was time to return to town and reprovision. Having scouted the ruins (and more importantly the path to and from) we could plan more effectively for our next expedition, and with more funds to boot. Buying a mule to carry provisions for example. Though I hear rumors of a mule thief in town lately..\nThe little kobold Tartuccio was a problem though. We discussed it and figured Eastdale would not be enthusiastic about a kobold pet, no matter how cute. Dressing him up in a thick cloak and claiming he is a little kid would probably not fool anyone for long. Eventually we decided to tell him to keep the section of ruins we had just explored safe, and that we would come back in \u0026ldquo;many moons\u0026rdquo; with food and riches, and to tell all the little kobolds to expect us and obey us when we returned. Perhaps they could hold the cave system for us, and we could have a secure base in the ruins and eventually an army of kobolds?\nSometimes you gotta get creative with your alliances.\nHeard that from a special-ops guy in Helix. People called him Brighteye on account of his single glowing red eye. (The other one was \u0026hellip; Y\u0026rsquo;know I don\u0026rsquo;t even recall, except not glowing red). And he lived through the Great Undeadening, so he knew something about surviving.\nSo we gave Tartuccio a bunch of shiny stones and snake scales as a down payment on riches and headed home to Eastdale.\nOn the way home we stopped to camp at the henge. There were 6 bodies there, probably human, killed and stripped. Too late to do anything for them but burn the bodies so they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t rise as undead. We did that, then camped. Bit of a storm overnight made my cough act up again. Resolved to spend some time contemplating what I have learned from the adventuring life and eating some health food. I need to get my stamina up; standing around as a guard in Helix does nothing for that. It\u0026rsquo;s a sedentary life in bad air, beats the wind right out of you.\nWe finally got back to Eastdale and made inquiries about selling what we found. Almost a thousand gold for the lot, not counting the spell book which Punchman won\u0026rsquo;t allow out of his sight. He\u0026rsquo;s keeping that, but says he\u0026rsquo;ll allow other wizards in our group to learn from it, if any even join up.\nThen we split up to tend to our individual needs. I found a merchant in the market offering medical advice for a small donation to Denara. Went there on the regular and followed his advice. (Well not the bit about praying to Denara, beyond those donations). I guess it worked? I\u0026rsquo;m coughing less and feeling better.\nSo if that works I figured I would try something similar. Shopped around for hard labor jobs, real brute strength work. That went really well. Made a reputation for myself as a hard worker with strong hands. I worked those jobs and practiced with the sword and bow at night. I think I learned some good new tricks.\nFinally I tried looking into the ring I found, the one that makes you immune to the troglodyte stench. Guess what? That is all it does. I feel like I wasted a few months there when I could have been working.\nSomething felt different in the town after that time. People were complaining about Saint Ygg a lot more. And besides that guy in the market, Oscar he said his name is, someone came by asking for donations to the cause of building a temple to Denara nearby. Sounds good to me! I donated.\nThere were rumors about some nobleman who got himself in trouble somehow. The name Gloommist came up. Or was it Gloomiest, as in the most gloomy? Either way, the doings of the nobility are no concern of mine.\nu-Heury went off in search of other barbarians. I think he found them \u0026ndash; or maybe they found him when he needed saving from a snake thing.\nHard to believe a year passed that quickly. But now I\u0026rsquo;m stronger, healthier and wealthier than I have ever been. It\u0026rsquo;s been many moons, and probably about time we checked on Tartuccio..\nPunchman # It\u0026rsquo;s been a strange year since we were saying goodbye to our kobold friend Tartuccio and heading back to the town of Eastdale. I remember throwing him a final snack of two stirge proboscis before we headed back home \u0026ndash; with what seems like a pretty nice haul of antiquities! I never made money this good back when I was a butcher, but still . . . it\u0026rsquo;s not enough to research this new spell I have in mind. As a precursor: I believe if I combine what I\u0026rsquo;ve learned of summoning light orbs with the teachings of my old mentor, I could create a potable phosphorescence! Maybe someday . . .\nWhen we returned to Eastdale, I was anxious to offload those antiquities, and after bribing my way in to see Murrion the Magician (side note: bring pastries for the butler when you\u0026rsquo;d like a more timely audience) and talking \u0026ldquo;a good show\u0026rdquo; around the value of the antiquities that we found, we netted a nice profit that was worth upwards of 100 platinum, split 4 ways. It would have been split 5 ways, but unfortunately, we didn\u0026rsquo;t return with Bayonetta in our company. Feverborne looked pretty sad about that. Poor man.\nSince that time, I\u0026rsquo;ve spent two seasons of the year intense on some new studies. As a butcher and the son of a mason, I didn\u0026rsquo;t really gain much in the way of a proper education - thankfully the library here in Eastdale has a lot of information, and I\u0026rsquo;ve been able to \u0026ldquo;graduate\u0026rdquo; as it were, to what I\u0026rsquo;d call an elementary education. That said, pretty much all of Summer was a waste though. It\u0026rsquo;s too difficult for me to concentrate with Miss Tuesday at the library. We continue to exchange pleasantries and I keep a nice supply of pastries coming to her. At some point I may actually become brave enough to gulp take her on a date?\nSpeaking of the library, I am extremely interested in the quote unquote \u0026ldquo;door\u0026rdquo; at the library. There is some kind of warding magic that seems to want everyone to completely ignore its existence. If I only had some kind of invisibility spell so I could sneak in there . . . hmm . . . or perhaps if I could hypnotize someone and have them investigate the door for me. I certainly couldn\u0026rsquo;t see myself using hypnotism on sweet Miss Tuesday.\nOH! Didn\u0026rsquo;t I tell you the exciting news? The local illusionist mentor in Eastdale just surprised me with that very knowledge of hypnotism! I\u0026rsquo;ve yet to use it in any capacity, but I have inscribed the spell into my spellbook and am prepared to use it to benefit the Butchers of Helix. Imagine me hypnotizing our enemies and convincing them to \u0026ldquo;lay down their weapons and walk away slowly.\u0026rdquo; I don\u0026rsquo;t think you\u0026rsquo;ll have to imagine for much longer!\n","date":"24 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-13/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # After spending the night camped in a secret room, we took stock of our gains and losses and decided it was time to return to town and reprovision. Having scouted the ruins (and more importantly the path to and from) we could plan more effectively for our next expedition, and with more funds to boot. Buying a mule to carry provisions for example. Though I hear rumors of a mule thief in town lately..\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 13","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Born on a battlefield from a prior union between her camp follower mother and a soldier. Not the soldier her lovesick mother originally followed. He died early on. Just a random soldier, because her mother stayed on following the army, having nowhere else to go. Her childhood was spent observing what went on in the camp follower tents, and observing what goes on with an army in between battles. From her mother and her ilk, Stria learned what to do to and with a man. From the soldiers who treated her as a pet, she learned to knife fight and some dirty hand to hand skills in case a man tried to get rough with her.\nEven though surrounded by soldiers, even female ones, Stria had no desire to become one. Why risk death every few days for shit pay? From some of the camp followers, she heard about brothels in the cities, where women did nothing more strenuous than entertain clients in comfort, with daily baths, clean clothes, and steady meals. She watched, she listened, and when old enough, practiced on a few younger soldiers. When the army made its way towards the capital, she bid goodbye to her mother, and made her way through the gates.\nIt was a whole other world in the city. She had some scuffles, but stayed mostly unscathed. She scoped out the brothels, talking to he girls outside advertising the wares, but mostly crouched in shadows listening to the girls talk to each other. Once she had an dea of which establishments were run well, and what schemes to avoid, she auditioned at a few herself. Back then, she had a just pretty face, on top of a body that was enough to stir any straight male. She got in a middle class brothel and worked her way into a high class one.\nShe was a little away from having enough money saved to buy her way out and set up her own brothel, when a drunk nobleman slashed her face, using her as a substitute for the rival he couldn\u0026rsquo;t touch. The Madame, seeing the opportunity to dispose of a potential rival herself, provided only a nonmagical healer while Stria lay in and out of consciousness, ensuring her face healed horribly scarred. By the time she recovered, no magic could cure her, and she would never work again. Bitter, she used the money she had left from paying for her healing to buy into the Thieve\u0026rsquo;s Guild and trained as an assassin. With an outfit and her makeup, she could become anyone. She specialized in using her body to seduce her targets, then killing them once they were vulnerable in a bedroom. Her attacker was her first hit. She killed him with a knife under the chin into his brain while he sprawled on the bed, expecting a bored widow he just met in a ballroom to do something naughty to him.\nStria joins the party after her last hit, when the target\u0026rsquo;s murder caused more heat than expected, and she needed to stay away from that city for a while and lie low. It unfortunately meant she had to bail before getting paid. Since her childhood was a nomadic camp existence, she is familiar with all aspects of camp, and can help out as needed. Handy with daggers, she can sneak and take down unsuspecting people. She tends to hide her face, since one look at her face scares children or sours the eagerness of anyone who saw her body first. Practical, no nonsense, acerbic, and tends to keep to herself unless in disguise and on a job.\n","date":"20 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/stria/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" Born on a battlefield from a prior union between her camp follower mother and a soldier. Not the soldier her lovesick mother originally followed. He died early on. Just a random soldier, because her mother stayed on following the army, having nowhere else to go. Her childhood was spent observing what went on in the camp follower tents, and observing what goes on with an army in between battles. From her mother and her ilk, Stria learned what to do to and with a man. From the soldiers who treated her as a pet, she learned to knife fight and some dirty hand to hand skills in case a man tried to get rough with her.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Stria","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Call me Leslie. Or Les. I\u0026rsquo;m one or the other. Some days, I\u0026rsquo;m both.\u0026rdquo;\n","date":"20 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/leslie/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"“Call me Leslie. Or Les. I’m one or the other. Some days, I’m both.”\n","title":"Leslie","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-12.webp\nBern # I came to Eastdale looking for guide work, leading people through the wilderness. Don\u0026rsquo;t really like people much. Animals are much simpler, I know where I stand out in the wilds. Difference between a dog and a wolf and a cat you can see and smell and taste. Humans, well, some of us will lie to ya and cheat ya and kill ya and we all look the same. But sometimes ya need stuff only humans can really do. Talk, even if it\u0026rsquo;s just listening in a corner at a bar. Metal tools. Alcohol. Can\u0026rsquo;t do everything yourself and then you have to do something else to pay for it.\nAnyways I heard this group talking. They found a map. Oom of the snake, something like that. Wanted to go explore. Said I would take em there and back for a share of what they found. They hired on a few other folks. Not my favorite thing but the wilds will eat the unworthy (and sometimes the worthy). More swords help even if I wish some of them would just SHUT UP \u0026ndash; Les the Lesser, nature chick, looking at you. Come to think about it she doesn\u0026rsquo;t even have a sword. Oh well. Maybe she\u0026rsquo;ll get eaten first. Works out that way. That\u0026rsquo;s the law of nature: eat or be eaten.\nWe set out following the road. One of the clients was holding us all up by wearing plate. Lesser Les asked me to find a mule, so I did. Didn\u0026rsquo;t know she was going to steal it. Didn\u0026rsquo;t really care, come to think of it. It\u0026rsquo;ll be a shorter life but a more exciting one. Mebbe not so much fun carrying Sam and his mail on your back, but who wants to live on a farm?\nThis oom thing, two, three days away by road now that we\u0026rsquo;re making better time. We stopped for the first night at a camp with a spring I\u0026rsquo;ve used before. Good source of water, and I fed the new hires from berries and nuts I know. I shared a watch with Les. She just natters on. Probably thinks I\u0026rsquo;m listening. Truth is, anything approaching the camp will hear her first and miss me.\nWe had a group of men approach the camp overnight, hoping to refresh their water supply and trade. We ain\u0026rsquo;t got no claim on nature\u0026rsquo;s bounty. They told us a little of the lands beyond in trade for the goodwill. Snakes, poison, cursed, don\u0026rsquo;t go. The usual. But it turns out they have some remedies for the poisonous animals near the place where we\u0026rsquo;re going. They just last for a few days, but they may save a life. Maybe even mine.\nI negotiated a trade. I had picked up some caltrops in town; nasty little things, ruin a horse\u0026rsquo;s hoof if it steps on one. They already said they hated pricks on horseback. So I traded my caltrops for their remedies. No money needed, just the way it should be.\nThey wanted Perbo the halfling for \u0026ldquo;entertainment\u0026rdquo;. He\u0026rsquo;s not that funny. I asked if he wanted to go. Said it would be good for him. He wasn\u0026rsquo;t buying it. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t either if I were him. Runt of the litter never does well. Good thing they settled for the caltrops. I understand that dwarf tossing is still a thing in the northern tribes, and I don\u0026rsquo;t think they can tell the difference.\nStria was quiet through the whole thing. What on earth is an ordinary peasant woman doing out in the wilds like this? Maybe she has hidden qualities. Maybe she is just tired of life and wants a quick death. Guess we\u0026rsquo;ll see. Certainly doesn\u0026rsquo;t draw attention to herself. Got something in common there.\nThe next day we left the road and I was back in my element. Camped near water again. I took another watch with Les the Less-Silent. This time we were joined by Landon, an elf with a lembas problem. Can\u0026rsquo;t stop talking about it. Didn\u0026rsquo;t have the heart to tell him that stuff\u0026rsquo;s just biscuits and sugar. Coulda baked some up if we had a campfire. Not cause I care; just to show him I know how to make his elf stuff.\nBut before I could get to cooking he spotted some orcs with his elf vision. That shit\u0026rsquo;s cheating. They were mostly bypassing our camp, fleeing from something, but a few of them caught sight of Landon\u0026rsquo;s pointed ears and decided to go for fast food. I slipped off into the night while the elf ran screaming for the camp.\nThe druid did something useful and lit up the front orc. That one died quickly as did the one behind it. The last one was heading for Slim, our muleman. I came out of nowhere swinging like a berserker to distract it, and neat as a trick Landon\u0026rsquo;s halberd poked right through his forehead from behind. Red in tooth, claw, and polearm.\nPerbo got a short bow instead of coin. Another victory for barter. They had two more short bows and three scimitars. We picked them up \u0026ndash; one orc\u0026rsquo;s trash is another man\u0026rsquo;s treasure \u0026ndash; and went on.\nFinally we made it to the oom. Parked the mule just a little inside and followed the map deeper in, past some smashed statues. I took note; u-Heury had been here. The man has a reputation for demolition even I have heard of.\nWe ended up in a room filled with doors, and some kind of stinking pit in the center. Les talked to nature a lot. Apparently nature talked back and told her what doors are safe. That\u0026rsquo;s new. Or maybe I slipped her some of the wrong mushrooms last night on a lark. She did seem surprised when her voices kept talking to her after they usually stopped.\nOne of the doors had some kind of trap or danger behind it. Another one buzzed. Not very helpful. We carefully checked them all and Landon started opening the safe ones, checking with his infravision. He found some sort of masonry tools in one. Maybe I can pick up a few in case I want a couple rough shelters that last longer than a season.\nWhen Les comes down off the \u0026lsquo;shrooms I fed her we\u0026rsquo;ll search some of these rooms more closely.\n","date":"20 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-12/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-12.webp\nBern # I came to Eastdale looking for guide work, leading people through the wilderness. Don’t really like people much. Animals are much simpler, I know where I stand out in the wilds. Difference between a dog and a wolf and a cat you can see and smell and taste. Humans, well, some of us will lie to ya and cheat ya and kill ya and we all look the same. But sometimes ya need stuff only humans can really do. Talk, even if it’s just listening in a corner at a bar. Metal tools. Alcohol. Can’t do everything yourself and then you have to do something else to pay for it.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 12","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # North of the portcullis were two doors, both closed. We listened and they were both silent as well. Opening the one to the north revealed a closet full of skeletons; someone\u0026rsquo;s family has a lot of dark secrets. Well, actually zombies. But I couldn\u0026rsquo;t resist the turn of phrase. There were about 6 of them but they didn\u0026rsquo;t move when we opened the door. Huh.\nPunchman worked up his courage, threw a torch at one, and we slammed the door and took off. The things started moving then! But they didn\u0026rsquo;t know how to open the door, so we were safe for the moment. After a few minutes we returned, ignoring the zombies scratching, and opened the other door.\nThe second door to the east was empty of life or unlife. It did have a desk, which Ahnjela searched hastily. She found nothing until we had the bright idea to drag it into the corridor and use it to block off the zombie door so we could search it in a more leisurely fashion. That led to a papyrus scroll, which we stuffed in a loot bag. \u0026ldquo;This belongs in a museum,\u0026rdquo; said no treasure hunter ever, unless that museum was the highest bidder.\nFrom there we went south. We found a larger room with tracks in the dust. A side room had clearly been ransacked already, but there were noises and tracks further south. u-Heury ate a mushroom while we searched the ransacked room just in case, and suddenly started to glow purple.\nWe followed the tracks south through a doorway, and burst in on a tiny tribe of kobolds. With the advantage of surprise, I shot and killed one, which terrified the rest into surrender. They also begged for food, being outcast from a nearby larger tribe. We fed them in return for their help.\nAfter further exploration led to a dead end, we returned to the skeleton porticullis. With all of us, plus Gurg and a kobold, we were able to lift the gate. The remaining kobolds collected enough rocks and debris to hold the gate up temporarily, so we made our way in and looked around. u-Heury is an odd fellow; he spent half an hour collecting skulls and moving them far away from the rest of their skeletons. But then he saw a silver goblet and grabbed it. Suddenly the skeletons he hadn\u0026rsquo;t gotten to yet came back to life, animated with unholy force.\nI totally saw it coming. I grew up in Helix, the town practically next door to the Barrowmaze. Undead are nothing new to me. I had my bow ready, ducked back out of the room, and fired. A miss, but skeletons don\u0026rsquo;t make easy targets. Too much empty space between the ribs. u-Heury escaped with the goblet clutched in his hands, and the rest made it out with only minor scrapes. The kobolds had fled, but the goblet was our first obviously valuable relic.\nWith zombies eager to come out of the closet to the north and skeletons to the West, we were almost ready to take our prizes and return to town. We did one last check at a dead end, and found a secret door that opened from a lever in the floor. Inside was an oddly shaped room, with bookshelves and a strangely shaped skull. u-Heury took down the skull, popped it into a sack, tied the sack with wire, and dumped the whole package to the bottom of his backpack. After what happened in the porticullis room, I had nothing to say. The man has good sense.\nWe found a strange leather scroll on the shelves that remained intact, too. It should be worth good coin.\nWith no other exits we were ready to go. On the way out we met a kobold \u0026ndash; the only one who hadn\u0026rsquo;t fled. I took him as a pet and named him Tartuccio, after a famous kobold in a Bard\u0026rsquo;s song. He accompanied us outside, where we realized it was already dusk. We returned to the room behind the secret door to spend the night, which passed uneventfully.\nIn the morning, we recovered Bayonetta\u0026rsquo;s body and gave it a decent burial before beginning the long trek up the path to Eastdale.\nPunchman Punchman # Again we find ourselves plunged in darkness as we search the ruins of Archaia. I\u0026rsquo;m becoming used to the smell of burning tar from the torch. These days I find myself holding this light more often for the group. I\u0026rsquo;m not fond of this responsibility as it typically means I\u0026rsquo;m the first one that the creatures of the crypt focus in on, but I figure at least it helps me control when the group flees and when the group stays.\nArchia itself is a large canyon dotted with crypt entrances from a more ancient time. Some of these areas are silent, but as we\u0026rsquo;re discovering, most are crawling with new inhabitants.\nEarlier we spent a strange, yet adventurous morning in one of these Caves of Archia. We fought off blood-sucking stirges, rummaged through a mushroom patch (where incidentally I found a beautiful spell book off of a poor unfortunate mage\u0026rsquo;s decaying body) and ran away from an angry troll who we taunted into charging at us. Obviously I was the first to run . . . that thing was twice our size and none to happy with the stirge wrapped magic mushroom we threw to him! Luckily we outran the ugly beast, and he lost interest as we ducked into the sunlight.\nThis brings us to this evening\u0026rsquo;s adventures. We decided to explore another crypt entrance that was a bit less natural looking. Indeed the entrance led down deep below the mountain, two flights of stairs, into a questionable crypt that is destined to collapse in on itself over time. The mountain keeps rumbling and it is surely a bad omen.\nThe northern half of the crypt was mostly barren, but as to be expected, someone or \u0026ldquo;some things\u0026rdquo; had been here before us. Come to find out, a small band of Kobolds had been roaming the halls and tried to set a crossbow trap in one of the rooms. It didn\u0026rsquo;t work. Eventually we found them lost in the southern most part of the dungeon and our fighter slayed one without hesitation, which led to their surrender, and eventually their help! As it turns out, kobolds will do just about anything for food, including lifting a heavy portcullis and fetching rocks to hold it open.\nI must make a side note here about the kobolds. Their presence makes me nervous. Most of them fled, but one has joined our adventures. Our fighter named him \u0026ldquo;Tartuccio,\u0026rdquo; supposedly after a bard song about a kobold (incidentally, what a horrible kobold name! Leave it to a bard to come up with something completely unrealistic. He looks more like a \u0026ldquo;Gurk\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;Zok\u0026rdquo; to me. I think I\u0026rsquo;ll call him \u0026ldquo;shoe\u0026rsquo;y\u0026rdquo; for short). Shoe\u0026rsquo;y spoke of a winged beast that was mighty and could make the kobolds powerful. I think I heard tale once that where you find kobolds, you will also find dragons.\nThe western part of the dungeon was full of old death. Beyond the portcullis was a pile of old bones that, despite our attempts at separating the skulls, immediately animated when our barbarian grabbed an ancient, silver goblet from a skeletal grasp. The group again made the smart choice and knocked out the portcullis supports while the skeletons were reanimating and trapped them back in their tomb. (This also was the point where most of the kobolds fled in panic.)\nAlso in the west we found a room full of motionless zombies of all humanoid races. Sure enough they also animated the moment I threw a torch at one of them and hastily shut the door on them. One thing about the undead: they\u0026rsquo;re none-to-bright and don\u0026rsquo;t know how to use door handles. Fortuned favored us again as a room next door to the zombies had a large desk that our unusually strong thief was able to pull in front of their door to block them. Also fortunate, I managed to dig up an ancient tube of Papyrus from a hidden drawer! It\u0026rsquo;s not of magical nature, but I bet you either Murrion the Magician or Retep back in town will pay us at least 250 gold for this artifact.\nAs I write this note, the last of our evening\u0026rsquo;s torchlight is about to fade. I discovered a secret room here on the Eastern side of the crypt and it will provide perfect shelter. I doubt kobolds or undead will be able to figure out the hidden lever system that was used to disguise the door. We\u0026rsquo;re safe here, and I\u0026rsquo;m on first watch as our warriors take a long night\u0026rsquo;s rest to heal from their battle wounds.\nIn the morning I\u0026rsquo;ll be using Read Magic to take a closer look at this spell book we found in the Troll Cave. Perhaps something in its pages will spark inspiration in me to write a spell of my own! I\u0026rsquo;ve been having visions of a human that looks something like a pitcher of red liquid with arms and legs, splashing through enemies and making them glow! Of course, to craft such a spell would take intense research and approximately 100 platinum to devise. Maybe someday my fame and fortune will grow, but for now . . . I\u0026rsquo;ll hold the torch and let my vestments do the smiling.\noriginally posted\n","date":"17 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-11/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # North of the portcullis were two doors, both closed. We listened and they were both silent as well. Opening the one to the north revealed a closet full of skeletons; someone’s family has a lot of dark secrets. Well, actually zombies. But I couldn’t resist the turn of phrase. There were about 6 of them but they didn’t move when we opened the door. Huh.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 11","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Image not found: session-10.webp\nFeverborne # We left Bayonetta\u0026rsquo;s body at our campsite. We weren\u0026rsquo;t ready to return and there would be no point carrying it with us. A simple cairn of stones would do for now. u-Heury collected her possessions (and wages).. we will see what he does with them.\nFurther south and west we found a cavern floored with obsidian. It was slippery. Very odd, obsidian is normally shiny but not slippery.\nSoutheast we found a large cavern with a small population of stirges. We were ready for them. Punchman distracted two of them with some sort of magical glowing things. Two came for me, I shot one dead in one shot, but the other latched on. I dropped my bow and killed it with my bare hands, drew my sword and killed another. Gurg and u-Heury each handled one. We mopped up the two chasing the wisps quickly after that, Punchman using some sort of trick with his lights to throw more accurately, and took a brief rest to bandage our wounds.\nFurther south, somewhat in between the previous two paths, we found a cavern with a small cliff face. u-Heury scaled it easily and lowered a rope for the rest of us. Up above we found the body of a wizard, so proven by the large book of magic in his backpack. He had died from a wound in his side, and was missing a dagger, the sheath for which still sat empty on his belt. Punchman took the book of magic, which will hopefully be of use to him. Unfortunately it seems unlikely to lead to a payday for the rest of us.\nWe built a cairn for his body as well.\nMoving further south within the same cavern, we cane across a narrow bridge over water, guarded by\u0026hellip; What else? A troll. Surprisingly he was willing to negotiate and sick of eating fish. We offered him freshly killed stirges as a snack, which almost worked, except u-Heury thought stuffing them with magic mushrooms might be appropriate. Clearly the troll disagreed; we heard some kind of explosion in the darkness, followed by the sounds of a furious troll with indigestion. We ran, without shame. We won\u0026rsquo;t be coming back there for a while.\nSince we had fully explored that cave (except for whatever was past the troll) we named it the troll cave and moved on. This time we took a closer look at the entrances and chose one that looked like it had been made by civilized folk. We figured that would have a better chance of finding actual relics.\nThe entrance we chose led to a series of twisted passages, all alike\u0026hellip; Don\u0026rsquo;t ask me for detailed directions is what I\u0026rsquo;m saying. We didn\u0026rsquo;t find much at first, just empty rooms, until I felt something suspicious on the handle of a door. We opened that one using u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s spear from as far away as possible. And a good thing we did, as a crossbow was rigged to fire through the door when it opened. Luckily our precautions were enough and it missed. We collected the crossbow and moved on. It was a recent trap, so someone or something else is in these runes with us. Perhaps not right now, but often enough to defend their territory.\nA little south of that trapped door we found a porticullis. On the far side were many dried bones. Poking them with a spear did not cause then to animate, at least not when we were on the safe side of the gate.\nWe took a brief pause here for me to record this, and will continue shortly.\n","date":"10 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-10/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Image not found: session-10.webp\nFeverborne # We left Bayonetta’s body at our campsite. We weren’t ready to return and there would be no point carrying it with us. A simple cairn of stones would do for now. u-Heury collected her possessions (and wages).. we will see what he does with them.\nFurther south and west we found a cavern floored with obsidian. It was slippery. Very odd, obsidian is normally shiny but not slippery.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 10","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Attributes\nBody: 4 Strength: 4 Agility: 4 React: 6 (4 + Improved Reflexes) Willpower: 6 Logic: 2 Intuition: 4 Charisma: 2 Edge: 2 Essence: 6 Magic: 6\nInherent Limits Physical (Strx2 + Body + React)/2: 8 Mental (Logicx2 + Willpower + Intuition)/2: 7 Social (Charismax2 + Willpower + Essence)/2: 8\nInitiative (Intuition + Reaction): 10 + 2d6\nCondition Monitor: Physical (Body/2 + 8) 10: OOOOOOOOOOO Stun (Willpower/2 + 8) 10: OOOOOOOOOO Overflow (Body + Aug):\nQualities: Gearhead (11 karma) Quick Healer (3 karma) Uneducated (-8 karma) Criminal SIN (-10 karma)\nSkills: Etiquette: 1 Pilot Ground Craft: 3 Archery: 2 Sneaking: 4 Athletics Group (Swimming, Running, Gymnastics): 3 Close Combat Group (Blades, Blunt, Unarmed): 1\nBlades: 3 Unarmed: 3 Outdoors Group (Navigation, Survival, Tracking): 4 (8 karma to fix group) Athletics Group (Gymnastics, Running, Swimming): 2 (4 karma to fix group) Knowledge (Farming): 2 Knowledge (Seattle): 1 First Aid: 2 (6 karma) Perception: 2 (6 karma) Sneaking: 4 (14 karma) Firearms Group (Automatic, Longarms, Pistols): 1 Pilot Ground Craft (Wheeled): 3 (12 Karma) Adept: (6 PP spent, pg 308) Improved Reflexes (2) Attribute Boost (Strength, level 1): .25 PP Attribute Boost (Agility, level 1): .25 PP Attribute Boost (React, level 1): .25 PP Attribute Boost (Body, level 1): .25 PP Improved Sense (Nightvision): .25 PP Missile Parry (1) Mystic Armor (2) Penetrating Strike (4)\nImproved Reflexes (2): This power increases the speed at which you react, just like wired reflexes. For each level, +1 to Reaction and +1d6 initiative dice.\nAttribute Boost: Make a magic + attribute boost rating test. Each hit boosts the attribute by 1, up to augmented attribute max. This only affects dice pools, not inherent limits or initiative ratings don\u0026rsquo;t change. The boost lasts for 2x the number of hits in Combat Turns. When it runs out, take drain equal to the level of the attribute boost. (Drain: Stun damage resisted by Body + Willpower)\nMissile Parry: (Interrupt Action, -5 from initiative) Must have a free hand. Works only on slow-moving projectiles (arrows, knives, shuriken, grenades). Add +1 die per level to your defense pool against the attacker\u0026rsquo;s ranged attack test. If you generate net hits, you pluck the missile from the air.\nMystic Armor: 1 point of Armor protecting against physical attacks, cumulative with other armor, no encumberance. Also protects against damage in astral combat.\nPenetrating Strike: Bypasses armor.\nGearhead: When driving, has an intuitive sense of limitations and capabilities of the vehicle, and can coax the vehicle to its best performance. Increase speed by 20% or handling by +1 (player\u0026rsquo;s choice). +2 dice pool modifier for difficult meneuvers or stunts. Lasts 1d6 minutes.\nQuick Healer: +2 dice pool modifier for all healing tests, including magical healing, \u0026ldquo;on/for/by\u0026rdquo; the character. (Does this apply to using First Aid on another character?)\nUneducated: Considered \u0026ldquo;unaware\u0026rdquo; and may not default on skill tests for Technical, Academic, or Professional knowledge skills the character does not possess. Karma costs for all such skills are doubled.\nCriminal SIN: (It\u0026rsquo;s long; page 84) Convicted of smuggling before any physical adept skills manifested.\nContacts (6 from Charisma, 4 Karma):\nDaisy (Connections: 1, Loyalty: 5, Karma: 6), a cousin from back home who made it big as a personal assistant for someone she calls Mr Johnson. She reads his email, transcribes his voicemail, and hand-delivers the paper copies once a week to his address, when he has one. No, not Mr Johnson\u0026rsquo;s email \u0026ndash; Lucas\u0026rsquo;s.\nCooter (Connections: 1, Loyalty: 3, Karma: 4) works on the bike sometimes.\nConcept: Just a good ol\u0026rsquo; boy, never meanin\u0026rsquo; no harm\u0026hellip; been in trouble with the law since the day he was born, making his way the only way he knows how. Someday a critter may get him, but the law never will.\nLucas grew up in the country, as far from electronics as it\u0026rsquo;s possible to be in the modern world. And a good thing too, because technology really hates him, and he hates it right back. Not especially fond of these metahuman freaks either; humans can be just as good as elves, stubborn as dwarves, tough as orks, and who would want to be a troll anyway? It\u0026rsquo;s not a hatred so much as an inferiority complex. And it\u0026rsquo;s enough to fuel his own magic to compensate, making Lucas a pretty darn tough example of humanity. That said, he\u0026rsquo;s never been particularly focused on fighting; he grew up rough and tumble but has neither training nor the killer instinct. At least, not for sentients \u0026ndash; yet. Critters are another story. Lucas believes victory is spelled BBQ, and has made spare cash for years shooting at demon rats and other vermin on his farm and those nearby. When he can, he cooks them up, or sells them to a specialty chef.\nHe made a living for a while helping out on his family\u0026rsquo;s farm, but the death of his Uncle Jessie (who raised him from a child) left him at loose ends, especially when the taxes required the farm itself to be sold. Beau got the car, so he used what little was left from the estate to buy a motorcycle and tried to figure out what to do with his life. His family history had a whole passel of smugglers, moonshiners, and poachers, so it was almost a family tradition to operate outside the law. When Daisy found a position with occasional extralegal needs, she helped him get a SIN.\nLifestyle: Low ($2000/month)\nEquipment: MediKit (Rating 3, $750): The life you save might be yours.\nHarley Davidson Scorpion ($12,000): When Uncle Jessie passed on, Beau got the General Lee. This is the next best thing on two wheels. (Note: I\u0026rsquo;m assuming Incompetent: Electronics is distinct from Incompetent: Mechanical, so vehicles without gadgets should be ok; if there were options for \u0026ldquo;no computers, just a carburetor\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;d take it). Lucas would like to figure out a way to make this bike fly like the General Lee. (Levitate spell? Enchanting?)\nArmor Clothing ($450, AR: 6): Gotta wear armor when you\u0026rsquo;re on two wheels. Everybody knows that. Helmet ($100, AR: +2): For the bike. He promised Daisy he\u0026rsquo;d wear it. Sometimes he remembers. No gadgets. Lined Coat ($900, AR: 9): For the critters. And, ya\u0026rsquo;know, the chicks. Sometimes they scratch. Ruger Super Warhawk ($400): Big. Shiny. Loud. Most importantly, no gadgets.\nSurvival Knife ($100): Old school, no GPS, but it does glow in the dark. Handy with low light vision.\nFake SIN (Rating 4, $2500): Vance Bow (Strength rating 4, $400)\n","date":"9 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/missionapocalypse/characters/vance/","section":"Mission Apocalypse","summary":"Attributes\nBody: 4 Strength: 4 Agility: 4 React: 6 (4 + Improved Reflexes) Willpower: 6 Logic: 2 Intuition: 4 Charisma: 2 Edge: 2 Essence: 6 Magic: 6\nInherent Limits Physical (Strx2 + Body + React)/2: 8 Mental (Logicx2 + Willpower + Intuition)/2: 7 Social (Charismax2 + Willpower + Essence)/2: 8\nInitiative (Intuition + Reaction): 10 + 2d6\nCondition Monitor: Physical (Body/2 + 8) 10: OOOOOOOOOOO Stun (Willpower/2 + 8) 10: OOOOOOOOOO Overflow (Body + Aug):\n","title":"Vance","type":"missionapocalypse"},{"content":" Bern # Bern is currently a 4th level ranger. He wields the Azure Serpent Blade, which has two brother blades he seeks, paired with a bent and twisted shield of orcish design. It is reputed to preserve a corpse from decay if laid over the body.\nRumor has it that near on a score of years past, a woman mated with a werewolf in the woods west of Eastdale, and the man known as Bern o\u0026rsquo; the Wild is the result of their mad, frenzied coupling. His friends, if he had any, would say it was the source of his freakish strength. His enemies say it\u0026rsquo;s why no one likes him. Bern says it\u0026rsquo;s mutual and stays in the woods most of the time. He sometimes offers to guide travelers in the area in exchange for an equal share in whatever treasure they recover. That way he doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to go into town to sell anything he might find himself.\nHe has lately been traveling with the Butchers of Helix, who have since renamed themselves the Glorious Blades.\nAs a orphaned child, Bern was left on the front porch of a mason in Eastdale. No one was quite sure exactly how long he had been living in the woods at that point, but he could walk and growl. Taken into human care, he learned to speak common (reluctantly), and not to attack anyone who showed their teeth in a smile. The trade of a mason did not sit well with him, though the simplicity and strength required were a good match for the quality of his soul.\nWhen one of the local girls turned down his offer to mate, calling him \u0026ldquo;more beast than man\u0026rdquo;, he took the rejection to heart and fled civilization. In fairness, leaving her gifts of bloodied animal corpses on her family\u0026rsquo;s doorstep for a month was perhaps the wrong approach. One day, he hopes to find a woman who will accept him for who he is, and come to the woods to live in a tiny stone cabin built with his own hands to raise little quarter-werewolves together.\nBern once faced a strange undead creature on an island below the Holey Oak. That creature laid its hands on his left arm, leaving it withered and blackened, and draining his health. The arm itself remains as strong as ever.\nBackground: Mason Birth Sign: March 28th, Mark of the Broken Star (+5% xp) Deity: Sildinia (Northern Wilderness) Sabbath: Monday Likes: Wilderness Hates: Civilization, the wasted kill Symbol: Spear with a severed head of a man Brother to Herne the Hunter, serves Silvanus\n","date":"4 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/bern/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" Bern # Bern is currently a 4th level ranger. He wields the Azure Serpent Blade, which has two brother blades he seeks, paired with a bent and twisted shield of orcish design. It is reputed to preserve a corpse from decay if laid over the body.\nRumor has it that near on a score of years past, a woman mated with a werewolf in the woods west of Eastdale, and the man known as Bern o’ the Wild is the result of their mad, frenzied coupling. His friends, if he had any, would say it was the source of his freakish strength. His enemies say it’s why no one likes him. Bern says it’s mutual and stays in the woods most of the time. He sometimes offers to guide travelers in the area in exchange for an equal share in whatever treasure they recover. That way he doesn’t have to go into town to sell anything he might find himself.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Bern","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"The ruins of an ancient civilization destroyed by a magical disaster, the ruins of Archaya are found within a massive canyon a few days travel northeast from Eastdale.\n","date":"3 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/locations/archaya/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"The ruins of an ancient civilization destroyed by a magical disaster, the ruins of Archaya are found within a massive canyon a few days travel northeast from Eastdale.\n","title":"Archaya","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # We broke camp after a night of bitter cold at the edge of a field of strange black sand. It seems the rumors of an ancient magical disaster there are true. That, or it\u0026rsquo;s just black sand. u-Heury threw a fit when it was time to go in, and refused. He was packing his bags to head back to Eastdale. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t having it; it would be desertion in the face of the enemy and I said so to his face. He didn\u0026rsquo;t care. (Neither would I, if it\u0026rsquo;s the smart thing to do, but this is just sand and we supposedly make a living doing this).\nAfter a while arguing about this, he said something about trusting the natural world more than magic, and ate one of those magical mushrooms of his. Quite a combination. But it calmed him right down and he agreed to continue. What can I say, the man wakes up hangry.\nWe soon reached the edge of a massive canyon, with a clear trail winding down into the depths in long switchbacks. It must be noted that, in chain mail, it took us at least four days to get here. The amount of food and water needed for expeditions here is significant. We need to arrange for horses, or a cart, in the future. Perhaps leather armor for travel and chain or even plate for descending into the ruins themselves. Amateurs study tactics; professional soldiers study logistics.\nHalfway down we passed a cave off to the side. It needs 150 feet of rope and pitons to reach safely. Ahnjela scouted it; she says some sort of flying creature lairs there, and the place is filled with bones. On a future trip we might set up a rope bridge to explore with a larger group, but again, more equipment is needed. We continued downward.\nI was just explaining to Bayonetta \u0026ndash; flirting really, the girl is like a breath of fresh air for an old soldier like me, still full of enthusiasm, but I digress. I was explaining about the difference between smart bandits and stupid bandits. Smart bandits wait until after you loot the ruins and start heading home to charge their \u0026ldquo;toll\u0026rdquo;. Alas, we met a group of stupid bandits instead. They were bullywogs, strange frog creatures half the size of a decent man, led by some sort of shaman.\nWe argued like civilized men about who would pay whom and who would make way on the trail. Then the damn shaman croaked at me and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t move! The other frogs pelted us with sling stones and we (well they; I was still locked up tighter than a nun\u0026rsquo;s arse) fired back. It was only when Punchman claimed the high ground that the frogs gave up and retreated. I was STILL frozen. On the plus side, Bayonetta and Gurg carried me all the way down into the canyon. Gurg had my boots and my head was nestled right next to the two reasons I hired her. Very nice. Even when I noticed I could move again I waited a little bit just to savor the moment.\nFinally I looked up at Bayonetta and smiled my best Casanova smile and said I ain\u0026rsquo;t moving till you kiss me just like the fairy tales. She dropped me\u0026hellip; But she blushed first. Gotcha! Flowers next. I wonder if there\u0026rsquo;s anyone who sells flowers in Eastdale? 🌹\nAt the bottom of the canyon we had three ways to go (not counting backwards). Two led up, one down. There was a small campsite already there, and signs of a bat infestation. We stayed the night without incident, and in the morning, we chose down. That led to a dead-end cavern with three old skeletons. u-Heury poked one with his spear and they started moving!\nThat startled everyone, even me. My hands were shaking as I drew my bow, memories of the horrible undead infestation in Helix I had fled from just a year before flooding back. Dead things should stay dead, damnit! There was only room for three in the front ranks, and Gurg was in back watching with infravision, so it was Bayonetta, Argos and u-Heury in the front ranks. None of them but Argos could hit them. Argos on the other hand was like a dog with a bone; quite literally! My arrows spun off into the dark uselessly.\nThey didn\u0026rsquo;t have any trouble hitting us, though. Especially Bayonetta and Argos. Argos held on but Bayonetta was bleeding heavily after the first few rounds and finally fell, one of the skeletal hands raking across her face. I felt a fury rising within me as my fond imaginings faded to the reality of life or death for an adventurer. I fed all my passion into a flame in my mind 🔥, feeling the ancient meditation techniques from my training helping me focus. I whispered the ancient mantra of the sniper, \u0026ldquo;One shot, one kill\u0026rdquo;, and it was so. Two skeletons fell with two shots from my bow.\nUnfortunately there were three. Once I cleared them off of Bayonetta I rushed to her aid, letting the others finish off the last one. Alas there was nothing I could do. I am no man of faith and she was already gone. That is the soldier\u0026rsquo;s life. Seize the joys of the moment, live your life fully, and mourn but briefly when it reaches the inevitable end. I regret only that I did not offer to share her bedroll the night before.\nArgos is still with us, for now. How long that lasts I don\u0026rsquo;t know.\nWith nothing else to do, I grimaced and collected the coin from where the skeletons had lain. If I could not have her laughter in my ears and her heaving bosom in my arms, I could at least have the coin to drink in her memory.\nHer life turned out to be worth 8pp, 24gp, 18sp. Such is the life of an adventurer.\nI must remember to reclaim the coin I paid her on the way here before we leave. She would understand.\n","date":"3 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-9/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # We broke camp after a night of bitter cold at the edge of a field of strange black sand. It seems the rumors of an ancient magical disaster there are true. That, or it’s just black sand. u-Heury threw a fit when it was time to go in, and refused. He was packing his bags to head back to Eastdale. I wasn’t having it; it would be desertion in the face of the enemy and I said so to his face. He didn’t care. (Neither would I, if it’s the smart thing to do, but this is just sand and we supposedly make a living doing this).\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 9","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Creeper got captured and magically interrogated last time, revealing the location of the camp. The characters had all planned on a long rest; they got a short rest and a drow-spider ambush. All adventurers either fled, or were captured and enslaved by the drow in the Wave Echo Cave, helping make weapons and armor for the forces of evil alongside the missing Rockseeker dwarf.\nBasically everyone was fed up with the module and ready to end it without bothering to play out the final confrontation. We spent most of the session discussing what to do next.\n","date":"30 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-19/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Creeper got captured and magically interrogated last time, revealing the location of the camp. The characters had all planned on a long rest; they got a short rest and a drow-spider ambush. All adventurers either fled, or were captured and enslaved by the drow in the Wave Echo Cave, helping make weapons and armor for the forces of evil alongside the missing Rockseeker dwarf.\nBasically everyone was fed up with the module and ready to end it without bothering to play out the final confrontation. We spent most of the session discussing what to do next.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 19","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"","date":"30 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/phandelver/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Phandelver","type":"tags"},{"content":" Morgath is a mysterious masked man of magic and m\u0026rsquo;alliteration.\nHe has scarring on the face around the mouth, wears a mask and some of the scarring comes up above the mask slightly. The mask just covers his mouth.\n","date":"27 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/morgath/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" Morgath is a mysterious masked man of magic and m’alliteration.\nHe has scarring on the face around the mouth, wears a mask and some of the scarring comes up above the mask slightly. The mask just covers his mouth.\n","title":"Morgath","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # After the pink slime disaster, we decided it was time to head back to town. We had found some items of value and quite frankly we were all a bit shook up by seeing one of our compatriots have his face eaten. Not to mention the ordeal of puzzle-solving overnight from the fisher king. But our first stop was to fatten our purses, so we headed to Retep\u0026rsquo;s antiquities\u0026hellip; But only after checking them ourselves, of course.\nMorgath insisted on keeping the book on slimes and oozes. He thinks it will be useful later. We also kept the box with vowel dice, in case they turn out to have some hidden significance.\nThe urn with charcoal turned out to contain a strange vial, some sort of potion of pep. Punchman was the one who volunteered to taste-test, so he kept it. u-Heury ate a green mushroom that healed him. The purple mushroom made Punchman\u0026rsquo;s tooth glow.\nWe started with Retep after that. The man has a good eye and is honest. He spotted a black pearl amongst the glass beads from the second urn, and bought it from us (after we had it checked for magic) for 500 gold, along with just over a hundred more for the silver box and the urns.\nColmax took his pay and left, but I took Bayonetta and Gurg out to dinner to celebrate. Bayonetta wanted to double her flat fee, but I talked her back down. Gurg was quite content to make drinking money to cover his bar tab. I guess ale is a kind of gold, albeit more temporary than most. Perhaps that\u0026rsquo;s why his people exiled him: he\u0026rsquo;s shortsighted. (I think this dwarf joke offended Gurg; I must remember to avoid telling any more.)\nIn the morning Punchman kept his appointment with Muirron the local wizard. They got along well from what he said afterward, and secured an appointment for Morgath the following day as another colleague. Of the items we collected, the potion and mushrooms were magical, the rest not. Muirron was intrigued by the frog prince and aided Punchman in his research at the library of Arcantryl the following day; they located a reference to a black mirror lake in the forest of Dolemwood.\nu-Heury showed unexpected depths, accompanying Punchman to the library and trying to learn to read, and later canvassing the market in search of more information on the mushrooms he had found. He found an old woman who knew where they came from, and named it the Incandescent Grotto. She could offer little advice on what they did, aside from saying that their effect could be random. There was a close call with a St Yggian patrol that seemed to suggest the mushrooms might be contraband.\nPunchman also made friends with the librarian Miss Tuesday, and in the process discovered that the west wing of the library has a mysterious secret door that seems to appear only when you aren\u0026rsquo;t looking for it. The patrons of the library seem to avoid that wing as well.\nWith our new ready coin, we signed up Bayonetta and Gurg again and bought basic provisions for a trip to the Archaian ruins. Both Muirron and Retep appeared to be interested in acquiring relics from those ruins, so we thought it worth the trip to put the place on our map. The ruins are to the northeast of the dragon\u0026rsquo;s teeth henge somewhere.\nWe spent the night nearby and discussed two ideas for the future, to improve our effectiveness. First, we should strongly consider riding horses to allow those of us in armor to travel more rapidly. Second, when keeping watch, we should ensure those in armor take the watches; a man of magic can be shaken awake and be effective in his nightgown (well, as effective as he would be otherwise), but those of us who fight in the front lines depend on leather and metal that cannot be quickly donned.\nAfter leaving the henge we spotted a trail of smoke in the distance, which turned out to be the scene of a battle between lizardmen and orcs with a burning wagon left on the scene. The wagon smelt strongly of offal, which reminds me of something Oscar mentioned about the wagon he captured from the orcs. Was this an orcish wagon carrying more mutilated bodies? Did the lizardmen attack it as bandits, or to punish the slaughter of their kind?\nRegardless, there were no survivors from either the living or valuables, and even the wagon was beyond saving, so we moved on. We camped again for the night near a border marked by skulls impaled on fenceposts. Beyond the border lay a vast expanse of black sand\u0026hellip;\n","date":"27 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-8/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # After the pink slime disaster, we decided it was time to head back to town. We had found some items of value and quite frankly we were all a bit shook up by seeing one of our compatriots have his face eaten. Not to mention the ordeal of puzzle-solving overnight from the fisher king. But our first stop was to fatten our purses, so we headed to Retep’s antiquities… But only after checking them ourselves, of course.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 8","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Henchmen:\nGurg (Dwarf, chainmail, shield, battleaxe, crossbow) (Feverborne)\nBayonetta and Argos (human, short sword, leather) (Bayonetta, deceased; Argos, following Feverborne and/or Ooohya)\nFarason (longsword, leather, shield) (Oooohya) (left)\nColmax (longsword, shield, leather) (Ooohya) (badly wounded by pink slime)\nParmox: Torchbearer (Oooohya) (dead)\n","date":"20 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/henchmen/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Henchmen:\nGurg (Dwarf, chainmail, shield, battleaxe, crossbow) (Feverborne)\nBayonetta and Argos (human, short sword, leather) (Bayonetta, deceased; Argos, following Feverborne and/or Ooohya)\nFarason (longsword, leather, shield) (Oooohya) (left)\nColmax (longsword, shield, leather) (Ooohya) (badly wounded by pink slime)\nParmox: Torchbearer (Oooohya) (dead)\n","title":"Henchmen","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # I gave Ahnjela a resounding slap across the face with my gauntlet, and it seemed to sober her up. But it didn\u0026rsquo;t make the skeletons any more inclined to let us pass. We did establish that they only guarded two of the three doors in the room, leaving the middle door free if we wanted to go that way. We also established that pink would help us kill green if we wanted to go through the green door, but pink skellie is a mean bastard and I would hate to trust his word. We agreed to examine the other doors before provoking the skeletons.\nAll the doors ended up leading to small cells, like what might be found in a (literal) dungeon. They each had different contents. We left Ahnjela to make friends with the skeletons while we examined the rooms one by one.\nThe northwest room had a collection of strange things suspended in a gelatinous cubical mass. Discovering no reaction to sword or flame, we set Gurg the dwarf to mining for treasure. He eventually extracted a bedframe, a silver coffer, two urns, and a wicker box from the clutches of the jellotinous cube. We had to leave the bedframe behind later. The box had 6 cubes with vowels on them, like dice. Rolling them does nothing. The coffer is silver and worth about a hundred gold, by itself. It contained a book; one of the wizards says it is written in Demonic, and contains instructions on the care and feeding of oozes, slimes and jellies. It also contains some sort of charm monster spell for those types of creatures. We\u0026rsquo;ll keep the spell scroll and sell the coffer it was in. We haven\u0026rsquo;t decided on the book. The urns had strange contents: one held hundreds of black glass beads, the other charcoal. Gurg burnt his hands retrieving the bedframe and stopped there.\nThe room to the southeast has a circle that turned anything living inside into purple jelly. We removed a door and laid it on top of the circle to no effect. The fae frog prince claimed to have nothing to do with this circle.\nThe room to the south west had piles of rust and sawdust.\nThe room to the north center had a giant rat corpse, which seemed to move and squirm despite being dead. We held a torch close by and three giant grubs burst forth. One bit Bayonetta and paralyzed her, but they fell to our swords and my bow quickly.\nFinally the northeast door. When we opened it a massive flood of pink slime came rolling down the corridor. Most of us ducked out of the way, but it ate poor Parmox alive. Ahnjela was stuck on the other side with the skeletons while the rest of us retreated out of the path of the pink flood, which flowed down a slight incline in the passage west. I asked Gurg to please tell us if he noticed any such inclines in future passages\u0026hellip;\nWhile waiting for the slime to dissipate, we explored the exits one room to the north, which we had previously bypassed. Both had strange statues. To the east, a stone statue on a black plinth. The material was orange stone with green striations. To the north, another statue with a strange set of figures on the floor nearby. The statue was labeled \u0026ldquo;The Acquiescent\u0026rdquo; in common, with additional crude writing. Morgath copied that down for translation later.\nWhen u-Heury touched one of the figures, it added all of us to the layout! It is clearly some form of magic that records those who passed this way, or perhaps those who touched the statue and gained permission to pass?\nWe must remember to ask the skeletons if any kobolds passed through their room, maybe even through the middle door.\nMorgath proposed \u0026ldquo;The high ground\u0026rdquo; as an answer to the troglodyte riddle box.\nWe resolved to continue exploring while waiting for the pink slime to subside so Ahnjela could rejoin us.\n","date":"20 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-7/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # I gave Ahnjela a resounding slap across the face with my gauntlet, and it seemed to sober her up. But it didn’t make the skeletons any more inclined to let us pass. We did establish that they only guarded two of the three doors in the room, leaving the middle door free if we wanted to go that way. We also established that pink would help us kill green if we wanted to go through the green door, but pink skellie is a mean bastard and I would hate to trust his word. We agreed to examine the other doors before provoking the skeletons.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 7","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # When u-Heury was finished playing doctor with himself, we decided to clear out the two fishy folk playing handsy behind the door before going deeper into the cave system. We set up an ambush outside the door while u-Heury taunted them and tried to get them to come out. It didn\u0026rsquo;t go well. I continue to prefer a more aggressive approach to take advantage of surprise. We should be listening at doors and kicking them down, then swarming inside to take advantage of surprise. No intelligent creature will walk right into the formations u-Heury sets up. Even if they are effective should the fisher-village idiot stumble into one.\nAnyways, we got set up and tossed a few rocks into the door. Then opened the door and tossed a rock in to hit one of the fish. That got their attention, but they just threatened to get their boss and left. After a confused minute we went in (well, I led the way). u-Heury and I set up on front of the room\u0026rsquo;s exit while the rest searched. Punchman found a cabinet with fish skulls, snakeskin scrolls?, And a wrapped package too big to carry.\nRight about then the two fish attacked from camouflage. See, this is how you take advantage of surprise!\nu-Heury fell before my eyes, and as for me\u0026hellip;\nI woke up feverish, per usual, but there was a pounding in my head that wasn\u0026rsquo;t usual. And unlike the usual pile of paid tavern wenches I was surrounded by fish-men. Ugh. Even with protection from the stench it still.. stinks. They started spitting at us \u0026ndash; u-Heury was there too \u0026ndash; in some approximation of common. I played dead at first but wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to take a kick to the face to prove it.\nTurns out the fish are stupid and uncivilized as well as evil and stinky. They found a metal strongbox with a riddle on it. And five jester faces on the other sides. And they are too stupid to read, or try anything besides hitting the box with their claws. They want us to open it and say they\u0026rsquo;ll let us go if we do.\nRather they wanted u-Heury to do it. He said he was smart. I\u0026rsquo;m no genius but I\u0026rsquo;m not dumb enough to raise expectations like that. And the barbarian is illiterate. I had to read them the riddle.\nI memorized the real one and read them a slightly wrong version.\n\u0026quot;Mountains might, Armies blight, King's conceit, Nobles meet.\u0026quot; We tried a lot of spoken words as keys and got nowhere. They did tell us where they found it (\u0026ldquo;below\u0026rdquo;) and how to get there (through the tunnel in the pool, or the crystal passage).\nWe tried stupid keywords for hours but neither of us got a response. It does have a face on the bottom panel, and there are no visible keyholes or cracks for a lid. The fish promises us \u0026ldquo;many greasy innards\u0026rdquo; if we found someone smart enough to open the box.\nIt was just about then that an insane dwarf called out \u0026ldquo;Hello, is anyone there?\u0026rdquo;\nTurns out Punchman had hired an army to rescue me and u-Heury. There was a bit of a stand off until they decided not to kill the fish, and vice versa. I brought Punchman in and he brought the frog prince. Neither of them were helpful. Eventually we promised to leave and come back with smarter people. We did not promise to spare the fish-men when we did. They are too gross to live, and probably a health hazard.\nWe left the fishy area and walked through the corridor with crystals. I held back from the front line and kept my bow out, because I was still feeling like the fish guts the fish-men didn\u0026rsquo;t want after getting beaten to a pulp last night. There\u0026rsquo;s a small grate in the wall near the place the passage turns north where we heard voices before. Nothing this time.\nAfter the crystal passage came a room with three other exits. We went south and found the other side of the grate, and booted tracks, possibly from bandits. This room has a passage headed east and was filled with mushrooms. u-Heury took samples. We eventually continued down the east corridor, Ahnjela in the lead checking for traps on the doors. There were 5 of them in just that short passage, 3 north and 2 south. The first one headed north was stuck, we couldn\u0026rsquo;t open it. The next one to the south was open, but Ahnjela proceeded forward instead. She found that the passage led to a larger room containing two undead guardians, black skeletons surrounded by pink and green protoplasm. They were quite talkative, but insisted we not disturb their master beyond.\nApparently Ahnjela had been sipping from her pocket flask, because she started spouting nonsense in a foreign language. I managed to keep her from antagonizing the undead in her inebriated state. Maybe a good solid slap will sober her up and we can continue.\nFrederick # I was just sitting down at the tavern to have a bit o\u0026rsquo; mead and look for profitable business opportunities when some funny-lookin\u0026rsquo; fellow in a bright red robe stumbled in and stammered something about fish men killing his friends. He had crazy, crazy eyes, including the pair of eyes on the smiley face he wore on his robes, so I figured he had seen something horrible. And that meant creatures, and danger. And those meant money! My purse was sadly flat, and Oscar was in religious retreat contemplating his own adventures, so I volunteered to help. Immediately I suggested we engage in trade and commerce by hiring mercenaries as reinforcements (with their money). So significant was the threat that they readily consented!\nWe hired a lady and her dog (Bayonetta and Argos), Gurg the dwarf, Farason and Colmax the sword-brothers, and Parmox the torchbearer. Parmox also had a brother but we didn\u0026rsquo;t hire him. Didn\u0026rsquo;t want it to become a Private Ryan thing.\nHeaded out into the woods. Punchman and his friend led us right to the secluded pool, warning us along the way of all the dangers present. Gross fish-men, tremendous stench, fascinating crystals, mysterious corridors, burning dwarves\u0026hellip;\nWhen we finally arrived it was also anticlimactic. Just a sinkhole with some water and monkeys. We did find a cavern with a horrible stench deeper in, and a door leading to another smaller room. I sent the dwarf in first as he can see in the dark. Of course he immediately announced his presence. Shockingly, someone replied in common! It was Feverborne.\nI slipped away from the group as soon as it became clear they weren\u0026rsquo;t going to fight the fish-men after all. No profit in riddles, after all.\n","date":"13 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-6/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # When u-Heury was finished playing doctor with himself, we decided to clear out the two fishy folk playing handsy behind the door before going deeper into the cave system. We set up an ambush outside the door while u-Heury taunted them and tried to get them to come out. It didn’t go well. I continue to prefer a more aggressive approach to take advantage of surprise. We should be listening at doors and kicking them down, then swarming inside to take advantage of surprise. No intelligent creature will walk right into the formations u-Heury sets up. Even if they are effective should the fisher-village idiot stumble into one.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 6","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"A sunken pool leading to a series of caves. At least part of the complex appears to be a trogolodyte temple, complete with actual trogolodytes. There is a source of moss that allows water breathing, and crystals that have a kind of enthralling effect. Human bandits and kobolds may also lair within, and a mysterious pair of skeletons guard a pair of doors within the complex.\nThe trogolodytes have found some sort of puzzle box that they cannot open. It has a riddle:\n\u0026quot;Mountains might, Armies blight, King's conceit, Nobles meet.\u0026quot; We found a dwarf and a frog prince held captive here by the trogolodytes. The dwarf tragically died in captivity.\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/locations/forestlair/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"A sunken pool leading to a series of caves. At least part of the complex appears to be a trogolodyte temple, complete with actual trogolodytes. There is a source of moss that allows water breathing, and crystals that have a kind of enthralling effect. Human bandits and kobolds may also lair within, and a mysterious pair of skeletons guard a pair of doors within the complex.\nThe trogolodytes have found some sort of puzzle box that they cannot open. It has a riddle:\n","title":"The Incandescent Grotto","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" A medium-sized town surrounded by threats and run by St Ygg. There are many oppressive laws, including forbidding strong drink save during the dinner hour and banning fluorescent mushrooms in the marketplace.\nGarrick, a dwarf, runs the trading post. He is sympathetic to Denara\u0026rsquo;s cause.\nRetep runs an antiquities store, and seems honest.\nMuirron is the local magician who has come to some kind of truce with the St Yggian leadership. He claims the town is situated on a lay line.\nThe library of Arcantryl has a secret door in the west wing. The librarian, Miss Tuesday, has a friendly relationship with Oooohya.\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/locations/eastdale/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" A medium-sized town surrounded by threats and run by St Ygg. There are many oppressive laws, including forbidding strong drink save during the dinner hour and banning fluorescent mushrooms in the marketplace.\nGarrick, a dwarf, runs the trading post. He is sympathetic to Denara’s cause.\nRetep runs an antiquities store, and seems honest.\nMuirron is the local magician who has come to some kind of truce with the St Yggian leadership. He claims the town is situated on a lay line.\n","title":"Eastdale","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" All the important locations we have found so far.\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/locations/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" All the important locations we have found so far.\n","title":"Locations","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"2021-06-16\nTube of Papyrus #10 (250gp)\nOld, slightly battered silver goblet with designs from skeleton room (175gp)\nStrange humanoid skull from bookshelf room (??)\nStrange leather scroll from bookshelf room (400gp)\n1 male kobold, Tartuccio\n2021-06-09\nCrossbow, grey portabella mushrooms, spellbook on dead wizard\n2021-06-02\n18sp, 24gp, 8 pp.\nScroll tube #3 clutched in a skeleton\u0026rsquo;s hand.\n2021-05-19\nBox with 6 alphabet cubes (have vowels)\nBook of arcane details on charming jellies and oozes and slimes\nArcane Scroll of charm monster for oozes and slimes\n2021-05-12\nTrogolodyte Cube: (We do not actually have the cube)\nMountains might,\nArmies blight,\nKing\u0026rsquo;s conceit,\nNobles meet.\n2021-05-05\nFishskin pouch\n4 doses lime green moss found in forest NW of eastdale near pool\nTaken from two-headed snakes near the Tomb of the Serpent:\nSnake scales attached to u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s chain (pending)\nTaken from orc cave:\n1 Dwarven Lockbox with Hammer \u0026amp; Flame symbol in wrought iron\nThe lockbox contained three small bags. Darkness fell when the box was opened, and something stabbed Prig. We sold the gem and coral fragments to the moneylender. Garreth kept the dirt, sand, and rocks.\nSOLD: Bag #1 contains 4 coral fragments (10gp each).\nBag #2 contained dirt, sand, and rocks.\nSOLD: Bag #3 contained a blue gemstone (blue amber, 500gp)\n6 orc spears\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/partyloot/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"2021-06-16\nTube of Papyrus #10 (250gp)\nOld, slightly battered silver goblet with designs from skeleton room (175gp)\nStrange humanoid skull from bookshelf room (??)\nStrange leather scroll from bookshelf room (400gp)\n1 male kobold, Tartuccio\n2021-06-09\nCrossbow, grey portabella mushrooms, spellbook on dead wizard\n2021-06-02\n18sp, 24gp, 8 pp.\nScroll tube #3 clutched in a skeleton’s hand.\n2021-05-19\nBox with 6 alphabet cubes (have vowels)\nBook of arcane details on charming jellies and oozes and slimes\n","title":"Party Loot","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Ohhyeah Punchman was forever scarred when his mother told him he was conceived on horseback. One can only guess at what his father said at the moment of conception, but his mother always smiles when she says her son\u0026rsquo;s name, \u0026ldquo;Ohhyeah!\u0026rdquo; It was the same smile that drove him to become a butcher of horsemeat (and other animals of course) instead of taking on the traditional Punchman trade of masonry. In fact, while angered over his father\u0026rsquo;s criticisms, Ohhyeah had an unfortunate accident trying to bust through one of his father\u0026rsquo;s stone walls, which left his nose bent and his arms broken.\nA strange, local alchemist named Fruitee healed Ohhyeah with a brew of dried strawberries, red beet dye . . . and magic! Fruitee disappeared before Ohhyeah could thank him. After drinking Fruitee\u0026rsquo;s kool refreshing drink of aid, Ohhyeah was suddenly able to conjure minor illusions and lights! This discovery (coupled with no longer having the ability to sling the meat cleaver with the same efficacy as he once could) has sent Ohhyeah on a quest to find fame, fortune, and happier times. The smile emblazoned on his red cloak is the symbol of his mission.\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/ooohhhya-punchman/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" Ohhyeah Punchman was forever scarred when his mother told him he was conceived on horseback. One can only guess at what his father said at the moment of conception, but his mother always smiles when she says her son’s name, “Ohhyeah!” It was the same smile that drove him to become a butcher of horsemeat (and other animals of course) instead of taking on the traditional Punchman trade of masonry. In fact, while angered over his father’s criticisms, Ohhyeah had an unfortunate accident trying to bust through one of his father’s stone walls, which left his nose bent and his arms broken.\n","title":"Ooohhhya Punchman","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Definitely not an assassin.\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/nottan-assasson/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Definitely not an assassin.\n","title":"Nottan Assasson","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Information about the town of Silverhale in the OSR Realms campaign.\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/silverhale/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Information about the town of Silverhale in the OSR Realms campaign.\n","title":"Silverhale","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Very pointy\u0026hellip;. ears.\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/elaith/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Very pointy…. ears.\n","title":"Elaith","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Dude looks like a lady.\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/ahnjela/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Dude looks like a lady.\n","title":"Ahnjela","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"A powerful barbarian youth with ambitions of learning the ways of civilization. He is presently attempting to learn to read, and has a budding interest in mycology (mushrooms).\n","date":"6 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/u-heury/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"A powerful barbarian youth with ambitions of learning the ways of civilization. He is presently attempting to learn to read, and has a budding interest in mycology (mushrooms).\n","title":"U-Heury","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # We managed to break Ahnjela out of the weird trance she was in by dragging her away from the crystals. She woke up and didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to recognize us, but after about ten minutes she was no more (or less) paranoid than usual. No doubt she\u0026rsquo;ll murder us all in our sleep later.\nWe decided to explore the other exits before braving that passageway, but we were joined by a few friends first. Silver hair girl volunteered to explore the underwater passage, so we fed her some moss to breathe the water and down she went. Problem: she can\u0026rsquo;t see in the dark and torches don\u0026rsquo;t work underwater. Our wizard did some finger waving and made funny lights appear. They couldn\u0026rsquo;t get far from him and he wasn\u0026rsquo;t willing to go swimming. Oh well.\nTurns out two more passages led north from the pool. We briefly explored to the northwest but found nothing interesting. The passage heading due north opened into a larger room with a godawful stench. This ain\u0026rsquo;t my first ride on the bucking ox, and it made me retch. You learn to just power through these things, though. Most of the rest were almost as badly off, so we sent u-Heury to find some herbs to mitigate the effect. That helped a little.\nThe stench seemed to come from a fishy body in the center of the room. It was dead, arranged on rocks that looked like a primitive temple of stone with a center altar. We searched the body (nothing) and the room, finding a couple passages out. One of them had a door; I put my ear to it and hear slimy slithering sounds \u0026ndash; and voices. u-Heury opened it up a crack after we got set; he said there were two fish-people mating. Weird. This doesn\u0026rsquo;t seem to have anything to do with the bandits, unless they have an alliance with the fish-men. We closed the door and moved on. In hindsight we should have killed them right there.\nI searched the next short passage. It led to a small room filled with\u0026hellip; Well, fish guts. It was rank, but actually smelled better than the last room. I thought I had looked at everything, when I heard an unfamiliar voice.\n\u0026ldquo;Knock knock!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Who\u0026rsquo;s there?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;The Prince of Toads!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;The Prince of Toads who?!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;What?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re gonna be the toad formerly known as Prince if you don\u0026rsquo;t show your warty ass where I can see you, froggy.\u0026rdquo;\nWith that exchange a toad hopped over to me and ate a fly. Ick. He claimed to be a faerie toad but didn\u0026rsquo;t want to kiss any of us, just get back to \u0026ldquo;his\u0026rdquo; lake somewhere in the forest. I held him at sword point while he told his story and promised wealth and riches. Seemed friendly enough so I gave him to the wizard. They\u0026rsquo;re made for each other.\nNext up were two passages leading west and north. Suspecting they went to the same place after seeing curves almost immediately, we set up to charge into the west passage with the sneakier types ready to ambush anything coming from the north. Well, that\u0026rsquo;s the plan I had anyway. Turns out u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s plan was to yell and attract attention until someone came to investigate. Spoiler: someone did. But apparently fish-people can turn invisible or something. It was u-Heury who got ambushed.\nLuckily he\u0026rsquo;s a tough bastard. Tougher than me for sure. He got chewed up but stayed on his feet. I got my bow out and shot the thing. I think the wizard hit it with a dagger too, or maybe it was one of the rogues. u-Heury fell back in good order and braced his spear. The creature stepped forward and went after Burwin furiously. He stood the assault bravely but those giant jaws just went right through some gap in his armor. Burwin went down.\nFinally I swapped bow for sword and got in another lick. The thing fell dead. When we leave here we\u0026rsquo;ll have to remember to take trophies back as proof of the creature\u0026rsquo;s death. We don\u0026rsquo;t have any rewards offered for fish-men but I bet St Ygg would love to know about their stinking presence here. Also, maybe the alchemists would pay well for their internal organs. It worked for the snake fang.\nSpeaking of, how they got to a small pool of water in a landlocked forest is a bit of a puzzler.\nAnyways, u-Heury wanted to get out the bandages. We waited a few minutes for more, then let him take care of business while we searched the place it had come from. I caught a glimpse of something as I entered the room, but there was nothing visible. Warily I advanced with the remaining man at arms at my side and poor Baldin in the middle with a torch.\nIt wasn\u0026rsquo;t until I started poking at the filthy rags and kelp beds that the creature revealed itself by attacking Baldin. The poor man, neither armored nor armed, took the thing\u0026rsquo;s raking claws along his back. He ran to the far end of the room, nearly falling into some sort of pit.\nAnyways, I moved to attack the creature, as did Rothbash. Ahnjela was lurking somewhere in there too. (By which I mean she was hiding near where the other passage opened up onto this room. I didn\u0026rsquo;t say she was hiding well, but she was so earnest about it I didn\u0026rsquo;t have the heart to say anything). But it was u-Heury who rushed from his bandages and killed the thing with his first blow. Of course, he had to start over with the bandages.\nI went back to my search. I found a fish-skin pouch and an old sock. They both had gold, 44gp total, plus a pearl and a small iron ring. I took the ring and slid it onto my finger; finder\u0026rsquo;s keeper\u0026rsquo;s after all. Immediately I could breath much more easily as if there was no stench at all. Handy. The gold and the pearl went into party loot.\nMeanwhile Ahnjela was exploring the latest corridor, this one large and clearly artificial. It has some kind of mural along it\u0026rsquo;s length depicting something horrible, but she wasn\u0026rsquo;t clear on the details. Obviously a bit spooked. Clearly there\u0026rsquo;s something big here, even if just buried ruins.\nThat left the pit. Strangely we heard a voice from below speaking common like a regular person. The pit itself was dark and whatever lurked within could not be seen and clearly could not see us either. It seemed to think the noises we made were those of fish-men.\nTurns out it was a captive dwarf, held either for torture, interrogation, or dinner. We found out when Ahnjela tossed a torch into the pit and burned him alive. That seems harsh but she swears she just wanted to see what was down there and the murder by fire was just an accident. Oops.\nWe pulled the body up, but he had nothing but a loincloth. No clue who he was, but I expect someone somewhere is missing a dwarf.\nI wonder if the frog prince might recognize him? Well, that might be hard after the dwarf got his ass burned alive.\nWe talked over what to do next while u-Heury bandaged himself up. We resolved to explore the man (or fish-man) made corridor further despite it\u0026rsquo;s ominous whispering. This ruin is bigger than just bandits, though they may well be hiding in here too, allied with the fish.\nThat jackass Sir Jiles in Eastdale said 8-10 of them. Hah.\nThe trader, Garrick or something, is a dwarf. I\u0026rsquo;d better ask him if he\u0026rsquo;s missing any friends.\n","date":"5 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-5/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # We managed to break Ahnjela out of the weird trance she was in by dragging her away from the crystals. She woke up and didn’t seem to recognize us, but after about ten minutes she was no more (or less) paranoid than usual. No doubt she’ll murder us all in our sleep later.\nWe decided to explore the other exits before braving that passageway, but we were joined by a few friends first. Silver hair girl volunteered to explore the underwater passage, so we fed her some moss to breathe the water and down she went. Problem: she can’t see in the dark and torches don’t work underwater. Our wizard did some finger waving and made funny lights appear. They couldn’t get far from him and he wasn’t willing to go swimming. Oh well.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 5","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"4 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/eviloverlord/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Eviloverlord","type":"tags"},{"content":"The intent behind these house rules is to provide a rapid mechanism for resolving situations that are probably not in the rules without spending an hour making sure they aren\u0026rsquo;t in the rules, or arguing about what the rules say.\nIn some cases, I\u0026rsquo;m preemptively specifying whether or not I intend to use a common practice from past games I\u0026rsquo;ve run or participated in. As a general rule, take this as a list of how I intend to run things, which should be pretty close to the way the rules are written\u0026hellip; but is unlikely to match up perfectly. When there is a conflict with the printed rulebooks, these rules win. When there is a conflict between these rules and a ruling on an in-game situation, the DM wns.\nValid Sourcebooks # I will consider anything from 1st Edition valid by default, if you have the sourcebook for it. I will consider material from 2nd edition sourcebooks as well.\nThe sourcebooks I own (that are relevant to players) are listed below. In general, anything designed for 2nd edition AD\u0026amp;D stands a good chance of being allowed, but it may be best to run it by me first. Certain things don\u0026rsquo;t quite fit the intended flavor and won\u0026rsquo;t be. Other things are unbalanced (1st edition psionics) or just don\u0026rsquo;t fit the flavor well (2nd edition psionics).\nPlayer\u0026rsquo;s Handbook Dungeon Master\u0026rsquo;s Guide Unearthed Arcana Dungeoneers\u0026rsquo; Survival Guide Wilderness Survival Guide Monster Manual Monster Manual II The Complete Thieves\u0026rsquo; Handbook The Complete Rangers\u0026rsquo; Handbook The Complete Wizards\u0026rsquo; Handbook The Complete Priests\u0026rsquo; Handbook The Complete Fighter\u0026rsquo;s Handbook Complete Guide to Dwarves Complete Guide to Elves Tome of Magic Complete Guide to Psionics I\u0026rsquo;ve had requests to allow school-specialist magic-users as per 2nd edition. I will allow that.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve had requests to allow necromancers per the Complete Guide. I don\u0026rsquo;t have the sourcebook, but I\u0026rsquo;ve glanced over it. Since necromancy is a forbidden art, necromancers must start as normal magic users (perhaps with a gothic fashion sense) and find some source of power over the undead that can teach necromantic-school spells and perhaps grant additional powers for a price paid in souls. Those wishing to follow this path might want to peruse the archives of the Band of Misfits for clues.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve had a request to allow a drow. My rules for allowing drow characters are simple. Convince the party to go to the Underdark and survive. While in the Underdark, join the party as a 1st level drow character and convince the party to allow you to join them. Then, return to the surface and survive while all your friends and family try to kill you. If you make it back to the surface, congratulations, you have your drow character. Everyone will still be trying to kill you.\nDragon Magazine monks are allowed, following a series of unfortunate events.\nThe campaign began near the small city of Rookroost, within the Bandit Kingdoms.\nCharacter creation # We will be using a character pool to start the game off. Everyone will roll up three 1st level characters. Only one can be played at a time in most situations; the others are assumed to be unavailable. This gives you a fallback if your character dies or is captured beyond immediate hope of rescue. The characters may or may not know or trust each other, within reason. If they know each other, include it in your backstory. I suggest having at least some connection, so your characters have a reason to help each other (since as a player you are likely going to want to). Family members or childhood friends are obvious solutions. If you want to play Crom the Strongarm Robber trying to reform his life through small town living and Sir Percival his parole officer in Rookroost, for example, I see bonus XP for roleplaying in your future.\nPlease have at least a minimal backstory for each character, even if it\u0026rsquo;s just \u0026ldquo;I got hit on the head and don\u0026rsquo;t remember anything.\u0026rdquo; I encourage players to work with each other during character creation to coordinate the background and relationships between characters in the party.\nAbility checks # When the DM asks you to make an ability check against a given attribute, you will roll 1d20. The DM will give you a difficulty number and your roll, plus the bonus from your ability score, plus your character\u0026rsquo;s level, must be above the difficulty to succeed. The usual rules for natural ones and natural twenties apply. The bonus from your ability score is the result of ((score - 10) / 2) which should map closely to the standard bonuses in 3.5.\nTable of Ability Bonuses # 02-03: -4 04-05: -3 06-07: -2 08-09: -1 10-11: 0 12-13: +1 14-15: +2 16-17: +3 18-19: +4\nThe Dungeoneer\u0026rsquo;s Survival Guide defines ability checks differently. It says that the player rolls 1d20 and seeks to roll under the character\u0026rsquo;s relevant ability score. I will occasionally use these checks under the name Ability Saving Throw in situations where only raw ability matters.\nBelow zero hit points # In combat, characters are unconscious when they reach 0 hit points or below. Death occurs at your constitution in negatives (ie, a Constitution 12 character dies at -12 hit points).\nAt DM\u0026rsquo;s discretion a character may be bleeding; they lose 1 hit point per round until their wounds are bound. Any character can bind wounds with one round and cloth.\nAn unconscious character may wake up by making a constitution check. If successful, they must immediately make a system shock check. Failure on the system shock check means death, after a few last words. Success allows the character to perform non-combat actions while remaining immobile.\nBinding your own wounds IS possible (but it\u0026rsquo;s safer to wait for someone else, usually).\nHealing # Healing normal wounds is assumed to occur at 1 hit point per hour of rest outdoors or in a hostile environment. If the party can rest overnight in a safe place (with no guards posted), indoors, each character will recover 1 hit DIE (roll it) per hour of uninterrupted rest.\nSpellcasting # To regain spells, rest for one hour per spell level (1 hour regains ALL 1st level spells, 2 hours all 1st and 2nd level spells, etc). Note that lower-level characters with only low level spells can regain them fairly quickly, which might come in handy.\nSpellcasting in Armor # Fighter/Mages (multiclass, or dual class with both classes active) can cast spells in armor provided: the spell has no somatic components, OR they accept a chance of spell failure based on the type of armor worn, OR they have spent 1 non-weapon proficiency per spell level to be able to cast spells of that level in armor freely.\nHow do monks speak with animals? # At third level, monks gain the ability to speak with animals \u0026ldquo;as druids do\u0026rdquo;. Druids can speak with animals in two ways: via the 1st level spell \u0026ldquo;Speak with Animals\u0026rdquo; and by learning an animal or creature language from a list starting at 3rd level and continuing with each additional level.\nMonks are not a spellcasting class, and the coincidence of both abilities starting at 3rd level is suggestive, so the monk ability follows the latter pattern. Monks (and druids) may learn one animal-type language per level after 3rd.\nThis reflects actual study and effort, not a magical ability. These languages are in addition to languages learned by way of the character\u0026rsquo;s intelligence score. Contact with the type of creature whose language you are learning is helpful for fluency, but not necessary. (Note: Any unusual languages spoken, excepting those learned magically, will require an intelligence check when trying to communicate for the first few encounters. The difficulty of this check is based on the rarity of the creature encountered. Once the check is successfully passed, communication happens normally, as the character has supplemented his \u0026ldquo;book learning\u0026rdquo; with colloquial modern usage and pronunciation).\nNon-lethal Combat # This isn\u0026rsquo;t really a house rule, more of a summary of obscure rules. There are two frameworks for non-lethal combat in 1st Edition. There are pummeling/grappling/overbearing rules, which are overly complex, not very useful, and which I intend to avoid unless absolutely necessary. And there are subdual rules, which are covered in the DMG on page 67 and the Monster Manual under Dragons.\nTo briefly summarize, the subject of the subdual attack must be intelligent and takes 25% of subdual damage inflicted as real, but if he reaches 0 hit points or less in subdual damage it essentially forces a surrender. Characters conducting a subdual attack must use obvious subdual tactics (such as striking only with the flat of their blades, etc).\nAny real attacks during the subdual attempt will make the target treat the combat as life or death again, removing the subdual damage (but leaving the 25% of real damage) and fighting to the death.\nCan I backstab with a ballista? # Backstab rules (thieves and assassins) apply only to melee weapons. No missile weapons allowed. Absolutely no siege weapons. Ballistae are right out.\nHow does reincarnation work? # What exactly you come back as will be determined by whether you are using the druid or magic-user version of the spell. If you come back as a humanoid creature, where your previous class is remotely appropriate, the levels in that class will be preserved.\nAttributes may be preserved or rerolled, depending on how close a match they are for the new body (and with some player input as to whether they want to reroll or not). If they are preserved, the player will apply bonuses and penalties for the age differences between old and new characters, and roll 1d4 for each attribute with the original value as the starting point. Rolling 1 or 2 subtracts 1 or 2 from the new attribute. Rolling 3 or 4 adds 1 or 2 to the attribute.\nThe player may choose whether to dual-class at the time of their return into a new class appropriate to the new form. This follows the normal dual-class rules, except that it is not restricted by race. If the player chooses not to dual-class, they can resume their previous class. Note that this only makes sense if the previous class makes sense in the new form.\nShield Bashing # Shield bashes do 1d4 damage. Magic bonuses for the shield do apply, but so do non-proficiency penalties. Using a shield bash counts as your normal attack, unless you have a spiked buckler, in which case it can be used as a second weapon in your off hand subject to additional penalties. Using a shield to attack negates the defensive bonus for that round.\nLevel limits by race # Non-human characters have some level limitations in the first edition rules. I\u0026rsquo;m going to handle it like this. Level limits do not apply to single-classed characters. Non-human characters who multi-class are subject to level limits, but without an experience penalty (ie, if they cannot advance in a class, they no longer count it when dividing experience). If they reach the point where they can only advance in one class, they may continue to advance without limit in that class. Half-human characters with only a single class may dual-class like humans, but multi-class characters may not, and fully-other races (dwarves, elves) may not.\nTracking ammunition usage # If you don\u0026rsquo;t want me to ask you how many arrows you wrote down on your character sheet at the worst possible time, write down that number and keep track of how many you used. I suggest using a standard loadout plus hashes.\nSo you would write down \u0026ldquo;40 arrows\u0026rdquo; and as you use them add a mark in blocks of five, four vertical and one horizontal (possibly on a separate sheet of paper). Then when you are back in town, declare you are replacing your standard load of arrows, bolts, javalins, throwable dwarves, etc, and write down \u0026ldquo;40 arrows\u0026rdquo; and start over. For each block of 5, roll 1d4 after a battle to see how many you can recover, then write down the new number; eg start with 40, fire 10, roll 2d4 = 6, write down 36 arrows. This applies only if you announce you are recovering your ammunition AND are reasonably able to do so (not fleeing, unconscious, etc).\nHow does the paladin\u0026rsquo;s protection from evil 1\u0026quot; radius work? # First of all, it\u0026rsquo;s 10 feet (1 square).\nSecond, the description of protection from evil (as a spell) is that it works like a force field. No physical contact possible. The best way to conceptualize this appears to be as a pentagram would work to confine a demon, except in reverse\u0026hellip; the individual protection from evil prevents touch contact, but attacks with weapons (or thrown objects) work fine. However, this applies only to incorporeal beings of pure evil, eg demons, undead with no physical body, and the like.\nThe paladin\u0026rsquo;s 10-foot radius version prevents melee combat from incorporeal beings with the paladin completely (possibly exceptions for pole arms or the like). Anyone within 10 feet of the paladin is safe from touch attacks, but vulnerable to melee attacks. Possible exceptions for non-combatants who deliberately stay away from the edge.\nMaintaining this barrier requires concentration. The paladin can take no action other than concentrating on the barrier while it protects people close to him.\nIf the paladin ceases to concentrate for any reason, the barrier reverts to passive form and provides only a -1 penalty to attacks from evil creatures across the barrier. It takes one full round of focused concentration to bring the barrier up.\nTo summarize: Evil creatures with material form get -1 to attack always. Evil creatures with no physical form must remain 10ft from the paladin while he is concentrating on the barrier.\n","date":"4 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/houserules/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"The intent behind these house rules is to provide a rapid mechanism for resolving situations that are probably not in the rules without spending an hour making sure they aren’t in the rules, or arguing about what the rules say.\nIn some cases, I’m preemptively specifying whether or not I intend to use a common practice from past games I’ve run or participated in. As a general rule, take this as a list of how I intend to run things, which should be pretty close to the way the rules are written… but is unlikely to match up perfectly. When there is a conflict with the printed rulebooks, these rules win. When there is a conflict between these rules and a ruling on an in-game situation, the DM wns.\n","title":"House Rules","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Splinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party in the middle of fleeing from a small platoon of zombies just south of the Wave Echo Forge. They quickly finished off the remaining zombies, most of whom were already in remarkably bad shape. After a brief discussion, Ford suggested betraying their agreement with the undead wizard who just wanted some new reading material. They retrieved the chest he had vanished into, placed it within his residence, and picked the lock. Kraygen opened it with Mage Hands, expecting the wraith to rise up from within the chest.\nInstead, he rose up from behind Ford, just outside the building. \u0026ldquo;You have betrayed the deal,\u0026rdquo; he intoned, and \u0026hellip; missed. He rapidly fell victim to a series of attacks from the party using the magical weapons they had available, some temporarily enhanced by the remaining magic of the Wave Echo Forge. And that was that. His chest contained a collection of copper and gold coins. Ford also looked through his library carefully, securing several books of scholarly interest, a number of bodice-rippers, and a hidden map. Kraygen declared his intent to return to the camp.\nThe rest of the group went north, finding a large cavern filled with a pool of water, one that somehow generated regular surges and waves. Although the wave action was inexplicable it held nothing else of interest save two passages heading west. The southern passage seemed familiar, and was clearly designed for water to flow, presumably leading to the forge and waterwheel. The party took the northern route, which appears to be more of dry streambed where water had once flowed.\nThat passage led to another large room, this one containing a ravine stretching north-and-south. A stream came from the west, flowed down the ravine into a waterfall, and out the northern end of the ravine. Creeper was in the lead and caught sight of the bugbears before they saw him. Unfortunately, Kyros was loud and was immediately spotted. The bugbears threw many javelins across the ravine, mostly at Kyros but also at the other party members as they approached. Kyros fell briefly, but managed to drag himself out of range and heal up. However, the party found their ability to return fire effectly very limited. It took several rounds to bring down any of the bugbears.\nMeanwhile, from the passage behind them, a group of zombies followed the noise and approached from behind. The party was quickly caught between a rock and a hard place.\nWorse, Creeper slid down into the ravine. He caught sight of a strange humanoid creature there, but miscalculated the amount of light cast from Ford\u0026rsquo;s bonfire. He became briefly visible and was suddenly impaled by a javelin from the bugbears on the far side of the ravine. The creature he had seen quickly approached and clubbed him into unconsciousness.\nShortly afterward, the rest of the party was greeted by the sight of\u0026hellip; Creeper, returning and advising them to retreat! Confused, the party didn\u0026rsquo;t listen, but the zombies behind them continued to push forward.\nDriven by the zombies, Ford took a flying leap across the ravine, planning to take out the bugbears so the party could advance. On the way, however, he caught side of Creeper\u0026rsquo;s fallen form down below, and changed his plans. Ford rushed to Creeper\u0026rsquo;s side and poured a healing potion down his mouth. Creeper revived, furious.\nThe rest of the group descended the east side of the ravine, barely ahead of the zombies. Their version of Creeper followed, sticking close to Splinter Paw. He was struck by several javelins from the bugbears, but strangely was not returning fire. When Splinter Paw noticed, he lashed out with Dissonant Whispers. The strange Creeper did not flee, but instead took a swing at Splinter Paw as the feline retreated. Before the imposter could finish the job, the original peppered him with arrows, and the imposter fell.\nThe rest of the party moved through the ravine, under fire from bugbears who had to send a runner to bring more javelins at one point, and pursued by zombies who failed to even try to climb down the ravine walls. One by one they did a lemming and walked off the injury. Ford let down a rope to allow the group to climb the ravine near the entrance to the southern passage leading east, to allow for an escape. The zombies split up; a few followed the group east, and those remaining focused on the bugbears at the top of the ravine. Neither group of zombies was able to climb the ravine walls, at least not easily.\nCreeper and Jared lingered after the rest of the group fled south to rest. Jared was taking potshots at zombies. Creeper was stealthily keeping an eye on the bugbears, who threw a few desultory javelins at the zombies before retreating. Creeper tried to lure the bugbears back out, making noises and throwing rocks. It worked reasonably well, right up until the moment when one of them managed to guess where he was from the sound. And then one of the others saw Jared shooting at zombies, and starting tossing javelins in his direction too.\nThe final disaster came when Creeper shot the bugbear in the back, without killing him, and tried to flee. Two giant spiders revealed themselves, the first spitting webs at Creeper and the second biting at him. Creeper was caught in the webs, and despite managing to avoid the poisonous bite, was quickly beaten unconscious by the bugbears.\nSeeing this, Jared fled back to camp to rejoin the rest.\nWhen the rest of the party returned to the camp, they found a zombie eating Kraygen\u0026rsquo;s brains. It quickly fell to their arrows and spells, but alas, poor Kraygen was gone.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\nWraith chest: 1100cp 160 sp 50 ep 3 diamonds (150gp each?) and a filigreed pipe Wraith map 470xp each for those present Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # A necromancer is excavating Old Owl Well The party has found a new entrance to Wave Echo Cave ","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-18/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Splinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party in the middle of fleeing from a small platoon of zombies just south of the Wave Echo Forge. They quickly finished off the remaining zombies, most of whom were already in remarkably bad shape. After a brief discussion, Ford suggested betraying their agreement with the undead wizard who just wanted some new reading material. They retrieved the chest he had vanished into, placed it within his residence, and picked the lock. Kraygen opened it with Mage Hands, expecting the wraith to rise up from within the chest.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 18","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Splinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party having rested again at the entrance to the cave. Ragash remained unconscious, the stress of having her face eaten by an ochre jelly having delayed her recovery from the ghoul poison. The rest of the group decided to continue to explore the Wave Echo Cave, returning to the large cavern where they had already fought and defeated both ghouls (in the west) and zombies (east). To the south of that room, they found an unexplored corridor containing a storeroom. All the stores were destroyed by age, rot, and at least one rat.\nThey continued north and then east, locating a room which showed clear signs of battle. Skeletons covered the floor, and the human-sized doors to a medium-sized building were heavily damaged, even being melted in places. Walls were scorched and stained with smoke. Creeper set up with his bow trained on the larger double doors, while Kraygen and Ford investigated the single door to the north side. The northern door proved more difficult to open, at least without tools. The moment Kraygen touched the door, however, he heard a strange voice in his head. Hello!\nOn the other set of doors, Splinter Paw was able to nudge them open, noting as he did so a strange green glow from within. Seeing movement behind the flames, he threw the doors wide even as he head a voice inside his head. Hello! With his bow already aimed and an arrow knocked, Creeper took the shot, putting two arrows into a vaguely spherical shape that seemed to float inside the room, eyestalks waving. The mental voice turned hostile. You\u0026rsquo;re in for it now!\nJared quick-drew his hand crossbow and took a shot, but he tangled the bolt with rope from his pack. The combination of rope, bolt, and hand crossbow became an impromptu grappling hook gun, lodging the rope into the ceiling. Jared swung from the rope, too surprised to let go, and landed right next to the strange creature. The glare of the single eye focused on his direction struck terror into his soul. Shifting position, the sphere took visual aim at Creeper, still outside the building. Creeper froze in place, paralyzed, and strange wounds opened up on his flesh as the creature applied its mysterious and magical powers.\nA second barrage of arrows was enough to deflate the monster, although Creeper and Jared took a few minutes to recover.\nFurther to the south, down a small staircase, was another human-proportioned building.Listening at the door, strange quiet shuffling sounds could be heard. Ford opened the door, seeing two sets of zombies standing in silent ranks to either side of the door, and a ghostly figure rising from a bed at the far end of the room. \u0026ldquo;Who dares disturb my slumber?\u0026rdquo;\nAfter some initial confusion and death threats, it turned out the wraith was really just looking for some new reading material. He asked Ford to place a book into his treasure chest and carry the chest with him out of the cave until a suitable replacement book could be procured. The wraith then dissolved into mist and slipped into the treasure chest as well, which Ford locked. However, even as he did so, the zombies turned to look at him with sudden hunger for brains\u0026hellip;\nFord managed to escape the building, leaving the lockbox behind. It rattled ominously. The zombies took a few swings as he ran by, but only inflicted a few bruises before he made it out of the building. However, the zombies moved to follow, forcing the party into a fighting retreat. Kyros was surrounded and barely escaped with his life, using his power to turn the undead. Kraygen and Splinter Paw both used Thunderwave and Shatter effects, damaging the zombie hordes and keeping each other alive, but also likely alerting anyone else in the cave to their presence.\nWe leave the party with most of the zombies dead, a few still fleeing from Kyros\u0026rsquo; Turn Undead, a rattling treasure chest still inside the building, and a few surviving zombies still pursuing the characters.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n233xp each for those present Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # A necromancer is excavating Old Owl Well The party has found a new entrance to Wave Echo Cave ","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-17/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Splinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party having rested again at the entrance to the cave. Ragash remained unconscious, the stress of having her face eaten by an ochre jelly having delayed her recovery from the ghoul poison. The rest of the group decided to continue to explore the Wave Echo Cave, returning to the large cavern where they had already fought and defeated both ghouls (in the west) and zombies (east). To the south of that room, they found an unexplored corridor containing a storeroom. All the stores were destroyed by age, rot, and at least one rat.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 17","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros) and Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party separated, with Ragash, Splinter Paw, and Kraygen camped at the entrance to recover from their close encounter with the ghouls, and Jared, Ford, Kyros, and Creeper continuing to explore the cave.\nWith Creeper leading the way, the party returned to the large room where they had first encountered the larger group of ghouls. The room was quiet\u0026hellip; too quiet. Silent corpses of dwarves and orcs, gnomes and ogres, lay scattered on the floor, gnawed bones sucked dry of marrow decades past. Two long tables occupied the center of a low spot, crude stairs carved into the cave floor to make descent and ascent easier. Bloody streaks marked the floor, long dried. The ascending stairs on the far side led to a smaller table, the decayed remains of a nicer tablecloth hinting at what was once a privileged seat.\nJared\u0026rsquo;s eye caught a hint of something unusual to the north. A cold corpse in the next room, yet \u0026ndash; it was standing on two feet! His whispered warning alerted the rest to the presence of zombies in the room to the north. After a moment of preparation, Ford sent a sling bullet towards the undead creature. The hit was solid, yet the dead thing merely turned to look at him and began to advance.\nThinking quickly, and catching sight of more zombies on their way, Ford tossed out a bag of ball bearings and backed away. A moment later, a flaming skull swept into view from behind the zombies, cackling in madness and shooting flaming rays from its dead eyes. A faint moaning sound from behind the group alerted them to more zombies incoming.\nThe party conducted a fighting retreat towards the center of the room, deploying more ball bearings to slow the approach and tagging the incoming zombies one after another. Despite the withering missile fire and slow advance of the zombies, the party was hard pressed. The only bright point of light was the flaming skull; Creeper managed to take it out before it could do more than fire a few rays from its burning eyes. The skull fell from the air, landing on the high table.\nMeanwhile, back at the camp, Splinter Paw watched as Ragash and Kraygen slept the sleep of the ghoul-paralyzed, idly turning in circles whenever the tip of his tail caught his eye and instinct kicked in. His reverie was interrupted, however, by a strange slurping sound. Looking out beyond the column he had been using as a chair, Splinter Paw saw a huge orangish marmelade-like creature approaching him and his two helpless friends.\nWith a hiss and a snarl and a swipe of his paw, Splinter Paw sent a blast of arcane energy against the threatening congealed mass of gelatin. The attack clearly damaged the creature, yet, undaunted, it split into two smaller creatures and continued to approach. Threatening pseudopods reached out towards the spitting and hissing feline, inflicting terrible acidic burns on fur and flesh. Splinter Paw backed off, crying out in panic. \u0026ldquo;Help! It\u0026rsquo;s eating my face!\u0026rdquo;\nFar to the north and east, the exploring party heard his cries for help. Ford set off to make his way back to camp, accompanied by Jared\u0026rsquo;s steel defender.\nStinging from the acidic attack of the pseudopod, Splinter Paw focused his arcane-laced music into a rolling crescendo of a drum solo, unleashing a Thunderwave upon the two oozes. One died, its pseudopod splashing into formless gelatin. The other continued to move forward. Splinter Paw\u0026rsquo;s morale broke in that moment, and he fled, gaining distance from the remaining creature. With Splinter Paw fleeing and a tasty, snoring half-orc morsel merely five feet away, the remaining jelly reached it\u0026rsquo;s disgusting sugary tentacle towards Ragash. The formerly sleeping half-orc roared in pain and agony.\nHearing his companion and bodyguard\u0026rsquo;s cries of pain, Splinter Paw regained his courage and struck out with his dagger, pinning the ooze to the cave floor where it\u0026rsquo;s form slowly disintegrated. Moments later, Ford stuck his head out from the passages leading deeper into the cave. \u0026ldquo;I heard you needed a spot of help, mate. Everything all right?\u0026rdquo;\nSplinter Paw and Ford made their way back to the rest of the group just as the last of the zombies died. Kyros\u0026rsquo; Turn Undead had scattered them in all directions, and the group had to chase them down one by one. During that process, they found a large room filled with ore, machinery, and even a waterwheel, though there was no water flowing through the channel that fed it. Creeper also found a door to the northwest which had goblin voices lurking behind it, and faint light emanating from beneath. Just when the last of the zombies had fallen, and the part gathered together once more to discuss their next course of action, Ford picked up the remains of the flaming skull and addressed them: \u0026ldquo;Horathio, I hardly knew thee\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\nThe skull immediately erupted into flames once more, cackling with glee and darting away to the north, leaving a fireball in its wake. Despite their wounds, covered in shoot and ash, the party managed to destroy the skull once more before it could dart out of sight. Jared dug into his pouch for a vial of holy water and sprinkled it over the remnants of shattered bone. The cursed skull would flame no more.\nFinally, exhausted, everyone returned to the camp at the entrance to rest. They arranged for watches, and fell asleep in shifts.\nDuring second watch, Splinter Paw heard the flapping of leathery wings. He hurried woke Kyros as two stirges attacked. The feline hero dodged the bloodthirsty bat, but Kyros \u0026ndash; still groggy \u0026ndash; took his bat directly in the neck vein. The filthy creature sunk its proboscis deep into Kyros\u0026rsquo;s neck, slurping the liquid of life noisily. Splinter Paw yelled for the rest of the party to wake up while swinging his dagger at the stirge attacking him, killing it instantly. Kyros, on the other hand, chanted the words of a spell, his hand glowing with malign energy \u0026ndash; but somehow the stirge avoided his touch, and the deadly spell went off on his own flesh. The stirge\u0026rsquo;s blood-sucking combined with the sudden pain sent Kyros into unconsciousness, even as his hand still glowed with unholy power.\nQuick action from the rest of the group killed the stirge on Kyros, and brought the cleric back to consciousness. The terrible five-fingered wound on the cleric\u0026rsquo;s neck was healed, but a scar remained, forever a reminder to be careful with such magic.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n400xp each for those present Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # A necromancer is excavating Old Owl Well The party has found a new entrance to Wave Echo Cave ","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-16/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros) and Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party separated, with Ragash, Splinter Paw, and Kraygen camped at the entrance to recover from their close encounter with the ghouls, and Jared, Ford, Kyros, and Creeper continuing to explore the cave.\nWith Creeper leading the way, the party returned to the large room where they had first encountered the larger group of ghouls. The room was quiet… too quiet. Silent corpses of dwarves and orcs, gnomes and ogres, lay scattered on the floor, gnawed bones sucked dry of marrow decades past. Two long tables occupied the center of a low spot, crude stairs carved into the cave floor to make descent and ascent easier. Bloody streaks marked the floor, long dried. The ascending stairs on the far side led to a smaller table, the decayed remains of a nicer tablecloth hinting at what was once a privileged seat.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 16","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Coby (Kyros) and Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party having defeated a room full of skeletons. They proceeded to the next room, which appeared to be some sort of accounting hall, with records of ores mined and money paid out. A careful search revealed a lockbox behind a counter, which Jared tried and failed to open. They resolved to return later, and on leaving the room, noticed that Ragash \u0026ndash; who had remained behind in the larger cavern \u0026ndash; was missing. Kyros spotted some tracks in the leftover stirge blood, and Creeper was able to determine that three barefoot humanoids had ambushed Ragash and dragged her to the north.\nFollowing the tracks led to a room with three ghouls, feasting on Ragash\u0026rsquo;s paralyzed (but still living) body. The ghouls died quickly, and several healing spells restored Ragash\u0026rsquo;s health but failed to restore her consciousness. Finally, the party left her in the ghoul\u0026rsquo;s lair to recover, with Kraygen on guard.\nThe party continued northwest after that, exploring a staircase to the north. Creeper caught a glimpse of a monster moving to the west and remained closer to the group than usual, keeping on eye on it. The rest advanced north far enough to attract the attention of another pack of ghouls, who swarmed southwards through the narrow passage. With the help of a Grease spell and his steel defender, Jared managed to keep the ghouls contained. Splinter Paw and Creeper contributed their own ranged attacks. Kyros made a valiant effort, but the ghouls were too fast for his Sacred Flame. Jared\u0026rsquo;s steel defender was lost as well.\nThe creature to the west never did fully show itself. Although things were touch-and-go for a while, with both Splinter Paw and Jared falling to paralysis temporarily, the party eventually defeated the ghouls. However, they were ready for a rest after that, and moved the wounded Ragash back to the camp at the entrance to rest, with Kraygen to guard and Ford on his union break. The long rest went without incident, and Jared used the opportunity to make repairs on his defender.\nAfter the long rest, the party returned to the counting room, and managed to open the lockbox (600cp, 180sp, 90ep, 60gp).\nThey had just about made their way back to the room with the ghouls when a scream echoed through the caves: \u0026ldquo;Help! It\u0026rsquo;s eating my face!\u0026rdquo;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n600cp, 180sp, 90ep, 60gp 500xp each for those present Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # A necromancer is excavating Old Owl Well The party has found a new entrance to Wave Echo Cave ","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-15/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Coby (Kyros) and Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party having defeated a room full of skeletons. They proceeded to the next room, which appeared to be some sort of accounting hall, with records of ores mined and money paid out. A careful search revealed a lockbox behind a counter, which Jared tried and failed to open. They resolved to return later, and on leaving the room, noticed that Ragash – who had remained behind in the larger cavern – was missing. Kyros spotted some tracks in the leftover stirge blood, and Creeper was able to determine that three barefoot humanoids had ambushed Ragash and dragged her to the north.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 15","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party on the run from Magpie Hood and his no-longer-quite-so Merry Band. They managed to escape without any further innocent loss of life, though Kyros took an entirely improbable number of arrows to the butt and Ragash offered to throw down her life to save the rest of the party even when it was entirely unnecessary.\nThe next step was Wave Echo Cave. Gundren Rockseeker had found, and marked on his map, a small tunnel that seems to give access to a larger cave structure. The larger structure features a regular booming sound all through the cave complex, which was likely (Jared surmised) the echo of a wave deeper within the cave. This noise was enough to identify the cave as the right one, and this was confirmed when Creeper\u0026rsquo;s scouting mission turned up a dead dwarf at a supply camp just a little ways into the cave. The body had been rotting for perhaps a week. Some of the food supplies were still good, though certainly no longer tasty due to the close proximity of the corpse. Searching paperwork found in the area gave names to faces: the dead dwarf was called Tharden, and Nundro was mentioned as another dwarf in the cave area.\nContinuing further down a ravine and through a small cavern to the east, the party entered a more constructed area where 10\u0026rsquo; wide tunnels met at right angles. The first larger room held murals, as well as skeletons from dwarvens and orcs who appeared to have died in battle against each other. 8 stirges attacked from ambush here (despite not seeing Creeper!) and snacked heavily on Splinter Paw. The party moved south here, leaving Ragash behind in the room of stirges to guard their retreat.\nTo the south, another room contained more skeletons. Only these were the undead sort. The battle was tense until Kyros turned undead, putting the fear of the God of Death into the undead and taking the pressure off. Kraygen moved forward to use Shatter, destroying most of them, and the rest of the group mopped up. The action appeared to be over, for the moment\u0026hellip;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n100xp each for those present 1 week\u0026rsquo;s iron rations per person (left at camp) Jared is wearing Tharden\u0026rsquo;s boots Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # A necromancer is excavating Old Owl Well The party has a map to Wave Echo Cave ","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-14/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party on the run from Magpie Hood and his no-longer-quite-so Merry Band. They managed to escape without any further innocent loss of life, though Kyros took an entirely improbable number of arrows to the butt and Ragash offered to throw down her life to save the rest of the party even when it was entirely unnecessary.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 14","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party recovering from indigestion after eating dragon nuggets. After discussing the location of Wave Echo Cave with Reidoth (between his advice and their map, the group feels confident they can find the entrance), the party went to Neverwinter to sell their goods and equip for an expedition. They sold the alchemical vials, diamonds, a set of goblets, and the battle axe they had collected in Thundertree for 1100gp, which was promptly divided up. The group arranged for a dagger to be made from a dragon\u0026rsquo;s tooth. The same smith agreed to make a suit of scale mail from the green dragon\u0026rsquo;s scales, which will be ready in a week. (He barely made the roll, resulting in a suit of scale mail that gives +1 to saving throws versus poison, but no other bonus).\nThey spent a week on downtime, finding a clue to a magical shortbow. Apparently one \u0026ldquo;Magpie Hood\u0026rdquo; is a bandit that lurks in Neverwinter Forest and has a reputation as being a very short and very talented archer. Perhaps he has a magical shortbow the party could somehow acquire for Creeper?\nThey traveled to Thundertree to ask Reidoth for directions to find Magpie Hood. He told them to look in the hills south of Mount Hotenow towards the center of Neverwinter Wood. There, they found an armed camp, and ambushed a hunting party. The survivors confirmed the camp was led by Magpie Hood; the camp itself was called Hummingbird.\nLeaving Ford and Ragash to guard the prisoners, the group approached the camp from the south. Splinter Paw and Kraygen, having remembered a fellow bardic student who sang of a magpie stealing shiny things, recreated the song on the way in. It proved sufficient to get them an audience with the leader of the camp, a halfling who did indeed carry a well-crafted short bow.\nA little bit of banter and a drinking contest quickly led into an archery contest. Magpie proved a fine shot, but Creeper was better \u0026ndash; this time at least \u0026ndash; and Magpie and Creeper traded bows. Magpie was also curious about a bow in Neverwinter, the size of a short bow but with the force of a longbow. Perhaps he will go looking for that device later.\nOn the way out, Splinter Paw casually mentioned that the group had ambushed one of Hummingbird\u0026rsquo;s hunting parties on the way in, killing two of them and leaving the rest tied up in their underwear with Ford and Ragash as guards\u0026hellip;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n100cp, 100sp, 200gp each (Kyros was absent but gots his share) Ragash earned 200gp pit fighting and spent it on splint mail Dagger of Venom (+2, inflicts poison after action spent to activate, no extra poison damage) Scale Mail of Proof Against Poison (+1 to saving throws against poison) 60xp each Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # A necromancer is excavating Old Owl Well The party has a map to Wave Echo Cave ","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-13/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party recovering from indigestion after eating dragon nuggets. After discussing the location of Wave Echo Cave with Reidoth (between his advice and their map, the group feels confident they can find the entrance), the party went to Neverwinter to sell their goods and equip for an expedition. They sold the alchemical vials, diamonds, a set of goblets, and the battle axe they had collected in Thundertree for 1100gp, which was promptly divided up. The group arranged for a dagger to be made from a dragon’s tooth. The same smith agreed to make a suit of scale mail from the green dragon’s scales, which will be ready in a week. (He barely made the roll, resulting in a suit of scale mail that gives +1 to saving throws versus poison, but no other bonus).\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 13","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party in the middle of combat, Splinter Paw\u0026rsquo;s caterwauling having woken the entire village and Kraygen\u0026rsquo;s Thunderwave knocking out the majority of the remaining cultists.\nShortly thereafter, an angry dragon appeared, landing at the end of the fog and demanding to know what was going on. It seems he had been having a nap, and something had woken him up. He was promptly attacked by three zombies, and set about slicing and dicing them with his claws and teeth.\nSeeing an opportunity, Jared moved in from the west and used Faerie Fire on the dragon. This helped the zombies land some blows, as well as arrows from Creeper and Ragash. Kyros scratched a few scales with Toll the Dead, and Splinter Paw used his Thunderwave to blast what was left of the zombies as well as the dragon.\nShaking his head from the barrage of painful spells and arrows coming from within the fog, the dragon huffed, and puffed, and poisoned Splinter Paw down \u0026ndash; only Splinter Paw, luckily for Creeper, who was narrowly outside the area of effect. Kyros wasn\u0026rsquo;t feeling very safe either.\nWith the ash zombies destroyed, the dragon went after Jared, who narrowly survived by ducking at the right time. More arrows piled on, and the green-tinted lizard king was looking worse for wear. Meanwhile, Kyros was trying to figure out how to get to Splinter Paw and make sure he was ok \u0026ndash; the cat\u0026rsquo;s strange silence was worrying!\nCreeper released the fog he had been concentrating on the whole time, revealing Splinter Paw\u0026rsquo;s body, unconscious from poison. Kyros made his way there and healed the damage, while Kraygen prepared a spell. From the west, Ragash shot an arrow and then moved closer, dropping her bow and preparing to draw her longsword and fight in melee to save Jared.\nKraygen\u0026rsquo;s Dissonant Whispers combined with the dragon\u0026rsquo;s wounds caused the creature to thrust itself into the air and fly off \u0026ndash; but not before Ragash, caught without a weapon in her hand, stepped forward to punch the dragon in the face! Reeling from the blow and bleeding from many other wounds, the great green lizard soared off to fight another day\u0026hellip;\n\u0026hellip; except he had not taken into account the presence of Ford, who quickly ran to a vantage point close to the creature\u0026rsquo;s path, muttered the words to Magic Missile. Three magical bolts of force slammed into the dragon\u0026rsquo;s belly, by chance landing exactly where an arrow strike had already split the scale, and the dragon fell from the sky.\nWhile the rest of the group searched the ruins of the town for treasure, Creeper tracked down the dragon\u0026rsquo;s crash-landing and cut a few dragon steaks for dinner. They cooked up well, but green dragons are poisonous, so the results were not appreciated\u0026hellip; although Creeper loudly proclaimed that every burp, gurgle, and squirt were worth it!\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n714xp each Roleplaying moments and quotables # Ragash punched the dragon Ford killed the dragon with Magic Missile right before his mandatory union break Creeper poisoned half the party with green dragon meat Dangling Threads of Fate # A necromancer is excavating Old Owl Well Reidoth the Druid is reclaiming Thundertree from ash zombies, cultists, and dragons: oh my! ","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-12/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party in the middle of combat, Splinter Paw’s caterwauling having woken the entire village and Kraygen’s Thunderwave knocking out the majority of the remaining cultists.\nShortly thereafter, an angry dragon appeared, landing at the end of the fog and demanding to know what was going on. It seems he had been having a nap, and something had woken him up. He was promptly attacked by three zombies, and set about slicing and dicing them with his claws and teeth.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 12","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party resting in the ruins of Cragmaw Castle, which they had earlier cleared of occupants. Only the squirrels had moved back in. When dawn rose, the party left the castle and followed Creeper\u0026rsquo;s directions through Neverwinter Wood towards Thundertree. Miraculously, their journey went unnoticed and unmolested by denizens of the Wood. They arrived in the ruins of Thundertree around mid-day.\nThe ruins seemed quiet at first, with a few crumbling buildings being slowly taken over by natural growth. A 40-foot tower loomed over the town from a small tor, with a gaping hole in the roof. Entering from the northwestern corner, the group moved south and east following the remains of one of the town roads, exploring as they went. The first building proved empty; the second was guarded by a pair of strange, bush-like creatures. They fell to Jared\u0026rsquo;s hand crossbow almost as quickly as they attacked.\nMore of the plant creatures attacked from the pair of buildings further southeast as the party explored them, falling almost as fast as the initial two. The next house offered a change of pace; they were invited inside by the druid Reidoth, the very many they had been seeking. He informed them that the \u0026ldquo;twig blights\u0026rdquo; were his allies (friends might be too strong a word) against a strange form of undead known as \u0026ldquo;Ash Zombies\u0026rdquo;. Those zombies had taken over the town following a volcanic eruption nearby a decade ago. Reidoth was slowly whittling their numbers down while using the twig blights to keep travelers away from the danger.\nUnfortunately the druid\u0026rsquo;s plans were disrupted by the arrival of a young green dragon, who claimed the town\u0026rsquo;s tower as his lair. The presence of the dragon forced the druid to restrict his activities against the zombies, fearing to draw the dragon\u0026rsquo;s attention. Worse, not long afterward a group of strange human figures began skulking through the ruined town. They appeared to be seeking to communicate with the dragon.\nReidoth offered to share what he knows about the location of Wave Echo Cave in return for a small favor: convincing the dragon to lair elsewhere. After staying the night with Reidoth and discussing strategy, the party agreed to try. Reidoth agreed to restrain his twig blights from interfering. Defeating the Ash Zombies within the town would be helpful but not necessary to the bargain. The other humans in town might be allies or enemies; Reidoth knew little about them other than that their interest in the dragon was concerning.\nThe following morning, Ford and Creeper set out to scout the dragon\u0026rsquo;s lair. They \u0026ndash; well, Creeper \u0026ndash; managed to scale the tower and peer down upon a green dragon curled up around a chest. The dragon slept. Withdrawing and returning to the rest of the group via a different route, Creeper stumbled into a web, drawing the attention of two giant spiders. They hustled out to fill him with paralytic poison and haul him back into their web.\nFord reacted quickly and sent a magical message to the rest of the group, who came to the rescue. After a short battle the spiders were defeated and Creeper rescued. Returning to the druid, the group decided to clear as much of the town as possible before confronting the dragon. Reidoth found and pacified the group of twig blights just south of the spiders while the group surrounded a house that contained two ash zombies.\nKyros tried to open the door and failed, falling on his back and alerting the zombies within. His second attempt also failed a moment later, but one of the zombies pushed the door open from within and stumbled his direction, followed quickly by a second one. Between Kyros and Kraygen in melee and the rest of the group in ranged support, the ash zombies fell quickly, though not before leaving some of the group wounded or choking on ash.\nUnfortunately, Splinter Paw celebrated the victory of his pride by \u0026ldquo;yodaling for zombies\u0026rdquo;. His loud caterwauling woke up the whole town, starting with a nearby clutch of twig blights outside of Reidoth\u0026rsquo;s influence. Two groups of ash zombies also started towards the group, one from the northeast and the other from the northwest, though they started from farther away than the twig blights. And the group of strange humans also began converging on the party from the southeast.\nThe fight against the nearest group of twig blights was going well, but the zombies were just starting to trickle in. Kyros again got himself in close proximity to an ash zombie and began choking on the clouds of ash surrounding the creature. Creeper found a house to hide in. As the strange group of humans arrived, they demanded Splinter Paw and those of his companions nearby \u0026ldquo;lay down your arms and prepare to be presented to His Green Majesty.\u0026rdquo; Splinter Paw promptly dropped his dagger and brained a twig blight with his lute.\nThe humans, now revealed as some kind of dragon cultists, joined the fight against the twig blights. Meanwhile the ash zombies and the twig blights were fighting each other. Creeper added to the confusion by casting Fog Cloud over the center of the battle.\nThe cultists and the group made short work of the twig blights outside the fog, and things seemed to be going well, until Jared and his steel defender caught up to Reidoth \u0026ndash; still keeping his group of twig blights pacified \u0026ndash; and yelled for him to flee, along with Ford whose union break had just started. Reidoth promptly fled\u0026hellip; which unleashed the group of twig blights he had been restraining to chase after Jared.\nKyros, who had been trapped inside the fog with the twigs and zombies, was being pressed hard after accidentally revealing his location. His divine invocation to turn the zombies had sent some of them fleeing, but some had resisted, including those closest to him. More of the zombies had entered the fray from out of his range. Meanwhile, the cultists lined up outside the fog, treating Splinter Paw and Kraygen as allies and preparing to face whatever emerged.\nThey were not expecting to Kraygen to unleash a Thunderwave on them from behind, or for Splinter Paw to follow it with Heat Metal. Everything in the area of effect was killed outright,including most of the cultists. However, Kyros was still being hard pressed inside the fog by a group of ash zombies. Those of the zombies fleeing from his divine influence were heading straight north\u0026hellip;\nWe called a halt to the game for the evening with several ash zombies, one cultist, several tree blights, and a very peckish dragon remaining on the battlefield.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # 100xp each Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # A necromancer is excavating Old Owl Well Reidoth the Druid is reclaiming Thundertree from ash zombies, cultists, and dragons: oh my! ","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-11/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party resting in the ruins of Cragmaw Castle, which they had earlier cleared of occupants. Only the squirrels had moved back in. When dawn rose, the party left the castle and followed Creeper’s directions through Neverwinter Wood towards Thundertree. Miraculously, their journey went unnoticed and unmolested by denizens of the Wood. They arrived in the ruins of Thundertree around mid-day.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 11","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party resting in the orc cavern. Near dawn a pack of wolves threatened from the cave entrance, but the party ran them off with loud noises and fire.\nFrom there, they returned to Old Owl Well, where the necromancer Kost was busy excavating with his crew of zombies. He welcomed them back, paying a pittance of 10gp each for their services in defeating the orcs. Kyros somehow restrained himself from killing him immediately, despite his god\u0026rsquo;s opposition to undead.\nPhandalin was next on the agenda, but their journey was interrupted by a flock of stirges. The bloodsucking beasts with dispatched without incident beyond disturbing and obscene jokes. No further incidents interrupted their travel.\nSister Graele was very pleased that they had learned information about Bowgentle\u0026rsquo;s spellbook, and offered her thanks as a reward (along with 3 healing potions).\nDaran Eldernath, cider king, sold some cider to the group and thanked them for their services in scouting Old Owl Well. He was disturbed by the presence of a necromancer there, but did not have the financial resources to pay for them to be removed.\nThe townmaster seemed less than thrilled with the Redbrand\u0026rsquo;s defeat, fearing that orcs and goblins would overwhelm the town in their absence. However, he was very excited by the possibilities of a commercial enterprise with Kost the necromancer, suggesting a haunted house with real zombies, and perhaps using them as guards to escort caravans.\nThe party decided to travel to Thundertree next, in search of the druid Reidoth who knows the area well and might have more information about the Wave Echo cave.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n27gp each 206xp each Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # A necromancer is investigating Old Owl Well The local druid, Reidoth, has traveled to Thundertree on business and can be found there ","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-10/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), Jeff (Ford), Coby (Kyros), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party resting in the orc cavern. Near dawn a pack of wolves threatened from the cave entrance, but the party ran them off with loud noises and fire.\nFrom there, they returned to Old Owl Well, where the necromancer Kost was busy excavating with his crew of zombies. He welcomed them back, paying a pittance of 10gp each for their services in defeating the orcs. Kyros somehow restrained himself from killing him immediately, despite his god’s opposition to undead.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 10","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"We, the undersigned, do hereby incorporate our adventuring enterprise under the name . We agree to the standard mechanisms of treasure distribution outlined under the appropriate regulations, laws, and taxing authorities. Subject to those laws, we further stipulate that all adventuring proceeds will be first applied to the healing and making whole of all party members, including but not limited to healing of wounds, replacement of lost limbs, treatment and/or cures of acquired diseases.\nIn recognition of the fact that adventuring companies in the early stages may not have ready access to sufficient funds to treat all possible injuries, Adventure Capitalists Inc undertakes to provide access to emergency capital in support of such companies. Specifically, in return for a fee of 20% of all monetary wealth recovered by the adventuring company, we will insure members of the company against the financial cost of healing injuries and/or untimely death while on quests or other official duties for the company.\nTo take advantage of our services, contact a representative in your local adventurer\u0026rsquo;s guildhall after each quest to pay your dues and obtain healing and curative services. If there is no local guildhall, show your local healer your copy of this contact and he, she, or it may be willing to honor the contract.\nWe do NOT provide on-site service, and all healing services are provided by affiliated local vendors, subject to local availability. In the event of unsatisfactory services (persistent rash, zombie resurrection, reincarnation in non-humanoid form, possession by supernatural undead entity, and so forth), the local vendor is responsible and we accept financial liability only in the amount of the fee paid to that vendor.\n","date":"3 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/adventurecapitalists/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"We, the undersigned, do hereby incorporate our adventuring enterprise under the name . We agree to the standard mechanisms of treasure distribution outlined under the appropriate regulations, laws, and taxing authorities. Subject to those laws, we further stipulate that all adventuring proceeds will be first applied to the healing and making whole of all party members, including but not limited to healing of wounds, replacement of lost limbs, treatment and/or cures of acquired diseases.\n","title":"Adventure Capitalists","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"See the character creation rules and setting.\nAfter a routine trip to Rookroost, Tom o\u0026rsquo; the Seven Sevens puts out the word to all residents of Dunwitch. Trouble is afoot, he says. The realm needs those of strong arm, quick mind, dextrous fingers. More than that, the realm needs men of good heart and a thirst for adventure.\n(\u0026ldquo;What about ale?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Aye, that too, but adventure first!\u0026rdquo;)\nAll men and women nearing adulthood but not yet settled in their lives, or yearning for something more, and especially anyone who is feeling the call of destiny or who has ever been the subject of a prophecy, are requested to gather in the tavern for an announcement that will have a profound impact on their lives, the lives of all their friends, and even the lives of their livestock and pets.\nAs the appointed hour approaches, a large half-orc thumps the head of his axe on the bar several times for attention. You think it\u0026rsquo;s probably Grog, but from a distance, it could be Juliet. \u0026ldquo;Hear ye! Hear ye!\u0026rdquo;, he roars, his speech understandable despite the large tusks protruding from his jaw.\nPer-su-ant to um\u0026hellip; Ex-ec-u-tive Order of our Overlord \u0026ldquo;The General\u0026rdquo; Perneti, and item number\u0026hellip; um, I can\u0026rsquo;t count that high on the Misunderstood and Benevolent Overlord List, all potential heros, protagonists, plucky kids who might make good, and their cute puppies or other animal companions are hereby offered the following distr-err, important quests-to improve the realm.\nHe looks up from the paper he is reading for a moment, hands it to one of the other guards, and there is a brief discussion. A more human-looking, less-tusky guard takes over the reading.\nFirst, there are reports of a plague among the downtrodden, oppress\u0026ndash;err, hard-working lower classes within the poorer districts of Rookroost. As we value their labor and wish it to continue, adventurers may seek a treatment or cure for this plague. As many of you country folk have no means to enforce a quarantine, it is in your own best interests to seek a cure as soon as possible. The General had previously hired a sage to investigate the plague and seek to create a cure, but has not heard from that individual in some time. The sage has a small tower within the walls of Rookroost, and that tower is the logical starting point for investigations into the plague. I can provide more details for anyone interested. (The sage\u0026rsquo;s tower in Rookroost is 1 day\u0026rsquo;s travel away)\nSecond, there have been persistent reports of unexplained lights, sounds, and mysterious disturbances at a manor house within a nearby swamp. In the benevolent wisdom of The General, it is better to be proactive than reactive. Also, \u0026ldquo;Dunmarsh\u0026rdquo; is a good name for a small town. So, find the source of the lights, sounds, disturbances, and so on and so forth, and be done with them. The future town of Dunmarsh is a few days travel on the other side of the city. Anyone wishing to pursue this quest will need to pass through the city walls, so we encourage them to investigate the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower on their way. (3-4 days of travel)\nThird, The General wishes to continue expanding the walls of Rookroost. In order to do so, he requires stone from a nearby quarry called Darkshelf. Disturbing rumors have reached the ears of The General, questioning whether the overseer of those mines is actually loyal. These rumors must be investigated. If proven true, it may be necessary to replace the overseer. (1 week travel)\nFourth, the famed wizard Herzog Akitrom the Merely Worried has invited adventurers and other assorted do-gooders to settle the lands near his soon-to-be-famous castle and help him clear out some pesky lower levels of his dungeons. The rumors accompanying this invitation are especially bizarre and, as this castle is located not far outside the borders of Rookroost, The General would appreciate anyone willing to volunteer their aid (and send back regular reports on what the hell is actually going on). (1-2 weeks travel)\nFinally, there is an unclaimed ruined keep some distance away. It is within the borders of our realm \u0026ndash; barely. It is rumored to possess both creatures and treasure in amounts exceeding even the usual consequences of an economy based on coin shaving and inflation. Volunteers are welcome to clear the monsters from this keep at a substantial discount on the adventurer\u0026rsquo;s tax (if they survive). The General wishes this keep restored and occupied to protect the borders of his realm, and you can be an important part of that! In fact, you can get in on the ground floor\u0026hellip; literally, as there are no other floors intact. (1 week travel)\nAs all of you here have responded to an advertisement for adventure, glory, treasure, rescuing cats from trees, or opportunities for do-gooding, we are happy to accept your desire to improve our realm for the betterment of everyone, especially \u0026ldquo;The General\u0026rdquo;. We remind you all that happiness is mandatory.\nAh, yes, there at the back. The new group of volunteers! Everyone please welcome them with a round of applause!\nPlease, each of you stand up and introduce yourselves.\nSince you are new at this, you may wish to make an arrangement with Adventure Capitalists Incorporated. They have a brochure at the bar. If you don\u0026rsquo;t I won\u0026rsquo;t be responsible for the consequences! Not that I would be anyway, of course.\nAs Tom winds up his prepared speech, Grog the half-orc tugs aggressively on his sleeve, almost knocking the guard down. \u0026ldquo;Tom! Tom!\u0026rdquo; the half-orc whispers urgently, \u0026ldquo;I gots de splotches! I think I gots the plague!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Quiet, fool!\u0026rdquo; Tom shouts, but it\u0026rsquo;s too late, and the tavern is suddenly full of aggressive whispers.\nIn the confusion, a small group of 6 friends quietly leave the gathering\u0026hellip;\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/campaignhook/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"See the character creation rules and setting.\nAfter a routine trip to Rookroost, Tom o’ the Seven Sevens puts out the word to all residents of Dunwitch. Trouble is afoot, he says. The realm needs those of strong arm, quick mind, dextrous fingers. More than that, the realm needs men of good heart and a thirst for adventure.\n(“What about ale?” “Aye, that too, but adventure first!”)\nAll men and women nearing adulthood but not yet settled in their lives, or yearning for something more, and especially anyone who is feeling the call of destiny or who has ever been the subject of a prophecy, are requested to gather in the tavern for an announcement that will have a profound impact on their lives, the lives of all their friends, and even the lives of their livestock and pets.\n","title":"Campaign Hook","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"The Evil Overlord Campaign is set within the 1st edition World of Greyhawk setting.\nNotable locations include the starting area of Rookroost, it\u0026rsquo;s suburbs Dunwich and Saltmarsh, the City of Greyhawke, Castle Greyhawke (the amusing one), the port city of Highport and the nearby island town of Garrotten.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/locations/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"The Evil Overlord Campaign is set within the 1st edition World of Greyhawk setting.\nNotable locations include the starting area of Rookroost, it’s suburbs Dunwich and Saltmarsh, the City of Greyhawke, Castle Greyhawke (the amusing one), the port city of Highport and the nearby island town of Garrotten.\n","title":"Locations","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Saltmarsh is a small town, though still larger than Dunwitch. It is a near the coast, with port facilities and a fishing fleet. The fleet sends its catch from both the ocean and the nearby salt marsh (for which the town is named) to Rookroost, providing a steady supply of seafood for those wealthy enough to afford it (and the necessary salt or preservation spells to preserve it). The road to town from Rookroost brings you to the top of a sea-facing cliff overlooking the town, and you can see the port itself laid out before you, with the bulk of town further inland on higher ground. The activity at sea appears to consist of mostly fishing boats, with one or two larger vessels at anchor by the docks.\nThere is one other notable feature of the town: a lighthouse, not far from the top of the cliff where you are now. The current mayor lives there and tends the light (it is one of the mayor\u0026rsquo;s official duties). His name is Lenny.\nThe manor house itself is located at the edge of the marsh, near a natural harbor, at the top of a hill overlooking the town (on the far side from the lighthouse). The house is set on a small peninsula, with cliff faces leading to the Nyr Dyv on three sides. Neither marsh nor harbor is visible from most of town, but the manor house itself is.\nIt is roughly a days\u0026rsquo; travel away by roads in poor condition, so details are not visible \u0026ndash; just the outline, and occasionally bright lights. No one lives close by, but travelers following the coast road occasionally pass by, and when they do so at night, they report noises of various indescribable types.\nThe Town Council # Posted at the docks and the Rookroost side of the coastal road.\nMayor Lenny Dockmaster Holofax Guard Captain Miriam Militia # Ned and Ed (assigned to maintaining a lookout for the Sea Ghost, now dead) Costs # 1 Night's Lodging, per person: 1sp Fish stew, per meal: 1cp Crawfish stew, per meal: 2cp Something-Other-Than-Fish Food, per meal: 5cp Good food, per meal: 1sp Large red crawfish, per meal, with melted butter: 1gp Treasure Tax: 25% ","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/locations/saltmarsh/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Saltmarsh is a small town, though still larger than Dunwitch. It is a near the coast, with port facilities and a fishing fleet. The fleet sends its catch from both the ocean and the nearby salt marsh (for which the town is named) to Rookroost, providing a steady supply of seafood for those wealthy enough to afford it (and the necessary salt or preservation spells to preserve it). The road to town from Rookroost brings you to the top of a sea-facing cliff overlooking the town, and you can see the port itself laid out before you, with the bulk of town further inland on higher ground. The activity at sea appears to consist of mostly fishing boats, with one or two larger vessels at anchor by the docks.\n","title":"Saltmarsh","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Characters begin in the small town of Dunwitch, named (according to local legend) for its founder, a nameless hag and healer who lived out her years as a hermit outside the nearby walled city of Rookroost. Her cures were so efficacious and her protective spells so potent that she soon had a thriving community established around her small forest hut. As the poor woman was nearly deaf and blind in her old age, she never quite realized.\nThe master of Rookroost named the town when he sent his guards to hang the witch for cursing him with impotence. His proclamation named the town \u0026ldquo;Dunwitch\u0026rdquo;, in \u0026ldquo;honor\u0026rdquo; of the witch he\u0026rsquo;d had \u0026ldquo;done\u0026rdquo; there. No one else had felt the town needed a name, so this one stuck\u0026hellip; at least on a map. That was 30 years or so ago, and the town has grown to a substantial community since then.\nMost of the population in Dunwitch are effectively serfs. Many are farmers, expected to grow food to support the city of Rookroost, and legally bound to the land they farm. No one really keeps close track so long as the food arrives regularly in the city\u0026rsquo;s markets. Many others are foresters, providing the city with meat and firewood. There are still nearby forests, but they are shrinking. By tradition, Dunwitch itself is filled with trees, and the houses and businesses are built around them. The center of town is a small clearing surrounded by immense old-growth trees and a stone circle, at the center of which lies an ancient stone altar. Legend says the witch of Dunwitch performed vile rites and obscene sacrifices there at the dark of the moon, but those legends were started by the man who had her hung, so most residents discount them.\nBasic training is available for most adventuring professions, though the residents wouldn\u0026rsquo;t think of them as \u0026ldquo;adventuring\u0026rdquo; professions, just normal lives.\nCharacters in Dunwitch are, in practical terms, healthy, reasonably well off, and average in most ways. The town doesn\u0026rsquo;t bother with much government and the city of Rookroost, while ruled by a man best described as a petty and insecure tyrant, mostly ignores the town so long as the food keeps flowing in and the city doesn\u0026rsquo;t starve. However, no one in the town has any significant knowledge of the wider world (geographically or otherwise). At most, farmers and foresters will have traveled to Rookroost to sell their produce and provender regularly, and the more sophisticated and educated townsfolk make trips to the city for news and specialized materials occasionally. Border control in the area around Rookroost is a mix of very lax internal controls \u0026ndash; no one cares where you are going or why, so long as you pay the appropriate tolls \u0026ndash; and very strict external controls. No one in the town can recall visitors from outside of the broader Rookroost borders, and those who attempt to leave without approval in advance are never heard from again.\nLocal Law Enforcement # Tom o\u0026rsquo; the Seven Sevens # A small volunteer militia of three men keeps order when the locals get overly drunk, and at tax time they are reinforced by a squad from Rookroost. Their leader is Tom o\u0026rsquo; the Seven Sevens, named for the time someone called his bluff at cards and he laid down his hand of seven sevens, proclaiming \u0026ldquo;Ha! Beat my seven sevens, can ye?\u0026rdquo; Tom seems very proud of the story and tells it often, never mentioning who was on the other side of the table for that game.\n(Moe, a cleric with the town guard, tells a slightly different story)\nGrog and Juliet # His minions are two half-orcs who seem to have a comfortable arrangement with each other, going by the names of Grog and Juliet. Grog is always bragging about the time he won a pair of potions on a bet with a wizard in the city, one a permanent love potion and the other some kind of permanent shapeshifting potion, but never explains what he did with them.\nReligious Services # \u0026ldquo;Father\u0026rdquo; Faran # There is a cleric who tends the people\u0026rsquo;s religious needs, blesses crops, and performs marriages and funerals. He\u0026rsquo;s sort of unclear on the details of the pantheon but his spells seem to work, and he will teach what he knows to those who aspire to priestly work or the life of a holy warrior. He is the only dwarf anyone in the village has ever seen, calling himself Faran. In his cups \u0026ndash; which takes a LOT of dwarven ale \u0026ndash; he occasionally mentions a second name, but no one has gotten him drunk enough to hear it properly. Rumor has it there are more dwarves in the city, if you know which taverns to visit, and rumor also has it they speak his name with reverence.\nThe Old Man of the Forest # There is a druid who tends the stone circle and the remnants of the forest that remain. Like the forest he cares for, he seems bedraggled and worn down, but he says as long as the forest remains in Dunwitch itself, so will he. The village simply calls him \u0026ldquo;The old man of the forest\u0026rdquo;, and continually pesters him to train an apprentice.\nNo one quite remembers when he appeared, but he has been a fixture of the village for a long time.\nForesters # The half-elven ranger corps # Almost all of the foresters who nominally live in Dunwitch (perhaps better described as visiting the town to resupply with civilized goods and sell the furs and skins they have collected) are half-elves. Oddly, because no one seems to know of any full elves anywhere nearby. The foresters are willing to take apprentices, particularly those with some elven ancestry.\nWizards # Romeo the Not-yet-wise # Recently, a young man who claims to be a wizard by the name of Romeo has taken up residence in one of the better available homes in Dunwitch; no one is quite sure what he\u0026rsquo;s doing there, but he can manage minor magic when sober and horrid poetry about lost love when drunk. He is willing to teach enough magic to students to get their career started in return for strong drink, which he sternly admonishes his students to never ever consume before spellcasting.\nThieves and Rogues # No one in Dunwitch will admit to being a thief by profession, but then, no one really has anything worth stealing.\nThe Stone Circle # In the center of the town is a large stone circle. The inside of the circle serves as a public forum for whatever needs the town may have: weddings, funerals, religious services, a marketplace (once every 7 days or so), a tavern (in the evenings after market days), or just a soup kitchen to catch a quick meal. There is always a large iron pot simmering in the center, with simple food and ale available on the honor system (\u0026ldquo;Please drop your 5cp here\u0026rdquo;).\nOn market days, merchants from Rookroost set up stalls between each of the stones of the outer circle, and the local farmers and foresters can sell their crops, produce, or catch.\nThe Market # During daylight hours on market days, the stone circle serves as a bustling marketplace, surrounded by vendors of all types who bring their wares from the nearby city of Rookroost. Locals also sell their goods here if they would prefer not to take them into Rookroost themselves. Vendors offer mostly simple tools and trades; there is a blacksmith, a tanner, a tinker, and a tailor who make regular appearances. The blacksmith has a broad selection of tools and knives, and a few crude short swords. The tanner has leather goods that can serve as armor (leather or studded leather) but are more intended to protect against dangerous animals than men.\nNevertheless, most miscellaneous tools and adventuring goods can be acquired here. If they are not kept in stock, then by the simple expedient of placing an order with the appropriate merchant for delivery the following week. If the need is more urgent than that, Rookroost is perhaps a day of hard walking away.\nEntertainment # The Holy Day Inn # Normally, a town this small would have trouble supporting an inn or tavern. However, the local tradition was to gather around the stone circle in the center of town as dark fell, to share a meal and a drink (which everyone brought for their own family). Speculation amongst the young children is that the tradition rose to allow the residents to take a headcount and make sure no one had gone missing to various dangers during the day\u0026rsquo;s labors. Older residents suggest there was a lack of cooking tools and that a communal iron pot kept everyone fed with soup and stew until a proper blacksmith set up shop in town. Neither explanation seems entirely germane to the present, but the tradition continues.\nIn modern form, the Old Man of the Forest serves bread and stew in return for 5cp a head or an hour of simple labor. Faran brews ale (suitable for human consumption) and has built an open-air \u0026ldquo;bar\u0026rdquo; to serve it, along with a cunning set of wooden planks that, when laid over the stones, form a series of large tables. There is enough space for the whole town of Dunwitch (standing room only) or all heads of household (seated with room to eat). Those tables are brought out once or twice a month when the whole town gathers.\nOtherwise, there\u0026rsquo;s a pot of stew over an open fire, a tapped keg at the bar, a strongbox with a coin slot (folks are on the honor system to pay), and enough company to drown your sorrows alone or with a small audience most nights.\nAnd a sign with the name of the \u0026ldquo;tavern\u0026rdquo; on it, which was probably made as some kind of joke. No one seems to know the punchline.\nCow Tipping # Rumor has it residents like to tip over cows. That\u0026rsquo;s about the only other thing to do for fun.\nReading the Map # The official map of Greyhawk places Rookroost north of a riven (the Artonsonara?) that feeds into the Nyr Dyv, an inland sea. In my campaign, Rookroost is located two hexes above and one hex to the left of the point where that river feeds into the Nyr Dyv. Saltmarsh is directly on the shore of the Nyr Dyv and one hex further west. Dunwitch is one hex to the right of Rookroost.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/locations/dunwich/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Characters begin in the small town of Dunwitch, named (according to local legend) for its founder, a nameless hag and healer who lived out her years as a hermit outside the nearby walled city of Rookroost. Her cures were so efficacious and her protective spells so potent that she soon had a thriving community established around her small forest hut. As the poor woman was nearly deaf and blind in her old age, she never quite realized.\n","title":"Dunwich","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" The City of Rookroost # Rookroost is one of the bandit kingdoms, a city-state in barely civilized territory that exists in a state of low-level perpetual warfare with most of its neighbors and even its own residents. Half-Orcs are common and make up most of the city guard. Half-elves are common in the outlying towns and forests, but full elves are rare.\nLeadership # Officially, the city follows General Perneti, who is in charge of the city guard. Unofficially, those not being paid directly pretty much make up their own rules and break them on a whim. There are moments of unity when an external threat unites everyone, and the guard are mostly loyal to the general, but subject to bribery and intimidation in things that seem unimportant. Rookroost City Guard\nGeneral Perneti is officially the head of the guard The party has dealt with Guard Captain Malcolm of the Inner Ring several times Each ring of the city has it's own captain: The Inner Ring, the Outer Ring, and the Middle Ring The Inner Ring # The Sage\u0026rsquo;s Tower # In the Inner Ring is a small sage\u0026rsquo;s tower, presently a burned-out, mostly hollow stone structure.\nThe Guard\u0026rsquo;s Barracks # The party has spent a (partial) night with the guard in their barracks. It was very loosely disciplined for a military structure, but more organized than most civilian households. The Flaming Iron Skillet\nA high-class restaurant (for the Bandit Kingdoms, anyway) that offers prepared food for delivery as well as a fine dining experience. This restaurant held a contract for delivering food to the Sage\u0026rsquo;s Tower before the Sage\u0026rsquo;s untimely demise.\nThe Middle Ring # Merchants, marketplaces, and the (mostly) washed masses. The party has dealt with Aurelius, who bought the cargo off the Sea Ghost, and his guard leader Michelin, who transported the goods to his warehouses.\nThe Outer Ring # Speaking generally, the outer rings are the slums, ghettos, criminal underclass, unwashed masses, and general undesirables.\nThe Pearly Gates # An inn in the outer ring, with outdoor tables that have a view of the southern gates (leading to Saltmarsh).\nPublic works projects # Recently, someone has been making visible efforts to improve the conditions in the outer ring. There are no plague victims dying in the streets, though reports are that the treatment is \u0026ldquo;expensive\u0026rdquo; and must be taken on a regular basis to remain effective. Work crews appear to be installing sewers and cleaning up refuse and debris from the streets.\nSurrounding Towns # Dunwitch Saltmarsh The initial set of characters began their adventures in Dunwitch. New characters will be inserted where they can conveniently meet up with the party, though their history may have ties to Dunwitch or Rookroost to offer an easy excuse for trusting the party, and vice versa.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/locations/rookroost/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"The City of Rookroost # Rookroost is one of the bandit kingdoms, a city-state in barely civilized territory that exists in a state of low-level perpetual warfare with most of its neighbors and even its own residents. Half-Orcs are common and make up most of the city guard. Half-elves are common in the outlying towns and forests, but full elves are rare.\n","title":"Rookroost","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/aflameinthedeepdark/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Aflameinthedeepdark","type":"tags"},{"content":" Creeper\nCreeper is the use-name of Gribble, an unusually civilized goblin, who isn\u0026rsquo;t that kind of ranger.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/characters/creeper/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":" Creeper\nCreeper is the use-name of Gribble, an unusually civilized goblin, who isn’t that kind of ranger.\n","title":"Creeper","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Kyros is a tiefling priest of the death god.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/characters/kyros/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Kyros is a tiefling priest of the death god.\n","title":"Kyros","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Jared is a human artificer.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/characters/jared/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Jared is a human artificer.\n","title":"Jared","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"Ford Tacklenackle is a gnomish professor of archeology who seeks learning with a whip and a wool fedora, carrying a strange piece of coal as a necklace.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/characters/fordtacklenackle/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"Ford Tacklenackle is a gnomish professor of archeology who seeks learning with a whip and a wool fedora, carrying a strange piece of coal as a necklace.\n","title":"Ford Tacklenackle","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"A burly half-orc warrioress, Ragash accompanied Splinter Paw as his bodyguard until an untimely encounter with a ghoul left her paralyzed. Will she recover, or spent the rest of her life in an orcish retirement home?\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/characters/ragash/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A burly half-orc warrioress, Ragash accompanied Splinter Paw as his bodyguard until an untimely encounter with a ghoul left her paralyzed. Will she recover, or spent the rest of her life in an orcish retirement home?\n","title":"Ragash","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"A feline bard of great skill, Splinter Paw is usually accompanied by his bodyguard Ragash.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/characters/splinterpaw/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A feline bard of great skill, Splinter Paw is usually accompanied by his bodyguard Ragash.\n","title":"Splinter Paw","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"A bard of some reknown from a nearby city. His brain was eaten in a tragic zombie attack.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/characters/kraygen/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A bard of some reknown from a nearby city. His brain was eaten in a tragic zombie attack.\n","title":"Kraygen","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"All the player characters are listed here.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/characters/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"All the player characters are listed here.\n","title":"Characters","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"The Evil Overlord campaign ran from 2016 to 2020 across 82 sessions of Advanced Dungeons \u0026amp; Dragons, 1st Edition, set in the World of Greyhawk. The party, self-styled \u0026ldquo;The Band of Misfits,\u0026rdquo; began as recruits answering the call of General Perniti \u0026ndash; the Misunderstood and Benevolent Overlord of Dunwitch \u0026ndash; to investigate a plague, clear haunted manor houses, and deal with the assorted threats lurking in the surrounding countryside.\nWhat started as simple errands quickly escalated into dungeon delves, encounters with undead hordes, ogres, assassins, and more than a few cursed items. The campaign drew from classic TSR modules including The Secret of Bone Hill, The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot, and others, all filtered through the group\u0026rsquo;s distinctive blend of tactical play and dark humor.\nCharacters # Amathar Barron Elion Elmond Gunnar Kevin Kriselle Leah Lenny Malag Norsk Peebles Pyrzival Seb Thic Duc Tiberium Warin ","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"The Evil Overlord campaign ran from 2016 to 2020 across 82 sessions of Advanced Dungeons \u0026 Dragons, 1st Edition, set in the World of Greyhawk. The party, self-styled “The Band of Misfits,” began as recruits answering the call of General Perniti – the Misunderstood and Benevolent Overlord of Dunwitch – to investigate a plague, clear haunted manor houses, and deal with the assorted threats lurking in the surrounding countryside.\nWhat started as simple errands quickly escalated into dungeon delves, encounters with undead hordes, ogres, assassins, and more than a few cursed items. The campaign drew from classic TSR modules including The Secret of Bone Hill, The Assassin’s Knot, and others, all filtered through the group’s distinctive blend of tactical play and dark humor.\n","title":"The Evil Overlord","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" A thin and wiry fighter with a hacking cough and a cynical outlook on life and death. His career started in the village of Helix, working as a town guard. He fled the city when it was attacked by an undead army that rose from the barrowmaze, and relocated to Threshold, signing up with the guard there under the alias \u0026ldquo;Feverborne\u0026rdquo; (Helix had been suffering from a plague outbreak at the time of his birth) and serving with honor if not distinction.\nThe Glorious Blades hired him as a mercenary sword when he finally lost patience with his lack of career prospects, opting for the risky but lucrative life of an adventurer. The risks were quickly made clear to him as several incidents left him in need of divine intervention to remain among the living. His health had never been the best, and these incidents made it worse. He now strictly adheres to a regimen of herbal teas and cleansing diets, which has allowed him to maintain \u0026ndash; mostly \u0026ndash; his health against the risk of his new lifestyle.\nNot long after signing up with the Glorious Blades, Feverborne became embroiled in the fight against a wererat cult within the sewers of Threshold. The battle over the sewers led to his discovery of a hidden shrine to the goddess Cloacina, the lady of cleansing, and he came into the possession of the sword Verminbane. This experience proved a revelation, offering hope to recover his health \u0026ndash; or at least a religious ideal that matched his focus on health.\nFollowing his first encounter with the lady of cleansing, Feverborne undertook studies of her lore and teachings, such as well known. Her cult was always small and not well known. Yet enough information was found to set Feverborne on the path to becoming a paladin of Cloacina. He had a surprising ally in this endeavour, a paladin originally serving St Ygg, who had converted to Cloacina\u0026rsquo;s cause during the final battle against the wererats. The paladin, named Forrest, now heads the church in Threshold while Feverborne serves as knight errant.\nVerminbane bears the inscription: \u0026ldquo;ABLUERIT DOMINUS SORDES TERRAE\u0026rdquo;\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/feverborne/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" A thin and wiry fighter with a hacking cough and a cynical outlook on life and death. His career started in the village of Helix, working as a town guard. He fled the city when it was attacked by an undead army that rose from the barrowmaze, and relocated to Threshold, signing up with the guard there under the alias “Feverborne” (Helix had been suffering from a plague outbreak at the time of his birth) and serving with honor if not distinction.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Feverborne","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"All the player characters are listed here.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"All the player characters are listed here.\n","title":"Characters","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" A cleric of Denara, goddess of trade and bureaucracy.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/oscar/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":" A cleric of Denara, goddess of trade and bureaucracy.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Oscar","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Feverborne # I met some new adventurers today. Seems one of St Ygg\u0026rsquo;s bunch had a vision or something and realized they were stuck in the wilderness, needing help, or maybe just an infusion of courage. I\u0026rsquo;m a fighting man and got no lack of that, so off I went.\nTurns out they were all alive, just half dead from poison. Some sort of snake creature called an amphi\u0026hellip; Something. Two heads, no ass, poisonous obviously. How does the thing shit? Anyways, they met two, killed one, drove off the other, but practically everyone there damn near died from the thing\u0026rsquo;s poison. Two of them just went straight home, calling it quits on the adventuring life. \u0026ldquo;For now\u0026rdquo;, they said. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll be back\u0026rdquo;, they said. When hell freezes over, I didn\u0026rsquo;t say. Tact, I has it. Two of their henchmen didn\u0026rsquo;t make it at all. I hear the one fellow, Oscar, has a 0/3 record now. He brought back a dog alive once.\nAnyways, u-Heury fed us a bunch of steaks. I thought they were funny tasting myself and held off after just a few bites. Turns out everybody else got the running shits the next morning. Turns out, u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s steaks were snake stakes. I thought they were fucking salmon.\nWe buggered off back to town and decided over a bowl of Bogswine Sausage Gumbo to look into reports of bandits in the nearby forest to the northwest of Eastdale. (Too many damn directions in that sentence!). I dragged the crowd over to the Gray Company\u0026rsquo;s base of operations to ask this Sir Jiles fellow where they were, how many, and so on.\nSir Jiles said 8-10, so I figured reinforcements were in order. We posted a notice and went to Garrick\u0026rsquo;s to ask about guarding a caravan (basically using it as bait). He said no. Apparently \u0026ldquo;The Butchers of Helix\u0026rdquo; as the name of our group doesn\u0026rsquo;t inspire much confidence in our ability to protect a caravan. Well, it\u0026rsquo;s better than \u0026ldquo;Customer Service Department\u0026rdquo;. These fools let Oscar hire mercenaries unsupervised and he named the group because no one else was there. What did they think that stuffed shirt would do, let them vote?\nI had to make up some line of bull about the butcher\u0026rsquo;s guild of Helix, who had to leave because the town was being overrun by undead, and took up adventuring. Didn\u0026rsquo;t work. That dwarf doesn\u0026rsquo;t let nothing get over his head. Nyuk nyuk nyuk.\nThey aren\u0026rsquo;t all idiots though. Someone brought back a fang from the dead snake. Garrick didn\u0026rsquo;t want it, but he sent us to Retep who offered a hundred gold coin for it! I told them I would get Oscar\u0026rsquo;s share to him. And I will \u0026ndash; someday. It\u0026rsquo;s in my will.\nI bought a bow with the cash and we headed back to the Gray Company to see who showed up. Turns out we got two solid fighting men \u0026ndash; one even had gear already, a sword, board, and chain to match mine \u0026ndash; plus a girl and the village idiot. We hired them all, save the girl. The village idiot must be seven feet tall and he can carry whatever we loot from the bandits. If anyone ever complains that Eastdale is missing their idiot, this is why: we took him.\nThe best plan we could come up with was to travel in two groups. Village idiot would lead, along with the melee fighters, carrying some sort of box they found earlier. Missile fire and mages farther back from stealth. The idea to draw the bandits out to attack the first group and then the second group would surprise the bandits and turn the tables.\nThe plan sucked, I know. But we couldn\u0026rsquo;t afford a cart and horse to make it more realistic, and it\u0026rsquo;s hard to sneak up on people when you don\u0026rsquo;t know where they are because they are sneaking up on you.\nWe had a stroke of luck though. The bandits were in the middle of looting a caravan when we came upon them! The chase was on\u0026hellip;. well, we told the idiot to gather all the coin from the caravan first. And soon enough lost the bandits in the forest, as armor is slow. We settled down to a cold camp near a stream that fed into a small glade, forming a secluded sinkhole. It seemed as likely a place as any for bandits to hold camp, with fresh water supplies available, so we laid in an ambush. It was fruitless.\nIn the morning, however, we stumbled upon a staircase leading down into the sinkhole. Simultaneously, Baldin the village idiot stumbled upon us with a chest full of coin he had collected. We promptly fed him and paid him from that very coin. Then handed him a torch (hmm\u0026hellip;.this may not turn out well) so we could explore the sinkhole.\nYeah. I know. That\u0026rsquo;s what she said I should do, with my big flaming torch too. But I digress. Down we went.\nBelow was a pool of water with a small beach and\u0026hellip; Water breathing monkeys? They eat a kind of moss that allows them to breath water. It allows us to breath water too, as we determined by experimentation. I told Baldin he didn\u0026rsquo;t have to be the guinea pig \u0026ndash; looking hard at the other men at arms as I did so, knowing they would get the message. But he volunteered. Because village idiot. Anyways, he was lucky, it worked on him too.\nSo, with the lichen or moss or whatever, we had two exits. One underwater, one to the east, lined with strange crystals. I sent Ahnjela, our light fingered type, to check for traps. She listened first, and heard low voices coming from a grate further down the corridor. Then she looked for traps.. and found one the hard way. Ended up staring into one of the crystals, entranced, for at least 10 minutes. I tried slapping her and feeding her lichen. Neither helped. (Evidently she does not swallow; good to know).\nI had better stop writing now; we\u0026rsquo;re setting up an ambush in case anyone tries to leave while we try to wake her up.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-4/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Feverborne # I met some new adventurers today. Seems one of St Ygg’s bunch had a vision or something and realized they were stuck in the wilderness, needing help, or maybe just an infusion of courage. I’m a fighting man and got no lack of that, so off I went.\nTurns out they were all alive, just half dead from poison. Some sort of snake creature called an amphi… Something. Two heads, no ass, poisonous obviously. How does the thing shit? Anyways, they met two, killed one, drove off the other, but practically everyone there damn near died from the thing’s poison. Two of them just went straight home, calling it quits on the adventuring life. “For now”, they said. “We’ll be back”, they said. When hell freezes over, I didn’t say. Tact, I has it. Two of their henchmen didn’t make it at all. I hear the one fellow, Oscar, has a 0/3 record now. He brought back a dog alive once.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 4","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"Journey back to the roots of fantasy roleplaying. This campaign log captures the spirit of the Old School Renaissance (OSR), with a focus on high-stakes exploration, emergent narratives, and player ingenuity. These are tales from a world where dungeons are deep, monsters are deadly, and treasure is hard-won. Follow the adventurers as they carve their legends in a realm of classic fantasy.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Journey back to the roots of fantasy roleplaying. This campaign log captures the spirit of the Old School Renaissance (OSR), with a focus on high-stakes exploration, emergent narratives, and player ingenuity. These are tales from a world where dungeons are deep, monsters are deadly, and treasure is hard-won. Follow the adventurers as they carve their legends in a realm of classic fantasy.\n","title":"Realms of the OSR","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # I resume writing after a very long day of events both chilling and deadly!\nLast night I interrupted two men loitering near u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s room, pretending to be drunk. At first, my efforts to awaken my companions were in vain. I was forced to carry through on my bluff, taking my chamberpot downstairs to empty it into the water closet. Amazing that a town so small has sewers!\nAfter a minute or two I started up the stairs again, hoping to catch the two men in some nefarious act. They were still outside the door to u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s room, but with no indication they had entered. I remained suspicious, but could not act. However\u0026hellip; Luckily my banging about woke BB, who had retired earlier than the rest of us. In a few whispered words l brought him up to speed, and he took the lead interrogating the pair while I peppered the conversation with drunken insights (\u0026ldquo;say, wasn\u0026rsquo;t that u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s room?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Why have you been waiting outside for several minutes?\u0026rdquo;). Eventually the commotion woke the innkeeper, who sent us all to bed; the suspicious pair retired to a room at the far end of the corridor from the one they had been loitering outside. BB took second watch over our room.\nI feel that my diligence and BB\u0026rsquo;s moral certainty prevented a crime tonight, but as the crime was prevented, there is no way to punish the suspected evildoers. We shall remain vigilant in case they interfere again.\nWe traveled next to the local trade house and moneychanger, a follower of Denara like myself, though he keeps this on the down-low. He appraised the blue gemstone and coral at 540gp, and the pouch of dirt as worthless; his offer of 513gp (less his fee of 5%) was mathematically correct. I assured my companions of this in case they were not aware, and after some discussion of taking it to the local magician first, eventually took his offer. The man was dilligent enough to offer a written receipt, for which I offered my thanks and Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessings.\nSome 85gp richer personally, I went to the Grey Company to interview my candidates. Uadeen, another elf in defiance of the laws of probability, and Gystad, both claiming to be fighters. I hired them both. Long may they live in my service, and thus in Denara\u0026rsquo;s service by proxy. The Gray Company wanted a name for our company. I insisted over u-Heury\u0026rsquo;s objections that my company was to be known as the Customer Service Department, and so they shall be, so long as I am paying their salaries.\nWe left with the bag of dirt, which the druid kept. Druids are odd. There was a brief incident whereby some of my companions attracted attention to themselves by throwing the dirt in each other\u0026rsquo;s eyes. I think they were trying to see if some magical effect would occur. Suffice it to say, no such thing resulted.\nWe decided as a group to seek further adventure together and left town, heading for the dragon teeth henge. After spending the night there, we decided to try to follow the map we had uncovered, leading to the Tomb of the Serpent. This turned out to be a fateful choice, for two snakes, each with two heads, interrupted our path.\nBlessed are we of the merchant path, for Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessing has brought us not one but two two-for-one deals. We could buy one and get one free \u0026ndash; twice! Truly a powerful omen after the appears of the chimera.\nWe squared off against the beasts, peppering them with missile fire, but their scaly hide turned many blows. We persisted and slew the first snake. Alas, Gystad succumbed to the creature\u0026rsquo;s bite. The second snake was chasing Prig, and we redeployed to engage it in what my instructors deem \u0026ldquo;aggressive bargaining\u0026rdquo;. We dealt it many wounds, but the creature\u0026rsquo;s fangs struck down Prig, then Uadeen, then even I! My last memory is of the creature\u0026rsquo;s fangs in my neck, pumping venom, or was it sucking blood? Had I fallen victim to a vampire snake?\nI must have been delirious for a time. I remember Denara\u0026rsquo;s face, her sweet voice asking if I was ready to balance my books. Nay, I said as strongly as I could muster; send me back, for I have contracts to fulfill!\nI woke after the battle, with u-Heury ready to offer healings herbs, and a massive swelling on my neck with two precise fang marks at their center. I must remember to wear a neck covering henceforth.\nThe others informed me that the snake had poisoned BB before slithering off. All of us save the mercenaries had recovered, though I will no doubt bear these fang marks for the rest of my life! Truly it is better to be the employer than the hireling!\nI will take the coin I have earned and contemplate the lessons of my experiences for a time before I venture out again.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-3/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # I resume writing after a very long day of events both chilling and deadly!\nLast night I interrupted two men loitering near u-Heury’s room, pretending to be drunk. At first, my efforts to awaken my companions were in vain. I was forced to carry through on my bluff, taking my chamberpot downstairs to empty it into the water closet. Amazing that a town so small has sewers!\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 3","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # We started where we left off \u0026ndash; sitting in a wagon full of offal, plus a crate of iron ingots marked with the mark of the Silver Citadel. We had just reclaimed it from a band of orcs outside their cave (without actually dealing with the orcs), and then fleeing. The horse was exhausted, as were we, but we chose to press on back to Eastdale. We were delayed by the need to bypass round a field of some reddish flowers. The horse didn\u0026rsquo;t want anything to do with the field and we chose to defer to it\u0026rsquo;s animal cunning.\nWe approached Eastdale well after dark, and prudently sent BB ahead to prepare the way. The two gate guards surprised me by demanding the tribute due to Denara at the passage of cargo through town gates; most of St Ygg are less observant of such practices. Perhaps there is hope for Denara\u0026rsquo;s role in this town to grow after all. Yet even after the customary offering, they refused us entry at first when they saw what our cargo consisted of. BB, Prig, and I left the wagon at the gates (under guard mind you!) To explain the circumstances to the priests of Ygg. They were suitably horrified by the contents of the wagon, but quite glad to receive the ingots. An immediate ceremony was arranged to shrive the fallen and burn their corpses, as if they were diseased, rather than perform a normal burial rite.\nI thought at first I was breathing in too much smoke from the fires, for as I celebrated the caravan\u0026rsquo;s last bargain, strange and demonic figures seemed to swirl in the smoke rising from their bodies. It seems there is much more afoot than mere banditry. And indeed, I was told this was not the first such wagon of slaughter to be discovered. I must make further inquiries about the others. If there is a conspiracy in restraint of trade in this region, Denara must see it stopped. I also speculated that the goods found in the wagons \u0026ndash; the ingots in this case, perhaps others? \u0026ndash; might be somehow cursed or tainted by association with the horrific remains.\nWe stayed a rough night despite returning to town, for I had spent all I had preparing for the caravan search. My efforts were not in vain, however, as we were paid 50 gold apiece for recovering the wagon and the ingots. (We had also explained that we had traded the donkey of St Ygg to Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessed three for one deal, receiving in return the horse, the wagon, and ingots. Truly Denara works in mysterious ways! The brothers of St Ygg could not deny the truth of the omen, and set the value of the three for one deal at a thousand gold. They are truly more open to Denara\u0026rsquo;s guidance than I had imagined!)\nFollowing our meeting with the brothers of Ygg, we split up to offer tribute to Denara in the manner of commerce. I bought a shield, a backpack, rope, more wine, and refreshed my food supplies. My companions did likewise in their own way. I also made it known about town that I was seeking aid from those willing souls who would protect the lifeblood of the region \u0026ndash; specifically those caravans upon whom Denara gazes with such careful eyes, auditing their every transaction with care.\nWe met a gnome named Retep, who deals in antiquities. He had a very interesting chalice recently acquired, and claimed it to be worth ten thousand gold! Prig\u0026rsquo;s eyes nearly bugged out of his head! I had to take the man aside to explain that, if he so wished, I would teach him the matter of loans-at-interest and broker a deal with the local moneylender so that he might acquire the chalice for himself as he so clearly wished to do. Alas he denied the desire. He may bear watching, lest he seek to acquire the chalice outside of a fair bargain.\nI was approached after that point by one Tannen, an exotic elven man, and his faithful war dog Ruffin. He had heard of my inquiries and wished to enter the service of Denara to protect trade and commerce in the region. My first employee! And Denara again showers her blessings upon me by offering a two for one deal! I am truly blessed. I hired the man upon the spot and paid him his 4 gold for the day. If he lives, he may advance far in Denara\u0026rsquo;s service (and his little dog too!), for this region clearly has need of her blessings upon it\u0026rsquo;s roads and caravans.\nI must remember to ensure that he is equipped for his task, if he is not already well armed. A bow at the least. Perhaps a sword and dagger as well, should he do well, and leather armor. I must always be frugal so that my business can turn the holy profit. It is a difficult balance to strike. At any rate, I set him to filling out all the proper forms. Getting Ruffin\u0026rsquo;s paw print on the dotted line proved difficult, but the pup got the hang of it eventually.\nWe resolved to head out to observe the orc cave and, perhaps, punish them for their assault upon a blessed caravan, and indeed we turned resolution to action with all due haste. However, on our way out of town, I caught sight of a colleague \u0026ndash; one Frederick Merryweather, called \u0026ldquo;The Apocalypse\u0026rdquo; by his friends for he cannot seem to cease speaking about it. He fears a mark of some kind, upon the forehead, such that those who lack it would be barred from the market and cast out as accursed, denied the holy light of Denara\u0026rsquo;s blessing of trade. We merely exchanged glances, yet it is good to know I have a friend in town should his aid be needed.\nBut back to the orcs. We found their cave once more, complete with two guards outside as before, and began to punish them for their unholy acts upon the caravan. Sensing Denara\u0026rsquo;s righteous wrath, the two orcs on guard fled inside. Tannen, Ruffin, Prig, BB, and an uncouth and ill-mannered man named u-Heury set a watch upon the cave entrance. We had left word in town that we would be seeking to deal with the orc threat, so reinforcements may arrive soon.\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-2/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # We started where we left off – sitting in a wagon full of offal, plus a crate of iron ingots marked with the mark of the Silver Citadel. We had just reclaimed it from a band of orcs outside their cave (without actually dealing with the orcs), and then fleeing. The horse was exhausted, as were we, but we chose to press on back to Eastdale. We were delayed by the need to bypass round a field of some reddish flowers. The horse didn’t want anything to do with the field and we chose to defer to it’s animal cunning.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 2","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" Oscar # Ten of us and a rented mule set out to discover what befell a missing caravan. The local church leadership believed the caravan had been raided by orcs. Our task was to find out what happened, recover the cargo if possible, save the men if possible, and destroy whoever was responsible for the attack, presuming there was one.\nOne night outside of town we found a henge on a hill with wagon tricks leading in, along with a lot of blood. We figured this is where the attack happened, so we set some people to investigate the area of while the rest of us made camp.\nWe were promptly attacked by a chimera. Well, more like the mule was attacked and the rest of us watched helplessly. A chimera is a flying beast with three heads (lion, goat, dragon) and is way out of the league of a bunch of first level characters. We tried hard to save that mule, though. We almost got it down to half hit points, which, the dm noted gleefully later, would have caused it to turn around and kill us all. (\u0026ldquo;Tune in next week for a whole new party of adventurers!\u0026rdquo;) We went back to our camp and debated returning to town and blaming the chimera for killing the caravan.\nThe next morning we followed the wagon tracks for about an hour, finding a bloody scene where an obviously ritualistic slaughter had taken place. Blood covered the earth in strange designs, which Oscar (my character) carefully copied down for later investigation. He also filled out form 666-1h, \u0026ldquo;Report of religious ceremony, evil subtype, involving murder\u0026rdquo; to be turned in later. Did I mention his god, Denara, is the god of trade and bureaucracy?\nAfter that, the tracks led us to a cave guarded by two orcs, who were doing something with a horse-drawn wagon. We charged them, killing one. The other ran into the cave shouting about intruders. We surrounded the cave mouth while dispatching our wizard to check on the cart to see if it could be moved\u0026hellip;. Right about them, half the party said they were tired and dropped out. So then we were five, without our rented mule, against a whole cave of orcs.\nAs soon as the wizard determined the horse was attached to the cart, he got it moving, and literally everyone ran for the cart and jumped on as 6 orcs ran out of the cave and attacked.\nWe had a tense few minutes straight out of a western carriage chase scene, but got away in the end. We stopped the game for the night after checking the contents of the wagon \u0026ndash; finding the results of a horrible ritualistic slaughter of men, presumably the caravan drivers, and a mysterious box. Next week we decide what to do next: return with the wagon and claim success, or go back to kill the orcs in the cave? Or perhaps both?\n","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/session-1/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"Oscar # Ten of us and a rented mule set out to discover what befell a missing caravan. The local church leadership believed the caravan had been raided by orcs. Our task was to find out what happened, recover the cargo if possible, save the men if possible, and destroy whoever was responsible for the attack, presuming there was one.\n","title":"OSRealms -- Session 1","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"","date":"2 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/sessions/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"","title":"Sessions","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":"The fallen:\nBayonetta, warrior queen, destined to bear Feverborne\u0026rsquo;s children, slain by a skeleton to the face. Parmox, Torchbearer, dissolved by pink slime. Tannen, elf, was laid to rest in the manner of his people. Baldin, torchbearer, died to pink slime?\n","date":"1 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/osrrealms/characters/thefallen/","section":"Realms of the OSR","summary":"The fallen:\nBayonetta, warrior queen, destined to bear Feverborne’s children, slain by a skeleton to the face. Parmox, Torchbearer, dissolved by pink slime. Tannen, elf, was laid to rest in the manner of his people. Baldin, torchbearer, died to pink slime?\n","title":"The Fallen","type":"osrrealms"},{"content":" A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group having forced the Redbrands out of Phandalin. They reunited with Ford, who had escorted the prisoners from the Redbrand\u0026rsquo;s hideout back home. He informed them that there was still a strange tentacle monster underneath the hideout, eating the remains they had found. The party returned long enough to slay the creature and recover the carpenter\u0026rsquo;s body.\nAfter some discussion with Sister Garaele, they left the body with her for funeral services and collected a necklace to use as a gift for the ghost she had sought to question. The banshee\u0026rsquo;s lair lies to the north along Triboar trail, to a ruined town named Conyberry, and from there slightly northwest into Neverwinter Wood. Creeper found her lair easily enough, a small forest dwelling in the manner of the elvish people. The air chilled as he entered, and a ghostly form appeared.\nA short conversation later, the group presented her with the necklace from Sister Garaele, and obtained her answer regarding the location of Bowgentle\u0026rsquo;s spellbook. She said she had traded the book to a necromancer named Tsernoth from the city of Iriaebor over a century ago, and has not seen it since. She allowed the group to depart in peace after that.\nRather than returning to Phandalin, the group explored to the east. They had two objectives in mind. First, the townmaster in Phandalin had reported orcs raiding the area from an unknown location near Old Owl Well. Secondly, Daran Eldernath in Phandalin had reported rumors of undead near Old Owl Well itself.\nThe party found Old Owl Well first. The ruined watchtower had a rather fancy tent set up inside. Within was a red-robed wizard named Kost, whose forehead bore a tattoo. He greeted the party and welcomed them in for simple refreshments and conversation. He mentioned an orc problem to the south, and suggested that if they could eliminate that problem for him, he would be grateful. The party admitted they were already heading in that direction. As they left, Ford mentioned to the others that the tattoo on Kost\u0026rsquo;s forehead was the symbol of the necromantic school of magic. Kyros had noticed a strong stench emanating from the ruined tower at Old Owl Well, and sensed via his connection to his god that there were undead there.\nTraveling southward, Creeper located a lone orc standing watch outside a cave. His arrows slew the creature from ambush, and the rest of the party set up outside the cave entrance. Splinter Paw imitated an orc\u0026rsquo;s voice and lured out another, who exploded from arrows, swords, and magic as soon as he poked his nose outside. This alerted the rest of the orcs, who set up inside the cave.\nThe party cast a Fog Cloud spell that obscured the center of the cave before charging in, defeating the orcs in short order. However, they had an ogre who lasted longer. In fact the ogre fought fiercely\u0026hellip; until Splinter Paw called him ugly. His last words were \u0026ldquo;Awwwwww kitty doesn\u0026rsquo;t like me.\u0026rdquo;\nThree vials 750cp 180 sp 62ep 30 gp 208xp each\n","date":"18 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-9/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group having forced the Redbrands out of Phandalin. They reunited with Ford, who had escorted the prisoners from the Redbrand’s hideout back home. He informed them that there was still a strange tentacle monster underneath the hideout, eating the remains they had found. The party returned long enough to slay the creature and recover the carpenter’s body.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 9","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":" A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group exploring the Redbrand\u0026rsquo;s hideout, Ford having left to escort the prisoners home. Ford had declared his intention to take the carpenter\u0026rsquo;s body with him so it could be buried properly, and indeed when the group returned to the center chamber the body was gone.\nCreeper led the way, investigating a corridor into the north-west area of the building. He found two doorwars, north and south. The one to the south had voices leaking through the door, so he retreated and asked Ragash to open the northern door. She did, surprising a rat that ran under a table. The room itself was filled with alchemical supplies and a small library of reference books and materials. Later examination revealed a Dwarven book on the mines of Phandelver, mentioning a Spellforge used to create magical items, once of which was a mace named Lightbringer.\nWhile the more learned members examined the lab, Creeper entered a smaller room next door, and Splinter Paw took a seat on top of the lab table \u0026ndash; accidentally knocking one of the glass vessels to the ground. From the room to the south, a raised voice called out \u0026ldquo;You ok in there, boss?\u0026rdquo; A moment later the door opened, and a man in the Redbrand uniform entered the room. Splinter Paw immediately began to perform, distracting the bandit, while Ragash and Kraygen took up flanking positions. When Kraygen\u0026rsquo;s rapier missed the bandit, and the bandit yelled for help, the fight was on.\nSeveral other bandits joined the fight from the south, followed by bugbears. More bugbears took a different route, approaching the back of the group from the south.\nMeanwhile, Creeper was examining a letter he found on a desk within the next room. The room itself had a desk, a bed, and a chest, the latter containing two scrolls and some coin. The letter reads:\n\u0026quot;Lord Albrek, My spies in Neverwinter tell me that strangers are due to arrive in Phandalin. They could be working for the dwarves. Capture them if you can, kill them if you must, but don't allow them to upset our plans. See that any dwarven maps in their possession are delivered to me with haste. I'm counting on you, Iarno. Don't disappoint me.\u0026quot; ((Signed with a Black Spider Symbol)) The room also contained a wizard, who had just opened the secret door on the other side and cast Charm Person on Creeper. Creeper was also to call out to his old friends before following his new friend in search of stolen cider. After encountering one of the Redbrands on the way (and killing him with two quick shots), the wizard guided Creeper into the jail cell and slammed it shut. This broke the spell, and Creeper shot the wizard before the wizard managed to flee, slamming the door behind him.\nMeanwhile, the impromptu ambush in the laboratory by Splinter Paw, Ragash, and Kraygen defeated several of the Redbrands. Several more fell to Kyros and Jared tag-teaming from the entry corridor. After the Redbrands, however, bugbears appeared, lasting substantially longer and doing more damage. Still, the party gradually forced them to the south, eliminating the last of the bugbears.\nMatters were almost lost when the wizard emerged from hiding, casting Hold Person on Ragash and quickly sprinting past him towards the exit. However, Splinter Paw happened to be perfectly placed to intercept his escape, casting Thunderwave which killed the wizard (already bleeding from an arrow wound) and threw him into a crevice. The spell and the fall together shattered the wizard\u0026rsquo;s staff.\nThe group explored the rest of the building and left from an alternate entrance at the top of the hill to return to town and stay the night at the Stone Hill Inn. In the morning, they evicted the last three remaining Redbrands (drunks sleeping it off in the common room of the Sleeping Giant) from town.\nWhile the rest of the party wandered off to collect a 50gp reward for driving off the Redbrands from the proprietress of the Lionshield Coster, Kyros snuck off to assassinate the Redbrands. He succeeded in killing one, but the remaining two \u0026ndash; alerted by the death of their companion \u0026ndash; managed to defeat him. However, having noticed him sneaking off, the rest of the group followed up shortly thereafter and were able to revive Kyros, kill one of the remaining bandits, and drive the last one off.\n","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-8/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group exploring the Redbrand’s hideout, Ford having left to escort the prisoners home. Ford had declared his intention to take the carpenter’s body with him so it could be buried properly, and indeed when the group returned to the center chamber the body was gone.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 8","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":" A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group lurking in the forest near Phandalin, surveiling a small cave that the Redbrands used for some mysterious purpose. Creeper led the way in, finding a passage about a hundred feet long that opened into a rough cavern that had clearly been improved for civilized use. The room was dimly lit by oil lamps along the wall, and bisected by a crevice that was in turn crossed by two simple rope bridges.\nThe group spread out through the room, investigating each of the exits. Creeper went west far enough to listen at a door, making out noises of conversation within. Kraygen tried to cross the closer of the two bridges, heading east, and it collapsed beneath him. He did manage to leap to the far side rather than falling into the crevice. The rest crossed by simply climbing down one side and up the other. While at the bottom, they noticed a half-eaten corpse in simple clothing, with a set of carpenter\u0026rsquo;s tools. Ford took the tools. Further north, an outline of a box was visible beneath the second bridge. During their exploration, Ford noticed a lizardlike creature scuttle out of sight into the darkness.\nThe party chose after a brief whispered discussion to continue exploring by the road less traveled by, to the east. That way they found a storeroom with a cistern and provisions. An adjacent room held more supplies and three Redbrand guards, who promptly attacked Jared when he opened the door. Jared distracted them by falling into the cistern and bleeding heavily. Creeper killed one from stealth, Ragash wounded another, and Jared finished off the remaining two with a flourish, blowing smoke from the barrel of his his hand crossbow. As Jared got up out of the cistern, he found a waterproof bag hidden in the depths. It contained a fresh change of clothes, now soaked; two potions; and 50 gold. The party appropriated three Redbrand cloaks from the corpses.\nContinuing to explore, Creeper found a pit trap, but managed to escape it before the rest of the group noticed his distress. Ford locked the pit closed. The next room turned out to contain three sarcophagi and three skeletons that rose to attack Creeper when he passed through. Again the group made short work of these, and found 3 signet rings inside the sarcophagi worth 50 gp each.\nRagash and Kraygen performed a dynamic entry on the next room, killing two Redbrands inside with a decorative flourish from Kraygen after Ragash softened them up. There were three prisoners inside: a young woman, a younger boy, and an even younger female child. They claimed they had been taken prisoner from Phandalin, and the Redbrands spoke of selling them into slavery. They also mentioned their father, a carpenter in Phandalin.\nFurther explanation discovered the Redbrand armory, containing many weapons in poor condition.\nWhile most of the group settled in for a short rest, Ford left the rest of the group, leading the three ex-prisoners to the body of their father. He would be taken back to town for a decent burial\u0026hellip;\n","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-7/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group lurking in the forest near Phandalin, surveiling a small cave that the Redbrands used for some mysterious purpose. Creeper led the way in, finding a passage about a hundred feet long that opened into a rough cavern that had clearly been improved for civilized use. The room was dimly lit by oil lamps along the wall, and bisected by a crevice that was in turn crossed by two simple rope bridges.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 7","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":" A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Azza), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group during a brief lull in the action at Cragmaw Keep. Action resumes as the party engages in running battles with a variety of goblins and hobgoblins. Creeper scouted ahead to the northwest area of the castle, finding the next room empty, but hearing the sound of hobgoblins putting on armor from behind a door. He returned to the group to warn them, only to be ambushed by the tentacle creature and knocked unconscious again. Seeing Creeper fall, Ragash rushed to attack the tentacled monstrosity, but it fled before his attack. Goblins and hobgoblins trampled Creeper\u0026rsquo;s helpless body on their way to attack Ragash, driving the half-orc back to his tabaxi charge.\nMeanwhile, to the south, a bugbear and his pet wolf attacked the rest of the group. He opened with a javalin to Kraygen\u0026rsquo;s chest, then charged with his morningstar before the bard knocked him back with a thundering musical chord. The wolf followed, but fell quickly. The bugbear dropped his morningstar while trying to finish off Kraygen as Jared, Ford, and Azza moved to engage. Between the three of them, with the majority of the damage coming from Kraygen\u0026rsquo;s rapier, they whittled him down gradually.\nMeanwhile, Ragash and Splinter Paw played defense against two hobgoblins with occasional support from goblins. Splinter Paw blasted both hobgoblins with a thunderwave, driving them back and wounding both. Ragash blocked both of them and finished them off, but a goblin snuck around to take out Splinter Paw with an arrow. The goblin succeeded, and Splinter Paw died dramatically \u0026ndash; and continued dying even more dramatically after Kraygen used a Cure Wounds to bring him back. Ragash was distracted by the dramatics and rushed to check on Splinter, allowing the goblin to escape.\nAfter the excitement of killing the bugbear leader, Azza slipped away to explore further, despite the rest of the party calling for him to wait and regroup. He opened the door to the hobgoblin guard room, finding it empty. Then he entered the next room, the king\u0026rsquo;s quarters\u0026hellip; emerging shortly thereafter, dragging an unconscious dwarf. When the party regrouped near the exit, Creeper, Jared, and Ford recognized the dwarf as Gundren Rockseeker, their original employer. Kraygen brought the dwarf back to consciousness with his last healing ability. Despite some suspicions from Splinter Paw, the group accepted Azza back.\nAfter a short rest the party began to explore the rest of the keep. Kraygen was leading most of the group towards the bugbear\u0026rsquo;s living quarters when Azza noticed goblins outside the keep and left to chase them down. A few moments later, Kraygen found Azza\u0026rsquo;s corpse in a closet! The rest of the party belatedly ran after whatever creature was pretending to be Azza, at which point we fade to black\u0026hellip;\n","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-5/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Azza), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group during a brief lull in the action at Cragmaw Keep. Action resumes as the party engages in running battles with a variety of goblins and hobgoblins. Creeper scouted ahead to the northwest area of the castle, finding the next room empty, but hearing the sound of hobgoblins putting on armor from behind a door. He returned to the group to warn them, only to be ambushed by the tentacle creature and knocked unconscious again. Seeing Creeper fall, Ragash rushed to attack the tentacled monstrosity, but it fled before his attack. Goblins and hobgoblins trampled Creeper’s helpless body on their way to attack Ragash, driving the half-orc back to his tabaxi charge.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 5","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":" A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Kyros), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group fighting with someone or something who looked like Azza. The creature fell to their attacks quickly, and upon dying, returned to a strange almost gelatinous form in vaguely humanoid shape. It no longer resembled Azza at all by that point. Ford took the items from the body, and both corpses were dragged into the room where the party had made camp.\nSplinter Paw identified the corpse of the creature as a dopplegagner, which kills and replaces people by imitation. Searching the corpse of the doppleganger revealed Azza\u0026rsquo;s old gear, including rations and a tent, along with a large sack containing gold and electrum coins, a potion, and a map. Gundren identified the map as his own, showing the location of Wave Echo Cave. Also found on Azza\u0026rsquo;s corpse was a mysterious note: \u0026ldquo;Shatter the staff and you will be well compensated.\u0026rdquo; This note bore a strange rune in an unknown language.\nJared investigated an altar within Cragmaw Keep that the goblins had desecrated. He collected a set of golden regalia, assuming it was brass from the poor and tarnished condition. He also collected a bloodied suit of armor, heavy crossbow, and longsword bearing the sigil of Neverwinter.\nCreeper scouted the tower where he had previously heard strange animal noises. Finding a spot where he could peer inside, he saw an owlbear. After warning the rest of the group, Ford created a trail of rations leading from the tower out of the south door of the keep. Creeper slipped the door open and watched as the owlbear slowly lumbered out, investigating the trail of rations. All went as planned until the owlbear turned north instead of south, poking at the curtain with his beak and revealing Azza\u0026rsquo;s body (the real Azza) lying just beyond the curtain. The owlbear promptly chowed down on the corpse when nothing in the room attacked immediately. Azza was soon devoured. The owlbear then lumnbered north, sniffed briefly at the doppleganger, and left the keep while the party tried to keep out of its way.\nAfter letting the owlbear escape, the party left the keep and traveled towards Phandalin, stopping to make camp overnight once they had gotten out of immediate vicinity of the keep. Their rest was interrupted briefly by a small wolf pack, but cleverly placed alarms alerted the party before they could be surprised. The wolves did some damage, and even managed to rip out Gundren\u0026rsquo;s throat, but fell to missiles and blades before anyone else went down. In the morning, the group returned to Phandalin.\nThey were met on the way into town by a roving band of the Redbrands. These bandits pressed the group for their \u0026ldquo;taxes\u0026rdquo;; Splinter Paw and Kraygen offered to sing and dance as payment, but the bandits did not accept that offer. Ragash then threw a sack of 600cp at the leader of the bandits, hitting him smack in the nose. The sack burst open and copper coins spread all over the road. While the bandits gathered up the coin, the group rode away.\nSildar provided a better description of his friend Iarno at the Stone Hill Inn, as well as identifying the set of armor and weapons the party had claimed in Cragmaw Keep as his own gear. After making a few inquiries, the group decided to check out the Sleeping Giant. A few mostly drunk Redbrands were hanging out in front of the door, but when the bards showed their instruments they were allowed to pass, and once inside the rather beat-up and filthy place, to perform. Splinter Paw took a turn at table dancing, performing Sweet Meowline, while Kraygen accompanied him on the lute. Between the two of them, three Redbrands took note of their performance and one was particularly impressed. Some inquiries of that one suggested that a man matching Iarno\u0026rsquo;s description had been seen in a group of the Redbrands \u0026ndash; and he seemed to be leading them.\nSplinter Paw convinced his fan to get a kitty-cat tattoo on his back as a memento of the show. The bartender performed the operation on the spot.\nShortly after returning to the Stone Hill Inn, Ford noticed someone from the Sleeping Giant had somehow ended up drinking at a table nearby. He mentioned it to the group, who first tried to delay the man from leaving. When they failed, Kraygen and Creeper left to follow him. He led them to the forest east of town, where a large stone covered the entrance to an underground passage.\nKraygen returned from the forest, stopping in at the Sleeping Giant by mistake. One Redbrand, bearing a particularly ugly fresh tattoo, approached him with a friend and took a swing. Kraygen saw them both off with Dissonant Words, killing neither but forcing them to flee. He slipped out of the tavern and returned to the correct one (the Stone Hill). He then guided the group out of town into the forest, where Creeper was still hiding and watching the entrance to a hidden underground passage. The party prepared to investigate the passage.\n","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-6/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Kyros), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group fighting with someone or something who looked like Azza. The creature fell to their attacks quickly, and upon dying, returned to a strange almost gelatinous form in vaguely humanoid shape. It no longer resembled Azza at all by that point. Ford took the items from the body, and both corpses were dragged into the room where the party had made camp.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 6","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":" A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Azza), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group in Phandalin, looking for the location of Cragmaw Keep. They began by speaking with Sister Graele, who did not know herself but did know of a local druid who knew the area. She did not have a way to contact him. However, after discussing the Redbrands (a local group of mercenaries running a protection racket on the town), and getting a feel for the characters, she suggested a mission. She has recently found a fragment of a spellbook from a legendary wizard, suggesting the rest may be in the area. She needs to question the last person known to possess it, a woman named Agatha\u0026hellip; unfortunately, this individual is no longer among the living. However, Agatha is rumored to persist in the form of an undead spirit. Local legends suggest her wail is terrible and fearful, but if approached with flattery and perhaps a gift of sufficient beauty, she may be persuaded to answer questions. The party expressed interest in completing this task later, when the screams of Gundren Rockseeker being tortured by goblins were no longer echoing in their ears. Sister Graele also suggested asking around at the local farms for information on the local of Cragmaw Keep.\nThe next stop was the Eldernath Orchard, close by but technically outside the town walls. They were greeted by a young boy who led the group to the cidery, where a fresh batch was bubbling under the watchful eye of the proprietor. He introduced himself as Daran Eldermath, and between complaints about the Redbrands\u0026rsquo;, sold the group a small barrel of hard cider. He also mentioned rumors that someone \u0026ndash; perhaps orcs \u0026ndash; was digging in the ruins of Old Owl Well, a minor outpost of some historical significance that had been abandoned for some time. He suggested asking the local druid about Cragmaw Keep, and suggested the family at Alderleaf Farm might be able to contact him.\nOn the way back into town from Eldermath Orchard, the party was intercepted by a group of eight Redbrands, distinguished by a (often faded and chipped) burning brand on their shields and armor. Clearly this group of mercenaries had seen better days, but they were demanding a protection tax from the new adventurers. After some tense moments, the party traded the almost full barrel of cider for safe passage. The Redbrands implied they would be back to collect more if the group had success in their adventuring, in return for protecting the town from monsters.\nThe Townmaster\u0026rsquo;s Hall had a poster by the door referencing a 100gp reward for the destruction of orc raiders in the area near Old Owl Well. The townmaster himself, an somewhat oily fast-talking politician named Harbin Wester, welcomed the group to the town and explained the terms of the reward; just bring back a sufficient quantity of orc ears and he will send a small group of mercenaries to investigate and confirm the problem has been solved. He fears sending enough mercenaries to do the job themselves and leaving the town defenseless. While he promised to make inquiries concerning town complaints against the Redbrands\u0026rsquo;, the group got the impression he didn\u0026rsquo;t really intend to do much about it besides talk a lot. Harbin was able to locate a map showing the rough location of Cragmaw Keep, however.\nDespite finding a map, the party decided to visit Alderleaf Farm anyway, where they were greeted by a halfling woman (Qelline) and her son (Carp). Qelline also complained about the Redbrands, though she mentioned they had defended the town against an attack from orcs and goblins about a month ago. Carp spoke up and mentioned he had seen the Redbrands entering a leaving a secret cave in the woods. He offered, over his mother\u0026rsquo;s protests, to lead the party there. They did not take Carp up on it immediately, but did enlist him as a \u0026ldquo;secret agent\u0026rdquo; to watch the bandits and report back. Qelline also mentioned the local druid, Reidoth, as an expert on the surrounding area. She said he had recently left town, headed to Thundertree, which is closer to Neverwinter than Phandalin. The party tried to catch up, but were unable to do so. Carp did sneak aboard their cart and had to be returned to his mother.\nArmed with the map to Cragmaw Keep, the group set out into the forest and soon located the ruined structure. Closer investigation revealed that, though ruined, it was inhabited by goblins and at least one other dangerous creature. There were several entrances to choose from; the party chose to unlock a locked door near a banquet hall being abused by goblins at mealtime. Ford did the initial scouting and Azza managed to open the door with his lockpicks, then scouted ahead. Creeper found an internal door that led to a group of hobgoblins, but managed to make inquiries without alarming them. Most of the group managed to sneak in, but Ragash\u0026rsquo;s armor clattered at the wrong moment, alerting the goblins inside the dining hall. The fight was on.\nRagash entered the dining hall and blocked the exit, supported by both Kraygen and Splinter Paw. She held her ground, defeating most of the goblins; the few survivors tried to flee to the west. Meanwhile, Azza and Creeper were trying to keep the hobgoblins locked in their room by main force. They failed, but eventually defeated the hobgoblins. Shortly after that, goblins begin to enter the area from a door to the west of Creeper\u0026rsquo;s area, and he made short work of those who attacked before deciding to explore through the door they had come from. The goblins in that room were trickier, using hit and run tactics, but most fell quickly \u0026ndash; including a shaman of some kind. Creeper was alone in the room \u0026hellip; or so he thought, for a moment later a tentacled monstrosity fell upon him and begin to rip and tear the friendly goblin with it\u0026rsquo;s beak. Creeper fell to the floor, bleeding out.\nAzza and others followed Creeper once they realized he was at risk, and the distraction allowed Creeper to bandage his wounds and retreat to within range of the healers. The monster slipped out of the room in the confusion. At least two goblin archers were taking occasional potshots through a door as more party members entered the room, but there was a brief lull in the action\u0026hellip;\n","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-4/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Azza), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group in Phandalin, looking for the location of Cragmaw Keep. They began by speaking with Sister Graele, who did not know herself but did know of a local druid who knew the area. She did not have a way to contact him. However, after discussing the Redbrands (a local group of mercenaries running a protection racket on the town), and getting a feel for the characters, she suggested a mission. She has recently found a fragment of a spellbook from a legendary wizard, suggesting the rest may be in the area. She needs to question the last person known to possess it, a woman named Agatha… unfortunately, this individual is no longer among the living. However, Agatha is rumored to persist in the form of an undead spirit. Local legends suggest her wail is terrible and fearful, but if approached with flattery and perhaps a gift of sufficient beauty, she may be persuaded to answer questions. The party expressed interest in completing this task later, when the screams of Gundren Rockseeker being tortured by goblins were no longer echoing in their ears. Sister Graele also suggested asking around at the local farms for information on the local of Cragmaw Keep.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 4","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":" A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Azza), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group in Phandalin, having spent the night at the Stone Hill Inn talking with Sildar. Sildar informed the group that Gundren and his two brothers had rediscovered an entrance to the Wave Echo Cave, one of the old mines worked in the region. While being held captive by the goblins, Sildar overheard them mention that a mysterious creature or individual known as the \u0026ldquo;Black Spider\u0026rdquo; has specifically ordered Gundren to be captured and brought to him in Cragmaw Keep. Sildar also mentioned he was personally investigating the disappearance of one \u0026ldquo;Iarno Albrek\u0026rdquo;, a wizard of his acquaintance who had been sent to Phandalin some months ago to establish order in the town. There has been no word from Iarno since. Sildar left the party to their own pursuits while he investigated this disappearance.\nIn the morning, the group traveled to Barthen\u0026rsquo;s and delivered Gundren\u0026rsquo;s goods to Elmar Barthen. This worthy runs a local provisioning supply store (most standard goods under 25gp are in stock, except no armor or weapons). He did not know where Cragmaw Keep might be, but did mention that the town was pretty lawless; bandits ambushing travelers, and even within town, a mercenary group known as the Redbrands collected \u0026ldquo;taxes\u0026rdquo; at will. Basically, a protection racket. He warned the group to avoid the Sleeping Giant inn, as the Redbrands frequent the drinking room there. Knocking on their door would be borrowing trouble, unless the group is ready to confront the gang.\nFrom there, the group crossed the town square to Lionshield Coster. They returned the twice-captured goods for a 50gp reward, and the proprietoress Linene revealed that she does have a small stash of armor and weapons (but no hand crossbows, though she could special order one if the roads were safe). She also mentioned the Redbrand gang, warning the party that they would often stop people merely walking through town to demand payment. She also mentioned the townmaster is a typical politician: slimy and may well be associated with the Redbrands in some way. The party inquired as to who might know the location of the Cragmaw Keep; she did not, but suggested asking around among scouts or wilderness guides (rangers or druids). The townmaster is likely to know who to ask, but might not keep such information to himself.\nThe session was interrupted by the passing of a beloved pet before more could be accomplished.\n","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-3/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Matt (Spinter Paw), Mariel (Ragash), Coby (Azza), Jeff (Ford), Chris (Creeper), and James (Kraygen) are returning cast members.\nWe left the group in Phandalin, having spent the night at the Stone Hill Inn talking with Sildar. Sildar informed the group that Gundren and his two brothers had rediscovered an entrance to the Wave Echo Cave, one of the old mines worked in the region. While being held captive by the goblins, Sildar overheard them mention that a mysterious creature or individual known as the “Black Spider” has specifically ordered Gundren to be captured and brought to him in Cragmaw Keep. Sildar also mentioned he was personally investigating the disappearance of one “Iarno Albrek”, a wizard of his acquaintance who had been sent to Phandalin some months ago to establish order in the town. There has been no word from Iarno since. Sildar left the party to their own pursuits while he investigated this disappearance.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 3","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":" A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared/Therizino), Matt (Kordaius/Spinter Paw), Mariel (Linaya/Ragash), Coby (Kyros/Azza), Jeff (Ford), and Chris (Creeper/Martyr) are returning cast members. James (Kraygen) joins us for the first time.\nWe left the group having been captured by goblins of the Cragmaw tribe on their way to Phandalin. We pick up the story with Ford, who had successfully evaded capture, heading to Phandalin to recruit a rescue party.\nFord\u0026rsquo;s rescue party consisted of: Martyr (a masked paladin), a pair of bards (Splinter Paw and Kraygen), Ragash (a fighter and bodyguard for Splinter), another fighter (Azza), and the warlock Therizino. Ford was able to lead them to the goblin\u0026rsquo;s cave, avoiding the traps along the pathway, and the group sent scouts forward to surprise the goblin guards at the entrance.\nMoving into the cave, they were able to pacify the wolves with fresh meat at first. Azza proceeded forward, deeper into the cave, trying to reach the cave area to the left. The rest of the group were caught up with the wolves. When the goblins flooded the cave entrance again, they managed to remain together, with only Azza ahead on his own. The leader of the goblins, a bugbear named Klarg, was warned of the intruders by one of his goblins and clambered through the passage into the wolves\u0026rsquo; den to attack along with one of his bodyguards. Klarg struck down the bard Splinter Paw while absorbing eldritch blasts from the warlock Therizino, but heroic efforts from the cat\u0026rsquo;s friends saved his life.\nMeanwhile, Azza faced three goblin archers and fell to their arrows. The rest of the group caught up to him and saved his life after defeating Klarg.\nThe goblin\u0026rsquo;s prisoners were rescued, after which some of the characters went their separate ways. Notably, artificer Jared stabbed the warlock Therizino in the back, claiming his purse. Linaya wandered off after sharing some advice on goblins with Ragash. Splinter Paw turned in the Dread Pirate Kordaius for the bounty.\nSildar, who was also rescued, noted that the dwarf Gundren Rockseeker had been taken elsewhere on orders from some higher authority. The goblins mentioned a place they called Cragmaw Keep, which may be where Gundren was taken. The party also recovered supplies bearing a mark from a merchant company in Phandalin, and have not yet returned those supplies.\n","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-2/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared/Therizino), Matt (Kordaius/Spinter Paw), Mariel (Linaya/Ragash), Coby (Kyros/Azza), Jeff (Ford), and Chris (Creeper/Martyr) are returning cast members. James (Kraygen) joins us for the first time.\nWe left the group having been captured by goblins of the Cragmaw tribe on their way to Phandalin. We pick up the story with Ford, who had successfully evaded capture, heading to Phandalin to recruit a rescue party.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 2","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"A Flame in the Deep Dark (originally The Lost Mines of Phandelver) campaign log.\n","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark (originally The Lost Mines of Phandelver) campaign log.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":" A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Brian (Pryrx), Matt (Kordaius), Mariel (Linaya), Coby (Kyros), Jeff (Ford), Leah (Mari), and Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits having solved the Assassins Knot, and move to a new set of characters in a world known as the Forgotten Realms.\nThe party consists of two tieflings, three goblins, a halfling archeologist, and a human artificer. One of their contacts, a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker, reported an exciting new discovery in Phandalin. He bought a cart and supplies, hiring them to deliver the cart from Neverwinter to Phandalin while he went on ahead with his friend Sildar to make advance arrangements. The party agreed.\nThe journey to Phandalin began without incident, with the party camping overnight at the head of Triboar Trail. They set off down that trail in the morning, and around noon found two horses lying dead on the trail, filled with arrows. Creeper was in the lead, and in combination with Nyx (Pryrx\u0026rsquo;s owl familiar), noticed four goblins lurking around the horses. There was a short battle. Investigating the scene revealed that the horses were those of Gundren and Sildar, and a trail leading off into the woods.\nFollowing the trail, Creeper fell victim to both a snare and a pit trap. Oops.\nAt the end of the trail was a cave entrance, from which flowed a stream. Two goblins stood guard, but they were not exactly paying attention. Creeper and Ford hid in the bushes until Kordaius stumbled upon the stream and looked around in puzzlement for his scouts. The goblin guards finally noticed the intruders, but Creeper and Ford took them out from hiding before anyone was hurt. The party proceeded to enter the cave.\nInside and to the right, a small cavern held three chained wolves or wargs. Repeated attempts to charm them with horsemeat and rations failed.\nAs the rest of the party moved into the caves, however, they failed to note a goblin watching them from stealth on a bridge across the stream deeper into the cave. He slipped away to notify the chief of the attack, and the chief ordered his guards to remove the first of a pair of dams behind which a large pool of water was held while guards took up positions on the bridge and began to shoot at the intruders. The resulting flood ripped through the party, washing half of them out of the cave entirely.\nKordaius, Jared, and Ford had managed to hang on to rocks or jump out of the way into one of the nearby passages. Kordaius was in the lead and charged into an unexplored passage, but Jared and Ford had taken shelter just out of reach of the wolves, which were straining at their chains in a nerve-wracking manner.\nThe rest of the party were just picking themselves up outside the cave when a second wave of water rushed down.\nAt the end of his passage, Kordaius found a group of goblins holding a man prisoner. He recognized the prisoner as Sildar, the man with Gundren. A battle immediately commenced, with Mari offering healing support, Pryrx repeatedly putting some of the goblins to sleep, and the rest of the group slowly making their way into the room just in time to be wounded themselves. It was a close run thing until the tribal chieftain arrived \u0026ndash; a massive bugbear named Klarg, with a pet wolf and an honor guard of fresh goblins. Only Creeper and Kyros were left standing to face him. Eventually all of the group save Ford, who had slipped away during the confusion, and Kyros lay unconscious and bleeding on the floor. Kyros surrendered, knowing it was hopeless.\n","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/session-1/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"A Flame in the Deep Dark # Dean (Jared), Brian (Pryrx), Matt (Kordaius), Mariel (Linaya), Coby (Kyros), Jeff (Ford), Leah (Mari), and Chris (Creeper) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits having solved the Assassins Knot, and move to a new set of characters in a world known as the Forgotten Realms.\nThe party consists of two tieflings, three goblins, a halfling archeologist, and a human artificer. One of their contacts, a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker, reported an exciting new discovery in Phandalin. He bought a cart and supplies, hiring them to deliver the cart from Neverwinter to Phandalin while he went on ahead with his friend Sildar to make advance arrangements. The party agreed.\n","title":"A Flame in the Deep Dark -- Session 1","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":"","date":"1 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/aflameinthedeepdark/sessions/","section":"A Flame in the Deep Dark","summary":"","title":"Sessions","type":"aflameinthedeepdark"},{"content":" L2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), and Brian (Pyrzival) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits watching Pyrcival climb the wall of the inner keep, only to be ambushed by ghouls and paralyzed. Barron polymorphed himself into a dragon and rescued him, dropping Warin off to try to turn the undead\u0026hellip; but he dropped Warin right in between the two ghouls, who promptly paralyzed him. While the group was distracted by the undead drama, Ascue lead his guards in an assault on the party from within the guardhouse. Though his warriors were tough, they did not succeed; eventually Ascue surrendered.\nUpon interrogation Ascue seemed to know little, being merely a warrior-cleric. Neither Tellish nor Arness admitted to anything, but under duress and threat of torture, Arness opened the wizard-locked door that had previously barred the party\u0026rsquo;s way. As it turns out the second floor of the keep was basically given over to quarters for Arness and Tellish.\nArness\u0026rsquo;s rooms contained a live raven and a spider under the bed, along with expensive clothing in a tall wardrobe. On top of the wardrobe was a fighting dagger, very practical rather than something suitable for a noblewoman. Arness was less than helpful about pointing out threats, particularly when opening her jewelry drawers \u0026ndash; an explosion of poisonous dust resulted in Thic Duc, Pyrcival and Arness nearly choking to death. Pyrcival in particular was afflicted. Ahira took great risk upon herself by entering the dust cloud to drag out Thic Duc and Arness; Barron\u0026rsquo;s unseen servant dragged Pyrvical out. Warin tried to save Pyrcival by intubing him for air, but failed to do it correctly. At least his healing spell sealed the wound. Thic Duc at the least minute, still choking, remembered finding a magical apple in another dungeon that could cure poisons and disease; managing to feed a piece of it to Pyrcival saved his life.\nPyrcival promptly killed Arness while she was helplessly choking.\nShortly afterwards, the group explored Tellish\u0026rsquo;s quarters. Aside from a truly disturbing number of traps, including a dragon statue that breaths fire, they found a carefully locked compartment filled with disguise materials and armaments unsuitable for a cleric. Tellish was clearly an assassin, but fit the description only for the first murder.\nAfter some discussion the party determined Arness was the best suspect for the second murder. She had a hidden dagger in her room, was known to be missing from Garrotten at the right time, was not officially attending the funeral as she claimed to be, and was clearly involved in the assassin\u0026rsquo;s ring as Holga had given her the lute string.\nThey returned to Highport and presented their report.\nThe Party\u0026rsquo;s Conclusions # Oscar- Paid to do side Jobs in the Ledger, had diguise kits, low level assassinations. Had disguise kit in room. Capt. Basram- Smuggler, Employed by the Assassins, Unwitting with plot. Two Assassins transported to High Port. Claims to be able to arrange assassinations. Holga- Acquired Items to frame Balmarrow. Student of Armax. Gave lute string to Arnes. Knew the lute string would make a good garrote. Assassin in training. Rogan- Arranged theft of button to frame Abraham. Gave button to Telish. Worked for Tellish. Lothar- Suspected of Acquiring Ruby to frame Harper. Stable Boy- Acquired Leather Red Button for Rogan Wilbur- Acquired Lute String for Holga Harmin- Knew of ruby theft and hid it. Armax- Cabinet items Falbor- Follower of violent god. Killed in self-defense. Cabinet items, not yet suspect. Balmarrow- Framed, in the middle of his plays. Leading thieving group. Harper- Framed, CRAZY but wouldn't have done it. Thinks too highly of himself and his deity Abraham- Framed Ascue - Access to the whole Keep. No reason to suspect, other than too important to not know what was going on beneath his nose. Arness- Mayor. Got lute string from Holga. Had common dagger. Probably killed Wizard Jim. No alibi. Skills and access to equipment. Invisibility spell. \u0026quot;wicked\u0026quot; looking dagger Tellish- Mayor's assistant. Assassinated Duke. Accountant type would keep ledger. No direct evidence. No alibi. Unusual change of schedule to be free for 1st assassination. Got button from Rogan. Handwriting matches the assassin's ledger. Had disguise kits for all three red herrings. Magical cloak of etherealness. Upon interrogation by the Duke\u0026rsquo;s guard, with enthusiastic participation from the Princess, Harmin admitted he had noticed the missing ruby in Harper\u0026rsquo;s holy symbol and sought means to acquire a replacement. However, he claimed his motives were only to help conceal Harper\u0026rsquo;s growing dementia for the good of the church, and he had nothing to do with the actual loss of the ruby. This immediately made Lothar the prime suspect, but he could not be found.\nWorryingly, Krak also went missing.\nBalmarrow denied accusations of leading a thieving group, but admitted he had been teaching his stagehands sleight of hand for use on stage.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\nArness: Bracers AC 7, cloak of protection +2, robes, crown Tellish: Bracers AC 3, cloak of etherealness, plate mail, shield + 2, flail + 2 Tellish's escape suit (concealed gems): 2950gp Arness's jewelry and coin: 1950gp Treasure: 4900gp (490gp each) Experience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each 6 guards: 1200xp Ascue: 1,000xp 1 spider: 10xp Not falsely accusing anyone: 1000xp Identifying both killers correctly: 2000xp Finding Tellish's stash of disguise gear: 1000xp Identifying Holga, Rogan, Oscar, and Basram: 2000xp Clearing Balmarrow, Harper, and Abraham: 3000xp Arness's spellbook (Detect Magic, Charm Person, Enlarge, Magic Missile, Read Magic, Shield, Shocking Grasp, Sleep, Invisibility, Magic Mouth, Ray of Enfeeblement, web, wizard lock, dispel magic, fly, hold person, slow, fireball): 17500xp Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (): 500xp (individually) Treasure: 4900xp Group Total: 34410xp (4301xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess The Wizard Jim is also dead, killed a few days later, by an unknown assailant Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"30 January 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-81/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L2: The Assassin’s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), and Brian (Pyrzival) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits watching Pyrcival climb the wall of the inner keep, only to be ambushed by ghouls and paralyzed. Barron polymorphed himself into a dragon and rescued him, dropping Warin off to try to turn the undead… but he dropped Warin right in between the two ghouls, who promptly paralyzed him. While the group was distracted by the undead drama, Ascue lead his guards in an assault on the party from within the guardhouse. Though his warriors were tough, they did not succeed; eventually Ascue surrendered.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 81","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), and Brian (Pyrzival) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits having returned to Highport with four corpses and very little actual evidence. After interrogating the corpses, they had obtained two names: Arness and Ascue. Amathar examined the notes in the ledger and compared the handwriting to tax assessments from Garotten, and they appeared to match: Tellish. This was enough to obtain an arrest warrant for Tellish and writs of detention and questioning for Arness and Ascue. The party returned to Garrotten by boat and approached the rear entrance to the castle by stealth. Upon entering the tunnel, they noticed new holes drilled in the ceiling since their last visit \u0026ndash; someone had added a trap. Back to the front entrance they went\u0026hellip;\nBarron polymorhed into the form of the Duke and approached the castle with Malag and Ahira as escorts, demanding entrance. Arness and Tellish were summoned, but did not appear convinced that they were actually face to face with the presumed-dead Duke. Barron successfully confused the situation but did not convince anyone to surrender. The battle begin with archers firing on the fake Duke; Amathar responded with a Fireball.\nArness contributed a Slow and a Fireball herself, showing notable disregard for her own side. Tellish tried Cause Fear on Ahira; when she resisted, he successfully cast Hold Person. Between the archers and the fireball, Barron went down, then was revived; he cast Monster Summoning 1 and got seven cats. They were surprisingly effective, but he went down again briefly. Warin cast Hold Person on Arness, but her guards were able to revive her. Being revived a second time, Barron\u0026rsquo;s Web delayed Arness and her guards for a round. Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows killed one guard and convinced another to surrender. Pyrcival accounted for three archers on the wall himself, and Thic Duc another two. In the end, Arness and Tellish were captured and the rest of the guards fled.\nOver Warin\u0026rsquo;s objections, Malag and Ahira broke Arness\u0026rsquo;s fingers as well as tying her securely. The bodies were searched; the party entered the keep but found a door at the top of a staircase to be Wizard Locked. Pyrcival climbed a wall to try getting in another way\u0026hellip; and found something he was not expecting.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\nArness: Bracers, cloak, robes, crown Tellish: Bracers, cloak, plate mail, shield, flail Miscellanous armor and arms from guards Treasure: 0gp (0gp each) Experience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Tellish: 1,000xp Arness: 1,000xp 7 guards: 2,100xp 10 archers: 3,000xp Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (): 500xp (individually) Treasure: 0xp Group Total: 7100xp (887.5xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess The Wizard Jim is also dead, killed a few days later, by an unknown assailant Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"16 January 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-80/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L2: The Assassin’s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), and Brian (Pyrzival) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits having returned to Highport with four corpses and very little actual evidence. After interrogating the corpses, they had obtained two names: Arness and Ascue. Amathar examined the notes in the ledger and compared the handwriting to tax assessments from Garotten, and they appeared to match: Tellish. This was enough to obtain an arrest warrant for Tellish and writs of detention and questioning for Arness and Ascue. The party returned to Garrotten by boat and approached the rear entrance to the castle by stealth. Upon entering the tunnel, they noticed new holes drilled in the ceiling since their last visit – someone had added a trap. Back to the front entrance they went…\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 80","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. They had recently captured Oscar and Basmar, suspecting the former of being involved with the Duke\u0026rsquo;s assassination and the latter of delivering the assassin (possibly without knowing his purpose). Basmar was released after being interrogated, but Oscar was retained, receiving religious instruction from Thic Duc and Warin.\nThic Duc promptly discovered, by accident, the local alchemist. Healing potions are available at 100gp but consultations are only by appointment.\nFrom Oscar\u0026rsquo;s admissions they learned of dead drops in the castle (just inside the gate, behind a loose stone in the wall) and church graveyard (a hollow spot in a gravestone) that the assassin\u0026rsquo;s guild used to communicate. Conducting surveillance on the dead drop location suggested Lothar was the likely recipient of the messages, so the party arranged to abduct him for questioning. When they arrived, Lothar was deep in conversation with Krak while he worked. Thic Duc lured Krak away while the abduction took place by promising information on Tiberium, and when Lothar called for help, punched Krak and promptly ran away. Krak was unable to catch him.\nInterrogating Lothar revealed little, though he did mention that he had seen Harmin reading a note while walking away from the dead drop location. Perhaps Harmin was checking the drop? Certainly he has done other things to cause suspicion, most prominently inquiring about the price of the gems in Harper\u0026rsquo;s holy symbol.\nThe party then set up camp for the night, naming setting a watch rotation. The second watch noticed \u0026ndash; unfortunately after the fact \u0026ndash; that Lothar had escaped his bonds and the smuggler\u0026rsquo;s cave they were hiding in. Anticipating an ambush from the assassin\u0026rsquo;s guild, the party set up their own counter-ambush, successfully defeating a crack squad of orcs led by Arak, one of the orcs from the castle. He refused to talk, and was killed during aggressive interrogation by Ahira. She claims it was unintentional. Tiberium walked away in disgust at that point.\nAfter defeating the squad of orcs, the party moved to a hidden, improvised camp elsewhere in the forest and rested until Barron was ready for action. Tiberium kept his distance but remained with the group, clearly troubled.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp 9 gems at 50gp each -100gp Thic Duc bought a healing potion Treasure: 450gp (41gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (): 500xp (individually) Exposing and interrogating Lothar: 1000xp Intercepting a note: 1000xp Defeating the first orc squad: 2490xp Treasure: 450xp Group Total: 5840xp (648xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;Dead shrimp don't roll!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;It's Moby Thic!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess The Wizard Jim is also dead, killed a few days later, by an unknown assailant Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"2 January 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-79/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L2: The Assassin’s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. They had recently captured Oscar and Basmar, suspecting the former of being involved with the Duke’s assassination and the latter of delivering the assassin (possibly without knowing his purpose). Basmar was released after being interrogated, but Oscar was retained, receiving religious instruction from Thic Duc and Warin.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 79","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits resting overnight, preparing for a dawn raid on the Garotten castle. With Barron fully recovered, they hastened to the rear entrance of the castle. The forest entrance led to a long underground corridor, at the end of which waited four zombies \u0026ndash; two human, two canine. The party made short work of the undead, but the noise of the battle attracted attention, and two guards met them at the end of the corridor even before the zombies fell. One wore armor and carried a flail, the other robes\u0026hellip; and the latter was already chanting a spell, lightning crackling between her hands. Two lightning bolts tore through the party while they were bottle-necked in the narrow corridor, but no one fell.\nAfter overcoming the pair of guards, the group moved forward to examine the room. It was a laboratory, disused and dusty, but filled with alchemical components and equipment. At the far end a door led further into the castle. Amathar volunteered to protect the secret door through which the party had entered.\nJust outside the laboratory, another squad of 3 castle guards appeared. After defeating these, the party was faced with a choice: a door led north and passageway turned South leading to several additional doors the party chose to proceed North entering a separate corridor to one side of that corridor a yacht number of guards for conducting a gambling game with in their barracks the party interrogated the guards about the status of the keep it learned that the keep had been placed upon alert against the possibility of some sort of attack however Barron\u0026rsquo;s use of his ability to shape change successfully disguised his nature from the guards and he was able to retreat from the broom without attracting their ire in the other direction the party opened the door Define a large ogre Baron defeated the ogre by making use of his wand of polymorph transforming the ogre into a flopping fish.\nBeyond the ogre\u0026rsquo;s room the party detected a smell to the west that reminded them of sewage, as well as a small prison cell. Deciding there was nothing useful to be found in that direction, they returned and continued north. In that direction a short passage led to two doors. The party opened the door to the left, and encountered a group of three individuals in armor with blunt weapons. These were evidently clerics of some kind; they were able to cast spells during the fight to heal themselves and invoking darkness. While the darkness was up, the other door opened and the rear of the party was attacked by those within.\nAfter a tense fight the party defeated both groups and prepared to resume their exploration of the castle. With the darkness effect faded away, the room to the right was revealed to contain another three figures: two of them in leather armor and one in robes. The party did recognize two of the fallen: Holga, who convinced Wilbur to steal one of Balmarrow\u0026rsquo;s golden lute strings, and Rogan, who convinced the stableboy Falpir to steal one of Abraham\u0026rsquo;s buttons.\nSadly, it appears the party has lost track of their primary goal. They have cut a swath through the castleguard with little regard to the identities of those they fought and killed. While some members of the castle guard are likely guilty (including, specifically, Rogan and Holga, both of whom the party had obtained evidence against), and the presence of an ogre is certainly hard to explain, many of the dead seem to have done little Beyond defend themselves against violent attack. Who knows what ramifications this may have?\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Shield +2 Wand (magical) Bracers (magical) Ring (ogre\u0026rsquo;s, magical) Small gem (ogre) Holga: 30gp Rogan: 20gp Armax: 40gp Falbore: 10gp Gress: 1gp Thomas: 10gp Relmak: 10gp Geltuck: 9gp Trell: 7gp Note that the party has not yet had the opportunity to search rooms, just bodies Treasure: 137gp (12gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (): 500xp (individually) Holga: 80xp Rogan: 80xp Armax: 400xp Falbore: 400xp Gress: 350xp Thomas: 80xp Relmak: 80xp Geltuck: 80xp Trell: 80xp 3 guards: 240xp 2 zombies: 72xp 2 zombie dogs: 72xp Treasure: 137xp Group Total: 3051xp (339xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;I imagine a fish... and say the magic word.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;What as that magic word again?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Metamorph.\u0026quot; -- Just in case the rest of the party had forgotten.. Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess The Wizard Jim is also dead, killed a few days later, by an unknown assailant Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"12 December 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-78/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L2: The Assassin’s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits resting overnight, preparing for a dawn raid on the Garotten castle. With Barron fully recovered, they hastened to the rear entrance of the castle. The forest entrance led to a long underground corridor, at the end of which waited four zombies – two human, two canine. The party made short work of the undead, but the noise of the battle attracted attention, and two guards met them at the end of the corridor even before the zombies fell. One wore armor and carried a flail, the other robes… and the latter was already chanting a spell, lightning crackling between her hands. Two lightning bolts tore through the party while they were bottle-necked in the narrow corridor, but no one fell.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 78","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. They had recently captured Oscar and Basmar, suspecting the former of being involved with the Duke\u0026rsquo;s assassination and the latter of delivering the assassin (possibly without knowing his purpose). Basmar was released after being interrogated, but Oscar was retained, receiving religious instruction from Thic Duc and Warin.\nThic Duc promptly discovered, by accident, the local alchemist. Healing potions are available at 100gp but consultations are only by appointment.\nFrom Oscar\u0026rsquo;s admissions they learned of dead drops in the castle (just inside the gate, behind a loose stone in the wall) and church graveyard (a hollow spot in a gravestone) that the assassin\u0026rsquo;s guild used to communicate. Conducting surveillance on the dead drop location suggested Lothar was the likely recipient of the messages, so the party arranged to abduct him for questioning. When they arrived, Lothar was deep in conversation with Krak while he worked. Thic Duc lured Krak away while the abduction took place by promising information on Tiberium, and when Lothar called for help, punched Krak and promptly ran away. Krak was unable to catch him.\nInterrogating Lothar revealed little, though he did mention that he had seen Harmin reading a note while walking away from the dead drop location. Perhaps Harmin was checking the drop? Certainly he has done other things to cause suspicion, most prominently inquiring about the price of the gems in Harper\u0026rsquo;s holy symbol.\nThe party then set up camp for the night, naming setting a watch rotation. The second watch noticed \u0026ndash; unfortunately after the fact \u0026ndash; that Lothar had escaped his bonds and the smuggler\u0026rsquo;s cave they were hiding in. Anticipating an ambush from the assassin\u0026rsquo;s guild, the party set up their own counter-ambush, successfully defeating a crack squad of orcs led by Arak, one of the orcs from the castle. He refused to talk, and was killed during aggressive interrogation by Ahira. She claims it was unintentional. Tiberium walked away in disgust at that point.\nAfter defeating the squad of orcs, the party moved to a hidden, improvised camp elsewhere in the forest and rested until Barron was ready for action. Tiberium kept his distance but remained with the group, clearly troubled.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp 9 gems at 50gp each -100gp Thic Duc bought a healing potion Treasure: 450gp (41gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (): 500xp (individually) Exposing and interrogating Lothar: 1000xp Intercepting a note: 1000xp Defeating the first orc squad: 2490xp Treasure: 450xp Group Total: 5840xp (648xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;Dead shrimp don't roll!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;It's Moby Thic!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess The Wizard Jim is also dead, killed a few days later, by an unknown assailant Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"28 November 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-77/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L2: The Assassin’s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. They had recently captured Oscar and Basmar, suspecting the former of being involved with the Duke’s assassination and the latter of delivering the assassin (possibly without knowing his purpose). Basmar was released after being interrogated, but Oscar was retained, receiving religious instruction from Thic Duc and Warin.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 77","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. We rejoin the Band of Misfits at the House of Abraham as they try to figure out how to get Barron\u0026rsquo;s nearly unconscious form, recently raised from the dead and still mostly dead, to the meeting he had arranged with Captain Basmar.\nUnder pressure, Basmar admitted to smuggling a cloaked figure to and from Highport shortly before and after the murder of the Duke. The figure had a deep, gravely voice and wore a sword under his cloak. Basmar claimed he did not recognize the person, and pointed to Oscar as the source of his instructions. He claimed to have met with the passenger in a forest south of Garrotten.\nSearching the forest, the party discovered a hidden smuggler\u0026rsquo;s cache with a magical fountain of some kind. The rest of the cache contained supplies and smuggled cargo.\nUsing Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s Helm of True Seeing, the party discovered a secret back entrance into the castle. It opens at the back of the keep, in a small forest.\nOscar claimed there was a second passenger \u0026hellip; before and after the murder of the wizard Jim, the council member who had sent them on their quest. That murder leaves only the High Priest and the Princess alive on the council. If the High Priest is slain, the Princess will be in charge.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 0gp (0gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (): 500xp (individually) Exposing and interrogating Oscar: 1000xp Exposing and interrogating Basmar: 1000xp Treasure: 0xp Group Total: 2900xp (322xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;Dead shrimp don't roll!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;It's Moby Thic!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"14 November 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-76/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L2: The Assassin’s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Leah (Ahira), Brian (Pyrzival), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. We rejoin the Band of Misfits at the House of Abraham as they try to figure out how to get Barron’s nearly unconscious form, recently raised from the dead and still mostly dead, to the meeting he had arranged with Captain Basmar.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 76","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nSession Map\nL2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. We rejoin the Band of Misfits at the House of Abraham.\nThe party began by discussing options, and decided to face down loose ends by investigating the third major clue (or perhaps false lead): the ruby that allegedly matched those on Harper\u0026rsquo;s preferred holy symbol. Thic Duc and Warrin approached the local jeweler and moneychanger, a woman named Ohlatta. Asking pointed questions about the ruby, she eventually recognized the description as being similar to the rubies in Harper\u0026rsquo;s holy symbol, which she had personally procured for the prelate many years ago. She claimed no one had tried to sell her any such ruby recently, but Harmen had asked her unusual questions about the valuation she would place upon a similar ruby. Ohlatta said he did not show her a gem, merely described it and asked how much it would be worth.\nReturning to the House of Abraham, the party discussed this while examining the crowd. They noticed an odd pair: Rollo and Tess, a husband-and-wife pair who apparently sought to use their magical skills for commercial profit. They worked in the fishing industry, weaving and repairing nets with the help of some of the very basic magical spells they had learned. They did have useful information on other wizards in town; they remembered Holga as having apprenticed with Armax, an officer in the castle guard who provided magical support. They also remembered that they had not seen her around town since she had began to learn magic, some years ago. They also remembered Rogan as an errand boy for the keep\u0026hellip; but, upon prompting, noted he had been in that role longer than usual without aging into a more professional place. Or at all, for that matter. Odd.\nThe party decided to follow up with Harmen and make inquiries after Harper. Tiberium was about to convince Harmen to take a quick look around Harper\u0026rsquo;s empty quarters, checking whether his holy symbol was there. It was not, at least not visibly. Amathar took advantage of the opportunity to slip into the room, while invisible, and perform his own more thorough search. He found several items that radiated magic, including a medium-strength aura on a staff. He also noticed a powerfully foul smell coming from a bedside table, which itself glowed with magic. Odd. Amathar concluded the magical aura was likely a trap, and set about memorizing spells to deal with it.\nWhile Tiberium and Amathar were occupied with Harmen, Thic Duc was preaching the glories of Pholtus to the townsfolk in front of the their temple. Shortly after he began, three of the villagers surrounded him closely, linking their arms and guiding him away from the church. Thic Duc chose to go along with them and continued to preach, all the way to the docks, when their intent became clear: they wished to introduce Thic Duc to their octopus god, who promptly appeared and began to explore the area with his/her/its tentacles. After a few confused exchanges with the creature (is it talking, or just making watery noises?) Thic Duc pulled out Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s gift, a historical and heretical book of the true doctrine of Pholtus the one and only true god, and offered it to the octopus to read by tentacle page by page. (This resulted in a contested Charisma roll; Thic Duc failed and the octopus rolled a natural 20).\nAfter a few minutes, Thic Duc decided the octopus was listening, and sensing his opportunity, leaped into the water. The magic of his Cloak of the Manta Ray took effect, and Thic Duc shifted forms to a massive creature of the sea, following the giant octopus deeper into the lake. Cursing, Barron jumped into the lake and invoked the Princess\u0026rsquo; polymorph ring to follow in a similar form. The octopus led the pair to a submerged cave all the way to the north end of the lake\u0026hellip; and half-submerged in the muck lay the curved lid of a treasure chest, gently illuminated from above by a ray of sunlight filtering through a hole in the roof of the cave, leading all the way to the surface. It caught Barron\u0026rsquo;s attention immediately, and Thic Duc was still focused on finally finding someone who would listen to the truth of Pholtus. They both swam into the cave, and the octopus immediately moved to attack, along with three smaller octopi lurking in the area.\nThic Duc, aided by his cloak, was able to evade the monstruous tentacles while swimming towards the half-hidden chest. Barron, however, was caught in their sucker-laden grasp at first. He felt his ribs cracking under the pressure of the fierce grip, but was able to escape by changing shape once more, to that of a small water dragon. The smaller octopi moved closer as the large one grappled for both of the shape-changed men, vicious suction cups applying horrible force to their flesh as the lure of treasure kept the two party members focused on the chest rather than the creature.\nBefore long, Barron\u0026rsquo;s greed turned to terror, and he gave up on the chest and began striking at the tentacles holding him below the surface. The smaller octopi circled, trying to land a tentacle on Thic Duc or Barron whenever they managed to slip out of the larger creature\u0026rsquo;s grasp. Finally, Thic Duc laid a hand upon the treasure chest, planning to bring it to the surface before returning to help Barron against the octopi\u0026hellip; but his hand was suddenly stuck fast, no matter how hard he tugged. A strange pseudopod emerged from the chest and swung through the water at the monk, but missed.\nThic Duc was forced to watch as the tentacles and beak of the great octopus slowly wore Barron down, taking no few wounds himself due to his captive hand. When Barron was caught once again in the eight-fold grasp of the sea creature, he sought the refuge of changing his shape once more, this time to the extra-large shrimp known as Pepe LePew. This was sufficient to escape the octopus\u0026rsquo;s immediate grasp, but a moment later the sea suckers were firmly fastened once more, and the shrimp\u0026rsquo;s spirit left its body and floated to the surface. From the shore, Warrin noticed the disturbance, and began to browbeat a fisherman into rowing himself and Leah out to the lake to help.\nWith Barron out of action, Thic Duc became more aware of his peril, and began to strike at the octopus\u0026rsquo;s giant tentacles, trying to stay free and as mobile as possible while still attached to the bizarre chest which was still taking swings at him with its own pseudopod. One by one, the rubbery limbs fell limp, their bizarre muscular torn and disabled. Finally, only two limbs and its beak \u0026ndash; its terrible, death beak \u0026ndash; remained. The creature suddenly released a cloud of ink, blinking everyone in the area, and fled. However, the strange chest and the three smaller octopi remained, and Thic Duc was still stuck to the chest \u0026ndash; and bleeding into the water.\nFrom above, Leah and Warin noticed the ink cloud, and frantically tried to figure out ways to help. Warin had already retrieved the small medium-well extra-large shrimp where Barron\u0026rsquo;s soul temporarily resided, but the pair were unsure how they could possibly help Thic Duc\u0026hellip; until Leah remembered her armor would allow her to breathe underwater! Feeling mildly silly for not thinking of it sooner, she jumped in and swam downwards with short sword drawn, heading into the cloud of ink.\nUnfortunately the cloud of ink made target identification difficult, and her blade sank into Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s flesh. The wound was serious, and Thic Duc knew he would be unable to stop the bleeding with one hand trapped against the chest. Fearing the worst, trapped underwater, Thic Duc drew on the memories of his monkish training, and withdrew from his body, slowing his physical processes down until they resembled death. His limp body slowly fell towards the lake floor.\nThe cloud of ink confused everyone. The three octopi and the chest-creature seemed unable to land any blows, and Leah was doing little better with her short sword. Eventually, though, the ink cleared and Leah was able to land a few blows, enough to drive off one of the smaller octopi and kill the other. Just as she was about to lose consciousness in the grasp of the others, Thic Duc recovered from his trance, and slew one that remained. The two hastily returned to the boat, where Warin was able to provide some healing.\nAfter some time to recover, the two returned underwater and slew the chest-like creature, then searching the area. Nothing valuable was found.\nThic Duc surfaces and clambers into the boat, bleeding from dozens of sucker-marks and missing more than a few chunks of meat from his bones. Warrin begins to heal him while Leah tries to return to the boat, nearly capsizing it more than once. Barron\u0026rsquo;s shrimp-sized body lies in the boat, unmoving. Their hired fisherman begins rowing frantically to shore.\nWhen Leah, Thic Duc, and Warin reached the church, they found Basil, who informed them that Harper was still in seclusion meditating over the problem of the hammer. Harmen had left with Tiberium to discuss matters. And Harper was the only cleric capable of summoning the divine powers needed to bring a man back from the dead. The trio laid Barron\u0026rsquo;s shrimp form within the temple to wait for Harper\u0026rsquo;s return and went in search of the town\u0026rsquo;s High Priest.\nBasil lead them to the town\u0026rsquo;s small cemetary, where a crypt led into an underground maze. Basil himself was unsure of the path, but Leah was able to track Harper\u0026rsquo;s footsteps. It took some time, but she led the group to a room filled with statues, then through a secret door (there was a trap on the main door that filled the room with water, but the party was able to disarm it) to a small room containing a pool of water surrounding a small meditation platform. On the platform, Harper was clearly in the midst of some kind of psychic struggle with the hammer. They were able to break him out of the trance and help him back to the surface, but he would need time to memorize a Raise Dead spell to help Barron. Amathar offered to try to Dispel Magic first, to reduce the necessary effort.\nHarper seemed mildly peckish, but agreed to pray for his Raise Dead spell immediately when the party explained there was an important meeting in the morning that could be vital to their investigation.\nWhile Harper settled in to memorize spells, Thic Duc and Leah returned to the House of Abraham, determined to ensure that the priests hunger was satisfied so that the priest could focus fully on restoring Barron\u0026rsquo;s life to his body. Alas, for there were no octopi to be had. A quick survey of the fisherfolk revealed none had been caught that day. But Harper\u0026rsquo;s hunger was interfering with his concentration and something must be done. Thic Duc and Leah together set out in a small boat to retrieve one of the octopi they had slain.\nThic Duc leaped into the water and returned to his manta ray form, Leah following in a fisherman\u0026rsquo;s boat. They returned to the underwater cave, where Thic Duc retrieved the corpse of a slain octopus and begin returning to shore. Suddenly, tentacles from below grasped the small fishing boat and shattered it, dumping Leah into the water. From further ahead Thic Duc noticed and reversed course, dropping the small octopus corpse in his haste.\nWith the very large octopus corpse in tow, the pair returned to shore and enlisted the aid of several local fishermen to haul it in. As it emerged from the water, two giant crabs came with it, already devouring the flesh of the fallen creature. As they were hauled free of the water, they turned their pincers towards the group. Two of the fishermen died wielding makeshift spears against the crabs, but the party quickly dispatched them after that. One of the locals noted that the going price for giant crab of that size was a gold each, which the party duly collected. The octopus itself was carted to the House of Abraham, where it was hastily prepared for Harper\u0026rsquo;s consumption.\nAmathar made use of his Enlargement spell to increase the size of the serving platter to hold the great beast, and Harper\u0026rsquo;s Flame Strike left it a delicious, crispy mess. Hunger assuaged, Harper returned to his studies and this time memorized the proper spell to retrieve Barron\u0026rsquo;s soul from beyond the gates of death.\nWith a choking gasp, Barron opened his eyes surrounded by his friends and companions as the clock struck midnight. The close passage of death had left him weak and bedridden, and his arranged meeting with Captain Basmar would take place in less than 8 hours.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp 5400gp worth of gems found tightly sealed in an iron flask within the stomach of the giant octopus 2 gp for crab bodies Treasure: 5402gp (600gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (): 500xp (individually) For those who bravely faced the octopi at great risk: 1000xp each (Thic Duc, Leah, Barron) Clue: Harmen inquired about a ruby at the jewelers, but did not have it, nor did he buy one (1000xp) Clue: Harper still has his holy symbol, with two rubies, though no one got a close look (1000xp) Clue: Holga studies under Armax, a woman in the castle guard who studies magic (1000xp) Clue: Facing the party's hydrophobia (1000xp) 1 Giant Octopus: 927xp 3 normal octopi: 366xp 1 mimic: 2190xp 2 giant crabs: 69xp Bonus for surviving the GM's gleeful sadism: 1000xp Treasure: 5402xp Group Total: 14724 xp (2103 xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;Dead shrimp don't roll!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;It's Moby Thic!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"31 October 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-75/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nSession Map\nL2: The Assassin’s Knot # Dean (Thic Duc), Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. We rejoin the Band of Misfits at the House of Abraham.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 75","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten, with a brief interlude. We rejoin the Band of Misfits at the House of Abraham.\nThe party received a note from Abraham over breakfast, indicating he would be traveling to Highport. Shortly thereafter, another note arrived indicating that High Priest Harper had gone into seclusion to study the matter of Krak\u0026rsquo;s hammer.\nThe group\u0026rsquo;s next stop was the local keep, where they received a note indicating the mayor, Arness, had traveled to Highport to attend the Duke\u0026rsquo;s funeral. Tellish, her aide, was willing to show them around the keep. They toured the barracks (first floor normal guards, second floor orc shock troops who were surprisingly friendly). Thic Duc won an arm wrestling contest against the orc champion by using his mysterious monkly powers. Tellish explained that the orcs functioned as shock troops in case of emergencies; they were not used to patrol the town and oddly did not wish to return to the few remaining orc tribes nearby. Leah noted the kennels, with several war dogs, close by.\nThe group also toured the kitchens, audience hall, an underground storage area (briefly), and a temple of Kord, all on the first floor of the keep. The second floor was off limits, consisting mostly of personal quarters. They did meet Trell, a student of the doctrine of Pholtus, and Relmac, a young cleric of Kord.\nThe party spoke with Balmarrow\u0026rsquo;s stagehands after receiving a note indicating Balmarrow himself was traveling to Highport to clear his name. One of them, Wilbur, admitted to taking one of Balmarrow\u0026rsquo;s spare lute strings. He intended it a a token of affection for Holga, a girl in the castle who is an apprentice magic-user.\nAnother stagehand, named Marvin, managed to pilfer Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s Cloak of the Manta Ray and run off with it, though the group eventually noticed and caught up with the thief, recovering the cloak.\nThe group also met Willis and Phyllis, Balmarrow\u0026rsquo;s colleagues. It was unclear whether they were friends or employees, but Balmarrow was clearly in charge. Willis was not helpful, but didn\u0026rsquo;t appear to know anything of note. Phyllis mentioned that Balmarrow\u0026rsquo;s lute case was usually kept in his room, and led Pyrcival there. The door was magically trapped, and so was the floor just inside the door. Phyllis was electrocuted and nearly died, but Warin\u0026rsquo;s healing saved her.\nRogan appeared briefly in the tavern, drinking heavily. Tiberium encouraged him to talk about the missing button; Rogan claimed it was a \u0026ldquo;prank\u0026rdquo; and said he was never able to steal the button. Left unclear was the matter of whether he was able to convince someone else to steal a button for him. Tiberium noted that Rogan was not being entirely honest with him, despite appearing quite drunk. Journal of Pyrzival the Tutor for 2.22.2020\nWell, it looks like everyone is leaving town. Abraham, Balmarrow, the mayor and the high priest have all split. Further investigation of the keep, however, leads us to some interesting conclusions. First, they employ full blooded orcs. Second, apparently the guy who hired the stablehand to steal the button works there. Third the girl who got a stage hand to steal the lute string also works there. Fourth, apparently the clergy there is bad at math.\nStealing the lute string is no mean feat when Balmarrow is alerted - apparently he likes to put magical traps on damn near everything. But when he is not on his guard, nothing is trapped and it\u0026rsquo;s help yourself! But those damn stagehands are also all thieves. Imagine the gall of stealing from your boss!\nAs it is, I\u0026rsquo;m seeing a pattern - all roads lead to the keep. Tellish seems to be more than willing to bend over backwards. I expect if we try to arrest someone, we\u0026rsquo;ll have to slay all those orcs. That\u0026rsquo;ll just break my heart. The captain of the guard is also a half orc. I wonder whose decision it was to let orcs inside the walls. The mayor? Or her assistant?\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 0gp (0gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Pyrcival): 500xp (individually) Clue: Wilbur stole a lute string for Holga (1000xp) Clue: Pyrcival examined Balmarrow's quarters, finding extensive disguise apparatus and magical traps (1000xp) Clue: Tiberium interviewed Rogan over ale (1000xp) Clue: Toured the keep, discovering the orc barracks and temple of Kord (1000xp) Group Total: 4800xp (588xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # The return of Pepe LePew the (now-fried) Shrimp Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"17 October 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-74/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L2: The Assassin’s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten, with a brief interlude. We rejoin the Band of Misfits at the House of Abraham.\nThe party received a note from Abraham over breakfast, indicating he would be traveling to Highport. Shortly thereafter, another note arrived indicating that High Priest Harper had gone into seclusion to study the matter of Krak’s hammer.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 74","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Chris (Peebles), Matt (Fydillian), Mariel (Crystal), Coby (Gunnar), Jeff (Rumble), and new player Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. We join now the A-men, summoned to Elmshire to investigate and seek a cure for a plague. This portion of the campaign will be treated as a recurring flashback and training montage, in ambiguous continuity to the normal campaign.\nPeebles begins the game in Elmshire himself, having tended his family as they passed away from illness. Fydillian, Crystal, Rumble, and Mirabelle volunteered to help after learning of the town\u0026rsquo;s plight in Greyhawk. They boarded a coach together and were met at the town gate by Mayor Tallbarrow. Gunnar woke up from a nap in a cart filled with plague victims as it passed by the town, horrifying the medical experts. They made it their first order of business to get him to the nearest hospital where he could be kept isolated, despite Rumble\u0026rsquo;s Detect Magic spell detecting some small magic on the plague victims in the cart and none on Gunnar. The exact workings of the plague remain somewhat opague, but seem to include nausea, vomiting, and eventually pustules that lead to scarring and difficulty healing. Victims who survive wear rags covering their skin to conceal their scarring and perhaps even open wounds.\nAfter Gunner was conducted to the hospital, another plague victim arrived. He had felt fine the day before, but nauseous in the morning, followed by vomiting. His daughter, Gwen, arrived shortly afterwards and reported her mother needed help coming to the hospital as well. Tom Wheelbarrow volunteered his namesake, and the party collected the family together in the hospital while Peebles tried to convince Gunnar (unsuccessfully) that Gunnar needed to remain in the hospital himself. The family\u0026rsquo;s symptoms were the same \u0026ndash; fine yesterday, but woke up with nausea and vomiting. Their usual food sources were their backyard garden, cheese and milk from Bessie the cow, and occasionally the farmer\u0026rsquo;s market. Staff at the hospital mentioned that plague victims who survive are almost all halflings; humans, elves, and half-orcs who catch the plague seem to die rapidly (though not universally). Halflings seem to have about 50/50 odds of death, other races 80/20.\nMeanwhile, Rumble used his Detect Magic to investigate the farmer\u0026rsquo;s market (the only positive result came from a pig of unusual size). Bessie the cow and the farmer\u0026rsquo;s house were likewise free of magical influence.\nAfter finishing their questions for the family and getting them settled in, the group met up with Rumble, who had a discussion with Bessie about why her people were sick. She moooed about scratching noises in the night. Moving inside the house, the party searched carefully for vermin. Instead, they found a trapdoor, placed under the bed. Attempts from Fydo and Crystal to move the bed failed, but Peebles remembered that the beds in Elmshire are usually fastened to the floor to prevent theft. He was able to move the bed easily and open the trapdoor. Below was a root cellar, filled with reasonably fresh foodstuffs. The party sent Peebles and Fydollian down to examine it, and those two worthies discovered a secret passage leading to the root cellar of the house next door, which belonged to a halfling named Smith of notably poor disposition. From there a new passage lead onward to the next house, and from there, two passages in new directions.\nWhile the advance party (Gunnar, Peebles and Fydo) explored, the rest of the group (save Rumble, who was conversing with Bessie) debated whether to descend into the cellars. Eventually, they decided to do so, but their debate had unexpected consequences. When Gunnar turned back and removed his weight from part of the floor he was standing on, the whole floor collapsed. Despite grabbing at the walls, he fell heavily to the ground in a bruising impact. Peebles and Fydo struggled to lift him out of the pit without much success, until Fydo\u0026rsquo;s sensitive noise detected a hint of oil \u0026ndash; something had soaked Gunnar\u0026rsquo;s cloak in the stuff! Hurriedly, Gunnar stripped off the garment and this time Fydo was able to pull him out of the fit.\nUnfortunately, the next thing Peebles saw was something at the other end of the corridor striking a match and tossing it into the pit. Luckily Gunnar had escaped, but the explosion that followed brought the tunnel roof down. Passage forward was blocked. The group retreated to the surface, crossed the street, and made inquiries at the house which seemed most likely to have a connected root seller. A silent figure, wrapped heavily in rags, opened the door in response to their insistent pounding\u0026hellip;\nWhen they begin to question him, he fled down the trapdoor into the cellar. Gunnar followed immediately, meeting a crowd of \u0026hellip; kobolds? One by one, the rest of the group followed, slaying a total of 6 kobolds between them. Gunnar slew one, Fydo two, and Peebles three \u0026ndash; one with a sling bullet thrown by hand, two with pots and pans. (Due to this, and some confusion about clerics and slings, I will permit Peebles to take Pots and Pans as a thrown weapon proficiency). Sadly, however, Fydillian, Gunnar, and Mirabelle were struck by the kobold\u0026rsquo;s weapons, which seemed to bear some kind of a poison. They all felt sick, and the wounds were swollen, but they not yet badly hampered\u0026hellip; at least, not immediately after taking the wounds. The Journal of Peebles, Physician-At-Large Maeris,\nOur friends and family may finally have some hope. This wasting disease takes a lot of us, particularly the natives. Months have passed, and I still can\u0026rsquo;t fathom why halflings seem to be the only folks dying. The tall folk seem to get sick, but eventually recover. I\u0026rsquo;m stumped, Mae.\nThem high and mighty in Greyhawk proper seem to have finally taken notice our plight, though. They\u0026rsquo;ve seen fit to send some help, whether to treat the sick, or perhaps find a cure, I can\u0026rsquo;t reckon. After we\u0026rsquo;d done our proper introductions, one of the humans, a big ole man called \u0026ldquo;Gunnar\u0026rdquo; stumbled out of a gravedigger\u0026rsquo;s wagon, nonplussed and confused. I gave him a real talkin\u0026rsquo; down, and made the young man go straight to our makeshift hospital. I don\u0026rsquo;t really see anything the matter with him physically, but he acts like he\u0026rsquo;s been kicked in the head by a mule. Won\u0026rsquo;t listen worth a damn, either. Reckon his papa didn\u0026rsquo;t whip him enough, didn\u0026rsquo;t teach him a respect for elders or authority.\nI left the simpleton to the staff, and made to collect another who\u0026rsquo;s fallen ill. The folks who came from the city followed along, and when we got to the door, a strange elf was talkin\u0026rsquo; to Betsy the cow. Never thought I\u0026rsquo;d see such a thing. Mayhap there\u0026rsquo;s more to this sickness than killin\u0026rsquo; halflings. Leaving him to his conversation (wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want to be rude), we took a look in the house. An entire family in this home had taken sick, and we thought it smart to see if anything jumped out at us. In the basement, we found tunnels, going right under the neighbor\u0026rsquo;s place, that rat Mr. Smith! The old man hollered at us to keep the noise down, as if he could hear us, anyhow! In one tunnel, which seemed to be going across the street above, that Gunnar fell right into a pit. The Gods certainly made him a big guy, but they didn\u0026rsquo;t exactly waste any senses on him. While we pulled him out, a brief flicker of light was the only warning we had before some damn fool lit a flint, and tossed it into the water and oil below! No one was really hurt, though. We didn\u0026rsquo;t find much in them tunnels, but they\u0026rsquo;re clearly not part of the original basement.\nWe guessed where that tunnel may have lead, and believe it\u0026rsquo;d have been across the street. The house directly in line has been abandoned for a few months. The previous occupants had all taken ill early on, and no family had the nerve to move in. We knocked on the door, and, well Mae, I don\u0026rsquo;t really remember what happened after! It\u0026rsquo;s all a blur of kobolds, swords, and tossing cookery. I guess we killed the kobolds. I hate to see such violence in my little town, but when nasty little creatures such as they are involved, the people must be safe!\nNow, what were kobolds doing dressed as (and pretendin\u0026rsquo; to be) halflings?\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 0gp (0gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Peebles): 500xp (individually) Peebles: 100xp for using pots and pans as a weapon (effectively!) Gunnar: 100xp for giving me the opportunity to make a \u0026quot;Bring out your dead\u0026quot; joke Rumble: 100xp for putting up with Bessie's moo-ing Mirabelle: 100xp for forgetting her armor and not arguing about it 6 kobolds: 207xp Discovering the kobolds beneath the surface of Elmshire: 1000xp Group Total: 1807xp (301xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Peebles killing three kobolds with improvised thrown weapons, including pots and pans (100xp) Rumble and Bessie's chat (100xp) \u0026quot;Bring out your dead!\u0026quot; (100xp) Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"3 October 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-73/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL2: The Assassin’s Knot # Chris (Peebles), Matt (Fydillian), Mariel (Crystal), Coby (Gunnar), Jeff (Rumble), and new player Sherrie (Mirabelle) are returning cast members.\nWe left the Band of Misfits investigating a murder in Garrotten. We join now the A-men, summoned to Elmshire to investigate and seek a cure for a plague. This portion of the campaign will be treated as a recurring flashback and training montage, in ambiguous continuity to the normal campaign.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 73","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), and Brian (Pyrcival) are returning cast members. Erica (Theodora) joined us for the first time in a while.\nWe left the party having watched a play (Tiberium, Thic Duc, Pyrcival, and others) and contracted for an assassination (pretty much just Barron) with \u0026ldquo;Captain\u0026rdquo; Basmar. Just as the audience was leaving, a female half-orc wandered into the inn and demanded they bring her all the steak available, and shortly thereafter, fell asleep.\nThe party decided to explore the hidden passages beneath the inn. Starting in room one, they found passages leading to each of the other rooms, labeled with room numbers. They also located a secret door into the rest of the inn\u0026rsquo;s basement, including storage areas and a trap door leading upwards into what appeared to be Abraham\u0026rsquo;s quarters. Pyrcival, Barron, and Amathar explored, with Barron using the Princess\u0026rsquo; ring to turn into a rat and/or midgit. It was in rat form that he explored Abraham\u0026rsquo;s room (after having much difficulty moving the bed out of the way). Barron found a backpack in the middle of being packed, and stole the coin purse from it. On a nearby desk was a letter, in progress, referring to Highport. He also found a shelf of books (some on swordfighting, some on economics, some recipes, and one on \u0026ldquo;the power of the mind\u0026rdquo;). There was a chest placed near a painting of a tiger; when Barron approached the chest, the painting came to life and roared loudly twice, enough to summon Abraham and friends from the common room.\nThe investigation failed to find Barron himself and eventually the inn calmed down once more. The party began preparations to retire for the evening, when Barron discovered a note left on his door. It suggested a meeting at dawn on Thursday, presumably from Captain Basmar.\nAmathar spend some time flying invisibly around the keep and the harbor, peering into windows with detect magic active. He was hoping to locate a magical cloak that would identify assassin candidates. He located a great deal of magic, particularly in the keep, but no magic cloaks. Captain Basmar\u0026rsquo;s ship, the Silent Night, was not in the harbor.\nWilfong, who had been playing with Basmar and his friends, was found leaving his room in the middle of the night. Amathar first cast Sleep, and then Charm to interrogate him. Thus influenced, he admitted he had magic items (\u0026ldquo;Tools of my trade\u0026rdquo;) in the form of a ring and amulet. The ring was protective, the amulet he was reluctant to describe. Aside from that, he claimed to know nothing of the Duke\u0026rsquo;s assassination aside from rumors after the fact, and was already planning to leave town after Abraham made an announcement about thieves targeting the inn. He did not specify exactly how he makes his living; apparently he wanders from town to town gambling. How that equates to making a living was left unclear.\nThe rest of the night passed without incident.\nAmathar is maintaining a list of clues.\nDiary of Pyrzival the Locksmith for 1/25/2020 # Well, the play was very enjoyable, and a more subtle second examination of the backstage revealed no incriminating evidence, so I suspect the playhouse and bard are both in the clear, it certainly appears to be a frame job. We returned to the inn to find that Amathar and Barron had explored the underground tunnels together, and were trying to break into the trapdoors of the other rooms. I lent a hand, helping to force a trapdoor and a picking lock or two, even searching for traps a couple times, but no incriminating evidence was to be found.\nThat changed, however, when we searched \u0026ldquo;The Captains\u0026rdquo; room - we found a disguise kit and a trap on the front door. Also, with his ship, he had ample opportunity to go back and forth between Garroten and Highport. I suspect he might be an active member of the group, if not the actual assassin himself. While he has long hair and the suspect had short hair, that\u0026rsquo;s modifiable with a disguise kit.\nTib and Amathar also questioned one of the other guests at the inn, a professional gambler and small time thief, but he appeared to not be involved, and was leaving town to avoid undue attention.\nAmathar also did some magical reconnaissance, investigating the keep and the docks, looking for the smugglers ship. The keep apparently employs full blooded orcs and half orcs for security - something Highport frowns on, as do most civilizations. While I generally don\u0026rsquo;t have it against half orcs -they can\u0026rsquo;t help what they are - I\u0026rsquo;m not fond of orcs at all, and I wonder if we can roll cleaning up the orc force into our mandate to investigate Garrotten.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll have to think on that one, and perhaps enlist the assistance of Tib, as he knows very well all orcs are evil. Of the Second Earthday of Patchwall\nShould Mother ever read these notes, I hope she\u0026rsquo;s able to understand how difficult this road can be. Authority, we may have courtesy Highport. Cooperation, however, is at a premium. Lacking proper paperwork to prove our position, we\u0026rsquo;ve resorted to entering the premises of a suspect, without his knowing. We\u0026rsquo;ve very strong evidence that he\u0026rsquo;s an assassin, but that does little to make me feel in the right.\nWhile I was investigating elsewhere, Barron had an encounter with the Captain Basmar. Basmar agreed to a smuggling operation with Barron, and when asked about \u0026lsquo;removing people\u0026rsquo;, agreed that\u0026rsquo;s very possible, as well. Barron has assured us that no harm will come to the man he\u0026rsquo;s named (General Parnetti). When we quietly investigated the Captain\u0026rsquo;s room later in the night, the others found several disguise kits, and other known implements of an assassin. Upon retiring for the night, Barron and Leah also found a note upon their door, asking to meet in two days time. We hope to be able to capture and interrogate the man, so that he may lead us to the leader of the suspected guild.\nOf note, that same night while Pryz, Barron, and Amathar were exploring the tunnels beneath the inn, we heard a fierce roar within the inn. The beast sounded twice, and I rushed to defend the patrons. Upon entering a storeroom, then Abraham\u0026rsquo;s own chambers, we found the sound was emanating from a large portrait of a tiger, which I confirmed to be a magical trap. The innkeeper reported some coin had been taken, but it appears the thief had been scared off. I explained to him our discovery of tunnels beneath his inn, and he rushed off to warn his guests. After Warin and I once more retired to my room, I heard a scuffle next door. A loud night, and not one for sleeping, apparently. I stuck my head out, and found the door next to mine slightly ajar. Opening the door, I found the occupant hurriedly packing his belongings. As everyone in this town seems to be of shady dealings, Amathar quickly magick\u0026rsquo;d him to sleep. We temporarily relieved him of his weapons, and when he awoke, he was very forthcoming with the mage. He\u0026rsquo;s scared for his well-being, after the thievery was reported. I don\u0026rsquo;t believe he\u0026rsquo;s the culprit, however, as we searched his belongings, and he\u0026rsquo;s got nearly nothing. We\u0026rsquo;ve let him be about his way, and I genuinely hope he\u0026rsquo;s able to find a new life away from this nefarious town.\nFinally, during the previous night\u0026rsquo;s fracas, Amathar has done a light recon of the keep, itself. He\u0026rsquo;s found many sources of magic, but identified none as a cloak, specifically. Disconcertingly, he\u0026rsquo;s also discovered a contingent of orcs being kept in the barracks. Abraham says they\u0026rsquo;re not released to the town, but kept in case of extreme need. Even so, keeping creatures of evil is ill portent.\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Barron: +25gp (Abraham\u0026rsquo;s travel purse) Treasure: 500gp (55gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Pyrcival, Tiberium): 500xp (individually) Clue: Confirmed Rogan works at the keep from Abraham (500xp) Clue: Abraham plans to leave to go to Highport (500xp) Clue: Caught Abraham in a lie about the underground passages (500xp) Clue: Harper has gone into seclusion to deal with the hammer, according to a note provided by Harmin (500xp) Clue: A hint of evil was detected somewhere on the temple grounds (500xp) Group Total: 3200xp (417xp each) Clues # A ruby was found under the body of the Duke A red leather button was found clutched in the Duke's grasp A golden lute string was found near the entrance to a secret passage leading to the Princess Bride's rooms The Princess claimed she saw a figure fading into blue mist The Princess's wedding dress was torn Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"19 September 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-72/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL2: The Assassin’s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), and Brian (Pyrcival) are returning cast members. Erica (Theodora) joined us for the first time in a while.\nWe left the party having watched a play (Tiberium, Thic Duc, Pyrcival, and others) and contracted for an assassination (pretty much just Barron) with “Captain” Basmar. Just as the audience was leaving, a female half-orc wandered into the inn and demanded they bring her all the steak available, and shortly thereafter, fell asleep.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 72","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party having separated the local armorsmith from his evil hammer. Arrangements were made to store the hammer at the temple of Osphrem, by way of Harmin, who gave it to Lothario.\nThe next step was back at the inn, where a close inspection of the host\u0026rsquo;s vest revealed that he was, in fact, missing a button. When this was pointed out, and the implications made clear, he began asking the staff if they knew what had happened to it. When Tiberium checked on his mount, Strider, he noted that the stableboy seemed nervous around him. A kind word led to a confession: he had stolen Abraham\u0026rsquo;s button, at the request of an errand boy from the keep named Rogan, in return for a few silver coins. He described Rogan as short but strong, usually dressed in the simple uniform used by the keep\u0026rsquo;s lowest-ranking employees. Rogan is known around town for running errands both within the keep and sometimes in town, fetching packages or carrying messages. Tiberium pronounced him forgiven after the confession, and made note of the new person of interest. The working theory is that at least some of the evidence was planted to frame inconvenient people in town.\nWhile all of this was going on, a series of townfolk stopped by the inn for lunch. Thic Duc had a conversation with one, a burly man with an emotional support wolf, who listened politely to talk of Pholtus but countered that if there was any single true deity, it was obviously the natural world itself. He seemed easygoing enough. Other guests included an armed man and his wife, dressed well, and a variety of local fishermen who apparently feel that fish are caught at dawn or dusk and never at lunchtime.\nAfter events at the inn, the party made their way (in separate groups) to take in the play. The plot of the production was simple enough: a female lead, played by Balmarrow in quite competent drag as is the theatrical custom, is deposed from her royal inheritance by evil relatives and must plot to regain her throne. The group (Thic Duc, Pyrcival, and Ahira) then used their backstage passes to meet with the lead actor and suspect. He readily admitted, now that he had time to check, that one of his lute strings was missing \u0026ndash; not from his lute directly, but from his lute case, where such a theft could have gone unnoticed for some time. Balmarrow mentions he checks his backup strings about once a week, switching from one set to the other so they are not kept constantly strung.\nAt the end of the show, Tiberium lingered among the crowd, watching for notable personalities. The crowd was too thick to really isolate a sense of real evil, though as a general matter it was clear that the crowd had many who were not saints. One couple did stand out; Arness and Tellish, the mayor and her aide, dressed to the nines to support the local arts. Tiberium greeted them politely and it was returned; small talk was made. Arness offered her assistance with any matter Tiberium was investigating after he mentioned that he was on a mission, and expressed her surprise and grief at the Duke\u0026rsquo;s murder. His funeral was scheduled for the next evening, she said, and she planned to attend.\nAmathar is maintaining a list of clues.\nDiary of Pyrzival the Gnome for 1.11.2020 # I\u0026rsquo;m touched. Tib got me some invisible ink and a quill for Belmore. I had totally forgotten about this little religious holiday due to all the excitement going on with the murder and all. How that kid found time to go shopping\u0026hellip; Especially when he\u0026rsquo;s preoccupied with an evil hammer they took from a half orc with anger management issues.\nWell, the plot gets thicker! We spoke to Abraham the inn owner, and found he was missing a button, and after some serious conversations with the Minstrel, determined one of his lute strings also went missing. Tiberium managed to locate the thief of the button, and found he stole it for a man named Rogen, or some such name. Rogen is short, either a human midgit, halfling, gnome or dwarf. If he matched the description of the assassin, I\u0026rsquo;d presume we only had one villian, as it stands, I\u0026rsquo;m thinking we have a group. Tiberian seems to think we are dealing with an entire guild, which is an unpleasant possibility.\nThe play was quite good, with the Minstrel playing the lead, a female princess who solves the murder of her father and clears her name so she can take the throne in the meantime. Very well done, and the costuming was astounding. So much so that it appeared the dwarf completely believed there was an actress playing the lead. Which begs the question - if an actor can so completely deceive someone, what can a trained assassin do? Could he have posed as Abraham in Highport? Could he also have posed as the senile old cleric as well?\nSo far, I suspect that the assassin decided to take the contract, and also to frame three people who have been problems for his guild. So he hired a few dupes to steal incriminating evidence to plant at the scene of the murder. Why the cleric - he\u0026rsquo;s so senile he seems odd man out. Could the murderer personally gain from his murder? Must find out more about the clergy of the fish god, see who benefits from his removal.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nOf the Second Waterday of Patchwall (Pt. II) # With the orc out of harm\u0026rsquo;s way, Warin and I set off to discuss the hammer with Harmon, whom appears to be the practical High Priest (with Harper\u0026rsquo;s condition). After some discussion, he agreed that until such time as they are able to destroy the hammer, Osphrem will protect it in their keeping. He called one of his men over, a Groundskeeper called Lothar, whom I\u0026rsquo;d met earlier. The man was carefully handed the weapon, and told to add to their secure storage; I\u0026rsquo;d have felt a lot better, had Harmon or Basil taken this on personally, but Lothar has earned their trust, and deserves my respect.\nWith the hammer in safe keeping, the entire party elected to convene in Warrin and I\u0026rsquo;s lodging. We were able to catch one another up on any new information and make plans to attend a performance of the local theater. The head of the troupe, and third of our original suspects, had agreed to meet with Pryz afterward, where we hoped to learn if he\u0026rsquo;s missing any of strings from his lute. On the way to the theater, though, I encountered a young man tending the animals in the stable. I wished to thank you for his work with Strider, as the animal can be difficult and intimidating for some. When I attempted to flag him down, he instead walked away quickly. Catching up, I began thanking him, when he broke down, half in tears. After gentle coaxing and assurance, the child confessed that a man from the keep, Rogan, had paid him to steal a button from Abraham\u0026rsquo;s vest! I assured the stableboy that Pelor values forgiveness above all, and that in confessing his mistake, he\u0026rsquo;d be once more in His Warmth. This seemed to calm the boy, and after being handed a few silver pieces, ran off to get back to his duties.\nAs we walked to the theater, I recalled the conversation to my compatriots, and we discussed the implications. To stay somewhat separate from the group, I\u0026rsquo;ve gone ahead and been seated separately. The performance was very entertaining, and well-produced. I wish we\u0026rsquo;d had such a fine troupe in Dunwitch, as it\u0026rsquo;d go far to relieve the relentless misery of the village.\nAfter the show ended, I lingered behind the crowd, searching for signs of evil, assassins, or anything else out of the ordinary. My eyes were drawn to a couple in the crowd, to whom the surrounding mob seemed to defer. Asking a neighbor, I was informed that this is the local Mayor, Arness, a middle-aged woman with dark hair. Her companion is a man called Tellish. Approximately the same age, the two seemed from afar to know one another well, perhaps having worked together for many years. I approached them to introduce myself. Though they gave me little thought, they were polite and offered their services while I\u0026rsquo;m in town. I wonder if they\u0026rsquo;d be inclined to discuss the small man from the keep, Rogan, or his duties/access.\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Barron: -212gp (2 healing potions and various minor expenses) Treasure: 0gp (gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Pyrcival, Tiberium): 500xp (individually) Clue: Falpir (stableboy at the House of Abraham) was hired by Rogen to steal one of Abraham's buttons (500xp) Clue: Barron talked to Basmar and attempted to arrange a smuggling and assassination (500xp) Clue: Balmarrow says he is missing a golden lute string from his lute case (500xp) Group Total: 2100xp (350xp each) Clues # A ruby was found under the body of the Duke A red leather button was found clutched in the Duke's grasp A golden lute string was found near the entrance to a secret passage leading to the Princess Bride's rooms The Princess claimed she saw a figure fading into blue mist The Princess's wedding dress was torn Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"5 September 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-71/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L2: The Assassin’s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party having separated the local armorsmith from his evil hammer. Arrangements were made to store the hammer at the temple of Osphrem, by way of Harmin, who gave it to Lothario.\nThe next step was back at the inn, where a close inspection of the host’s vest revealed that he was, in fact, missing a button. When this was pointed out, and the implications made clear, he began asking the staff if they knew what had happened to it. When Tiberium checked on his mount, Strider, he noted that the stableboy seemed nervous around him. A kind word led to a confession: he had stolen Abraham’s button, at the request of an errand boy from the keep named Rogan, in return for a few silver coins. He described Rogan as short but strong, usually dressed in the simple uniform used by the keep’s lowest-ranking employees. Rogan is known around town for running errands both within the keep and sometimes in town, fetching packages or carrying messages. Tiberium pronounced him forgiven after the confession, and made note of the new person of interest. The working theory is that at least some of the evidence was planted to frame inconvenient people in town.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 71","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Jeff (Amathar), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah) and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party dealing with a paralyzed half-orc and his hammer. With the help of the local guard, they carted him to the church and inquired about possible remedies for the (presumed) cursed weapon he carried. Unfortunately, the item was quite powerful, and it would take time for the clerics there to pray for the spells they would need. Before the prayers were finished, Krak recovered from his paralysis and left \u0026ndash; with his hammer \u0026ndash; to look for the paladin in the nearest tavern. Tiberium, overhearing the search from a nearby enclosed chamber, felt that discretion was the better part of valor. Krak left with the newly arrived Barron and Leah in tow. The trio seemed to get along just fine.\nThe distraction allowed Thic Duc to examine the inn\u0026rsquo;s guest book, obtaining a list of names of the employees and guests (including the party) along with charges for food and drink. (See Amathar\u0026rsquo;s notes for details)\nBack at the church, Warin and Harmin finished memorizing spells and went to the tavern to try to separate Krak from his hammer. Krak had been reasonably jovial with Barron, Leah, and Thic Duc, even teaching them drinking songs in Orcish (\u0026ldquo;99 dirty green elves on the wall, 99 dirty green elves\u0026hellip; take one down and spill the guts on the ground, 98 dirty green elves on the wall\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;). Krak also shared his sad tale of watching his parents and tribe get slaughtered by paladins as a child, who spared him only because of his half-human ancestry (\u0026ldquo;The stinking hypocritical racists!\u0026rdquo;). It was during the slaughter that he claimed the shaman\u0026rsquo;s hammer and swore vengeance against all paladins. Despite that, he seemed jovial enough, if a bit rough on the tables\u0026hellip; but when Tiberium and Warin deliberately called attention to themselves, Krak got up immediately to attack them. Harmin and his aide tried Hold Person and Remove Curse, but the latter failed when Krak dodged out of the way. Fortunately the Hold Person took effect, and Warin\u0026rsquo;s Remove Curse separated the half-orc from his hammer.\nAmathar examined the hammer, noting an inscription in Orcish: \u0026ldquo;Whomsoever bears this hammer, and is worthy, shall wield the power of Gruumesh.\u0026rdquo; The priests added that the hammer definitely radiated both strong evil and chaos. Destroying the hammer would take some effort, but at least the half-orc Krak was free of its influence. Amathar wrapped the hammer in blessed cloth and using Bigby\u0026rsquo;s Dextrous Digits to place it on the roof of the church.\nWhen the second hold person wore off, with Tiberium and Warin out of sight, Krak wandered off in search of his hammer. He seemed calmer, without it and without a paladin in sight, but whether he would stay that way remains to be seen.\nSpeaking of Tiberium and Warin, they had followed an acolyte of Osphrem back to the temple, where Harper had ordered an octopus for his lunch. Tiberium gently interrogated the old man, learning that he didn\u0026rsquo;t travel much, was capable of powerful spells, claimed no grudge against the duke, and appeared to be going mildly senile. Also, when his octopus arrived cold, he had it placed on a birdbath visible from his window, and called down a Flame Strike to warm it. Harper offered to memorize a spell that might help with the hammer, and set the price by spinning four wheels of chance set into the walls of his quarters. Tiberium promised to come back later if they needed a spell.\nAmathar is maintaining a list of clues. Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s Journal Of the Second Waterday of Patchwall\nGarrotten is a strange, confusing town. 1/10, do not recommend. I\u0026rsquo;ve discussed our situations with the High Priest, Harper, to surprising stagnation. I\u0026rsquo;m beginning to think the man, while clearly favored by Osprem, may have lost his mind. Having secured the accursed hammer from the deceived half-orc (poor man believes paladins would slaughter his people, merely on account of being orcs and half-orcs, including women and children. A sad tale, but clearly invented by some evil power.), we\u0026rsquo;re seeking to have it destroyed (or safely contained). Harper, or his man Harmin, may have the power to destroy the thing, but have shown curious reluctance to act. A powerful destructive artefact sits in their hands, but they\u0026rsquo;ve no urgency to rid their community of it\u0026rsquo;s evil. I\u0026rsquo;m truly taken aback. Warrin and I may have to take this into our own hands, and find an acceptable path forward.\nTo more merry tidings, today we celebrate the Feast of Balmore! Warrin doesn\u0026rsquo;t seem familiar, but I\u0026rsquo;m glad to help spread the celebration! The Church of Pelor recognizes the Feast of Balmore, signifying the turning to good of Balmore, a mage of great power and greater evil. The man had been without regard for his fellow life, rarely leaving his lair. In events long lost to history, however, he saw the futility of living for self, and gave his life to rescue dozens of nearby townsfolks from a forgotten catastrophe. As he passed, the sun of Pelor shone brightly upon his dying breath, and he sang a final hymm. Pelor welcomed him in his arms, and sits with Balmore still. Now, on the 12th of Patchwall (today), we celebrate by offering small gifts to those to whom we\u0026rsquo;re closest. As such, I\u0026rsquo;ve given each of my companions a token:\nTo Warrin, the Holy Canon of Pelor. A prize among priests, may he consult in times of need, and to help those seeking Pelor's warmth. To Barron, a necklace of only a band of silk string piercing a single Pseudo-dragon scale. In remembrance of Alfonso, may he rest. To Pryzival, though he has not yet been given, a set of invisible ink and a quil, the wording of which can only be revealed by a secret known to he and I. To Leah, a simple leather belt, with a buckle resembling her beloved wardog, Pyro. May he rest with Pelor! To Ahera, a fine leather strap, to secure her war hammer. May she long wield it! To Thic Ducc, a curious thing I found with a rare book dealer. An old Canon of Pholtus, which dates to some of the earliest Pholtus worship. Stunningly, it corroborates his strange heretical view of Pholtus, and the other gods. In modern times, the book is unjustly banned, a wrong he and I will correct when we return to Highport. Finally, to Amathar, a history of my own faith, telling of the Plarsan heresy. Plarsan was a priest from several hundreds of years past. He believed that like the light from our sun, the light of Pelor cannot, and must not, reach all places. As such, he believed his sect must create these 'caverns' into which even Pelor's light cannot reach. A chilling thought, but an important tale to be remembered. To be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Barron: -212gp (2 healing potions and various minor expenses) Treasure: 0gp (gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Tiberium): 500xp (individually) Freed Krak from the curse(?) of his hammer (1000xp) Clue: Obtained list of guests at the inn, along with some additional notes (500xp) Clue: Abraham the innkeep has written notes of taking a herbal remedy the day of the murder, explaining his lack of public visibility (500xp) Clue: Harper, the high priest of Osphrem, does not appear to have all his marbles in a known location (500xp) Group Total: 3000xp (600xp each) Clues # A ruby was found under the body of the Duke A red leather button was found clutched in the Duke's grasp A golden lute string was found near the entrance to a secret passage leading to the Princess Bride's rooms The Princess claimed she saw a figure fading into blue mist The Princess's wedding dress was torn Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"22 August 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-70/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL2: The Assassin’s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Jeff (Amathar), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah) and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party dealing with a paralyzed half-orc and his hammer. With the help of the local guard, they carted him to the church and inquired about possible remedies for the (presumed) cursed weapon he carried. Unfortunately, the item was quite powerful, and it would take time for the clerics there to pray for the spells they would need. Before the prayers were finished, Krak recovered from his paralysis and left – with his hammer – to look for the paladin in the nearest tavern. Tiberium, overhearing the search from a nearby enclosed chamber, felt that discretion was the better part of valor. Krak left with the newly arrived Barron and Leah in tow. The trio seemed to get along just fine.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 70","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L2: The Assassin\u0026rsquo;s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Jeff (Amathar), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira) and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party having been near-witnesses to the murder of the Duke on the night of his wedding. They captured a fleeing servant, gained access to the crime scene, and interrogated the Princess before being herded into a room to wait for the council to figure out what to do. Barron took advantage of the confusion to slip away, leabing a note.\n\u0026quot;Leah and I are following a lead involving the immediate danger of an innocent soul. We did not have time to gather forces, and will regroup as soon as able to The Exemption.\u0026quot; While waiting, Thic Duc returned to the group and shared his knowledge of the evidence. The group made some discreet inquiries among the musicians present and learned that the golden lute string was a trademark of a bard named Balmarrow from the nearby town of Garotten. Strangely, the group remembered the town well; it was where they had found the Princess after defeating the slavers. Later, after volunteering their services, they were called to an audience with the council.\nThe Princess was there, looking distraught, and saying little. Wallace (\u0026ldquo;the Walrus\u0026rdquo;), a short, balding man with impressive moustaches who held the position of high priest, led the proceedings. The wizard, Jim, was the third member of the council.\nBy examination, the party determined that the ruby radiated a faint aura of divine magic; not as if it was itself enchanted. Tiberium speculated, and confirmed by examination, that this was consistent with the ruby having once been part of a holy symbol. The ruby did not radiate evil. The council\u0026rsquo;s investigators did determine that a man had been seen with a similar ruby: the high priest of Garrotten, a man named Harper, had a holy symbol consisting of a silver whale with ruby eyes. He had been seen wearing that symbol entering the southern gate of Highport at 6pm on Saturday.\nThe red leather button belonged to a man named Abraham, who had entered via the southern gate at 8pm on Saturday and arranged for a substantial purchase of wine from a local merchant (who noted the red buttons and remembered the man\u0026rsquo;s name). Abraham runs a tavern and inn, \u0026ldquo;Abraham\u0026rsquo;s House\u0026rdquo;, in Garrotten.\nWith so many threads leading to Garotten and multiple suspects, the council proposed that the Band of Heroic Misfits travel to Garotten themselves and attempt to discover the culprit. The council would run the investigation in Highport and forward any further clues via Sending. The party gathered aboard The Exemption and set sail for the nearest port to Garrotten.\nGarotten itself is a few miles inland from a small port town, near a lake. The lake is both fed and drained via a river eventually running into the Nyr Dyv, but The Exemption is too large to safely traverse the river. The party traveled by land, with Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s Strider getting quite a lot of attention.\nArriving at Garrotten, the party split into three groups: Pyrcival and Ahira, Tiberium and Warrin, and Thic Duc with Amathar. All took rooms at Abraham\u0026rsquo;s inn, one for each group. However, prior to approaching the inn, Amathar spoke with a vagrant sleeping under a bush, seeking to cast Charm Person on him. The spell\u0026rsquo;s success wasn\u0026rsquo;t immediately apparent as the man was asleep, but when Amathar woke him to ask questions about the town, he was helpful and friendly enough. Amathar gave him three silver pieces to make inquiries on his behalf:\nWhere is Balmarrow's current location? Where is Harper in town? What is Abraham's disposition? Is he a good man or not? Can a contact be made with the assassin's guild? Amathar received the following answers when he inquired later:\nHe lives in a house near the theater, with the rest of his regular cast members. He canceled the usual performance Friday, was not seen in Garrotten Saturday, but was seen Sunday. Harper lives on the church grounds, though he rarely interacts with townsfolk except when his more powerful spells are needed. He has been increasingly eccentric lately. Abraham seems to be a good man, but seems strangely unenthusiastic about Garrotten's recent economic boom. Rumor has it one of the residents of Abraham's inn is connected to the guild, but I don't know which one. I also don't know if Abraham knows. Upon entering their rooms, Amathar immediately detected a secret trapdoor. Similar doors were discovered in the other rooms, leading to a tiny (half-height) underground passage connecting all the rooms. The group took steps to block the doors from opening into their rooms, and left Ahira guarding one of the rooms which they planned to use for everyone. It is worth noting the doors open downwards.\nTiberium, Warrin, and (separately) Thic Duc traveled to the temple of Osphrem. The paladin and priest spoke with the groundskeeper and briefly toured the vinyards before asking about a meeting with Harper. They spoke with Thyme and Samster and made an appointment to speak to Harmin the next day in the early afternoon.\nMeanwhile, Pyrcival investigated the theater where Balmarrow hosts his plays. After picking several locks, he viewed the stage, the ticket booth, and the dressing areas. None of them had equipment for full disguises, though there were many costumes. No one was home, so he left a note: \u0026ldquo;The Duke was murdered. You\u0026rsquo;re implicated. \u0026ndash; A friend (PS: You don\u0026rsquo;t know me)\u0026rdquo;\nAs Thic Duc and Warrin were exhausted the party agreed to retire early. They gathered together in room number 1, leaving the other rooms with telltales to detect if they were investigated. The night passed without incident in their room. When they checked the telltales, room 3 had been disturbed; room 4 was not.\nPyrcival investigated the theater in the morning, but they were not yet open when he arrived. He picked the locks again, took two tickets, left 2 gold, and another note: \u0026ldquo;You need to open earlier. 2 gold for 2 tickets. See you tonight, looking forward to the show.\u0026rdquo;\nTiberium, Warrin, and Thic Duc took a brief tour of the town in the morning, noting an armorer run by a half-orc. Hearing loud swearing in orcish, they knocked and were (eventually) greeted by the armorer himself, a half-orc named Krak suffering from a vicious hangover. He seemed amenable enough until Tiberium healed him with a touch, and admitted to being a paladin of Pelor. At that, Krak immediately yelled out in fury and attacked with the hammer he carried, striking a severe blow despite Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s armor. A moment later, Warrin\u0026rsquo;s Hold Person took effect. A moment later Tiberum grasped the handle of the hammer, trying to disarm the half-orc; it nearly burned his hand through his gauntlet, and the dent it left in his breastplate smelt of sulfur and brimstone.\nAt almost the same moment, a town patrol cried out from outside.\nThe whole group (the still-held Krak, the party members, and the patrol) traveled to the temple of Osphrem to figure out what had happened and whether any laws had been violated.\nAmathar is maintaining a list of clues.\nFrom the Journal of Pyrzival # Well, since Tiberian has been handling himself so well, it\u0026rsquo;s been feeling like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. My studies into locks and mechanisms has been progressing well, and I\u0026rsquo;ve been working on my other life skills as well. I\u0026rsquo;ve realized, here in this large town, how much of life I\u0026rsquo;ve been missing, and am resolved to take advantage of it and start having a bit of fun.\nBut enough about me. Tragically, the Duke was murdered on his wedding night, right after the wedding\u0026rsquo;s consummation (luckily enough for the princess). We did warn him, but he didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to take our warning seriously. Well, so it goes. It turns out that three clues were left with the body, however they were so sloppily left that I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine they\u0026rsquo;re anything but the crudest of plants meant to draw attention to the town of Garrotten, which, just so happens to be where we apprehended the princess before the wedding. Co-incidence? Perhaps, but perhaps not. The council of regents seems to think we can be of use in the investigation, and we get tasked with heading to Garrotten and investigating it.\nThe three clues, implicating a clergyman, the owner of the inn, and the owner of the theater, are shown to us, and we set sail.\nAs we approach town, we device a strategy. A town full of assassins will watch the clergy closely, but might not do the same with some scholars, or traveling mercenaries. So we split into three groups: Tib and Warren, Ahera and myself, and Amathar and Thic Duc. We take rooms at the inn, and find a trapdoor in the floor of each of our rooms. Interesting.\nThe clergy investigated the cleric, the magician and monk investigated the innkeeper, so I sent out to investigate the lutist. I enter the theater, and poke around a little, but find nothing really very useful for making disguises for the three people implicated. I decide I\u0026rsquo;ll leave a not for the owner, and do so warning him that he\u0026rsquo;s being framed for murder. I figure he\u0026rsquo;ll come looking for me, and I can explain the easiest way would be for him to head to highport and clear his name.\nWe spend the night in the rooms, and start out again in the morning. Ahera expresses an interest in going to the show tonight, but the box office is not open, so I go in and buy two tickets. The others can get their own. She and I head to the baker and enjoy a breakfast of bread and a pitcher of farmhouse ale.\nI hear a disturbance on the other side of town\u0026hellip; What is that kid getting himself into NOW? From the Journal of Tiberium\n\u0026ldquo;Time is short, and events moving quickly. After the Duke\u0026rsquo;s murder, Baron, whom we\u0026rsquo;re reasonably sure is uninvolved, has gone off with Leah, leaving only a short note. He says he\u0026rsquo;s making something right, and helping the innocent, but I truthfully ask: Does he recognize innocence any longer? My confidence in him has greatly waned, of late.\nThis isn\u0026rsquo;t the time to dwell on Barron, however. We\u0026rsquo;ve been directed to Garrotten, a town near Bone Hill and Restenford, to which clues have led following the assassination. While exploring, we wandered upon an armorsmith. Passing by, I was able to make out moans of pain from inside. We knocked and an enormous half-orc came to the door. While we browsed his wares, Warren offered to heal the man, but I could tell the priest was struggling with helping. I lightly touched the smith, removing his pain. He started, and asked what I\u0026rsquo;d done. I informed him that as a paladin, I\u0026rsquo;d channeled Pelor\u0026rsquo;s grace, removing the head pain. He reared up in rage, and promptly swung his massive hammer at my chest! The blow landed, knocking me back, just as Warrin cast a spell to hold the Hal-orc in place. The guard appeared at this time, and believing that the hammer is driving the hateful attack, we\u0026rsquo;re now taking the held smith to the local temple, for further examination.\u0026rdquo; From Barron\u0026rsquo;s Journal\nIn our adventures going undercover to stop a slave ring, I may have turned a man into a uniduck. This was a man who I believed to be a slaver. He was keeping guard in a room with documents that supported slave activity and at the time I believed him to be part of this operation. In the moment I turned him into the first thing that came to mind for more two reasons\u0026hellip;1)to keep what just happened a secret, and 2) he seemed like a good cover to take the place of. Event\u0026rsquo;s following ended in the sale of said uniduck which I believed to be a slaver himself\u0026hellip;it seemed like solid justice. Evidence has since been brought to my attention that I in fact sold an innocent man into slavery. Well not illegally on a technicality, this is a problem for me. I hate slavers and inadvertently became one. I could never admit my folly to this group, but me and Leah have discussed this at length. I believe we must help this man escape this town least he get deeper into this web of treachery we find at every corner. Tragically the duke was murdered, despite our warnings to him. This complicates matters worse as I believe the man I intend to smuggle out might be in even more danger. Me and Leah left under the cover of chaos to find this man, with no time to spare I left a note for the group and headed out. We found him at one of the slightly seedy watering holes, I think he shit himself when I sat down next to him also. After coaxing him with many beers, he finally calmed down enough to hear us out in our plan to help get him away from this slave web. He agreed to come along, but under the condition that there will be absolutely no uniducks or transmorphing magic at all(some people just have no sense of adventure I guess). We managed to successfully smuggle him aboard \u0026ldquo;the Exemption\u0026rdquo;, with no issues. We set sail for a undisclosed(witness protection program takes it job seriously) near by city. I\u0026rsquo;d like to say this went of with out any snags, however this man could not handle life at sea and threw up all over the ships deck. We also had a brief incident with an angry flock of sea gulls, the crew managed to deal with by throwing some chum overboard. Upon arrival we met with a contact from the old days, set the innocent man up with a solid legit job. I also gave him the full amount of gold given upon his sale, and left him an extra 100 gold for his troubles. It isn\u0026rsquo;t much, but hopefully this will help balance the scales from a unjust action alittle. Still not going to tell anyone other than Leah that I\u0026rsquo;m not completely heartless. We set sail back to meet up with the party and hopefully solve the murder of the duke.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp I\u0026rsquo;m deducting 5 gold from everyone for various incurred expenses (meals, lodging, tickets) without updating totals Treasure: 0gp (-5gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Pyrcival, Tiberium, Barron): 500xp (individually) Clue: One of the residents at the inn may have a connection to the assassin's guild (500xp) Clue: Trapdoor discovery within the inn (500xp) Pyrcival: Stunningly successful solo operation (100xp) Group Total: 1500xp (300xp each) Clues # A ruby was found under the body of the Duke A red leather button was found clutched in the Duke's grasp A golden lute string was found near the entrance to a secret passage leading to the Princess Bride's rooms The Princess claimed she saw a figure fading into blue mist The Princess's wedding dress was torn Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"8 August 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-69/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L2: The Assassin’s Knot # Chris (Tiberium), Jeff (Amathar), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira) and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members.\nWe left the party having been near-witnesses to the murder of the Duke on the night of his wedding. They captured a fleeing servant, gained access to the crime scene, and interrogated the Princess before being herded into a room to wait for the council to figure out what to do. Barron took advantage of the confusion to slip away, leabing a note.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 69","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members. Guest stars include returning guests William (Sydney) and Jennifer (Ruby) with new arrival Brieanna (Akida).\nWe left the party having captured a dangerous criminal and sent him in the care of the Highport guards to be imprisoned for trial. With this dangerous man apprehended, Tiberium returned to the inn for a much needed meal. He was joined there by Thic Duc, returning from his seven days of fasting and meditation, and shortly thereafter by Sydney, Ruby, and Adira, curious crew members who wanted to ask about the unusual activities their ship had undertaken in the past few days. Tiberium insisted such activities were entirely within the law, and authorized by the Duke. Thic Duc reacted to this with: \u0026ldquo;Do you know Barron?\u0026rdquo;\nThoroughly confused, but somewhat reassured, the sailors asked few questions.\nAfter the meal, Tiberium offered to show off his new steed Strider, currently stabled at the Church of Pelor. The whole group followed, but as they came within sight of the building, a loud quacking noise could be heard, along with a commotion in the stables. Strider\u0026rsquo;s stall behind the church was being shared by\u0026hellip; a Uniduck. Thic Duc recognized it instantly. The only other person in Highport known to have seen a Uniduck was Barron, so obviously he must be involved somehow. When the party gathered around the uniduck and started to ask questions, the animal began scratching in the dirt \u0026ndash; not randomly, but letters, and even words! Specifically \u0026ldquo;HELP NOT DUCK\u0026rdquo;. The duck also reacted to Barron\u0026rsquo;s name.\nThic Duc carried the duck to the Adventure Capitalists, but the duck did not have a policy. Clearly, he was not an adventurer. The next step was the church of Pelor, which would surely offer a duck a second chance. Their first dispel magic attempt produced a man with a unicorn horn; he explained he works as a clerk in a warehouse and was knocked out, then woke up later in a crate as a duck. The area surrounding the crate had chains, likely intended for humanoid slaves, attached to the walls. Clearly the slaving operation in Highport was not fully eradicated. The duck-clerk closed his eyes and wished very hard that he was somewhere else. When he opened his eyes, he was near the church of Pelor. He ran to the other large avian and tried to explain himself with little success, which is where the party found him.\nEventually a second Dispel Magic got rid of the horn, preempting Barron\u0026rsquo;s attempts to saw it off and sell it. Tiberium remained confused about what had occurred, but the seeds of doubt had been planted in the mind of the young (and still perhaps naive) paladin.\nEvents in Highport were moving onwards, however. The appointed time for the wedding arrived the next morning. Most of the party managed to gain entrance to the festivities inside the grand ballroom, thanks to their prior acquaintance with the Duke and a liberal pass-token policy. The wedding itself went off without a hitch, and even the General somehow managed to attend to give his daughter away.\nExcept that, after the wedded couple retired to their rooms, the drunken debauchery was interrupted by screams: \u0026ldquo;The Duke is dead! Murder most foul!\u0026rdquo;\nMost of the party was gathered into a room nearby, but Thic Duc made it to the entrance of the Duke\u0026rsquo;s quarters, close enough to observe the Duke\u0026rsquo;s body \u0026ndash; covered in vicious stab wounds and bearing heavy bruising around his neck \u0026ndash; being taken out of the room and rushed to a cleric. Slipping into the room, Thic Duc noticed a still-moving tapestry \u0026ndash; and behind it, a secret door left open, with a fleeing figure just turning a corner. He pursued; the passage led to the Princess (the fleeing figure) and her chambers. Her wedding dress was torn where the train had been forcibly detached, but she was otherwise unharmed.\nThe Princess claimed she had retired to the bathroom for a moment, and when she returned after hearing muffled sounds of a struggle, the Duke was dead. She caught a glimpse of a male figure pulling up the hood of his cloak and fading into bluish mist; but he was facing away, making future identification difficult.\nThic Duc returned to the Duke\u0026rsquo;s quarters and listened from his hiding place as the guards collected evidence. Notably: a golden lute string, found near the secret passage entrance; a red leather button, clutched in the Duke\u0026rsquo;s grip; and a small ruby lying under the Duke\u0026rsquo;s body.\nMeanwhile, Akida and Barron caught sight of a single figure in servant\u0026rsquo;s garb fleeing out the doors of the ballroom. Setting off in pursuit, the figure transformed into a hawk and took flight \u0026ndash; but Barron used the borrowed ring to do the same, and caught up. With both birds on the ground and an angry dwarf ready to smash, the fleeing figure transformed into a familiar face: Melissa, the Princess\u0026rsquo;s confidant and tutor. She claimed to be fleeing the party to inform the General of the dire news. The party surmised that she was probably pretending to be the General during the wedding, using her own powers of shapeshifting. Malag\u0026rsquo;s Journal: Day One\nthe court here in hiport is \u0026lsquo;suggesting\u0026rsquo; that i keep a journal, to help the probation officer keep an eye on me. what a joke. could be helpful when i get a guild off the ground, though. could help me fix mistakes.\nlets start from the beginning. about a week after adventure capitalists released me and i returned from bone hill, i found myself with a new crew. we began planning a way to scam the duke out of tens of thousands of gold, by selling a caravan with a \u0026lsquo;safe\u0026rsquo; route, using our men and reputation (creating a fake noble house is a challenge), then robbing it blind. in the meantime, we\u0026rsquo;d all be scarce, possibly returning to rookroost. betrayal is a risk of the work, though. one of the smokers we\u0026rsquo;d brought in to obscure our role must have gotten a sweeter deal from the Duke\u0026rsquo;s men. as we left the castle, having negotiated our deal, we found ourselves in the courtyard, surrounded by guards. an entire month in the dungeon, they\u0026rsquo;ve finally let me off. I\u0026rsquo;m to see sergeant pierce twice a week, and i feel eyes on me all the time. gotta find a way to get outta this town, and stay away awhile.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Barron: -50gp (damages from the uniduck incident) Barron: -300 gp (three healing potions) Tiberium: -200gp (two healing potions) Treasure: 0gp (0gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Malag): 500xp (individually) Roleplay (this session): 1000xp each Wedding Bells (Tiberium, Amathar): 1,000xp Preventing Wedding Bells: 0xp Special bonus (Ruby pickpocketing the crowd): 100xp Group Total: xp (xp each) Clues # A ruby was found under the body of the Duke A red leather button was found clutched in the Duke's grasp A golden lute string was found near the entrance to a secret passage leading to the Princess Bride's rooms The Princess claimed she saw a figure fading into blue mist The Princess's wedding dress was torn Roleplaying moments and quotables # Tiberium: \u0026quot;I'm sure everything Barron did was properly legal and authorized...\u0026quot; Thic Duc: \u0026quot;Do you know Barron?\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # The Duke of Highport is dead, killed on his wedding night, in a locked room alone with the Princess Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Thic Duc, Pyrcival, Ahira, and Barron have struck the Princess and done her harm Leah, Amathar, Warin, and Tiberium have so far managed to tolerate the Princess Pyro has fallen in battle... Tiberium's paladin-sense is tingling, giving him a sense that a moral event horizon has been crossed, but he can't put his finger on exactly what happened... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"25 July 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-68/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Chris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Dean (Thic Duc) are returning cast members. Guest stars include returning guests William (Sydney) and Jennifer (Ruby) with new arrival Brieanna (Akida).\nWe left the party having captured a dangerous criminal and sent him in the care of the Highport guards to be imprisoned for trial. With this dangerous man apprehended, Tiberium returned to the inn for a much needed meal. He was joined there by Thic Duc, returning from his seven days of fasting and meditation, and shortly thereafter by Sydney, Ruby, and Adira, curious crew members who wanted to ask about the unusual activities their ship had undertaken in the past few days. Tiberium insisted such activities were entirely within the law, and authorized by the Duke. Thic Duc reacted to this with: “Do you know Barron?”\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 68","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium and Seb), Matt (Barron), Coby (Warin and Gunnar) and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. The DM took over Kindjal, a young officer in the Duke\u0026rsquo;s guard, as a temporarily necessary NPC.\nWe left the party having arranged to smuggle \u0026ldquo;figurines\u0026rdquo;, apparently a code word for slaves, into Highport. Among Barron\u0026rsquo;s hired crew turned out to be a halfling named Seb, who was more than willing to lend a helping hand beyond the usual shipboard duties. They met the customs inspector they had suspected, and he made a show of doing the proper paperwork without actually inspecting their goods or taking any money towards taxes. He directed the ship towards a secluded dock with a nearby hidden door, and said he would return at dusk to unload their cargo. Kindjal said that would be enough to arrest him for corruption, but the party wanted more evidence of his nefariousness.\nThey waited until dusk, when the inspector returned with four men \u0026ndash; two laborers and two in armor and guard uniforms. They unloaded the ship without incident. Barron and Seb stealthily followed their crates through a short passageway into a warehouse, where the crates were left alone for some time. Taking the opportunity presented by a napping inventory clerk, Seb climbed into the man\u0026rsquo;s office and searched his paperwork, finding a number of other \u0026ldquo;figurine\u0026rdquo; deliveries along with a great deal of normal inventory records. Then Seb tied the man\u0026rsquo;s shoes together before leaving.\nShortly thereafter, the clerk was awakened by a loud noise from within one of the crates. At first, it was a simple banging. Then gradually it turned into a man\u0026rsquo;s voice shouting for help. The confused clerk investigated, and finally located the crate the noises were coming from: one of the creates that the party had loaded from their ship. And within was a man they knew: Gunnar, who had somehow taken a wrong turn and fallen into a crate and promptly taken a nap before it was nailed shut.\nThe confusion was sorted out without great difficulty, and Seb took the opportunity to conduct a more thorough search, finding a trap door within the warehouse (under the clerk\u0026rsquo;s shed) that led to a small room with a few coins on the floor. He took the coins but found nothing else of new interest.\nEventually, the party left the warehouse and regrouped inside a local bar to catch up with Gunnar. Barron lingered in the warehouse longer than the others and was still present when a group of laborers arrived to deliver goods. They were met by the clerk, who \u0026ndash; after some initial confusion \u0026ndash; gave them a delivery order for the crates of \u0026ldquo;figurines\u0026rdquo; to the Prawn Shop.\nLater that day, the party went to the Prawn Shop to pick them up. That went\u0026hellip; almost without incident. One of the crates\u0026hellip; quacked. Repeatedly.Upon being opened, a Uniduck was found inside. No one admitted to knowing how the animal had gotten there, but Barron convinced the shop owner to buy it for 90gp along with a promise to convey profits from a sale above 1000gp to Barron (Shopkeeper rolled a natural one resisting Barron\u0026rsquo;s bargaining). Barron threw in the figurines as part of the deal.\nWith the smuggling transaction completed, the party proceeded to the custom\u0026rsquo;s inspector\u0026rsquo;s home to arrest him. That too went without incident, although he may have cast a spell before being arrested. It appeared to have no effect. The two people in guard uniforms with the inspector at the time of his arrest left peacefully when the party found the trap door, though one of them slugged Barron in the face to interrupt his spellcasting. Barron claimed (without much credibility) that he was trying to cleanse the room rather than charm the guard.\nThe trapdoor in his front room, as described by the ladies of the evening to Tiberium, was present but magically locked. Barron studied for two hours to open it with Knock while Tiberium and Warin summoned spiritual advisors to cleanse the room below of evil magic. Because the building itself wasn\u0026rsquo;t particularly valuable, they used a field expedient remedy: burning everything.\nAlthough the custom\u0026rsquo;s inspector is no longer inspecting customs, he never did arrive at the Highport jail. Of the first Moonday of Patchwall\n\u0026ldquo;.. and Philus rejoiced, as the Light of Pelor was cast on the den of Darkness.\u0026rdquo; - Chapter six, quatrain two - The Light of Pelor\nToday, I understand the joy Philus felt. This night, we have ended the threat of the vile Inspector, whom I had identified some four weeks past. After Barron, Leah, and some paid help had secured the needed evidence, our contact within the guard was able to arrest the perpetrator. His name shall not stain my memories. He was unresistant (and unrepentant) when we arrived to place him in the hands of the authorities, and marched to his fate.\nAs we waited for additional investigators to sweep the man\u0026rsquo;s home, Warrin stumbled on the trap door I\u0026rsquo;d been warned of. In the cellar, I found all just as described by his victims: a large stone tablet, still smeared with the blood of some unfortunate soul, runes of binding drawn to keep evil held in it\u0026rsquo;s circle, and other implements of summoning. The place reeks of evil and demonic activity. A cleric of Pelor arrived, to confirm the sense Warrin and I have, so that our own bias may not be a major issue in court. While looking below, there was a small scuffle, of which I\u0026rsquo;m still confused. It seems Barron may have been casting some spell, which a guard took to be directed at himself. Taking caution, the guard struck Barron, and stormed out. Barron insists he\u0026rsquo;d been attempting to cleanse, or in some way invalidate, the evil here (I confess, the ways of wizards still perplex me).\nRegardless, the threat is ended, and the coming wedding may be finally commence in peace, with the warmth of Pelor surrounding us all.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Barron: 90gp (sale of uniduck) Seb: 3gp (found) Treasure: 0gp (0gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Tiberium): 500xp (individually) Exposing the corrupt customs inspector: 1,000xp Allowing the corrupt customs inspector to escape: 0xp Group Total: 1100xp (xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Thic Duc, Pyrcival, Ahira, and Barron have struck the Princess and done her harm Leah, Amathar, Warin, and Tiberium have so far managed to tolerate the Princess Pyro has fallen in battle... Tiberium's paladin-sense is tingling, giving him a sense that a moral event horizon has been crossed, but he can't put his finger on exactly what happened... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"11 July 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-67/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium and Seb), Matt (Barron), Coby (Warin and Gunnar) and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. The DM took over Kindjal, a young officer in the Duke’s guard, as a temporarily necessary NPC.\nWe left the party having arranged to smuggle “figurines”, apparently a code word for slaves, into Highport. Among Barron’s hired crew turned out to be a halfling named Seb, who was more than willing to lend a helping hand beyond the usual shipboard duties. They met the customs inspector they had suspected, and he made a show of doing the proper paperwork without actually inspecting their goods or taking any money towards taxes. He directed the ship towards a secluded dock with a nearby hidden door, and said he would return at dusk to unload their cargo. Kindjal said that would be enough to arrest him for corruption, but the party wanted more evidence of his nefariousness.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 67","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. A guest played Kinjel, a young officer in the Duke\u0026rsquo;s guard.\nWe left the party attempting to return a princess to her arranged wedding, then took a short detour. We now return to the main storyline with the princess and her party sailing triumphantly into Highport. While on the ship, the group made the acquaintance of a young guardsman named Kinjel, who had been sent with the ship carrying the group in search of the Princess. Upon landing, the group separated, with Thic Duc heading to a nearby monastery to study, and Pyrcival arranging for his armor (a gift from Barron, made from the hide of a young Oriental water dragon) to be resized for his smaller phrase. Ahira went with him, the pair resolving to avoid the castle until their reception was deemed likely to be positive. Somewhat incognito, they made their way towards the castle, and introduced themselves to the guards as they arrived. After a moment\u0026rsquo;s surprise, the group was recognized and allowed to enter; the steward interviewed them while the Duke was informed. Awkward questions were asked. The Princess\u0026rsquo; spellbook was returned. An audience shortly followed, where the wedding was rescheduled for a week hence. Boons were offered; Barron claimed a boat and a very small national park, Tiberium begged a private audience and received it. The others made no specific requests.\nBarron and the Princess spent some time whispering together. Pyrcival and Ahira were summoned by messenger after Barron negotiated a deal with the princess. The details were not disclosed, except that she promised not to have the members of the group killed for bringing her back, and something about Snookums.\nTiberium\u0026rsquo;s audience was eventful, to say the least. First, he outlined the material captured from the slaver operation, handing it over to the Duke\u0026rsquo;s retainers for further investigation. The preliminary results indicated a caravan route to a larger chain of strongholds in the Bandit Kingdoms, to the north of Rookroost. The Duke indicated it would be a diplomatic incident to send his own troops, especially with a wedding planned, but he could delay noticing the General while the party took care of the matter themselves if they wished. Or, he could inform the General immediately and see if he took action. All were skeptical, though it was not out of the question for the General to act to preserve appearances. Technically, the strongholds were near Rookroost\u0026rsquo;s borders, with both practical and political control of the area in doubt. The party left the matter for future consideration, intending to remain in Highport until the wedding.\nThe first night back was mostly uneventful until Tiberium began praying to Pelor for the gift of transportation. He was interrupted \u0026ndash; repeatedly \u0026ndash; by Tony Falconi banging his beak on the door. When he finally went to open the door, the bird on the other side persisted in demanding entry, and even seemed to be somewhat larger than before. Puzzled (and his prayers thoroughly interrupted), Tiberium sought advice from the closest wizard he knew of: Barron. Barron was not helpful, but Leah\u0026rsquo;s coconut-based drink semeed to give the bird inspiration: it knocked the coconut in half with its beak and used its wingtips to clop the two halves together, making a funny noise. Purity declared that the falcon made her itch, and Warin took the opportunity to ask the sword for lessons on history and guidance on the service of Pelor.\nWe learned a little about the founding of the temple at Bone Hill earlier. Purity added a little more of her story to this tale.\nPurity\u0026rsquo;s story will be filled in later.\nPestered by the bird, Tiberium next took it to Amathar, followed by a small crowd of curious fellow party members. When Tiberium described how he had prayed for his mount, the wizard declared, \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s not how \u0026hellip; oh never mind.\u0026rdquo; Equally puzzled by the bird\u0026rsquo;s strange behavior, Amathar cast Detect Magic, noting that the bird\u0026rsquo;s magical aura was much larger than before and noticeably unstable. Also, the bird was much larger than before, now towering over Tiberium. After a few hours to study his books of magic (along with a great deal of coffee, as it was nearly 3am by this time), Amathar declared he was ready to dispell whatever magic was disturbing the creature. When he cast the spell, the glow from Tony Falconi suddenly grew blinding \u0026ndash; and then the bird changed shape and size again, now large enough to ride, and even gaining a saddle. Apparently, Tony Falconi was Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s mount.\nWith Tony Falconi no longer a falcon, Barron went shopping for a new one. An excellent example of the species was procured from the Duke\u0026rsquo;s falconer. Tiberium arranged for proper heraldry.\nAfter the avian excitement had died down and the group had retired for the morning and actually gotten rest, they remembered the customs inspector who had caused Tiberium such great distress earlier. Kirjel had in fact been assigned to that investigation, but the missing Princess threw everything into chaos so no progress had been made. Having a few days left before the wedding was expected to take place, the party decided to split up and conduct their own investigation.\nTiberium and Warin went directly to the inspector\u0026rsquo;s house and kept it under surveillance while making inquiries among the locals. Speaking with the neighbors, street urchins, and ladies of the evening in the area, they determined that the inspector was reclusive and cruel. Children avoided his house. Several ladies of negotiable virtue told horrifying stories of painful torture in a room below his house, from which they escaped (or were let go?) with scars. Some of the descriptions included a circular marking around the torture area that could be used for summoning extraplanar beings.\nMeanwhile, Pyrcival led the rest of the group to a series of three possible smuggling operations within Highport, identified by the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild markings for \u0026ldquo;Fence of stolen goods\u0026rdquo;. He started at the Prawn Shop, a buyer and seller of good both used and well-used, and also made inquiries at an orphanage (the same one Tiberium and Warin had previously asked questions about), and a blacksmith. After a clandestine meeting at a local pub to discuss importing \u0026ldquo;figurines\u0026rdquo;, they were left with a suspiciously large bill that Kirjel was able to expense to the Duke.\nThe next day was spent arranging for a crew on the ship, along with various signal flags, and a banner with the ship\u0026rsquo;s new name.\nWe leave the party arranged around a small, secluded dock, preparing to unload their cargo and assault the smuggling operation of a corrupt customs inspector. Of the First Sunday of Patchwall\nThe past days have been eventful and productive. After Her Highness was able to be calmed and assured, she\u0026rsquo;s been very reasonable. Barron has convinced her to \u0026lsquo;forget\u0026rsquo; the events in the captain\u0026rsquo;s cabin, as she now understands our concerns for her safety (from without and within). Without delay, we docked at Highport, and brought her to the castle, post-haste. For our service, the Duke has granted boons; I need only ensure that the discovered slaver activities be handled appropriately, and I expressed this to his Excellence. He\u0026rsquo;s assured me the documents will be examined, and either we will be asked to assist, or he\u0026rsquo;ll bring the General into the fold and task him with the issue (as it seems to be based in the Bandit Kingdoms.).\nMatters temporarily resolved, I took the opportunity to spend time in prayer. It\u0026rsquo;s been weeks since I\u0026rsquo;d had full opportunity worship properly, and I was eager to bask in Pelor\u0026rsquo;s Light. When I entered the temple, I was stopped by Warrin, who says that he\u0026rsquo;d spoken to my scholar, and recounted that Purity contains the essence of a cleric of Pelor! The soul is still very capable, and Warin wishes to commune with her. I asked that I be given some time for prayers, first. My prayers were interrupted repeatedly, however, by scratching at the door. Opening to investigate, I saw Barron\u0026rsquo;s bird acting strangely. Unable to calm (or distract) the bird, I took him to Barron. The wizard hadn\u0026rsquo;t seen his pet act so strangely before, and Leah wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to make much of it\u0026rsquo;s attempts to take two halves of a coconut, and bang them together. Growing concerned (and frustrated), I sought Amathar\u0026rsquo;s aid. The elf prepared a spell to get more an idea the magicks at play, and after a fantastic display, the bird began to shift and grow further. After a blinding light, the small not-falcon had been replaced by a huge bird, with large flightless wings, complete with saddle and lance. Recognition dawned on me slowly, but upon realization this was a gift sent from Pelor himself, I fell to my knees in worship. My Lord has seen fit to grant me an exceptional, if un-traditional, mount! His blessing is surely with me!\nWe returned to the Temple, and asked the stableboys to care for my new companion. Warrin and I found a small chamber, and I drew Purity from her scabbard. While I listened in amazement, she recounted a short tale of her life, including some of the founding of the Temple at the (now) Bone Hill. Her memory is still hazy, however. She recalls some matter of a prophecy, and believes that her memory is returning. We\u0026rsquo;ll continue to discuss and mentor with Warrin! After attempting to get some small amount of sleep, I took the bird to have proper heraldry created. While that tailor works, I\u0026rsquo;ve decided to conduct a small investigation. The rest of the group has been working with a member of the guard assigned to check into my allegations of the Inspector. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure where to find them, so I instead went to the man\u0026rsquo;s home, and began asking his neighbors about him. He\u0026rsquo;s not a well-liked man, and there are many dark rumors. The local girls are familiar with him, and tell horrific tales of his sadistic tastes, often leaving marks and scars from drawing blood. Two have even recounted that he\u0026rsquo;s got strange glyphs or markings on the floor, which is EXTREMELY concerning. I fear he may be attempting to summon otherworldly beings into the city, or worse, has already succeeded.\nAfter talking to the others, they told me that they\u0026rsquo;ve got plans in motion to entrap our man. Not wanting to interfere, Warrin and I have staked out his home. He\u0026rsquo;s only recently left for the docks, and we let him go. Should he return in a hurry, we plan to take him ourselves. Otherwise, we\u0026rsquo;ll wait for word before venturing into his lair\u0026hellip; Dear diary,\nWell, during the process of \u0026ldquo;finding\u0026rdquo; which of the princess\u0026rsquo;s things are \u0026ldquo;marked by an assassin\u0026rdquo;, it would seem she had a ring of polymorph. I told her it was marked and I would be holding on to it for safe keeping. Somehow that worked. We now head back to the Duke to return her, and get some sweet sweet rewards. I\u0026rsquo;m currently working on a plan to both return her to the Duke, and simultaneously prevent the wedding. The plan is as follows: \u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;..and then I will grrttertrghrhhththgh \u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;.Duke \u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;lots of gold erttertrtertrtertrtetrtertretertreretreteetretettretetettettetet \u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip; have the ship all to myself. I spent the rest of the time headed back, putting seeds of doubt in the princess\u0026rsquo;s ear, while being her friend. Upon arriving, we set out for the Duke and returned her highness. We then got a nice tour of the castle and I was able to have some more conversations with the princess. Seeing our moments of privacy come to a close a I told her I would finish these dialogs later on. The duke threw a nice large welcome home party, and asked if we had any requests for rewards. Seeing an chance to put my plan in motion, I immediately asked for a nice ship to be mine(most likely will share with the group), as well as legal documents for safe passage in the shieldlands waters. Much to my surprise, the Duke with out hesitation said yes. I should have asked for a bigger boat. Or a ship full of gold. Oddly while eliminating phase 3 of my plan, this works to my advantage for the moment. After some dialog, with the Duke we were granted private audience and shared with him the details of the slaver\u0026rsquo;s plans. The fool of a paladin asked that this matter be investigated as his payment. Who the hell even is this guy? At this point, I asked for magic users only and the Duke and convinced him that the princess\u0026rsquo;s had an unusual pet she needed to have present at all times. This was my part of the bargain\u0026hellip;convincing the duke to be ok with it. After this was all said and done, it was time for bed and I managed to sneak into the princess\u0026rsquo;s room to finish our conversation. Apparently there was some magic alarms, but I still managed to do this cause I am good. At this point we had a discussion about my plans to save her from a life of boredom. She was remarkably easier to discuss this with than anticipated. A unintended side effect was, she told me her fathers plans for this kingdom\u0026hellip;.a subject I will need to discuss with some of the more reasonably minded of our crew. The next morning, It was brought up that the investigation into the corrupt dock inspector was still on going, and we were invited to follow up on this. One of the duke\u0026rsquo;s guards was the lead investigator and was assigned to help us with his case. Some of the more open minded of our group ventured off into the \u0026ldquo;seedy parts\u0026rdquo; in search of information. Among the stops was the prawn shop, and an \u0026ldquo;orphanage\u0026rdquo;. We managed to set up an arrangement to smuggle in some \u0026ldquo;figurines\u0026rdquo;, with the old man at the \u0026ldquo;orphanage\u0026rdquo;. We spent some time prepping \u0026ldquo;The Exemption\u0026rdquo; for a undercover sting, including hiring some crew at the local watering hole. We then set sail to return early in the morning to catch a certain inspector. Upon arriving back in port (looking much more hobgoblin than before), the inspector arrived on ship. Much to my annoyance, despite all our planning, we neglected to make a manifest\u0026hellip;again (minor flash backs to the last time). Apparently we picked a damn good crew this time however, as a manifest miraculously appeared\u0026hellip;.and holy crap was it well done\u0026hellip;.so good I almost thought we did actually plan this out. The trap has been set, the bait has been taken, now we spring the trap\u0026hellip;.in a few hours. I decided to take a nap. During this nap I had the weirdest dream I was out adventuring with some lame sad paladin guy\u0026hellip;.who\u0026rsquo;s eyes kept blacking out and he\u0026rsquo;d become a dick. There was something about treasure and some weird mystic runes. Upon investigating the runes the other people in the party just disintegrated in a ball of fire. Then there was a dinosaur fight? What in the world did I eat? Why did it feel\u0026hellip;familiar? Well whatever I woke up and shook that weirdness off and set to work on casting fool\u0026rsquo;s gold over a large pile of copper in a crate as \u0026ldquo;insurance\u0026rdquo;. I also took the time to make sure my spells were in order. The moment of truth approaches. Diary of Pyrzival the Tutor, 11/9/2019\nWell, we\u0026rsquo;re back in Highport. After several more days sailing, we arrived in town, and those of us not guilty of assaulting the Generals daughter took her up to the Duke\u0026rsquo;s castle, while the rest of us either watched from a distance to see if she turned on them, or took off for points unknown (Although he said he was going to a monastery to meditate and reach enlightenment). Ahera and I watched the marked change in tone of the castle as the party arrived and stirred up the place.\nAfter about an hour, a messenger comes with our descriptions and names and asks that we follow him to the castle. Since he did not come with a patrol of guardsmen, I decide to follow. I\u0026rsquo;m going to have to have a talk with the kid about casually handing over the people who are supposed to be watching to help you escape if needed. Sometimes he\u0026rsquo;s just so damn painfully honest.\nWe go in, and catch the tail end of the Duke giving out awards for bringing his soon to be bride home. I try and stay out of the way, coughing a bit here and there still (damn coughs take forever to go away), and get a couple glasses of wine, while I wait near a window, just in case I need to leap out of it to escape.\nIt turns out our caution was unnecessary, and the Duke says he\u0026rsquo;ll follow up on the slaver conspiracy, and as it turns out, he wants us to assist in the investigation of the customs inspector we\u0026rsquo;ve had dealings with in the past. We split up, with some of us going to gather information about the customs inspector and others going \u0026hellip; to church. To pray. Go figure.\nWell, we talk to some urchins, and a house of ill repute, and get quite a bit of information. It turns out, not only is this guy corrupt and skimming off smugglers, he\u0026rsquo;s also into torture and has potentially murdered some of the poor people in the city. Barron and I talk to a fence / smugger, and get setup to smuggle some items off of our ship into the city, and find out this inspector will be the one greenlighting the whole affair. The morning of the smuggle arrives, and we wait on board for the evening and unloading of the goods\u0026hellip;.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\nRing of Pyro Summoning # This ring bears the True Name of a Good Dog. By speaking that name, the spirit of the animal can be summoned briefly to the Prime Material Plane, and will respond to the commands it knew in life for one turn (10 rounds). The ring holds a limited number of charges, but if the summoned spirit need not interact with the Prime Material Plane directly, no charge need be spent. There are three charges, and if all three are used, the ring will no longer function. It cannot be recharged. This ring was a gift from the Duke to Leah; he pointed out that \u0026ldquo;fetch\u0026rdquo; will not use a charge.\nBarron: One ship (\u0026quot;The Exemption\u0026quot;) and a very small national park Amathar: Access to the spell library of the Duke's wizard Tiberium: One private audience Leah: Ring of Pyro Summoning Warin: The Duke shall pay the remaining debt to the Church of Pelor Those who were not physically present to return the princess were not given personal rewards Treasure: 0gp (0gp each) Experience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Tiberium, Barron, Pyrcival): 500xp (individually) Roleplay: 1,000xp each Returning the princess (finally!!): 8,000xp Tiberium: 1,000xp for foregoing a financial reward and making a request for the good of the realm Group Total: 15,700xp (2143xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # Purity (Tiberium's sword) has mentioned some sort of centuries-old prophecy The Princess seems to want more adventure, and told Barron a few things that might be important... Thic Duc, Pyrcival, Ahira, and Barron have struck the Princess and done her harm Leah, Amathar, Warin, and Tiberium have so far managed to tolerate the Princess Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"27 June 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-66/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. A guest played Kinjel, a young officer in the Duke’s guard.\nWe left the party attempting to return a princess to her arranged wedding, then took a short detour. We now return to the main storyline with the princess and her party sailing triumphantly into Highport. While on the ship, the group made the acquaintance of a young guardsman named Kinjel, who had been sent with the ship carrying the group in search of the Princess. Upon landing, the group separated, with Thic Duc heading to a nearby monastery to study, and Pyrcival arranging for his armor (a gift from Barron, made from the hide of a young Oriental water dragon) to be resized for his smaller phrase. Ahira went with him, the pair resolving to avoid the castle until their reception was deemed likely to be positive. Somewhat incognito, they made their way towards the castle, and introduced themselves to the guards as they arrived. After a moment’s surprise, the group was recognized and allowed to enter; the steward interviewed them while the Duke was informed. Awkward questions were asked. The Princess’ spellbook was returned. An audience shortly followed, where the wedding was rescheduled for a week hence. Boons were offered; Barron claimed a boat and a very small national park, Tiberium begged a private audience and received it. The others made no specific requests.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 66","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nChris (Seb), Dean (Elmond), Matt (Valadin), and Jeff (Rumble) are returning cast members playing alternate characters.\nWe left the party attempting to return a princess to her arranged wedding, but our viewpoint shifts to follow a new group of adventurers, some of whom were last seen in Restenford fighting wererats or fighting undead near Darkshelf, and some who are entirely new to us. Elmond, an elf with attention-deficit disorder, was traveling with some chance-met companions within the Bandit Kingdoms, heading towards Rookroost. His companions were: Rumble, a wood elven druid; Valadin, a fallen paladin with an unholy passenger; and Seb, a halfing thief.\nThe caravan stopped at an inn for the night, where everyone arranged to stay. While having dinner in the common room, however, the four adventurers could not help but overhear four of the locals talking about their plans to explore the lair of a lich that lay conveniently nearby. They had a crudely-drawn map, and a poor explanation of how they came across it, but the four adventurers agreed \u0026ndash; after quite a few rounds of the local ale \u0026ndash; to accompany the locals on their exploration. There would be enough treasure for all.\nThe map depicted a nearby lair, apparently with four entrances, each with some sort of symbol associated with it. After arguing about the meaning of the symbols and not coming to any solid conclusions, the group decided to go to bed. Seb set a trap on his door in case of intruders; a bell tied to a string\u0026hellip;\nAround 3am, the ringing of the bell woke Seb from his dreams. Someone was busting in the door! Startled by the intrusion, but forewarned somewhat due to his preparations, Seb quickly slipped into the shadows and watched as three rough thugs tossed his room for valuables. They found only his coin pouch, not exactly stuffed full of gold, but apparently it was enough to excite them. As they slipped out the door, Seb slipped his hand \u0026lsquo;round the pouch \u0026ndash; pickpocketing his own bag of coins back from the thieves without being noticed.\nThe thieves broke down Valadin\u0026rsquo;s door next. He sat up in bed and invited them in with an ominous tone. The leader moved to enter the small room, and Valadin raised his hands in an arcane gesture, casting Burning Hands. The flames flooded into the hallway, doing a small amount of damage to the thieves\u0026hellip; but setting the wooden building material aflame. The leader, undaunted, stepped into Valadin\u0026rsquo;s room and slashed at him; blood began to drain from the wound.\nSeb took advantage of the distraction to backstab one of the thieves, lowering his body to the floor silently.\nThe leader of the thieves attacked Valadin again, and Seb again used the distraction to take down one of the others from hiding.\nElmond opened his door to assess the situation, noting that the building was on fire, and began shouting \u0026ldquo;Fire! Fire!\u0026rdquo; in a crowded hallway. Seeing that their cover was blown, the thief nearest the stairway ran out and escaped, while Seb, Valadin and Elmond killed the one who remained before fleeing themselves. Rumble, who had slept through being robbed, did wake up in time to flee the fire.\nThe inn\u0026rsquo;s staff formed a bucket brigate from their well to put out the fire, and managed to succeed \u0026ndash; though the smell of smoke remained strong. The group went back to bed for the rest of the night.\nIn the morning, the four would-be local adventurers returned to the inn and met up with the three party members still interested in the expedition to the lair of the lich, bringing a rented cart \u0026ldquo;to haul our treasure back\u0026rdquo;. A short journey brought them to a crater-like depression, with a central mound and four satellite mounds oriented to the cardinal compass points. Each of the four satellite mounds had an entrance, apparently open to all, marked with some kind of symbol on the lintel.\nAfter even more discussion, the party decided the symbols were the four elements \u0026ndash; earth, fire, water, air \u0026ndash; and chose to enter the one marked \u0026ldquo;fire\u0026rdquo;. Two of the local adventurers took the lead, with the rest of the group hanging back about twenty feet in case of trouble.\nBefore long, there was a colossal boom, and a fiery explosion obliterated the two characters leading the group. The rest of the party retreated to re-think the situation, and tried sending arrows down each of the four passageways to judge what might happen. Elmond\u0026rsquo;s arrows seemingly did nothing, until he returned to the passageway labeled with fire. His arrow set off a second explosion. The group decided fire was not for them, and tried air instead. Seb looked for traps near the entrance, failed to find any, but did find a large footprint from some kind of strange creature.\nThey sent the two locals in first, with a large distance between them. After a few minutes, the furthest one in yelled back that he heard breathing\u0026hellip; then the torch he was holding suddenly fell to the ground. The group advanced together far enough to see that he had died from a massive bite wound, and his entrails were missing entirely.\nElmond prepared another fire arrow, and shot it into the distance\u0026hellip; it hit something, and stuck in it, still burning brightly. A moment later the flame began to move rapidly towards the group!\nHurriedly backing out of the tunnel while firing arrows at the charging creature, they gradually whittled it down to size. The last of the locals made a heroic stand at the mouth of the tunnel, inflicting small wounds while the rest of the group continued their archery practice. He fell even as the creature turned on Valadin, slicing his throat with a single clawed swipe, and falling almost immediately thereafter to the party\u0026rsquo;s arrows.\nQuick action saved both Valadin and the local would-be adventurer, and the group dragged their kill to the cart and returned to town with triumphant thoughts of skinning the creature for its scaly hide and making a belt, a pair of boots, perhaps a purse\u0026hellip; The complete and true accounts of Seb Mertins or, A book of alibis\nThe doctor says I should keep an account of my whereabouts, as I seem to regularly end up being unjustly accused of all sorts of shenanigans. Racists. It\u0026rsquo;s been a few weeks since the entire affair with the killer frogs, mudtigers, and strange hobgoblin wearing only his tightie-whities. I\u0026rsquo;d hired onto a caravan, protecting gods know what, with three others: an elf calling himself Elmond, another elf, called Rumble (he\u0026rsquo;s got twigs and bird shit in his hair), and a paladin? Fighter? He alternatively goes by Paladin the Paladin (PtP) or Window. He\u0026rsquo;s alright, some of the time. Honestly, they all seem to be.\nAfter a short trip from Dunwitch, the caravan opted to stop for the night at a roadside inn. I\u0026rsquo;m feeling nervous about our proximity to Rookroost, and was happy to stay the night. That said, I sometimes can\u0026rsquo;t help myself. Before we went into the inn, we left our horses at the stables. I fine, champion of a pony, I left. Worth at least 1,000 gp, and in the bags, I\u0026rsquo;d forgotten to take most of my coin! Another 500 gold! But I got distracted, you see. PtP had gone into something of a trance. Praying, maybe? Seeing a great opportunity to endear myself to my new friends, I borrowed the shovel from the stable, and quickly piled horse shit in a full circle around him, at least six feed wide in all directions. It was awful. When he snapped out of it, I\u0026rsquo;d already hidden in a corner. He was immediately disgusted, and when he tried to step over the circle, he SLIPPED!! Fell face-first into giant pile of shit! Glorious! And better, when he tried to get up, he slipped and fell in again! I hope he didn\u0026rsquo;t get in any his mouth!\nInside, some locals were drinking and (loudly) discussing plans for an expedition. Didn\u0026rsquo;t take much convincing for these guys to include us in their treasure hunt. I think I overheard the caravan say that we weren\u0026rsquo;t needed; we\u0026rsquo;d never have just abandoned them, afterall. After we calmly and quietly had a few drinks, we each took our leave. Like normal, I went ahead and tied a string to the bedstand from the doorknob, and set a small bell. Living in Rookroost all your life, you pick up a thing or two.\nJust after I\u0026rsquo;d started to doze, the alarm jingled quietly. As the door opened quickly, I hopped out of bed, and hid. A couple really big guys popped their head in, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t make out their features. They rifled through my bags, but didn\u0026rsquo;t take anything (as if I\u0026rsquo;d keep any of my valuables away from my person!). After they left the room, I paused a few minutes, then smelled something burning. Poking my head out, I saw two or three bodies lying in the hall, a dark dressed man running down the stairs, and a growing fire! Obviously, I took off, yelling \u0026ldquo;Fire! Fire! Wake the hells up!\u0026rdquo;, just in case. My new friends weren\u0026rsquo;t far behind, and we ran outside. We escaped the inferno, and I noticed the jerk had stolen my pony!! With over 3,000 gold in it\u0026rsquo;s saddle! A loss of, at least, 10,000 gold! Surely, the authorities will see fit to award me my lost funds immediately.\nWhile the constable puts together the funds to compensate me, we did stick to our planned expedition with the local yokels. Half a day\u0026rsquo;s travel, and we found a crater, with five raised mounts. Four, matching the cardinal directions, had a cave entrance, and the fifth, in the middle a large pillar (?) with some glyphs. The caves had a similar structure with more glyphs. I didn\u0026rsquo;t recognize any of them, but the guys settled on the symbols referring to the four elementals and the void, I guess? Whatever, I\u0026rsquo;m here for the loots. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I faintly recalled that the locals had said something about a lich, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t be bothered; this was a fun chance to explore!\nGathering the guys, we marched into the tunnel labeled with a \u0026lsquo;fire\u0026rsquo; symbol. About 100 yards in, I swear to the gods, the fucking exploded. Just boom and they\u0026rsquo;re gone. We took this as a warning sign, and backed out. A little debate, and some fine speechcrafting on my part later, and the remaining folks are ready to try again. This time, Elmond wanted to shoot an arrow down each corridor. Air - nothing. Water - Nothing. Fire - boom. We\u0026rsquo;re not going that way. Following his lead, I lit an arrow that\u0026rsquo;d been wrapped in cloth, and shot it down the \u0026lsquo;air\u0026rsquo; corridor; it hit something. Not a clank, but a thud. Then some screeching. I tried to speak it\u0026rsquo;s language, and was making progress, when a DINOSAUR emerged from the cave. On two legs, little arms hanging uselessly, with the biggest, scariest teeth I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen. I shot it. E shot it. Jim the local tanked marvelously, until he almost got eaten. We were able to kill the lizard (good skinning in town!), and saved Jim\u0026rsquo;s life (\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re lucky, buddy! I assume you\u0026rsquo;ll be passing on your share since we had to save your life?\u0026rdquo;). Feeling like we may need some help, or to simply re-think our plans, we loaded up the dinosaur, and headed to Rookroost. I guess the cart is ours, now? Elmond\u0026rsquo;s Diary\nAfter a wonderful trip through the Bandit Kingdoms, I have found myself in Dunwich. I thought it was going to be as exciting as a pocket full of lint, but some traveling companions and locals have provided an interesting opportunity. Some locals had a map to a \u0026ldquo;lich\u0026rsquo;s lair\u0026rdquo; full of treasure. We thought about leaving them behind and getting the gold for ourselves, but decided to go with them tomorrow morning.\nWell that was quite an exciting day!!! It started before the sun was up with a fire at the inn I was staying at. The fire appears to have started during a scuffle in the hallway. I missed most of the excitement. As soon as I saw the fire I grabbed my belongings and ran outside. No one I knew was significantly injured, but a few bodies were found. And that was the least interesting part of the day! We went with the locals to follow the treasure map. After some messing around and discussion of obscure languages, we decided to go in. I think some of the poor locals were vaporized. I have heard the term \u0026ldquo;cannon fodder.\u0026rdquo; I think I now have a personal reference. We decided to try a different entrance. We managed to kill a big lizard after all of the locals died. As soon as I realized there was another lizard coming I started leading the cart with the dead lizard away. I had had enough excitement for one day. I felt that if I had anymore excitement, it would be my last day.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nRules Changes # Multiclass Fighter/Magic-User characters may cast spells in armor if: the spell has no somatic component, or they accept a chance of spell failure per 2nd edition rules, or they spend a non-weapon proficiency slot per spell level to learn how to cast spells in armor. Dual class characters may do the same ONLY after both classes are active. Note that this means higher level spells will probably not be castable in armor at all (because it would cost many NWPs). Exact details on spell failure will follow.\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Skinned dinosaur: 400gp Treasure: 400gp (100gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Seb, Elmond): 500xp (individually) 100 xp each for treasure Seb: 100xp bonus for trapping his door Retreating from the lich's lair alive: 16,190xp Foiling the robbery at the inn: 481xp Cerotsaur: 875xp Group Total: 18,346xp (4587xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # Thic Duc, Pyrcival, Ahira, and Barron have struck the Princess and done her harm Leah, Amathar, Warin, and Tiberium have so far managed to tolerate the Princess The princess has been... taken on a grand tour of the slaving operation? Barron is fascinated with the princess Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"13 June 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-65/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nChris (Seb), Dean (Elmond), Matt (Valadin), and Jeff (Rumble) are returning cast members playing alternate characters.\nWe left the party attempting to return a princess to her arranged wedding, but our viewpoint shifts to follow a new group of adventurers, some of whom were last seen in Restenford fighting wererats or fighting undead near Darkshelf, and some who are entirely new to us. Elmond, an elf with attention-deficit disorder, was traveling with some chance-met companions within the Bandit Kingdoms, heading towards Rookroost. His companions were: Rumble, a wood elven druid; Valadin, a fallen paladin with an unholy passenger; and Seb, a halfing thief.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 65","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nSession Sketch\nSession Note\nChris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), Coby (Warin), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had captured the Princess, claimed they were agents of the Duke sent to return her to her wedding, polymorphed her into a falcon, and promptly took a vacation to train. Thic Duc still needs to find a monk to train with.\nAs part of the time spent training, the party got some of their discovered magic items identified. They chose to sell the Ring of Shooting Stars for 18,000gp, and spent 600 gp identifying other items. (Apples that cure disease, a cursed clear crystal ball). Then, while the Princess was out hawking with Barron, they discussed plans for separating her from her magic items so they could get a proper read on her alignment and emotional state. They decided to wait until they were all on a ship from Restenford to Highport, then ask her to turn back into a Princess (rather than her current falcon form), take her magical items, and attempt to read her alignment each time. Things did not go as planned.\nFirst, Tiberium took the opportunity to search the Princess\u0026rsquo;s clothing again, using his talking sword Purity to detect magic while concentrating on his own ability to detect evil. One set of particularly-sexy underthings appeared to his paladin\u0026rsquo;s senses as \u0026ldquo;evil\u0026rdquo; but not magical, so he burned them. The fumes turned out to be mildly toxic, perhaps related to the perfume they had been treated with.\nAmazingly, none of the other party members commented.\nThe group convinced the princess to return to her human form easily enough, though in order to accomplish it they first trapped her in a small ship\u0026rsquo;s cabin halfway between Restenford and Highport. Amathar had prepared ahead of time by casting his Detect Magic spell, and identified a tiara and two rings as being enchanted once the Princess was human once more. Warin immediately began casting a small \u0026ndash; Silence 15\u0026rsquo; radius. The Princess tried to slap him, but failed to interrupt his spell. An increasingly furious Princess, gesturing wildly, demanded to know what was going on through eloquent, if impolite, hand gestures. Barron handed her the note he had written in advance. Barron\u0026rsquo;s Note Barron\u0026rsquo;s Note\nThis appeared to calm the princess down \u0026hellip; slightly. She read the note twice, looked over Barron twice, then imperiously gestured for the rest of the group to leave the room. They refused. She gestured for the men to leave the room. They refused. She was making some sort of circular motion with her hands when Tiberium just reached towards her tiara, clearly not intending to ask permission. The Princess shimmered for a moment, and reappeared as a unicorn.\nWhile Tiberium frantically began to pray, Barron tried to soothe the beast, which was threatening most of the group in turn with its horn. Leah was searching her memory for what she had learned about unicorns, coming up with the basics: horselike, dangerous horns, magical creatures, fond of maidens and virgins. Communicating the idea that all non-virgins should leave the room with hand gestures did not go well. The unicorn became even more agitated, and began striking the wall of the ship with its hind legs. It actually knocked a large hole in the hull. Ahira laid her hands on the haunch of the beast and shoved it to the side, so it would be unable to enlarge the hole further, and a moment later drew her hammer and swung at full force. Ahira missed, but the unicorn then shimmered again and turned into a hawk, diving for the hole.\nAhira and Thic Duc caught the hawk-princess by one leg each (Thic Duc mouthed \u0026ldquo;Make a wish!\u0026rdquo; but the words were lost in the silence spell), preventing her escape. Ahira then struck the hawk-princess with her gauntlet, crunching bones. The hawk cried out soundlessly in pain. Thic Duc reached out with his other hand and grabbed the bird by the neck.\nBut then the bird shimmered again, and become some hideous form of flesh-eating amorphous jelly. The two holding the bird screamed in silent agony as the jelly consumed their flesh and fell through their hands to the floor, which promptly began to sizzle and smoke. Thinking quickly, Barron used his wineglass to scoop up a small part of the jelly princess. Amazingly the glass seemed to resist the corrosive effect, and Barron was dextrous enough to avoid more than a few drops on his skin. Nonetheless they sizzled painfully.\nInfuriated, Barron cast Shocking Grasp and thrust both of his hands into the jelly, taking massive damage from its acid. The jelly split into three pieces afterwards, but did not seem otherwise harmed.\nWarin unstrapped his shield and used it to scoop up part of the jelly, but burned himself by touching it accidentally. His shield, made of thin metal and wood, seemed to resist the corrosive effect somewhat better than the cabin floor. Seeing his example, Ahira pulled out a drawer from under the captain\u0026rsquo;s cot, dumped the contents on the cot, and scooped up half of the princess into the container. Her container did not contain the acidic effect quite so well, and the ship\u0026rsquo;s rolling with the waves combined with the jelly\u0026rsquo;s own motions made it even more challenging.\nThat same rolling motion undid Warin\u0026rsquo;s efforts to contain the princess jelly on his shield a moment later, and he stumbled as the waves swept him one way, his arms swept the shield a different way, and the jelly surged in yet a third direction. The combined vector dumped all of Warin\u0026rsquo;s jelly over Leah head, with even more hideous sizzling and popping as it began to dissolve her delicate half-elven skin.\nQuick thinking from the group turned events around, somewhat. Leah doused herself with the alcohol from her flask and used a cloth to rub the residue off, ending the damage.. though there were still horrid wounds. A quick healing treatment from Tiberium and a dose of magical healing repaired the worst of the injury, and the rest would likely heal without serious scarring.\nSomeone grabbed one of the other drawers and managed to scoop up one of the loose pieces of princess jelly.\nSome discussion ensued as the party considered how to proceed. Tired of communicating in gestures, Warin canceled the silence spell, and the group decided that keeping the princess pieces separate was probably preventing her from listening to reason and returning to human form. They agreed to merge the pieces together even as those pieces, ignoring their discussion, flowed towards the hole in the hull, attacking Ahira and Thic Duc on the way.\nBy coordinating their efforts, the party managed to piece the princess back together while still blocking the hole in the hull. With the silence spell removed, they begged the princess to return to her human form. After a minute or so to consider it, she shimmered once more\u0026hellip;\n\u0026hellip; and reappeared in the form of a fish, gasping for air. Dumbfounded, the party stared in shock, failing to comprehend at first what a simple test of basic morality this represented. How will such a group of adventurers treat a helpless creature who depends on their actions for survival? Will they attack it? Capture it? Dump the fish into the waters of the Nyr Dyv, where it would breathe and swim free and make its own life choices?\nAs it turns out the party dumped the fish into a waterproof sack and left it to suffocate there. Pyrcival did attempt to pour water over (instead of into) the sack, but oddly enough, the sack \u0026ndash; which Warin claims is a sack of halfing holding \u0026ndash; appeared to be completely waterproof. Hmm. The fish continued to suffocate while the party pleaded with the fish to become a princess. (Not even Barron was willing to try kissing the fish to accomplish this).\nEventually, the fish shimmered again from within its bag, and a massive ogre appeared in its place\u0026hellip; with a sack over its head. The ogre was capable of speach, and negotiated terms of surrender with the party, allowing them to inspect each of the Princess\u0026rsquo;s magic items for a suspected tracking spell. She was promised each of them back.\nFinally, without further violence, the Princess returned to her human form, and allowed the party to inspect her tiara and two rings. One ring (three inset emeralds) supposedly \u0026ldquo;makes her feel safe\u0026rdquo; and was a gift from her uncle (who is not well known in Rookroost), the other (three inset sapphires) allows her to change shape at will and was given to her by the Princess\u0026rsquo;s tutor Melissa (who the party has probably met already). The tiara\u0026rsquo;s exact effect was unclear; taking it off had little effect on the Princess, but putting it on made Barron substantially more attractive to the female party members.\nBarron claimed he discovered a tracking spell on the shapeshifting ring, and has yet to return it. The Captain has in fact discovered the hole in his ship, and the Princess who was not supposed to be on board, and is quietly furious about both the damage and the deception.\nWe leave the party as they sail into Highport with the Princess. Diary of Pyrzival the Tutor (10.5.2019]\nI caught the damn plague. Most likely swallowed some sewage water. The damn chills, vomiting. This is disgusting! I\u0026rsquo;m mostly over the vomiting, but am still getting chills and the coughing is mostly over with. It\u0026rsquo;s impeding my workouts. Wearing this damn metal is a serious detriment to my mobility, and I\u0026rsquo;m not liking it. If this continues, I think I\u0026rsquo;ll end up drowning in sewage, and that\u0026rsquo;s really not an end I\u0026rsquo;d like to have for my short life.\nI think there are reasons why gnomes are not normally front line fighters, and they most likely have to do with sheer mass and lack of stupidity. I\u0026rsquo;m thinking this career is not what I\u0026rsquo;m meant for.\nAt least I don\u0026rsquo;t have to worry about the kid, he seems to be able to take care of himself pretty well - I think he\u0026rsquo;s proved that. Ahira acquitted herself well, I think she\u0026rsquo;s well able to step into the role of front-rank fighter.\nWell, to update - we traveled back to Restenford, I caught the vomiting cruds, or whatever else you want to call it, mostly recovered and after solidifying my understanding of close combat techniques went to go visit our Fence friend to check some prices and work on my understanding of pricing new acquisitions. We got to talking, and he said someone with my mechanical aptitude should really not be wasting his life running around in plate armor (I was not wearing it that day, feeling a bit run down). He offered to teach me some skills I might find useful to supplement my existing knowledge of locks and traps, and ended up giving me an accelerated course in how to move, hide, climb, the whole gambit. I mentioned I was thinking perhaps I was not cut out for the life of a front-rank fighter, and he agreed - he said he rarely sees halflings or gnomes go that route - most take advantage of their size, speed, and stealthiness to make money in easier ways. So I\u0026rsquo;m thinking I\u0026rsquo;ve found a new career - this will hopefully allow me to avoid drowning in crap while encased in thirty pounds of steel, and maybe be a little more to my liking.\nAnyway, the party gets together over dinner some evening, and hold a vote to try and check the princess for magic items so they can determine her alignment, and find out if she\u0026rsquo;s really there to assassinate the Duke. I suggest we lie and tell her we\u0026rsquo;re concerned about one of her items being tracked by assassins, and we vote. Tiberian and I vote against it - we both think we should just deliver her to the Duke with a warning, and let him deal with his flightly bride.\nBut, alas! we\u0026rsquo;re outvoted, and the party decides to try and strip her of her magic, and decides to do that on board the ship so she can\u0026rsquo;t get assistance. I decide I\u0026rsquo;m staying in the hall to fend off any inquiries. And so it begins, the cleric casts a silence spell as per the plan. Minutes go by, and the door opens - I look in, see a blob of white horse, and decide, screw this, and close the door again. Thic Duc goes running outside. The silence wears off, and I hear Tib yelling for me, I tell the Captain to back off, and go inside.\nInside, I find mayhem. There is some sort of acidic jelly all over the place, and no Princess! Did she summon this foulness and leave? Is this her real form and she\u0026rsquo;s really not a human after all? Tiberian say\u0026rsquo;s this is her, and I\u0026rsquo;m thinking \u0026ldquo;demon!\u0026rdquo; I light up a torch and see if the jelly is flammable (for some reason Jelly makes me think of whale blubber and oil), and sure enough, it burns pretty well.\nPeople are yelling, pleading, but as near as I can tell, if this is really her, we need to damage her enough to get her to surrender before she eats through the hull and we all drown. She changes from from the jelly into a fish, and we toss it into a bag, and I try to pour water over it, but dammit! the damn bag seems to be waterproof. The fish stops flopping, and suddenly shifts into an Ogre, with a bag over it\u0026rsquo;s head. I draw my sword, and the ogre and Tib start talking, so I hold off attacking, as does everyone else. We make a deal, and sheath our weapons, I turn around, and she takes off her magic items one at a time and hands them to Barron for inspection, while Tiberian scans her for evil. On the last ring, Barron extends my lie, and tells her it looks like it has a tracking spell on it - I wish I\u0026rsquo;d never thought of that lie! Of course he just wants to keep her ring of shapeshifting, and who wouldn\u0026rsquo;t! They make a plan where he will impersonate her for a few days until we\u0026rsquo;re back in Highport, and we decide that\u0026rsquo;s a good plan for the moment\u0026hellip; Until Barron decides to just leave with the ring.\nI think when we land - Ahira, myself and Thic Duc (all of us whom did the princess bodily damage) will take off and go rest for a while in a monestary of Pholtus, Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s diety, while he studies the mysteries of his god.\nOf the blahblah day of blahblah month\nDear god. Pelor, you\u0026rsquo;re testing me, right? We decided to keep the lady magicked as a falcon, while we take the day long trip across to Highport. The journey was uneventful, and the Duke very appreciative. He\u0026rsquo;s offered donate a large sum of gold to various charities, as well as the local church. He\u0026rsquo;s also going to take our concerns to heart, and the wedding is being placed on hold.\nNo, that\u0026rsquo;s not right. No, instead we decided to remove the spell from the would-be bride, in a room on a ship. In the room, the \u0026lsquo;princess\u0026rsquo;, myself, Leah, Ahira, Baron, and Warin. The room had been magically silenced, as well. When the lady shifted to being a human again, unsurprisingly she didn\u0026rsquo;t react well. Because we\u0026rsquo;d decided that if she didn\u0026rsquo;t acquiesce, we\u0026rsquo;d be forced to remove the magic items, I bowed respectfully, and reached for her tiara. Before I could extend my arm, however, she unexpectedly shifted again into a UNICORN. This caught me completely off-guard. Is she a unicorn in disguise? Or making a mockery of a symbol of purity?\nUnfortunately, this is when all the hells broke lose. Someone behind the unicorn hit the animal in the flank, and it became incensed. That was the highest point of the next 10 minutes. During that time, half the group attacked, burned, choked (?!?!?), quartered (she\u0026rsquo;d shifted to a jelly), and suffocated (after she shifted to a fish, for some reason) the woman, all while I pleaded for sanity from everyone.\nUltimately, the princess shifted into form as an ogress, and I was able to persuade her to work with us. We\u0026rsquo;ve been able to inspect her magic items, while attempting to sense evil, to no effect. As I\u0026rsquo;ve suspected, the girl is strong willed and spoiled, with no clear moral compass. And now we hope to return her to her betrothed; May he not have us all executed for the way we\u0026rsquo;ve treated his soon-to-be wife.\nBut maybe we\u0026rsquo;d deserve it.\nUpdate: After prayer and reflection, I understand my part in this debacle. That I allowed a path forward in which I had no confidence was a mistake. It\u0026rsquo;s occurred to me, however, that we are all working with different goals on this mission. That confusion and lack of cohesion has been repeatedly costly, and must end. All the cards on the table, this fellowship must unify ourselves to one outcome.\nDear diary,\nOn the ride to bring her highness home, we set up a plan to separate the princess from her magically imbued items. Seeing as I appear to be the only one who can clearly see how amazing the princess is, I proposed to enchant her with my words and convince her to kindly hand me her things. We set these plans up make this happen on the ship. Upon setting sail I promptly wrote a note explaining what was going on. We than cast silence in the room and I pass her the note. At this point the unexpected happened, and goody mc two shoes reached for her tiara. She may have freaked out alittle\u0026hellip;. By alittle I mean a lot\u0026hellip;.by a lot I mean she started shape shifting like she was changing undies. Resulting in a huge ass unicorn in a small room. She promptly kicks a hole in the hull of my ship(the duke may not know this yet but he will)!!!!!!!!!!! Ah princess I like you, but you are really trying my patience by breaking your former ship that I may have commandeered. The room was quiet, someone was blocking the door from opening, there\u0026rsquo;s a bucking unicorn, a dwarf punching said unicorn, the pally is panic praying, the cleric is trying to open the door, leah is drinking, chaos is reigning. It was here that I realized I was in my place, and doing the lord\u0026rsquo;s work. Disorder and ruckus unto you my lord. So I calmly surveyed my environment of which I thrive, and opted for doing the most chaotic thing I could\u0026hellip;.being the one calm person. I reached forward and started petting the unicorn. That seemed to be working, and she began settling down. The princess realizing the situation she was in, immediately became a hawk and tried to fly away. As she did, the monk swooped in the giant hole and snatched her out of the air. Then the dwarf gave her a solid right hook and she responded by turning into acidic ooze. At this point I decided perhaps I should try to stun her. So I used shocking grasp and plunged my hands into the princess\u0026hellip;.not in the traditional way either. That didn\u0026rsquo;t work, at all. At this point Warren dropped the field of silence and sound came rushing back to underline the Chaos. After moments of pleading to princess to stop trying to eat us, she promptly turned into a fish. I\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;can honestly say I did not see that one coming. At this point the sailors tried to barge in and snitchy mcpaladin blurted out to the captain that we had the princess in here. Sigh\u0026hellip;well I guess this is my lot in life\u0026hellip;.chaotically cleaning up the missteps of others. So I pulled out a good ol\u0026rsquo; sahugin eye and yelled some mumbo jumbo about a curse(knowing sailors are superstitious). They panicked, one even tried to swat it away\u0026hellip;he made contact and I fanned those flames. Man overboard\u0026hellip;.good I was gonna fire that guy anyway, it\u0026rsquo;s nice when the universe works in my way. I came back into the room and my princess was a freakn ogre\u0026hellip;.god I hope that\u0026rsquo;s not her real form\u0026hellip;.but that would be funny. We managed to talk her down and go back to my actual plan of just asking to hold her stuff. First I tried on her tiara, and I\u0026rsquo;m not sure what it did\u0026hellip;.but the females started yelling at me and my butt felt really tight( I may have taken a few steps to flex it). Then it happened. She handed me a ring of polymorph\u0026hellip;.after switching forms a few times I decided I need this ring and started saying it was the tracking device and stuck. Things are about to get interesting.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nRules Changes\nOld school characters are now allowed (including retroactively) full hit points per hit die, to even things out with the new school folks. If we ever do a reroll or reset with a new party, we will decide new or old school by vote for the whole party.\nThieves (including assassins and monks with thief skills) may use the 2e skill system to customize their thieving skill point distribution (including retroactively ONCE).\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 18,000gp (2250gp each) Current Party Funds: 11,001gp\nThings the princess turned into # Unicorn Hawk Ouchre Jelly Fish Ogre People who harmed the Princess # Ahira (warhammer) Thic Duc (strangulation) Barron (sort of; shocking grasp, but it did not seem to do much actual damage) Pyrcival (torch) Expenses # -600gp for identify spells -200gp for 2 healing potions (Warin) Experience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Tiberium, Pyrcival, Amathar, Barron): 500xp (individually) Putting up wtih the Princess (Leah, Amathar, Warin, Tiberium): 1000xp Treasure XP: 18,000xp Group Total: 18,800xp (2350xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # Thic Duc, Pyrcival, Ahira, and Barron have struck the Princess and done her harm Leah, Amathar, Warin, and Tiberium have so far managed to tolerate the Princess The princess has been... taken on a grand tour of the slaving operation? Barron is fascinated with the princess Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell Pyro has fallen in battle... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"30 May 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-64/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nSession Sketch\nSession Note\nChris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), Coby (Warin), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had captured the Princess, claimed they were agents of the Duke sent to return her to her wedding, polymorphed her into a falcon, and promptly took a vacation to train. Thic Duc still needs to find a monk to train with.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 64","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Sketch\nChris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, Thic Duc was in hot pursuit of the Princess, while Leah mourned Pyro and Amathar read through the slavers\u0026rsquo; paperwork and prepared the rescued slaves for departure.\nThic Duc returned to the rest of the group after an hour or so, reporting that he had lost the Princess in a small town named Garrotten. After mourning their fallen companion and allowing Amathar and Warin time to arrange an orderly departure for the papers and the slaves respectively, the party proceeded to Garrotten and made inquiries at the town\u0026rsquo;s largest and best \u0026ndash; and only \u0026ndash; inn. The establishment had four rooms to let, and one already claimed; the party took the other three and inquired about a bath to clean off the sewage. Unfortunately, the bath had already been spoken for\u0026hellip; all night, in fact.\nCareful questioning, enhanced by gold, bought more information about the other guest \u0026ndash; a woman who had paid not only for the best room in the inn, along with exclusive access to the bathing facilities for the whole night, but also for discretion\u0026hellip; the innkeep did better with the first two than the last. Several of the party promptly trotted over to wait outside the room the inn provided for bathing, hoping for a glimpse of the Princess they sought. Eventually, they forced their way inside, claiming to be servants of the Duke authorized to return the Princess to her wedding. Although most of the party respected her delicate feminine nature, Barron got an eyeful of the Royal Jewels when he slipped into the bathing area while invisible.\nThic Duc decided to put his recently-acquired immunity to disease to the test by refusing a bath. Instead, he broke into the room the Princess had rented for the night and removed her traveling clothes. These were ripped into several pieces by the slaves to improve their rags. He searched the room for more possessions, but failed to find anything incriminating or dangerous.\nWarin negotiated with the innkeep to obtain blankets to supplement the garments available to the slaves, along with water for cleaning them up a little bit. The innkeep sent one of his barmaids to help, who seemed of a friendly disposition and inquired about the party\u0026rsquo;s adventures. Blushing, Warin turned down her invitation to join him later.\nHaving obtained the Princess, the party promptly polymorphed her into a falcon and took 5 days of vacation to train. Found in the slavers\u0026rsquo; paperwork\nUpon careful examination of the papers, it appears the party is faced with a choice. The slavers\u0026rsquo; papers detail a caravan route for their vile \u0026ldquo;product\u0026rdquo;. The stronghold you have captured was the final step before broad distribution via a vast undercover network that extends deep into all the nations bordering the Nyr Dyv, even those of generally good and lawful inclinations. Though their operations were clearly illegal in such lands, it seemed to neither trouble them nor stop them. Their ledgers provide delivery schedules and notes, particularly concerning the type of product desired \u0026ndash; ranging from \u0026ldquo;exotic brothel candidates\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;hard labor\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;virgin sacrifices\u0026rdquo; to \u0026ldquo;well-fattened succulents\u0026rdquo;, a few entries requesting specific skills such as \u0026ldquo;gladiators\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;sailors\u0026rdquo;, even a few requesting \u0026ldquo;monstrous beasts\u0026rdquo;, and a single entry requesting \u0026ldquo;a dozen breeding pairs of noble lineage\u0026rdquo;. The names of the buyers are clearly aliases, but there is information given on methods of contact. The buyers are widely separated, and bringing them all to justice would be a difficult and time consuming task with much travel\u0026hellip; but there is clearly a well-established conspiracy of slave trafficking among the rich and powerful in lands supposedly civilized.\nHowever, the paperwork also details information about the source of the \u0026ldquo;product\u0026rdquo; and the route taken.\nThere are some familiar stops on that route. Saltmarsh is mentioned \u0026ndash; but recently crossed out, with a fresh mark on the map to the west of that town. Though the map is sparse on details, it is likely the sahuagin lair. The ledgers detail this as both an alliance, a source of product (captured sailors, perhaps from pirate activity?), and a resupply spot where slaves are transferred from a land caravan to a smuggling vessel on their way to Highport.\nDarkshelf is also mentioned, with a question mark next to it. There are no recent entries referencing that location, and it appears some were expected but have gone missing. Their product was slaves suitable for \u0026ldquo;hard labor\u0026rdquo;; trained to work without complaint or making trouble.\nThe bulk of the product, however, travels overland from a fortified keep on the outskirts of Rookroost\u0026rsquo;s territory within the bandit kingdoms. It\u0026rsquo;s not clear from the paperwork whether the keep has official status with Rookroost or whether it operates clandestinely. It is also clear that this keep is not the end of the line; it\u0026rsquo;s merely the last step in the route used by the caravans sent to and from the Highport area. Disturbingly this keep appears to receive large numbers of \u0026ldquo;well-fattened succulents\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;virgin sacrifices\u0026rdquo; captured in the shield lands. Apparently well-fed virgins are rare in the bandit kingdoms. The exports from this keep are marked for hard labor or exotic brothel services, with the occasional beast or gladiator. Diary of Tiberium the Third \u0026ndash; Of the Fourth Freeday of the Harvester\nThese past days have been difficult. As I sat to write last, our beloved companion, Pyro, eased into Pelor\u0026rsquo;s light. Ever Leah\u0026rsquo;s faithful friend, we built a pyre for him, where we laid him to rest, as did my fathers of old. May we meet again, Pyro, and \u0026lsquo;fetch\u0026rsquo; in Pelor\u0026rsquo;s graces. Good boy.\nUnfortunately, our days continued to be trying. After Thic Ducc was unable to keep pace with the fleeing woman, he returned to tell us of a village some kilometer or two away. As we are in sore need of a rest and wash, we elected to make for \u0026lsquo;Garrotten\u0026rsquo;. There, we found a small inn and tavern. The establishment has 4 rooms, and a bath, but the more lavish room (as well as the bath), had already been rented. When pressed, the innkeep allowed that his renter matched our description for the woman who\u0026rsquo;d escaped, whom we believe to be the \u0026lsquo;princess\u0026rsquo;.\nAfter much discussion (and consternation), we finally found the lady not in her room, but in the bath (for hours). She had been initially resistant, showing a frustrating level of petulance, to the idea of being escorted back to her betrothed. She claims she\u0026rsquo;d been kidnapped at sea, and had convinced her captors to free her. Though unlikely, this is possible \u0026ndash; Barron, for example, seems especially entranced by the woman.\nRegardless, Barron she agreed to allow Barron to cast a spell on her, changing her form to that of a hawk. Leaving at first light, we made for Restenford, and asked the captain to make ready her ship. There is some talk of taking a week here, to prepare and train for further work, but I believe we should push forward, and allow the Duke to sort out his house \u0026ndash; and reconsider his choice in spouse. Diary of Pyrzival the Tutor\nWell, we caught up with the Generals daughter, and I must say, she seems to think she\u0026rsquo;s a princess.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not entirely sure she\u0026rsquo;s not just a ditz who plays on her good looks to take advantage of people.\nTo recap, though. After we slew the slaver leaders, we gave the fallen wardog Pyro a pyre and fiery farewell, as befitting his name. We then made our way to the nearby hamlet Thic Duc had found, and checked into the inn. The stables did not contain our missing horse, but the innkeeper said his best room and bath room were both rented for the night already. We rented the other three rooms, and moved our money up from the cart. The priest took care of the released slaves, we gave them gold and told them to be on their way.\nWell, we suspected the missing lady might be in her room, but it appeared empty, so I checked the bath room, and sure enough, it was occupied by her. We eventually went in (Thic Duc did), and setup a schedule after telling her we were there to take her back to her betrothed.\nShe did not seem happy, and complained. A lot. Like a spoiled whiny human child. Obviously a high maintenance woman. Barron convinced her to let him polymorph her into a hawk for easy transport, and we made our way to Restenford from this unfortunately named town of Garroten. Once in Restenford, we relaxed a little, and set about with some much needed training.\nAhira, now proved in battle, has graduated from her internship, and I gave a brief speech about how she is now a full fledged party member.\nAbout the lady \u0026ndash; Thic Duc thinks she\u0026rsquo;s a slaver, but I suspect if she were really a slaver, she would not have stopped at an inn for a bath so close to pursuit. She\u0026rsquo;d have been smarter about it. We will see\u0026hellip;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 0 gp (0 gp each) Ring Of Protection +2 Ring of Shooting Stars Bracers of AC 8 Bracers of AC 6 Potion of Invisibility (about 4 doses remaining) Current Party Funds: 9921gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Pyrcival, Amathar, Tiberium, Theodora): 500xp (individually) Catching up to the Princess: 1000xp Putting up wtih the Princess: 1000xp Treasure XP: 0xp Group Total: 2000xp (xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Barron: After invisibly watching the Princess emerge from her bath \u0026quot;The princess is awesome!\u0026quot; Thic Duc Holding up Tony Falcony: \u0026quot;Think of a bird. Like this one!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # The princess has been... taken on a grand tour of the slaving operation? Barron is fascinated with the princess Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell Pyro has fallen in battle... Thic Duc is chasing the Princess... The rest of the party is reading the paperwork and counting the coins... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"16 May 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-63/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Sketch\nChris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, Thic Duc was in hot pursuit of the Princess, while Leah mourned Pyro and Amathar read through the slavers’ paperwork and prepared the rescued slaves for departure.\nThic Duc returned to the rest of the group after an hour or so, reporting that he had lost the Princess in a small town named Garrotten. After mourning their fallen companion and allowing Amathar and Warin time to arrange an orderly departure for the papers and the slaves respectively, the party proceeded to Garrotten and made inquiries at the town’s largest and best – and only – inn. The establishment had four rooms to let, and one already claimed; the party took the other three and inquired about a bath to clean off the sewage. Unfortunately, the bath had already been spoken for… all night, in fact.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 63","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nSession Sketch\nA1: Against the Slave Lords # Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jeff (Amathar), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had found the slave pits, killed their antaur guards, and rescued 4 captive slaves at the cost of the fifth slave\u0026rsquo;s life.\nTheir searches of the slaving complex revealed a nearby room clearly intended to hold slaves in bulk. Four orcs were arguing over how to remove a strange, smelly man\u0026rsquo;s stiff body from the room. They were having a great deal of trouble lifting him despite the man\u0026rsquo;s slight build and lack of resistance. So much trouble, in fact, that Pyrcival was able to kill two of them from behind before they noticed the gnome was in the room at all. The other two dropped the man \u0026ndash; who turned out to be Barron \u0026ndash; and fled. Only one of them made it out of the room alive.\nThe party took a brief break at this point to allow Barron to recover from his time as a golden idol. Amathar\u0026rsquo;s mysterious floating hands prepared a delicious meal of fried chicken in a remarkably variety of sauces and spices. If anyone noticed that the spices came from his spell component pouch, they mentioned nothing.\nThus fortified and reinforced, the party continued on. Their explorations lead them to a large, circular room, where a dark man brooded atop his throne behind a moat of sewage. Orcs filled the room, half armed with crossbows and half with swords, both groups frantically rearranging boxes. It seems the slavers had become aware of the enemy presence and were planning to leave.\nBarron used his ring of invisibility to sneak into the room and Wizard Locked the back door while the rest of the party advanced. But, the leader apparently was aware of the smelly man\u0026rsquo;s presence \u0026ndash; perhaps he needs to develop his move without smell skills? \u0026ndash; and signaled his minions to attack before sipping something from his belt and disappearing.\nTiberium led the group down the stairs with Pyrcival at his side, and together they engaged the front line of orcs. The crossbow-wielders took aim, and despite the strength of his armor, Tiberium staggered and nearly fell as three bolts struck his chest simultaneously. Only a quick prayer for Pelor\u0026rsquo;s intervention kept him in the fight. Behind them, Leah\u0026rsquo;s bow reaped orcs like a scythe through wheat.\nThic Duc and Ahira leapt from the staircase and moved around the side of the room to engage the crossbow-wielding orcs as their leader cried out, \u0026ldquo;Release the weasels!\u0026rdquo; From the large dais beneath his throne, five giant weasels rushed at the party. The orcs caught between the two groups hurriedly moved out of the way as the weasels advanced.\nBarron was just admiring the spell he had cast on the door, blocking the slaver\u0026rsquo;s escape, when he suddenly remembered the slaver on the throne he had turned his back to. He was reminded by the feel of an icy blade sliding into his back, puncturing his kidney. He collapsed in silent agony, bleeding heavily at the door he had sealed, but still invisible.\nAhira took a barrage of bolts as she moved to engage the orcs, but managed to avoid serious harm and began cutting them down to her size.\nDistracted by the sudden appearance of the giant weasels from his nightmares, Thic Duc felt steel strike at his unguarded back as well. He staggered, but did not fall. The evil leader from the throne appeared behind him, blood coating his sword.\nAt this point Warin\u0026rsquo;s divine magic entered the fray with a prayer to Pelor. His prayer was answered, and the surviving group of melee orcs were held in place, allowing the party to focus on the incoming streaks of sleek and furry doom. By this time Barron had recovered enough to drink a healing potion and began to contribute as well, sending an unseen servant to collect all the crossbow bolts to be found in the room. This disarmed and confused many of the remaining orcs, as they saw their ammunition supplies waltzing away through the air.\nThe giant weasels swarmed at Tiberium and Pyrcival, who remained on the stairs to minimize the possible attack vectors. Between their tactics and their potent armor, only one weasel was able to get a solid grip with it\u0026rsquo;s fearsome teeth, and that one was quickly dispatched along with the others.\nAnother prayer, and the thief behind Thic Duc was held in place before he could disappear again.\nActing quickly, the party secured the surrender of the remaining orcs, then removed their leader\u0026rsquo;s weapons and a magical ring before tying his hands and feet together and then tying him to his throne. But when they looked away for a moment to convince the last orc to reluctantly lay down his sword, the leader managed to trip a hidden catch on his throne and \u0026ndash; despite his bonds \u0026ndash; fall back through a hidden door to a passage below.\nThe party immediately entered hot pursuit, Thic Duc in the lead. His monkly disciplines allowed him to move with great speed, and when a pit trap opened beneath him, he was able to grab the wall to the side and cross without missing a beat. The enemy had only a small lead on him, and he knew that if he could only get within sight of them again, they would have great difficult escaping. The rest of the group followed at a slower pace, with the pit trap temporarily blocking Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s way forward.\nAs it turned out, the short passage lead to the room behind the throne normally accessed by a visible door. It was filled with supplies, paperwork, and thousands of golden coins. Amathar stayed behind to search through the paperwork, with Pyrcival and Ahira to guard him. The rest of the party continued the pursuit.\nWith Thic Duc racing forward, Leah took the time to try to decipher their tracks. She noted that the lone thief they had tied to the throne had apparently become three humanoids \u0026ndash; two in boots and one in a very dainty pointed shoe. Strange!\nAnother short passage from the storeroom and office lead to a staircase leading upwards, exiting through a face grave in a small graveyard near the back of the temple that the party had chosen not to explore before seeking entrance. Thic Duc ran past a chaotic scene \u0026ndash; the party\u0026rsquo;s riding animals were missing, including Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s warhorse, Pyrcival\u0026rsquo;s pony, and the mule they used to pull the cart. Pyro was asleep on top of the cart, enjoying the last of the sun\u0026rsquo;s rays; apparently after so many new party members, he had given up on remembering who was allowed to touch their possessions. Leah called out to him, and he ran to her side with tongue lolling out joyfully. Map Pyro Runs to Leah\nThe pursuit continued from the ruined temple to the main road, Thic Duc steadily gaining on the slavers and leaving his friends behind. As he approached, he began to make out details; there were three of them, in addition to the still-bound thief the party had briefly captured. One wore chain, another robes. The last wore a rather fetching ballroom dress in black and green, one that paired well with her long black hair and dark, glittering green eyes as she turned back to look behind her and caught sight of the monk\u0026rsquo;s proximity. The robed man cursed under his breath, something about damn monks outrunning horses, and three of the four stopped to fight. The last continued on her way, riding the stolen horse with a surprising level of skill and a dainty flip of her hair in farewell.\nThe warrior-woman quickly begin cutting her compatriot free, something they had not had the chance to do prior to this. The mage set his feet and begin the words of a spell, one that seemed at first to have no effect, but Thic Duc felt his limbs suddenly slow down to the speed of a mere human. The magic was somehow hampering his ability to pursue! Yet he was still close enough to reach the group as the mage began another spell\u0026hellip;\nFrom afar, in the dim lighting, the rest of the group saw only that Thic Duc had suddenly stopped moving forwards. They continued running, Barron in the lead due to his lack of armor, Leah and Pyro close behind, all three determined to catch their opponents before they could escape.\nLittle did they know that the sticky strands of a Web spell blocked their path. Only knowing Thic Duc had stopped for some reason gave Barron the clue he needed to stop short of the web before being caught as well, and he yelled out to inform the rest of the group of the obstacle. Leah and Pyro moved to bypass the web through the heavy forest on either side of the road while Barron begin to cut Thic Duc free.\nThe wizard had another spell up his sleeve, however. His arcane gestures summoned a fierce war dog, almost a twin to Pyro, and the two animals faced off. Map Pyro Meets a New Friend\nWhile the two dogs sniffed each other\u0026rsquo;s hindquarters, and Leah raised her bow to take aim, the wizard raised his hand once more, a ring upon his hand glowing fiercely as three balls of lighting shot forward at the party. Map The wizard flung a ball of lightning\nThic Duc, only recently freed from the web that held him, managed to duck out of the way with minimal damage. Leah, despite her conductive plate mail, did the same with all the elven grace of one-half of her parentage. Unfortunately, Pyro was busy making a new friend rather than watching for danger, and the ball of lightning struck him with tremendous force. Map Pyro is struck with tremendous force\nSeeing her treasured companion and ally fried to a crisp sent Leah into a vicious fury, and when she regained her footing after evading the attack (which left her only slightly singed) her arrows flew true, striking the wizard who had hurt Pyro solidly in both of his eyes. The robed man fell, with Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrow\u0026rsquo;s making a bloody ruin of both his eyes.\nWith Leah in the fury and the rest of the party close behind, the warrior-woman fell almost before she finished untying her companion, who lasted only a minute or two longer. But the possible Princess had ridden off into the distance, and Leah was too beset with grief to track her immediately. She rushed to her dog, tears welling in her eyes, but the brave animal had life enough for only one last action: his tongue licked her tears away as rain began to fall, with only Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s lantern many yards back to give faint illumination to the tragic scene of farewell. Of the Fourth Godsday of the Harvester (Tiberium)\nPraise Pelor! I can feel his warmth once more on my skin! I haven\u0026rsquo;t much time, as we\u0026rsquo;re still in pursuit of the final remaining slaver, she whom we believe to be the General\u0026rsquo;s daughter. Having found Barron, finally, in the clutches of four orcs, he\u0026rsquo;s been freed and brought back to health. Shortly thereafter, we came upon a large group of orcs, and a single human man. Shortly after we engaged, the man disappeared, and began slowly picking off my comrades, backstabbing Barron and Thic Ducc, causing significant harm. At the same time, orcs had been blocking our advance, while their rear flank pelted us with crossbows (and on one particular volley, nearly sent me to meet Pelor!). Eventually, though, we wore them down \u0026ndash; just as the lord called for his pet WEASELS (WEASELS! Must we fend off every insect and giant beast known to gods and man in these infernal caverns?).\nOur foes did fall, though, as I returned to normal size (prior enchantment courtesy of our friendly neighborhood magic-user). The lord was held with Pelor\u0026rsquo;s might (and Warrin\u0026rsquo;s faith), and we bound his arms and legs, then tied him to his \u0026rsquo;throne\u0026rsquo;, as well, prior to questioning. The throne, however, is a lie, and it had opened a short fall into more muck. We realized quickly that our captive had been taken! TD was able to navigate a large pit trap, and come back up, finding himself in the room beyond our own. Barron removed his magic from the door, and we quickly pursued (after a quick tossing of the room). TD was able to catch up to the slavers fairly quickly, however they\u0026rsquo;d cast webbing at him, hindering his movement. We weren\u0026rsquo;t far behind, and the bastards were unable to flee. So here we sit, TD again chasing the remaining horse (the warhorse I\u0026rsquo;d bought in Restenford), while we take a breath, before again giving chase. From the diary of Pyrzival the Gnome\nAnother sunless day in this horrific den of orcs and corrupt humans. Well, after the brutal fight with four ant-men, we moved into the hallway, where we hear noises coming from a room down the hall. Tib and I move in and surprise four orcs carrying the motionless form of our companion. We rush them and I slew one before he knew what was there, as the others turned pale as they faced Tib and I in our wrath. Two turned to flee as Tib cut another down, and I cut one more down as they fled, but alas! An orc escaped. I did not pursue, but paused to check on Barron.\nI\u0026rsquo;m very happy to have released him from the clutches of the foul orc slavers \u0026ndash; my memory of my time over thirty years ago burning in my mind. Damn their foul clutches!\nBaron bounces back quickly, and we found his personal gear in a storeroom. We take a little while to recover our strength before forging on in this horrific place. Back to one of the corridors, and down the hall brought us to a doorway. Barron turns invisible and scouts ahead, coming back a few minutes later with the news that there are sixteen more orcs in a large circular room \u0026ndash; eight with crossbows and eight with sword and shield \u0026ndash; in the next room, being presided over by a human wearing leather. The orcs seem to be packing up, so we decide to rush down to attack.\nBarron disappears again with the intent of locking the door so none can escape our wrath. As soon as we appear in the room, the human disappears. Half the orcs rush us, hoping to stop us before we can enter the room and bring our full numbers to bear. The other half start shooting their crossbows. Tib and I get close, but there is only room for one of us at the end of the ramp leading down (He is still gian sized). He steps off the ramp into the water, and I move up and engage the sword wielding orcs. I see out of the corner of my eyes as the ranger starts shooting the crossbow bearing orcs, who are pincushioning Tib and taking aim at Ahira. The monk apparently jumped down on one side, and starts slaying archer orcs as well, as Ahira does the same on the other side and moves to take the archers targeting her out.\nRage engulfs me as the stench of orc encompasses me, refreshing my memories of being an orc captive. Never again! I think as I decapitate another orc. Several minutes of fierce fighting occur with blows given and taken, and my trusty armor and shield doing their job, before someone cries out \u0026ldquo;release the weasels!\u0026rdquo; which is, let\u0026rsquo;s be honest, not something you hear every day. From under the dais come five giant weasels, and they start tearing into the back of an orc not fast enough to get out of their way in their hunger to get to myself and Tib. I switch targets to the more dangerous weasel near me, as I take another attack on my shield. Thrusting my sword deep in the vitals of a weasel already sporting several of the rangers arrows, it shudders it\u0026rsquo;s last as I think to myself \u0026ldquo;that\u0026rsquo;d make a nice bathrobe!\u0026rdquo;\nAs the last weasel falls, it appears the three orcs on one side were frozen by a spell of the clerics, as indeed is the invisible thief \u0026ndash; who re-appeared to attack the monk, only to get caught in the clerics spell. We strip him of his belonging, and Tib and Thic Duc tie him to the throne as I execute the unneeded orcs we took prisoner, As we are preparing our questions for the human (the remaining orc doesn\u0026rsquo;t know squat), the throne opens up to a passage below, and he disappears.\nTib and Thic Duc immediately persue, and we wait a minute until the kid tells us to go through the door, which we do. Everyone immediately starts out in pursuit \u0026ndash; as it appears the human was rescued by his companions, and they have taken our mounts and fled! Ahira and I quickly fall behind, as I can hear the monk catch up and start slowing them down. We arrive at the tail end of battle \u0026ndash; to see a thick webbing covering the space between trees where the road goes. I grasp my bow which I had prepared as I trudge along and let loose two arrows at the thief before my companions get to close to him for me to shoot safely. Tib and Thic Duc disable or kill the magic user, a fighter and the thief, as the monk yells \u0026ldquo;the princess is getting away!\u0026rdquo; and runs off after her, and returns as we\u0026rsquo;re finishing looting the bodies, and head back to the circular room to finish our search for information. We find a desk with a lot of paperwork and some gold. Diary of Barron the golden Day 123\u0026hellip;or 4\u0026hellip;I dunno it\u0026rsquo;s surprisingly difficult to keep time as a golden statue. Also if we are being honest i don\u0026rsquo;t care. I hope i struck an amazing pose though. These orcs seem to believe i am in fact a statue\u0026hellip;i am but still\u0026hellip;suckers. there is some arguments going on and I think someone maybe trying to steal me. Life goals achieved. Suddenly I am struck in the head and I am not a statue anymore. Somehow I am looking up at the group of do gooders, so I guess they found me. I take a few moments to check my self for any residual gold, and find none. I\u0026rsquo;m both thrilled and annoyed at this. Being a statue was boring, but I\u0026rsquo;m disappointed my perceived value has gone way down and I can no longer be a treasure. Good news though being a statue kept me from dying, and now I can finally get healed. After gathering my things we proceeded to attempt to track this princess who it turns out I did not find after all. We came upon a large room where I promptly used the ring to go invisible and scout around. There was orcs packing up and some grungy looking guy on a throne. I bet he\u0026rsquo;s the boss around here. At this point we discussed some plans and ended up with the one where I save the day. I invisibly snuck to the exit door and using my amazing magical skills I cast wizard lock on the door to prevent escape. Good luck opening the door fools buhahahaha. Here\u0026rsquo;s where the surprise attack cames\u0026hellip; only they did not surprise anyone\u0026hellip; in fact it was almost like they were waiting. Was it a trap? Somewhere deep down I know I should know more about traps, I shake this off as an rogue thought. Unfortunately I this apparently distracted me and didn\u0026rsquo;t notice a blade slicing thru me till it was touching the door\u0026hellip;thru me. Ah shit not again. I just got unstatued and it would be nice to see my horde of treasure again. I can\u0026rsquo;t believe I got backstabbed\u0026hellip; maybe I should backstab him back\u0026hellip; can I do that? Fortunately I was still invisible and he seemed to be content with the growing pool of blood and walked away. As grunge guy walked away I noticed him sipping a potion and vanish. Note to self this guy has some good loot. I took advantage of this moment to chug a special health potion and stood back up. At this moment I noticed the party was being used as a pin cushion to crossbow bolts. These guys just attempted a solid rescue and it would be absurd to have them fall during the escape right? After a quick scan of the room I decided it would be best for once not to be in combat, but rather be sneaky. I summoned my faithful unseen servant and talked him with removing the bolts from the orcs. This created some hilarious moments of confusion. Also where did these angry ass weasels come from? Apparently warrin is able to hold people with his spells\u0026hellip;I must make a note of that, it could be useful later. The grunge guy appeared after stabbing someone but was immediately held in place by warrin. Also got to watch those weasels devour an orc. Note to self\u0026hellip;might need to get a weasel. At this point one of the orcs tried to escape, but I already locked the door\u0026hellip;so good luck buddy. After taunting him for a few minutes he gave up. Good timing too, cause minus grunge every thing was dead. I also noticed the party was removing all the item from grunge while he was magically held. My heart grew 3 times its size and a tear came to my eye \u0026hellip;I have taught them well. After them up we put him on the throne to interrogate him, he fell through a secret trap door. Guess we forgot to check for those. We gave chase, and damn can that guy run for some one bound and gagged. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t long before leah noticed clear tracks that took us straight to a graveyard. In our chase we noticed they stole our horses. For the record I\u0026rsquo;m getting sick if this slaver gang stealing from us\u0026hellip;I may need to research using wizard lock on more things. TD took off at full speed after the horses and clearly gaining ground. We caught up with him a few minutes later, combat already going on. Something\u0026rsquo;s wrong though, yes just standing there letting them cast at him\u0026hellip; webs\u0026hellip; they webbed him. Good thing I noticed or I would have run right into it myself. I immediately took to cutting him free as the party advanced on the 3 who stayed to fight. There was a loud surge of power and I looked up to see a ball of energy hit TD and pyro. I could see right away that pyro did not make it. I knew I needed to get out of Leah\u0026rsquo;s way before she went barbarian mode. Right I was as she sent 2 consecutive arrows in the casters eyes. He dead. We wrapped up the area aka killed the others, and as we did the strangest thing happened. It was like a fog lifted from my mind and I realized that cursed/blessed ring had left me thinking I was a a mage. For time I suppose I was, but now i remember everything and i can be so much more. It might be time for a rebranding.\nAddendum\nAmathar, Pyrcival, and Ahira carefully examined the papers in the storeroom and located a map depicting a caravan route the slavers used, leading to another stronghold, along with additional details of their plans and operations within the shield lands.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 9548gp (955gp each) Ring (magical, on thief) Ring (magical, on mage) Bracers (magical, on mage) Potion of Invisibility (about 4 doses remaining) Spellbook 3 gems (1500gp total) 3 pieces of jewelry (3000gp total) Loose coin in storage room (5000gp) Loose coin on orcs (48 gp) Map of slave caravan route Current Party Funds: 9921gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Tiberium, Pyrcival, Amathar, Barron): 500xp (individually) 5 giant weasels: 748xp 10 orcs with swords: 100xp 8 orcs with crossbows: 160xp Slaver thief: 683xp Slaver mage: 472xp Slaver warrioress: 577xp 4 orcs trying to escape with Barron: 48xp Catching sight of the Princess: 1000xp Treasure XP: 9548xp Group Total: 13336xp (1667xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Leah: \u0026quot;I will cut you so bad. You are so dead!\u0026quot; Spellbook contents # Level One # Burning Hands Friends Spider Climb Magic Missile Level Two # Invisibility Web Level Three # Monster Summoning 1 Slow Dangling Threads of Fate # The princess has been... taken on a grand tour of the slaving operation? Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell Pyro has fallen in battle... Thic Duc is chasing the Princess... The rest of the party is reading the paperwork and counting the coins... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"2 May 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-62/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nSession Sketch\nA1: Against the Slave Lords # Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jeff (Amathar), Brian (Pyrcival), Leah (Ahira), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had found the slave pits, killed their antaur guards, and rescued 4 captive slaves at the cost of the fifth slave’s life.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 62","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Cake\nSketch\nSession Map\nA1: Against the Slave Lords # Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Mariel (Leah), Jeff (Amathar), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were looking for a safe place and a spare moment to rest following an exhausting fight with the antaurs. Of the Fourth Moonday of the Harvester (Pt. II)\nThe orc witch doctor and his cronies dead, we began to rest and regroup, briefly. Out of nowhere, Cyrus began muttering and chanting, a glazed look over his eyes. He quickly snapped out of it, and looked startled. He seemed suddenly full of purpose, and only saying that he’d been called, disappeared back the way we’d come. Not long after, Pyrz and Ahera joined us, and indicated they’d not seen Cyrus in the tunnels. I fear the worst, but his decision to leave seemed to be coming from on-high. Such a calling can’t be questioned.\nHaving Pyrz and his trainee meet up with the group, we discussed our next move. The explosion from the gas trap, however, had reverberated throughout the structure, and we soon heard pounding on the door we’d blocked. As we waited for combat, we began to hear tools to the south, and guttural grunts from the dark. Huge, red eyes appeared to the south, and now banging on the door! Once again, pincered in this same platform! Ahera and Pyrz took up position to the south, I to the north, guarding for when the door would give. Moments later, an ogre, then two more, burst from the haze, throwing huge rocks at our rear flanks! As the party met the ogres (and a pack of orcs), the banging on the door became more rapid; I quickly understood that an ant-man now had taken to breaking through. Do they work with the orcs, somehow?! Moments later, the door did break apart, allowing the insect into the (former) gas trap. Buying time, I quickly shut and blocked the second door. Leah was still shooting at the ogres, and I’ll need her assistance!\nAn ogre fell, just as the second door burst apart, revealing two of the ant-men, one with a bandolier of darts. I engaged, while darts flew after Leah and I. Fortunately, between arrows and Purity, the insectoids fell. I turned back, and saw the final ogre died with his band.\nBeaten and bruised, we decided to head back to the direction from which the ogres had emerged. Surely, we can find a place to rest, and regain our strength. After some exploring, we did find such a room, although it appears to be the very room the ogres slept, themselves. It smells as bad as the rest of this infernal place. We were finally able to rest and commune, each woke up refreshed. Noting the imprecise, crude tunneling, we believed it likely that the slavers (and Baron) would be in a more worked direction, so headed back to the gas room. After passing through, we came to a strange, dug out room, almost from the ceiling. Beams crisscrossed the room, with cages, should anyone fall from the beam. Perhaps some kind of gladiator games? Whatever the use, the thought of crossing these narrow planks is harrowing, especially in plate armor. Pyrzival, however, feels no such worry, and walked forward. Just as he reached a ledge on the opposite end, two ant-men, hidden on the other side of two pillars, pulled themselves up onto the beam. He backed up, and found two additional soldiers to either side, occupying the small rooms. One, he later said, is a control room, possibly for the cages below. The other was filled with slaves (and an ant-man). The party now surged forward, walking across the beams, attempting to reach Pyrz without falling. Fortunately, Leah was able to keep the threats occupied (or dead) from afar, insuring none fell into the cages below. Pyrz, Ahera, and I were able to overcome the two ant-men, saving several slaves (One poor soul was lost. Pelor protect and guide him!). The threat ended, we now consider our next steps; There are sounds from down the hall.\nDiary for Pyrzival the Gnome # Well, my intern and I were guarding some packages when we heard a loud explosion in the direction the rest of the party took. We hurriedly decided the packages would be fine where they were, and rushed to investigate. When we reunited with the party, we found most of them were intact, with the possible exception of Cyrus.\nThe explosion must have garnered some attention, as we starting hearing noises at the north end of the corridor and the southern most door. We spiked the south door, and waited in defense as a group of Ogres and orcs burst through the corridor to the north!\nA rapid relocation of resources put myself and my intern facing the ogres with an enlarged Warren, and the kid and ranger facing the door to the South, which eventually broke open and let three antaurs in. It took us a little bit but we killed the orcs and ogres, and investigated the room to the north. We rested in the ogres room (ugh, every bit as disgusting as it sounds), and in the morning, moved south.\nWe found an interesting room with a latticework of beams over barred slave pens. I heroically moved over the beams, where I came under attack by a pair of ant-men. I retreated to firm ground, and found myself surrounded by four of the creatures. Several blows were exchanged, leaving me sorely wounded, as the party finally started arriving. I swapped places with the kid, and Warren healed me some, so I could return to the fight. After a rough fight, the party killed the ant-men, and released some slaves they had. We have to be getting close to rescuing the half elf now!\nThe slaves told us they thought the Princess had come through this way, and that she was treated like a guest on a tour, not like a captive. This makes things complicated, if she and the General are in on the slavers operation. The best place for her might be married to the Duke, where he can try to keep her out of trouble. He’ll have to watch his back though!\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 1862gp (266gp each) Pearl (magical) 3 gems (500gp each, included in gp total) Current Party Funds: 8966gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Amathar, Tiberium, Pyrcival, Theodora): 500xp (individually) 6 antaurs: 3012xp 9 orcs: 144xp 3 ogres: 528xp Treasure XP: 1862 xp Group Total: 5546xp (1109xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # Barron remains missing... The princess has been kidnapped! Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"18 April 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-61/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Cake\nSketch\nSession Map\nA1: Against the Slave Lords # Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Mariel (Leah), Jeff (Amathar), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were looking for a safe place and a spare moment to rest following an exhausting fight with the antaurs. Of the Fourth Moonday of the Harvester (Pt. II)\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 61","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nSession Map\nA1: Against the Slave Lords # Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Mariel (Leah), Tim (Cyrus), Jeff (Amathar), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were looking for a safe place and a spare moment to rest following an exhausting fight with the antaurs.\nOf the Fourth Moonday of the Harvester\nIf we don\u0026rsquo;t find Barron, and end these slavers, soon, I may lose my mind. Though only a day underground, it feels as if I may never again feel the sun on my skin. As Thic Ducc and Warrin recovered, it was decided a short rest was needed. Pyrz and his trainee suddenly needed to get something with the cart, and offered to relieve Cyrus. He joined us, fortunate to have avoided further unpleasant encounters with the insectoids. After some brief discussion about the direction to proceed, my words were heeded, and we began back toward the acidic pool, and it\u0026rsquo;s denizens. TD opted to run around to the initial entry, and we began picking off the larvae with Leah\u0026rsquo;s bow. She was quickly immobilized, however, and I was able to move forward to press the attack. Once at the tunnel mouth, I realized that there are platforms around the edge, suitable for a man to navigate. As we fought off the larvae, I made way to the eastern passage. Unfortunately, TD slipped on the slick walls, and fell, causing some ruckus. The tunnel which he\u0026rsquo;d been crossing lit up, and three additional Insectoids attacked. I made my way to the new front, where Leah, Warrin, and I took up position on either end of the doorway. After felling one of the ant-men, I once more hoped to convince the remaining warriors we didn\u0026rsquo;t intend to be a threat. Unlike our previous attempt, an agreement was reached; they simply want us out of the hive, a demand to which we are happy to oblige.\nGoing back to the eastern tunnel, with it\u0026rsquo;s smooth walls and obvious intelligent construction, we began to make our way. After a fork, we finally came upon what appeared to be two dead-ends. A quick search, however, proved that couldn\u0026rsquo;t be further from the truth: There are two hidden doorways. After jamming up one, we went through the concealed door further into the enormous tunnel. After some time, we came to an abandoned camp, and a little farther along, a near-still river of muck. As a result of a prior trap we\u0026rsquo;d encountered, Amathar had already magick\u0026rsquo;d me to be some 12 ft. tall. The small river being no hurdle, I crossed to the other side, and held two ropes for others to cross. As Warrin attempted the crossing, however, orcs emerged from both ends of the corridor, took their shots, caused Warrin to lose his balance, and fall squarely onto the lower rope, in a most inconvenient landing \u0026ndash; until he fell again, into the slow stream. I turned to look at the orc in robes, while a suddenly huge Warin ran the opposite direction, to the other pack of orcs.\nWith magic flowing through us, we were able to down the orcs rapidly, but not before one may have referred to Barron as \u0026lsquo;The Golden One\u0026rsquo;. Is the man being worshipped as a God, in only a day of captivity?!?\nWe shall find that answer soon. The others insist that we take another, longer, rest, as we\u0026rsquo;re no good to Barron, the \u0026lsquo;princess\u0026rsquo;, or anyone else if we\u0026rsquo;re dead.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp 3 slightly glowing apples Loose coin: gp Treasure: gp (gp each) Current Party Funds: 8582gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up: 100xp each Journal entries, sketches, or baked goods (Amathar, Tiberium, Theodora): 500xp (individually) Witch Doctor: 105xp 5 Witch Doctor assistants: 75xp 6 Orc Guards: 120xp Treasure XP: 0 xp Group Total: 900xp (xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # Barron remains missing... The princess has been kidnapped! Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"4 April 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-60/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nSession Map\nA1: Against the Slave Lords # Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Mariel (Leah), Tim (Cyrus), Jeff (Amathar), and Coby (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were looking for a safe place and a spare moment to rest following an exhausting fight with the antaurs.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 60","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nA1: Against the Slave Lords # Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrcival), and Leah (Ahira) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had defeated an assault by some sort of repulsive sewer larva from one side and an army of ants from the other. They defeated the ants and decided that discretion was the better part of valor with the larva. However, there are telltale insectoid noises coming from deeper into the ants\u0026rsquo; nest, the larva still block that path forward, and From the Diary of Pyrzival the Tutor\nI\u0026rsquo;m not overly fond of bugs, in general. They\u0026rsquo;re useful teaching tools sometimes, pinned to little wood boards, of the differences in species. That said, ants the size of dogs and human / ant hybrids (is there anything a human won\u0026rsquo;t breed with???) are something altogether different. So after the last attack of many ants, we venture down the corridor, with the ants (being an altogether better option than wading calf -deep in an acidic crapwater mixture. We get to the end of the corridor, closing small entrances along the way, and venture into the opening to a larger rough chamber \u0026ndash; where we encounter four ant-human hybrids, each with four arms. Disgusting. Potentially dangerous since they each are carrying two shields and two swords.\nI politely ask if they\u0026rsquo;ve seen an orc carrying a half-elf through there, and they sick a bunch of giant ants on us, and accuse us of polluting their nest. No hospitality at all. So once again, we strategically retreat to a slightly more narrow area where the kid, myself, and the apprentice establish a skirmish line, with Leah the ranger picking off especially dangerous foes behind their lines. This goes on for a while, and we manage to prevail, but it\u0026rsquo;s a significant challenge as the hybrids are well armored and difficult to lure in close enough to kill. They had also sent a small group of worker ants around back to try and take us in the rear, but the monk and ranger held them off.\nAfter the fight, we investigate the corridor branching off the chamber to the right, and find stairs leading up, and another chamber with pits for holding grain. We try the left corridor, and encounter a room filled with rotting vegetation. The monk takes this time to jump into it (I didn\u0026rsquo;t really see), and gets covered in an even more disgusting creature \u0026ndash; something I\u0026rsquo;d only read about \u0026ndash; rot grubs. Quick thinking with a torch kills some of them, but Tib and I have to dig the other two out of his body before they reach his heart and kill him. It takes a while, but between us, we get the job done using surgical tools made from improvised lockpicks (why does a religious man carry lockpicks?). While we\u0026rsquo;re dealing with the grubs, a grey ooze attacks the cleric, and then Ahira the apprentice fighter, and knocks her unconscious. I drag her back out of it, and the ooze is dispatched.\nAll in all, I hope Barron is doing ok, as the rescue party is, at this rate, never getting there! Of the Fourth Sunday of the Harvester (Part III)\nThough I can\u0026rsquo;t see it, the sun must be well down. We\u0026rsquo;ve been in these wretched caverns for what seems like a month, with no end in sight. After resting briefly, we forged ahead into the complex. Exploring the area from where the Giant Ants had come, we came upon a large chamber, with four or five small tunnels stemming out, no larger than a smallish gnome (or a Giant Ant). Feeling we ought to ensure we\u0026rsquo;re not caught from behind, it was decided we\u0026rsquo;d collapse these passages. All closed but one, a loud \u0026lsquo;chittering\u0026rsquo; could be heard above the din of falling dirt. Taking a few steps forward, the next grotto came into view, revealing four large ant-men, and uncounted other Giant Ants (some smelled strongly of peppermint, strangely). I backed away slowly, hands out to show I wished them no ill intent, but they quickly began streaming forward, with the ant-men staying to the rear with bows. Despite my best efforts, the instectoids weren\u0026rsquo;t to be reasoned with, and we were forced to defend ourselves. I take no pleasure in recording that we may have eliminated the entire hive, so thorough was the slaughter. We took casualties, as well, but were able to get everyone back up to fighting shape.\nFinally recovering from a quite heavy battle, we began to further penetrate the hive system. Eliminating several dead ends, and finding several of the larvae encountered previously (still cocooned, but with the same awful odor), we wandered upon a final \u0026lsquo;man-sized\u0026rsquo; ingress. Several hundred yards forward, we passed through a narrow room with ditches to the side. Seeing no threat, nor items of interest, Pyrz and I continued through. Thic Ducc, however, had been curious about the skins hanging from above. As they\u0026rsquo;re quite out of our reach, he opted to use a rope to pull one down. In so doing, however, he lost is footing and fell into a trench. He immediately stood, but all saw a horrific sight: Rot Grubs burrowing into his flesh. Thinking quickly, Ahera was able to bring her torch to bear, and burn one off. TD, fighting panic, doused his arm in an oil, then set it alit, killing the remaining (visible) grubs. Two had burrowed into his arm, however, and were surely making way to his vitals. Thank Pelor for my medical training, as I recalled from those lessons that Rot Grubs, when internal, are treated much as a disease. Whispering a devotion to the Sun Father, I felt His power flow through me and into the monk. The grubs dead, it still seemed prudent to remove them. With Pyrz\u0026rsquo; steady hands, and my own moderate training, the two of us were able to cleanse TD\u0026rsquo;s body of that filth.. though painful, I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine the horror of having those things decaying in his person.\nBecause this infernal cave clearly hates us, however, as Thic Ducc recovered and we began to prepare to default, we were set upon by a huge gray ooze. Though it was put down quickly, I\u0026rsquo;m afraid Warren may need to buy new boots. What hateful beings await us, I can only guess. We\u0026rsquo;ll move again, soon. Diary of Barron the mad (limited release gold edition)\nWell it\u0026rsquo;s been an interesting couple of hours. After spending many of them dodging spears they finally found me. Rather than out right gutting me, they offered a alternative of living. Being unable to invest my vast horde from the underworld I agreed. After spending some time with my new guards, I managed to do 3 things\u0026hellip;first I learned some interesting facts about orcs and some orcish recipes from orc quarterly(perhaps malog isn\u0026rsquo;t so strange after all). 2nd I learned I\u0026rsquo;m more valuable alive than dead(obviously but I was concerned they did not see it for a moment). 3rd I through the use of my cunning and charm I convinced the orcs I could turn all their copper to gold. I struck a deal in which I would buy my freedom. I told them I needed my book, to which they refused but agreed I did need my book to do said magic. A compromise was reached in that those savages literally ripped a page out of the book and handed it to me. Note to self\u0026hellip;.add book repairs to growing bill to be sent to the dungeon manager. I almost even convinced them to just let me out, but admittedly I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have believed me either. So I extravagantly cast the spell. But that\u0026rsquo;s when it happened. There was a weird noise almost like a piece of small high speed metal ricocheted off a wall. Then my greats dreams and yet nightmares at the same time came true, as I turned myself to gold. Con: I\u0026rsquo;m gold, how will I eat, how will I poop, I\u0026rsquo;m unaware of my own value, and how can I protect my treasure when I am myself treasure. Pro: I\u0026rsquo;m gold, i will be pooping gold nuggets, being a statue sure is peaceful, might have discovered a way to live forever. Diary of Leah the Silent\nI don\u0026rsquo;t have enough alcohol to deal with this day so I\u0026rsquo;m turning to writing this to cope. Let\u0026rsquo;s take a step back and acknowledge that my closest friend is also the point of stress. Despite all his faults(and there are many), he has saved my life many times, and me to him. Yet again, I left him unsupervised and he managed to get himself in trouble. This time he used that chaotic mage he somehow learned and swapped places with thic duc who was recently kidnapped. Now we head under ground in pursuit. I hate being underground. Progress is slow, and we keep getting attacked by giant ants. Next thing I know we are surrounded by ants, and ant people. Being at expert with nature I quickly identified some of the ants as poisonous, and readied my bow for action. The more talkative members of the group attempted to talk our way out. This ended in a fight as usual. I dispatched the poisonous ones with extreme prejudice. That\u0026rsquo;s when one of those ant men took a shot at my face. I caught it with my hand, and got a splinter. I then pointed his arrow at the one who shot at me so as to let him know I shall be returning his arrow. Not being one for lying, I promptly made good on the threat and planted his arrow into his face. I am a firm believer in the double tap, so I send one of my arrows as back up. He went down. At this point I realized I was running low on markswoman fuel added topped it off with a good swig of whiskey. This where they tried surrounding us, but that weird bird Barron bought sounded the ambush alarm. Bad tactical move against this party. We do our best when we are surrounded and can\u0026rsquo;t retreat. I reaimed to the back to help thic duc hold the rear. Though it seems the ants in back were not a squad and kept falling on each other. Between my arrows and thic ducs fist, we made quick work of the rear line. I went back to the front to dispatch more of the smack talking antaurs. Took an arrow for a souvenir. After exterminating the ants, we moved up the corridor and found a new horror as thic duc decided to reach under water and discovered rot worms. His solution was lighting him self on fire. Barron is not even here and I am putting out fires. Speaking of, my experience with the aforementioned fires from Barron did teach me how to extinguish flames with out even burning the clothes used. Then Warin discovered an acidic grey ooze by standing in it. That could have gone better, also they apparently eat arrows. I sincerely hope Barron hasn\u0026rsquo;t done anything stupid like turn himself into a statue as a means to try and escape. We might be awhile, so hang in there B.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nCat\nCat\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Loose coin: 110gp Treasure: 110gp (gp each) Current Party Funds: 8582gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 500xp Journal entries (Pyrzifal, Tiberium, Barron, Leah): 500xp (individually) 8 soldier ants: 744xp 14 worker ants: 644xp 4 drones: 1704xp 6 rot grubs: 276xp 1 grey ooze: 147xp Treasure XP: 110xp Group Total: 4125xp (825xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Half-Smurf: enough said... and speaking of, aren't smurfs really just blue, animated lawn gnomes? Dangling Threads of Fate # Thic Duc was paralyzed during the battle and abducted. At the last moment, Barron's last spell misfired, and he swapped places with Thic Duc The princess has been kidnapped! Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"21 March 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-59/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nA1: Against the Slave Lords # Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrcival), and Leah (Ahira) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had defeated an assault by some sort of repulsive sewer larva from one side and an army of ants from the other. They defeated the ants and decided that discretion was the better part of valor with the larva. However, there are telltale insectoid noises coming from deeper into the ants’ nest, the larva still block that path forward, and From the Diary of Pyrzival the Tutor\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 59","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrcival), and Leah (Ahira) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, Barron had magically swapped places with the captured Thic Duc (\u0026ldquo;I meant to do that!\u0026rdquo;), and the party was determined to rescue him. Eventually, after they rested a bit, memorized some spells, maybe trained for a few days\u0026hellip;\nOf the Fourth Sunday of the Harvester Progress through the ruined temple is slow. The slavers still have Barron and seem to have a working understanding with various local wildlife. Also, they have a troll. Had a troll. The monster was somehow shrunk to the size of a pebble, and resided in a poor box. Not long after entering the room TD had been taken through, it exploded from hiding, and attacked. Fire being plentiful in this group, we quickly put the thing out of its misery. Finding a both a trap door and a hidden door (beneath and behind the altar, respectively), I was concerned that we'd be caught from behind. We first checked the door behind the altar, and found a large, dilapidated room. The ceiling crumbling, with sunlight streaming through. Still just past midday, Thic Ducc moved in to search the area while I kept an eye on the trapdoor. Hearing squawking, I turned to find he'd been set upon by large mosquito-like creatures. Three attached themselves to him and appeared to be draining his blood. The group took down a dozen of the pests, with Leah finishing off the final stirge from afar, evoking comparison to an archer shooting an apple from some poor peasants' head at a festival. Having discovered some coin in a drawer in the altar, we took to the trap door. No stairs, so I dropped a long beam vertically, while a rope was dangled. Working down the ~20 feet was no issue. Once down, we found ourselves at a branch. Walking past the first turn, we continued straight, but it appeared the path was too narrow for most of us (perhaps Pryz may have fit?). Instead, we backed up, and took the left turn. Not far down the 'hall', Pyrz and I stumbled into a large, submerged pit. The liquid was not water, however, but some form of a weak acid. It was painful to the skin, and clearly a threat to gear. While attempting to stand, we were attacked by human-sized larvae, pale and disgusting, clearly accustomed to the dark. Recognizing this wasn't a defensible position, Pryz and I backed up onto dry land (as much as anything is dry down here), and attempted the previous route. While we were backing up, Warrin and Leah announced that giant ants had engaged them from the opposite end. The two were able to hold their own, with Leah exterminating several of them, before we all converged back near the rope (and a ladder we'd initially missed). A bottleneck created, Pyrz, Leah, and Warrin were able to withstand wave after wave from the ants, before finally eliminating them all. We've now moved into the cavern from which the ants emerged, and found it empty, with small passages to the side. Cautiously, we're taking a moment to collect ourselves before proceeding. Barron is still out there, and he must be recovered. Observations of Pyrzival the Gnome Well, things have been quite a mess. The half-smurf monk returned, and when he woke up, he said that he had been magically switched with Barron, the party half elf accountant, and that now Barron was in the clutches of orcs. I sympathized, having been in the same position myself, but Barron is a lot more capable than I was at that tender young age. Regardless, I am still resolved to attempt a rescue. The group questioned the monk carefully, but he really only had hazy information. We started searching for the door they took him through, when a troll burst out of the wall and attacked the priest and kid! I yelled at the intern to get fire (thinking it'd keep her out of harms way and we would also need it to finish the troll off once it was subdued), and we engaged the disgusting animal. After a few minutes, my companions and I got the upper hand, and the thing toppled over on me - no doubt wanting to take me down with it. With some help, I managed to get out from under it, and we set it on fire, and watched it burn. We then found a smaller room off the main room, and while investigating, the monk disturbed a group of stirges, disgusting things - and all of a sudden the air is thick with them. My intern and I help mop up the stirges while Tib takes a break. After my intern knocked over the statue of the orc god Grumpsh or whatever his name is (an act I applauded, by the way), we found the trapdoor going down, and had to clear the statue off of it, before we could descend into a disgusting water-filled chamber. Out of this chamber went a passage which branched out quickly, and we investigated one, which opened into a large chamber with a lot of little corridors off of it. It seemed undisturbed, so we investigated the other. Well, it did not turn out well. After I took the time and trouble to bathe in light beer, Tib and I fall into a deep pit of disgusting acidic crap. To add injury to insult, we promply get attacked by a group of human-sized pasty white larvae. We retreat after getting hit repeatedly, and finish off one of the wormy creatures. At the same time, the other end of the party gets attacked by giant ants! Warren the priest apparently held them off until we redistributed ourselves to deal with both threats. I hold the line against the larvae while we retreat down the corridor - and the larvae stop at the water and start spitting slime at us, which makes me vomit briefly. The group forms a bottleneck line - with me in front (being a front-rank close-in fighter has advantages and disadvantages) and the ranger firing over my head. After several minutes of fierce fighting, the ants are destroyed, and we regroup to decide which way to go in order to save our missing comrad. We feel reasonably sure we have a bit of time, as they're likely keeping him to sell him into slavery. Dear diary Today sucks. After somehow swapping places with Thic Duc, I find my self in the clutches of orcs. Wondering thru the sewers. This is exactly how I like to spend my weekends after all. After a few moments of awkward silence, I attempted to make small talk. This did not go well, apparently orcs have never heard of customer service. I realize its my first time being kidnaped by this crew, but a little manners go along way. They ended up tossing me in a tiny ass cell. I took advantage of this to go invisible and yell out about my glorious escape. I was apparently not important enough to deal with as an escapee... rude. So I went with the next best thing and cast friends on these fellows. They began wondering how I got locked in this cell, except bob... I don't like that guy. I managed to convince them that I was just drunk and got lost. Naturally it worked. Upon release I promptly let shared some elven ale with them and got them drunk for information. Here's what we know: I single handedly found the princess, I also single handedly found the slaves and slavers, the priests run the show, I am somewhere deep under ground in the back of a dungeon (strolling out with my new drinking buds is probably not an option. At this point bob was getting nosey, so I convinced him to go in the cell and find my treasure (I cast fools gold on the poops buhahahahahah). But apparently the smell doesn't get masked and bob quickly called out for the guards. Naturally they were not on lunch break and promptly arrived to rearrest me. I went on to brag about my value and worth, they responded by striping me naked(obviously trying to make sure the goods were top shelf). The angry one told them to execute me as I flexed my butt for them. I calmly and smoothly went invisible and executed my amazing acrobatic skills to swiftly dodge any attempt to stab me with sharp spears. Smooth and amazing as I am... still locked in a cell naked with these guys and I'm still injured from those lashings. In retrospect I should have enjoyed the break from fighting and learned a few spells . That being said 2/5 stars for this dungeon. Would not recommend. Dear lord of Chaos above, I your humble servant pray that you help me to find a way to escape unscathed, while still reaping the glorious works of Chaos in your name. Disorder and ruckus upon you o'lord. To be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp A jeweled dagger (pretty, but not magical) Loose coin: 900gp Treasure: 900gp (129gp each) Current Party Funds: 8582gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 700xp Journal entries (Tiberium, Pyrcival, Barron): 500xp (individually) 3 soldier ants: 276xp 14 worker ants: 868xp 1 troll: 572xp 1 larva: 210xp 10 stirges: 230xp Treasure XP: 900xp Group Total: 3756xp (537xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Half-Smurf: enough said... and speaking of, aren't smurfs really just blue, animated lawn gnomes? Dangling Threads of Fate # Thic Duc was paralyzed during the battle and abducted. At the last moment, Barron's last spell misfired, and he swapped places with Thic Duc The princess has been kidnapped! While Barron was being held in captivity, other prisoners reported seeing someone who may be the Princess Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"7 March 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-58/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrcival), and Leah (Ahira) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, Barron had magically swapped places with the captured Thic Duc (“I meant to do that!”), and the party was determined to rescue him. Eventually, after they rested a bit, memorized some spells, maybe trained for a few days…\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 58","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), and Brian (Pyrcival) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just defeated a trap set by a gang of slavers inhabiting a seemly abandoned fortress. It was actually a perverse sort of morality test, designed to provoke those who had moral objections to the practice of slavery and slay them by ambush. Perhaps fortunately for them, the party has never possessed the quality of subtlety.\nJournal of Pyrzival the Tutor # After vanquishing the slaver half orcs, I assigned my assistant and the new guy Cyrus to guard the cart and horses, and we then proceeded into the dimly favored castle, and came across a sewage filled creek which barred our way. Our trusty monk crossed the creek and tied a rope to the door on the other side (sixty feet away), we pulled, and while the door popped open, Tib lost his balance and fell into the flow, and started getting dragged downstream. Amathar held out a staff, and Tib managed to grab it, so I grabbed the staff and held him firm until I felt the hands of my companions anchor me. Presuming I was so anchored, I pulled hard, but alas! Tib shifted again and the hands anchoring me slipped and I plunged into the disgusting flow myself. Tib and I started moving downstream rapidly, and he let go of the staff we were both holding. Thinking he had let go to grab a better handhold, I judged the time was right and managed to grab another staff held down for me by Thic Duk. I held firm for a few minutes, and managed to get a breath of sweet air, but did not wish to let go of the mage's magic staff. Thankfully he went by and relieved me of it, which allowed me to pull myself up to safety. Once there, I caught my breath, and Tib finally surfaced -- apparently in all this confusion the mage had shrunken him to the size of a brownie! While I cleaned my face off and discarded my disgustingly compromised rations, the rest of the party successfully traversed the sewer. Tib was returned to normal size and we regrouped and moved down the corridor to the door which opened into the main courtyard. I pulled open the door and we faced more than half a dozen full orcs. The orcs promptly hid behind tables whilst Tib and I charged their positions. Several were slain while some were put to sleep by one of the magic users -- I did not see which. Near the end of the fight the fire wagon they had been manning exploded, knocking the half-elf Barron unconscious (I am forced to admit he really is a half elf and not a hobgoblin -- he's far too intelligent and pragmatic to be an actual hobgoblin). The cleric brought him around, and we all took stock. I found a small keg of light beer, and took off my armor and bathed and rinsed my gear with it -- preferring to smell of cheap crappy beer than of actual crap. The kid rinsed as well, but trusted to Paylor's goodness to clean under his armor, apparently. Once there, we investigated the crack, but it seemed like it would be difficult for the humans to navigate, so we opted to force the main double doors. It smelled of a trap, so we pushed a cart with an orc corpse in it down the hall, and sure enough a lot of stone fell on top of the cart, crushing it down and littering the area. I moved into the room to get a better look, and suddenly felt a dagger scrape across the back of my breastplate, a near miss by an unseen assassin! I yelled a warning only to find that I'd been magically silenced! Tib came into the room as I shrugged off another stronger magic attack, and he was followed closely by the monk. He easily slew the assassin with a mighty blow, and they took up defensive positions. Alas, we were struck by another magic attack, and both the monk and kid froze, unable to move. I moved into the cart to attack the orcs, just as they grabbed for both of my frozen allies. I killed the one grabbing the kid, and the other tripped and fell into the rubble, dropping the monk on top of himself. The two remaining orcs tilted the cart up, so I was forced to jump back as one grabbed the monk and started dragging him to the back of the room, where an altar and provocatively dressed orc priestess waited. After Thic Duc was dragged off, I slew the priestess, and victory was assured. Journal of Tiberium III # Of the Fourth Sunday of the Harvester Again, Pelor, you honor me. Today, by reminding me of my humility. Upon arriving at the keep, and moments after my last entry, the \u0026quot;idiot\u0026quot;, as Pyrcival calls our newest companion, yelled into the early morning air, \u0026quot;Hey orcs! Come and get us!\u0026quot; (or something to the effect). Unsurprisingly, the orcs Barron had scouted in a nearby chamber rushed to meet us. They didn't appear to have properly prepared themselves, however, and we quickly eliminated the threat. Hearing the sound a whip cracking (and perhaps a few of us remembering the sharp pain of the lash a bit too well), Pyr and I rushed into the chamber. We found an orc with a whip, and roughly two dozen slaves chained to the wall. Seconds after we moved to engage with the slaver, however, the \u0026quot;slaves\u0026quot; slipped free of their manacles, and pulled longswords from hidden sheaths. The ambush was on, but we were able to make quick work of these mongrels, as well. I left the room quickly, looking for additional threats, and soon picked up the sent of .. burning flesh? Down the hall, we did discover a collapsed floor, with a fairly rapid steam of filth flowing. At the end of the former hall, another door. The scent of sewage was extreme, and I expect this is what I'd caught scent of, earlier. After discussing for a moment, TD (through a trick he must teach me!) walked across the stream, without breaking the surface of the water(!). He reached the door, and secured a rope to the knob. Having the other end, Pyrz and I tugged at the door (after TD had turned the knob), and wrenched the door from it's frame. For a moment, the door hung on it's hinges, and all seemed well. Until I fell. Into the piss and the waste of Pelor knows how many orcs, over how many years. The seconds rushed together, and I was drawn into a drain, until stopped by a grate. Still underwater, I struggled and prayed. Whether Pelor heard my prayers, or directed one of our magic users, something was able to wrap a rope around my waist, and I was able to slowly pull myself back to the surface, and up to the door. I'm going to smell awful for a week; there's not enough soap on Oerth to cleanse me. The lot of us finally across the corridor, we followed the path briefly, before it turned back into the courtyard we'd observed upon arrival. Noting that we'd seen movement prior to dealing with the orcs, we set about to surprise those beyond the door by opening it, and streaming in. Not super effective, Pyrcival. Immediately, two orcs flipped their oak table to use as cover, while four others spun a large cart to face us. Large steel sheets blocked an advance, and we attempted to get around the table. While my former tutor dealt with the orcs at the table, Barron or Amathar were able to put the orcs behind the cart to sleep. Dealt with for now, I moved to the second table of orcs, who'd also created cover. The battle didn't last terrible long, although the cart was somehow destroyed (along with TDs spear). Most of the cart, at any rate. As the battle died, our attention turned to the large double-doors. We quickly found them to be secured, and broke out Pyrz's crowbar. The door may have been quite old, and was easily torn asunder. I removed the bar, and the doors were pushed open. Knowing that a trap lay down the hall, we decided to push a cart we'd found in the courtyard (not the exploded wagon). Giving it a final shove into the long hall, it rolled to about half way, before the stone statues seemed to briefly animate, flinging themselves at the cart, smashing it thoroughly. Pyrz walked into the hall to investigate, and at the cart, seemed to be silent. Far in the distance, however, I began to make out the shape of humanoids on the other end of the hall. Leah and I began to move to potentially help Pyrz, with TD quickly joining me. Leah stayed behind, though I didn't realize why until later. After dropping an orc that'd tried to backstab my tutor, as well as another in plate, I found myself completely unable to move, or even speak. TD seemed equally held in place. Only the gnome was able to fend them off for a time, until Thic Ducc was picked up and carried off. Only after Pyrz had ended the woman in ill-tended robes, and disappeared down the corridor after TD was I able to move. With the threats eliminated, Pyrz and I went back to find the others. TD had been taken, and we know of a portal or doorway beneath the alter. While recovering, I overheard Barron mutter a spell -- and then disappeared, with Thic Ducc in his place. The half-elf truly surprises me at times; first, he may have helped me in the sewer, and now he's somehow magicked himself to take TD's place. Truly, he is capable of heroic sacrifice. I'm beginning to understand why Pelor has seen him kept safe for so long. Now, we must find him, and end this slaver-ring. Journal of Barron the Mad # Dear diary, Today started good, as we got to lay the smack down on some punk ass slavers. The do gooders didn't want to kill them, but seemed content with allowing me to light them on fire as punishment. We find our selves then deciding to explore the slavers area of the castle and discover a burned down room, with exactly 0 loot. Next we found a sewer. It's nice not to be the source of stink for once. The party decided this was clearly the best way to get where we are headed. Let's be real, it's not the first time and it won't be the last time we chose the off the maps sewer. Apparently Thic Duc can walk on water now... consider my mind blown. He gracefully strolled up to the door at the end of the corridor on top of sewer water mind you and tied off a rope. Captain do right decided that was a good moment to play tug of war and lost. He fell into the drink, and the little feisty one tried to save him. He also fell in. With Amathar's staff too. I took a moment to laugh honestly, the picture of good covered in crap was a great mental image. It was then I realized they would both drown in crap. Funny as that thought was, they do serve a purpose in this party. Also Purity is such a nice sword, I'd hate to see her widowed. Being as no one was watching me I concocted an excellent plan to save them. As quietly as I could, I cast unseen servant and whispered for him to tie off Tib and make sure the knot does not come free. He invisibly left and completed the task, as only an amazing construct of mine could. I shall never tell anyone I saved the do gooders life(got an image to keep up after all). Best to let him think it was divine intervention or some silly nonsense. Tony Falcone seemed pleased with this and was content cooing. Weird bird. At this point we decided to ambush some ambusher, and promptly ran out in the field... unplanned. This went as well as expected and there was some orcs waiting. They had a freaking DRAGON BREATH CART. Maybe I'm not making my self clear here -- A CART THAT THROWS FIRE. SHINY, NEW, BLACK, THROWS FIRE. Update bucket list: must get flame cart for reasons. Amathar sensing that his protégé was in dire need of this, he put all of its occupants to sleep. Not wanting to disturb the sleeping babies, I very quietly silenced them one at a time. Behold all your cart are belong to me!!!!! As the rest of the party deals justice to the various orcs in the courtyard, I begin inspecting my new toy. Suddenly there's a noise like a door stop, so I look around the side and see a spear imbedded deep into the wall of the cart... still shaking it self even. That's not good. Then there was a flash and a loud noise. Next thing I know the priest is standing over me putting me out. Tragedy has befallen us, as the cart was now a big pile of burned wood and fire. Amathar took this moment to do his usual invisible studying. At this point we decide to move forward and try to open the be doors that might as well have been painted in red \u0026quot;The trap is nice, come on in\u0026quot;. Taking a more stealthful approach we broke open a sizable chunk of the door, and pushed the heavy lock bar aside. Remembering there was indeed a trap ahead, we decided we were not being quiet enough, and found a big ol cart to roll up the hallway. For the trap of course. As it rolled by, I coulda sworn I saw some pink frilly luggage marked \u0026quot;her royal highness's matched luggage\u0026quot;. Whoops, well if she was in the cart atleast we stopped the wedding right? Every big scary statue in that hallway leapt to life and dove onto the cart. Doorbell rung and we aren't selling cookies. The party advanced forward, and I had a thought of insight. I should totally stay back and be the rear guard. Not at all because I am still hurting, just being vigilant. While \u0026quot;keeping guard\u0026quot; I placed on my invisible ring. Suddenly I get stabbed... guess that was my other ring not the invisible one after all. On the bright side, I found the guys sneaking up on us. I then cast sleep on these fools... but I think they counter cast coffee because all they did was laugh. Warin stepped up to smash some heads in the name of healing. At this moment I noticed something was seriously wrong with Leah. She was frozen in place, Pyro whimpering and licking her hand. So I called Pyro over to help fight the orcs (good thing I bribe him with foods so much). He ran over to eat some orc meat. Remembering I left Leah with a special arrow, I made the effort to get her bow and loose said arrow. A beautiful magic hawk sprang forth, and promptly dive bombed the wall. Out come the dagger of doom. Tony Falcone leaps off my shoulder and ran into the hallway squawking something fierce (reminder to self: get a refund on that weird ass bird). I started loosing daggers left and right, the magic bird starts swooping, Warin is whacking something. Blood is flying, then some daggers came back my way... oh shit that one hurt. I blink and Warrin is touching me again as I lay on the ground. He pleads for me to finish these mofos. I stood up, locked my thumbs together, and loosed my newest spell \u0026quot;burning hands\u0026quot;. Glory to the gods of Chaos as beautiful fire leaped from my finger tips. The orcs screamed, Pyro screamed, Warin screamed, the cart exploded again. I was about to scream, but fire got to me first and we all went down. I came to and the orcs where defeated and Leah was back. I did it, I saved the day again. I then offered to bring an unseen servant into being to get the loot safely out to the cart. Upon casting it, there was a weird wooshing noise, and I saw Thic Duc's face zoom past mine, both of us looking confused. Now I find myself in a dark place with some very confused looking orcs as well. I have a bad feeling about th-- To be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp A magical mace (unidentified) A potion (unidentified) Treasure: gp (gp each) Current Party Funds: 8582gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 600xp Journal entries (Pyrcival, Tiberium, Barron): 500xp 6th level orc priestess: 455xp 4 1st level orc cart-handlers: 84xp 6 1st level orc crossbowmen: 108xp 3 3rd level orc fighters: 330xp 1 4th level orc assassin: 173xp 2 5th level orc assassins (left over from the morality test): 510xp Treasure XP: xp Group Total: 2260xp (377xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # (After most of the party takes a swim in the sewer) \u0026quot;Now you all smell like Barron...\u0026quot; -- Leah (After Barron gets knocked unconscious three times in a row) \u0026quot;Why won't you stay up? Damnit!\u0026quot; -- Warin Dangling Threads of Fate # Thic Duc was paralyzed during the battle and abducted. At the last moment, Barron's last spell misfired, and he swapped places with Thic Duc The princess has been kidnapped! Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"21 February 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-57/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), and Brian (Pyrcival) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just defeated a trap set by a gang of slavers inhabiting a seemly abandoned fortress. It was actually a perverse sort of morality test, designed to provoke those who had moral objections to the practice of slavery and slay them by ambush. Perhaps fortunately for them, the party has never possessed the quality of subtlety.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 57","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto/Cyrus), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrcival), and Leah (Ahira) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just finished their trial. Tiberium was convicted of assaulting a tax inspector and given 4 lashes (9hp). Barron was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest, sentenced to ten lashes (29 hp; he fainted as they were administered). Warin fainted before his lashes were administered at all. They will heal naturally (1 hp/day, or 2/day with care) and leave noticeable scarring.\nOtto\u0026rsquo;s cousin and his band of halflings stole Otto\u0026hellip; and the ship.\nVarious members of the party arranged for work in and around the anticipated arrival of the Princess\u0026rsquo; ship. On the day she was expected to arrive \u0026ndash; which had already been delayed several times \u0026ndash; a reception and procession had been arranged from the docks to the castle. But when the ship arrived on the horizon, it was emitting vast clouds of smoke\u0026hellip; Journal of Pyrcival the Gnome\nWell, the kid paid for his lapse of judgement with four lashes, which he took like a man. I can't believe he was that impetuous. I'll have to remember not to be in the room when he tells his mother. Maybe I'll just write her a letter, so she has time to cool off first. Apparently, the hobgoblin doesn't have the stamina of a real hobgoblin, which makes me think he might actually be the half elf he claims to be, because a few lashes caused him to pass out and malinger in bed for damn near a week. I hired a local girl to keep an eye on the kid and make sure the wounds don't fester, I'm not sure I trust Amathar to do so, he's ok with first aid, but always seems to exaggerate his own abilities. I decided to put together a seminar on the local laws to try to avoid anyone else getting arrested. Typical lawful neutral town, obey the laws and report in instead of taking matters into your own hands. The presentation goes pretty well, with the party now realizing they ought to just sit back and relax while crimes happen right in front of us, and then just report it later. I think the hobgoblin fell asleep ten minutes in, and missed Q\u0026amp;A. Thankfully, I don't think he'll go out of his way to help anyone and get in trouble. The ranger seemed too drunk for most of it to sink in. My trainee and I acquired temp jobs at the Duke's residence for the wedding as security and spent most of the week getting to know the layout of the keep, even if the pay was little more than beans and beer money. On the day of the Princess' arrival, she and I were on duty guarding gate #3, when the ship arrives, and even from where we were it was obvious there was something wrong -- smoke pouring from the hold, and the ship careening into the dock. Too soon after it slammed into the dock, a self claiming messenger arrived on a horse saying she has a message for the duke. I suspect there's something off, and get the idiot in charge of gate #3 to send myself and the trainee to catch up and make sure she's properly escorted (I have problems believing this guy is still alive after having seen the level of security he has). You'd think humans, who live so short to begin with, would value their years a little more, huh? Well, the messenger arrives and tells the Duke the ship was pirated, and that she was a witness while in the form of a hawk. If that's the case, why did she stop to get a horse and not just fly straight up to the keep? Hmm. Well, anyway, we received instructions to retrieve the princess. The idiot dockmaster gave us a little grief about commandeering the boat and heading underway, but eventually things were settled out and we sail out of town and head to Restenford, which is where the shapeshifter said they were headed. Once in town, the ranger stepped up, sobered up a bit, and we tracked a party of halflings and the princess out of town, towards the north. We followed them to the Inn, where it was on fire and most of the employees were dead. This particular group of halflings are murderous little monsters, I'm thinking the hobgoblin is hoping to catch them soon. I can't say I blame him -- they've murdered, pirated, and now burned down a natural stopping point for travelers. At midday, we follow their path to yet another abandoned fortress (I'm beginning to think some of these ought to get restored), and approach cautiously. Barron finds some orcs on watch while the monk and Amathar climb some walls and are investigating off on their own. The new idiot yells at the orcs, and they charge us. My trainee and myself acquit ourselves well, slaying multiple orcs each. Immediately after, I investigate their den, and hear a whip, move in, and find a bunch of slaves chained to the wall, I charge in and head for the whip bearer, who drops his whip as the \u0026quot;slaves\u0026quot; all draw swords while the orc master casts a spell, causing the room to go black. I then feel very odd, and start walking away from him instead of charging, when the light returns, and I suddenly regain control of myself. The half orcs surrender when confronted with a third of them dead and another third caught in a web spell from the hobgoblin. The orc spills the beans on the layout of the place, saying it's basically a slavers stronghold, and Barron re-enforces the warning with a little pyromania as Amathar lets them go. Journal of Tiberium Elyse III\nOf the Third Starday of Harvester Thank you, Pelor, for your lingering reminders of my failure of judgement. The lash marks continue to slowly heal, and with any significant movement, hurt like the Nine Hells. May the scars be a constant reminder of both vigilance.. and discretion. Barron and I, having rested and healed as much as we can justify, have begun to join the party in preparations for the General's daughter to arrive in Highport. Despite my recent mistakes, the High Priest has agreed to allow me to participate, albeit from a distance, as they pray for Pelor to protect and guide the Duke in his marriage. The bride is due to arrive by ship tomorrow, though we fear that after many delays, all is not as it appears. Of the third Sunday of Harvester The lady's been taken! As the entire city celebrated her arrival, the ship, utterless and without slowing, plowed into the prepared dock. Smoke bellowed from below in the hold, but there appeared to be no flame. Thic Ducc was able to successfully aid the port officials in bring the boat to dock, but no one was found aboard. Nor were any bodies recovered. The poop deck is awash in blood, however, signaling foul play on the high seas. We'd been right to fear for the safety of the 'princess' and crew. We've been informed by Pryz, his dwarven friend, and a human cleric called Cyrus that the Duke has agreed to include our band in his rescue efforts. We are to take the not-burned out ship, and make for Restenford, where the presumed abductors appeared to have been sailing. Of the third Waterday of Harvester Having arrived in Restenford (This place is becoming something of a second home), we immediately set about asking of the locals had they seen the pack of halflings, or our missing Lady. Apparently, some six of the fiends disembarked with their hostage, before the ship returned to sea, destination unknown. Leah found cart tracks, however, and we've been following the kidnappers. The tracks appear to lead into an old, somewhat crumbling but fortified, fortress or temple. I smell orcs.. Drunken Rant to Leah by Barron\nHow did our friendly neighborhood hero end up in a fortress chasing halflings? It all started several days ago... I agreed to face the legal system in this backwards lame ass bureaucratic town of highport. I was being charged with piracy, and assault (allegedly). The young paladin approached me, and seeing an opportunity to have a paladin on my side I agreed to cooperate and face charges. His church promptly placed a spell on me that forced me to tell the truth and then promptly regretted it, because they could not handle the truth. After working my charms on the judge my death sentence was reduced to a few pounds of flesh via lashing and pendence on my soul (suckers I sold that long ago). I insisted on taking the lashes like a man and stripped all the way down to my nothings. I noticed the whip master eyeing me, so I gave him something to look at and flexed... a near perfect butt pose. The thought of not being able to have me angered him and he struck me with his poison whip. After about 40 lashes, the poison took its course and I succumbed to the darkness (but not before pulling off a perfect butt flex to go out on). I awoke to the elf healing me. I am perfectly healthy now, but I don’t tell him (don’t want to hurt his delicate elf feelings). After the gnome informed us, to just let crimes happened... I did. VACATION, just sipping pena colatas and getting massages from the elf. Then TD(thic duc) comes in all wet, saying someone took my ship. It was that little halfing bastard and his friends (I suppose if you add all 6 you might get 2 regular sized people). I promptly updated the \u0026quot;to kill/maim list\u0026quot; (going to need a bigger bag) to include all halflings starting with otto. Rumor also suggest the Duke gave them the ship. I updated my list again. It’s time to get serious. Knowing my best bet at getting my ship back will probably involve piracy(for reals this time), I headed down to get an undercover job for the wedding. Taking a pass on something so obvious as security, I opted instead for showing my talents in comedy. Naturally I got the job, even if Tony Falcone was being rather limp (I hear there’s a pill for that now). I did however have a rather nice suit made for Tony, and proceeded to start winning over the crowds. Having arranged a stage show/alibi right on the docks for the \u0026quot;princess's\u0026quot; arrival, I got to work with making sure everyone saw/heard me on the stage. I admit I sacrificed some good material for the bad puns, just to make people notice me more... they did. Everything was falling into place, soon the princess’s vessel would be mine, and I could go teach those little halfings a lesson. But that’s where everything derailed for everyone else (being a herald of the lord of chaos, one expects plans to go awry). There was smoke bellowing from the deck, and she was not slowing down on her approach. Good thing we had that paladin with us, cause he leaped to action and cleared the docks. Saved a lot of lives, but most importantly keep blood off my soon to be new vessel. The ship successfully came to a stop after moving that pathetic dock aside(three times now the gods have favored me by presenting a ship to me) . TD reacted by climbing aboard in a way only he can. Seeing the source of the fire, he heroically peed on it. It went out. Everyone rejoiced. I took this moment to try and break through the crowd to find where I left Leah... these people where not good at being a crowd and it took me forever. In the time it took me to fight the crowd, apparently a messenger made it up to the keep…and back to the docks with the other party members. Lords of Chaos were shining down on me as, the party had procured a legal way to commandeer this ship! Turns out those little bastards even kidnapped the princess. Technically this was mission accomplished as the wedding can’t happen now, but these do-gooders must be rubbing off on me, cause I wanted to serve some justice (or possible I just hate halflings that much... TBD). We set sail to the last know heading of \u0026quot;the fleet of misfits\u0026quot;. After searching the hold, we found signs of ... a magic fight? And the princess’s super cool hello kitty magic diary. Some real sweet spells in there... but captain do gooder ran down and tried to say it was an evil book (how can a book be evil? definitely checking this out later... for science). We arrive in Restenford, and discover those rat bastards recently dropped off a few halflings and a human female( also confirmed they somehow shrunk my ship... will do some research about making it bigger, cause boat size does matter). Leah does what she does best (other than drinking, and shooting), and managed to track them north. Much to our dismay, they burned down our newly acquired inn. I update the list again, adding to make sure I bill them for all damages before ending them. Upon further tracking we come across a old fortress. I use my magic invisible ring to scout out and discover the cart those halflings rented. I also discover some orcs. I rely this info to the crew, so we can set up a sweet ambush. New guy interrupts me to yell out \u0026quot;hey orcs come get us\u0026quot;. I am speechless. They poke their heads out, and promptly lose them. Then the gnome decides to be a hero and runs inside cause he heard whipping. If I didn’t fear exploding my head to face palming so hard, I would have. Can we say trap? Well turns out we found the slave traders, and did I mention it was a trap? By the time I turn the corner, it was a barbarians wet dream (to bad we don’t have one) of bad guys in a room. Settling for the next best thing, I used my tremendous chaos god given powers of the arcane... and cast web in the room. They immediately surrendered. Your welcome guys. After some interrogation, by Amathar ghost lawyer M.D., we discovered the slave ring is alive and well. Not being ok with that, I promptly light the web full of slavers on fire. Now it smells of burned hair and half orc. Sorry not sorry. Found on posters throughout Highport\nI want to introduce everyone to a new band of Heroes. One is a paladin guilty of assaulting a city official named fiber. Another is a pirate who had his own ship stolen. A third is a monk who likes to drink named Thin Dart. The last is a talkative mage called Amaurous. This fellowship of the moon starts the adventure staring out from the dock. \u0026quot;There goes my ship, stolen by the pirate dread otter. Woe is me.\u0026quot; Fiber: \u0026quot;we shall seek this villian and bring him to justice!\u0026quot; The guard spies the four. \u0026quot;We seek the four people who have been exposing themselves on the dock\u0026quot;. Three of the fellowship turn and look towards Thin Dart. Thin Dart jumps into the boat claiming sanctuary. Seeing their friend in danger, the other three also end up in the boat. Amaurous: Captain, set sail, we must seek out the book of doom.\u0026quot; To be continued in part two... To be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp A faintly magical cloak \u0026ldquo;Hello Kitty Spellbook\u0026rdquo; Treasure: 30gp (3gp each) Current Party Funds: 8582gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 800xp 6 orcs: 96xp 20 half-orc fake slaves: 320xp 1 orc cleric: 253xp Bonus for providing notes: 500xp to Tim, Brian, Chris, and Barron Treasure XP: 30xp Group Total: 1499xp (187xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # The princess has been kidnapped! Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... Contents of \u0026ldquo;Hello Kitty Spellbook\u0026rdquo; # 1st: Burning Hands 1st: Animate Familiar 1st: Charm Person 1st: Friends 1st: Sleep 1st: Message 1st: Friends 1st: Read/Detect Magic 2nd: Fool's Gold 2nd: ESP 2nd: Knock 2nd: Forget 2nd: Invisibility 3rd: Fly 3rd: Explosive Runes 3rd: Suggestion 4th: Polymorph Self 4th: Polymorph Other 4th: Animate Dead The Diary of the Princess # (3 months ago); My father has told me I am to be married. To a Duke! I\u0026rsquo;m not sure what to make of this, as I have never met the man. I will ask my tutor Melissa to instruct me in appropriate spells to make the most of such a situation. She has told me I will need to be very careful with Snookums, as they will not understand him. I will heed her advice. Snookums must not be destroyed.\n(2 months ago): I have been practicing extensively with new spells, and my understanding grows. I can change shape! Being a hawk is so exciting. I\u0026rsquo;ve always wanted to fly!\n(1 month ago): I have prevailed upon Daddy to send my tutor with me to further my education. What he doesn\u0026rsquo;t know is that Melissa managed to obtain some messenger uniforms! We\u0026rsquo;ll be able to sneak out of the Highport castle to live among the people in secret, at least for a night or two sometimes. She can take my place in the castle if necessary. No one will know!\n(2 weeks ago): On board ship! The captain is dull and doesn\u0026rsquo;t appreciate Snookums at all. He is from Highport and seems very stolid. The crew are much more fun after they pass out the rum ration. I\u0026rsquo;ve never tried rum. Daddy always said it was better I didn\u0026rsquo;t. Maybe he was wrong?\n(1 week and 6 days ago): Daddy was right.\n(1 week ago and 4 days ago): I used what Melissa taught me to become BFFs with the captain. Since I am to be married, and possibly locked in a tower (I understand that is traditional in other lands?), I should make the most of this chance to see the world. Perhaps I can convince him to make a few extra stops? Maybe even in a port with pirates? The Captain says absolutely not, but he did agree to stop in a few other ports that might have pirates in hiding. At least I will see a little more of the world on the way!\n(1 week ago) We\u0026rsquo;ve stopped at several ports. The Captain is anxious about the delay, but I\u0026rsquo;m insisting on one more with actual pirates. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! Rum is actually rather nice once you get used to it. And even if the pirates are normally rather unsavory fellows, I\u0026rsquo;m sure I can make friends with them.\n(Undated) Ran out of rum. The crew have reported sighting a ship on the horizon. They appear to be matching course with us. Pirates? A bit of excitement would be welcome. Maybe they have more rum!\n","date":"7 February 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-56/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto/Cyrus), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrcival), and Leah (Ahira) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just finished their trial. Tiberium was convicted of assaulting a tax inspector and given 4 lashes (9hp). Barron was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest, sentenced to ten lashes (29 hp; he fainted as they were administered). Warin fainted before his lashes were administered at all. They will heal naturally (1 hp/day, or 2/day with care) and leave noticeable scarring.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 56","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto), Cody (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), and Brian (Pyrcival) are returning cast members. Leah (Ahira) is new.\nAs we left the party, Tiberium and Warin were in prison. The rest of the party spend the night at a nearby inn. Oddly, Otto the halfling was hailed by his cousin, who had heard of his recent involvement in a stabbing and wanted to hear the story himself. The halfling introduced himself as Brand, and listened to Otto\u0026rsquo;s story with a sort of cheerful but critical ear. He did not seem satisfied by what he heard.\nThe next day, Barren and Leah went to meet Elaina\u0026rsquo;s contact with the local guild. Meeting with Shifty Joe, a fence, Barron arranged a meeting with guild leadership the next day.\nMeanwhile, Tiberium was bailed out of jail by Pyrcival, and then arranged for Warin\u0026rsquo;s defense. Both were defended by one of Pelor\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;altarboys\u0026rdquo;, actually experienced (well, some were experienced) litigators and defense attorneys who hold a minor position within the church hierarchy as part of their service.\nAmathar researched the laws that had allegedly been violated, and found an important point: all the piracy charges require the action to be taken \u0026ldquo;on the high seas\u0026rdquo;, and \u0026ldquo;in port\u0026rdquo; does not qualify. Combined with the pirate actually being a legitimate owner of the boat, the most serious charges were dropped. Barron insisted on taking stand to explain his actions, against the advice of his advocate, \u0026ldquo;because you cannot keep your damn mouth shut long enough to avoid incriminating yourself.\u0026rdquo;\nWarin, on the other hand, testified in his own defense and managed to muddle the situation further.\nTowards the end of the trial, the group brought up the threat to the wedding, though they were not quite clear whether the threat was a princess-napping or an assassination plot. They did determine that under the law in the shield lands, a dynastic marriage between two important personages such as these would include a formal agreement laying out the terms of succession for the union. The terms for this marriage were not generally known, but the Duke of Highport had assured his citizens that the Princess would not rule his lands in the event of his untimely death.\nBarron was sentenced to 10 lashes for assault with a deadly weapon on an officer of the law and fleeing justice, Tiberium to 4 for assault and battery on an officer of the law, Warin to 2 for aiding, abetting, and temporarily fleeing. Each lash will inflict 1d4 damage (rolled at the start of next session) that is magically treated to heal only by natural means, and leave a scar.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 0gp (0gp each) Current Party Funds: 8582gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 900xp No significant combat this session, so I will award an extra 1000xp for roleplay Barron, Tiberium, and Warin get an extra 100xp for turning themselves in Thic Duc and Otto get an extra 100xp for helping with the trial Pyrcival gets an extra 100xp for spotting the \u0026quot;let's not go talk to Barron with the paladin while he is meeting with the Thieves' Guild\u0026quot; problem Amathar gets an extra 100xp for a quotable and thinking to look up the laws Treasure XP: 0xp Group Total: 9900xp (1100xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;I truly regret my actions, as they did not lead to profit and any gain or benefit whatsoever\u0026quot; -- Barron \u0026quot;yes I bribed the sailor to jump over board, it was to distract the paladin from dealing with any possible typical government actions resulting in 'righteous retribution'\u0026quot; -- Barron \u0026quot;One has no idea what he wants. The other knows exactly what he wants.\u0026quot; (Amathar, describing Warin and Tiberium) Dangling Threads of Fate # Who was the strangely well-dressed gardener Gunnar spent time over roots and vegetables with? That would be the Baroness of Restenford. Something is up with the Baroness. She was nervous when asked about disappearing babies. Probably not anything with the wererats, but something is up. No one has checked recently to see if the Princess is still in her castle Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"24 January 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-55/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto), Cody (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), Matt (Barron), and Brian (Pyrcival) are returning cast members. Leah (Ahira) is new.\nAs we left the party, Tiberium and Warin were in prison. The rest of the party spend the night at a nearby inn. Oddly, Otto the halfling was hailed by his cousin, who had heard of his recent involvement in a stabbing and wanted to hear the story himself. The halfling introduced himself as Brand, and listened to Otto’s story with a sort of cheerful but critical ear. He did not seem satisfied by what he heard.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 55","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto), Cody (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), and Matt (Barron) are returning cast members. Navin (Simon) is new.\nAs we left the party, they were finishing up their affairs at the inn (now named the Peg Leg Inn^2), and planning to travel to Highport to see what they could do about a wedding. One of the guests at the inn, Simon, overheard their discussion and decided to volunteer, figuring it was safer than traveling alone in bandit territory. They left their chef in charge after a discussion on disciplinary policies (\u0026ldquo;firing, not stabbing\u0026rdquo;) and traveled to Restenford. Tiberium donated to his church while the rest of the group loaded their cart and treasure onto the ship they had captured earlier and set sail to Highport.\nThings got awkward when the customs inspector boarded the ship upon their arrival at Highport. The ship\u0026rsquo;s captain claimed he had nothing to declare beyond the personal possessions of the passengers. The inspector questioned the lack of cargo, something that certainly seemed unusual for ship coming in to dock. The captain was trying to explain that he didn\u0026rsquo;t own the ship, just sailed it, and this was just a passenger run with personal property\u0026hellip; when Warin appeared from the captain\u0026rsquo;s cabin, holding a piece of paper and handing it to the captain. \u0026ldquo;I think you forgot to show them the manifest!\u0026rdquo;\nThe list contained \u0026ldquo;rations\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;gold\u0026rdquo;, neither of which were in the hold, no quantities were listed, and the ink was still wet. It had clearly been forged by someone with no knowledge of forgery \u0026ndash; or the contents of the cargo hold. And judging by the ink stains on his fingertips, likely by the very man who brought the document over, despite his priestly vestments. As the inspector read through the short manifest, the captain glared daggers at the priest. Finally, the inspector finished reading, and turned his gaze to the captain once more, asking, \u0026ldquo;I presume you can somehow explain this?\u0026rdquo;\nThe captain sighed and gestured towards the cargo hold, whose door was slowly closing as someone slipped inside. \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re welcome to inspect the hold. I don\u0026rsquo;t recognize that document and certainly did not write it. We have no cargo to declare; merely a handful of passengers and their personal possessions. While I understand from your perspective this is unusual and perhaps suspicious, our lack of cargo was not by my choice. I merely sail the ship, I do not own it. The passengers do, and they set the schedule. And the cargo, or lack of it.\u0026rdquo;\nIn the background, a hue and cry from the side of the ship arose. \u0026ldquo;Man overboard!\u0026rdquo; The inspector was not deterred, but Tiberium raced to help.\nWith that, the captain and the inspector disappeared below deck, followed by Warin. The door hung in the air for a very long moment before slowly closing behind them.\nThe inspector\u0026rsquo;s face remained inscrutable as he observed a nearly empty hold. A pair of horses and a pony, a small cart, a decorative chest with a feline figurine reclining on top, a half-elven sailor asleep on a large coil of rope, and the usual ship\u0026rsquo;s gear and stores were the only evident objects. After a moment he harumphed. \u0026ldquo;Alright, Captain, I don\u0026rsquo;t know what your game is, but rations are a normal part of ship\u0026rsquo;s stores and pretty much worthless and inedible if they have been in your hold for long. But let\u0026rsquo;s see the gold listed here so I can figure out how much of an import tax you owe on it.\u0026rdquo; From somewhere deeper in the hold came a momentary clank and splashing sound as the ship rolled on the gentle waves in port waters. \u0026ldquo;Open the chest, Captain, let\u0026rsquo;s see it!\u0026rdquo; The captain took a step towards the chest with a sigh.\nFrom behind them both, a voice rang out: \u0026ldquo;You will not be taking our chest today, sir!\u0026rdquo; It was accompanied by the prick of a sharp dagger to the neck of the inspector. From the back of the hold, a faint voice was heard muttering something about being up a creek filled with shit trying to row a handbasket without a paddle, and are we in hell yet?\n\u0026ldquo;This is a piracy!\u0026rdquo; continued the voice, accompanied by a pungent smell. The pirate gestured at Warin. \u0026ldquo;You there! Tie this man up and put a hood over his head! If the captain moves or anyone resists I will cut this man\u0026rsquo;s throat!\u0026rdquo; Warin complied, visibly confused.\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;ll hang for this!\u0026rdquo; the inspector spat as Warin bound his hands and covered his head.\n\u0026ldquo;But I\u0026rsquo;ll hang a rich man. Now open the chest!\u0026rdquo;\nThe captain stared at the two men with a look of shock and horror covering his face. No one moved to open the chest.\n\u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;ll never get away with this, you know,\u0026rdquo; the inspector said casually from beneath his hood, \u0026ldquo;The captain has seen your face even if I have not, and you are trapped in the hold of a ship filled with crew and my own soldiers are above us. Even if you kill me, you will never escape the ship.\u0026rdquo;\nOn the deck above, Tiberium was hauling one of the sailors back into the ship. The heroic moment was perfectly framed; surrounded by a crowd of admirers watching as the paladin pulled the soaked sailor back hand over hand, the ocean breeze ruffling his hair, the gentle cooing of dock whores seagulls\u0026hellip; unfortunately the moment was ruined when Tiberium asked how he fell overboard. The sailor opened his hand to reveal a pair of gold coins. \u0026ldquo;Why, yer friend the baron paid me to!\u0026rdquo;\nStruck by a sense of impending doom, Tiberium rushed towards the hold below.\nAlmost simultaneously, the pirate realized the gig was up. He gestured Warin over to him, further implicating the poorly reformed priest, and cast Invisibility on the man. Warin disappeared, but a steady clanking could be heard whenever he moved. The pirate himself slipped a ring onto his finger and disappeared as well. Warin\u0026rsquo;s clanking slowly receded as the inspector, no longer threatened, called for his guards. Tiberium arrived first, followed shortly by the inspector\u0026rsquo;s two guards, and the man spluttered out his explanation of what had occurred. He demanded the captain describe the man who held him at knifepoint. Reluctantly, the captain described\u0026hellip; Barron, though not by name, and Warin, by name. Under closer questioning he admitted Warin was a passenger and, technically, part-owner of the ship. But neither could be found, so a search of the ship began.\nThere were some brief disturbances on desk, where some of the searchers heard mysterious noises, but could not catch whatever might have been making them. It seems the mysterious pirate made a clean getaway.\nLeah was rudely awakened by the searchers barging into her cabin. The inspector and his men were pawing through everywhere an invisible human might hide, and a few places that seemed quite implausible. Leah was annoyed in her nightclothes, Pyro was annoyed in his fur, and the inspector was just annoyed. There was a great deal of shouting and accusations. Finally, trying to sort out the truth, Tiberium prayed for divine guidance\u0026hellip; and grimaced, as if finding half a worm inside an apple. Something was truly amiss here.\nActing quickly, Tiberium put the inspector under arrest, claiming the man was evil, but without the ability to specify any evidence of crimes supposedly committed. The inspector promptly told the paladin that the arrest was mutual, for consorting with pirates, attempted pirates, and incompetent smugglers. The argument escalated until Tiberium resolved it with his fist, knocking the inspector out with a single blow.\nWhile everyone was distracted, Thic Duc emerged from the bilges where he had been hiding the whole time and concealed the highport badges in a safe, clean place. Being a hero is truly a dirty task for which no one will thank you!\nThe inspector\u0026rsquo;s subordinates did not take this well, but just as they were laying their hands upon Tiberium, Warin punched the ship\u0026rsquo;s hull (thus deactivating the Invisibility effect) and turned himself in to the baffled guards. Barron was nowhere to be found. After significant negotiation over who exactly was under arrest, the guards agreed to convey everyone involved \u0026ndash; Tiberium, Warin, and the inspector \u0026ndash; to the harbormaster\u0026rsquo;s small brig where a priest of Pelor and the harbormaster himself could be summoned to sort everything out.\nNight falls with Tiberium and Warin in holding cells, and the rest of the group staying at a nearby inn.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp -100gp for identify from party fund Treasure: 0gp (0gp each) Current Party Funds: 8582gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 800xp No significant combat this session, so I will award an extra 1000xp for roleplay Treasure XP: 0xp Total: 8800xp () Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;Is it really piracy if I own the ship I'm pirating?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;I have a very important quest for you. The fate of the world rests upon it.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;I'm ready! What do I have to do?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Go into the basement, kill four rats, and bring me their tails.\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Who was the strangely well-dressed gardener Gunnar spent time over roots and vegetables with? That would be the Baroness of Restenford. Something is up with the Baroness. She was nervous when asked about disappearing babies. Probably not anything with the wererats, but something is up. No one has checked recently to see if the Princess is still in her castle Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"10 January 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-54/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Chris (Tiberium), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto), Cody (Warin), Jeff (Amathar), Mariel (Leah), and Matt (Barron) are returning cast members. Navin (Simon) is new.\nAs we left the party, they were finishing up their affairs at the inn (now named the Peg Leg Inn^2), and planning to travel to Highport to see what they could do about a wedding. One of the guests at the inn, Simon, overheard their discussion and decided to volunteer, figuring it was safer than traveling alone in bandit territory. They left their chef in charge after a discussion on disciplinary policies (“firing, not stabbing”) and traveled to Restenford. Tiberium donated to his church while the rest of the group loaded their cart and treasure onto the ship they had captured earlier and set sail to Highport.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 54","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Chris (Tiberium), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto), and Cody (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just survived ambushing an ambush by the skin of their teeth. After disposing of the bodies by piling them into the cave under the tree, they returned to the inn where they believed they had been led into an ambush. Tazking the time to plan ahead, Leah and Barron returned to Restenford. While there, they bumped into Otto the halfling in a tavern and Warin in the church of his new faith. Both were amenable to rejoining the group to help deal with the inhabitants of the inn, whether they be innocent or guilty. They rejoined the party near the inn, but out of sight.\nWarin and Otto, being unknown to the inhabitants, went in first and took a table near the secret door leading up into the tower. The rest followed separately, noting an archer left one of the watchtowers when he saw them approach. Inside, the inn\u0026rsquo;s custom was much reduced from previously. In particular, the bartender and cook were missing entirely, the waitress was trying to fill all their roles (and avoid the party\u0026rsquo;s eye, once the other members entered). No one seemed inclined to protest much when the party announced they planned to take over the inn, although no one seemed very enthusiastic either. After giving anyone with concerns the chance to leave \u0026ndash; only the waitress, Penny, took them up on it after learning that the bartender had been killed \u0026ndash; the party begin to search the place thoroughly.\nThe guest rooms out back held a sick cook, an actual guest, a storage room with a variety of mismatched bulk goods and three chests of varying size, an unoccupied room holding what appeared to be ledgers for the inn\u0026rsquo;s accounts, and a rather garishly decorated bedroom. A third building behind the second one was very strongly built, with a locked and fortified door. There was no key, but there was a hook behind the bar where one once hung\u0026hellip; Penny! Thic Duc and Pyrcival immediately set out in pursuit of the waitress, who had presumably taken the keyring with her. Unfortunately, Pyrcival\u0026rsquo;s pony was laden with two suits of well-used plate mail he intended to sell, and Penny had a substantial lead. They reached the gates of Restenford without seeing her.\nMeanwhile, back at the Inn, the search for valuables continued. The three chests were trapped with a variety of nasty methods, but the party managed to either disarm the traps or escape their consequences. The small chest contained gems; the medium chest gold coin; the large chest mostly copper. Among the other goods found in the storage room were a matched set of leather armor, daggers, short swords, and badges with the highport logo on them. Strange.\nEventually, the party and their guests found their way to rooms and bedded down for the night\u0026hellip; only to be awakened from the utter darkness by a blood-curdling scream!\nThe journal of one Tiberium Elyse III describes the events that followed:\nJournal of Tiberium Elyse III Of the Godsday of Harvester month Having taken the fortress mentioned previously, we've set about to ensure it's now run in an orderly and lawful fashion. A cook is being sought, as well as the missing key to the back storage, but we may have enough hands to ensure a safe and inviting stay for potential guests. I've offered my \u0026quot;share\u0026quot; of this property, that we may convert a large bedroom in the back building into a small chapel area, where any of the non-evil Gods may house celebrations, worship, and confession. Pelor, of course, will have a member of the clergy present on the grounds. Those discussions coming to an end, Pryz and Thic Duc have set out to chase down the former barmaid, and then go to nearby Restenford to procure additional help (and a cook!). With the contents of the small locked building still unknown, I've camped near the door, to ensure that no one enters or leaves in the night. Only a couple hours into that watch, however, I heard a terrified shriek, and a shout. \u0026quot;Murder!\u0026quot;, coming from the northern battlements. At full sprint, I rushed to the tower, where Warin had also made his way to. We weren't able to see the assailant, but the sounds of a scuffle were clear. We approached the front door for the inn, Warin having run ahead. Only halfway across the common room, Warin had turned and begun to run back for the exit. He quickly explained that a guard had been assaulted, and fallen from the tower. Turning the corner, I saw a man, one of the guards, lying on the ground, his body twisted, and clearly in a lot of pain, and barely conscious. Otto, the child we previously rescued from the wererats, appeared to have climbed down the wall, and the guard was clearly frightened of him. Approaching, I bloodstain on the man's belly was evident. He appeared to have been stabbed straight through. I attempted to calm him and bind his wounds, but in the scuffle, was only able to step on him (nearly losing my own footing). Thankfully, Warin (Pelor is working wonders with the man) was able to calm and heal the guard. We carried him back to a bed, where he told us that Otto had stabbed him for absolutely no reason. I'm not one to distrust, but the child hadn't seemed the type to attack unprovoked. I've yet to discuss this situation with Otto, or the rest of the group. Having healed the guard, he began to threaten Otto, and the keep. Knowing that he had been terribly wounded, I'm sure he didn't mean it, so I offered him a few gold, as well as a suite of leather armor (unadorned) and a sword from the stash we'd previously uncovered. He took his leave of the inn, and made his way back to Restenford. I pray he's arrived to his family safely. Tomorrow, we must get an understanding of what's happened. I truly hope that Otto had no part in this, or that a terrible misunderstanding had taken place. I take no pleasure in disciplining a child. Penny the waitress is presumed to have left on the ship she took passage on, with a letter of recommendation to Chesty.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp -300gp for identify from party fund 201gp from mysterious unwritten source Mysterious potion vial Fancy set of faux plate with highport arms (magical, but protects like normal plate) Sturdy plate +2 (with rank markings) 13 gemstones (small chest; 1026gp value) 140 gp in mixed coin (medium chest) 900 cp (large chest, 5gp value) crates of silk: 450gp casks of rum: 200gp cat figurine on chest (magical, not sold; can be set to guard chest when a command word is used) Cap of Healing (magical, not sold; enhances healing magic) 50 daggers, cheap (10gp value, not sold?) 20 leather badges with highport symbol (meant to be sewn to armor or cloth; not sold) 10 sets of studded leather, short bow, short sword (not sold) Treasure: 2022gp (gp each) Current Party Funds: 8582gp\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 500xp No significant combat this session, so I will award an extra 500xp for roleplay Because most of the loot was earned in the fight last session, I will include those present for shares in loot experience. (That means Leah, Barron, and Amathar). Treasure XP: 2022xp Total: 3022xp (202xp each for treasure, those present +200xp on top of that) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Otto: \u0026quot;You were sleeping on guard duty!\u0026quot; Guard: \u0026quot;So?\u0026quot; Otto: stabs guard in the gut with a sword \u0026quot;Never sleep on guard duty!\u0026quot; Guard: \u0026quot;If I live, I quit!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Who was the strangely well-dressed gardener Gunnar spent time over roots and vegetables with? That would be the Baroness of Restenford. Something is up with the Baroness. She was nervous when asked about disappearing babies. Probably not anything with the wererats, but something is up. No one has checked recently to see if the Princess is still in her castle Malag no longer craves brains Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"13 December 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-53/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Chris (Tiberium), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), Tim (Otto), and Cody (Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just survived ambushing an ambush by the skin of their teeth. After disposing of the bodies by piling them into the cave under the tree, they returned to the inn where they believed they had been led into an ambush. Tazking the time to plan ahead, Leah and Barron returned to Restenford. While there, they bumped into Otto the halfling in a tavern and Warin in the church of his new faith. Both were amenable to rejoining the group to help deal with the inhabitants of the inn, whether they be innocent or guilty. They rejoined the party near the inn, but out of sight.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 53","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just returned to Restenford after defeating the wererats, facing down the wraiths, and redeeming the priest of Bone Hill. Barron and Amathar trained with their spells. The unpredictable results of Barron\u0026rsquo;s magic struck again \u0026ndash; first infecting Amathar with a magical fear of Barron (causing him to flee to 60 feet away and observe through a telescope), then summoning a Watery Double from a nearby pond that tried to drown Barron but failed. The final wild surge caused the half-elf to fall madly in love with a tree.\nAfter consummating his passionate act of love with nature, Barron was entrusted with the pearl necklace captured earlier. Pyrcival accompanied him, and the pair met with the town smith, appropriated named Smyth, who displayed a sign outside his shop indicating he would act as a fence for stolen goods. Smyth agreed to sell the necklace on the party\u0026rsquo;s behalf for 3500gp. He also agreed to size a set of plate mail for Pyrcival\u0026rsquo;s smaller form.\nAfter some discussion the party decided to investigate the map Barron found among the wererats. The map bore a mark labeled \u0026ldquo;Home Inn\u0026rdquo;, located to the northeast of Restenford near a fork in the river. They followed the road to that point, finding an inn \u0026ndash; almost a small fortification, really, with towers and a barracks in back. Inside, something else seemed a little off. The serving wench didn\u0026rsquo;t know her ales; the only meal on offer was stew; one of the guests, a priest, had his robe on backwards and didn\u0026rsquo;t know his religion very well. Eventually the group finished their stew and announced they were leaving, asking around among those staying there for directions to avoid the bandits that had been frequently described. A dwarf spoke up \u0026ndash; while drunk, he suggested a nearby cave by the side of the road would be a good place to stop and spend the night to avoid the bandits.\nRecognizing the trap, the party chose to spring it. They found the cave, conveniently marked by a large tree, with the entrance among the roots. Searching it, they found clear evidence that the cave had been used as a shelter of some kind \u0026ndash; another barracks-like area, and some interior doors installed into the cave walls, including a secret door that perhaps had held a treasury at some point (a few small coins were left there). The cave was unoccupied for the moment, so the party set up their own ambush for the ambush they expected.\nTheir plan was simple: light a fire, leave Leah there to pretend the cave was occupied (with several of her arrows enchanted by Barron), with Thic Duc waiting in ambush, and leave the rest of the group outside under invisibility spells. The plan is somewhat disrupted when the smoke from Leah\u0026rsquo;s fire begins to fill the small cave.. even though it had vented perfectly well before. A closer examination showed that the entrance was slowly constricting\u0026hellip; almost as if the tree roots were moving closer together. Both left the cave before the entrance trapped them.\nOutside, the party saw three groups of people approaching from three separate directions. All were armed. To their left and right on the road, two groups of two swordsmen and two archers, each group led by a familiar-looking warrior in heavy armor. The third group was smaller, but the leader wore a strange armor that resembled reinforced plates of bark. The druid spoke first: \u0026ldquo;Who dares bring fire to the heart of the great tree?\u0026rdquo;\nTiberium tried to negotiate. The druid demanded the party surrender their possessions to pay for the damage they had done with their campfire. Tiberium thought that was a bad idea. The druid brought the tree to life, two heavy branches reaching down to the ground on either side of the cave entrance in a threatening manner.\nUnfortunately, Thic Duc was hiding in one of those spots. Startled, the heavy branches reached out and entangled him. With that, weapons were drawn and hostilities engaged in.\nThe druid opened with Entangle, wrapping Leah, Pyro, and Thic Duc in living vines. Thic Duc sighed inside and complained that this was overkill, which offended the tree still holding him captive. The tree began to squeeze the laconic monk. Having been handed a monk, there was going to be monkade.\nMeanwhile, Leah took a few steps forward and launched her first arrow at the druid. With a shrill cry a hawk flew from her bow and attacked the druid, drawing blood. Amathar, who had been invisible from the beginning, cast an obscure spell that created a ghostly pair of hands. He filled those hands with bandages and set about healing those in need of his aid.\nTiberium intercepted one of the groups led by a familiar figure from the inn. A well-timed spell from Barron knocked out the two melee fighters, but left the archers and their leader on his feet. The protege paladin fought well, but the heavyset figure in plate mail just wouldn\u0026rsquo;t die. The fight dragged on as they exchanged blows.\nThe druid began his next spell, chanting an incantation even as the hawk swooped down to attack him once more. The druid fell, severely wounded, even as the hawk took to the air once more in search of new prey, charmed by the druid\u0026rsquo;s spell. It chose Pyrcival, even as the gnome closed in on the bleeding druid, having finished off the two archers flanking the nature priest.\nMeanwhile, Leah was splitting her attention between the druid, the tree limbs stomping the stuffing out of Thic Duc, and the oncoming foot soldiers. As with Tiberium, the leader was surprisingly tough. His minions, however, fell rapidly to a combination of arrows and Amathar\u0026rsquo;s magical slumber.\nOf the bandits, their corpses were readily recognizable as people from the inn where the party had briefly stayed. In particular, the dwarf who gave them directions to the cave, and the bartender. Some of the others seemed familiar as well. Oddly, only the druid had money on his body \u0026ndash; 7 gold coins.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n-1400gp for identify from party fund Tiberium: -400gp for plate mail Pyrcival: -400gp for plate mail Two suits of well-used plate mail (one human, one dwarf; not sold) 10 sets of studded leather, short bow, short sword +300gp (traded for potion of human control) 6 potions (identified: 2x climbing, extra-healing, oil of slipperiness, human control (confiscated), ) Scroll case (6 scrolls) Scroll case (2 scrolls; commune, cure critical wounds) Black pearl necklace: Sold for 3500gp Mixed coin: gp Ring of Air Elemental Command (Barron, identified) Rod of Cancellation: (identified) Shield: (magical) Short sword (magical, Otto) Amathar bought: Enlarge, Knock, Rope Trick, rod case (-599gp) Leah bought an extensive supply of dog food: 1gp Treasure: 3807gp (422gp each) Current Party Funds: 8657gp Experience # Base xp for showing up (total): 700xp 1 druid: 648xp 1 Bartender: 625xp 1 Dwarf: 625xp 10 bandits: 400xp 2 treants: 994xp 1 conjured hawk: 35xp Pyrcival: \u0026quot;We should investigate the princess for possible involvement in plots\u0026quot; +50xp Treasure XP: 3807 Total: 7834xp (1119xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Druid: \u0026quot;You have brought fire into the heart of the tree!\u0026quot; Tiberium: \u0026quot;Well, there wasn't a sign!\u0026quot; (50xp) Dangling Threads of Fate # Who was the strangely well-dressed gardener Gunnar spent time over roots and vegetables with? That wouold be Baroness of Restenford. Something is up with the Baroness. She was nervous when asked about disappearing babies. Probably not anything with the wererats, but something is up. No one has checked recently to see if the Princess is still in her castle Malag no longer craves brains Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"29 November 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-52/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nChris (Tiberium), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just returned to Restenford after defeating the wererats, facing down the wraiths, and redeeming the priest of Bone Hill. Barron and Amathar trained with their spells. The unpredictable results of Barron’s magic struck again – first infecting Amathar with a magical fear of Barron (causing him to flee to 60 feet away and observe through a telescope), then summoning a Watery Double from a nearby pond that tried to drown Barron but failed. The final wild surge caused the half-elf to fall madly in love with a tree.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 52","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nSession Map\nChris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrzifal), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. New cast member Tim (Otto) is joining us.\nAs we left the party, they were examining the locked door at the end of the corridor and considering their next move. Leah and Amathar, on the other hand, were in Restenford; Amathar was doing the things that wizards do and Leah was drinking herself silly to forget about Barron. Once Leah had recovered sufficiently to purchase 5 more healing potions, they set out together to rejoin their friends. After a few hours travel, the pair saw a trail of smoke rising into the sky from between the four hills surrounding their destination, and hurried to rejoin their friends.\nMeanwhile, Otto (a halfling notorious for his sense of humor) had been dressed in swaddling clothes and laid to bed within a crib by his friends, intent on bursting forth at the most inopportune moment during a bachlorette party. Alas, the best laid plans of mice and half-men gang aft aglay, as they say, and Otto (perhaps more than a little drunk already) fell asleep while he was hidden away. When he woke, his crib was intact, but the smell was closer to a manger. Otto set about exploring the room with the aid of his blanket, discovering that it was a small cell meant probably for holding prisoners. Or so he guessed, based on the lack of an interior door handle. Kicking the door didn\u0026rsquo;t help, but he did eventually hear voices outside. They were not helpful and mostly told him to shut up, while discussing who had been stupid enough to kidnap a fake baby.\nMeanwhile, inside the wererat lair, Leah and Amathar rejoined their friends, who were in the process of breaking down a door that had been barred from the other side. They completed that business swiftly as their friends crossed the pit, and followed a short corridor into what might have been a dining room, with tables made from treestumps and a slightly raised area where a single large wererat crouched in the dim light. Pyrcival offered the creature a way out: \u0026ldquo;Surrender the holy symbnol of your former master, and you may live.\u0026rdquo; The offer was refused.\nAs Tiberium and Pyrcival advanced to melee with the wererat, four more fell from a hidden perch above and attacked those of the party bringing up the rear. Despite the surprise, the party was able to prevail, even when the lead rat summoned a swarm of his smaller brethren \u0026ndash; thanks to Amathar\u0026rsquo;s well placed sleep spell.\nThe wererats had hidden their treasure horde behind yet another secret door. It consisted of a horde of coins \u0026ndash; thousands of copper, but with coins of greater worth mixed in. Buried among the coins were other treasures: a set of potions, a set of scrolls, a number of small gemstones, and a magical short sword, shield, and boots.\nAlso, in a small room behind the raised area, the group found a naked halfling. Without batting an eye, they accepted him into their ranks.\nAfter looting the wererat lair, the party returned to the surface with the captured holy symbol \u0026ndash; torn from the neck of the wererat leader, tarnished almost beyond recognition \u0026ndash; and the treasure, and the new halfling as well. The next step was to return to Bone Hill, redeem the old master of the keep, and destroy the wraiths that were beyond redemption in this life.\nTwo days journey to the west brought them back to the keep, and the hidden door they had missed but Amathar had not. Bypassing that door for now, they returned to the small room with the friendly animated skeleton prisoner. Warin handed over the captured holy symbol, Tiberium knelt in prayer soon followed by Warin, and their combined efforts began to restore the polish and shine under the skeleton\u0026rsquo;s spectral fingers while the rest of the party discussed the strategy for handling the wraiths. Meanwhile, however, Warin and Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s prayers were interrupted by a holy vision: a divine presence thanked them for their labors on behalf of the fallen keep and asked if they might wish for a boon as reward. After consulting, they requested aid in their future labors, and were told to return to the statue where Tiberium had located his helmet and take what was there for them. They did so, finding a mace with a holy symbol etched into each face.\nAs the party opened the door, Tiberium leading and Warin close behind, a chill wind blew through the group and extinguished their lanterns and torches. With a few whispered words, Tiberium beseached Purity to light the way, and the sword begin to glow dimly. Beyond the secret door was a staircase leading down into darkness. The party descended, feeling the chill surrounding them. Warin and Tiberium conferred in whispers, suggesting perhaps the chill indicated a connection to the negative energy plane. Undead were likely\u0026hellip;\nAnd indeed, at the bottom of the stairs a room opened up wider, and in Purity\u0026rsquo;s faint light, a vague and indistinct shape formed. Followed by another one either side. The wraith they had encountered before had brought friends. Undaunted, Tiberium strode forward, focusing his intent on protecting his friends and forcing the wraiths back. Warin strode forward, remaining within Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s circle of protection, and begin to strike at the central wraith. His mace sizzled and popped and cracked with each strike, forcing the undead creature to waver and cringe in pain as the blows landed. Pyrcival followed close behind as the pair advanced into the room, Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s barrier forcing them back.. until the room opened up widely enough for both of the flanking creatures to flow around Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s protection and into the solid stone walls!\nWhile Warin stood his ground against the central wraith, Tiberium retreated, trying to keep the rest of the party within his protective aura. Yet with the wraiths on the other side, he could only push them further away and towards his friends at the same time. Barron and Amathar unleashed magical daggers and magic missiles to no avail, wounding the creatures but failing to destroy them or drive them back. Leah stepped up with a silver-tipped arrow, but it passed through the creature without harm \u0026ndash; and she suddenly realized none of her weapons were enchanted! The wraith\u0026rsquo;s chill grasp was unavoidable, and for a moment the half-elven ranger swooned as her life force was drained.\nThe wraith cackled in glee, shrugging off another magic missile from Amathar while Barron and Pyrcival fought the other. It pointed its grasping hands at Pyro, and a faint spectral voice intoned, \u0026ldquo;I got you, and I\u0026rsquo;ll get your little dog too!\u0026rdquo; Pyro growled, and Leah stepped in front of him protectively.\nIn the chamber below, Warin struck again and again with his new mace, visibly wounding the creature again and again. Finally, staggered by one of Warin\u0026rsquo;s blows, Pyrcival was able to finish it off. With Tiberium still focused on his barrier, the two friends went to aid those who were still at the top of the stairs. With their leader re-slain, the two smaller wraiths were quickly dispatched.\nBeyond the staircase, the chambers held little more of interest\u0026hellip; save another treasure trove, coins and a small collection of magical items, including a ring and a battleaxe.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp 6 potions Scroll case (6 scrolls) Scroll case (2 scrolls; commune, cure critical wounds) Black pearl necklace Warin: Mace (magical, with holy symbol) Mixed coin: 107gp 90 small gemstones: 900gp (if sold) Barron: -100gp healing potion Leah: -501gp healing potions and silvered arrows Ring of Invisibility (Barron, *) Battleaxe (magical, sold for 750gp) Leah: Short sword (magical) Rod: (magical) Shield: (magical) Short sword (magical, Otto) Boots (magical) Treasure: 1757gp (195gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 700xp Amathar and Leah: +50xp for \u0026quot;Dodge this!\u0026quot; Quest completion (wraiths): 1000xp each Quest completion (wererats): 1000xp each Bonus for stopping the slaughter of more babies: 500xp each Bonus for not being greedy: 1000xp (total) 3 wraiths: 1029xp 1 wererat leader: 525xp 4 wererats: 1120xp Avoiding combat with gnoll pups: 250xp (As Otto was just joining us for the first time, he will share in monster xp when he was there but not quest xp) (As Thic Duc was present here for most of the questline but not the final session, he will receive questline experience but not monster experience) Total: xp (xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Leah (prompted by Amathar): After missing a wererat repeatedly in prior rounds, advances to point blank range: \u0026quot;Dodge this!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Who was the strangely well-dressed gardener Gunnar spent time over roots and vegetables with? No one has checked recently to see if the Princess is still in her castle Malag no longer craves brains Warin owes the church a lot of money for his restoration spell How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"15 November 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-51/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nSession Map\nChris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrzifal), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. New cast member Tim (Otto) is joining us.\nAs we left the party, they were examining the locked door at the end of the corridor and considering their next move. Leah and Amathar, on the other hand, were in Restenford; Amathar was doing the things that wizards do and Leah was drinking herself silly to forget about Barron. Once Leah had recovered sufficiently to purchase 5 more healing potions, they set out together to rejoin their friends. After a few hours travel, the pair saw a trail of smoke rising into the sky from between the four hills surrounding their destination, and hurried to rejoin their friends.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 51","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were outside the suspected wererat lair. Having fought and defeated the guards on the hilltops, they decided it would be best to return to Restenford to rest and recuperate before venturing below. As they were most of the way there already, it was a short trip back.\nMeanwhile, Amathar found himself in a strange, empty room. After mysterious and undisclosed events, he reappeared back where he left, and looked around for the rest of the party. They had already moved elsewhere, so he attempted to follow them, using the doors they had left open as his guide. On the way, he noticed a secret door the party had apparantly passed by. Eventually, he found a room with the remains of skeletons and zombies, demonstrating that he was on the right track, and thought for a little while that he heard Pyro whining \u0026ndash; but could not find an actual Pyro, only an empty room.\nAmathar was able to follow tracks \u0026ndash; there were quite a lot in the area \u0026ndash; leading up out of the keep\u0026rsquo;s dungeons and back to the keep proper. From there, he was able to find the party\u0026rsquo;s new campsite and follow Barron\u0026rsquo;s fragrant odor towards Restenford by the direct route rather than the road. Roughly two thirds of the way there, he heard the cry of a hawk stooping to prey. Shortly thereafter, he came upon his friends gazing down into a small gully, with wererat remains scattering the nearby earth. He greeted them with the traditional greeting of ghosts, whose customs were familiar to him from his time as a defense attorney for the litigious undead. \u0026ldquo;Boo!\u0026rdquo;\nThe party jumped. No one fell in.\nHowever, after filling Amathar in on events, and vice versa, they decided to head back to town to rest and regroup rather than descend into the rats\u0026rsquo; nest immediately; save for Leah, who returned to the Keep to ensure Pyro was fed and cared for in the strangely comfortable room.\nImmediately upon returning to town, Pyrcival and Tiberium handed over the baby they had to the church of Pelor. It might not be the baby they wanted, but it was the baby they had. Upon being presented with this swaddled bundle of joy and love, the acolyte who had helped them with their research previously stammered out a nervous \u0026ldquo;Congratulations!\u0026rdquo; and offered to schedule a baby shower.\nWarin visited a temple of Pelor and submitted himself to the sacrament of the confessional, the sanctity of which suffered from the close presence of his friends and spiritual guides Pyrcival and Tiberium. Warin expressed his doubts, his fears, and (eventually, after much prodding from Tiberium), his own questionable acts. He confessed to influencing the risen dead and turning them one upon the other for his own amusement, violating their sacred rest. He confessed to ordering the dead to attack monsterous but intelligent and living beings. He confessed to following a mysterious voice that led him into wickedness. He explained that he was seeking to explore a new faith, one that would lead him to better places and allow him to help his friends. Luckily, Pelor is a forgiving deity; indeed forgiveness is one of his primary attributes. Warin was forgiven, and granted his second chance.\nWarin also explained his encounter with the wraith, and the feeling he had had since then of being reduced in clarity, lost in doubt and fear. The high priest of the temple was able to bring Pelor\u0026rsquo;s forgiveness to that encounter as well, and for the first time in a long time, Warin felt his full strength and faith return to him. Perhaps this new church would be a better fit than the Mysterious Voice.\nMeanwhile, Barron and Amathar investigated the local wizards. Amathar was searching for new spells, and traded a copy of ESP and Levitate to the court wizard for two copies of Strength. Amathar swallowed two goldfish in search of information on his new staff, and got what he wanted, as well as indigestion. He retired with Barron and the court wizard to a nearby field and focused on learning new spells from the captured spellbook. After Barron miscast a spell that caused his head to grow to three times its original size, Amathar was forced by his own embarrassment to apologize for his \u0026ldquo;apprentice\u0026rdquo; and retire from the field. Barron, on the other hand, made a tidy profit selling fake enlargement potions to passerby.\nBarron also visited the castle mews, claiming the reward he had been offered for rescuing a baby \u0026ndash; not THE baby, but a baby \u0026ndash; of a hunting falcon. He received the best hunting falcon the lord had \u0026ndash; a recent purchase, apparently, one that he had not yet tried personally but had been looking forward to. According to the count, it was a small price to pay for the return of one of his most vulnerable subjects. (When Barron later examined the falcon closely, seeking to understand its capabilities, mysterious laughter was heard, and Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s sword Purity was heard complaining that the bird made her itch).\nThe party spent the night in town and returned the rat\u0026rsquo;s nest around noon on the next day. They approached the hilltop watchtowers carefully, and stopped well short of their visual range to prepare a plan. Amathar announced he would not be descending into such close quarters with them, but laid his hands upon Pyrcival\u0026rsquo;s small form and filled the gnome\u0026rsquo;s muscles with mystical stretch. Pyrcival felt almost young again\u0026hellip; Barron stepped forward to set his new falcon upon the wererats presumably keeping watch from the towers. \u0026ldquo;Fly, Tony Falconi, fly!\u0026rdquo; he cried, and swept his arm vigorously into the air\u0026hellip; a second later, the noble falcon gracefully faceplanted in the dirt. Hmm.\nDeprived of their ranged attacks (as Leah was recovering from drinking after Barron\u0026rsquo;s head-enlargement incident, and Barron\u0026rsquo;s falcon, well, the less said the better), the party approached the area on foot. They spotted movement on top of one of the hills, and advanced quickly \u0026ndash; but rather than engage, whoever had been there disappeared into the central valley leading to the cave entrance. Thic Duc climbed the hill and found evidence that the hilltop had been used as a watch point, likely by wererats. The party concluded they had been spotted, but decided to proceed\u0026hellip;\nA hidden rope allowed for an easy descent into the shallow valley. The cave entrance at one end had a crude, steep staircase build in, leading down into the earth. It was almost more of a burrow than a cave, but at the bottom of the stairs a relatively flat earthern floor awaited them. Passages led to the left and right, and a door blocked further progress forward. With Tiberium and Pyrcival in the lead, Tiberium asking his sword Purity to light the way, the party went down the stairs. Tiberium turned the door handle after glancing along both sides and finding them empty. Immediately, the floor beneath him fell away and he fell 20 feet down, landing hard on a packed earth floor covered with \u0026hellip; rats? A moment later, Pyrcival \u0026ndash; caught by surprise and with unstable footing directly behind him \u0026ndash; fell into the pit as well.\nPyrcival and Tiberium struggled to their feet and tried to keep the rats from eating them alive, mostly with success. Above them, Barron managed not to fall into the pit with them, and carefully placed his falcon on the floor to one side of the pit before crossing the gap himself. Behind him, Thic Duc tossed a rope down into the pit and asked Warin to help him brace it so those in the pit could climb up.\nAs those below were reaching for the rope, there was a faint click, and a liquid begin to pour into the pit. It smelled like\u0026hellip; oil. Pyrcival gritted his teeth and told his young charge to climb up first. Tiberium frantically pulled himself up to one side of the pit, while Thic Duc and Warin braced the rope, and Barron moved down the corridor a little ways to make room. Just as Tiberium was pulling himself up, there was another click, and the pit caught fire.. just as Pyrcival hauled himself out on the far side, more than a little scorched. Just as the party was preparing to breathe a sigh of relief, Barron felt a stabbing pain in his back, and turned around to see\u0026hellip; a wererat with a bloody short sword grinning at him and preparing to stab again.\nHis head still ringing from the impact of a sling stone on the back of his head, Pyrcival pulled Barron out of harms way after the former thief threw a brace of daggers at the wererat. Seeing the impact, Tiberium spun around and charged the sling-wielding wererat. Both student and teacher made short work of their respective rats in straightforward combat.\nThe chambers to the left and right of the pit held male and female clothing, and what appeared to be a small nest area behind a secret door in each one. Tiberium did notice one small detail: the male side had a rather familiar gardener\u0026rsquo;s outfit, complete with tools. It was the same type of clothing worn by the gardeners at the Restenford keep, which Gunnar had seen rather closely, and the other party members had glimpsed at various times.\nThe party strung a rope from clothing hooks in each area over the central pit, to make it easier to cross, and set about trying to open the door. Turning the handle upwards rather than downwards would allow the door to be opened outwards, over the pit, and with the door open the party strung another rope and managed to cross into the corridor beyond. At the dimly visible far end, another door awaited them.\nSlowly the group make their way across the pit. Pyrcival and Tiberium were leading the way, and reached the door at the far end of the corridor without incident. Warin was still on the far side of the pit, watching Thic Duc make his way across with the bugbear baby on his back, when suddenly a secret door in the wall next to Thic Duc opened up \u0026ndash; and a wererat snatched the baby, disappearing behind the door again. Tiberium turned around, looking for the opening mechanism and not finding it; knowing the infant might have only seconds to live he prepared to smash the door with his warhammer. Barron, meanwhile, was at the front end of the party and felt a sudden breeze behind him. He ducked, and caught a glimpse of another wererat disappearing behind another secret door. Thinking quickly, he reached out and held it open while exchanging positions with Pyrcival. Warin, too far from the group to do anything else, prayed to his new diety to aid his friends in their battle.\nThe bugbear baby was having a merry old time flinging poo at the wererats while Thic Duc and Tiberium traded places repeatedly, seeking to confuse and disorient the wererats they were engaging. Unfortunately Thic Duc was also confused, disoriented, and worse, a little dizzy \u0026ndash; he let go of his spear at the wrong moment, and it cut a bloody path along the bugbear baby\u0026rsquo;s ribs. The baby wailed briefly before succombing to blood loss.\nWhile Barron held the secret door open, Pyrcival shield-rushed the wererat behind it. Pinned behind a shield held by a supernaturally strong gnome, the wererat quickly fell to Pyrcival\u0026rsquo;s blade.\nThic Duc and Tiberium together began taking their wererats more seriously, and made short work of them. The baby was bandaged, and slowly regained consciousness, if asking for food can be called consciousness. The chambers on both sides of the corridor were clearly guard posts, containing simple furniture and basic weapons. They were much cleaner than the nest areas. Barron collected several daggers, but nothing further of note was found there.\nWe left the party examining the locked door at the end of the corridor and considering their next move.\nMap\nTo be continued\u0026hellip; Full Details of Dragon-head Staff\nDancing Lights: 2-5 dancing lights (as per spell) on command. 1 charge.\nLight (shirak) on command, as per spell, 20\u0026rsquo; radius, 3 turns duration. 1 charge.\nSparks generates a small electrical discharge. (30\u0026rsquo; long, 2d10 damage with no save to those wearing metal, 2d8 to those who are not wearing metal and make a save) 1 charge.\nLightning Bolt generates a large electrical discharge (80\u0026rsquo; long, starts up to 80\u0026rsquo; away, 4d12 damage, those wearing metal take 3 points per die minimum even if they save). 2 charges.\nCurrently holds 11 charges. All command words work only when spoken in draconic.\nWhile doing research on this topic, we learned that recharging a wand or staff requires someone who can cast a 5th level spell (Enchant An Item), along with the spells the item produces, and requires (4 hours + 1d4 hours per spell level) to place the spell into the item as a charge. Wands can only hold one spell in most cases. Staves can hold more than one.\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Amathar: -200gp for identify components Warin: -1119gp for healing potion, restoration spell, provisional holy symbol, some weaponry, and a sense of moral righteousness Barron: 5gp for selling \u0026ldquo;cures\u0026rdquo; Pyrcival: -6gp for a silvered handaxe Treasure: 0 gp (0 gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 600xp 7 wererats: 791xp Roleplay Bonus for Warin (covering several sessions of buildup): 1000xp Roleplay Bonus for Tiberium (covering several sessions of buildup): 500xp Roleplay Bonus for Amathar (an unusual solution to an unusual problem): 500xp Roleplay Bonus for Thic Duc (spending a NWP on parenting): 500xp Roleplay Bonus for Pyrcival (keeping the baby away from Barron, sending Tiberium out of the flaming rat pit first): 500xp Consolation Prize for Barron (he didn't deserve the falcon he got... much): 250xp Total: 1391xp (232xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Amathar: \u0026quot;I have a wand up my butt right now!\u0026quot; (upon learning that recharging magical items requires extended periods of constant physical contact) Barron: \u0026quot;I dub thee... Tony Falconi.\u0026quot; Barron: \u0026quot;Fly, Tony, fly! THUD\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Who was the strangely well-dressed gardener Gunnar spent time over roots and vegetables with? No one has checked recently to see if the Princess is still in her castle Malag has been left with the Adventure Capitalists for work on restoring his non-brain-eating condition How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"1 November 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-50/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were outside the suspected wererat lair. Having fought and defeated the guards on the hilltops, they decided it would be best to return to Restenford to rest and recuperate before venturing below. As they were most of the way there already, it was a short trip back.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 50","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were trying to figure out how to escape the comfortable room with food delivery and a vast selection of casual reading materials. Oh, and an animated skeleton. Meanwhile, in Restenford, Leah was drinking herself into a stupor after the baby incident, and Malag woke up in the Adventure Capitalist\u0026rsquo;s safe room with a really bad feeling about his friends. Malag was joined shortly by a portly priest asking whether he knew Tiberium. Apparently, the paladin had been asking about the Keep at Bone Hill, and the acolyte (whose previous answers had been miserable) had done more research and talked to his superiors about the matter. They had given him a scroll with spells to help out, including Speak with Dead, Remove Curse, and Exorcism. The scroll contained the instructions \u0026ldquo;Speak with the undead master of the keep first. Redeem him if you can. Destroy him if he cannot be redeemed.\u0026rdquo; It also contained, in a different hand, a confusing note about pushups.\nIn the distant past the keep on Bone Hill was founded by an adventurous cleric by the name of Rothman. He swept into the region with his party of friends in search of treasure and power and do-gooding, and found all three in spades. As his holy power waxed, he built the keep, driving the monstrous humanoids of the region well beyond the borders of his authority. Yet he was always in search of a greater challenge -- and a greater treasure. The people who lived under his protection because as much a burden to his resources as a community to be protected, and he grew to resent the time he spend tending to the care of those who lived on his lands without the resources to protect themselves. The situation was exacerbated by an ongoing war against the nearby tribes of bugbears, gnolls, and monstruous humanoids who sought continually to recapture their territory from the forces of good and order. Eventually, concerned about his growing callous attitude, the deity he worshipped sent him a test. A young mother fleeing from bugbears brought her newborn baby with her to his keep, and in the harsh conditions of a siege, the child soon fell ill. She begged for his aid in curing the child of the disease. As she was poor and fleeing from invasion, she had no money to offer the customary donation to the church in return for the clerical aid. Rothman refused to aid the child, saying the healing power would be better spent maintaining the strength of the warriors manning the walls. However, the wizard of his group (going by the name Baltezin) stepped forward and suggested a compromise. Instead of demanding immediate payment for curing the child, the child's blood and brain would be harvested -- gradually, in small samples, to be sure -- for use in magical potions to aid their soldiers and adventurers, as such materials are necessary in the preparation of some advanced reagents and are understandably hard to come by for those not inclined to murder. Rothman agreed that this young child should give of his body to serve the power of his friends in return for his life. In payment for his callous demand and lack of mercy, the deity cursed Rothman and all who served him to live only on the blood and brains of newborn infants until the day should come when Rothman begged forgiveness on the symbol of the deity his actions had so defiled. As the one who suggested such a terrible thing, Baltezin's fate was to forever hunger for the warmth and compassion of life that his cold heart lacked. After collecting Leah (who was drowning her baby-killing sorrows at the nearest bar), the pair bought horses and set out for Bone Hill with the scroll.\nThe rest of the party tried to figure out how to leave the room they were magically trapped in. They were having little success, though Thic Duc was able to break the chains holding the slowly regenerating skeleton to the wall. This did not enable the undead creature to leave the room, but at least he could stretch his leg-bones.\nOn the way from Restenford to Bone Hill, Leah and Malag met Lenny and several other individuals driving a cart full of loot. Lenny passed a large, impressively-bound book to Malag and asked him to pass it on to Barron. Eventually ariving at Bone Hill without further incident, Leah and Malag camped overnight at the foot of the hill (using a different campsite than before) and climbed the path upwards in the morning. With Malag to explain the hammer statue to Leah, that obstacle was easily bypassed, and Leah was able to follow the party tracks down into the dungeon beneath the keep, all the way up to the door to the room where they were trapped.\nMalag opened it, and immediately walked in, closing it behind him without a word.\nLeah opened the door, feeling a momentary dizziness that passed with a shake of her head. But Pyro had already gone bounding ahead into the room, so she sighed and followed.\nInside the room, the party gathered the new information together. Warin told the new party members about his experience with the wraith, which still chilled his soul. Malag passed along the history of the temple and the scroll the acolyte had given him. The party immediately begin to discuss their ideas for asking the right questions using the Speak with Dead spell on the scroll. They figured Remove Curse would not manage to break such a powerful curse, but might free one of their friends from being stuck in the room or have some effect on their craving for brains. And Exorcise seemed like a last resort \u0026ndash; it might free the spirit from the skeleton, but it would neither redeem that spirit nor banish it \u0026ndash; merely place it into another object, perhaps a more portable one if well chosen. Eventually they decided on the right questions.\nAsked \u0026ldquo;How to put you to rest?\u0026rdquo;, the skeleton replied \u0026ldquo;I was cursed by my deity after falling into wicked temptation. My acolytes are cursed to bring me the brains of children which feed my continued cursed existence. Find the nest of those acolytes, and bring me my holy symbol that I may make amends to my deity.\u0026rdquo;\nAsked \u0026ldquo;How to abolish the evil in the Keep?\u0026rdquo;, the skeleton wrote, \u0026ldquo;Bring me the holy symbol and I will go to my god, ending the curse. Confront the wraith with my fate and the symbol of my redemption. The wererats are lost to evil and must be slain.\u0026rdquo;\nAsked \u0026ldquo;Where can we locate the nest of the acolytes?\u0026rdquo;, the skeleton wrote, \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t know? Within a few days travel, I suppose. The babies they bring are mostly human.\u0026rdquo;\nAsked \u0026ldquo;How can we remove the curse on the room?\u0026rdquo;, the skeleton rolled invisible eyes in empty sockets, and pointed to its previous answers.\nAfter much discussion about how to phrase a question regarding treasure, (without technically asking a question), the skeleton wrote, \u0026ldquo;Beware falling into the same trap that got me here! I\u0026rsquo;m going to volunteer this advice because apparently you need it.\u0026rdquo;\nMalag also passed along the spellbook to Barron. It contained the following spells: 1st Level\nCharm Person Detect Magic Jump Magic Missile\u0026gt; Protection from Good Read Magic Identify Sleep Shocking Grasp 2nd Level\nDarkness 15' radius ESP Invisibility Levitate Detect Invisibility Magic Mouth Ray of Enfeeblement Wizard Lock Tenser's Hunting Hawk 3rd Level\nDispel Magic Fireball Gust of Wind Fly Protection from Normal Missiles Feign Death Monster Summoning I Leomund's Tiny Hut 4th Level\nRay's mnemonic Enhancer Wizard Eye Rary's Spell Enhancer This gave Barron an idea. Though he could not cast Dispel Magic from memory, lacking the experience and power as a wizard to do so, he could read the spell directly from a written source\u0026hellip; like a spellbook. Laying the book out and carefully reading from it, barely controlling the powerful forces he was invoking, he managing to free several party members from the spell holding them to the room.\nThe wererat tracks the party was following eventually led them to a small valley between four hills, with a cave entrance at one end. As Warin prepared a healing spell on his friends, he was struck in the helmet by a sling stone \u0026ndash; wererats were on the tops of the two nearby hills! The party split up; Barron and Leah to one hill, Tiberium and Pyrcival to the other. Thic Duc, with a human and bugbear baby in each arm, ran as far as he could from the fight and taught the children how to hide from danger.\nBarron borrowed an arrow from Leah and muttered words in the language of magic over it, then handed it back. Leah took aim with her bow and let fly. The arrow sped outwards \u0026ndash; and transformed into a hawk with silver talons mid-flight! Between the hawk, Barron\u0026rsquo;s daggers, and Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows, those two wererats were swiftly dispatched. One of them tried to flee, but Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows moved faster than a fleeing wererat.\nMeanwhile, Pyrcival made it to the bottom of the hill without being hit, but failed to climb it. Tibierum, seeing the problem, rushed to the back of the hill looking for another path; he found a series of subtly hidden footholds that reduced the difficulty of the climb. He made it to the top, rushing to attack the wererats. One of them dropped his sling and took up a sword, the other let fly with the sling bullet he had already been whirling. It bounced off Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s armor, doing more damage to his pride than anything else. Tiberium swung his sword and left a nasty slice in return, startling both of the creatures, who were used to their fast healing against most weapons.\nSeeing the blood drawn enraged the wererat whose sword was out, and he dropped the blade in favor of primal teeth and claws while the slinger drew his own blade. Tiberium swung again, striking down his opponent, but the large wererat who had dropped his sword earlier now seized Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s arm in its dirty claws and bit down fiercely into his arm between the protective armor plates. As the paladin fell to the ground, the wererat whispered viciously, \u0026ldquo;Soon you will join us, brother!\u0026rdquo; With his last waking breath, Tiberium yelled \u0026ldquo;Paladin immunity, bitch!\u0026rdquo;\nPyrcival had managed to climb the hill and draw his sword just in time to see his young charge fall. Rushing forward, he engaged the remaining wererat to prevent him doing more harm. The pair of warriors danced the dance of blades with no result for a few minutes, before Barron\u0026rsquo;s hawk sped downwards and wounded the creature. The wererat viciously seized the bird and tore it apart, just in time for Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows and Pyrcival\u0026rsquo;s sword to end the creature\u0026rsquo;s life.\nWith all the wererats dead, the party regrouped, discussing their plans for exploring the cave below where, hopefully, an ancient holy symbol could be found.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 0 gp (0 gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 600xp 4 wererats: 700xp Roleplaying bonus for everyone (each): 400xp Total: 3700xp (617xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;It says to exorcise... will pushups do?\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Who was the strangely well-dressed gardener Gunnar spent time over roots and vegetables with? No one has checked recently to see if the Princess is still in her castle Malag has been left with the Adventure Capitalists for work on restoring his non-brain-eating condition How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"18 October 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-49/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were trying to figure out how to escape the comfortable room with food delivery and a vast selection of casual reading materials. Oh, and an animated skeleton. Meanwhile, in Restenford, Leah was drinking herself into a stupor after the baby incident, and Malag woke up in the Adventure Capitalist’s safe room with a really bad feeling about his friends. Malag was joined shortly by a portly priest asking whether he knew Tiberium. Apparently, the paladin had been asking about the Keep at Bone Hill, and the acolyte (whose previous answers had been miserable) had done more research and talked to his superiors about the matter. They had given him a scroll with spells to help out, including Speak with Dead, Remove Curse, and Exorcism. The scroll contained the instructions “Speak with the undead master of the keep first. Redeem him if you can. Destroy him if he cannot be redeemed.” It also contained, in a different hand, a confusing note about pushups.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 49","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. Erica (Theodora) is a special guest.\nAs we left the party, they were exchanging shocked looks as Thic Duc ate Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s heart.\nInterlude: Theodora\u0026rsquo;s Story\nDainty maiden Theodora was having a grand time at her best friends\u0026rsquo; bachelorette party. She drank, she swore, she smashed things, she danced on tabletops (before and after smashing them), and she got smashed (clubs and drinks both). For a young half-orc, it was a really good party. So she was a little confused when she woke up in a bed that wasn\u0026rsquo;t hers, in a room that wasn\u0026rsquo;t hers, wearing (what was left of) her party dress over her armor, and using her battleaxe for a pillow. Admittedly, she had started the evening wearing the dress over her armor. That was only prudent at a good party. And the axe helped with the smashing part. But normally, Theodora would wake up in an alley, or sometimes her own bed if she didn\u0026rsquo;t get quite drunk enough. (Never someone else\u0026rsquo;s bed; it was too much fun kicking them out of her in the morning).\nThe room she was in this\u0026hellip; morning? \u0026hellip; had the bed she was still in, a door that presumably led to an exit, a wall covered in bookshelves with an easy chair for reading, a desk with pen and paper for writing, and a small table with a silver tray. On the tray, silverware, a mug, a pitcher, and a small plate with blueberry muffins. Theodora ate one while she considered what to do, then she noticed the skeleton chained to the wall. It was looking at her. Odd. She picked up the muffin and moved to the other side of the room. It was still looking at her, so it was an animated skeleton. If this was a drunken fever dream, it was an unusual one.\nTheodora tried the door and found it was locked. This was a common experience for her. Many people locked their doors when she approached. She knew just what to do, and did it almost from habit. A swift kick right next to the lock and the door broke, swinging freely on its hinges. She wasn\u0026rsquo;t quite ready to leave just yet, though. The skeleton was odd. And maybe a memoir of this strange experience would be appropriate. She approached the skeleton, battleaxe raised high in a threatening manner. It raised its arms in supplication, begging not to be struck. She struck anyway, and the skeleton collapsed to the floor, intact but \u0026hellip; unconscious? Or at least not moving. With a grunt of effort, she wrapped her fingers around its lower rib and yanked. Now, she had a skeleton\u0026rsquo;s rib. Ho ho ho.\nNow it was time to leave. She opened the door and stepped outside into\u0026hellip; the scent of orange blossums and a soft white light.\nTime to take a nap. Theodora lay back down, rested her head on her battleaxe, and went to sleep. Interlude: Theodora\u0026rsquo;s Story\nAfter some time, Theodora awoke, to find that little had changed. But there was a knock on the door. Outside, a wererat carrying a baby on a tray asked permission to enter. Theodora allowed it to enter and place the baby, cooing gently, on a small table near the bed. In addition to the baby, the tray held a plate, a pitcher, a mug, and a set of silverware. The wererat claimed the baby was \u0026ldquo;for the Master\u0026rdquo;, and then left.\nTheodora promptly ate the baby.\nThen, breakfast and a nap having been attended to, she left the room and was greeted outside by a trio of animated skeletons. These were armed, rather than chained to a wall, and seemed less friendly. She advanced to fight, striking a powerful blow that shattered half the ribcage of the first one to face her, but the blades of the other two left their own wounds in her green-hued skin, and before long, she collapsed unconscious from blood loss.\nAnd that was how the party, having witnessed the final moments of the combat, found her. The skeletons and zombies fell quickly to the combined swords of the group, and Theodora was revived. She decided to hang around a little while as she recovered from her wounds, but eventually wandered off as the party\u0026rsquo;s explorations continued. Conclusion\nAt the end of it all, Malag woke up with an intense feeling that his friends were in danger.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp One blue staff with a creature\u0026rsquo;s head on it and words in Draconic (\u0026ldquo;Light\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Sparks\u0026rdquo;, plus two more than need time to translate) Tiberium has found a longsword that plays dixie in his head One medium shield, still intact after spending time inside a gelatinous cube Treasure: 0 gp (0 gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 600xp Barron fought himself and won: 100xp Amathar has not yet fought himself Pyrzifal fought himself and won: 100xp Theodora ate a baby: 100xp 6 skeletons: 168xp 3 zombies: 156xp 1 gelatinous cube: 200xp Bonus for not trying to kill the spectators: 100xp (and a talking sword) (Tiberium only) Total: 1124xp (160xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # Who was the strangely well-dressed gardener Gunnar spent time over roots and vegetables with? No one has checked recently to see if the Princess is still in her castle Theodora has eaten the missing child. The missing wererat is still missing. Tiberium feels that there is still someone within the group who needs redemption Barron still has not earned his falcon Malag has been left with the Adventure Capitalists for work on restoring his non-brain-eating condition How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"4 October 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-48/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Warin), Matt (Barron), Brian (Pyrzifal), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. Erica (Theodora) is a special guest.\nAs we left the party, they were exchanging shocked looks as Thic Duc ate Thic Duc’s heart.\nInterlude: Theodora’s Story\nDainty maiden Theodora was having a grand time at her best friends’ bachelorette party. She drank, she swore, she smashed things, she danced on tabletops (before and after smashing them), and she got smashed (clubs and drinks both). For a young half-orc, it was a really good party. So she was a little confused when she woke up in a bed that wasn’t hers, in a room that wasn’t hers, wearing (what was left of) her party dress over her armor, and using her battleaxe for a pillow. Admittedly, she had started the evening wearing the dress over her armor. That was only prudent at a good party. And the axe helped with the smashing part. But normally, Theodora would wake up in an alley, or sometimes her own bed if she didn’t get quite drunk enough. (Never someone else’s bed; it was too much fun kicking them out of her in the morning).\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 48","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium/Malag), Coby (Gunnar/Warin), Matt (Barron/Lenny), Brian (Pyrzifal/Norsk), Dean (Thic Duc/Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were still split into two groups \u0026ndash; one at the top of Bone Hill, and the other having just rescued (well, mostly) a kidnapped baby from a nest of wererats the night before. We begin with the Band of Heroes. Tiberium and Pyrzival found a local temple of Pelor and inquired about local legends concerning Bone Hill, wererats, and possible human sacrifices. The young priest minding the temple there was unable to help them with anything specific, beyond a lecture on the undead that he probably still had memorized from passing his seminary exams. He was able to get them 3 vials of holy water each.\nMeanwhile, Barron (followed invisibly by Amathar and visibly by Gunnar) went to the local keep to ask the falconer there about buying a falcon. After bribing his way past the guard at the gate and the butler at the main house, Barron was introduced to the falconer by claiming to have an appointment. After eyeing the oddly dressed hobgoblin carefully, he was escorted to the rooftop mews. Warin, who had gone with him, instead chose to spend his time gardening with an unusually well-dressed lady gardener. (Nothing came of their interactions save bad puns).\nNegotiations initially went well, but rapidly went downhill when the falconer refused to sell his lord\u0026rsquo;s favored bird. Barron inquired about the others, and could perhaps have come to a deal, had he not tried to seduce the falconer, then insulted the lord by suggesting he preferred the stableboy to his wife. He also mentioned something about a wererat in the resulting argument\u0026hellip; Barron was arrested (only putting up mild resistance) and escorted down to the audience hall, where a poor seamstress was pleading her case. Apparently, a group of adventurers had gone in search of her kidnapped daughter, but returned a wererat instead\u0026hellip;\nAmathar had lingered in the room, invisibly, amusing himself by listening to the arguments, but when Barron entered the room in custody things became more serious. Barron invoked the spirit of his \u0026ldquo;ghost lawyer\u0026rdquo; to defend himself from the charges of improperly rescuing a baby, or perhaps returning a changling, or infecting it with lycanthropy. Amathar made his (visible) entrance and took up the case, arguing that the woman\u0026rsquo;s charges were incoherant and without merit due to her grief, that any harm to her child had come at the teeth of wererats rather than the hands of his client, and most importantly, where was her child now? At home with her older daughter to watch her while she pled her case to the lord, the woman replied. \u0026ldquo;Then, if your words are true and your infant has become a wererat, your remaining daughter is in horrible danger right now! She could be bitten already!\u0026rdquo;\nThe lord agreed there was an immediate risk, and summoned his bodyguards and arms to tend to the matter personally. But when they arrived at the woman\u0026rsquo;s house, it was empty, with wererat tracks outside the door and signs of a struggle inside, including blood. The lord summoned his huntsman, and the wererats were tracked to the gates leading out. The party regrouped, along with the lord\u0026rsquo;s huntsman, and set up in the direction of Bone Hill. (Thic Duc checked several times that the road would eventually turn back towards the direction he felt called to him).\nThough tracking was difficult on an established road, the huntsman was able to find sign of a wererat\u0026rsquo;s passage in several places along the road, presumably where they had hidden from legitimate travelers. Toward the end of the first day, the party followed a trail off the road, believing their quarry had finally gone to ground. Instead, they found a mostly empty village; the only remaining inhabitants were gnoll pups, playing happily without their parents. The party left without disturbing them further, though some of them perhaps wondered what would become of the children left to fend for themselves.\nTraveling onwards to the foot of Bone Hill, Thic Duc noted that his direction sense pointed up the hill, and Barron led the group to the camp used previously by the Band of Misfits. It was no longer occupied, and reeked of evil and demonic influence to Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s sensitive nose. A few hours passed while the group rested and studied spells. As dawn broke, the Band of Heroes followed the path up the side of the hill, towards the ruined temple of Bone Hill.\nMeanwhile, the Band of Misfits had not been idle. They had conducted further experiments with the hammer-throwing statue, eventually determining that the thrown hammer itself was an illusion \u0026ndash; with that kept firmly in mind, they remained unharmed and were able to explore the rest of the chamber safely. There was little else of note in the room itself save for a chalice at the foot of the statue and a staircase leading further down. The chalice had writing on the inside, a brief message in the language of giants about \u0026ldquo;the water that is not rain\u0026rdquo;. Briefly, the group experimented with pouring various liquids into it (including alchemical samples from the wizard\u0026rsquo;s laboratory above, blood, and water from a waterskin). Anything other than water seemed to be separated out through some magical process. Before the party could decipher the puzzle, however, Warin smashed the goblet with his mace at the prompting of his Mysterious Voice and stuck it into his backpack. Apparently the Mysterious Voice does not approve of pouring water into a holey space.\nAfter smashing the goblet seemingly made further investigation pointless, the group explored the next level down. The staircase down led to a series of natural caves that had clearly been improved upon by civilized hands where needed. The first room was empty, with a door and a small passage as exits. Norsk checked the small passage and saw movement, warning the group while they examined the other passage.\nThe door led to another chamber with a status in the center, this one much cruder and less artistic than the one above. It also lacked ornamentation; no weapons, armor, or chalices. However, when the party entered the room, the statue began to move no matter how hard the party tried to disbelieve it. Norsk took the lead and attacked with his sword, knocking off a few stone chips, but not doing much damage. Warin had better luck with his hammer, leaving a large and visible mark, as did Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s crossbow bolt. However, the statue\u0026rsquo;s large fists quickly put the group\u0026rsquo;s lives at risk in return, so they retreated out of reach. The statue returned to the center of the room after making a rude gesture in their general direction.\nAt the rear of the party, something was oozing out of the passage. It was grey, and resembled a mobile giant-sized serving of pudding. Norsk, who was moving back and forth between the two rooms, delayed the thing by shattering his chemical vials in front of the creature. It retreated from the puddles rather than come closer while Barron and the others attacked. Their attacks revealed a strange wooden staff within the creature, which they eventually managed to grab while separating the pudding into smaller servings.\nAs the group finished off their pudding and retreated, temporarily, from the animated statue, they heard noises from behind them; not pudding noises, but the sound of heavy boots tromping down a staircase, and the jingle of armor..\nMeanwhile, Tiberium, Pyrcival, and friends concluded their period of rest at the foot of Bone Hill and decided to follow Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s directional sense. The bluish monk led them through a forest, following (roughly) a path that had seen better days and might once have been a road. As they crested the hill, the trees ended and a ruined castle came into view. Taking stock, they noted corpses both ancient and recent, some human and some bugbear, and definitely recent bloodstains. Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s strange intuition led them through a small entry room, then all the way to the throne room, and \u0026ndash; after some searching \u0026ndash; through a trapdoor in the barracks. Signs of activity grew steadily more recent as they explored the level below, finally passing through a small, chilled bedroom with furniture that had been smashed to bits to reach a room with a damaged statue \u0026ndash; and another staircase down. There were sounds of fighting from below.\nSuddenly, the Band of Heroes (advancing into the unknown) and the Band of Misfits (retreating from the known) were face to face with each other. As the two groups of armed men faced off, two of them noticed each other. That is, the Thic Duc with the Band of Misfits noticed the Thic Duc with the Band of Heroes. And the latter Thic Duc marched up to the former, kneeling at his feet, and exclaiming \u0026ldquo;Pholtus, I have found you at last!\u0026rdquo; The other Thic Duc merely looked confused.\nThe confusion was resolved as Barron handed the newly-arrived Thic Duc a note. Suddenly the reverent expression on the newer Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s face changed to fury. \u0026ldquo;You have been corrupted,\u0026rdquo; he said with controlled fury as he attacked, \u0026ldquo;and you must be replaced.\u0026rdquo;\nThe fight was over quickly; the older (and perhaps wiser) Thic Duc was already wounded, and despite his greater experience fell beneath the new arrival\u0026rsquo;s fists. But before the death blow was struck, Tiberium stepped between them. \u0026ldquo;You shall not slay this man without cause,\u0026rdquo; the paladin explained. \u0026ldquo;Tell me the nature of your dispute with him.\u0026rdquo; Then he gathered the unconscious and bleeding Thic Duc into his arms and retreated to a safe distance away.\nExplanations proved difficult. The note was confusing, written in a dialect of Common that used strange and unfamiliar terms. Tiberium prayed for insight, and there was a lengthy pause. A Mysterious Voice communicated with several of the party members. (It was not helpful). Finally, Tiberium laid Thic Duc down gently on the dungeon floor. \u0026ldquo;Redemption and renewal come in many forms. This one is passing strange, but it is not mine to stand in the way of this soul\u0026rsquo;s chosen path.\u0026rdquo; With those words he stepped back, allowing the newer Thic Duc to approach the one who lay unconscious on the floor.\nThic Duc approached himself, a strange but determined expression on his face. He knelt again before himself, but this time rapidly, striking with his fist into the chest of his unconscious self. A moment later his hand emerged, slick with blood and viscera, clutching a heart that still beat weakly. Thic Duc raised his own heart to his mouth, and bite by bite consumed it.\nThe rest of both parties were struck speechless and immobile by the horrific sight.\nMap\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp One blue staff with a creature\u0026rsquo;s head on it and words in Draconic Treasure: 0 gp (0 gp each)\nExperience # There wasn\u0026rsquo;t much fighting this time, but a lot of good roleplaying, and fun was had by all. Bonus experience awarded accordingly.\nBase xp for showing up (total): 600xp 1 Grey Ooze: 236xp Resolving the Thic Duc situation: 1000xp (per player) Total: 6836xp (684xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Thic Duc has a spiritual crisis and resolves it in a unique way Dangling Threads of Fate # Who was the strangely well-dressed gardener Gunnar spent time over roots and vegetables with? No one has checked recently to see if the Princess is still in her castle No one has found the missing wererats and/or kidnapped children.. yet Tiberium feels that there is still someone within the group who needs redemption Barron still has not earned his falcon Malag has been left with the Adventure Capitalists for work on restoring his non-brain-eating condition How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"20 September 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-47/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium/Malag), Coby (Gunnar/Warin), Matt (Barron/Lenny), Brian (Pyrzifal/Norsk), Dean (Thic Duc/Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were still split into two groups – one at the top of Bone Hill, and the other having just rescued (well, mostly) a kidnapped baby from a nest of wererats the night before. We begin with the Band of Heroes. Tiberium and Pyrzival found a local temple of Pelor and inquired about local legends concerning Bone Hill, wererats, and possible human sacrifices. The young priest minding the temple there was unable to help them with anything specific, beyond a lecture on the undead that he probably still had memorized from passing his seminary exams. He was able to get them 3 vials of holy water each.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 47","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Gunnar), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrzifal), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. Kayli (Ganymede) is a new player.\nAs we left the party, they had split into two groups \u0026ndash; one at the top of Bone Hill, and the other just arriving in Restenford after a vivid dream about wererats and undead followed by a fight with pirates on the high seas. As they arrived, they were met by a woman shouting in panic about her infant son who had been abducted by a giant rat. This was something that had happened in Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s dream as well, and he felt it was similar enough to consider the possibility that the dream had been divine guidance to enable him to prepare. Instead of rushing after the woman, he convinced the party to question her a little, and invest some of their silver into coating their weapons in case of lycanthropes (as he had found hints of in his dream). Barron spent some of that time contemplating a note he had found in Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s pocket.\nA halfing druid overheard their discussions concerning the potential wererat problem and missing child at the armorer\u0026rsquo;s storefront, and offered to join up. Figuring the more the merrier when facing potential hordes of magical rats, the party agreed.\nThe grieving mother led them to a burned out and abandoned guardhouse on the far side of the river from the port. The building bore a very close resemblance to the building from Tiberium and Pyrcival\u0026rsquo;s dream, but not everything was exactly the same. Even so, the trapdoor down into the cave system was in the exact same place, and when they descended into the darkness, they were attacked by skeletons exactly as before. This time, the skeletons died quickly, as did the single ghoul in the room with them. With time to look around, the room was sparsely furnished with a few cheap wooden chairs and a table. All were in bad shape, mostly from age, but covered in scratches as well. There was a single chest in a small alcove, which both Tiberium and his tutor recognized from their dream as one that would turn to glass if disturbed. Gunnar promptly disturbed it, but the rest of the party stopped him before he broke anything. When opening the chest with his new thieves\u0026rsquo; tools (a crowbar), Barron managed to open the lid but also to break the vial within, and the chest disappeared into mist as it had in the dream\u0026hellip; except with the lid open.\nLuckily, with more people in the party, other options were found: a secret door they had missed before, leading in a new direction. The party chose to follow that lead. Instead of the nest of ghouls they had expected, they found rat tracks. Lots, and lots, and lots of rat tracks. These tracks led to a room with a makeshift card table, complete with a game of cards (stakes were only copper, totaling approximately 2gp). Beyond that room was a four way intersection in the underground cavern.\nWith Gunnar in the lead, the party made its way into the intersection before noticing that the other three exits from he intersection were filled with little beady eyes reflecting the light. Dozens of them. Most of those eyes were low to the ground, indicating rats of the usual size, but a few were unusual in their size indeed\u0026hellip;\nIn the end, though, the size of the rats mattered less than how well the party wielded their weapons. Gunnar and Tiberium made short work of the rats, with Leah cleaning up from the back with her bow, and Pyro chasing down a snack or two. Among the debris and detritus of the rat\u0026rsquo;s lair, the party found a broach that might once have been well made \u0026ndash; but in dire need of cleaning.\nThe passages to the left and right appeared to be dead ends. Straight ahead, however, was another passage. This one narrowed significantly, requiring humans to stoop carefully. Gunnar led the way despite his size, with Tiberium behind, and then Leah. When the group reached a wider point, they were confronted by a group of five wererats, in their bizarre half-human, half-rat guise. And, at the back, a baby, alive and squirming. Thank Pelor, Tiberium thought, The child is safe.\nBoth the party and the wererats had their weapons out, but neither was quite ready to attack. Paladins are intimidating. Or maybe it was Gunnar, standing in front, looking like the hole in his head had already killed him once\u0026hellip;\nAnyways, halfhearted negotiations took place, with Barron taking the lead position for the party from the far end of the entrance corridor. He wanted the baby; the wererats wanted to leave alive. They needed the baby for a sacrifice at Bone Hill, apparently. It would be trouble to get another so late. How much trouble? Oh, a few hundred gold worth of troublke\u0026hellip; The paladin tried to protest that the evil could not be allowed to escape, and Barron shushed him by demanding proof of life for the baby. Perhaps he couldn\u0026rsquo;t see the poor thing wiggling and squirming in the wererat\u0026rsquo;s arms.\nThe wererat with the baby solved the problem by biting a chunk from the child\u0026rsquo;s leg and flinging the bloody bit of flesh at Gunnar. \u0026ldquo;Proofs! Lifes!\u0026rdquo; the hairy lycanthrope lisped while the baby wailed. Trapped behind Gunnar, Tibierum fumed impotently. \u0026ldquo;Pay the rat!\u0026rdquo;, Barron told Leah, and she stepped forward with her bow drawn, ready to pay in bloody coin and silver arrows\u0026hellip; all hell broke loose as Gunnar and Tiberium attacked as well.\nThe first rat fell to Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows. \u0026ldquo;They have silversss!\u0026rdquo; the dying creature screamed. Gunnar and Tiberium tried to advance, but the wererats kept them pinned in the corridor, trading blow for blow. Gunnar\u0026rsquo;s armor and shield deflected attack after attack, his silver axe slicing into the wererats. Finally he pushed forward enough to let Tiberium stand beside him, and the two men, paladin and tragically wounded warrior, faced evil side by side.\nBehind them, Leah drew her bow and took aim. The two rats in the back were slinging stones at the warriors, and the baby was back there. They might run and try to escape. She couldn\u0026rsquo;t let that happen. The baby had to be saved. Her eyes narrowed; a mystic red dot appeared on the forehead of the rat nearest the baby. A perfect shot. Yes. Lined up exactly to protect the baby. Such a cute smile. Such rosey cheeks, bright red in the dark cave. A smooth release would keep the baby safe\u0026hellip;\nHer arrow flew true, and impaled the baby right in the diaper. Vlad Tepes would have been envious. The wailing redoubled as Leah nearly dropped her bow in shock. She had been trying to protect the baby\u0026hellip; hadn\u0026rsquo;t she? Were there hidden depths to her feelings about babies that were yet unexplored? Those answers would have to be sought later, with the help of a flask of strong liquor and a sympathetic furry companion. For now, the ranger wiped her nose, dried her eyes, and told herself to soldier on. At least the baby was still crying, miraculously, after being nibbled on by a wererat and shot with an arrow from Leah\u0026rsquo;s deadly bow.\nTiberium and Gunnar finished off the wererats in short order, their silver weapons making the difference between a drawn out battle and a short, violent slaughter.\nPyrcival carried the baby outside through a small tunnel (sized so only a gnome or a wererat could easily fit through), and met with Amathar outside. Amathar took the baby to the nearby temple for medical care and to reunite the poor child with its mother.\nBarron searched their lair for loot and clues, definitely in that order, and turned up a dagger (inscribed with Giantslayer on the blade), an odd buckle, close to a thousand electrum coins, and no clues. Perhaps he didn\u0026rsquo;t bother to look for clues.\nWith the baby rescued, the party explored the other passageways, some of which were familiar from the dream Tiberium and Pyrcival had shared. They found and destroyed a nest of ghouls, and one remaining wererat who had apparently slipped into a secret passage to escape an earlier battle. By the time they returned to the entry room, after waiting for party members to recover from ghoul paralysis, the chest had rematerialized from mist. It proved to contain a broken vial of some kind, an unbroken green vial, and loose coin.\nThe party returned to Restenford to consider their next move, the word of a sacrifice at Bone Hill fresh on their minds\u0026hellip;\nSession Map\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Boots (\u0026ldquo;Always check for secret doors\u0026rdquo; written on the heel in elvish) Green potion Dagger (giantslayer): Broach Buckle Treasure: 598 gp (gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 700xp 3 Skeletons: 49 2 Zombies: 90 7 Ghouls: 663 6 Wererats: 672 5 Giant rats: 68 12 rodents of usual size: 144 Rescued baby (sort of): 700xp Total: 3433 xp (490xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # An open portal to the plane of mud and a shattered stone mace with \u0026quot;Keymaster\u0026quot; written on it Whatever happened to the other stone mace? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... Thic Duc has a shiny golden ring Has Norsk forgotten about the bronze horn he is still carrying? How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"6 September 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-46/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Gunnar), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Brian (Pyrzifal), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. Kayli (Ganymede) is a new player.\nAs we left the party, they had split into two groups – one at the top of Bone Hill, and the other just arriving in Restenford after a vivid dream about wererats and undead followed by a fight with pirates on the high seas. As they arrived, they were met by a woman shouting in panic about her infant son who had been abducted by a giant rat. This was something that had happened in Tiberium’s dream as well, and he felt it was similar enough to consider the possibility that the dream had been divine guidance to enable him to prepare. Instead of rushing after the woman, he convinced the party to question her a little, and invest some of their silver into coating their weapons in case of lycanthropes (as he had found hints of in his dream). Barron spent some of that time contemplating a note he had found in Thic Duc’s pocket.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 46","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nSession Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Interlude\nDean (Thic Duc v2.0), Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Gunnar), Matt (Barron) and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. Jennifer (Ruby) and William (Sydney) are guest stars.\nAs we left the party, they were lost in a very realistic dream about a child kidnapped by a giant rat. Tiberium awoke from the dream in a cold sweat, feeling that the lessons he had learned in that dream were solid and real. Perhaps it was a hint from his god. He hurried downstairs from his room at the Peg Leg Inn, knowing he would need to get an early start to catch the ship that was supposed to take him to Restenford. Pyrcival had gone on ahead to make arrangements. He took a seat and ordered breakfast.\nAt another table, two enterprising young folks looking like adventurers just starting out \u0026ndash; still shiny \u0026ndash; were sharing a table with a somewhat older and more worn-in woman in leather armor. Tiberium managed to catch their names from the casual conversation: Sydney, a warrior, Ruby, a woman of indeterminate occupation, were talking Elena about some sort of task they had been engaged in the night prior. It sounded like something exciting; there was a fight, a goblin, even table dancing. Elena didn\u0026rsquo;t seem pleased, however. She was telling them they needed to leave town. Maybe they were couriers?\nJust as Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s breakfast arrived, delivered by a strange\u0026hellip; hobgoblin?\u0026hellip; in a cloak and very little else, a bald man in a tattered grey robe came downstairs as well. Tiberium was sure the man had not been in the rooms upstairs the night before; paladin-candidates are trained to notice such things. But he gave every impression of having just woken up as he approached the waiter who had brought Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s breakfast and pointed south. Some sort of vigorous discussion ensued between the two of them, and it soon drew in a third participant, a half-elven woman with a pile of armor packed next to her table and a flask she slipped briefly behind the bar to fill to the brim.\nSomehow, egged on by the strange bald man\u0026rsquo;s insisting pointing south, Tiberium found himself swept up with the general exodus. It seemed everyone was going to Restenford. What a strange coincidence! After a short journey south and a stop at the local inn for fish stew (a decision which may not have been entirely wise) the group bordered their ship and began their journey to Restenford.\nOn the second day of travel, a pirate ship pulled alongside and tried to board, using a strange variety of simian as boarding troops. They sought to board by throwing the grappling hooks and climbing across on the ropes, but quick action from group was able to block them from boarding. Sydney was thrown overboard and one point, and an invisible Barron had to drop the lifeboat to go after him. Leah\u0026rsquo;s surprisingly accurate arrow fire killed the captain and a number of the sailors on the other boat, before Barron\u0026rsquo;s Sleep spell knocked out the rest \u0026ndash; including the one on the tiller, leading the pirate\u0026rsquo;s vessel to steer into the party\u0026rsquo;s ship and come to a halt.\nWith the pirate captain dead, the rest of the crew surrendered.\nAs the party arrived in Restenford harbor, a woman made her way toward the docks, screaming that a giant rat had abducted her child\u0026hellip; most of the party rushed off in pursuit, leaving the captain of their vessel to deal with the release of the prisoners from the pirate ship and the ship itself. The captured cargo ended up bringing in 2,000 in gold, or so the captain claimed, and the ship was set sail under a new crew and new ownership.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Treasure: 2016 gp (gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 700xp 3 orcs: 132xp\u0026gt; 3 goblins: 108xp 6 pirates defeated: 96xp 4 mysterious naval apes defeated: 132xp 1 pirate captain: 89xp Cargo captured: 2000xp Treasure: 2016 xp Total: 3273xp (xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # An open portal to the plane of mud and a shattered stone mace with \u0026quot;Keymaster\u0026quot; written on it Whatever happened to the other stone mace? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... Thic Duc has a shiny golden ring Has Norsk forgotten about the bronze horn he is still carrying? How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"23 August 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-45/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nSession Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Interlude\nDean (Thic Duc v2.0), Chris (Tiberium), Coby (Gunnar), Matt (Barron) and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. Jennifer (Ruby) and William (Sydney) are guest stars.\nAs we left the party, they were lost in a very realistic dream about a child kidnapped by a giant rat. Tiberium awoke from the dream in a cold sweat, feeling that the lessons he had learned in that dream were solid and real. Perhaps it was a hint from his god. He hurried downstairs from his room at the Peg Leg Inn, knowing he would need to get an early start to catch the ship that was supposed to take him to Restenford. Pyrcival had gone on ahead to make arrangements. He took a seat and ordered breakfast.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 45","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Interlude\nDean (Elmond Alward), Chris (Tiberium), and Brian (Pyrzival) are returning cast members. Kyle (Pipko) joins us for the first time.\nAs we left the party, they were trying to figure out what to do about a statue throwing hammers. We leave them to their fate, and the camera focus shifts to a tavern in nearby Restenford, where a young paladin and his gnomish tutor are enjoying a well-deserved meal together. Two half-elves sit nearby waiting for their own food, one of them talking quietly to his emotional support goat, when a women bursts in and screams that a giant rat has stolen her child. All of the competent adventurers in the tavern, meaning just those four, leap to their feet and run outside to resolve the issue. How eager for adventure they are!\nThe woman leads the impromptu party of rescuers to the last place she saw the giant rat, a burned wreck of a building that was an old guardhouse before the fire. Now, it has been damaged, with holes in the walls and overgrown brush surrounding it. With Tiberium in the lead, they made quick work of searching the inside. They found no missing baby, but they did find tracks, and a trapdoor leading downwards. The trapdoor did not have tracks nearby, however.\nThe group searched around the outside of the building, locating two ratholes. One was large, sufficient for humans if they crawled, the other would be a tight fit even for a gnome. Both holes lead towards the burned building, so the party decided the trapdoor probably led to an underground complex where the rats had a nest. They returned to the trapdoor and opened it.\nThey lit a torch and dropped into the room below, where they were immediately attacked by a ghoul and a pair of zombies. After the first blows were exchanged, Pyrzival succombed to the ghoul\u0026rsquo;s paralysis and Elmond revealed his holy symbol and drove the undead into flight. The party briefly pursued, but the undead fleeing undead met with reinforcements who were not affected by Elmond\u0026rsquo;s prior invocation of his diety. They arranged in a defensive posture while Pyrzival recovered from his time as a garden gnome. The undead advanced briefly, keeping the door in sight, but retreated back out of sight when the party fired arrows in their direction. When Pyrzival recovered, they advanced again with Tiberium in the lead. Followed by the zombies and skeletons, the ghoul came to meet him, and the rest of the party was trapped in the corridor behind Tiberium and unable to help. Though Tiberium struck several forceful blows, he eventually succombed to the ghoul\u0026rsquo;s paralysis, as did Pyrzival once again. The ghoul seized Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s ankles and began to drag him away from the party, so they were no longer blocking the passage.\nPipko rushed forward to help, but he was blocked by the zombies and skeletons. The sound of ghoulish teeth ripping into Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s helpless flesh filled the small cavern. After an exchange of blows, Pipko had put one of the zombies out of its misery, and Elmond had wounded the other but taken wounds himself. Hoping he was close enough to affect the ghoul, Elmond stuck his holy symbol in the face of the zombie he was fighting and cried out \u0026ldquo;Begone, foul creature of darkness!\u0026rdquo; even as the creature\u0026rsquo;s teeth sank into his ribs, finding a weak spot in his armor. Elmond fell, bleeding profusely, but the undead turned at bay and fled.\nIn the darkness, Tiberium was still conscious, barely, but paralyzed and bleeding. He turned over in his mind the actions that had gotten him to this place. Paladins were supposed to be proof against evil! He had been keeping his divine protection closely held, thinking of it almost as another suit of armor that would offer physical protection, but the ghouls had been able to touch him regardless. Yet that protection still flowed from above, and his faith was strong. What had he done wrong? Perhaps he should not seek to hide behind the divine glory, but instead share it with his friends..\nThe skeletons had fled to the far end of the room, unable to flee any further from Elmond\u0026rsquo;s divine aura. Pipko rushed forward and bound Elmond\u0026rsquo;s wounds, and Elmond followed up with an invocation to his diety for healing while Pipko continued forward to press the skeletons. Tiberium finally shook off the paralysis, briefly stopped to heal Elmond as well, and joined Pipko fighting the skeletons. Tiberium was just in time to finish them off as Pipko fell, and his new-found faith radiated outwards against the threat of the undead, offering divine protection and solace to all. It was not proof against the physical threat of evil, perhaps, but it was proof against the apathy of hopelessness, and the undead flinched from the radiance as if blinded.\nWith the immediate threat dispatched, the party briefly investigated the chest Elmond had tripped over. When the chest was lifted up to carry, something inside broke or shifted with the sound of glass \u0026ndash; and the chest turned to a strange mist that refused to dissipate. With Elmond\u0026rsquo;s spells depleted, and many wounds needing to be tended, the party stopped here for an hour to rest and gather their strength.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 500xp 2 zombies defeated: 90xp 2 ghouls defeated: 279xp 2 skeletons: 33xp Heroism bonus (NOBODY hesitated, all in to save the missing child): 500xp Treasure: 0 xp Total: 1279xp (xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # An open portal to the plane of mud and a shattered stone mace with \u0026quot;Keymaster\u0026quot; written on it Whatever happened to the other stone mace? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... Thic Duc has a shiny golden ring Has Norsk forgotten about the bronze horn he is still carrying? How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"9 August 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-44/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Interlude\nDean (Elmond Alward), Chris (Tiberium), and Brian (Pyrzival) are returning cast members. Kyle (Pipko) joins us for the first time.\nAs we left the party, they were trying to figure out what to do about a statue throwing hammers. We leave them to their fate, and the camera focus shifts to a tavern in nearby Restenford, where a young paladin and his gnomish tutor are enjoying a well-deserved meal together. Two half-elves sit nearby waiting for their own food, one of them talking quietly to his emotional support goat, when a women bursts in and screams that a giant rat has stolen her child. All of the competent adventurers in the tavern, meaning just those four, leap to their feet and run outside to resolve the issue. How eager for adventure they are!\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 44","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Lenny), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Norsk (Brian), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just defeated a human wizard and his bugbear shaman ally, then kidnapped a baby bugbear after slaughtering his playmates and eating their brains. They searched the wizard\u0026rsquo;s laboratory, which caught Amathar\u0026rsquo;s attention enough that he came out of hiding, though he stayed invisible. Apparently he had been invisibly observing the party the whole time for research purposes. This enabled the party to determine which of the various flasks and vials were actually magical (8 of them) and prompted Malag to trade cloaks with Amathar.\nAdditional searching located a trapdoor to an astronomical observation tower, containing a crude telescope and other instruments. Some of them were heavily charred as if they had been in a fire. Odd, though the senior members of the Band of Misfits showed a notable lack of curiousity about it.\nAfter carefully considering the matter, the party spent the night in the tower, having secured the trapdoor leading below. Around midnight they began to see strange forms moving about the keep. The forms appeared to be re-enacting the siege that had left the keep in its current, damaged state. The party chose not to interfere, although Thic Duc took the opportunity to fail ak out of the tower to get a closer look. Bugbear babies on leashes are not stealthy. His strange vision revealed some kind of mystical light source from directly below them and from below the tower. He did not observe anything else of significant note, though, and so informed the rest of the party \u0026ndash; loudly.\nThe party did notice something removing the bodies of the dead bugbears below them. They decided that cleanliness was the better part of valor and refrained from interfering.\nWhen dawn rose, they went below and followed the blood trail from the dragged bodies, uncovering a secret door in the barracks they had previously missed. Below was a chamber occupied by ghouls, who attacked Malag as he came down the stairs. He slew one but the others paralyzed him before the party could kill them. Amathar took Malag back to the tower until he recovered. (Both Jeff and Chris had to leave early)\nThe rest of the party continued on. They found a pile of dead bugbears \u0026ndash; the ones they had killed earlier. A ghast was eating the bodies when they arrived, and attacked Norsk as he investigated. Norsk was paralyzed, but the ghast was swiftly killed. The party made various bad jokes for a few minutes until Norsk recovered from paralysis and continued.\nThe rest of the rooms in the underground complex had little of interest, but clearly the basement was smaller than the building above it. Searching for secret doors revealed two in the room that had once held the ghast. Warin noticed both of them, and quickly opened the first one by pressing a stone in the wall. Even as the door swung open, he had moved on to the second door, pointing it out to the party. He was interrupted by a row of zombies attacking from the other side of the first door. As the party moved to engage, he invoked the power of his diety, calling upon that unholy power to make the zombies sway in unison to his will. Shortly after that, every zombie in the room was kung fu fighting, but there were more coming from beyond the door. With Amathar and Malag absent, Norsk and Lenny were having trouble holding their own against the zombies.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s when a spectral figure passed through the door behind Warin without bothering to open it. \u0026ldquo;You fools!\u0026rdquo; it screeched in a voice from beyond the grave. \u0026ldquo;You will die for disturbing my work!\u0026rdquo; The insubstantial hand gripped Warin\u0026rsquo;s throat, sending a deathly chill through his body. Warin felt his connection to his diety being shaken, his power drained from him, his faith stricken through with doubts.\nDesperately, the cleric gathered the fragments of his faith and held forth his holy symbol once more. \u0026ldquo;You must be lonely! Be my friend!\u0026rdquo; he commanded the creature from beyond the grave, who laughed and replied, \u0026ldquo;Your puny deity has no power over me. Your faith is weak!\u0026rdquo; Taking stock of his own doubts and questions, Warin knew the creature was right. His faith was weak. Or perhaps it was not his faith that was the problem. Perhaps\u0026hellip; perhaps might did not make right? Perhaps seeking power to do good was the wrong path? Perhaps the reason for the season was to do good for goodness\u0026rsquo; sake?\nDespite his crisis of faith, Warin stood his ground. His courage would have to make up for the quivering jelly of his soul in crisis, and make up for that it did! His hammer passed through the creature harmlessly, but he would not falter. Warin would not budge an inch! He would face this creature alone if he had to rather than let it get to his friends! The creature swung at him again and again, but Warin ducked and dodged it\u0026rsquo;s fell touch. (\u0026ldquo;You can\u0026rsquo;t touch this!\u0026rdquo;)\nWith the zombies mostly attacking each other rather than the party, and Norsk blocking reinforcements temporarily, Thic Duc and Lenny tried to figure out what to do about the wraith. Warin\u0026rsquo;s zombies were blocking them from reaching it\u0026hellip; or perhaps blocking it from reaching them. Lenny had been knocked down early in the fight and was still prone, playing dead, but with the zombies nearby now attacking each other, he had options. He pulled out the scroll of Spiritual Hammer and began to read, speaking the somatic components of the spell aloud: \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s hammer time!\u0026rdquo;. Thic Duc got a two-for-one zombie skewer discount, thrusting his spear through two zombies at once. He considered attacking the wraith with his martial arts skills, but then remembered what had just happened to Warin, and decided that was a bad idea. Instead he worked to free his spear.\nMeanwhile, Warin ordered the zombies the attack the wraith, hoping to keep it contained without being within reach of its deadly, chilling touch. Backing away allowed Lenny to see the creature clearly as he finished his reading from the scroll, and a mystical field of force appeared. Lenny sent it hurtling at the wraith, and the glowing magical hammer struck the creature with real effect for the first time. It screeched in pain instead of madness, and fixed it\u0026rsquo;s eyes on Lenny, who was still lying prone and directing the hammer. Demonstrating mysterious telepathic abilities, it hissed \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m coming for you, Lenny!\u0026rdquo; and moved through the zombies attacking it towards Lenny. Oops.\nUnfortunately that put the creature within range of Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s now-freed spear, and the monk stabbed it viciously. The insubstantial form wavered, but remained focused on Lenny. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll eat your soul first, and then your little monk too!\u0026rdquo;\nBut alas, those sweet promises would not be fulfilled, as Lenny\u0026rsquo;s hammer struck once more and the wraith dissipated. Was it truly dead? Perhaps\u0026hellip; at least for the moment, it was no longer a threat.\nThe party mopped up the remaining zombies and continued to explore. Based on layout, the passage with the zombies came from the tower, so they chose to focus on exploring the other secret door from which the wraith had emerged. Beyond that door they found a small office with a desk and bookshelves, plus a door leading to bedroom. Strange finger marks under the bed suggested some creature was in the habit of lurking there. Perhaps sleeping on a bed was difficult for a ghostly creature of darkness without true physical form? Both rooms were supernaturally chilled, though the party lit a brazier in the office in the hopes that it would warm up a little.\nWarin\u0026rsquo;s research into the nature of the undead paid off as he realized the room\u0026rsquo;s chill was likely due to a connection to the Negative Energy Plane, from which undead draw their power. If the room was still cold, perhaps the creature was not truly dead, or its source of power was still active.\nUndaunted, though, the party continued onwards. The bedroom contained another hidden door, this one leading to a library with a strange statue in the middle of the room, holding a hammer. Warin stepped forward into the room, and the statue suddenly came to life, throwing it\u0026rsquo;s hammer at him. He was knocked unconscious by the blow and the party dragged him back out.\nAfter some discussion, and tossing various objects into the room without response, Thic Duc tied a rope around his waist and tried to leap over the floor on the entry area. He succeeded, landing well into the room, but the statue\u0026rsquo;s hammer was already on its way. Knowing what to expect, however, his training kicked in, and his hand moved in a trained motion to deflect the missile \u0026ndash; and passed through the hammer without result! Struck, Thic Duc was also knocked unconscious and the party dragged him back out of the room and revived him.\nStumped for the moment, the party considered what to do.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\nLoose coin: 149gp Wizard's spellbook Norsk now has 4 magical mystery potions and 6 non-magical mystery bottles Lenny now has 4 magical mystery potions Treasure: 149gp (19 gp each) Experience # Base xp for showing up (total): 600xp 7 zombies defeated: 252xp 3 ghouls defeated: 261xp 1 ghast defeated: 159xp 1 wraith dematerialized... permanently?: 366xp Treasure: 149 xp Total: 1787 xp (298xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # No one remembers the baby bugbear while fighting the wraith and zombies Dangling Threads of Fate # An open portal to the plane of mud and a shattered stone mace with \u0026quot;Keymaster\u0026quot; written on it Whatever happened to the other stone mace? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... Thic Duc has a shiny golden ring Has Norsk forgotten about the bronze horn he is still carrying? How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"26 July 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-43/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Lenny), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Norsk (Brian), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just defeated a human wizard and his bugbear shaman ally, then kidnapped a baby bugbear after slaughtering his playmates and eating their brains. They searched the wizard’s laboratory, which caught Amathar’s attention enough that he came out of hiding, though he stayed invisible. Apparently he had been invisibly observing the party the whole time for research purposes. This enabled the party to determine which of the various flasks and vials were actually magical (8 of them) and prompted Malag to trade cloaks with Amathar.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 43","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Lenny), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had made camp in the fortified temple at the top of Bone Hill. Amathar was still missing after taking a nap while under an invisibility spell. The party had left Thic Duc with the wagon to wait for Amathar, but after noon came and went with no sign of the mage, Thic Duc rejoined the group immediately following their battle with the bugbear shaman, drawn by the sounds of battle.\nWith Thic Duc now present, the party continued to explore after a brief rest. First they found quarters for a second shaman, which contained a strange chest covered in writing. Norsk checked for traps and found them by reading the writing on the chest too closely: it was a glyph of warding, and the explosion left everyone in the room a little scorched. They did at least find a little over 200gp in the chest.\nWarin showed them the kitchen and pantry he had found while running away from the shaman exploring; both of those rooms had been trashed, but the pantry was still in use by someone, or more likely, something. The only other door from the kitchen was strangely nailed shut. After several attempts to open it normally failed, Malag stepped up and ripped the door off both hinges and nails by main force, immediately after which the party was able to hear voices speaking in the bugbear tongue.\nBeyond that door was a throne room of some kind, also thoroughly destroyed by the bugbears now inhabiting the place. The throne, once a gilt-inlaid, velvet-lined thing of beauty and power, was now ripped, torn, and born the marks of most of its gilt being removed crudely. Tapestries and paintings on the walls depicting battles between allied elves and men against bugbears had been heavily defaced. As Malag stepped through the doorway, holding the door in front of him as a shield, the voices stopped. The rest of the party carefully looked around the door, seeing only an empty room\u0026hellip; until Warin noticed the young bugbear clinging in terror to the other side of the door Malag had ripped off its hinges.\nWhen Malag shook the door, the bugbear fell off and landed on its ass, briefly stunned by seeing humans rather than its parents. Thic Duc went into his pack to offer rations, but Malag threw the door to the floor a few feet away and yelled \u0026ldquo;Boo!\u0026rdquo; The half-orc\u0026rsquo;s countenance, bloody and dripping with the brains of another young bugbear already, terrified the poor creature, and it fled through a massive hole in the outer wall.\nThe room had another exit, a door on the far side, but examination proved it to also be nailed shut. Perhaps someone was trying to secure the entryways to the keep, since this room was clearly compromised by the presence of a large hole in the masonry likely created by a siege engine and beyond the abilities of the bugbears to repair?\nThe party spent time searching the room before continuing on. The throne proved to contain no hidden compartments, at least as far as a close examination could demonstrate. Malag searched for secret trapdoors in the dais by the practical, if disgusting, method of peeing on the floor and looking to see where the liquid drained. As it turned out there were no secret trapdoors and the liquid stank up the room instead. Oh well.\nFinally bored with desecrating the throne room, the Band of Misfits tried the exit door. Malag stepped up to the door and tried to rip it free as he had done with the other nailed-shut door, but then stepped back and allowed Norsk to try it. Norsk succeeded. Clearly there were special tips involved in ripping doors off their hinges that only half-orcs know.\nBehind this door was a room they had visited briefly before, but taken a different exit. It had a staircase leading upwards and another exit they had not tried yet. That door was magically locked, which the party determined by ripping it off its hinges without being able to open it. Eventually they settled on burning it down, which would enable them to explore the rest of the keep while the door burned. Efficient!\nWhile they set that fire, Thic Duc returned to the shaman\u0026rsquo;s quarters where a fire was still burning, and put it out by wielding his biological weapon. He found a chest with 8 blocks of incense, two of which glowed in his ultravision. On his way back to the party with his find, he stopped at the throne and examined it for hidden compartments or treasures. Finding none, he waved Malag over and asked the burly half-orc to smash the throne. Malag picked up the heavy wooden chair and smashed it full force against the wall next to the door. It shattered into a thousand pieces, and simultaneously opened a passage through the thin wall into the room beyond the wizard-locked door. (Natural 20 on a to-hit roll against the wall).\nBeyond the locked door, they found what appeared to be a barracks. 6 beds with matching footlockers, 12 spears and 8 short bows. The bugbears, presumably, had trashed this room too at some point. After a desultory search the party proceeded up the stairs. They were faces with a series of doors in a short, L-shaped corridor. Starting with the door on the left, they found a lone bugbear keeping watch out of an arrow slit in the wall. He saw the party entering his room and shouted an alarm, dropping his bow in favor of a club. Malag quickly retreated, leaving the lone bugbear to Norsk and Lenny, who advanced on the creature with weapons drawn. Malag opened the first door to the right, and saw a bugbear nursery filled with bugbear babies in diapers and a single female caretaker. He snarled something threatening and slammed the door.\nThe party heard chanting from behind one of the doors ahead of them. Warin countered with a Bless spell.\nNorsk threw himself at the bugbear by the window, but the bugbear nimbly sidestepped the attack and Norsk went flying through the arrow slit. Unfortunately, only his hand and arm could fit through the slit, so his head and shoulders hit the walls on either side. Ouch! He did manage to keep his grasp on his sword, though \u0026ndash; barely, thanks to Warin\u0026rsquo;s blessing earlier. The bugbear tried to club him while he was stuck, but misjudged the height of the ceiling in the arrow slit and knocked himself to his knees straddling Norsk instead. Lenny advanced and backstabbed the bugbear to death.\nMalag opened the next door, seeing another bugbear shaman and a human mage, both in the act of spellcasting. He charged the shaman, slicing the creature\u0026rsquo;s belly open in a single blow. The shaman fell to the floor, bleeding to death, while the mage finished his spell\u0026hellip; and Malag collapsed, snoring loudly. Further back, Lenny was caught by a wave of disorientation as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Finally, he too fell, ending up draped over Norsk. His last words were \u0026ldquo;But elves are immune to that spell\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; (Since cleric/assassin is a multiclass combo usually limited to half-orcs, Lenny\u0026rsquo;s mom may in fact have some explaining to do).\nNorsk pushed Lenny off and stood up, rushing back into the corridor towards the remaining threats.\nThic Duc charged in after Malag, using his monk\u0026rsquo;s speed to reach the mage as fast as monkly possible. He did not make it in time. Just as he landed on Malag\u0026rsquo;s snoring form, hoping to wake the half-orc without delaying his attack on the mage, the wizard\u0026rsquo;s spell finished. \u0026ldquo;You will pay for the death of my friend and minion!\u0026rdquo; the wizard cried as his spell flew. Thic Duc was already airborne with his spear aimed straight for the heart of the mysterious wizard as a firey explosion went off in the hallway.\nThic Duc was caught in mid-leap and unable to dodge. He took the full force of the blast and fell unconscious, burned and crispy. Malag was only just waking up, already starting to stand, and the explosion knocked him back down, but not quite out of the fight. Norsk had just made it back into the hallway when the explosion went off. He was alive, but his armor had burnt and melted.\nMalag struggled to his feet, woken by Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s foot and the fireball, and hefted his sword. When the wizard bent down to try to bandage the shaman, Malag sliced open his head and ate his brain.\nWith the wizard lying dead on the floor, and the shaman dead next to him, the party gathered closely together and tended to each other\u0026rsquo;s wounds. Once the bleeding had stopped, Malag had a sudden craving for even more brains, and remembered the bugbear nursery next to the wizard\u0026rsquo;s bedroom. With slaughter on his mind he picked up his sword and went looking. The rest of the party followed, a certain moral queasiness warring with loyalty to their friend. Malag roared with fury as the bugbear babies flung their excrement through the slots in his helmet, striking his mouth and eyes perfectly. Their nurse was cut down with a single blow, after which Malag dropped his sword and tore the tiny creatures apart with his bare hands, staining his tusks with blood and brains.\n\u0026hellip; all save one, hidden away by Thic Duc, who expertly changed the little tyke\u0026rsquo;s diaper, then slipped him into a leash and makeshift harness. (Natural 20 on dexterity check to change the diaper; experienced adventurers may note that Thic Duc did not suffer a non-proficiency penalty on this check!) The party, it seemed had acquired a new pet. Or perhaps this was merely a convenient source of fresh brains? Time would tell.\nIn any event, Malag\u0026rsquo;s craving for brains subsided as he licked the interior skull of his last meal. The party mostly shrugged and resumed their exploration. It\u0026rsquo;s a good thing we didn\u0026rsquo;t have any paladins. Or really any good characters. Or Leah. Leah would be really pissed and probably drunk.\nEvents had distracted the group from searching the room with the shaman and wizard, so they resumed their search with the wizard\u0026rsquo;s alchemical laboratory. The door turned out to be wizard-locked, but that wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to stop them. Malag plied his mighty thews to the task and ripped a small hole in the door. Maybe Thic Duc could fit through if he dieted?\nLenny wasn\u0026rsquo;t willing to wait. As the only one who spoke bugbear, he knelt down next to the creature, speaking in its own tongue. The words were simple. \u0026ldquo;Candy? You know candy? You like candy? The wizard has candy in his lab! Go through the hole and get the candy!\u0026rdquo; Norsk got into it by reaching into his pouch as if to pull out candy and tossing it into the room.\nOn the moral relativity scale, I suppose tricking a toddler into exploring a dangerous and magical environment with unknown threats does in fact rank below slaughtering poo-throwing infants and eating their brains, but it\u0026rsquo;s a close call. Luckily, the toddler was too smart to fall for that one. \u0026ldquo;Wizard there! No allowed! No disturb wizard!\u0026rdquo;\nWarin thought it over and made an appeal to his Mysterious Voice: \u0026ldquo;Oh great and wise and benevol-bitchslap!-maleficent diety to whom I owe my loyalty and veneration, grant me the power to pass through this door!\u0026rdquo; For once the Mysterious Voice responded without words, providing Warin with a levitating Spiritual Hammer that would neatly fit through the hole in the door and allow the party to manipulate objects or locking mechanisms beyond, or even, with practice and care, allow them to extract items back out through the hole in the door.\nOr you could just use the hammer to smash the door repeatedly, summoning it back to your hand each time like Thor. That works too, I guess. But you didn\u0026rsquo;t need a spell for that. Oh, nevermind\u0026hellip; that natural 20 on the last roll smashing the door to smitherines was ok too.\nAfter staring at the wall of alchemical gear and over 40 mysterious vials of liquid, the party chose to select a few at random and carry them out rather than trying to test them to determine their contents. Apparently they will be tested later\u0026hellip; in some sort of life-and-death emergency situation where random and unpredictable results could not possibly make things any worse. They didn\u0026rsquo;t even wave them under Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s extraplanar gaze to see if any of them radiated magic.\nThey did remember to search the bodies of the wizard and shaman, claiming the shaman\u0026rsquo;s armor, and the wizard\u0026rsquo;s cloak and wand. Norsk took the wizard\u0026rsquo;s dagger as a keepsake and memoir, and Warin took the shaman\u0026rsquo;s morning star and hammer.\nAs the party finished dividing the loot, twilight fell outside the keep\u0026hellip;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp Loose coin: 275gp Shaman\u0026rsquo;s splint mail +1 Shaman\u0026rsquo;s morning star Shaman\u0026rsquo;s hammer Shaman\u0026rsquo;s incense (8 normal blocks, 2 magical blocks) 7 gems (10gp each, 70gp total) Wizard\u0026rsquo;s spellbook Wizard\u0026rsquo;s wand (function unknown) Shaman\u0026rsquo;s scroll collection (prayer, spiritual hammer, detect lie, tongues) 8 books on magic 6 books on alchemy Cloak of Protection (+2) Norsk took 5 mystery potions Lenny took 5 mystery potions Treasure: 345gp (49.29gp each)\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 500xp 100xp bonus to Warin for Invoking The Power Of The Mysterious Voice dramatically 100xp bonus to Thic Duc for saving a bugbear child 100xp bonus to Malag for eating brainz... 1 Bugbear shaman: 425xp 1 human wizard: 383xp 1 Bugbear female: 40xp 4 bugbear children: -40xp 1 bugbear male: 40xp Treasure: 345xp Total: 1693xp (338xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Malag eats bugbear baby brainz Lenny and Norsk, both strangers, lure bugbear babies with candy Thic Duc saves a baby bugbear! From a fate that is not only worse than but also includes death! Warin: \u0026quot;It's Hammer Time!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # An open portal to the plane of mud and a shattered stone mace with \u0026quot;Keymaster\u0026quot; written on it Whatever happened to the other stone mace? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... Thic Duc has a shiny golden ring Has Norsk forgotten about the bronze horn he is still carrying? How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"12 July 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-42/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Lenny), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had made camp in the fortified temple at the top of Bone Hill. Amathar was still missing after taking a nap while under an invisibility spell. The party had left Thic Duc with the wagon to wait for Amathar, but after noon came and went with no sign of the mage, Thic Duc rejoined the group immediately following their battle with the bugbear shaman, drawn by the sounds of battle.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 42","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Matt (Lenny), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, Barron had been traumatized by losing his familiar Alphonso so soon after loosing his zombie pet Mr. Crackers. He returned to Rookroost to rethink his life and try to regain his sanity. At least, that\u0026rsquo;s what the note said. When they hurried down to the docks to try to stop him, or maybe to make sure he got on the boat, witnesses at the docks reported a diminutive half-elven ranger carrying a hog-tied hobgoblin in a large sack aboard a ship instead. When they returned to the inn, they realized Amathar was nowhere to be found \u0026ndash; after scratching their heads about it, they decided he had taken a nap while invisible and there was nothing to be done about it until he woke up. They left a note. All the excitement distracted the party so much they forgot all about Thic Duc, who was meditating in his room when they left the inn to return to the temple at Bone Hill. Hopefully, he\u0026rsquo;ll find the note when he\u0026rsquo;s done contemplating his navel. It was Malag\u0026rsquo;s job to wake him before they left, but Malag was out in the marketplace trying to satisfy a food craving, so Thic Duc would have to catch up later. Luckily, they were joined on their way out of Restenford by Lenny, an auditor with the Adventure Capitalists, who wanted to examine firsthand whether the company\u0026rsquo;s adventurer\u0026rsquo;s handbook was being complied with.\nUnlike their last trip, the party made it to the base of Bone Hill without significant incident. They were briefly interrupted by giant centipedes getting into their food rations overnight, but the party quickly dispatched them. Lenny took notes on the incident and demonstrated proper packing of food stores for the party.\nArriving at the base of Bone Hill without further incident, the party set up scarecrows at their old camp as decoys, and chose a new location further away from the undead temple. The night passed without incident, though moving lights were seen from the top of the hill occasionally. Something alive was using the space.\nIn the morning, the party approached the ruined temple. It became obvious that the temple was more properly termed a small castle. It had a dry moat, a gate (now permanently open, with a rotting battering ram still in place), and a large circular tower. Inside, it became obvious the place also had holes in several of the other walls. Getting in would not be a problem.\nNorsk chose to climb the wall instead, just in case. He climbed down the other side while the rest of the group walked through the front gate, carrying a bronze horn that he found on the top of the small guard tower.\nThe courtyard revealed a door to the circular tower, another door in the far wall, and an large open area where a Fireball has once gone off. The whole place was filled with corpses, mostly skeletons, some with scraps of flesh remaining. The party chose to open the door to the circular tower first, finding a pile of skeletons and zombies inside. Both rose to attack the group. Malag blocked the door so they could only attack one by one, while Norsk moved to guard the party\u0026rsquo;s back from a potential flanking action. In a classic case of prophecy fulfilled, his motion startled a young bugbear hiding near the breech in the walls Norsk was guarding, and his scream of terror at Norsk\u0026rsquo;s approach drew the attention of some of the zombies unable to attack the living in the tower due to their sheer numbers.\nLuckily, Warin was there to make the skeletons dance Thriller on the zombies.\nWith the tower sorted out, the party moved on without bothering to try the stairs leading to the upper levels. The stairs were in pretty bad shape, but still intact. Instead, Warin used a field-expedient trap detection and removal process by having one of his skeletons run laps around the courtyard. Somewhere on a distance plane of existence, an elder diety sighed in exasperation. But this distracted most of the party from noticing Malag was gobbling zombie brains like free dip at a chip party.\nMoving on from the skeletal calisthenics, the party entered the main building of the keep. The first few rooms were empty, but there were signs of habitation by furred creatures. Presumably more bugbears. The incident which shall never be spoken of again was spoken of.\nThe party then entered a long corridor with a series of doors to either side, in a vague S-shape. Warin, trailing a horde of zombies, took the lead. He was gradually getting the hang of communicating with mindless undead through trial and error. He stopped at the first door off to the right and tried to open it, but it was stuck. No dice. Just as he opened the second door, Norsk heard a commotion from behind the first \u0026ndash; it sounded like people frantically grabbing weapons and armor!\nBoth doors opened almost simultaneously. The first held a squad of bugbears and their wives. They were crammed into the room so tightly that only one bugbear could face the party at a time, and vice versa, although the group of females throw whatever junk they could find into the melee as well. Malag drew the bugbear straw and the fight began.\nAt the other door, Warin and the bugbear shaman had a magical duel of sorts. Warin lost, and fled in fear down the unexplored corridor. The shaman reached for the nearest hammer, ordered his female to stay behind him and the party, and then cast Spiritual Hammer. Unfortunately for him, the hammer he had grabbed was a medical reflex test hammer instead of his warhammer; that\u0026rsquo;ll teach him to mix pediatric health care with warfare.\nWhile Norsk tried to figure out how to get to the shaman, Malag lost his sword in the door to the room and went in with both fists, killing the first bugbear. He stepped back to take up an ambush position just outside, hoping to lure the next one out where the party could double-team the creature. Voices from inside the room indicated the bugbears had caught on to this strategy and were discussing their own options. They decided to use one of their beds as a shield to face the party one at a time. Unfortunately for them, Lenny was fluent in bugbear, and told Malag what they were planning in orcish. Malag caught the bed as they came out and shoved it viciously back into the room, crushing one of the poor female bugbears against the back wall.\nMeanwhile, Norsk was getting Reflex Hammered to death by inches. He dug around in his pack for a flask of oil, tossing it into the shaman\u0026rsquo;s room, and followed it up with a torch, lighting the room on fire.\nMeanwhile, Warin had fled all the way to the dining hall at the far end of the corridor under the influence of the Shaman\u0026rsquo;s fear spell. When he came back to his senses, there was a bugbear in the room with him, and the two fought. Warin was learning that collecting armies of skeletal undead can be as much a disadvantage as an advantage in tight quarters.\nWith the shaman\u0026rsquo;s room burning, Norsk quickly dispatched his female and rushed in with Lenny to engage the shaman. Norsk missed his first swing, but Lenny backstabbed the shaman, prompting the bugbear to whirl around and charge, tackling the insurance auditor to the ground and knocking him unconscious. Luckily Norsk was there to impale the holy bugbear on his sword, pinning him to the ground and finishing the creature off despite a last-minute attempt at a healing spell.\nLenny was bandaged up and Warin returned in time to help with the healing. The party chose to spend some time resting in the bugbear\u0026rsquo;s unburnt room.\nMap\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n292 gp (bugbears, mostly on the shaman) Shaman's splint mail Shaman's morning star Experience # Base xp for showing up (total): 400xp 1 Bugbear shaman: 233xp 5 Bugbear males: 548xp 4 Bugbear females: 68xp 1 bugbear child playing hide and seek: 17xp 4 zombies: 104xp 10 skeletons: 180xp Treasure: 292xp Total: 1842xp (460xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Leah's bow now has a laser designator making it significantly harder to accidently shoot friends. Too bad she is not appearing in this session. Lenny to Bugbears: \u0026quot;Fear us, for we have magic, and fire, and steel!\u0026quot; Bugbear Shaman to Warin: \u0026quot;Fear me!\u0026quot; Warin runs away Bugbear Shaman to bugbears: \u0026quot;Our steel is sharper, our swords are longer, our fire burns hotter, our magic is stronger! See how they run!\u0026quot; Bugbears to Lenny: \u0026quot;You shall not pass!\u0026quot; Malag to bugbears: \u0026quot;What about me?\u0026quot; slaughter ensues Bugbears (amongst themselves): \u0026quot;They're waiting right outside the door. They'll kill anyone who leaves and we can only leave one at a time! What should we do?\u0026quot; Smart Bugbear: \u0026quot;Throw the bed at them!\u0026quot; Smart Bugbear's wife: \u0026quot;That's our wedding bed you git!\u0026quot; thrown missile file from wives kills the smart bugbear Bugbear Shaman: Accidentally memorized Spiritual Reflex Hammer instead of Spiritual Warhammer by mistake, leaving Norsk with a sore knee after a series of natural 20s on to-hit rolls and 1s on damage rolls Bugbear Shaman after Norsk killed his woman, Lenny backstabbed him, and he lost concentration on his Spiritual Reflex Hammer: \u0026quot;How did those overbearing rules work again? Charge!\u0026quot; Warin, Malag, Norsk: \u0026quot;Why are you eating brains?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;It's my favorite recipe! Grandma's special!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Well, there is an orcish delicacy of raw brains called grognal, but there are spices and careful presentation involved. This... is not how grognal works.\u0026quot; Warin and Mysterious Voice: \u0026quot;My friend is eating brains! Is he ok?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;He sounds like a great guy!\u0026quot; Warin and Mysterious Voice: \u0026quot;But it's brains!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Tasty!\u0026quot; Warin and Mysterious Voice: \u0026quot;What should I do about him eating brains?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Offer him a position as a minion!\u0026quot; Mysterious Voice is not helpful with all problems Norsk to Lenny: \u0026quot;I'd like to report a problem with your resurrection service. Our Malag did not eat brains.\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # An open portal to the plane of mud and a shattered stone mace with \u0026quot;Keymaster\u0026quot; written on it Whatever happened to the other stone mace? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... How to invest your ill-gotten gains... Player Character Race Class Level Experience Total Next Level Funds Dean Thic Duc Human (mostly) Monk 5th 28,506xp 47,500xp $3,142 Matt Barron Hobgoblin (by polymorph) Thief / Magic-User 5th/3rd 6,785xp 10,000xp $5,664 Matt Lenny Elf Cleric / Assassin 1st 461xp xp $48 Mariel Leah Half-elf Ranger 5th 21,066xp 40,000xp $1,614 Coby Gunnar Human Fighter 3rd 4,001xp 8,000xp $414 Coby Warin Half-elf Cleric 4th 8,718xp 13,000xp $1106 Jeff Amathar Gray elf Magic-User 3rd 8,169xp 10,000xp $879 Brian Norsk Half-orc Assassin 3rd 5,285xp 6,000xp $1257 Chris Seb Human Thief 1st 307xp 1,250xp $25 Chris Malag Half-Orc Fighter 3rd 7,616xp 8,000xp $1504 Sean Nigel Half-elf Fighter 1st 850xp 2,000xp $33.33\n","date":"28 June 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-41/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Matt (Lenny), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, Barron had been traumatized by losing his familiar Alphonso so soon after loosing his zombie pet Mr. Crackers. He returned to Rookroost to rethink his life and try to regain his sanity. At least, that’s what the note said. When they hurried down to the docks to try to stop him, or maybe to make sure he got on the boat, witnesses at the docks reported a diminutive half-elven ranger carrying a hog-tied hobgoblin in a large sack aboard a ship instead. When they returned to the inn, they realized Amathar was nowhere to be found – after scratching their heads about it, they decided he had taken a nap while invisible and there was nothing to be done about it until he woke up. They left a note. All the excitement distracted the party so much they forgot all about Thic Duc, who was meditating in his room when they left the inn to return to the temple at Bone Hill. Hopefully, he’ll find the note when he’s done contemplating his navel. It was Malag’s job to wake him before they left, but Malag was out in the marketplace trying to satisfy a food craving, so Thic Duc would have to catch up later. Luckily, they were joined on their way out of Restenford by Lenny, an auditor with the Adventure Capitalists, who wanted to examine firsthand whether the company’s adventurer’s handbook was being complied with.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 41","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" L1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were recovering from the ambush that had nearly killed several of the party members. After resting there overnight, with the delay allowing for Leah to catch up with the group, Norsk to refine his methods of assassination, and Barron to learn new spells (this time, to Amathar\u0026rsquo;s amazement, casting them correctly), the party chose to follow the ogre trail to a cave on the nearby hillside. They left Thic Duc meditating in their cart to keep it safe.\nBarron sent Mr Crackers into the cave to scout, but all the party heard was a sudden roar of rage followed by a thud. Barron experienced phantom intestinal pain shortly after that. The party concluded the cave was probably occupied, so in a sense, the scout completed his mission successfully.\nThe party advanced into the cave with weapons out, meeting one ogre at the entrance armed with a large hammer. Malag traded blows while the rest of the party entered the cave, prompting a second ogre to emerge from the shadows at the far side of their cooking pot and join the fight with his axe. Warin\u0026rsquo;s healing kept Malag alive (barely!) long enough to kill the first ogre. Norsk backstabbed the second ogre, and Malag finished it off.\nThe cave contained treasure in a variety of forms. Mr Cracker\u0026rsquo;s body was recovered from the stewpot, even more dead than before. The party found approximately a thousand gp worth of loose coin in a hidden nook within the cave. The ogre\u0026rsquo;s battleaxe turned out to bear a minor enchantment, as did their frying pan. Closer investigation suggested the frying pan had once been a shield, and Malag returned it to its original use. The stirring utensil, once the stew was removed, bore the letters \u0026ldquo;MM\u0026rdquo; and radiated magic. Amathar figured out it might be a wand, and Norsk suggested pointing it at Mr. Crackers\u0026rsquo; corpse in case it bore the enchantment Animate Dead. The party begin guessing what the command word might be.\nIt turned out to be a wand of Magic Missile, with the name of the spell as the command word as well. In order to confirm this, the party repeatedly tested it by saying \u0026ldquo;Magic Missile\u0026rdquo;, causing a sudden flash of magical light from the wand and a small explosion from Mr. Cracker\u0026rsquo;s body. Before long, the only thing left of Mr. Crackers was a pair of wings, a pair of feet, and two singed goblin hands.\nThe party continued along the road towards the ruined temple at Bone Hill, reaching the point where the path split from the road to lead up the hill. A sign marked the departure point: \u0026ldquo;Ye Olde Temple O\u0026rsquo; Undeade Hordes\u0026rdquo; with a skull and crossbones.\nAfter consulting the ranger (natural 1), the party decided this would be a perfect place to camp for the night. The heavy tree cover would help keep them in darkness, sheltered from the sun and harder to spot by travelers along the road. And the nearby undead from the ruined temple would doubtless scare off bandits or wildlife.\nThe party set up camp and divided into watches. Barron planned to spend the night seeking a familiar, something that many wizards do as part of their apprenticeship, but his unusual (to say the least!) magical schooling had previously prevented him from having any opportunity to do. Also, the tragic death of Mr. Crackers so soon after the bird\u0026rsquo;s return had probably left him feeling unpleasantly lonely.\nWhen Warin\u0026rsquo;s watch rolled around, Barron was still quietly chanting, but a faint moaning could also be heard coming from the forest. Warin stepped out briefly to investigate, traveling far enough from the camp to see dark shapes shambling through the trees towards the camp. He returned to camp to wake the rest of the party, demonstrating an unusual degree of foresight and wisdom for this party of adventurers. The moaning undead followed him.\nBefore long, the rest of the group was awake and prepared, though Barron was still lost in his spell and Amathar was elsewhere in the forest collecting spell components. Malag and Norsk hurriedly donned their armor while the creatures approached Barron\u0026rsquo;s oblivious form. Warin, already in his armor as he was standing watch, moved to just behind Barron and pulled forth his holy symbol. \u0026ldquo;Stop!\u0026rdquo; he cried out forcefully\u0026hellip; and the front rank of zombies stopped. The second rank, plus a few on the edges, continued forward. Somewhere nearby and safely invisible, Amathar carefully counted: 16 zombies, all moaning variations of \u0026ldquo;brains\u0026rdquo; in harmony. And\u0026hellip; two strange creatures just past the wave of zombies, fighting with each other. One of them appeared to be a \u0026hellip; small flying lizard? The other, a fleshy and disgusting creature that smelled of brimstone.\nMalag and Norsk stepped to one side, Pyro and Leah to the other. Norsk\u0026rsquo;s backstabs were useless against undead, but he was able to help wittle them down to size. Malag\u0026rsquo;s two-hander was chopping up dead bodies like so much firewood, until the moment when he let go of the blade while it was still stuck within one of the bodies. Cursing, he switched to his bastard sword and shield, but the pause was too much, and he went down under tooth and claw in the next round. Norsk and Amathar tried to pull him free.\nWarin, meanwhile, was having fun playing with his new toys. \u0026ldquo;Zombies, attack your undead brethren!\u0026rdquo; he cried, and those closest to him turned to attack each other.\nOn the other side of the fight, Leah and Pyro were holding their own against their pack of zombies until Pyro succombed to his wounds and fell. Luckily, Warin was watching, and with some shouted prompts from Amathar, directed the zombies attacking Leah and Pyro to attack the quasit instead. Pyro\u0026rsquo;s wounds were bandaged and Leah moved to help Malag.\nWhile the fight raged, Amathar was conversing with the small flying lizard. After a false start in his rusty Draconic, he was able to make himself understood. The small flying lizard was calling for them to help him against the quasit. And, even as the zombies under Warin\u0026rsquo;s control were tearing the quasit to bits, the little demon was regenerating and calling for help as well.\nWith the combined efforts of Leah, Amathar, and Norsk, the zombies eating Malag\u0026rsquo;s body were driven off long enough to pull him to safety. Warin stepped in to direct them to attack the quasit as well.\nWith all of the zombies under Warin\u0026rsquo;s control, and tearing the quasit to bits as fast as the tiny demon could regenerate, the party had time to think. Amathar asked the pseudodragon it\u0026rsquo;s name \u0026ndash; which turned out to be Alphonso \u0026ndash; and if it knew how to kill the quasit. Alphonso replied that he didn\u0026rsquo;t know, but maybe try fire? Fire usually works.\nThe party instead suggested Barron choose one of the two creatures and hope that the other one disappeared. He chose Alphonso, and the quasit did indeed disappear with a mournful scream. It appeared Barron had found his new familiar.\nAfter considerable discussion of next steps (with Warin\u0026rsquo;s backup zombie band doing Thriller), the party decided to return to Restenford to revive Malag, restock their supplies, and consider their next move.\nAs they passed the site of the previous ambush, however, they caught sight of movement around the pile of gnoll, wolf, and ogre bodies. Some sort of carrion feeder was consuming them!\nBarron launched his new familiar into the air to scout the situation. Alphonso circled the pile of bodies a few times, reporting the \u0026ldquo;some sort of bloodsucking bats\u0026rdquo; were feeding on the corpses. One of the bats saw him circling, and took off in chase; Alphonso fled back to the party with the creature in close pursuit.\nBravely Barron stepped forward to save his familiar, drawing the wand of magic missiles and shouting \u0026ldquo;Magic Missile\u0026rdquo;! The only thing that came from the wand was smoke, however; it was out of charges thanks to the gratuitious overkill the rest of the party had applied to Mr. Crackers earlier. Warin stepped forward helpfully, hurling the huge two-handed warhammer he had taken from the ogres, but it flew into the woods without coming anywhere near the flying creatures. While Alphonso screeched in his tiny dragon voice for help, Leah stepped forward with her bow out into point blank range, took careful aim\u0026hellip; and killed Alphonso with a single shot right through his draconic heart.\nBarron immediately collapsed in grief and psychic backlash from the loss of his familiar.\nThe rest of the batlike creatures took off, winging their way towards the party. Leah, Pyro and the emotionally disabled Barron were out front with little help close by. Leah was able to knock the first creature from the air with her next arrow, but that gave the rest time to close with her. With Malag dead, Amathar invisible again, and Barron disabled, only Norsk and Warin were close enough to help.\nTwo of the creatures flew at Leah, aiming at the same spot on the back of her neck. The first landed there despite her wildly swinging bow, sinking it\u0026rsquo;s vile proboscis into her flesh. The second arrived a moment later, impaling the first creature there. Both of them begin to vigorously suck Leah\u0026rsquo;s blood from the wound, and she collapsed to the ground paralyzed by their poison.\nPyro managed to snatch one of them off of his mistress, scratching her only a little with his bite, but succombed to poison himself as two others attacked him.\nThree more angled for Warin. Two of them struck true, feeding from his blood, and the third filthy creature struck one of the first two. Apparently chain feeding is a thing among such vile creatures as\u0026hellip; \u0026ldquo;Stirges,\u0026rdquo; muttered Thic Duc from his meditative spot on the cart, \u0026ldquo;I have seen these things before, and they are called stirges.\u0026rdquo;\nWarin fought off the poison, swinging his mace at the stirges draining his blood away. Sometimes he did as much damage to himself as he did to the creatures themselves, but one by one they fell. Leah staggered to her feet, fighting off the poison just in time to come to Pyro\u0026rsquo;s aid, with Norsk joining the fight as well. Barron shook off his emotional shock as Pyro feel, taking out of one the creatures with his dagger. One by one the stirges fell, some of them already weak from their fellows\u0026rsquo; blood drain.\nAfter taking careful stock of their situation, the party continued to Restenford, and arrived there without further incident.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n-650gp: Amathar bought Leomund's Tiny Hut and one other spell -500gp: Warin bought 5 healing potions -300gp: Norsk bought three healing potions 982gp: ogre cave +1 shield (not sold) 2000gp: +1 battleaxe 2 healing potions (not sold) Wand of Magic Missile (no charges left, not sold) 2982 gp total (counting items sold, not counting expenses) Experience # Base xp for showing up (total): 600xp 2 ogres: 384xp 6 ghoul stirges: 444xp 16 zombies: 1568xp 1 pseudodragon familiar slain: 108xp 1 quasit demi-familiar banished: 54xp Barron gets 100xp for losing, gaining, and then losing his familiar Thic Duc gets 100xp for showing up at the end Treasure: 2982xp Total: 6143xp (1024xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # An open portal to the plane of mud and a shattered stone mace with \u0026quot;Keymaster\u0026quot; written on it Whatever happened to the other stone mace? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... Warin may or may not have agreed to a bargain Malag gave Warin something Barron sold the gemstone from the altar Barron somehow managed to animate Mr Crackers, but did not say how There are separate paths leaving the ambush site: ogre, gnolls, wolves How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"14 June 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-40/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"L1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were recovering from the ambush that had nearly killed several of the party members. After resting there overnight, with the delay allowing for Leah to catch up with the group, Norsk to refine his methods of assassination, and Barron to learn new spells (this time, to Amathar’s amazement, casting them correctly), the party chose to follow the ogre trail to a cave on the nearby hillside. They left Thic Duc meditating in their cart to keep it safe.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 40","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Matt (Barron), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), Dean (Thic Duc) and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they decided to explore the guest quarters in the keep at Darkshelf. Some of the party had been there before, posing as buyers, but they figured it was best to clear the area fully before considering it safe. There they met Daelyn, who had been locked into one of the guest rooms when the keep went on lockdown. Barron demanded payment in gold before opening the door, but did not receive it when Amathar opened the door promptly upon hearing the captive was a fellow elf. Daelyn introduced himself to the party as a friend of Glyrthiel, which did not go over quite as well as he anticipated.\nFrom there, the party dropped left Glyrthiel and Bazili in Darkshelf to be tried and likely executed. Daelyn stayed in Darkshelf to help with her defense after a quite side trip to Rookroost. And as the party traveled from Darkshelf to Rookroost, their journey was briefly interrupted by two bugbears running after the small cart, waving a \u0026hellip; dead and rotting plucked chicken? The newer party members looked on in confusion as Barron greeted the new arrival. Leah drank from her flask and Thic Duc assumed a meditative mein. (The bugbears had a 15% chance of finding Mr. Crackers, and rolled a 13.). The bugbears were send on a second mission to acquire proper feathers for the bird, at which they also succeeded (Rolled a 28 on a 30% chance).\nIn Rookroost, Barron sold a gem taken from the underground temple. Amathar, Warin, and Leah spent time training their skills, with Amathar also spending time negotiating with the wizard Jim at the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower. Though Jim was familiar with some members of the party from a prior encounter, he was not familiar with Amathar, so the exchange went without a hitch. Amathar received Invisibility in return for Unseen Servant. And the tower was cleaner after they left. Thic Duc, Barron, and most of the rest of the party combined their accumulated wealth to purchase an inn, putting the ex-Marine Chesty in charge. Leah and Pyro remained behind in Rookroost, spending time training their outdoorsy skills, while the rest of the party boarded a boat for Highport. They planned to search for the abandoned temple where Glyrthiel delivered her trained slaves to.\nSomewhere along those lines, Mr. Crackers was mysteriously returned to unlife. No one admitted being responsible for that.\nIn Highport, there was no indication that anything was amiss with the \u0026ldquo;Princess\u0026rdquo;. But how would dockworkers and barkeeps know? She had not been seen in public recently, but that was hardly abnormal. Asking about local rumors, the party heard that a forest near Restenford had a band of evil gnomes, and in Restenford itself, a naked elf had been seen riding through town at midnight on a horse with flaming hooves. Asking for more information about Restenford itself, they learned that there was known to be an abandoned (and perhaps haunted?) temple near there. Since Restenford was nearby, accessible by a daily passenger ferry or informally by requisitioning a fishing boat, it might well be the temple in question.\nThe party hired a passenger ferry to Restenford after briefly discussing how to acquire a fishing boat for the trip, with Amathar providing the voice of reason and preventing a murder, kidnapping, charming, or other interference with an innocent fisherman.\nIn Restenford they bought a mule and cart. During the transaction, a nearby pile of dung began to move and produce a faint hissing sound. The party investigated. Norsk approached with his sword drawn as he noticed a very large and bright red insect leg protruding from the pile, and Warin cast speak with animals, hoping to communicate. He got an endless, repetitive litany of \u0026ldquo;EatEggEatEggEatEggEatEgg.\u0026rdquo; (You can speak with animals, but the animals don\u0026rsquo;t get any smarter).\nSo Norsk attacked the pile of dung and the insect within it. He easily killed the creature, which turned out to be some variety of giant beetle, with a single blow. All seemed calm and peaceful until Thic Duc lit a torch, causing a massive explosion. Most of the party were stunned and took minor damage. The remaining beetles fled, and the stablehands extinguished the resulting fires quickly.\nAfter spending the night at an inn (one very far away from the stable with the beetle infestation!), and examining a map of the area, the party set off for the abandoned temple site. Locals told them it was on \u0026ldquo;Bone Hill\u0026rdquo;, a journey that would take two and a half days. The first day and night passed without incident, as they camped near to a hilly area with scattered trees and abundant small animal life. Amathar\u0026rsquo;s Animal Lore skill was sufficient for him to notice signs of larger animals: fur and scratch marks on trees about waist high, prints near the road likely from wolves.\nShortly after the party set out the next morning, they heard a horn blow from ahead of them, and an answering howl from behind. Amathar chose to cast Invisibility at that point, reminding the party he would be around helping out.\nAround midday, the party entered an area where the scattered forests existed on both sides of the road. As the entered the wooded area, just around a curve in the road, a fallen tree blocking the road came into view. Sensing something wrong, the party stopped and waited for the ambush. Finally, one of them approached the fallen tree\u0026hellip; at which point the tree stood up again. Or, was picked up\u0026hellip; by an ogre. Malag, who had taken the lead, held a conversation with the ogre in the creature\u0026rsquo;s own language. The translation to Common for the rest of the party amounted to: \u0026ldquo;Give me all your money and goods.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;No.\u0026rdquo;\nMalag and the ogre exchanged blows. At first they seemed evenly matched, each dealing serious wounds to the other. The ogre was dishing out punishment, and Warin had to step up behind Malag to keep him in the fight with healing spells. Then Malag tried a tricky move, and instead lost his sword. The ogre hefted his tree-club, aiming to throw it at both Malag and Warin to knock them both down. He missed.\nMalag drew his bastard sword and got back into the fight. The ogre moved in close to pummel, inflicting even more damage with his fists than with the club he had been using\u0026hellip; Malag was bruised and bloodied, but managed to kill the ogre with his last strength.\nMeanwhile, six gnolls armed with flails had appeared on the side of the road and advanced towards the party. Barron hit them with his Sleep spell, taking five of them out of the fight. Norsk engaged the remaining gnoll, while Thic Duc gave those who had collapsed coup de grace.\nSuddenly, with a ringing horn call, three more gnolls appeared from the forest towards the rear of the group. These were armed with slings, and pelted Barron and Thic Duc with sling bullets while gnoll children tried to wake their parents. Thic Duc learned that his reflexes had suddenly become quick enough to knock the missiles out of the air before they hit him\u0026hellip; mostly, as he accidentally smacked himself in the face when he misjudged one of the sling bullet\u0026rsquo;s trajectory. Ouch!\nThe horn call appeared to have been a signal, as a pack of wolves was charging the party from the rear. Barron begin to engage the wolves with throwing daggers while Norsk and Thic Duc mopped up the melee gnolls and Malag\u0026rsquo;s duel with the ogre continued.\nBy the time Malag had finished off the ogre, and Thic Duc and Norsk worked their way through the gnolls, the charging wolves had surrounded Barron and Warin, gnawing and chomping at them both. The outcome remained in doubt until the last of the gnolls fell, and the full might of the party was applied to the wolves. The gnoll children were allowed to flee.\nCatching their breath, the party looted the bodies (finding a surprising amount of wealth on the ogre) and considered their next course of action. Warin was out of healing spells and no one was in any shape for further conflict. Based on Malag\u0026rsquo;s tracking skills, three separate trails led away from the ambush point: one for the ogre, one for the gnolls, and one for the wolves. Would the party follow any of them, or simply continue along the road to their destination?\nCrackers\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\n666gp for sale of altar gem 310gp for rug and tapestries from Glyrthiel's room 206gp from ogre 2,800gp from ogre's gems 249gp from gnolls -10,000gp: Thic Duc, Barron, Leah, Warin, Malag, and Norsk invested in an inn within Rookroost -75gp mule and cart in Restenford 4,231 gp total (counting items presumed sold) Experience # Base xp for showing up (total): 600xp 50xp to Amathar for saving a fisherman from certain death at the hands of the party 1 beetle, giant, bombardier: 48xp 1 ogre: 192xp 6 melee gnolls: 480xp 3 sling gnolls: 264xp 5 dire wolves: 375xp 2 worgs: 320xp Treasure: 4,231 xp Total: 6510xp (1085xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Barron: \u0026quot;This lock appears to be openable only by a golden key in the shape of a coin... slide one under the door.\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # An open portal to the plane of mud and a shattered stone mace with \u0026quot;Keymaster\u0026quot; written on it Whatever happened to the other stone mace? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... Warin may or may not have agreed to a bargain Malag gave Warin something Barron sold the gemstone from the altar Barron somehow managed to animate Mr Crackers, but did not say how There are separate paths leaving the ambush site: ogre, gnolls, wolves How to invest your ill-gotten gains... ","date":"31 May 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-39/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nL1: The Secret of Bone Hill # Matt (Barron), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), Dean (Thic Duc) and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they decided to explore the guest quarters in the keep at Darkshelf. Some of the party had been there before, posing as buyers, but they figured it was best to clear the area fully before considering it safe. There they met Daelyn, who had been locked into one of the guest rooms when the keep went on lockdown. Barron demanded payment in gold before opening the door, but did not receive it when Amathar opened the door promptly upon hearing the captive was a fellow elf. Daelyn introduced himself to the party as a friend of Glyrthiel, which did not go over quite as well as he anticipated.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 39","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Image not found: session37-map.webp\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), Dean (Thic Duc) and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had spent the night in Glyrthiel\u0026rsquo;s room on top of the quarry keep. Bazili was still with them (still charmed). Glyrthiel was either still unconscious from her injuries or faking it well. The day begin with the group receiving a message by courier from their favorite guildmistress, with a wedding invitation attached. The next order of business was to finish exploring the keep.\nThe top floor of the keep contained quarters for slaves and two bugbear overseers. The bugbear quarters were empty, save for 50gp in gold; they turned out to be with the slaves, guarding them after the fighting earlier. After some negotiations, and with Bazili\u0026rsquo;s help, they agreed to new employment contracts and Barron sent them to look for Mr Crackers. The slaves were freed, and accompanied the party, but seemed mildly skeptical after some comments implying that they would be put back to work in the mine later, only as \u0026ldquo;employees\u0026rdquo;. Most of them had been captured sailing the Nyr Dyv.\nAmathar asked Bazili about the profits from the slave trading operation. He said Glyrthiel handled the finances. The party returned to her room, where they had already looted the obvious valuables, and proceeded to smash her bed, desk, table, and chairs, finding nothing more than what they already had. They were rolling up the rug and tearing down the tapestries when Bazili said she had mentioned investments, including nice furniture. Oh well. At least the rug and 8 tapestries were saleable.\nThe next stop was the goblin den next to the stables, accessible by the stairs or by secret door. More negotiations ensued, and the worg riders were sent with a message to Castle Greyhawk, paid with a few copper and weeks worth of iron rations. The rest of the goblins were told to enter the quarry and work as miners, but they did not accept that idea. Eventually Barron agreed to enchant their weapons and sent them into the quarry to take heads. They left, but not happily, after Barron pretended to enchant their weapons.\nNo one bothered to check on where they actually went. Instead, they dug up the goblin clan\u0026rsquo;s treasure \u0026ndash; hidden under their cooking fire \u0026ndash; and loaded it into the cart along with the rest of their loot. The party then drove back to town to spend the night and collect the mayor\u0026rsquo;s 500gp reward for exposing the slave ring and 150gp more for the rescued slaves.\nWhile Warin and Malag took the time to train, with Barron studying more magic under Amathar\u0026rsquo;s (\u0026ldquo;Magic does not work that way!\u0026rdquo;) tutelage, and Warin also researching what would be needed to destroy the evil altar they had found, Norsk traveled to the local church and paid 10 gp for research on how to remove a Water Weird. It turned out Warin was skilled enough to perform the purification rite (Purify Food and Water, a simple 1st level spell).\nReturning to the quarry, the party journeyed to the altar. Warin hemmed and hawwed about how to destroy it, despite his research. Instead of casting Ceremony with the appropriate trappings, he followed the advice of the party to re-memorize bless and cast that instead. Then, he picked up one of the stone maces used by the evil clerics, and used it to smack the centerpiece of the altar. Once, he struck. Twice, he struck, and felt a surge of dark power. Thrice, he struck, and the gemstone fell out\u0026hellip; while the altar itself began to spin and twist, reshaping itself in geometrical patterns offensive to logic, faster and faster and faster until it was only a blur. Slowly, a portal formed in its place, and three mudtigers appeared within the room.\nWarin immediately attacked, doing damage but taking a shock in return. He was bitten as well, but for little damage.\nThe rest of the party, who had been watching the attempted destruction from a safe distance, moved towards the fight.\nThe mudtigers missed Warin next, and he missed them. Malag was now close enough to attack, and nearly beheaded one of them. The shock damaged them both, but they were not deterred.\nThic Duc approached, discarding his spear and striking with his bare hands to try to avoid the shock. He avoided it instead by missing. Warin reversed his mace to strike with the wooden handle, but also missed. Malag killed his original mudtiger and moved closer to the second, wounding it also, and shocking everyone. Another blow from Barron\u0026rsquo;s daggers finished it.\nAmathar tossed his staff to Leah, who caught it perfectly and pole-vaulted her way onto the last of the mudtigers, landing on it with both heels and dropping casually into a reversed riding position (natural 20 on attack roll, but 2 for damage). Barron moved up next to her, looked her in the eye, whispered \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m sorry\u0026rdquo;, and stabbed her (natural 1, aiming for the mudtiger, and intending to apologize for the shock effect. Oops.) Leah was not badly hurt physically, but emotionally devastated. It all seemed too deliberate.\nMalag killed the last mudtiger, but Leah and Barron barely noticed as they stared at each other. Warin was staring into the portal, arms raised in some kind of mystic gesture. His mouth was moving, but no sound came out. Almost everyone was watching Barron and Leah as Warin finally recovered from his communion and lowered his arms, a strange and distant look upon his face.\nNo one remembered to close the portal.\nWarin did not mention anything of what had happened. He did notice that written on the handle of the shattered stone mace was the word \u0026ldquo;Keymaster\u0026rdquo;.\nThe party traveled to the waterfall cave entrance, opened the door to the chamber where the Water Weird lived, and Warin performed the appropriate magic. Malag slapped the water with his sword, and it did not react. Victory!\nWith the room now safe, the party was able to notice a subtly hidden exit to the south, leading to a ramp upwards. They chose to leave it for later, and instead moved west, towards the unexplored areas on that level.\nThe next room had a shallow pool of muddy water in the central area, along with a breeze that carried a faint stench. Following the breeze, they moved through the room towards the exit, with Barron stepping into the pool to do so. His legs and feet were attacked immediately by a swarm of vicious baby mudtigers. Barron immediately leaped out of the pool, and the party commenced killing mudtiger babies. After a few minutes they grew bored and decided to burn them later, using the oil in the omnipresent oil lamps lighting the area.\nThey found a second garbage pit, covered in fungus. This confirmed the impression that they had earlier, that their maps were a little bit off. Barron grabbed the oil lamp he had been planning to use on the mudtiger babies, backed away from the garbage pile, and \u0026hellip; proceeded to slam dunk the lamp into the pit as he tried to burn it (natural 1 trying to throw the lamp). The weird fungi burst into a cloud of airborne spores. Barron hacked and coughed as he stumbled out of the room. Norsk was able to identify the fungi as bearing a dangerous disease, and the yellow potions the party had found earlier as likely being a treatment for it. Barron immediately drank one.\nBeyond the second trash heap was a charnal complex, an ancient burial ground of some kind, filled with skeletal remains in small wall niches. Barron removed a small bone from one of the tombs; the skeleton animated and prepared to attack, but Malag killed it with a single blow. Warin then attempted to turn the skeletons. Instead, four of them animated themselves and assembled in ranks.\nWarin looked confused. The rest of the party discussed this among themselves, and asked Warin to do it again, so he did.\nNow armed with 8 skeletons, the party requested Warin order them to do the Monster Mash. He complied, and so did they.\nThe only thing that party could think of doing with them was to run them several of them in circles around the tower with rope traps, hoping to disarm those traps. They succeeded in hanging several of the skeletons from the ceiling as chandeliers, but nothing else.\nWith the remaining skeletons in the lead, the party climbed the ramp they had found earlier, leading upwards. They head goblinish shrieking from above as the undead advanced, and as Warin emerged into the room behind his skeletal army, the goblins fled in terror. All save their chieftain, who advanced on the party.\nBarron cast his first ever real spell, and the chieftain fell asleep. The party searched for, but could not find, a secret cache of valuables near their fire pit.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\nReward for slaves rescued: 150gp Reward for resolving the mudtiger problem and slave ring: 500gp Goblin stash in worg stables: 700sp, 200gp, 9xbloodstones at 25gp each = 460gp Barron pocketed the gemstone from the altar: unknown... Bugbear stash: 50gp Something I forgot: 87gp One mancatcher-like pole arm 1 rug (Glyrthiel's room, need to find a buyer) 8 tapestries (Glyrthiel's room, need to find a buyer) 3 oars 1247 gp total (counting items presumed sold) Experience # Base xp for showing up (total): 700xp Reward for 15 slaves rescued: 1,500xp (total) Reward for subduing (with offers of employment) two bugbears: 50xp Reward for subduing (with offers of employment) the stable goblins and worgs: 200xp Water Weird: 250xp 2 skeletons destroyed: 20xp 3 large mudtigers: 635xp Mudtiger babies (bypassed): 50xp 8 skeletons ... recruited: 80xp Doing.... something... with the altar: 1,000xp Treasure: 1,247xp Total: 5,732xp (819 xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Leah: \u0026quot;I'm carrying a flask now.\u0026quot; Mysterious portal to godless cleric: \u0026quot;I offer you great power! Worship me!\u0026quot; Leah: using a borrowed quarterstaff, rolls a natural 20 and pole vaults into the air, landing in a perfect reverse cowgirl on the midtiger Barron: \u0026quot;I'm sorry... rolls a natural one and stabs Leah\u0026quot; Malag gave the mysterious icon he found to Warin Warin to skeletons: \u0026quot;Begone, vile creatures of darkness!\u0026quot; Skeletons: \u0026quot;yes, Master!\u0026quot; Thic Duc (after kicking several baby mudtigers into the wall): \u0026quot;It's like clubbing baby seals!\u0026quot; Barron: rolls a natural one and slam-dunks the oil lamp into the explosive fungi Dangling Threads of Fate # An open portal to the plane of mud and a shattered stone mace with \u0026quot;Keymaster\u0026quot; written on it Whatever happened to the other stone mace? Who did the slavers send a messenger to? Will there be a reaction? What is in the remaining rooms not yet searched? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... Warin may or may not have agreed to a bargain Malag gave Warin something Barron has a gemstone from the altar ","date":"17 May 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-38/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Image not found: session37-map.webp\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), Dean (Thic Duc) and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had spent the night in Glyrthiel’s room on top of the quarry keep. Bazili was still with them (still charmed). Glyrthiel was either still unconscious from her injuries or faking it well. The day begin with the group receiving a message by courier from their favorite guildmistress, with a wedding invitation attached. The next order of business was to finish exploring the keep.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 38","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had returned to town after determining that, yes, the quarry was linked to an underground cavern, the cavern had slaves held captive, and there was at least some involvement between the quarry leadership and the slave trading operation. They had determined to rest, train, and prepare to return to the quarry to arrest those involved, including the leadership.\nThe training time provided some interesting experiences, as Barron studied Amathar\u0026rsquo;s training process carefully, and copied most of it. When Amathar cast his Find Familiar spell, Barron copied most of his motions. Though there was no visible result, Barron appears to believe a dog appeared. He named it Steve. Amathar got a kitten, which he keeps in his belt pouch. Being a magical kitten, it does not complain during adventures, but does cherish those moments of freedom when in safe locations.\nOn the first night of their training, rapid hoofbeats were heard passing through Darkshelf without stopping.\nAfter some discussion over their plans, the party got a written warrant from Mayor Nielor, and borrowed a cart and horse from the Bawdy Wench. They loaded Pyro, Barron, Leah, Warin, Malag, and Amathar into the cart. Norsk, whose skills gave him the ability to disguise himself reliable, drove. After some initial questioning by the guard Jim, the cart was allowed to pass down into the quarry despite Glyrthiel not knowing about it ahead of time. They pulled up to one of the lower entrances, which was locked, but talked the orc in charge there into opening the door despite the keep being on lockdown. Behind the door were a squad of goblins (4 slings, 4 swords) and a group of four human slaves in shackles, along with Uzgrod the orc. The goblins were sent to look over the cart, but before they arrived, Norsk stabbed Uzgrod from behind and killed him with a single blow from his bastard sword. They took a keyring from his body and tossed it to the slaves, who began to unlock their shackles and ran off while the goblins returned at a run.\nLeah rose from the cart and put an arrow through two goblins in a single shot (natural 20 with max damage roll). Her second arrow took out another, and she ordered Pyro to attack! Barron\u0026rsquo;s daggers took out the rest of the row closer to the cart. The front row ran into the entrance area, which provided some natural cover from Leah, but their entrance was blocked by Norsk and Malag with the party approaching from behind. Two of the remaining three goblins died rapidly.\nThe one remaining goblin was a special-ops guy. A worg-rider. And Pyro was right there. He leaped on Pyro\u0026rsquo;s back, which confused the hell out of the poor animal, and rode him out towards freedom \u0026ndash; Pyro trying to escape the goblin on his back as much as following directions. Leah stamped her foot from all the way back by the cart, drew her sword, and said, \u0026ldquo;Oh, hell no!\u0026rdquo; Meanwhile, the rest of the party stood back and laughed.\nFinally, Leah sharply called out the command to sit \u0026ndash; and Pyro sat abruptly, skidding to a halt in full scooby style. The goblin went flying forward over his head, and the highly trained attack dog ripped its face off and brought it to Leah, wagging his tail the whole time. Good dog! Ewwww\u0026hellip; (Natural 20 for Pyro on the command to attack)\nThe party explored the stables and brought their cart inside, closing and locking the door behind them. They found stalls for horses, most empty, and a small smithy at the back. It looked empty at first, but as they approached, a bugbear and two goblin assistants leaped up and attacked with thrown tools from the forge area. They were quickly dispatched, but not before the bugbear smith set off a stink bomb. Most of the party managed to step out of the cloud of stench in time.\nThe stables had one other visible exit, a door towards the back. Barron sent Steve, his imaginary pet dog, to investigate. Steve reported back that the door lead to a pool of clean water with a hanging bucket, clearly the bottom part of a well. Looking above, a trapdoor presumably led to the upper levels. When Warin explored it moments later, he was amazed to report that \u0026ldquo;Steve\u0026rdquo; was right\u0026hellip; once he managed to recover from tripping into the well water due to the steep drop at the entrance and the very dark conditions. After briefly discussing how to climb up (\u0026ldquo;Should I throw my bow and ask Pyro to fetch it again?\u0026rdquo;), Malag gave Warin a boost that was enough to put his head through the trapdoor. They had found a true treasure, an amazing reward\u0026hellip; the wine cellar! Barron took a bottle, just in case.\nFrom there they found the kitchen. It was dark and cold, the four human cooks complaining their overseer, a lovely half-orc lady with a wicked rolling pin, had gone missing after a trip to town. They presented no threat and were left alive.\nFrom the kitchen, they moved into the great hall, which was also dark and unused. The next room was a large storeroom, with a small barracks on one side and an armory on the other. They started with the armory, Barron entering first. He didn\u0026rsquo;t notice the sergeant behind a translucent privacy screen, who immediately upbraided him for being out of uniform: Barron was in his guard tabard with normal clothing underneath. Barron claimed to be drunk and have lost his armor, giving a false name, which the sergeant dutifully wrote down for later discipline. Norsk entered behind Barron, keeping out of sight, and when Barron lured the sergeant out, Norsk grappled with him from behind and choked him into unconsciousness.\nThe party discussed interrogating the sergeant, while Warin knelt to make sure he was ok. While checking his neck for injuries, he snapped it. Oops. (natural 1 on healing proficiency check). Amathar took careful notes of this.\nThe party searched the armory, but besides a few more daggers for Barron, nothing of note was found.\nThe barracks on the other side of the storage room was next. While Amathar moved to keep an eye on the spiral staircase next door, six guards sat around a table playing a card game inside their barracks. The room was filled with bunks, tables, and all manner of bits and pieces in mostly poor condition. Norsk and Barron led the way, with Barron pretending to be drunk and Norsk helping him to his bunk (\u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s do \u0026lsquo;Get Help!\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo;). Barron had carefully hidden his sahuagin shock dagger. After some confusion over which bunk to use, Norsk tossed Barron onto the table where the guards were playing, smashing it to bits. On his way to the floor, Barron whipped his shock dagger into the forehead of one of the guards. The shock from the weapon left sizzling scars on the guard\u0026rsquo;s face, dealing a serious wound. He would be known for the rest of his life as Tazerface. It was destined to be a short life.\nThe rest of the party rushed into the room as Norsk cut one of the guards in half from behind with his bastard sword. The guards yelled in terror and fury at having their game dumped into their lap, but thought at first it was a brawl among soldiers. Tazerface brutally pummeled Barron, stunning him. Leah and Malag each cut down a guard, Malag taking a minor wound in exchange. Tazerface stood up, and the guard closest to Norsk drew his sword. Barron threw his shock dagger and hit Tazerface right in his genetic legacy, incapacitating him.\nAfter showing the warrant and threatening indictments (Guard: \u0026ldquo;But I don\u0026rsquo;t know what that means!\u0026rdquo; Amathar: \u0026ldquo;It means bad things!\u0026rdquo; Barron (pointing to Tazerface): \u0026ldquo;He was indicted!\u0026rdquo;), the party proceeded upstairs. Amathar took a moment to consult the map and point out that the staircase also led downwards, meaning there was more to the first level than they had explored. Perhaps a secret door they had missed?\nAt the top of the stairs, they found an interior corridor with a set of double doors to their right, and immediately proceeded towards those doors to wedge them shut. Unfortunately they forgot to check to their left first, where Bazili and Glyrthiel were waiting, several ranks of human guards standing behind them. Bazili gave a short monologue, while Glyrthiel began to cast a spell (both rolled a 12 on their initiative checks). The party used the time well; Warin and Malag charged the pair while Amathar began his own spellcasting. Amathar\u0026rsquo;s sleep spell landed in the middle of the human guards, and although Glyrthiel and Bazili were unaffected, his sharp hearing picked up more victims falling to the floor. Many more. Malag missed Glyrthiel, but Warin\u0026rsquo;s morning star hit her directly in the face, ruining her looks and sending her flying backwards into the pile of sleeping guards. She wasn\u0026rsquo;t dead, but definitely headed in that direction without healing. Enraged, Bazili swung at Warin and missed. Clearly his friend\u0026rsquo;s injury and potential death had disturbed his swordsmanship.\nMeanwhile, Warin and Malag had caught site of the rest of the forces arrayed against them. A pile of sleeping human guards, at least ten plus two sergeants, were immediately behind Bazili (and under Glyrthiel). Behind them were two forces of goblins, over a dozen at least. They were already waking the human guards again. Malag swung hard at Bazili, and his bastard sword penetrated even the plate mail Bazili wore. Bazili swung twice more at Warin, missing both times, but by the tiniest of margins. Seeing the goblins waking people up, Warin grabbed for the sergeant\u0026rsquo;s broadsword and picked it up, briefly tossing it away when he realized holding it made him feel vaguely dirty (swords are a prohibited weapon for clerics).\nAmathar shouted at the goblins in their own language, loudly proclaiming that they would be killed if they did not surrender immediately. They chose to flee instead.\nMalag managed to whittle Bazili down to size, the stocky dwarf (or short half-orc?) collapsing from accumulated blood loss. He was obviously still shaken by the loss of his friend and business partner Glyrthiel. The rest of the party were trapped behind Pyro, still trying to get up the stairs.\nSeeing their leader fall, the human guards looked at each other uncertainly. Amathar shouted commands at them, insisting they surrender, and brandishing a warrant. They shouted back \u0026ldquo;We can\u0026rsquo;t read!\u0026rdquo; but looked concerned. (They made their morale check, but Amathar won the opposed Charisma check, increasing their doubts) Norsk followed that up with growled threats, and the human guards realized they were likely facing execution or conscription whether they knew about the slave ring or not. Their spines stiffened and they chose to resist. (Norsk lost the oppossed charisma check)\nWith room to move at the front line now available, Leah pointed at the still-armed sergeant and commanded Pyro to attack! Pyro looked at the sergeant she was pointing at, and then back at Leah. He was confused. The man was covered in metal. How could you bite into metal? His teeth would break. And there had been so many new commands lately. And that goblin rider, that was really confusing! Could she really mean to attack and break his teeth? No. It must be one of the new commands. Pyro ran up to the sergeant, lifted his leg, and peed on his boots. (Natural 1 on Pyro\u0026rsquo;s attack roll)\nThen Leah stepped forwards into the spot where Bazili had been and the slaughter began. Arrows flew at the one sergeant still armed, cutting him down, and the bulk of the human guards fell like wheat to a flying half-elven scythe. As she looked out on the field of the dead and dying, with Mariel looking happily on the line of candy she had acquired and feeling all was right with the world, Leah whispered to herself, \u0026ldquo;I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.\u0026rdquo; Or at least of candy.\nThe disarmed sergeant took a swing at Warin, but the punch bounced off the cleric\u0026rsquo;s armor. Warin replied with his morningstar, feeling vaguely sickened by an unconscious revulsion, and the sergeant fell unconscious again. This time, it would be a longer term basis.\nThere were two human guards still alive towards the back. They grabbed Glyrthiel\u0026rsquo;s unconscious body and ran, but only made it about 30 feet before one of them tripped and dropped her. Barron was determined not to let them escape, however, and launched himself at the guard blocking his way in an attempt to overbear his opponent. Barron\u0026rsquo;s attempt to overbear missed (perhaps next time he should bring an actual bear?), and he somehow ended up on the other side of the guard, lying prone on the ground. Seeing this, and the fact that all of his friends had run, the remaining guard thought over his options. After a moment, he screamed \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;ll never take me alive!\u0026rdquo; as he fell on his sword. (Natural 20 on morale check, natural 1 on attack roll)\nWarin gave chase, and caught up with the one who had tripped. The fight was brief, but the last of the human guards had disappeared into the distance. Leah chose not to track him right away as the party took stock of the situation. Amathar stabilized those of the guards who were still alive, including the sergeant Warin had disarmed. When he examined Glyrthiel, he was able to save her life, but her face was a smashed ruin that would not heal normally without magical aid. He called to Warin, who used his last Cure Light Wounds spell to save her beauty as well as her life.\nBarron and the rest of the party stripped Bazili to search him, noting while they did so that a few telltale marks of orcish heritage were apparent on close examination. His tusks had been filed down to nubs, his ears clipped to resemble rounded dwarven ears. His huge dwarven beard was a fake.\nEager to prove that his skills were now sufficient to cast two first-level spells per day, Amathar made his way back to Bazili\u0026rsquo;s unconscious body. With a brief incantation and magical gestures, the unconscious dwarf become his fast friend for at least two weeks. Then Amathar bound his wounds and woke him up.\nBazili seemed confused about why he felt such strong friendship with a man he couldn\u0026rsquo;t remember ever meeting before. Slowly, his head cleared, and gently prompting from Amathar got his story out. \u0026ldquo;I tried to be Bazili, I really tried! I wanted to fit in!\u0026rdquo; he said, almost breaking down now that a sympathetic ear was there to listen. \u0026ldquo;But I have to be true to my father\u0026rsquo;s heritage. I am a half-orc! My inner orc is strong. My orc name is Bubgruk.\u0026rdquo; This resolved the mystery of the ledgers below, where Bazili\u0026rsquo;s name never appeared, and the mysterious Bubgruk was known to all as the half-orc in charge.\nHe also passed on a little bit of Glyrthiel\u0026rsquo;s story. She had come to him for work after an incident with her instructor in magic, something involving a fellow student who deserved most of the blame. By her telling, Glyrthiel had had little to do with it, but the instructors weren\u0026rsquo;t willing to listen to her. They didnt\u0026rsquo; ahve the evidence to punish her formally, but her schooling in magic came to a premature end, at least from that teacger. Bazili was happy to put her skills to use capturing and subduing large groups of slaves, and Glyrthiel had sufficient moral flexibility to accept the work since she could get little else in her elven community.\nWith Bazili\u0026rsquo;s guidance they searched the rest of the keep\u0026rsquo;s top level. Bazili\u0026rsquo;s chamber was bare of furniture, containing only a pile of furs to sleep on and a simple fireplace. Hidden within the furs they found a chest containing 350 pp and 10 small carnelian gems (50gp each). Bazili did not object much to it being taken; he knew he had been a bad, bad orc and was lucky to be alive. Glyrthiel\u0026rsquo;s was elegant and tasteful, with a magical chandelier, a fancy bed and desk, and much nice clothing. Working in the slave trade was lucrative, it seems. Amathar looked at the desk with a knowing smile, opened the main drawer, felt around for a moment, and removed a small spellbook from a hidden compartment. The more experienced members of the party waited expectantly for his death from the poison in the trap he must have set off, along with Glyrthiel\u0026rsquo;s glaring eyes above her gag, but they were all disappointed.\nThe party chose to rest briefly there, with Glyrthiel tied up and gagged and Bazili friendly for the moment. They had visited Bazili\u0026rsquo;s quarters, as well as Glyrthiel\u0026rsquo;s, but two rooms on that level remained unexplored, as well as whereever the staircase led.\nWith time to rest, the remainer of Bazili\u0026rsquo;s story came out\u0026hellip;\nNot all of the slaves freed from the stables were captured at sea. Two of them were taken from a nearby village. They share a horrifying tale of a midnight raid with orcs and goblins. Dozens of men, women and children were captured. The old and weak were executed on the spot and left in their homes, which were then emptied of valuables and burned. Crude quarantine signs were placed near the burned homes, suggesting the village was lost to the plague and the survivors abandoned it.\nIt is not the first such abandoned village to appear in rumors and bar talk, but until now, the plague was blamed for it.\nConfronted with the story, Bazili admits he led the raids to supplement his profits from passing on the captured sailors from the sahuagin. From the quarry, slaves were sent to Highport, another port in the Bandit Kingdoms, specifically to an apparently abandoned temple on the outskirts of town. Highport itself was a bustling center of trade and commerce, but the ravages of the plague have left many of the outlying towns poorly defended, and increasing raids from a variety of uncivilized humanoids have left many such areas in ruins. Perhaps these raids, too, have been taking slaves rather than simply executing those they find.\nBazili speculates that, from Highport, slaves are sent to various other ports all over Oerth. Cargo-carrying ships are searched (and taxed) on the way in, not the way out. But he says this is only speculation. What actually happens to the slaves after they are delivered is unknown to him. Normally, Glyrthiel would handle the deliveries. He said he loved the raids, and the extra profits made him look good, but could never quite settle his conscience about selling the captives. It didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to bother Glyrthiel, and she was the one with the contacts to sell the slaves to Highport, not to mention arranging for the sahuagin to deliver their captives to the quarry.\nAccording to Bazili, General Perniti knows nothing of the arrangement. Bazili claims to have earned the generals\u0026rsquo; trust as a military officer, leading to this position in charge of the quarry. Perniti was demanding more resources \u0026ndash; more profits, more stone for his own building projects. The added pressure for results from Perniti is what drove Bazili over the edge, and when Glyrthiel suggested a way to bring in more income, he grasped at it like a drowning man.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\nGlyrthiel's spellbook (sleep, friends, read magic, unseen servant, shield) silver and bloodstone ring (Glyrthiel's desk): 75gp three small jade figurines: 100 gp each coin pouch (10 sp, 15 gp, 5 pp): 40gp, 10sp Contents of Glyrthiel's desk (total only): 415gp Chest in Bazili's chamber: 350 pp, 10x50gp gems: 2250gp Loose coin from card game in barracks: 25gp total 2 sets of chain mail from armory: 25gp each if sold (\u0026quot;used\u0026quot;, \u0026quot;has large holes\u0026quot;, \u0026quot;needs repair\u0026quot;, \u0026quot;mysterious bloodstains\u0026quot;): 50gp 24 slings, short swords, daggers, and leather armor of goblin make: 75gp 3 broadswords (sergeants): 30gp 11 suits of chain mail, all but 3 of poor quality (human guards): 8x50gp, 3x75gp = 625gp 8 short swords (poor quality, human guards): 32gp 1 set of plate mail (sized for dwarf or very short half-orc, from Bubgruk/Bazili): 400gp Longsword (Bubgruk/Bazili; glows under detect magic) 24 arrows suitable for use with a longbow (Glyrthiel) Reward for slaves rescued: 40gp 3942 gp total (counting items presumed sold) Experience # Base xp for showing up (total): 600xp Amathar gains 100xp for attempting to teach Barron how magic really works Defeating Uzgrod (stable orc): 50xp Defeating Uzgrod's 8 goblins: 44xp Freeing Uzgrod's 4 human slaves: 400xp Defeating Wartslog (smith bugbear): 64xp Defeating Wartslog's two goblin helpers: 28xp Capturing Bazili/Bargruk: 1,000 xp Bonus for discovering the identity scheme: 500xp Capturing Glyrthiel: 1,000xp Capturing 2 other guards: 200xp Defeating 4 human guards: 72xp Defeating 16 goblins (ran away): 44xp Defeating 8 human guards (top level): 144xp Defeating 2 sergeants (top level): 100xp Defeating 1 sergeant (armory): 50xp Gaining entry by means of disguise (sort of): 300xp Effectively shutting down the slave ring in Darkshelf: 1,000 xp Treasure: 3942xp Total: 9538/xp (1589 xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;Should I throw my bow and ask Pyro to fetch it again?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Where did I leave that zombie hand?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;I just can't do it... I can't be Bazili... I can't deny my father's heritage! I must be true to my inner orc! I am Bubgruk!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Who did the slavers send a messenger to? Will there be a reaction? What is in the remaining rooms not yet searched? What's with the evil clerics and their underground temple? The slave trade seems to lead to Highport... ","date":"3 May 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-37/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Jeff (Amathar the Grey), and Norsk (Brian) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had returned to town after determining that, yes, the quarry was linked to an underground cavern, the cavern had slaves held captive, and there was at least some involvement between the quarry leadership and the slave trading operation. They had determined to rest, train, and prepare to return to the quarry to arrest those involved, including the leadership.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 37","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar the Grey) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had murdered a presumably evil cleric in his bed, and his death cries alerted the rest of the level to their presence. The mining noises to the north had stopped, and the goblins were coming\u0026hellip;\nLeah and Warin were already well positioned. Leah could cover the unexplored forward corridor as well as the mining passage with her bow. Warin could use his healing spells, and switch off with her if they needed to cover two fronts in melee. Soon the pair heard the rapid tread of goblin feet headed in their direction, and the growl of approaching mudtigers from another.\nLeah took careful aim at the charging mudtigers, loosing two arrows in rapid succession. The mudtigers fell almost as one. From the distance, a human voice was heard to yell \u0026ldquo;Oh, shit!\u0026rdquo;, and a vaguely defined shadow ducked behind the wall out of sight.\nWhile the faint sound of chanting filled the air nearby, Leah turned her bow towards the goblins approaching her position from the mining operation. After clearing the corridor with a hair of arrows, she caught a motion out of the corner of her eye and spun to shoot at the cleric who had darted across the corridor entrance while she was looking away. Her first arrow glanced off his armor, leaving a mere scratch. Her second shot never came \u0026ndash; her quiver was empty! Cursing, Leah put her bow away and drew her short sword. The next wave of goblins would be up close and personal.\nBarron and Malag continued to loot the chamber they had found. Barron found a chest under one of the beds along with papers and books before Malag was forced to step forward to deal with approaching goblins. The goblins had little success, mostly dying as soon as they came within reach, until a mysterious evil cleric began to support their attack with spells. Malag was first commanded to sleep, which took him out of action for a round, and then felt a terrible fear that compelled him to flee. Barron, however, was able to kill the priest with a thrown dagger, and finish off the last of the goblins. He heard a solid thud from behind him as Malag tried to make a hole in the secret door \u0026ndash; and failed.\nBarron proceeded to the corpse of the cleric and tried to behead it with limited success, \u0026ldquo;playing the violin upon the neck of the corpse\u0026rdquo; until Malag, recovered from his impact with the door, ripped the head off the body with his bare hands. (In the distance, someone screamed \u0026ldquo;Fatality!\u0026rdquo;) Barron immediately seized the head, screamed \u0026ldquo;Give me your magic!\u0026rdquo;, and gave it a sloppy kiss. Or perhaps tried to suck out the cleric\u0026rsquo;s soul. Could be either one, really.\nNigel and Amathar continued their negotiations with the goblins. The goblin king allowed the party peaceful passage but was unable or perhaps unwilling to call off the other group. The pair moved closer to Leah, still holding her own with a bloody short sword at the intersection point. They could overhear faint voices in the goblin tongue\u0026hellip;\n\u0026ldquo;Say, what\u0026rsquo;s this line for?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t know.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Is it food?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t know!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Is it\u0026hellip; treasure?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip; no, it\u0026rsquo;s death!\u0026rdquo;\nFor a brief moment the slaughter paused as the lead goblin dropped his dagger and ran back to the end of the line. Then the bloody queue resumed.\nChecking under the other bed in the sleeping area, Barron found a second chest. Both chests unlocked with keys from a keyring in the desk, and contained gold and platinum coins, several holy symbols, and 6 strange potions or vials of two distinct types.\nBy this time the word among the goblins had spread through the line, and Amathar was able to negotiate a temporary peace with them. Both groups of goblins claimed to just be miners. They were there to quarry stone, and weren\u0026rsquo;t especially happy about it. They told the party that a half-orc named Brobnak was in charge of the slaving operation, and that he came from \u0026ldquo;above\u0026rdquo;.\nHaving negotiated peaceful passage from the goblins, the party proceeded into a larger room. This room contained a stone structure, perhaps an altar of some kind, dedicated to a dark god from the elemental planes. It was built in the shape of a narrow pyramid, with a jeweled eye near the top.\nBarron promptly tried to steal the eye, and was flung back against the wall. He survived, but only because he was expecting a trap. A lesser man hobgoblin might well have died on the spot.\nIn a small nook off the temple area, another desk with a set of ledger books was found.\nThe party collected the mudtiger heads, examined the map to confirm they hadn\u0026rsquo;t missed anything, discovered they had missed something, and decided against jumping down the second garbage chute to find out what it was. The next step was to continue upwards, hoping to find a way out, or proof that the caverns they were exploring were actually connected somehow to the quarry they were supposed to be investigating.\nOn the next level up, they found human workers with hammer and chisel and pickaxe breaking large blocks of stone from the walls of a large, open cavern. They set up an alarmed call about a troll coming up from below, and the workers fled. Guards in the uniform of the Darkshelf quarry soon arrived, with three of them heading down to deal with the troll, and one remaining with the party to \u0026ldquo;escort them out\u0026rdquo;.\nSomehow, on the way out the party managed to distract him long enough to find two more guard uniforms. They now have a total of 4 quarry guard tabards. On their way out of the quarry, they had the chance to view the inward-facing side of the keep for the first time. Below the keep proper, set into the rocky hill on which it is built, are two large entrances, each fitted with a pair of large doors. The doors appear sturdy, but crude, similar to those used on barns.\nBack in town, they presented their findings to the mayor, along with the mudtiger heads and the ledger books. Nielor promised to review them overnight and determine who was involved, and did so; the leader of the slavers appears to be a half-orc named Bubgrok. The name is not familiar to Nigel. Kwon heard the name used often, but never saw the person it referred to. Bubgrok is reported to have traveled with slaves for sale, according to the ledgers, so there must be at least one other person in the quarry hierarchy who can run the operation in his absence.\nBubgrok, or his second in command, must be identified and captured alive for interrogation. That will allow the rest of the slaver network to be identified \u0026ndash; or at least the next link in the chain. The interior of the keep must be searched for more slaves, and any found rescued. Any evidence linked to the evil temple below or its clerics must also be uncovered, and the temple itself destroyed, along with any surviving servants of that dark and cruel diety. Any guards who knew of the slaving operation in any detail must be identified and purged \u0026ndash; voluntarily or otherwise. Those who surrender should be allowed to live and face justice.\nBecause the party left the quarry openly, without any record of their having entered, it is likely the slavers will assume their operations are completely compromised and either send for help or attempt to escape. There is thus no other choice: the keep must be breached, and quickly, before evidence can be completely destroyed, and before help can be summoned in sufficient numbers to overwhelm the party and the town guards.\nNielor is willing to sign a warrant ordering the guard to stand down and allow the party to search the keep, but it seems unlikely such a document would be honored at this point.\nIn the event no further clues are discovered, Nielor informs the party that the next link in the slave trade chain leads to Highport. Without names and places, though, this doesn\u0026rsquo;t offer much of a starting point for an investigation.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (total): 600xp Human slaver cleric: 150xp 12 goblins: 132xp 2 mudtigers: 430xp (plus 100gp per head) Barron looses 100xp for declaring \u0026quot;I'm a thief!\u0026quot; (minor dual-class restriction failure) Amathar gains 100xp for attempting to teach Barron how magic really works Locating the unholy temple of elemental evil: 1000xp Deducing the likely source of the mudtigers: 100xp Locating evidence of the slaver ring (ledgers): 1000xp Treasure: 1890xp Total: 5302xp (883xp each) Treasure # For reference: 200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp = 1/5 pp\nReward for slaves rescued: 360gp 200gp for mudtiger heads 1000gp in loose coin 36 pp in loose coin (180gp) 3 silver urns (75 gp) 2 sets of chain mail: 50gp if sold (\u0026quot;used\u0026quot;) 2 stone-head maces: 6gp if sold (\u0026quot;why stone?\u0026quot;) Two keyrings Two lockable chests (contained coin, potions, and holy symbols) 8 holy symbols of elemental evil (6 in chests, 2 worn): (not yet disposed of) 6 healing potions 6 potions of mysterious antidote 1690 gp total (counting items presumed sold, not armor or maces) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;I cast silence on him.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;You killed him! With a dagger! You cut his throat!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;It's the Italian Silence.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;That's not how magic works!\u0026quot; (Everyone, practically, at Barron) \u0026quot;What's the line for?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Is it treasure?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;No, it's death!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Oh my god! Run away!\u0026quot; Barron to evil cleric as he dies: \u0026quot;Give me your power! smooch\u0026quot; \u0026quot;I begin to slowly play the violin... on his neck\u0026quot; (Barron, trying and failing to behead his victim) \u0026quot;String bikini theory: less armor is more\u0026quot; DM to Leah: \u0026quot;Exactly how many arrows do you have written on your character sheet inventory, anyway?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Um.... none?\u0026quot; sound of evil laughter After seeing Mariel take out his two mudtigers in one round, the evil cleric yelps \u0026quot;Oh shit!\u0026quot; and ducks behind cover Leah to Malag: \u0026quot;Hey, he's taking all my candy!\u0026quot; Malag to Leah: strikes a strongman pose and kisses his bicep Malag helping Barron behead the second cleric (post-death) with his bare hands: \u0026quot;Fatality!\u0026quot; Malag nearly dying of shock trying to behead a mudtiger with his bare hands Malag fails his strength check trying to go through a secret door without opening it. \u0026quot;Walls are his nemesis.\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Daphne is still a squirrel Fred may still be dead Shaggy is still swimming with the sharks Where are Velma and Scooby? What will happen to the rescued slaves? Investigate the slaving operation in Highport? Uncover the true identity of Bubgrok? Identify the slaver operation's second in command? Take the keep, by force or by wits, and search it for evidence Do the rescued slaves know anything useful, now that they are out of danger? ","date":"19 April 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-36/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), Chris (Malag), Dean (Thic Duc), and Jeff (Amathar the Grey) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had murdered a presumably evil cleric in his bed, and his death cries alerted the rest of the level to their presence. The mining noises to the north had stopped, and the goblins were coming…\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 36","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # Chris (Malag), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. Nigel is a guest.\nAs we left the party, they had followed the tracks from the abduction to the quarry, then returned to town to attempt an ambush on Bazili. The ambush failed, though the party was able to interrogate one of the guards who was left behind, and managed to kill a half-orc who was provoked by shouted insults into attacking.\nThic Duc returned from his training and meditation to find Leah and Pyro at a table in the Rest in Peace, smelling strongly of alcohol and on the outside of most of a bottle of tequila. He sat down at her table, and the sight was enough to bring her back to something like normal awareness. The two of them caught up on events while the rest of the party slowly trickled in. Nigel joined them once he had recovered a bit from being shrimped. Barron restocked his supply of meat and joined them, while Warin prayed to recover his spells before pulling up a chair.\nThe party decided their best plan was to slip into the quarry via the waterfall cave. Nigel knew the layout of the keep, but wasn\u0026rsquo;t familiar with any places where prisoners might be kept, so the logical place for them to be stored was in the lower levels of the quarry. Barron took a second look at his collection of maps and realized the caves were close enough to the quarry that they might have a connection somewhere under the surface, although the hilly terrain and the way the river curved was enough to make that less than obvious.\nLeah, in turn, connected the fish-men who attacked them in town as the same type of fish-man they found in the caves. That told the party which passage was most likely to lead them to their friends. The party traveled to the cave system, followed the path marked fish, and continued deeper into the cave past the point where it narrows. Beyond that point was a chamber filled with garbage and refuse. It stank to high heaven, but the party entered to take a look around, and discovered a shaft in the ceiling \u0026ndash; presumably where the trash is dumped.\nWhile the party watched Thic Duc climb the shaft with a rope \u0026ndash; noting Barron\u0026rsquo;s odd reluctance to do the same \u0026ndash; the pile of trash between them began to move. Zombie hands emerged from the garbage, followed by the rest of the zombies. One of the hands grabbed Barron\u0026rsquo;s ankle, and he screamed in terror.\nMeanwhile, Amathar was waking up from being knocked on the head. He was chained to a wall across from another prisoner, and surrounded by even more prisoners in rags. Chained across from him was a man named Kwon, who took in Amathar\u0026rsquo;s robes and wizardly garb and asked if he was an adventuring type willing to help in an escape. They discussed their mutual plans and goals, and half-planned an ambush on the guards (thanks to Kwon\u0026rsquo;s ability to pick the lock on his manacles). Their discussion was interrupted, however, by a sudden series of screams coming from somewhere nearby but out of sight. Kwon remained to watch for the guard while Amathar followed the sound to a shaft leading down below. From the stench, a makeshift sewage shaft. He approached the edge and peered down into the darkness.\nWhile Thic Duc crept towards the top of the shaft, the rest of the party fought the zombies. Barron struck the first blow, chopping off the hand that had grabbed at his ankle. The hand began crawling up his leg. Leah shot an arrow at another zombie, plugging it right between the eyes, but it seemed almost unhurt. In frustration, with much cursing, she throw her bow into the air and up the shaft, where it hung in slow motion for a moment. Down below, Pyro had bitten deep into a zombie\u0026rsquo;s leg, and turned back to look at his mistress in disgust at the taste of this dead and rotting creature. His canine eyes caught her emotion-wrought face, her outstretched hand and arm, the long, wooden object flying into the distance\u0026hellip; I know this game!, Pyro thought to himself. This is Fetch! Much more fun than biting nasty zombies! And with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, Pyro leaped on the shoulders of the zombie he had just bitten, then from there to the shoulders of another higher up on the refuse pile, from there to Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s shoulders still climbing the shaft, and from there, Pyro launched himself eagerly after the Stick he was meant to bring to Leah\u0026hellip;\nStanding above the garbage put, where the pitch dark concealed most of the activity, Amathar was trying to make sense of the noises when suddenly a longbow flew up from the pit below. It looked strangely familiar. Distracted by the incongruous archer\u0026rsquo;s tool, Amathar was even more startled when Pyro seemed to levitate out of the pit with the very last of his momentum, clamping his jaws on Stick For Mistress. Luckily, you don\u0026rsquo;t get to be a wizard without thinking quickly, and Amathar grabbed the fierce wardog in a friendly hug, pulling him back (with Leah\u0026rsquo;s Stick still in his jaws) onto the floor around the shaft.\nMeanwhile, Thic Duc had climbed to the top of the shaft, evaluated the situation, lit a lantern, and loaded his crossbow.\nWarin called on the power of his (as yet undecided) god to drive back the undead, and got a solid punch in the face for his trouble. He stagged back, wounded but still in the fight, until Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s crossbow bolt from above missed the zombie it was meant for and split his head open. Warin collapsed, unconscious and bleeding. Later, he was heard to remark that this fight in particular taught him valuable lessons and increased his understanding of the divine nature\u0026hellip; specifically, not even the gods like a playa!\nNigel wound up with his borrowed longsword, determined to make up for his earlier mistake with the seaweed. Experimentally, he swung the sword a few times through the air, feeling it\u0026rsquo;s weight and heft, and then swept the blade into the guard position, point directly at the eyes of the zombie slowly stumbling towards him. Preparing to thrust, Nigel\u0026rsquo;s eyes dropped to the flat of his blade, where he saw the same embossed logo that was on his own \u0026ndash; now broken \u0026ndash; sword! What the hell? Why does this band of misfits have a quarry guard\u0026rsquo;s sword? His shock was so great that he dropped the blade. After a moment to recover his wits, he picked up the sword and finished off a wounded zombie.\nWith the last of the zombies finished off, the party made their way up the shaft. In the confusion, Malag searched the refuse pile and pocketed a pouch containing a mysterious pyramid carved with eyes. With Kwon\u0026rsquo;s help on the locks, they managed to free three dozen prisoners, sending them down the shaft again to follow the way out they had just cleared. Their companion Norsk was among the slaves, still wounded. Amathar and Norsk left with the prisoners to escort them back to town while the party continued to explore the caves.\nTwo furry, large-eared, barely-civilized humanoids guarded the way out of the prison. The party managed to ambush one, but the second was ready for them. It didn\u0026rsquo;t help. The small nesting area the guards used as a sleeping and mating area contained three silver urns, one still warm from holding hot coals. Of the other two, both appears filled with ash, but pouring out the ash revealed a stash of 300 gp in one of the urns.\nExploring further, the party found a small group of goblins working some sort of rock or quartz mine. Malag seemed to have some authority due to his half-orc intimidating nature, and (with the help of Nigel\u0026rsquo;s guard tabard) convinced the four goblins to begin weakening the ventilation shaft with promises of gold and beer. One beer. Two beer. Many many more than two beer! Infinite beer.\nThe party then discovered a goblin nest, and escaped death by pretending to be overseers. They continued to explore down the only remaining corridor, locating another garbage chute and a large mining operation populated by an uncountable number of goblins. Warin tripped over a secret door (literally). Within that hidden chamber were two living spaces, one occupied by a snoring human who appeared very familiar\u0026hellip; he was the man who led the fish-creatures that attacked earlier and kidnapped their friends!\nMaking no attempt to move quietly while Warin stomped around just outside the door in full armor, Barron threw a dagger into the sleeping man\u0026rsquo;s shoulder. He woke, screaming in pain and surprise. Barron finished him off with a second strike, but the damage was done \u0026ndash; the pervasive tool noises had stopped. All hell was about to break loose.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (each): 100xp 4 zombies: 300xp Rescuing 36 slaves from durance vile: 3600xp Killing 2 unidentified vaguely humanoid hairy monsters bugbears with big ears: 150xp Convincing 4 goblins to build you an escape route: 300xp Finding the person who kidnapped Amathar and Norsk: 300xp Alerting the whole area by trying to kill him in his sleep without even trying to sneak up on him: -300xp Killing the mysterious person who kidnapped Amathar and Norsk: 300xp Treasure (coins only): 300xp Total: 5650xp (807xp each) Treasure # 2 spears 2 morning stars 2 sets of studded leather armor (large fit, smelly, poor quality) 300gp Mysterious onyx pyramid carved with eyes Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;How many goblins in the goblin nest?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;One... two.... two.... two.... two... Two. No more than two.\u0026quot; while holding up both hands and one foot Leah throws her bow from the bottom of the garbage pit to the tip out of frustration... ... and Pyro climbs a pile of zombies to \u0026quot;fetch\u0026quot; it... ... and leaps out of the top of the pit into a surprised Amathar's arms... ... followed shortly thereafter by Barron, in a panic with the zombie hand groping his junk. Nigel's natural ones breaking one longsword and losing a second... in a row Dangling Threads of Fate # Amathar left the cave with 36 rescued slaves, on foot, seeking to bring them to the mayor. Norsk, still feeling weak, went along. ","date":"5 April 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-35/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # Chris (Malag), Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Jeff (Amathar) are returning cast members. Nigel is a guest.\nAs we left the party, they had followed the tracks from the abduction to the quarry, then returned to town to attempt an ambush on Bazili. The ambush failed, though the party was able to interrogate one of the guards who was left behind, and managed to kill a half-orc who was provoked by shouted insults into attacking.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 35","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 34th full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), and Chris (Malag) are returning cast members, though Chris\u0026rsquo;s prior character Seb stepped offstage temporarily\nAs we left the party, they had returned to town after their near-death experience with the killer frogs killer frog, mudtigers, ghouls, trogolodytes, and more mudtigers. An argument broke out at the Mayor\u0026rsquo;s at the Rest Inn Peace as Barron started to sweep all the gold off the table into his pouch. Seb, Norsk, and Amathar objected, insisting that the gold be divided immediately. They each took their shares. Norsj and Amathar took rooms at the inn and Seb slipped away into the night. A half-orc named Molag introduced himself, volunteering to help with the investigation. He said something about looking for someone, too. With all of that taken care of, the party retired to their rooms to rest and recuperate.\nThe party woke to a crash and stuck their heads out of their rooms all at once. The door to Amathar\u0026rsquo;s room was standing wide open! A strange man emerged carrying the unconscious elf over his shoulder. A moment later, a humanoid fish creature emerged from Norsk\u0026rsquo;s room, with the similarly unconscious half-orc over his shoulder. The two headed rapidly down the stairs. The party pursued, after taking a moment to grab their weapons. Leah led the way, followed by Pyro, Barron, Molag, and Warin.\nThe human made it out the door while the fish-man was having trouble with the stairs. Leah swung at the fish-man with her sword, inflicting a minor wound, but the cry of pain made the human turn around for long enough to shout \u0026ldquo;Flee!\u0026rdquo; to Leah. She felt a magical compulsion to do just that, but she was trapped between the fish man in front and Pyro behind. The only way out was over the side of the stairs and down into the common room, so she jumped\u0026hellip; and landed feet-first in a barrel of ale.\nThe rest of the party continued the pursuit down the stairs, Barron slicing ineffectively with his daggers, Pyro following Leah into the common room. Warin and Malag made their way down the stairs more slowly, after Malag tried to throw himself through the thin walls of the inn\u0026rsquo;s sleeping chambers\u0026hellip; and failed, leaving a half-orc-shaped impression in the wood.\nWith Leah and Pyro distracted, Barron was the first to make it out the door, followed shortly thereafter by Warin and Malag. They saw the two prisoners being loaded into a cart pulled by some sort of wolf-like beast, but before they could act, two more fish-men emerged from the shadows on each side of the door and attacked\u0026hellip; each other? Perhaps someone\u0026rsquo;s fin slipped at the last minute. Despite that disastrous mishap of an ambush, compounded by the human spellcaster targeting the wrong creature with a spell, the two fish-creatures delayed the party long enough for the cart with their friends to escape, though the ambushers lost their lives in the process.\nWitnessing their strange camoflage powers, Leah had a moment of inspiration and realized that these fish-men were trogolodytes, not sahuagin. Hey, all the fish-men look alike to the surface dwellers!\nThe party decided their next step would be to interrogate the whores for more information on Bazili, hoping to identify some guards that would turn a blind eye to smuggling people in. They also learned that the quarry workers ride to and from the on a regular cart-trip, usually with at least one officer along, sometimes Bazili himself about once or twice a month. They made arrangements to talk to some guards who might be slightly corrupt, but plans quickly changed when Laura mentioned that Bazili was here right then.\nThe party arranged themselves into an ambush outside the Bawdy Wench, waiting for Bazili to emerge. Malag and Warin positioned themselves in plain view, with Barron around the corner of the building near the entrance, leaving Leah and Pyro in the distant shadows within easy bow range. As dawn\u0026rsquo;s early light began to appear, a strangely familiar cart drove up the road from the quarry, pulled by a tired-looking horse and driven by a guard in the quarry\u0026rsquo;s very rough sort of uniform.\nMalag waited for the cart to arrive at the door of the brothel, and the inhabitants of the place began to emerge. First was another guard, who climbed into the cart, followed by a short half-orc. Mistakening the half-orc for Bazili, Malag yelled dire insults in the orc tongue, provoking the creature. But as the half-orc made to charge at Malag, Bazili himself emerged from the whorehouse and offered a restraining hand. \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t let them get to you,\u0026rdquo; he said, and for a minute or two that was enough to calm the half-orc\u0026rsquo;s rage as Malag switched targets to Bazili.\nThe strangely misshapen dwarf had powerful self control or an utter lack of understanding of the orcish language, however, and climbed into the cart without incident. Another guard began to emerge from the whorehouse as Malag continued his insults, and the half-orc already in the cart jumped down and charged at him. The pair fell into a bloody fistfight (forcing me to use the grappling rules, subcategory \u0026ldquo;pummel\u0026rdquo;) as Bazili ordered the cart to drive off, with one of the guards taking potshots with his bow at Malag.\nBarron emerged from his hiding place behind the corner and pushed the guard inside, where they spent a pleasant interlude wrestling on the floor (forcing me to use the grappling rules again). Eventually he submitted, and Barron interrogated him with the help of Marissa and their favorite shrimp.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # Experience # Base xp for showing up (each): 100xp Two trogolodytes: 200xp 1 half-orc: 48xp Forcing me to use the grappling rules: 100xp Forcing me to laugh my ass off at how absurd the grappling rules are: 100xp Total: 848xp (212xp each) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Did you bring the shrimp? Dangling Threads of Fate # Norsk and Amathar have been captured by the trogolodytes! Their fate will be resolved when they return. ","date":"22 March 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-34/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 34th full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin), and Chris (Malag) are returning cast members, though Chris’s prior character Seb stepped offstage temporarily\nAs we left the party, they had returned to town after their near-death experience with the killer frogs killer frog, mudtigers, ghouls, trogolodytes, and more mudtigers. An argument broke out at the Mayor’s at the Rest Inn Peace as Barron started to sweep all the gold off the table into his pouch. Seb, Norsk, and Amathar objected, insisting that the gold be divided immediately. They each took their shares. Norsj and Amathar took rooms at the inn and Seb slipped away into the night. A half-orc named Molag introduced himself, volunteering to help with the investigation. He said something about looking for someone, too. With all of that taken care of, the party retired to their rooms to rest and recuperate.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 34","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 33rd full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin) are returning cast members. Joining the group for the first time are Chris (Seb, a human thief), Jeff (a grey elf wizard known as Amathar), and Brian (a half-orc assassin).\nAs we left the party, they had returned to town after their near-death experience with the killer frogs. After spending the night in the inn recuperating, they woke the next morning to find the town filled with wanted posters. The posters had a reward offered for mudtiger heads following the slaughter of a band of game wardens, and suggested that there was a possibility humanoids were involved due to wounds on the bodies (some from an arrow, some from swords or knives, in addition to bites from the mudtigers).\nThe party gathered at a table in the local inn. The mayor of Darkshelf, Nielor, gathered his new monster-hunters together with the existing party members and summarized the situation. After asking a few questions, the now-larger group set off to challenge the mudtiger lair. They arrived at the entrance without incident, and proceeded inside \u0026ndash; getting soaked despite their best efforts to avoid the waterfall.\nThe party made their way to the beach, examining again the three passages deeper into the caves. They chose the path with mushrooms to begin with, finding a cave with two doors, a third passage leading south, and a pool of water lit by a lamp. Amathar used to sling to throw a stone at the pool, which promptly formed into some sort of watery snake creature and dragged him towards the pool. He was pulled in, but another party member dragged him out. Several other party members were grabbed before one had the idea to dump oil into the pool and light it on fire. Now, everyone attacked by the strange creature was being burned alive while they drowned.\nFinally giving up on dealing with the watery creature, the party retreated and explored the passageway leading to the killer frogs. They found a single surviving frog, and Amathar wounded it with his staff almost immediately. Amathar remembered that creatures similar to mudtigers often view frogs as treats, tasty dietary supplements, and a quick poll revealed that various party members had hooks and rope, so\u0026hellip; the party went fishing for mudtigers.\nThey tossed the rope, hook on one end, bait (frog bits) on the hook, down into the corridor and dragged it back while Leah imitated frog mating calls. Before long the rope went taught! The party arranged themselves into an ambush position with missile weapons and prepared to receive the mudtiger. As the beast was dragged into the room and Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows began to take their toll, Pyro suddenly yelped as if something had struck him \u0026ndash; and the sound of claws in wet sand came from behind Leah. Something was charging the party! Leah got a shot off \u0026ndash; but the creature, reeking of death, clawed her in return. The horrid stench at such close range paralyzed the ranger in place, with Pyro behind her to avoid her arrows and thus unable to protect her from the claws and teeth of the undead.\nFortunately, Warin felt his holy calling and stepped forward, holding a giant golden question mark high, and began the chants of power that his church leaders swore would drive back the undead. He felt the holy power rising within him, and faintly from behind the sound of Barron reading a scroll aloud as well\u0026hellip; and his uncertain faith was bolstered as the filthy creatures fell back, unable to reach him or Leah! All those long years of study, finally paying off! This was the power of God!\nWhile Leah and Pyro were beset by the living dead, the mudtiger was attacking those nearby, and a fish-man stepped out of the shadows to attack as well! His first spear thrust missed, but his fishy strench was making those close to him weak with nausea. And each blow to the mudtiger next to him send a jolt of lightning through all of those nearby as well, making their armor and weapons feel strangely resistant to normal motions.\nGradually, with the undead held back by Warin\u0026rsquo;s chants (and perhaps a little help from Barron), the tide turned. when Leah recovered from her paralysis, she put an arrow all the way through the mudtiger from snout to tail, and the shocking death throes killed the fish-man. The same shock nearly killed Amathar and Seb, who crawled back towards the entrance, desperately trying to live to fight another day. Another mudtiger quickly took its place, but fell much more rapidly.\nWith the party\u0026rsquo;s full attention on the ghouls, whose claws could no longer reach the living, they retreated in a display of animal cunning. The pursuit spread the party out a bit more, and even more ghouls emerged from the shadows \u0026ndash; but the party regrouped quickly and made short work of their opponents from the advantage of their magical protection.\nAs Leah, Warin, and Barron finished off the rest of the undead, the wounded party members \u0026ndash; some of them perhaps reconsidering their choice of career! \u0026ndash; crawled towards the exit. We will open next session back in town without further incident, having turned in the mudtiger heads.\nMudtiger\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # Base xp for showing up (each): 100xp Fought and survived a Water Weird without defeating it: 25xp Killed 4 ghouls: 380xp Killed 1 killer frog (ribbit!): 105xp Killed 1 fish-man: 100xp Killed 2 small mudtigers: 430xp Reward for 2 small mudtiger heads: 200xp Total: 1840xp (307xp each) Treasure # Reward for 2 small mudtiger heads: 200gp Reward for 1 mashed-up pile of dead frogs: 0gp Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # ","date":"8 March 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-33/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 33rd full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Warin) are returning cast members. Joining the group for the first time are Chris (Seb, a human thief), Jeff (a grey elf wizard known as Amathar), and Brian (a half-orc assassin).\nAs we left the party, they had returned to town after their near-death experience with the killer frogs. After spending the night in the inn recuperating, they woke the next morning to find the town filled with wanted posters. The posters had a reward offered for mudtiger heads following the slaughter of a band of game wardens, and suggested that there was a possibility humanoids were involved due to wounds on the bodies (some from an arrow, some from swords or knives, in addition to bites from the mudtigers).\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 33","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nSession Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 32nd full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Gunnar/Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were leaving the cave system conveniently hidden behind a waterfall. They made it about an hour towards town, towing the boat, before Leah heard hoofbeats coming from further downstream. Thic Duc slipped behind the boat and tossed his gear in to disguise the mudtiger, Barron and Gunnar pretended to be drunk, and Leah took on the role of designated walker. After a minute or two, another guard patrol rode into view.\nThe group tried desperately to sell their story of a drunken hunting expedition. It was not very convincing, but the patrol seemed content to herd them back to town\u0026hellip; at least until they reached the path from the river back to town. The patrol tried to subtly separate them from the boat, while the party tried to subtly prevent them from being separated. The dance continued until Barron shoulder-checked one of the guards, tripping him. He fell on a rock, leaving him with a visible dent in his skull and clearly infuriated. The guard stood back up and drew his sword to attack.\nThe other guards were still trying to get the situation back under control. Thic Duc, still hidden near the boat, tried to keep it moving away. The squad leader grabbed Barron while his subordinate swung his sword wildly at him, missing. Gunnar tossed Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s backpack back in the board, rocking it, and from his hidden spot Thic Duc dumped the boat over.\nWhen the squad of guards saw the body of a mudtiger, their leader screamed orders to \u0026ldquo;kill them all\u0026rdquo;. In the ensuing melee, the enraged guard accidentally killed his commander, and Leah put an arrow into the back of Gunnar\u0026rsquo;s head. Oops.\nThe party piled the bodies into the boat, cleaned up the crime scene, and fled downstream to discuss their options. Eventually they decided to bury the patrol\u0026rsquo;s bodies in a shallow grave, send Gunnar back to Rookroost to make an insurance claim (with Elion handling the paperwork), and show the mayor of Darkshelf the mudtiger corpse. While doing so, they met Warin, a novice cleric bored of hymns and seeking adventure. Barron promptly scammed him of 20gp to allow him join the party. Warin had a vague feeling of unease about the whole transaction, but it would all be worth it once he was out in the world smiting things and taking their stuff. Or whatever adventurers do.\nWith Elion sent off to Rookroost, and Thic Duc meditating on his experiences, the remainder of the party set off for the cave system again. They chose to follow the path with many small frog footprints, which led to a small natural cavern with a hot, bubbling pool in the middle. The atmosphere was filled with sulfurus steam. As the party approached, two small (fist-sized) frogs leaped towards them.\nLeah reacted instantly, shouting the command for Pyro to attack while pointing into the room. Eagerly, Pyro lept forward, sailing over the heads of the frogs as if he hadn\u0026rsquo;t even noticed them (natural 1), and landed in the middle of the cool, refreshing hot and sulfurus pool. Ouch! Pyro woofed that he was definitely leaping out of the pool next round.\nTwo more killer frogs promptly attacked him, sinking teeth and claws deep into his canine hide. Pyro promptly collapsed from blood loss, still in the pool.\nMore frogs rapidly appeared, engaging the party\u0026rsquo;s front line of hirelings. Two launched themselves at the throat of the same man-at-arms, biting and clawing their way into his armor. He collapsed screaming. Leah begged for the second to get her dog out of the water, while she shot arrow after arrow at the tiny hopping targets.\nThe second man at arms made it to the pool of scalding hot water, managing to drag Pyro free of the heat before collapsing under the wave of attacking frogs. The last of the hirelings moved forward to engage the frogs, while Leah\u0026rsquo;s frantic defense first impale a frog on the end of her drawn arrow, then shot the arrow \u0026ndash; with the frog \u0026ndash; into yet another of the deadly amphibians. Barron swung wildly, the precise strikes that served so well against human targets doing less well against creatures with a very different anatomy.\nFinally, Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows took their toll, and the last of the frogs perished. One of the hirelings had died, and another came close. They were both re-evaluating the idea of \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s go have adventures, it will be fun!\u0026rdquo; Pyro had seen the great fetch-stick in the sky, and returned with a new outlook on life. Only Leah escaped with just a few scratches, though Barron and the last man-at-arms were not badly hurt, and the frogs had mostly ignored Warin as he bandaged dogs and men.\nWith the battle over, the party explored the room. There were two additional exits, and one of them was producing odd crackling noises. Warin felt a strange sense of danger from that room\u0026hellip; Leah found odd tracks, mostly human, but with claws.\nWith little to show for their venture into the caverns, but confident that at least there were no more frogs in that particular room, the party returned to town. Barron went through their possessions and sold some of them, hoping to make room for more and perhaps fund further hirelings. Warin felt another warning when Barron considered selling a scroll of protection from undead, so they kept it.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # 5 patrol guards: 75xp 8 killer frogs: 840xp 1 wild boar: 141xp Sale of plate mail: 400xp Sale of five horses: 150xp Sale of miscellaneous goods: 994gp Roleplaying bonus: 400xp (group) Showing the mudtiger to the mayor: 1000xp Total Group Experience: 4000xp Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # After the frogs, the path to the north had human footsteps, plus... claws? Gunnar died, but his body was recovered and revived; he is now in Rookroost The party met Warin, a novice cleric (Coby's new character) ","date":"22 February 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-32/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nSession Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 32nd full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Coby (Gunnar/Warin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were leaving the cave system conveniently hidden behind a waterfall. They made it about an hour towards town, towing the boat, before Leah heard hoofbeats coming from further downstream. Thic Duc slipped behind the boat and tossed his gear in to disguise the mudtiger, Barron and Gunnar pretended to be drunk, and Leah took on the role of designated walker. After a minute or two, another guard patrol rode into view.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 32","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 31st full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just killed a bear (definitely on the Do-Not-Kill list) nearby to the ventilation shaft running upwards from the mines. They spent the next few hours giving it a proper burial and hiding the evidence of their (very short) battle before preparing to descend the shaft and investigate near dawn. Leah noticed that the air flowing out of the shaft had a distinct scent of unkept humanoid they had encountered before \u0026ndash; likely orcs, or something related. Definitely not dwarves, at least not judging by the stench.\nThic Duc made his way down the walls of the shaft, with the rest of the party hanging on to a rope just in case he slipped. Despite the walls of the shaft being moist with humidity, he made it down without incident. At the bottom of the shaft he found bars mounted vertically around the area where the shaft terminates, keeping anything human-sized that descended into the shaft captive. The bars were also thickly greased, making it difficult to climb back out. Around that strange prisonlike chamber was a slightly larger room with no notable features. A single corridor led off to the east. After looking around, noting a few dead animals, Thic Duc lit a torch and burned off the grease from one of the bars to make it possible to climb out and escape. The party returned to town without incident.\nDeciding that they needed to relax, they took a nap and then visited the Bawdy Wench, which turned out to be as gawdy inside as the name might imply. The custom there was to rent rooms by the hour, and the propriestress Laura (a lady of truly stunning beauty, complete with 5-o-clock shadow and enough extra weight to match two or three of her employees) brought out her girls. Jenny, a rather attractive dark-haired woman (Charisma 14), took Thic Duc into a room for a massage and light conversation. Marissa (Charisma 10) claimed Barron (who gave his name as Wendel) for herself, falling for his long nose and wriggling crawfish. And due to the crush of business, Laura herself came out of retirement to handle Gunnar (Charisma 6). Charisma scores were rolled at the table and assigned to players in order from right to left\nAfter spending a comfortable hour or two interrogating the whores at the Bawdy Wench, the party took a nap, waking up again at midnight to go monster hunting. They traveled upstream to where they had previously found the boat marks near Nellie\u0026rsquo;s body. The evidence they noted earlier \u0026ndash; the boat marks, the tree branch the boat had been tied to \u0026ndash; was gone, with obvious signs of removal on the tree branch. There were tracks leading upstream, but it was too dark to follow them reliable. The party decided to head upstream anyway, hoping to find something before dawn. They followed the river upstream for an hour or so until they came to a small waterfall, where Leah picked up the tracks they had tried to follow earlier, and Thic Duc noticed a cave opening behind the waterfall.\nMarissa told Barron that Bazili Erzak liked to roleplay as an orc when in bed with her. He would talk in orcish and act uncivilized.\nJenny told Thic Duc that Glyrthiel rarely visited, but when she did, the other girls said she liked to be \u0026ldquo;commanding\u0026rdquo;.\nLaura told Gunnar that she loved the experience and to come back soon. Also, Grognak, one of the guards at the mine, had some sort of non-human holy symbol with him.\nEntering the cave through a wide passage in ankle-deep water, the party proceeded warily with Barron in the lead. Leah stopped suddenly as Barron approached a wider part of the passage, smelling something that reminded her of wet earth\u0026hellip; just as three strange creatures emerged from water and advanced towards the group. They were the color of earth and the texture of stone, with greyish streaks like those of a tiger, but with the bulk of their body low to the ground like a crocodile. As Leah searched her memory for that they reminded her of, Barron fed them steaks, which the large one ate willingly while the rest maintained threatening postures. The tense standoff continued for a minute or two, with Thic Duc managing to gradually slip by the creatures along the side of the cavern. Gunnar tried the same, but the creatures reacted poorly, and a fight broke out. Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows killed the first and largest of them, Thic Duc and Gunnar stabbed the other to death.. but each blow triggered an electrical shock through all of the party members standing in the water, and produced a strange effect on their metal armor and weapons. Anything metallic caught in the blast seemed to move on its own, tugging randomly in odd directions. (-2 to hit and damage for 1d6 rounds)\nThe jaws and teeth of the creatures seemed to be a match for the marks on the bodies.\nAfter the creatures were slain, the party continued to explore, finding a small beach inside the cave with a boat tied up on the shore. They carefully levered the body of the largest creature into the boat, planning to take it with them, after an attempt to cut off its head resulted in more shocking experiences. After doing that, they examined the passageways leading away from the beach. There were three: one with tracks similar to sahuagin (webbed feet walking upright), one with mushrooms, and one with frog tracks. There were also remnants of whole frogs on the beach. It seems likely the mudtigers were eating them.\nThe party first chose to follow the passage with fish-man tracks. They found a room with a seaweed bed, similar to those they had seen in the sahuagin lair, and Barron\u0026rsquo;s infravision showed it was warmer than the surroundings. He approached the bed, and a fishy humanoid leaped out to defend itself. The party surrounded the creature and killed it, but not before it released some sort of toxic poison into the air (save versus breath weapon or 1d6 points strength loss for 1d6 rounds).\nThe next room had two more, which the party found out the hard way when they attacked from ambush, demonstrating some kind of camoflage power to attack Barron from behind. It also had a smaller passage continuing on ahead, from which came a stench that reminded Barron of something very familiar to him, but he couldn\u0026rsquo;t quite place it.\nThe party chose to turn around and explore a side passage before continuing further. There, they found a pillar, surrounded by mushrooms, with the floor covered in sand. Gunnar advanced into the room, noticing passageways to the left and right and a door at the far end. Barron followed him, and his foot was promptly caught in a noose, sweeping up off his feet and up towards the ceiling so that he dangled upside down. He drew his scimitar and slashed at the rope. Thic Duc used his spear to sweep through the sand, finding and triggering another noose trap. He made his way up the spear and began to cut it down.\nThus, it was Gunnar who noticed the mudtiger approaching from one of the other tunnels.\nThe party chose to flee, with Barron cutting himself down and landing on his head, and Thic Duc dragging the boat with the mudtiger corpse behind them as they ran out of the cave.\nStaff\nWizard\u0026rsquo;s staff by Flaming Monkey Society\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # Interrogated the whores at the Bawdy Wench: 1000xp Descended the shaft and determined the equipment needed to open it: 100xp Destroying the evidence of the bear's home-invasion murder: 100xp Preserving the evidence of one of the mudtigers: 100xp 1 large mudtiger: 240xp 2 small mudtigers: 430xp 3 sahuagin (?): 300xp Roleplaying bonus: 400xp (group) Total Group Experience: 2670xp Roleplaying moments and quotables # Whoremapping: Jenny gave Thic Duc a massage, Marissa took a shrimp for Barron, and Laura the proprietress came out of retirement for Gunnar Bazili (the quarry overseer) likes to roleplay as an orc with Marissa Glyrthiel (his second in command) is very, very commanding when she visits Grog carries a strange holy symbol, which might be a non-human diety \u0026quot;We do the weird stuff!\u0026quot; (Dr Horrible) \u0026quot;Oh god oh god oh god yes give me the shrimp again!\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Leah tentatively identified the strange creatures they encountered as \u0026quot;mudtigers\u0026quot;, with a relationship to the elemental planes of earth and water Elmo's Wand of Polymorph has been used 5 times. How many charges remain? Fred is dead... Velma and Daphne are taking his body to Dunwich Shaggy was torn to bits and eaten by sharks Daphne is still a squirrel ","date":"8 February 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-31/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 31st full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just killed a bear (definitely on the Do-Not-Kill list) nearby to the ventilation shaft running upwards from the mines. They spent the next few hours giving it a proper burial and hiding the evidence of their (very short) battle before preparing to descend the shaft and investigate near dawn. Leah noticed that the air flowing out of the shaft had a distinct scent of unkept humanoid they had encountered before – likely orcs, or something related. Definitely not dwarves, at least not judging by the stench.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 31","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 30th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had found rooms at the Rest In Peace overnight. In the morning, Mayor Neistor of Darkshelf was waiting for them in the common room of the inn. He waved them over to his table, recognizing them from a message Elena had sent, and provided them with a copy of his letter to her. They discussed rewards (100gp per slaver captured and slave rescued, 1000gp for finding and ending the slave trade ring if it is still in operation, and additional bounties for discovering and eliminating the cause of the strange noises and dead bodies). Neistor also revealed that he had previously sent an agent into the quarry, a man named Kwon, who had not contacted him in some time.\nAfter some discussion, the party requested, and received, paperwork claiming they were authorized to audit the financial papers of the quarry. Neistor warned them that this might attract the wrong sort of attention from the dwarf Bazili, if he had something to hide, especially given the disappearance of the agent sent there previously. The party felt it was worth trying anyway.\nThey traveled to the quarry to first pose as buyers. Upon arrival at the guardhouse (a very impressive castle in miniature complete with drawbridge), they were escorted inside to a surprisingly comfortable waiting area while Bazili was located. The party immediately requested a chamberpot and used it. Aggressively. The guard at the gate called for \u0026ldquo;Grog\u0026rdquo; to empty it. After about an hour, Bazili arrived, accompanied by Glyrthiel, and the party was shown to a conference room to discuss their proposed stone purchase. After sizing up Barron, noting his odor and the generally well armed nature of his companions, Bazili inquired about the details and purpose of their purchase. Thic Duc mentioned it was a dock for Saltmarsh, which seemed to go over reasonably well. (\u0026ldquo;You are aware that the stone will not float?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Yes, but if you sink several stones each on top of the other, beginning at the bottom and working upwards, a permanent structure can be constructed.\u0026rdquo;)\nThen Barron took over the conversation. He mentioned a bank (\u0026ldquo;I would recommend marble, but we don\u0026rsquo;t have a source for that here\u0026rdquo;) and then a warehouse, and then limestone with gold trim. Bazili was growing noticeably more skeptical each time the story changed. Finally, he sighed and asked what they really wanted. The party immediately produced the letter from the Neistor and said they were there to audit the books. Glyrthiel muttered something under her breath that sounded like \u0026ldquo;You don\u0026rsquo;t look like lawyers. Or smell like accountants.\u0026rdquo;\nBazili stood up and called for a guard to escort them back to Darkshelf. The party cooperated at first, but ducked back into the waiting room rather than exit the building. After a moment playing peekaboo with the guards (\u0026ldquo;Knock knock\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Are you ready to be audited? No? Goodbye!\u0026rdquo;) Bazili made it clear that he was not going to play games and send in Lazlo the half-orc guard to do things \u0026ldquo;the hard way\u0026rdquo;. As soon as he did, Thic Duc backed against the wall and said the easy way was fine with him.\nMost of the rest of the party agreed, but Barron mouthed off, and managed to avoid being grabbed. On his second try, Lazlo the half-orc broke his pinkie finger on the wall behind Barron. Ouch! This prompted Gunnar to take up his shield and bash Lazlo with it, clearly staggered the huge guard.\nShield bashes do 1d4 damage. Magic bonuses for the shield do apply, but so do non-proficiency penalties. Using a shield bash counts as your normal attack, unless you have a spiked buckler, in which case it can be used as a second weapon in your off hand subject to additional penalties. Using a shield to attack negates the defensive bonus for that round. House rules updated\nGlyrthiel responded by casting a Sleep spell, which knocked Gunnar out. The rest of the party was not affected due to level. In addition, elves and half-elves receive a 30% resistence to sleep and charm spells. Leah, remember that resistance the next time someone casts either one at you, it might save you from making unexpected new wizard friends.\nWith Gunnar out, however, Barron decided the better part of valor was not to fight the enraged half-orc alone. The party was conducted back to Darkshelf without further incident.\nThe following day, they decided to explore the wilderness, looking for the locations where the bitten bodies had been found. They found the location where poor Nelli\u0026rsquo;s body had been found, and upstream from that, where she usually collected her drinking water. They also met two patrols on the way, simple country game wardens who watched for poachers and incoming hordes of orc or goblin raiders. The patrols agreed to accompany the party to make sure they remained safe during the search. An hour or so of travel upstream after that, they found a strange mark along the riverbank: a long, straight, depression in the sand and dirt, roughly perpendicular to the flow of the river Pelmyra.\nThe guards dismissed it as bear marks. (Their \u0026ldquo;do not take game\u0026rdquo; list includes lions, tigers, and something called an \u0026ldquo;ohmy\u0026rdquo;. And pigs, but they openly admitted not caring if people took pigs.) Thic Duc suggested instead it was a mark where a boat had been pulled up along the river. As soon as he voiced this idea aloud, the mounted guards moved to casually block the way further upstream and began herding them back towards Darkshelf with as much subtly as country game wardens can offer.\nBarron and Leah conspired in thieves\u0026rsquo; cant, with Leah mostly restraining Barron. Gunnar eventually spoke up, saying he dropped a holy symbol back upstream and could he go look for it? The guards sent one of their number away to look on his behalf and promised to meet them in Darkshelf tomorrow to help them look if the guard they sent back could not find it.\nThe party returned to Darkshelf without murdering the game wardens. The local peddler had a small holy symbol mostly matching Gunnar\u0026rsquo;s description (bronze, not gold, but Gunnar probably can\u0026rsquo;t tell the difference). They bought it, planning to show the guards they had found the item in the morning rather than exploring the woods with them.\nShortly after dark, the party went exploring again, looking for the ventilation shaft. After several hours of searching, they found it by identifying the faint column of heated air rising from within. (Very faint, as in, not dangerous, at least not from heat). They also found a black bear, which immediately embraced Leah in a clumsy but affectionate hug. Leah immediately killed it with two arrows from her bow, striking its brain through a weak point under the jaw. A painless death, and bear steaks for everyone.\nOh wait, what was that the game wardens said not to shoot?\nWe leave the party standing over the bear\u0026rsquo;s body, debating whether to butcher it for a barbeque immediately or descend into the ventilation shaft\u0026hellip;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # Attempted to pose as purchasers of stone (and failed): 1000xp Attempted to audit the books of the quarry operation (worth a try): 1000xp Coming up with a holy symbol excuse (worth a try): 100xp Killed a black bear near the quarry (Ask Leah if she has any recipes!): 95xp Finding the boat marks near one of the body sites (A clue, Watson!): 1000xp Roleplaying bonus: 500xp Total Group Experience: 3695xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # Several bodies have been found in both Saltmarsh and Darkshelf with large bite wounds from \u0026quot;carnivorous fish?\u0026quot; Elmo's Wand of Polymorph has been used 5 times. How many charges remain? Fred is dead... Velma and Daphne are taking his body to Dunwich Shaggy was torn to bits and eaten by sharks Daphne is still a squirrel The party encountered a bear and killed it in self defense. Are they poachers? ","date":"25 January 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-30/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nA0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 30th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had found rooms at the Rest In Peace overnight. In the morning, Mayor Neistor of Darkshelf was waiting for them in the common room of the inn. He waved them over to his table, recognizing them from a message Elena had sent, and provided them with a copy of his letter to her. They discussed rewards (100gp per slaver captured and slave rescued, 1000gp for finding and ending the slave trade ring if it is still in operation, and additional bounties for discovering and eliminating the cause of the strange noises and dead bodies). Neistor also revealed that he had previously sent an agent into the quarry, a man named Kwon, who had not contacted him in some time.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 30","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 29th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jon (Elion), Nathan (Kevin) and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just returned to Saltmarsh with a cargo of weapons captured from the sahuagin. After selling the weapons in Saltmarsh, the town council wanted to know why they had so many unusual weapons to sell, so the party shared with them the abbrieviated story of their adventures since the haunted manor. In turn, the town council revealed that many of their fishermen have gone missing since the sahuagin appeared, and there are rumors of a slave trade ring running at the quarry in nearby satellite down Darkshelf.\nThe party decided to take a step back from the sahuagin problem, having delayed any plans the fish-men might have to attack by stealing their weaponry, and investigate the slave trade. Since the sahuagin were using slaves to finish out their lair, it seemed reasonable to suspect a connection, and the prisoners the party had just rescued might be bound back to that slave trade ring following their recapture by the sahuagin. They decided to delay their reconnaissance of the sahuagin lair to investigate the slave trade ring. Rumor placed the trade in a quarry near Darkshelf, to the north of Rookroost.\nThe party traveled to Rookroost from Saltmarsh. There, they restocked their healing potions (three each), picked up two suits of dragonscale armor (Kevin and Barron, leather and split) and Leah\u0026rsquo;s masterwork bow. Gunnar ordered a masterwork bow, which the bowyer declared he was not ready for, but might be in a month when it was ready \u0026ndash; if he practiced with the one he already had.\nPlanning to spend the night in the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower, the party had agreed to meet there. Elion separated from the rest, asking after rumors of a wizard who might be able to teach him new spells. Barron snuck after Elion, with something very strange indeed on his mind. Oddly enough, though, the directions Elion received also led him to the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower, though he did not recognize the address (having never been there before). Once there, he knocked. Barron emerged from the shadows and used the password to open the door. The two of them explored briefly before calling out loudly, \u0026ldquo;Hello? Is anyone here?\u0026rdquo;\nA voice from above replied, accusing them of breaking into his home. After some negotiations and many complaints, Elion and Jim agreed to trade spells: Elion would provide a scroll of Unseen Servant, which he had found on his adventures, and Jim the new court wizard would provide a scroll of Find Familiar. The exchange would ahve gone smoothly, save that Elion failed to learn the Unseen Servant spell when he tried to copy it into his spellbook first, and so left a false copy of the spell for Jim. And, of course, Barron stayed behind to attempt an ambush.\nJim was successfully ambushed. However, while Barron attempted to extort a sort of rental agreement and groundkeepers\u0026rsquo; role from Jim, and Jim protested that General Perneti himself had given him permission to live in the tower, Jim was also using the time to scramble back up the stairs to the top of his tower. While negotiations continued, a sequence of strange flashes was seen by those outside the tower\u0026hellip; flashes in some sort of pattern.\nHaving successfully signaled the guard for help while distracting Barron with negotiations, Jim decided to go on the attack. He lept from the top of the stairs, muttering the words of a Featherfall spell as he did. Barron called out \u0026ldquo;He wants to play rough, guys!\u0026rdquo; The party wasted their time readying missile weapons. On the next round, Jim cast Sleep, knocking Elion and Gunnar out of the fight, and then landed. Barron attacked and left Jim with a minor cut, not enough to end the fight. Kevin cast Produce Flame and lit the staircase on fire while shouting threats.\nJim opened the next round with three magic missiles to Barron\u0026rsquo;s face as Leah rushed in from outside the tower. Jim beat her initiative roll and cast Charm Person; Leah is Jim\u0026rsquo;s good friend for the next two weeks (at least), until she makes a save. This also took Pyro out of the fight. Kevin chose to throw his Produce Flame at Jim, which did no immediate damage but set his robes on fire.\nThis brought Jim close to death, and Barron negotiated his surrender, then put out the flames by pouring a healing potion on the burning wizard while he begged. Barron then resumed negotiations, seeking to keep title to the tower while leaving Jim there as a \u0026ldquo;caretaker\u0026rdquo; paying rent. Despite his close call, Jim was pretty insistent that he had the full right to live there.\nShortly thereafter, two guards from the city watch arrived, followed closely by Thic Duc. They approached the door, banging on it loudly and demanding entry. \u0026ldquo;Open up in the name of the General!\u0026rdquo; they shouted! Barron quickly demanded Jim reassure them they all was well. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll be right there,\u0026rdquo; Jim replied, \u0026ldquo;and I\u0026rsquo;m perfectly fine, no one is holding me hostage right now!\u0026rdquo; Barron cursed under his breath.\nAfter a few minutes of pounding, with creative excuses for delay, Barron swung the door open. Elion greeted the guards and immediately began casting. The guards recognized it and attacked, but failed to interrupt the spell. The targeted guard failed his save against Elion\u0026rsquo;s Charm Person, and Elion took a minor wound from the other. The two guards immediately began arguing over what to do, with the uncharmed guard dragging his partner away while explaining that he was under the effect of a spell. Before they left, Jim called out, \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m not being held captive by 5 people and a huge dog!\u0026rdquo; It was Elion\u0026rsquo;s turn to groan, while the guards reassured him they would be back with reinforcements.\nSeeking to honor the deal they had negotiated under duress, Elion took his scroll of Unseen Servant and attempted to copy it into his spellbook, and then prepare a scroll to offer to in trade. He failed to learn the spell, and chose to present an inperfect (ie, useless) copy of the spell to Jim in trade for Jim\u0026rsquo;s perfectly honorable copy of Find Familiar.\nThe party proceeded in a hurry to the village of Darkshelf, one step ahead of the guards. One of them gave a jaunty wave as they passed by.\nIn Darkshelf, the party found a small mining town with four taverns surrounding the central area and a lone peddler hawking his wares. Aside from him and the occasional resident making their way from one tavern to another, the streets were empty.\nThe taverns are named:\nThe Bawdy Wench (North) (by the hour, sounds of wild partying from within) A Pinch of Salt and Battery (South) (noise of fighting periodically) Rest In Peace (West) (quiet) Fair Measure (East) (dining only, quietish with dinner conversation and music) The party first visited Fair Measure, and found it to be about half full of well-dressed individuals and their bodyguards and staff. The party bought drinks and took in a meal, asking questions about the town. They learned that more bodies have been found in the area, attacked by something with teeth. Strangely, carnivorous fish still seems to be the opinion of the locals, despite the town being inland. They are puzzled by this as well.\nDuring the meal, Gunnar asked about how they would find slavers rather loudly. Oops. Later, when they asked for a recommendation on where to spend the night, the barmaid directed them to the Rest In Peace.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # Elion traded a (failed) copy of Unseen Servant for a scroll of Find Familiar Kevin picked up his dragonscale armor (Splint Mail +2, allows breathing underwater) Barron picked up his dragonscale armor (Leather +2, allows breathing underwater) Leah picked up her masterwork bow (+1/+1, nonmagical) Gunnar commissioned a masterwork short bow (ready in a month) Experience # Defeated a wizard (Jim) in the sage's tower: 200xp Roleplaying bonus: 1000xp Total Group Experience: 1200xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;I'll be right there,\u0026quot; Jim replied, \u0026quot;and I'm perfectly fine, no one is holding me hostage right now!\u0026quot; Barron cursed under his breath. Dangling Threads of Fate # Several bodies have been found in both Saltmarsh and Darkshelf with large bite wounds from \u0026quot;carnivorous fish?\u0026quot; Elmo's Wand of Polymorph has been used 5 times. How many charges remain? Fred is dead... Velma and Daphne are taking his body to Dunwich Shaggy was torn to bits and eaten by sharks Daphne is still a squirrel ","date":"11 January 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-29/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"A0: Danger at Darkshelf Quarry # The 29th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jon (Elion), Nathan (Kevin) and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just returned to Saltmarsh with a cargo of weapons captured from the sahuagin. After selling the weapons in Saltmarsh, the town council wanted to know why they had so many unusual weapons to sell, so the party shared with them the abbrieviated story of their adventures since the haunted manor. In turn, the town council revealed that many of their fishermen have gone missing since the sahuagin appeared, and there are rumors of a slave trade ring running at the quarry in nearby satellite down Darkshelf.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 29","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S3: The Final Enemy # The 28th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jon (Elion), and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were in dire straits, trapped between a squad of fish-men coming from behind, another squad out front with at least three leaders, their lizard allies absent, and a number of the party dead or missing. Shaggy was shark food, Hargrimm had been knocked unconscious by a blow to the head in the general melee, Scooby was a shishkabob and Fred was somewhere outside the doors where Thic Duc was being dragged, semiconscious, away from his friends. Velma was out of tricks, Kevin the druid was fighting a last stand against an entire squad from the south, and everyone was running low on healing potions, and the party motto \u0026ndash; Grab the body and run! \u0026ndash; was looking like better advice by the minute.\nAs stated by Guildmistress Elena, the party\u0026rsquo;s goals were:\nDetermine the strength of the sahuagin force -- how many warriors, officers, nobles, etc are present. Locate important areas within the fortress -- barracks, officers quarters, etc Discover any significant defensive measures -- areas with traps, guards, regular patrols, purpose-build defenses Discover how advanced any sahuagin preparations are, and when their next attack might take place Step one was to close the doors, hopefully allowing the party to defend from a fortified position against the sahuagin just outside while cleaning up the remaining sahuagin inside the lair. They accomplished this rapidly, while the sahuagin were distracted fighting the spider that had suddenly appeared in their ranks. Leah stepped up and began firing through the arrow slits in the door. Two of the leaders faced off against the spider, neither being very effective against the other. The priestess began directing her troops to push themselves through the arrow slits \u0026ndash; the bones of such fishy creatures being compressible, similar to octopi (but less so). Barron immediately slashed one with his saber, which appeared to kill the sahuagin warrior while he was still trapped.. but a moment later, and some chanting by the priestess, and the fishy warrior was active again and hungry for brains!\nDaphne, in her squirrel-form, repeatedly scrambled up walls and along the ceiling, dropping from fish-men from above, but repeatedly miscalculated the distance she was able to travel while in the air. Daphne may be a squirrel, but she is not a flying squirrel.\nBetween the giant spider and the party\u0026rsquo;s sniping through arrow slits, the sahuagin outside the door were whittled down and killed. The party hurriedly exited the lair and chased after their cart and the squad of sahuagin who were taking their captives (including Thic Duc and Fred) away into the swamp. They were able to catch up to the sahuagin, who move rather slowly on land, and defeat the small squad. The arrival of a somewhat withdrawn comrade, Michael the cleric, and a confused warhorse helped distract the fish-men during the assault.\nAt the end of the session, the party returned to the sahuagin lair, quickly surprising a replacement squad of fish-men who did not expect the criminals to return to the scene of the crime. After taking the gatehouse, however, they saw still more sahuagin within, already cleaning up the bodies. Sensing that they had stirred the nest up enough already, they chose to abandon Scooby\u0026rsquo;s body inside the sahuagin lair, along with the halfing thief they met briefly, and Shaggy\u0026rsquo;s shark-bitten shreds. They would instead return (with Fred\u0026rsquo;s body) to Saltmarsh, sell the captured weaponry, possibly report to the lizardfolk, and consider their next plan of action.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # 74 spears (60gp) 60 tridents (240gp) 30 daggers (60gp) 60 hooked nets (300gp) 194 javelins (87gp) 4 crossbows (80gp) 4 leader armbands (80gp) 2 electric prod daggers (not sold?) 5 unusual crossbows (not sold?) 33gp in loose coins Total: 900gp Experience # 1 sahuagin priestess (at the entrance): 200xp 2 sahuagin leaders (at the entrance): 200xp 1 giant spider (at the entrance): 200xp 6 sahuagin guards (with priestess): 516xp 6 sahuagin guards (leaving with Thic Duc): 516xp 6 sahuagin guards (in the guardhouse after rescuing Thic Duc): 516xp Bonus for discovering and reporting the entry area defenses: 250xp Bonus for discovering and reporting the presence of officers: 250xp Bonus for discovering and reporting the presence of priestesses: 500xp Bonus for stealing stockpiled weaponry, thus delaying a large scale attack: 1000xp Total Group Experience: 5048 xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Thic Duc gets stuck in the door Daphne the killer squirrel screaming \u0026quot;Oh, shit, I'm not a flying squirrel\u0026quot; as she falls from the ceiling, missing a fishman... twice Daphne the killer squirrel rides Pyro into battle The fishman who grabbed Leah with both hands (two natural twenties) bit into her for ... 3 points of damage Gunnar the master swordsman smacks his longsword into the wall, dropping it, while attacking a surprised and immobile fishman Dangling Threads of Fate # Elmo's Wand of Polymorph has been used three times. How many charges remain? Fred is dead... his body is in the Mystery Machine Shaggy was torn to bits and eaten by sharks Daphne is still a squirrel ","date":"21 December 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-28/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S3: The Final Enemy # The 28th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jon (Elion), and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they were in dire straits, trapped between a squad of fish-men coming from behind, another squad out front with at least three leaders, their lizard allies absent, and a number of the party dead or missing. Shaggy was shark food, Hargrimm had been knocked unconscious by a blow to the head in the general melee, Scooby was a shishkabob and Fred was somewhere outside the doors where Thic Duc was being dragged, semiconscious, away from his friends. Velma was out of tricks, Kevin the druid was fighting a last stand against an entire squad from the south, and everyone was running low on healing potions, and the party motto – Grab the body and run! – was looking like better advice by the minute.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 28","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nS3: The Final Enemy # The 27th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jon (Elion), Adam (Hargrimm) and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members. Adam (Hargrimm) and Coby (Gunnar) are new players who have not yet had a chance to introduce themselves properly.\nAs we left the party, they had just beaten back an attack of sahuagin warriors emerging from the watery entrance to the levels below. The lone fishy survivor of the assault disappeared below, leaving the passage downward choked in blood and fish guts\u0026hellip;\nAs stated by Guildmistress Elena, the party\u0026rsquo;s goals were:\nDetermine the strength of the sahuagin force -- how many warriors, officers, nobles, etc are present. Locate important areas within the fortress -- barracks, officers quarters, etc Discover any significant defensive measures -- areas with traps, guards, regular patrols, purpose-build defenses Discover how advanced any sahuagin preparations are, and when their next attack might take place The party took a few minutes to rest and recover from the battle. Hargrimm and Gunnar, two escaped slaves who had been put to hard labor improving the sahuagin\u0026rsquo;s new home, stepped away for a moment to retrieve their armor and weapons from the nearby storeroom and returned to find discussion of the party\u0026rsquo;s next steps continuing. The consensus among the party seemed to be on waiting for the next wave of sahuagin to emerge from the watery depths into a prepared ambush. The sahuagin did not cooperate, and long minutes passed slowly while the party waited and prepared.\nAdam took the opportunity to collect rocks and rope and make 6 bolo-like devices for use against stragglers. (Lacking rope use skill or properly designed materials, one of his weapons was poorly made and will fail in some manner when used. He later gave this flawed weapon to Elion, not realizing it was flawed.)\nAfter quite a while passed with the party doing nothing but staring at the chum-filled water, suddenly one of the sahuagin corpses disappeared underwater! Barron decided to take the lead, lighting a firecracker and tossing it into the water. It fell on the open space where a fishy corpse had been but moments ago, the fuse sizzling out and the mild explosive sinking below the surface without any result.\nNot missing a beat, Barron pulled out a 2-week-old steak he had been marinating in an herbal sleeping drought and tossed that into the water. It landed on the back of another fish-man corpse, floating there ignored while the other corpses disappeared once by one.\nFinally, a fin broke the surface of the water. A frantic competition of monster identification proceeded, with Elion listing the scholarly possibilities from memory (\u0026ldquo;Sharks have fins. So do dolphins and something called a killer whale. Or it could be a narwahl swimming on its side. And there\u0026rsquo;s something called a swordfish, but those fins have a kind of ribbed construction\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;). Leah settled the matter laconically: \u0026ldquo;Shark.\u0026rdquo;\nAdam asked if sharks can be trained or domesticated. Elion told him \u0026ldquo;Not by humans.\u0026rdquo; Whether fish-men have transcended the limitations of common surface dwellers on Oerth is a matter known only to those adventurers who have braved the dangerous depths of the Nyr Dyv and returned to tell the tale. Sadly, none were available.\nThe party continued to stare at the water as the corpses disappeared once by one. Their discussed turned to past experiences with watery doom, and whether watery doom was a matter that needed to be embraced immediately, or perhaps it could be delayed indefinitely, or even fled from promptly and never faced again. They remembered (and shared with their new comrades) the tale of the killer dolphins, and Barron\u0026rsquo;s gruesome death at their sharp teeth and pleasant smiles. They remembered faring rather better than that against the land sharks, mostly because they remained on land.\nNevertheless, the party did aim a few crossbow bolts at the occasional glimpse of shark fin in the bloodied water. It took several tries before they scored a solid hit and that fin disappeared below the surface, leaking its own bloody contribution to the chum.\nIn a strange and disconcerting process of discouragement, the party gradually talked themselves out of venturing below as they had planned and chose instead to retreat towards the entrance. Who needs adventure? We all have safe, pleasant professions we left behind. We can go back to our dull existence where no one tries to kill us and we don\u0026rsquo;t have to venture into watery doom!\nLittle did they know, in Soviet Russia Oerth, watery doom comes to you!\nThe group arranged themselves in their marching order and proceeded back through the parts of the first level they knew well, stopping occasionally as their more stealthy members detected noise ahead of them. As they approached the entrance, where the guards had been stationed and where their bodies had remained after the battle, the lead members of the party noticed something different. The bustling lizardfolk operation to load the contents of the armory into their carts had ceased. Their lizardfolk allies, Leisurely Larry and his Lounge Lizards, Salty Sarge and his Leaping Lizards, gone without a trace. Even the bodies of the fish-men they had slain were gone, though blood stains on the stone and tile remained.\nNevertheless, the party continued onwards. As they passed through the narrow corridor between the first and second guard rooms, with Fred in the lead followed by Thic Duc and Velma, suddenly the latter pair were seized by a mysterious force and held in place.\nWhile those behind tried to determine what had happened, Fred (in the lead) turned around to try to help. He was promptly struck from behind by two tridents, inflicting noticeable damage even through his armor. He spun around rapidly to face the attack just as a globe of darkness fell over the whole group.\nWith Fred fully engaged, both Velma and Thic Duc paralyzed, and the whole mess covered by magical darkness, Elion begin trying to move forward. He made it past Velma and tripped on Thic Duc in the dark.\nBarron, Leah, Pyro, Mr Crackers, Hargrimm and Gunnar were bringing up the rear. The sound of wet and fishy footsteps from behind the party alerted them to the need for a rear guard. They set up an ambush at the southern entrance to the armory, using the door as a bottleneck. A volley of arrows from Leah and a well-time backstab from Barron took out the first squad. The second squad approached, their path blocked by Pyro and Mr. Crackers, with Leah still firing from behind them both. Weakly, from behind, a voice cried out for help towards the front of the party, but Leah ignored it; clearly the speaker was not badly hurt and she was busy slaughtering fish-men. As the disciplined unit of sahuagin continued moving into the room despite the arrow fire, Barron backstabbed the one in the lead, turning the fish-man into a pile of fish sandwiches!\nStill, the battle was not going their way, as another unit could be seen advancing through the entrance. It was time for new tactics. Mr. Crackers expelled the alcohol Barron had been feeding him for months in one fell vomitous episode, Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows struck him from behind, and he fell into the puddle. The lit torch the avian undead was carrying in his zombie goblin hand set the puddle on fire.\nFacing a fiery barrier that did not agree with their fishy disposition, the sahuagin retreated out of view. As the sounds of combat faded, the call for help up front was heard once more, and the second half of the party begin to move forward to assess what had happened in their absence..\nFred had fallen, valiantly defending his frozen comrades, his last words \u0026ldquo;Hiho, Silver!\u0026rdquo; as the fish-men dragged him away\u0026hellip;\nAs the frozen paralysis finally wore off, Velma and Thic Duc returned to the fight, but they were still trapped within the globe of darkness. Wounded, Thic Duc chose to hide against the wall after tending to his friends with healing potions, while Velma shouted \u0026ldquo;Fire in the hole!\u0026rdquo; and threw something towards the entrance. It exploded, but somehow the light from the explosion failed to penetrate the sphere of darkness. Nevertheless, two squads of the fish-men were swept from the battle.\nTwo more units of sahuagin appeared from the east and west entrances, alerting the party to their presence by the wet squishy footsteps on stone and tile. Thinking quickly, Daphne the squirrel dug around in the party\u0026rsquo;s bags and located the last of the group\u0026rsquo;s d-snacks, clutching the package in her tiny paws as she raced through the chaos of battle towards Scooby\u0026hellip; her sharp teeth, tiny though they were, made short work of the packaging as she dropped the snack into Scooby\u0026rsquo;s mouth. The globe of darkness prevented anyone from seeing what transpired\u0026hellip; but a much louder Scooby immediately turned to the east and let loose a massive gout of fire! The smell of fried fish filled the air as he turned back to the west and engaged with tooth and claw.\nThic Duc was hit by a thrown net and immobilized again. The sahuagin outside begin to drag him away, but he slipped out of the net and strove mightily to push the entrance doors closed. He succeeded with his door, but not before fishy hands from outside grabbed his wrists. Thic Duc was going to sleep with the fishes whether he liked it or not!\nSomewhere to the south, Leah wondered if she could order Pyro to fetch one of the party members. After all, she reasoned, at least one of them is a waterfowl\u0026hellip;\nAfter feeding the d-snack to Scooby, Daphne climbed up on the beast\u0026rsquo;s back and chittered at the enemy. A challenge! She raced forward, using Scooby\u0026rsquo;s back as a runway, and soared at the fish-man facing Scooby\u0026rsquo;s teeth and claws, fury in her eyes\u0026hellip; but at the last moment, her target ducked!\nUndaunted, Daphne landed behind the fish-man entirely unnoticed by the rest of the unit. She gathered her energy, spinning her hind legs against the stone floor, her little eyes glowing red, and finally leaping straight at the back of the fish-man she had missed a moment ago. This time, with surprise on her side, her aim was true, and the tiny ball of furry fury landed on the back of the fish-man\u0026rsquo;s neck. Viciously, Daphne dug in with her huge front teeth, peeling back the fishy flesh with her front paws, and disappeared into the fish-man\u0026rsquo;s chest while it screeched in agony and flopped about like a fish caught out of water! As the fish-man fell backwards, already dying, Daphne clawed her way out of the creature\u0026rsquo;s chest cavity and surveyed the screen of the battle standing upright on her hind legs, the body below her proof that yes, even squirrels can backstab!\nMeanwhile, Gunnar had been moving towards to the front of the party, trying to find a way to help. He engaged the squad of fish-men to the west, inflicting minor wounds and taking a few in return.\nElion had finally succeeded in reaching the front of the party and the edge of the darkness effect. He witnessed Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s efforts to close the door, and joined in with the eastern door, but was unable to close it in time to prevent Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s abduction.\nGunnar tried to move forward to help, but tripped over something and fell to the floor beneath Scooby\u0026rsquo;s battle with the western sahuagin unit. He was trapped under Scooby\u0026rsquo;s draconic form, horrified eyes locked on the dragon\u0026rsquo;s great balls of fire as the fish-men finally skewered Scooby on their spears, and the scaly ally fell limp.\nForcing himself out from under Scooby\u0026rsquo;s unmoving form with a grunt of effort, Gunnar rolled out from under, and promptly tripped Elion who was feeling his way past in the darkness. The pair did not linger long in their mutual embrace, but Elion\u0026rsquo;s subtle cologne may have left Gunnar with the wrong impression about who tripped over him.\nHearing various cries for help, from the North, and with the sahuagin passage in that direction temporarily blocked by fire, Barron and Leah made their way north. Barron was comfortable navigating his way through darkness, and found his way to the entrance. Seeing the sahuagin squads outside on the causeway, he pulled out his wand, and uttered the command word, changing one of the sahuagin into a giant spider. Chaos broke out immediately.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # None this time; no time to loot bodies Experience # 500xp bonus for surviving against superior forces (so far) 500xp bonus for tactics (bottlenecking the southern group, trying to close the doors against reinforcements) 8 sahuagin warriors (from south): 688xp 1 shark (wounded and torn apart by other sharks in blood frenzy): 513xp 11 sahuagin warriors (from north): 946xp Total Group Experience: 3147 xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Mr Crackers single-wingedly blocks the sahuagin reinforcements by vomiting whiskey all over the floor and then getting accidentally-on-purpose killed by a stray arrow from Leah, falling into the alcohol with a lit torch in one of his goblin hands, starting a fire Daphne the killer squirrel takes a flying leap off of Scooby, then beheads a sahuagin from behind with her teeth and claws (yes, squirrels can backstab!) Dangling Threads of Fate # Elmo's Wand of Polymorph has been used three times. How many charges remain? Barron used the Wand of Polymorph to turn one of the sahuagin on the causeway into a giant spider Thic Duc was knocked unconscious and dragged off Shaggy was torn to bits and eaten by sharks Daphne is still a squirrel Velma threw a stick of dynamite and took out an entire squad of fish men Scooby ate his last scooby snack and took out another entire squad of fish men Fred got his sword back and was promptly captured ","date":"7 December 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-27/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nS3: The Final Enemy # The 27th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Jon (Elion), Adam (Hargrimm) and (Coby) Gunnar are returning cast members. Adam (Hargrimm) and Coby (Gunnar) are new players who have not yet had a chance to introduce themselves properly.\nAs we left the party, they had just beaten back an attack of sahuagin warriors emerging from the watery entrance to the levels below. The lone fishy survivor of the assault disappeared below, leaving the passage downward choked in blood and fish guts…\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 27","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Elion (Half-elven magic-user played by Jonathan) # Elion wears both a robe and a cloak even while at sea, ensuring certain death by drowning in yards of soaked clothing should he fall overboard for longer than a few minutes without the rest of the party nearby to rescue him. He has few qualms about using his magic to influence his party members, though in his defense, a barbarian not under the influence of a Charm Person spell would likely kill him sooner. Death by a barbarian who just made his saving throw against a Charm Person spell at least has the virtue of being chronologically removed from the moment of first meeting. And besides, perhaps the horse will sing after all.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/elion/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Elion (Half-elven magic-user played by Jonathan) # Elion wears both a robe and a cloak even while at sea, ensuring certain death by drowning in yards of soaked clothing should he fall overboard for longer than a few minutes without the rest of the party nearby to rescue him. He has few qualms about using his magic to influence his party members, though in his defense, a barbarian not under the influence of a Charm Person spell would likely kill him sooner. Death by a barbarian who just made his saving throw against a Charm Person spell at least has the virtue of being chronologically removed from the moment of first meeting. And besides, perhaps the horse will sing after all.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Elion","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Kevin (Human druid played by Nathan) # Traveled with the party from Rookroost to Castle Greyhawk. Decided he hated being a courier and took up a new career exploring dungeons. His personality has steadily evolved from happy-go-lucky nature druid to decidedly unhappy red of tooth and claw nature druid. But the Band of Misfits is all about making the world a better place, right?\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/kevin/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Kevin (Human druid played by Nathan) # Traveled with the party from Rookroost to Castle Greyhawk. Decided he hated being a courier and took up a new career exploring dungeons. His personality has steadily evolved from happy-go-lucky nature druid to decidedly unhappy red of tooth and claw nature druid. But the Band of Misfits is all about making the world a better place, right?\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Kevin","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Kriselle (Human Fighter played by Mary) # Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s personality so far appears to consist of an inordinate curiosity about rot grubs and a knack for negotiations with merchants, leavened with a healthy respect for the dead that has helped her to avoid awkward moments like greeting a reborn Fred wearing his armor. In fact, her talent and desire for negotiation has expanded to favor negotiating on behalf of some of the creatures the party has come across in their travels, suggesting that if they harmless and pose no threat, it might not be necessary to exterminate them utterly and burn their corpses. So far, this has been less than completely successful.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/kriselle/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Kriselle (Human Fighter played by Mary) # Kriselle’s personality so far appears to consist of an inordinate curiosity about rot grubs and a knack for negotiations with merchants, leavened with a healthy respect for the dead that has helped her to avoid awkward moments like greeting a reborn Fred wearing his armor. In fact, her talent and desire for negotiation has expanded to favor negotiating on behalf of some of the creatures the party has come across in their travels, suggesting that if they harmless and pose no threat, it might not be necessary to exterminate them utterly and burn their corpses. So far, this has been less than completely successful.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Kriselle","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Michael (Human Cleric played by Larry) # Michael is a mid level cleric and he\u0026rsquo;s fine with that. He\u0026rsquo;s older than some others and a wiser too. He\u0026rsquo;s also fairly charismatic, not enough to found his own cult, at least not yet, but enough to influence those he is close to and keep the attention of small crowds with short folksy homilies. His holy symbol is shaped like his favorite weapons, hammers. His faith is in the effort of a blacksmith to mold the lives of men, knowing that it is not easy and that blows shape the medal best in crisis, in fire, during times of change and upheaval. So he is out in the world looking for companions and crisis, so that he may mold them as and when he can, mold them into better versions of themselves.\nMichael knows healing arts (though his patients have mixed opinions), reserving his magic for his second purpose, to preserve his friends from evil until they can be molded as his god desires, and to that purpose his few granted spells involve detection and protection from evil. Je also knows the voice, or command, but is only capable of simple one-word commands. So far in his travels he has supported himself with fishing, and the occasional protection spell. He is affable and easily likable, so he has been hanging out with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, often doing their talking for them or helping them get into places they couldn\u0026rsquo;t otherwise. He also tends to get more information from people as they trust a cleric and especially his sort of cleric.\nAs his traveling companions now include a wizard who enchants his companions without provocation, a reincarnated being with a divine calling that denies his diety, and a thief who delights in his pet zombie falcon, it\u0026rsquo;s unclear who is influencing whom exactly.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/michael/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Michael (Human Cleric played by Larry) # Michael is a mid level cleric and he’s fine with that. He’s older than some others and a wiser too. He’s also fairly charismatic, not enough to found his own cult, at least not yet, but enough to influence those he is close to and keep the attention of small crowds with short folksy homilies. His holy symbol is shaped like his favorite weapons, hammers. His faith is in the effort of a blacksmith to mold the lives of men, knowing that it is not easy and that blows shape the medal best in crisis, in fire, during times of change and upheaval. So he is out in the world looking for companions and crisis, so that he may mold them as and when he can, mold them into better versions of themselves.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Michael","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Peebles (A halfling priest played by Chris) # Growing up in Elmshire is a quiet, peaceful life. Temperate climate and four distinct seasons, it\u0026rsquo;s everything a young hobbit could want. Peebles grew up happy, the fifth of seven children. He loved tending to fields and fern, but above all, other halflings. With his love for all living things, joining the priesthood of Yondalla was an easy choice. Serving until young adulthood, Peebles met Maeris Tosscobble at his first 26th birthday. They were married under the first moon of the High Harvest. Peebles left the church, but maintained his faith, working as a cook and town doctor in a small village five kilometers outside Elmshire. The two knew true joy for nearly 40 years, until Maeris took ill. She wasted away quickly, and died less than two weeks later.\nPeebles took the loss hard, burying himself in his work as doctor to a growing number of infections. Several in the community died, and no cure was found. As the \u0026lsquo;plague\u0026rsquo; dissipated, Peebles left the village to his assistant, setting out to find new meaning.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/peebles/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Peebles (A halfling priest played by Chris) # Growing up in Elmshire is a quiet, peaceful life. Temperate climate and four distinct seasons, it’s everything a young hobbit could want. Peebles grew up happy, the fifth of seven children. He loved tending to fields and fern, but above all, other halflings. With his love for all living things, joining the priesthood of Yondalla was an easy choice. Serving until young adulthood, Peebles met Maeris Tosscobble at his first 26th birthday. They were married under the first moon of the High Harvest. Peebles left the church, but maintained his faith, working as a cook and town doctor in a small village five kilometers outside Elmshire. The two knew true joy for nearly 40 years, until Maeris took ill. She wasted away quickly, and died less than two weeks later.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Peebles","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Fydillian (A lupin priest played by Matt) # Fydillian the brave is a lupin of the guardian class of shar-pei. Not much is known about his past, as his first memory is waking up on a beach with a no memory beyond that. Fortunately there was a note left with him explaining his name and race. The note vaguely mentioned a higher purpose and that he would know it when it arrived. The note also left directions to a specific location that was conveniently located nearby. Also mentioned in the note was how good of a boy fydillian was and that he was such a brave boy yes such a brave brave doggo. The location proved to be a church of celestian. Fydillian proved to be a natural at navigation and spent alot of time in the library learning about astronomy and history of this strange place. He also discovered the culinary arts and spent as much time in the kitchen. In his studies he learned of the great meteor brought by Celestian and set out on an adventure to wander his way to finding it.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/fydillian/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Fydillian (A lupin priest played by Matt) # Fydillian the brave is a lupin of the guardian class of shar-pei. Not much is known about his past, as his first memory is waking up on a beach with a no memory beyond that. Fortunately there was a note left with him explaining his name and race. The note vaguely mentioned a higher purpose and that he would know it when it arrived. The note also left directions to a specific location that was conveniently located nearby. Also mentioned in the note was how good of a boy fydillian was and that he was such a brave boy yes such a brave brave doggo. The location proved to be a church of celestian. Fydillian proved to be a natural at navigation and spent alot of time in the library learning about astronomy and history of this strange place. He also discovered the culinary arts and spent as much time in the kitchen. In his studies he learned of the great meteor brought by Celestian and set out on an adventure to wander his way to finding it.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Fydillian","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Gunnar (Human fighter played by Coby) # Gunnar joined the party when they rescued him from a life of servitude and watery home improvement beneath the evil sahuagin. His past, for the moment, remains a mystery, though his travels with the party gained him experience enough to become a formidable fighter.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/gunnar/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Gunnar (Human fighter played by Coby) # Gunnar joined the party when they rescued him from a life of servitude and watery home improvement beneath the evil sahuagin. His past, for the moment, remains a mystery, though his travels with the party gained him experience enough to become a formidable fighter.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Gunnar","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Leisure Suit\u0026rdquo; Lenny (Elven Mortician and Insurance Claims Adjustor played by Matt)\nThe party first met Lenny as he was assisting the Adventure Capitalists with preparing Malag\u0026rsquo;s body for a return to the living following a tragic workplace accident involving hungry zombies. Given the frequency of the party\u0026rsquo;s claims on their insurance, Lenny was assigned to shadow the party and write a report on their adherence to applicable adventure guidelines and safety regulations.\nThough he claims to be an elf, Lenny has demonstrated a vulnerability to the Sleep spell and there are rumors he follows a profession normally anathema to elves. Perhaps Lenny\u0026rsquo;s mother has some explaining to do.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/lenny/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"“Leisure Suit” Lenny (Elven Mortician and Insurance Claims Adjustor played by Matt)\nThe party first met Lenny as he was assisting the Adventure Capitalists with preparing Malag’s body for a return to the living following a tragic workplace accident involving hungry zombies. Given the frequency of the party’s claims on their insurance, Lenny was assigned to shadow the party and write a report on their adherence to applicable adventure guidelines and safety regulations.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Lenny","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Malag (A half-orc fighter played by Chris)\nAbandoned as a child, Malag was raised on the streets of Rookroost by local gangs. First unarmed, and then with the sword, Malag rose to be a top enforcer for a group of petty criminals. When the gang was found after pulling a job, Malag escaped alone into the night.\nWith his cruel nature, and quick fists, he learned quickly that a lot of coin can be made as a bounty hunter. While exploring an abandoned temple near Restenford, Malag was killed by a horde of ghouls. When the Adventure Capitalist\u0026rsquo;s Guild resurrected him, they unknowingly left a curse, condemning Malag to live a pseudo-life of undeath, craving living (or dead) brains. After learning of their error, the Adventure Capitalist\u0026rsquo;s Guild were able to successfully remove the curse, which included weeks of isolation.\nUpon finally being freed, Malag made his way to Highport, where he was recruited to join a crew in pursuit of quick gold. A plan to defraud the Duke of Highport was born, but ill-fated. The perpetrators were found quickly, and imprisoned. For unknown reasons, Malag has been released after only a month. Getting out of the city quickly is in his best interest.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/malag/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Malag (A half-orc fighter played by Chris)\nAbandoned as a child, Malag was raised on the streets of Rookroost by local gangs. First unarmed, and then with the sword, Malag rose to be a top enforcer for a group of petty criminals. When the gang was found after pulling a job, Malag escaped alone into the night.\nWith his cruel nature, and quick fists, he learned quickly that a lot of coin can be made as a bounty hunter. While exploring an abandoned temple near Restenford, Malag was killed by a horde of ghouls. When the Adventure Capitalist’s Guild resurrected him, they unknowingly left a curse, condemning Malag to live a pseudo-life of undeath, craving living (or dead) brains. After learning of their error, the Adventure Capitalist’s Guild were able to successfully remove the curse, which included weeks of isolation.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Malag","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Seb (A halfling thief played by Chris)\nSeb hails from Rookroost, where he\u0026rsquo;s lived all of his life. When he was very young, Seb\u0026rsquo;s mother became bedridden, growing more sick daily. After she passed, his father, Pimzin, began to take seriously his thieves guild duties. Those duties changed him, however. The once good-natured, calm halfling became cold, methodical, and distant. When Seb was 13, his father left their small apartment, and never returned. Seb\u0026rsquo;s heard that Pimzin has risen high within the guild, but recent upheaval among the thieves guild of Rookroost has caused some doubt.\nRecently, Seb was assaulted in the streets, by men claiming Pimzin had put a hit on his son. The halfling was able to escape, but fled Rookroost.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/seb/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Seb (A halfling thief played by Chris)\nSeb hails from Rookroost, where he’s lived all of his life. When he was very young, Seb’s mother became bedridden, growing more sick daily. After she passed, his father, Pimzin, began to take seriously his thieves guild duties. Those duties changed him, however. The once good-natured, calm halfling became cold, methodical, and distant. When Seb was 13, his father left their small apartment, and never returned. Seb’s heard that Pimzin has risen high within the guild, but recent upheaval among the thieves guild of Rookroost has caused some doubt.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Seb","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"$$ Norsk (A half-orc life force repossessor played by Brian)\nOrphaned at a young age, Norsk never really knew his parents and grew up on the streets of Rookroost, learning life\u0026rsquo;s lessons the hard way \u0026ndash; the strong take what they want, and the ruthless get what they need. Norsk did a favor for a merchant by removing a rival merchant, and got enough coin from this job to set out on his own.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/norsk/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"$$ Norsk (A half-orc life force repossessor played by Brian)\nOrphaned at a young age, Norsk never really knew his parents and grew up on the streets of Rookroost, learning life’s lessons the hard way – the strong take what they want, and the ruthless get what they need. Norsk did a favor for a merchant by removing a rival merchant, and got enough coin from this job to set out on his own.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Norsk","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Elmond (A Fighter/Cleric/Magic-User played by Dean) # I am the true-born son of Elister Brooks and Nora Brooks (formerly Alden). Unlike my bastard older brother I was grudgingly accepted by my mother\u0026rsquo;s family. Upon coming of age, I was instructed to find my brother and prevent him from besmirching the reputation of the family. I found I enjoyed travelling. In my travels I have not encountered any signs of my brother. I guess this is good for me since I\u0026rsquo;m technically achieving the assigned goal. I guess I will just enjoy my travels and keep my slightly pointed ears open.\n","date":"18 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/elmond/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Elmond (A Fighter/Cleric/Magic-User played by Dean) # I am the true-born son of Elister Brooks and Nora Brooks (formerly Alden). Unlike my bastard older brother I was grudgingly accepted by my mother’s family. Upon coming of age, I was instructed to find my brother and prevent him from besmirching the reputation of the family. I found I enjoyed travelling. In my travels I have not encountered any signs of my brother. I guess this is good for me since I’m technically achieving the assigned goal. I guess I will just enjoy my travels and keep my slightly pointed ears open.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Elmond","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nS3: The Final Enemy # The 26th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Nathan (Kevin), and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. Adam (Hargrimm) and Coby (Gunnar) are new players who have not yet had a chance to introduce themselves properly.\nAs we left the party, they had discovered a treasure room filled with magical items and gear . Joined by the Scooby Gang, a small unit of bullywog warriors, and a platoon of lizardfolk soldiers divided into two squads (Leisurely Lieutenant Larry and the Lounge Lizards; Salty the Sargeant and the Leaping Lizards).\nAs stated by Guildmistress Elena, the party\u0026rsquo;s goals were:\nDetermine the strength of the sahuagin force -- how many warriors, officers, nobles, etc are present. Locate important areas within the fortress -- barracks, officers quarters, etc Discover any significant defensive measures -- areas with traps, guards, regular patrols, purpose-build defenses Discover how advanced any sahuagin preparations are, and when their next attack might take place The party\u0026rsquo;s first order of business after successfully destroying the sahuagin patrol was to send Elmo back to the supply carts. Barron talked to him about his polymorph wand, and successfully persuaded (essentially, extorted) the command word from poor Elmo\u0026hellip; and promptly forgot to write it down. Somewhere in the confusion, the halfling with the ring of invisibility wandered off.\nThe party then turned their attention to investigating the remaining portions of the first level, particularly the area generating a strange, somewhat rhythmic banging noise. The noise was coming from a room directly east of the secret room where they had found so many magical items, with a few bends in the stone corridors between the two. Barron moved silently to the front of the party to investigate, followed after a short distance by Fred in his heavy armor leading the rest of the party. They were able to approach the source of the noise without being noticed.\nAhead of the pair lay a large, unfinished room. On the east side where the party entered, columns supported the ceiling. Directly ahead, a low railing surrounded a pool of water. A group of ten slaves, chained together ankle to ankle, worked the western wall with hammer and chisel under the watchful eye of two sahuagin with whips. Two of the prisoners were particularly strong-looking specimens, and the rest a smattering of hobgoblins, lizardmen, and bullywogs. 6 more were telling fish stories while lounging around the central pool, watching the slaves work.\nAs he took in the scene, Barron thought through his options in his mind. One prominent idea revolved around the polymorph wand Elmo had so reluctantly given up. What was the command word again? \u0026ldquo;Was it metamorph?\u0026rdquo; he whispered to himself, noticing but disregarding the odd tingling sensation coming from the tips of his ears..\nContinuing to hide in the shadows of the entrance to the room, with the labor of the slaves covering any noise, Barron and the rest of the party arrayed themselves to attack. With Leah and Shaggy in the lead, they attacked with the benefit of surprise. Shaggy was still a little groggy from his herbal concoctions, and managed to put a few darts into his feet. Leah, on the other hand, singlehandedly sent at least 5 fish-men to sleep with the fishes. With that, Fred charged into the room, and the general melee began.\nThe two human slaves working on the wall attacked and killed their whip-wielding guards, who had turned to face the attacks and exposed their backs to the prisoners they were guarding. Despite their chains, hammer and chisel made short work of the two, but not before Pyro and Fred had nearly reached them. The rest of the party advanced to attack the two surviving fish-men lounging in the pool, with Barron and Thic Duc focusing their attention on freeing the prisoners from their chains.\nIt took several minutes for the penultimate fish-man to die, and seeing his death, the lone survivor slipped under the water and fled.\nBarron and Thic Duc continued frantically working on freeing the prisoners. The rest of the party discussed their actions, remaining clustered around the pool of water in the center of the room. The pool itself turned out to be a set of stairs leading downwards, presumably to underwater levels below. Several minutes passed without much getting done, though the prisoners were freed from their chains. No one got a close look at Barron, and no one bothered to introduce the two prisoners to the rest of the party or vice versa. Or search for their gear, which could become a fatal mistake for those who charge into battle naked and armed with chisels.\nAfter the party spent their few minutes dithering, 6 more sahuagin leapt from the water, grabbing those standing around the pool and trying to drag them under. Kevin, Fred, Daphne, Leah, Barron, and one of the freed slaves were pulled in.\nThic Duc and Velma briefly argued over whether her scrolls of water breathing would work. Velma finally gave in, reading one and bestowing the effect on Shaggy, who promptly dived in sword-first, aiming for a sahuagin warrior.\nBarron killed the fish-man who dragged him under and aimed his wand at the one attacking Daphne, thinking hard of something harmless and fluffy, like a squirrel. He missed, and Daphne promptly became a squirrel, and swam at the sahuagin attacking her with fury in her eyes and red on her tiny claws.\nLeah and one of the freed slaves succombed to either their wounds, or being unable to breath. Fred and Shaggy pulled them out after killing the sahuagin who were attacking them. Daphne swam to the side of the pool on her own, but remains a squirrel.\nAs the leader of the sahuagin, identified by a gold armband, fell to the party\u0026rsquo;s attacks, he screamed at his last surviving companion to run. The party has not yet moved to pursue.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # None this time; no time to loot bodies Experience # 100xp each for showing up 100xp each for roleplaying 2 sahuagin guards: 172xp 10 sahuagin warriors: 860xp 1 sahuagin officer: 100xp Bonus for rescuing all prisoners alive: 1000xp Total Group Experience: 2132xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # New player Adam: \u0026quot;What do you guys need [as in character types]?\u0026quot; Mariel: \u0026quot;Sanity.\u0026quot; Barron: \u0026quot;What was the word that activated the wand again? Was it metamorph?\u0026quot; The wand in Barron's pocket activates As Barron fires a wand at an attacking sahuaginBut surely a wand... doesn't count... as a missile weapon?\u0026quot; as the DM grins and Barron misses DM: \u0026quot;What were you thinking of when you fired the wand at the sahuagin?\u0026quot; Barron: \u0026quot;Squirrels are nice, harmless creatures..\u0026quot; Daphne: as squirrel, immediately and furiously attacks the sahuagin Dangling Threads of Fate # Elmo's Wand of Polymorph has been used twice. How many charges remain? Barron is now in the form of a hobgoblin. Thanks to his heavy cloak and hood, no one has noticed, so far. ","date":"9 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-26/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nS3: The Final Enemy # The 26th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Nathan (Kevin), and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. Adam (Hargrimm) and Coby (Gunnar) are new players who have not yet had a chance to introduce themselves properly.\nAs we left the party, they had discovered a treasure room filled with magical items and gear . Joined by the Scooby Gang, a small unit of bullywog warriors, and a platoon of lizardfolk soldiers divided into two squads (Leisurely Lieutenant Larry and the Lounge Lizards; Salty the Sargeant and the Leaping Lizards).\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 26","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" How do I create a character? # Creating a character can be a daunting process, especially in 1st edition AD\u0026amp;D, and doubly so if you don\u0026rsquo;t have the books as a reference. I will outline the basics here to help you at least begin to understand what you need to know. If you don\u0026rsquo;t have your own copy of the Player\u0026rsquo;s Handbook, The OSRIC rules are close enough to get you started. (Warning, very large PDF at that link). You should also read the house rules.\nFor the most part, if you say you know what you are doing and have read the house rules, I will trust you. If you\u0026rsquo;re not sure, ask. If you\u0026rsquo;ve only played other editions, ask someone who knows what the differences are. If you don\u0026rsquo;t have a copy of the 1st edition rules, use the OSRIC ones linked above rather than assuming they are the same rules you are familiar with, or borrow books during the game session. It\u0026rsquo;s been over 30 years since 1st Edition AD\u0026amp;D was first published. The rules have changed a lot over that time.\nVery few online tools or applications support 1st edition rules!\nPrint a character sheet Choose a race Roll your attributes Choose a class Determine your starting age and circumstances Determine your starting hit points Choose your weapon proficiencies Choose your non-weapon proficiencies Determine your starting gold and use it to purchase equipment Determine your starting spells (if necessary) Choose your character name Choose your character's alignment Make up a character description, personality, and background Print a character sheet # See the Frequently Asked Questions page for examples. The longer ones are particularly helpful at providing spaces and blanks that help you fill out not only the bare bones information but the details, quirks, and helpful reference information needed to make the game flow smoothly.\nChoose a race # Humans are the default. Other allowed races include elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, half-elves, and half-orcs. Subraces from Unearthed Arcana are allowed. Underdark races (dark elves/drow, deep gnomes/svirfneblin, grey dwarves/duergar) are not. Weird races from later editions (planetouched, etc) are not, although someone with a really really interesting character idea might get me to allow an aasimar or tiefling. Might.\nRoll your attributes # Roll 4d6. Remove the lowest and add the remaining three dice together. Write down the result. Repeat 6 times. Assign those values to your Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. (If you are using old school rules, assign them in order; newbies can assign however they like). Look up the Comeliness modifiers in Unearthed Arcana for your Charisma and race and roll that, too.\nYour attributes may give you bonuses or penalties. Your character sheet may have space for those. Look them up and fill those spaces in (newbies, do so after you pick a class!)\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re not sure whether you are playing by newbie or old-school rules, see the house rules on that topic. Basically, it\u0026rsquo;s up to you, but old school rules emphasize rolling the dice and making the best (and/or most interesting) of the result, while newbie rules emphasize being able to decide what sort of character you want to play ahead of time. Old school rules will also present a greater challenge.\nChoose a class # Your options are: Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Barbarian, Thief, Assassin, Cleric, Druid, Magic-User, Illusionist, Monk, Cavalier, and possibly a few others I\u0026rsquo;ve forgotten. Non-human races can multiclass (progress in two or more classes simultaneously). Humans can dual-class (switch classes after the game has started).\nYou must meet the minimum attribute requirements of the class you chose. Newbies may move points between attributes to meet the minimum requirements of their desired class. Your race and class must also be compatible (some classes only allow some races). Your choice of class may also dictate some other choices (paladins must be of lawful good alignment, druids must be of true neutral alignment, monks must be of any lawful alignment, barbarians cannot be lawful alignment, and so on).\nChoosing a class will often come with important other choices. Magic users may need to determine the contents of their spellbook, clerics and paladins should consider the nature of their character\u0026rsquo;s faith (but need not actually pick a deity until later in the game), thieves and assassins should consider whether they are open about their profession (which may not be popular) or if they try to hide it, and so on. Determine your starting age and circumstances\nMost characters start as Young Adults, based on their race, but may optionally start older due to their character concept or determine their starting age randomly based on race and class (which may sometimes result in Mature characters instead, particularly in the magic-using or specialized classes). The appropriate tables are on page 13 of the DMG. Write down your character\u0026rsquo;s starting age and keep track of it through game time and/or magical aging effects.\nAging adjustments won\u0026rsquo;t reduce your attributes below class or race minimums, nor allow the maximums to be exceeded.\nUnearthed Arcana (pg 82) has rules for determining the starting circumstances of your character, in terms of family and economic circumstances. These are to be taken as roleplaying aids only (no bonuses or penalties to starting gold or class restrictions), and a desired character background can override them. However, the desired character background also will not provide positive benefits to the character \u0026ndash; no secret kings in waiting. I may mine this information for adventure hooks, but only if you include it in your character background.\nDetermine your starting hit points # Roll a die of the type specified by your character class and add your Constitution bonus, if any. If your roll is low, check the Unearthed Arcana starting hit point mercy rules, towards the back.\nDetermine your starting languages # Almost all characters will speak common (an international trade pidgin of sorts suitable for simple communication), the language of their national origin if it has one, and their racial and alignment tongues. Your intelligence may give you the ability to speak additional languages. Choose them, if you wish, or learn them during gameplay. Humans do not have a racial tongue; their national tongue takes its place. Racial crossbreeds (half-orcs, half-elves) speak the racial tongue of their non-human half, usually with a noticeable accent.\nRookroost has no national tongue. Most communications happen in common, which is generally adequate for threats, bribes, coercion, and taxation. There are enough half-orcs in government positions that their language is available to anyone who wants to take the trouble to learn. Those starting the game in Dunwitch may have picked up elven or dwarven as well.\nCommon: Trade language, basic and functional, cannot communicate subtle points but spoken by almost all intelligent creatures. Almost. Alignment: Philosophical discussions. It's like trying to read an academic paper on the intersectional oppression of the gender binary on phallocentic physics. Or, perhaps, the difference between \u0026quot;You stole that man's purse and left him for dead!\u0026quot; and \u0026quot;I needed it more than he did and so I redistributed it! He'll sleep it off.\u0026quot; Saying the same thing in different words, or different words for the same thing, or words that just don't mean what they should mean in normal conversation. Not really possible to use for everyday discussions, but can be squeezed. An alternative way to think about this is using references to commonly accepted philosophical or moral arguments; a lawful good cleric might justify their unprovoked attack on a peaceful village of goblins by referring to just war theory and predestination, claiming the goblins were inherently evil due to their nature, thus representing a threat that could be eliminated before it became too powerful. A chaotic good ranger might favor leaving the goblins in place until they attacked someone, arguing that beings should be free to choose their own actions. Likely both characters (if they spoke in their alignment languages) would use arguments and philosophical points that simply passed each other by without really communicating much. Racial: Dwarves have two hundred words for rock and another three hundred for stone. Elves have one word for \u0026quot;The beautiful forest glade with dappled beams of sunlight in the afternoon where I like to take a peaceful nap every Sunday.\u0026quot; Thieves' Cant: a special set of lingo and obscure terminology used by those of who specialize in taking things that don't belong to them. Can be used to discuss almost anything, as long as it is against the law. Often has regional variations, so moving from one area to another may take a little adjustment and be obvious to other speakers. Most versions of Thieves' Cant include hand signs for non-verbal communication and markers (\u0026quot;To find a fence for your stolen goods, look for a merchant with three onions handing in his window\u0026quot;). Choose your weapon proficiencies # You get a number of these to start with determined by your class. These are basically a specific type of weapon; not \u0026ldquo;sword\u0026rdquo;, but \u0026ldquo;long sword\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;short sword\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;broad sword\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;two handed sword\u0026rdquo;, and so on. If you are using a weapon you are not proficient with, you will take a penalty to your to-hit rolls. The exact penalty varies by class. Fighters should check the specialization rules in Unearthed Arcana. Check your class to make sure you are allowed to use the weapons you take proficiencies in.\nChoose your non-weapon proficiencies # See the house rules on this topic.\nDetermine your starting gold and purchase equipment # Starting gold is determined by your class and a random die roll. Equipment lists and prices are found in the player\u0026rsquo;s handbook for most common adventuring needs.\nMake sure you purchase weapons you are proficient at using. Calculate your armor class based on the armor you buy. Make sure your class is actually allowed to wear that armor type. Make sure your strength is sufficient to carry the equipment and armor you buy. (Unless you have a very low strength and heavy armor, you\u0026rsquo;re probably going to be ok, at least until you start trying to carry home a dungeon\u0026rsquo;s worth of treasure). Determine and write down your combat statistics\nDetermine your base THAC0 and your THAC0 for each primary weapon. Write it down. Write down the damage done by each primary weapon as well. This is so you don\u0026rsquo;t have to look it up later. Your THAC0 and damage can be affected by your class, your strength, the weapon type (and any enchantments), the size class of your opponent, and whether you specialized or double specialized in that weapon type.\nDetermine and write down your special class skills and abilities # Thieves have an extensive set of skills affected by dexterity score, race, and type of armor worn. Many classes have spellcasting abilities. Paladins have religious abilities. Monks have weird abilities. Many races also have special abilities like finding secret doors, seeing in darkness, immunity or resistance to certain spells, and so on. Write these down on your character sheet!\nAs a player, it is your responsibility to know your character\u0026rsquo;s abilities. The Dungeon Master will be able to rule on what you can do, if you bring it up, but you have to be prepared to bring it up. The other players can help you figure out the details if the Dungeon Master is busy with someone else. If you don\u0026rsquo;t know, ask.\nDetermine your starting spells (if necessary) # Magic-users and illusionists must determine the contents of their spellbook. You will receive a few starting spells (ask the DM; the rules are in the DMG), and you can find scrolls or spellbooks as you adventure to gain more. When you gain access to a new level of spells (spell level, NOT character level), you will receive one spell of the new level automatically from the person who is training you. You may be able to request a specific spell, usually for a fee.\nDivine spellcasters receive access to all of their classes\u0026rsquo; spells (by level), but must still choose which spells to memorize ahead of time.\nYour intelligence and/or wisdom may offer you bonuses here.\nChoose your character\u0026rsquo;s alignment # Alignment is basically a moral outlook on life. There are two axes: law/chaos and good/evil, with a \u0026ldquo;neutral\u0026rdquo; option in the middle of them both. You pick one value from both axes. Thus a typical alignment could be \u0026ldquo;Chaotic Good\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;Neutral Evil\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;Lawful Neutral\u0026rdquo;. \u0026ldquo;True Neutral\u0026rdquo; represents a desire to maintain a conscious balance between all extremes. Chaotic Neutral characters tend to take actions without any consistent moral or philosophical reasoning behind them. They can be played reasonably or stupidly. Those played stupidly may be struck by meteors at random. Some classes restrict your alignment; make sure yours is compatible.\nChoose your character\u0026rsquo;s name # Do I really need to explain this? Just make sure you have one. Or two, or even three.\nHint: Magi characters may wish to choose a \u0026ldquo;true name\u0026rdquo; and keep it separate and secret from the name they use every day\u0026hellip;\nDetermine your character\u0026rsquo;s physical description and background # What does your character look like to other people? Are they brash? Confident? Shy? Grim and menacing? Carefree? Nervous? How did they get to be that way? Why did they decide to seek adventure? Were they traumatized as a child and now seek to protect others? Did they decide they liked taking lunch money from other kids and wanted to make a living at it?\nIn addition to general stuff, it may be helpful to have an idea where in the Greyhawk world you were born and raised. The default will be the starting location of Dunwitch, but new characters can mostly pick whatever seems convenient for linking up with the party.\nIt may also be helpful (particularly for interactions with other party members, or if your character is a cleric or paladin) to know what your character\u0026rsquo;s take on religion is. The world of Oerth offers many possible patron dieties. Characters can follow any of those generally available, or make something up, or nothing at all. Unless you are a cleric or paladin, it won\u0026rsquo;t have a significant effect on actual gameplay.\nTo aid players in quickly choosing a patron diety without finding the sourcebook, I have a list of the common dieties of Oerth.\nHosting generously provided by infodancer.org. Props by Flaming Monkey Society.\n","date":"3 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/creationrules/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"How do I create a character? # Creating a character can be a daunting process, especially in 1st edition AD\u0026D, and doubly so if you don’t have the books as a reference. I will outline the basics here to help you at least begin to understand what you need to know. If you don’t have your own copy of the Player’s Handbook, The OSRIC rules are close enough to get you started. (Warning, very large PDF at that link). You should also read the house rules.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Character Creation","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Amathar (Gray elf magic-user played by Jeff) # Amathar the Grey is in exile from the Grey Elves (He does not elaborate on this point, though.). He wants to continue his research among the mammals of Oerth, though, so he has wandered to Rookroost with little coin, but made friends with several associates. (Rumble and Skean). They have a relationship to seek out spell components for Amathar and in return, Amathar will help them when he can. Rumble focuses on herbs and rare plants and Skean focuses on small trinkets for Amathar.\n","date":"3 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/amathar/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Amathar (Gray elf magic-user played by Jeff) # Amathar the Grey is in exile from the Grey Elves (He does not elaborate on this point, though.). He wants to continue his research among the mammals of Oerth, though, so he has wandered to Rookroost with little coin, but made friends with several associates. (Rumble and Skean). They have a relationship to seek out spell components for Amathar and in return, Amathar will help them when he can. Rumble focuses on herbs and rare plants and Skean focuses on small trinkets for Amathar.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Amathar","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Barron (Half-Elven Property Redistribution Specialist played by Matt) # In an illustrious start to his career in Rookroost, Barron was betrayed by his guildmates and sold into slavery on his first day at work. Orientation is a bitch.\nElward Alden is his real name, but when he doesn\u0026rsquo;t trust people he gives out one of his many handles (he is currently using Barron). Raised a bastard love child of a human father and elf mother, he was always looked down upon in the elf community for being a half breed. Some where in his teens he decided to abandon the elf community entirely, tired of the ridicule. He ran away with his childhood friend, Leah another half elf never looking back. They formed a treasure hunting duo, stealing everything that wasn\u0026rsquo;t nailed down\u0026hellip; and some things that were. While he would never admit it to anyone, he has never stolen from the poor or innocent that he is aware of.\nRecently a group of guards (in another town besides Rookroost and Saltmarsh) got wind of their treasure hunting operation and tried to catch them red handed\u0026hellip; being 2 steps ahead of the guards they gave away all their accumulated wealth and treasure to the townsfolk. Leaving them broke and watched by the guards, they fled town again to start over else where. Upon coming to Rookroost Elward learned of a thieves guild and set out to join as a means to improve his skills and ultimately make a butt load of gold.\nBarron has a serious distrust for most of the world, especially elves, slavers, and authority figures. He is the more rash decision maker, sometimes letting anger cloud his judgement.\nBarron originally carried a stuffed falcon in a cage strapped to his waist. The poor falcon has now suffered the indignity of having Animate Dead used to bring it back to life, complete with stitched on goblin hands, inverted wings, and a goblin-tooth mohawk. The bird now rides on a specially designed perch mounted on Pyro\u0026rsquo;s armor, wearing (when not in flight) a cloak made of white sailcloth. It has been thoroughly plucked and the original features replaced with goosedown from a pillow and glue.\n","date":"3 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/barron/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Barron (Half-Elven Property Redistribution Specialist played by Matt) # In an illustrious start to his career in Rookroost, Barron was betrayed by his guildmates and sold into slavery on his first day at work. Orientation is a bitch.\nElward Alden is his real name, but when he doesn’t trust people he gives out one of his many handles (he is currently using Barron). Raised a bastard love child of a human father and elf mother, he was always looked down upon in the elf community for being a half breed. Some where in his teens he decided to abandon the elf community entirely, tired of the ridicule. He ran away with his childhood friend, Leah another half elf never looking back. They formed a treasure hunting duo, stealing everything that wasn’t nailed down… and some things that were. While he would never admit it to anyone, he has never stolen from the poor or innocent that he is aware of.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Barron","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nS3: The Final Enemy # The 25th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Nathan (Kevin), and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. Dennis (Griff) is a new member.\nAs we left the party, they had been planning their assault on the sahuagin lair. Joined by the Scooby Gang, a small unit of bullywog warriors, and a platoon of lizardfolk soldiers divided into two squads (Leisurely Lieutenant Larry and the Lounge Lizards; Salty the Sargeant and the Leaping Lizards).\nAs stated by Guildmistress Elena, the party\u0026rsquo;s goals were:\nDetermine the strength of the sahuagin force -- how many warriors, officers, nobles, etc are present. Locate important areas within the fortress -- barracks, officers quarters, etc Discover any significant defensive measures -- areas with traps, guards, regular patrols, purpose-build defenses Discover how advanced any sahuagin preparations are, and when their next attack might take place The first order of business was to send Elion back to the cart to study his spellbook and supervise the looting of the armory.\nThe party chose to begin by exploring more of the sahuagin lair, traveling south along the eastern corridor, with the bullywog squad in the lead\u0026hellip; themselves led by a bullywog quite high on Shaggy\u0026rsquo;s mushroom treatments. After exploring the corridor, the lead frog stopped to scratch his head as he approached an archway, then backed away and motioned the rest of the group back. Barron, who was in the lead (after the bullywogs), tried to slip past and failed his move silently roll. He looked into the room ahead and noticed a trio of sahuagin guards, lounging around a small table, clearly having fallen asleep playing cards\u0026hellip; and now startled awake again!\nThe party entered combat, sliding past the bullywogs, who were rapidly fleeing combat. It took a surprisingly long time for the party to wear down the fish-men, despite their superior numbers. During the fight, a grate at the back of the room swung open, and a halfling slipped out. He grabbed a chair and laid into one of the fish-men from behind.\nWith the battle over, the halfling introduced himself as Griff, from \u0026ldquo;The Shire\u0026rdquo; (a fictional location that does not exist anywhere in Oerth). He had joined up with an adventuring group planning to attack the sahuagin lair weeks ago, but the group had been captured trying use the underwater entrance to the lair and used as slave labor and fresh rations for the sahuagin. The home improvement work had been reduced lately, with more slaves finding their fate as breakfast. The other party\u0026rsquo;s leader Elmo was also among the slaves, though in poor health, along with one other survivor who remained delirious despite their best efforts. Griff was able to find most of his gear \u0026ndash; minus weapons \u0026ndash; within the guard room.\nWith help from Shaggy (herbalism) and Kevin (healing), Elmo was brought back to consciousness if not full health. He stated he was willing to accompany the party if given a chance to rest, recover his strength, and study his spellbooks. (He will need at least a full day of rest and possibly additional healing magic before being able to engage in strenuous activity).\nWhile the party introduced themselves to Griff and vice versa, Elmo mentioned that he had helped build a secret door into a room somewhere to the south. He wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure exactly where, but was able to point out the correct passage to reach that area of the complex.\nResuming their explorations southward, the party made a couple of lucky turns and soon found a storeroom containing a variety of construction materials and supplies. After practically everyone in the room searched for secret doors, they did in fact find the one that Elmo mentioned, and behind it was an extension the size of a large closet containing the gear captured from the invading party. Since most of those individuals were dead, Elmo was content to claim his own items (a set of spellbooks, and a wand which \u0026ldquo;changes things into other things\u0026rdquo;). Griff recovered the rest of his equipment.\nThere was a coffer towards the back of the room, which Thic Duc opened without checking for traps. He was promptly knocked unconscious by an electrical discharge, but a friendly party member fed him one of his healing potions and got him back up again.\nThe party spent quite a while debating who should claim which item, leaving two bullywogs just outside the door while everyone else discussed at normal vocal volume who should wear the plate mail, whether anyone could use a shield, what a magical leather cloak might do in an emergency, and why the bullywogs left outside the room were being so quiet\u0026hellip;\n\u0026hellip; that would be because they had been ambushed by a squad of sahuagin. One was killed instantly, and the other fled in terror.\nThe party set up a hasty ambush around the entrance, gaining little advantage because the sahuagin were already on alert. However, they did (for once) have a clear range of missile fire on the enemy without putting their friends and furry companions at risk. Three of the sahuagin managed to get into the room and reach melee combat before the fleeing bullywog summoned Fred and Shaggy as reinforcements. Fred promptly advanced to block the entrance to the storage room by falling flat on his face in front of it. This tactic, unusual though it was, proved successful, as the Fred-and-Shaggy tag team managed to hold off the sahuagin squad leader and his two minions (who quickly ran out of things to throw) by themselves.\nAchievement Unlocked: No friendly fire incidents!\nAfter a melee combat that included a Barron-fishman-Pyro sandwich, the party prevailed, though Elmo was knocked out of the fight by a single thrown spear at the beginning and Shaggy fell to the claws and teeth of the fishy leader before Fred finally struck the killing blow. The two surviving minions were faced with a morale check upon the death of their leader, and one chose to flee, while the other chose to charge furiously at the party. As most of the group focused on the remaining fish-man in combat, Griff slipped on his ring of invisibility and pursued the fleeing survivor. Fred joined the pursuit a few moments later.\nAfter running for several minutes, the fish-man stopped to catch his breath, and Griff prompted backstabbed him to death. Fred caught up a moment later.\nAfter running down the fleeing sahuagin warrior, Fred paused to consider the location of any opposition. His Detect Evil ability revealed a cluster of unpleasant creatures towards the center of the southern half of the lair, but otherwise, it was clear. He then made his way back towards the party, with Griff accompanying him.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # 60 spears, 60 tridents, 60 daggers, 60 nets (armory) 180 javelins (armory) 4 unusual crossbows 15 spears and daggers (from guards) 3 shields (2 small, 1 large) 1 leather cloak (claimed by Kevin) 1 set of plate mail (claimed by Leah?) 1 set of chain mail (claimed by Fred?) 1 longsword (claimed by Fred until his own is found, unless someone else wants it?) 1 bone wand and case (claimed by Elmo) 1 ring with Barron's name on it (Barron was claimed by it) 1 ring of invisibility (claimed by Griff) 1 ring of protection (claimed by Thic Duc, who traded his previous version to Barron) 4 doses of a potion of water breathing 2 sahuagin gold armbands (20 gp each) Miscellaneous coins totaling 24gp Experience # 100xp each for showing up 100xp each for roleplaying 1000xp for rescuing three prisoners (Elmo, Griff, and the as yet unnamed third) 3 sahuagin guards: 258xp 6 sahuagin warriors: 516xp 1 sahuagin officer: 100xp Total Group Experience: 2040xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;This was originally intended as a sort of realistic, grimdark campaign...\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Really?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;No.\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # ","date":"26 October 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-25/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nS3: The Final Enemy # The 25th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Nathan (Kevin), and Mariel (Leah) are returning cast members. Dennis (Griff) is a new member.\nAs we left the party, they had been planning their assault on the sahuagin lair. Joined by the Scooby Gang, a small unit of bullywog warriors, and a platoon of lizardfolk soldiers divided into two squads (Leisurely Lieutenant Larry and the Lounge Lizards; Salty the Sargeant and the Leaping Lizards).\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 25","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nSession Map\nS3: The Final Enemy # The 24th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), and Jon (Elorion), are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had been planning their assault on the sahuagin lair. Joined by the Scooby Gang, a small unit of bullywog warriors, and a platoon of lizardfolk soldiers divided into two squads (Leisurely Lieutenant Larry and the Lounge Lizards; Salty the Sargeant and the Leaping Lizards).\nAs stated by Guildmistress Elena, the party\u0026rsquo;s goals were:\nDetermine the strength of the sahuagin force -- how many warriors, officers, nobles, etc are present. Locate important areas within the fortress -- barracks, officers quarters, etc Discover any significant defensive measures -- areas with traps, guards, regular patrols, purpose-build defenses Discover how advanced any sahuagin preparations are, and when their next attack might take place The group traveled with two carts full of provisions, along with their allies, via the northern track leading around the edge of the swamp. Thanks in large part to the vigilant efforts of the lizardfolk and their knowledge of the swamp, they avoided any encounters on the journey. On the morning of the 7th day, they approached the island where the sahuagin now live. After consulting with the lizards and bullywogs on relative movement speeds in water and swamp (water: bullywogs are faster than fishmen are faster than lizards; in swamp, both bullywogs and lizards can outrun fishmen), and assigning those party members more spaced out than usual to guard the carts, the party moved closer to the sahuagin lair to formulate their plans.\nUpon seeing their old home more closely, Salty Sarge announced that it had changed somehow. It was lower in the water than before, and the causeway led to a new entrance. This entrance was blocked by what appeared to be two large stone doors, with visible metal fittings blocking some kind of arrow slit.\nTheir first plan was to send the bullywogs to the front gates of the sahuagin lair during daylight, when most of the fish-men were likely to be asleep. The bullywogs were confident they could keep ahead of the sahuagin pursuit on land, so they would attract attention from any guards, then flee up the trail into the swamp. Any pursuit from the sahuagin guards would be led into an ambush.\nThis plan failed. The bullywogs were able to approach the causeway, and even engage in their loud mating calls, without provoking a response from the sahuagin fortress. When they approached closer, someone within the fortress opened a metal cover blocking an arrow slit in the door. Several gleaming eyes looked out on the three bullywogs for a few seconds, then closed the viewing portal in disgust. Apparently three belligerant bullywogs are not considered a threat sufficient to send a patrol in pursuit. At least not in broad daylight.\nThe next plan was to bring the whole party up as close to the arrow slits as possible, and use the slits to fire into the fortress, while attempting to stuff someone inside who could manage to open the doors. Possible candidates included one or all of the bullywogs, or Mr. Crackers the zombie bird, or possibly Daphne. However, as soon as the group approached the doors, the sahuagin opened the arrow slot and begin firing. The party \u0026ndash; including the lizardfolk units and the bullywogs \u0026ndash; rushed the door at once. At the last momnet, Elorion remembered that Velma had memorized the knock spell \u0026ndash; and called for her to use it. While darts and crossbow bolts flew in both directions, Velma tossed a ball of string through the arrow slit and somehow used it to hook into the door lock mechanism. The doors cracked open slightly, clearly no longer locked.\nFred opened the door and charged the guards within. Twice, Velma\u0026rsquo;s darts flew unerringly through the melee to strike sahuagin who left the front lines to try to ring the massive gong against the rear wall of the guard room.\nWith the first guard room of sahuagin dead following the charge, the party came under fire from another group of guards behind a bronze gate. The party charged this gate as well, with the lizardmen units taking the lead in melee combat as Fred\u0026rsquo;s wounds began to take their toll. The sahuagin released a net trap from the ceiling that caught several of the party with a nasty, hooked net that prevented them from moving without inflicting painful wounds. Enough of those present manged to escape the net to make freeing those held captive a simple exercise, however. Before long the second group of sahuagin fell, mostly to missile fire with the occasional stab wound through the bars of the gate contributed by the first lizard.\nThe bronze gate was opened by encouraging two of the bullywogs to press themselves through the gate. The first made it through the bars, but was not strong enough to turn the wheel that would raise the gate, even when jumping up and down on the handle. Another bullywog tried to slip through to help, but failed and got stuck until Fred offered to help with a well placed boot. A little too well placed; Fred\u0026rsquo;s boot propelled the hapless creature into the far wall, knocking him unconscious. The third bullywog was the charm, however, slipping through the gate without help and successfully opening it for the rest of the party.\nBeyond the guard post, most of the complex seemed to be deserted. There were several empty rooms, many of them apparently still under construction or partially complete.\nOne of the large rooms the party found was the armory, filled with tridents, daggers, hooked nets, and other aquatic weaponry. The lizardfolk were enlisted to bring the weapons back to the carts, so they could be used against their original owners later.\nThe other two rooms were smaller, and mostly empty, with only basic furniture and apparently abandoned tools left there. Both rooms were tiled. The eastern room was tiled with dark green on the walls and a pale green ceiling. The western room was tiled in dark green on the walls, with the ceiling left bare stone. Thic Duc used a hammer and chisel to carefully remove one of each type of tile present in each of those rooms.\nAfter determining their location on the maps provided by the lizardfolk, and exploring the initial rooms, the party waiting for their weapon-stealing operation to complete before exploring further.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # Experience # 100xp each for showing up 100xp each for roleplaying 1000xp for getting into the fortress without raising an alarm 10 sahuagin warriors: 860xp Total Group Experience: 1860xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables\nShaggy's dart specialization leads to 4 attacks per round... and half of them seem to end up in his own feet (natural 1s) Shaggy and Fred ended up doing quite a dance number jockeying for position Dangling Threads of Fate\n","date":"12 October 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-24/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nSession Map\nS3: The Final Enemy # The 24th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), and Jon (Elorion), are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had been planning their assault on the sahuagin lair. Joined by the Scooby Gang, a small unit of bullywog warriors, and a platoon of lizardfolk soldiers divided into two squads (Leisurely Lieutenant Larry and the Lounge Lizards; Salty the Sargeant and the Leaping Lizards).\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 24","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S3: The Final Enemy # The 23rd full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Jon (Elorion), are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, their weapons heist had succeeded, and most of the party were hiding out in the Saltmarsh manor with Guildmistress Elena. Michael had previously traveled (with Elorion\u0026rsquo;s corpse) to Saltmarsh, in order to invoke the Adventure Capitalist\u0026rsquo;s insurance policy and have him raised from the dead to continue his adventure.\nElorian gasped back to life under the tender ministrations of the Saltmarsh herbalist, watched over by a strangely silent Michael. Before long he reconnected with the rest of the group hiding out in the previously-haunted manor. After a stop to refresh their provisions, the group journeyed back into the swamp.\nTheir first stop was at the bullywogs. Those simple creatures, most of their warriors already dead at the party\u0026rsquo;s hands but ignorant of the identity of their killers, were willing to make a another deal. Barron offered their women and tadpoles shelter in their former home, under the loving protection and care of the lizard folk, in return for aid from their warriors in dealing with the aquatic sahuagin. Their small unit of three warriors were to be used as cannon fodder scouts.\nThe lizard folk described their plan. The bulk of their warriors would train with the weapons the party had retrieved for them, while the party itself, along with their slaves friends the Scooby Gang and the small bullywog unit, would scout their old lair. A small unit of lizardfolk would accompany the group to provide backup and numerical support. After the scouting mission, a full assault would follow with all of the lizardfolk forces.\nDiscussing matters with the Scooby Gang revealed some unexpected talents. Velma can apparently copy magic-user scrolls and thinks she might be able to use the scroll the party found with the instructions for Water Breathing. She\u0026rsquo;s not sure it would do anything, but is willing to try it. The party arranged for 5 copies of the scroll to be made, just in case.\nShaggy: says he feels musically inclined, is fond of brawling, and wants to get in touch with nature. He has no other special skills Fred: feels a holy calling to fight evil and unmask monsters Velma: wants to understand all the magic tricks, and maybe learn them herself Daphne: Still seems sort of confused, but holds her own in a fight and seems comfortable being stealthy Scooby: Doesn't have much to say The party then interrogated the sahuagin prisoner. The prisoner initially claimed to be a noble triton, a race of inherently good humanoids who dwell beneath the waves. However, the party did not buy it. After convincing the prisoner that they had cast a spell that would blow up his head if he lied, he admitted the truth: he was a sahuagin and his people had indeed taken the ancestral lair of the lizardfolk from them. He had been captured by the lizardfolk while away from the lair. His people\u0026rsquo;s god of the sea has, according to the prisoner, taken steps to improve the suitability of the island for his people. This has something to do with rising waters and drowning those on land\u0026hellip; but the details are not clear, as his monologue was interrupted by Barron\u0026rsquo;s relatively unprovoked attack.\nLashing out with a surprising number of teeth, claws, and flippers, the sahuagin fought back against the whole party\u0026rsquo;s somewhat coordinated (after a moment of surprise) assault. Elorion\u0026rsquo;s Charm Person spell took effect just as the creature bled out the last of its fishy ichor, and the dead, fishy eyed gazed upon the half-elven wizard with a love that will go forever unrequited.\nBarron gleefully sold the corpse, bit by bit, to whoever wanted it\u0026hellip; including the younger grandson of the lizardfolk chieftain, who wanted a trophy to mount on his wall, just like granddad\u0026hellip;\nAfter some discussion, the iridescent ioun stone (+1 level) was provided to Elorion, the deep red sphere (+1 dex) was given to Barron, and the pale green stone (sustains without air) was kept for general party use. The helm of underwater action was also kept for general use.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # Helm of Underwater Action Ioun Stone: pale green prison (sustains without air) Ioun Stone: deep red sphere (+1 dexterity) Ioun Stone: (+1 level) 550 gp 5 rubies (250gp each; 1250 gp total) 50 gp for sale of body parts etc -375 gp for buying pearls to use with identify Experience # 100xp each for showing up 100xp each for roleplaying 500xp for retrieving the treasure from the bullywogs in time to use it without killing them 500xp for successfully interrogating a prisoner Killing a helpless, unarmed sahuagin prisoner: 1xp Treasure: 1850xp Total Group Experience: 2850xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;For an extra 10 gp, I'll tell everyone you killed it yourself!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Ssssssold.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Elena was in charge of Informal Resource Segregation (IRS) in Rookroost.\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Player Character Level Experience Total Next Level Larry Michael 5th 13,230xp 27,500xp Dean Thic Duc 4th 16,010xp 22,500xp Matt Barron 5th 12,111xp 20,000xp Mary Kriselle 3rd 6,266xp 8,000xp Mariel Leah 3rd 10,077xp 10,000xp Nathan Kevin 3rd 5,509xp 7,500xp Jonathan Elion 1st 1523xp 2,500xp Jonathan Otis 1st 1,053xp 2,251xp\n","date":"28 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-23/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S3: The Final Enemy # The 23rd full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Jon (Elorion), are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, their weapons heist had succeeded, and most of the party were hiding out in the Saltmarsh manor with Guildmistress Elena. Michael had previously traveled (with Elorion’s corpse) to Saltmarsh, in order to invoke the Adventure Capitalist’s insurance policy and have him raised from the dead to continue his adventure.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 23","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nThe 22nd full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Nathan (Kevin), are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had taken care of a crocodile problem that came with an unexpected dose of dragon. The lizardfolk had the head of their crocodile (something they were perhaps less happy with than the party deserved), and at least a temporary peace was set. The next step was to make up for the weapons the party had intercepted, preferably by recovering the original shipment.\nElena knew where the weapons had been stored after the party recovered them, but General Perneti had raided most of the locations associated with the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild. It was likely the warehouse had been taken over, though the General would presumably have no reason to suspect there was anything unusual about the weapons aside from their similar markings. She was able to provide a map, including a secret entrance to the warehouse inside one of her hidden offices.\nThe party formulated a plan:\nObtain forged old-style requisition forms for 2 carts and horses Obtain genuine new style requisition forms for 2 carts and horse Forge a new-style requisition form for the weapons Manufacture three wooden platforms for dancers Hire dancers to dance on the carts Scout the warehouse at night to confirm the weapons are there Return with carts, horses, and forged requisition forms Load the weapons and leave Park briefly in a nearby alley to add platforms, painted slogans, and dancing girls Attract as much attention as possible leaving the city The operation mostly went according to plan. They were able to trade forged old-style forms for non-forged new style forms, to which they added the details they needed for both carts and weapons. A carpenter was found to make platforms. Dancing girls were found locally, albeit mostly with plague marks. All of this required a lot of travel around Rookroost, and things were clearly changing.\nIn the course of their travels, Barron made a side trip to the better part of town to sell the loot from the dragon\u0026rsquo;s lair along with some previously forgotten loot. Almost 5,000gp in jewelry and pearls will pad the bank account quite nicely. Both the thief and the druid commissioned dragon-hide armor (leather and banded, respectively) for a small fee in addition to providing the materials. The result will be available in one month per armor, with the leather first.\nThe midnight scouting mission went well, except for the brief period when Pyro led the way through the secret passage and set off a trap. The group made their way into the warehouse\u0026rsquo;s semi-secret office and broke into a few of the drawers on Elena\u0026rsquo;s desk there. They retrieved a purse with 100pp, a lot of paperwork, and a nice dagger. Barron returned all of what he took. Thic Duc kept the dagger.\nLooking outside of the little secret office, the party confirmed that at least some of the weapons were still in the warehouse. They were marked in crates, and some had been opened and weapons removed. In the other direction, out the concealed door, Barron heard a horrid snoring and the rattle of chains. Upon investigation, this proved to be a troll chained to the corner of the room, hooked up to some sort of apparatus that appeared to be harvesting some sort of troll juice.\nChoosing not to face the troll, or even risk waking it, the party left with the knowledge that the weapons were where they were supposed to be.\nThe next day, they picked up the carts from the quartermaster\u0026rsquo;s office. This time, they had the proper forms and were given their carts. Horses, of course, are on the other side of town\u0026hellip; so they had to go get those first.\nProceeding to the warehouse, they talked their way past the gate guard with their forms in order. Within, they found a unit of the General\u0026rsquo;s red shirts. They were curiously unresponsive to conversation, but moved out of the way when given the proper orders.\nMoving deeper into the warehouse to load the weapons, the party encountered the loading assistants: the ogres Tiny and Dumb, who had apparently been assigned to load and unload cargo when needed. From their comments as they loaded the weapons into the party\u0026rsquo;s carts under Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s watchful eye, someone had also assigned them to watch each other to prevent theft. As they carefully did so, they loaded a few extra crates at Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s casual request; these contained alchemical glassware with traces of red liquid\u0026hellip;\nWhile the loading took place, Barron wandered into a nearby room and met the orc shaman Alpha and his subordinate Beta. They were arguing over whose turn it was to animate a plague victim\u0026rsquo;s corpse and add it to the unit of redshirts. Beta lost, and set to casting his Animate Dead spell while Alpha muttered under his breath about orcs females being taken captive and held hostage. The two of them are animating the dead under duress. Alpha orc was even willing to demonstrate, by cutting one of the soldiers and watching the wound heal.\nWith that unsettling demonstration under their belts, the party finished loading their carts and left. A quick stop in a nearby alley provided a transformation of the three heavily-loaded wagons full of weapons into the Traveling Band of Misfits and Dancers, complete with girls dancing on top of carts and strangely dressed extras passing the hat for funds. They made it out of Rookroost without incident, though in the distance a faint hint of possible pursuit could be seen.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # Dragon hide: traded for leather and banded armor (paid 1000gp extra to armorer) Dragon teeth: 750gp Necklace with rubies and diamonds: 3000gp Pink pearl necklace (leftover from orcs in Castle Greyhawk): 2000gp Barron's filched purse: 17gp Experience # 100xp each for showing up 100xp each for roleplaying Retrieving \u0026quot;smuggled\u0026quot; weapons via a successful caper: 2000xp Bonus for NOT stealing from the Guildmistress... mostly: 200xp Treasure: 5767 xp Total Group Experience: 7967xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026ldquo;You know, I\u0026rsquo;m supposed to kill anyone using these old forms\u0026hellip; ah, screw it, that would take out half the army today.\u0026rdquo; Dangling Threads of Fate # The lizardfolk plan to attack the sahuagin and drive them off if possible General Perneti appears to be using the plague victims and something coming from a troll to make regenerating zombies Orc shamans are being blackmailed into producing the zombies ","date":"14 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-22/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nThe 22nd full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Nathan (Kevin), are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had taken care of a crocodile problem that came with an unexpected dose of dragon. The lizardfolk had the head of their crocodile (something they were perhaps less happy with than the party deserved), and at least a temporary peace was set. The next step was to make up for the weapons the party had intercepted, preferably by recovering the original shipment.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 22","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"The 21st full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Nathan (Kevin), and Jonathan (Otis) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just crossed the Dunwater river at the ford, killing three crocodiles that sought to contest their passage, though the battle cost Elion his life (at least temporarily). Michael chose to return to Saltmarsh with Elion\u0026rsquo;s body to bring him back to life. Otis the Saltmarsh guide chose to remain with the party, seeking a life of adventure.\nThe rest of the party pressed on, with the two rangers in the lead. They rapidly located a large rise in the terrain, as if several separate hills had been pushed together. Closer investigation suggested that they were in lizardfolk territory, as their tracks were plentiful in the area, but the hill itself had almost no lizardfolk tracks once it rose out of the swamp. The rangers also noted tracks from crocodiles and large normal lizards in the area, and a large cave entrance facing northeast.\nThe party chose to climb the hill and approach the cave entrance from above. The ground near the entrance wasn\u0026rsquo;t quite stable so they couldn\u0026rsquo;t see very far in, but Barron was able to see heat-shapes moving around near the back of the cave. Clearly, it was inhabited by something.\nLeaving Thic Duc and Otis on the top of the cave mouth, Barron attempted to sneak up to the entrance while the rest of the party spread out to cover him. Unfortunately, Leah brought Pyro, who immediately began barking madly. This alerted the giant lizard guards, who charged the party. A fight seemed imminent, but at the last second, Kevin managed to cast Speak With Animals and convinced the guardian lizards to wait for the smarter lizard-men guards to approach.\nThe majority of the party promptly surrendered their weapons and were led to the dungeons, with Barron attempting to involve himself in the negotiations taking place between the Guildmistress of the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild and the lizardfolk. Thic Duc and Otis remained lurking above the cave entrance, hopefully unnoticed, in position to attempt a rescue. (Those familiar with Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s record of rescues may feel that being in position is as far as such an effort would be likely to go)\nThe majority of the party promptly surrendered their weapons in a remarkably display of trust for their fellow adventurer and were led to the dungeons, with Barron attempting to involve himself in the negotiations taking place between the Guildmistress of the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild and the lizardfolk. Thic Duc and Otis remained lurking above the cave entrance, hopefully unnoticed, in position to attempt a rescue. On the way to the dungeons, they noticed a strange sword and breastplate in the mud of the lizard stables.\nThe rest of the party was taken through the lair into a series of small dungeon cells, one of which held a captive lizardman who complained of itchy scales and claimed he was imprisoned for objecting to the chief\u0026rsquo;s decision to negotiate with humans to recapture their home. The other cell seemed to hold water, with something splashing in it, but no one investigated that cell.\nBarron was conveyed to the throne room, where Guildmistress Elena was negotiating with the lizardfolk chieftain. She was surprised by the interruption, but quickly asked Barron in Thieves\u0026rsquo; Cant what he was doing there, and the two of them managed to convince the chief that they were working together and that the strange group of people (the Scooby gang, one presumes) the chief had captured earlier were also associates. (Sometimes friends, sometimes servants, sometimes slaves\u0026hellip; that part was a little confused). In turn, Elena explained that General Perneti of Rookroost had attacked her guild hall, killed many in her guild, and driven her from the city.\nThe deal Barron and Elena negotiated works like so: First, the lizardfolk require that the party deal with a local giant crocodile that has been attacking their patrols. They cannot deal with it themselves for religious reasons and would prefer it be driven off if possible; killed if necessary. So long as the lizardfolk themselves do not do the deed, it will be acceptable. Second, the weapons originally intended for the lizardfolk and promised to them by the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild must be recovered and delivered so the tribe will be armed with proper weapons; when this task is complete the prisoners will be released to help with the attack on the sahuagin. Third, the lizardfolk will retake their home from the sahuagin scum with help from the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild. (Since Elena appears to be lacking in other available minions, this will likely be the party). Finally, they will assist Elena against the General.\nIn addition to the major points, Barron requested that the shaman reanimate Mr Crackers, using pillowfeathers as a replacement for the corpse\u0026rsquo;s natural plumage. With much grumbling and argument from the shaman, this was accomplished.\nThe negotiations complete, the party gathered in the giant lizard stable and worked out a plan for dealing with the giant crocodile. The main idea was to use the mystery machine (and a convenient large python corpse) as bait to lure the crocodile into an ambush. Or possibly to use the noise it makes to drive the crocodile away peacefully. The party planned to place a large pile of python meat near the edge of the crocodile\u0026rsquo;s territory, then drive the cart further in and leaving a trail of python sections back to the larger pile. Either the giant crocodile would flee the noise of the cart, or it would follow the meat back to their ambush\u0026hellip; at least, in theory. And to accomplish this, they would hook the cart up to a giant lizard borrowed from the lizardfolk.\nBarron also took the opportunity to grab the sword he had noticed earlier. He was not able to draw it from the sheath, however, and got a strange expression on his face each time he tried.\nBarron requested the meanest, nastiest giant lizard the lizardfolk had available to pull the cart filled with bloody python chunks into the territory of a giant crocodile. The party\u0026rsquo;s animal handling expert, Leah, thought this was a great idea (missed her animal handling check at diff 5\u0026hellip; twice). However, she was able to adjust the harness to properly hook the selected animal up to the cart, and Kevin was able to negotiate with the animal\u0026rsquo;s primitive mind to explain the task. As payment, the lizard demanded that he be fed with bird meat, something he had always wanted to taste but had never managed to catch. The party considered that an easy bargain to make, especially with Mr Crackers always available in case hunting was poor.\nIn practice, the party set off on a variety of separate tasks and accidentally surrounded a small grove of trees near where the crocodile was suspected to lair. Within that grove, a small oriental water dragon made its home, and upon seeing the party cautiously moving to surround the grove, decided it had best attack before it was completely surrounded by men with crossbows. It charged straight at Thic Duc, perhaps imagining that his grey robes meant a dangerous wizard. Thic Duc fled.\nAbout halfway there, Kevin hit the creature with his Entanglement spell, and it was caught and held motionless by animated swamp grass. Immediately, the water surrounding the creature caught fire, and the grass began to burn away; but the party\u0026rsquo;s archers were ready and aimed at weak points in the creature\u0026rsquo;s immature scaly armor. Before it could free itself, the hail of arrows brought it low.\nUnfortunately, the sound of the struggle had attracted the attention of the giant crocodile the party had intended to hunt. It emerged from the pond that served as a favorite resting spot and headed straight for Barron. Arrows from Leah scratched the beast\u0026rsquo;s hide, and Mr Crackers dive-bombed the monstrosity, his decaying claws drawing blood as well. Thic Duc frantically readied his crossbow as a sling bullet from Kevin whizzed past, missing the creature along with the rest of the party.\nAnother volley of arrows from Leah at point-blank range landed just as it reached her, with Pyro barking furiously at her side. The terror on her face was heartbreaking: should she send her favorite pet into combat against such a huge and deadly creature? Pyro had slain a normal size crocodile almost on his own the day before, but this was another thing entirely. While she debated the moral question, the monster\u0026rsquo;s massive maw chomped down on Kevin, mangling his body and sending him into unconsciousness. Thic Duc, caught out of position by the dragon\u0026rsquo;s attack, hurried to reach a good place to shoot.\nWith the crocodile\u0026rsquo;s attention on Kevin, Barron backstabbed the beast (14 points of damage). Unlike the mere scratches from Leah and Mr Crackers, the creature felt the blow, and whirled in fury. Barron was the next party member to suffer the creature\u0026rsquo;s bite, and he too fell unconscious. Seeing him fall, Leah sent Pyro to attack with tears in her eyes and arrows to follow. Her fury and fear guided one of the arrows to strike true, inspiring an unheard-of level of competence in her shooting and a roar of pain from the crocodile. Thic Duc ran towards Kevin, bandaging his wounds just in time to keep him alive.\nTwo more arrows from Leah, one missing, but the other striking right between the eyes. The arrow clearly did not reach the creature\u0026rsquo;s brain, but blood filled the crocodile\u0026rsquo;s eyes and ran from its nose. It charged towards Leah to rend her limb from limb, but the blood from her arrows was blinding the creature and it could not catch her. Pyro\u0026rsquo;s bite was almost unnoticeable against such a huge creature, but served as sufficient distraction for Thic Duc to pour Kevin\u0026rsquo;s healing potion down the druid\u0026rsquo;s throat. The horrible wounds covering his body closed.\nUnable to find Leah and bite her in half as it had planned, the crocodile turned its wrath on Pyro and chewed on him instead. The loyal animal whimpered and collapsed. Leah\u0026rsquo;s arrows once again found a weak point in the crocodile\u0026rsquo;s hide, sinking deep to wound, while Kevin crawled to Barron and bound his wounds to save his life. Barron pulled his own healing potion from a hidden pouch and drank it. Thic Duc, feeling the moment of desperation, leaped to the top of the mystery machine and from there launched a flying kick that happened to strike the arrow Leah had sunk between the crocodile\u0026rsquo;s eyes, driving it further into the creature\u0026rsquo;s brain and ending the fight.\nPyro\u0026rsquo;s wounds were bandaged and Kevin used his Cure Light Wounds to ease the creature\u0026rsquo;s pain.\nIn the dragon\u0026rsquo;s swampy lair, Kevin found it\u0026rsquo;s hoard of treasure by stepping on it. A small hoard, for a young dragon, but still a hoard; large sacks of copper and gold coin, a scimitar, a scrollcase, a box with an agate periapt within, and an ornate necklace. The rangers occupied themselves skinning the two great reptiles, and the rest of the party counted coins. When those tasks were complete, they returned to the lizardfolk with their prizes in tow.\nThe chief of the lizardfolk accepted the head of the crocodile as completion of their task, but the shaman of their tribe was unhappy that the solution was not a peaceful one. Nevertheless, he grudgingly agreed that it may have been the only way.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # 4700 cp (23gp) 1800 gp 78 pp (390gp) 2213 gp (total) Crocodile pelt: (not yet sold) Dragon parts (hide, etc) from a young adult: (not yet sold) Necklace with rubies and diamonds: (not yet sold) Scimitar (not rusted): (not yet sold) Agate periapt with engravings: (not yet sold) Wood-and-iron box: (not yet sold) Fred's sword: (not yet sold) Fred's armor: (not yet sold, heavily damaged) Experience # 100xp each for showing up 100xp each for roleplaying 1 giant crocodiles: 601xp 1 Fu Lung (chinese water dragon): 450xp Reward for crocodile head returned to lizard folk: 500xp Reward for entering negotiations peacefully with the lizard folk: 500xp Treasure: 2213xp Total Group Experience: 4264xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Thic Duc when hunting for birds to feed the giant lizard, and rolled three natural ones One of those natural ones hit Mr Crackers, and he almost got away with Barron not noticing it Dragonslayers! (Admittedly, a very small dragon) Dangling Threads of Fate # Mr Crackers has been revived... with tiny little pillow-type goosedown for feathers (plus glue) A negotiated peace is in place between the bullywods, the lizards, and the party... for now The lizardfolk have requested, and received, a solution to the giant crocodile problem The bullywogs claim they were forced from their ancestral home by the lizardfolk The lizardfolk claim they were forced from their ancestral home by the sahuagin (fish-heads) The leader of the Thieves Guild has apparently been driven from Rookroost by the General The Scooby Gang are being held captive by the lizardfolk Barron has a sword he can't seem to draw Tactical Notes # The Speak with Animals spell used on the cart lizard might have been useful on the crocodile, had events not gone wrong in exactly the way they went wrong this time... ","date":"31 August 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-21/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"The 21st full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Nathan (Kevin), and Jonathan (Otis) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just crossed the Dunwater river at the ford, killing three crocodiles that sought to contest their passage, though the battle cost Elion his life (at least temporarily). Michael chose to return to Saltmarsh with Elion’s body to bring him back to life. Otis the Saltmarsh guide chose to remain with the party, seeking a life of adventure.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 21","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S2: Danger at Dunwater # The 20th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Nathan (Kevin), and Jonathan (Elion) are returning cast members. As an experiment, we recorded the game session.\nAs we left the party, Jonathan was recovering from a day or two of fish stew poisoning at the Saltmarsh Inn, Dean was camping with Larry and Kriselle (all three had been absent the past session, and the latter two are still absent), and the remaining three had scouted the bullywog camp and negotiated a fragile peace and safe passage to the lizardfolk lair.\nElion woke from a daze of nausea and sickness to vaguely remember he had planned to follow a band of adventurers to the west. There was no sign of them in the inn, and as his wizardly mind sharpened, he gradually came to recall that they had departed the inn early that morning, but the fish stew had left him too weak and sick to follow as he had planned. Indeed, it had nearly left him too sick to remember their departure. Yet as is often the case with such things, once the bad food was on the outside a night\u0026rsquo;s rest is often enough to restore health to the afflicted body. Elion felt once more the call of adventure, and resolved to follow after the adventurers himself. Just as soon as he found them.\nFinding them might prove more of a challenge than anticipated, as the innkeep did not even remember them departing his inn. Luckily, they had described their intent: to search the swamps to the west for a lizardfolk lair. Inquiring of the barkeep whether a local guide might be found, the barkeep suggested Otis, a local trapper currently sleeping off a drunk in the tavern corner. Beside him lay a fresh pile of skins and pelts, the result of his labors. The barkeep was careful to say that he wasn\u0026rsquo;t recommending Otis exactly, but the man did hire out as a guide occasionally and was reasonably competent when not drunk.\nAs it turned out, Otis could be bought for the price of a keg of the barkeep\u0026rsquo;s best. He checked Elion\u0026rsquo;s pack for proper travel gear: bedroll, rope, 10\u0026rsquo; pole, iron rations.. oh, wait, none of those, better go get some before we go. They headed off to the herbalists\u0026rsquo; shop for 2 weeks of iron rations, and while they were there, inquired about the druid who was supposedly in town looking for work. The herbalist suggested he had probably hired on with Elion\u0026rsquo;s friends to find the lizardfolk.\nElion and Otis set out along the western coast road, passing the \u0026ldquo;haunted\u0026rdquo; manor (which Otis seemed to recognize with some trepidation). They came upon the three campsites, noting signs of recent use, particularly in the third campsite near the end of the road. Elion found, and picked up, the d-snack wrapper the party had previously noticed.\nAt the end of the road, Otis looked around for tracks and was able to pick up the party\u0026rsquo;s trail from there. In fact, he was exceptionally confident and detailed about his ability to both follow and identify the correct party (Rolled an 01 on his tracking check). Otis was able to lead Elion to the party\u0026rsquo;s campsite, where Thic Duc was recovering from an overindulgence in meditative spirits. The pair examined Barron\u0026rsquo;s note and decided to follow his directions to the bullywog village, and proceed onwards from there with the benefit of any additional information they could pick up.\nThe frog people were eager to see Thic Duc, Elion, Otis, and their silent friends move on from their village, and offered vague directions towards the lizard people. They also explained (or perhaps complained]) that the lizardfolk had invaded the swamp recently and displaced the bullywogs from their original home. The bullywogs did not know why the lizardfolk had moved in, but they weren\u0026rsquo;t happy about it.\nWith Thic Duc encouraging the party to move along, the group left the bullywog village and made their way to the eastern shore of the Dunwater river as dusk fell.\nAt roughly the same time, Barron, Leah, and Kevin heard voices from the other side of the river. Thinking quickly, Barron deduced it might be his companions catching up, and wrote out a note, which he then wrapped around a crossbow bolt and fired across the river. Luckily, he hit a tree. Not necessarily the one he was aiming at.\nThic Duc was meditating and noticed nothing. Elion heard the sound of the bolt hitting a tree, and eventually Otis noticed the crossbow bolt and the note wrapped around it. The note read, briefly, \u0026ldquo;Friend or foe?\u0026rdquo;\nThic Duc circled \u0026ldquo;friend\u0026rdquo; and shot back across the river, striking Barron for maximum damage. (Oops) Barron read the note while coughing up blood, and Kevin cast his healing spell while removing the bolt.\nBoth groups decided, with much yelling across the river, to camp overnight and reunite on the Western shore in the morning. They would use the ford to the north to cross the river, in order to avoid the giant crawfish. (To which decision Otis quietly muttered, \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s crawfish or crocodiles\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;)\nWhen the sun rose the next morning, both groups made their way along shore to the ford. The water there was shallow, only a foot or two deep in most places, with small-to-medium sized rocks to make the footing treacherous. As the party was discussing how best to cross the river, Elion was overcome with a powerful sensation of eagerness and enthusiasm! He immediately sprinted at full speed across the river, only to trip on a rock and fall flat on his face, striking another rock on the way down and knocking himself unconscious (Failed diff 10 dex check for sprinting across the river as fast as possible and took 4 points from a 1d4 damage roll from the fall).\nThat was when the crocodiles appeared from upstream.\nFrom the far shore, Kevin rapidly made his way out to the fallen wizard, healing him and restoring him to consciousness while the crocodiles bore down on the group. Leah sent Pyro charging into the water after the lead crocodile, a terrifying sight indeed for such a scaly beast. Canine and crocodile began a vigorous debate about the nature of tooth and claw, and whether size mattered more than how well you used them. Pyro won, eventually.\nPyro goes for croc\nLeah opened fire with her bow on the other crocodile closer to her. Thic Duc from the other side of the river did the same, joined after a moment by Kriselle. Their combined missile fire wounded both of the remaining crocs, but killed neither.\nWith Pyro still fighting for his life against one of the crocodiles, and the others too close to the party to risk further missile fire, Kriselle and Thic Duc moved into the ford to face their crocodile in melee combat. Barron and Leah did the same from their side. While they closed the distance, Pyro finally throttled his croc, with some help from Kriselle to finish it off. One down!\nThe western crocodile looked at the three people surrounding him in the ford and chose to attack the wizard (d4 roll from left to right; rolled 3). His claw attack missed, but the huge jaws closed around the wizard\u0026rsquo;s waist, and blood filled the ford as huge teeth ripped into the unarmored wizard. Without even the chance to get off a spell, the elf expired (Natural 20 leading to double damage on 1d12; rolled damage was 11, starting from just 2 hit points, resulting in -20 hit points; the wizard\u0026rsquo;s constitution is 11, meaning he was thoroughly dead).\nPerhaps infuriated by the death of their new friend, Barron\u0026rsquo;s short sword swiftly stabbed the western crocodile behind the head, killing it instantly. On the eastern side of the river, Thic Duc used his open-hand techniques to wrestle his crocodile to death.\nThic Duc punches croc\nWith Elion dead, but all of his pieces in their possession, the party made camp and discussed their options. Someone would be making the trek back to Saltmarsh to invoke the insurance policy Elion had wisely purchased, but who that would be was not yet clear. (Any players not present next session will have their characters return to Saltmarsh with Elion\u0026rsquo;s body.) Otis was feeling invigorated by all of this adventure and considering signing on with the party.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # 100xp each for showing up 100xp each for roleplaying 3 normal-size crocodiles: 420xp Total Group Experience: 420xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Exchanging messages across the river by crossbow bolt \u0026quot;Accidentally\u0026quot; hitting Barron with a crossbow bolt bearing a message of friendship Dangling Threads of Fate # Mr Crackers has been retrieved, without his feathers A negotiated peace is in place between the frogmen and the party The bullywogs claim they were forced from their ancestral home by the lizardfolk Why did the lizardfolk move into the swamp in the first place? ","date":"17 August 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-20/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S2: Danger at Dunwater # The 20th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Nathan (Kevin), and Jonathan (Elion) are returning cast members. As an experiment, we recorded the game session.\nAs we left the party, Jonathan was recovering from a day or two of fish stew poisoning at the Saltmarsh Inn, Dean was camping with Larry and Kriselle (all three had been absent the past session, and the latter two are still absent), and the remaining three had scouted the bullywog camp and negotiated a fragile peace and safe passage to the lizardfolk lair.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 20","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Frog Village Map\nS2: Danger at Dunwater # The 19th full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Nathan (Kevin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just survived an attack by a coordinated warband of bullywogs (frog-men) by the skin of their teeth. Michael healed Leah, Barron, and Kevin so the three party members could follow the escaping bullywog and hopefully catch it before it could warn any others. The rest of the party made camp, and woke up the next morning with a note pinned to one of their backpacks.\nDear Misfits, We found Mr. Crackers, yay!!! We also made peace(?) with the frog people. Went to buy smokes find lizard people. If we do not return by the time your hangover is gone, rescue us. Signed, Barron and the other two half-elves. PS. Frogs have treasure FYI. A map to the frog's village is included Barron\u0026#39;s Note\nLeah was able to follow the blood trail south from the party\u0026rsquo;s camp, eventually losing the trail near a large tree. There were marks on the bark as if something had brushed against it, or perhaps attacked it with a claw. After a few minutes examining the tree, Barron determined that the frog-man had climbed the tree, walked out one of the branches, and leaped from the branch to land as far as possible from the tree before continuing. The party was able to resume following the trail, which now went mostly west rather than north.\nAfter following the trail for another mile or two, the party saw a strange earthern pillar ahead. Barron attempted to sneak closer to the pillar to examine it, but the party heard loud splashing and saw light reflecting from various daggers and bits of equipment he was wearing. Soon after that, a loud, repeated croaking was heard, accompanied by movement from the top of the pillar ahead. Something was clearly watching them from its position above the swamp, something low and flat enough that it could not be seen easily from below.\nSensing that they had been spotted, and the croaking was a form of alarm call, Leah shot blindly at the top of the pillar, aiming for the blur of barely-seen motion and hoping for the best. Her shot hit something with a fleshy sound of impact, followed shortly by a splash. The croaking ceased, and the party cautiously advanced.\nThey found themselves approaching the unfinished side of a semicircular fortification, with three more pillars similar to the first arranged in the cardinal directions, and a wall made of crude wooden logs being raised on the far side of the camp. In the center was a crude square hut of similar construction, and the center area had been mostly packed down with dirt and cleared of brush and trees. To the west of the hut, a chaotic group of small and smaller frog-men milled about in confusion. They appeared to be grabbing sacks and bags, packing frantically, and trying \u0026ndash; but failing \u0026ndash; to organize for a rapid departure. To the east of the hut, a smaller group of large frogs lined up, clutching at arms and listening to what can only be a drill sergeant speech in \u0026hellip; frog-speech.\nThe party continued to slowly advance, and when they were about 40\u0026rsquo; from the hut, the unit of frog-soldiers hopped to meet them. Neither side was eager to attack first, so much staring and posturing ensued while Kevin tried to remember how exactly his Speak with Animals spell worked. Finally managing to remember the proper sequence of gestures and words, he managed to stammer out, \u0026ldquo;We come in peace!\nPointing at the dead frog sentry they had shot and whose body was clearly visible on this side of the pillar, the frogs were clearly skeptical. However, they were also aware their warband had just be slaughtered by a group of human warriors. Further violence might result in the complete slaughter of their entire village, including the frog-women and tadpoles. Wiser frogs counseled peace.\nThe party expressed their interest in searching for a group of missing friends, the \u0026ldquo;Scooby Gang\u0026rdquo;, along with their regrets about the slaughter of the warband (with the blame-shifting assertion that the big leader frog called Han shot first), and their hope to somehow rescue their friends from the clutches of the lizardfolk while possibly resolving the scaly problem in a permanent fashion. The frogs appeared to be all in favor of a permanent solution to a cold-blooded problem.\nWith the tension level decreasing and Kevin\u0026rsquo;s Speak with Animals spell on a timer, the party quickly inquired about the wounded frog they had been following. Would it be possible to procure the return of the creature the frog had swallowed?\nThis turned out to be possible indeed. The wounded frog was in the shaman\u0026rsquo;s hut, having given his report and immediately requested that the shaman \u0026ldquo;get this bloody bird out if it kills me!\u0026rdquo; As a druid with some skill in healing, Kevin offered his assistance with the operation as a show of good faith. He entered the hut at the center of the unfinished fortifications, and assisted the shaman with the emergency avian removal surgery. The surgery took about an hour, and resulted in a very drunk frog (alcohol is the only anesthetic available to medieval frog-men), and a featherless Mr Crackers. However, the shaman said he was likely to recover, in time. Physically if not psychologically.\nHe was talking about the frog, not poor, plucked Mr Crackers. Mr Crackers will bear the psychological scars of showing up to the rest of his unlife naked for all of eternity.\nIn the corner of the shaman\u0026rsquo;s hut lay a mysterious wooden chest with a human body wrapped around it \u0026ndash; as if the human had chosen to sit down, cross-legged, with the chest in their lap and their arms wrapped around it. Kevin tried very hard not to stare at this obvious treasure, and did not recognize the body.\nMeanwhile, outside the hut, Barron discovered by accident that the frog sergeant spoke Common, albeit not terribly well. They discussed the fight with the frog warband, and much was made over the claim that the frogs attacked first. With their only witness undergoing emergency surgery, this claim was not disputed.\nWhile negotiations continued, the Great Chief of the Bullywog Tribe arrived: an enormous frog carried, one hop at a time, by four merely very large frogs supporting an palanquin. Somehow, they balanced the contraption even as they hopped vigorously through the swamp. They arrived from behind the party, cutting off any path of retreat. Luckily, one of the bearer-frogs spoke Common as well, and was able to join in the negotiations on behalf of the Great Chief, though it was unclear how much of the bearer-frog\u0026rsquo;s function was translation and how much was merely to provide a social barrier between the chief and the half-elves.\nEventually, the negotiations were concluded. The village frogs wished for the half-elves and their friends to go away and leave their swamp in peace. The Great Chief explained that the lizardfolk had moved into the swampland recently, and displaced the frog settlement from their previous home. He would like the lizardfolk forced to leave their new territory. In return, he offered the half-elves news of their friends (the so-called \u0026ldquo;Scooby Gang\u0026rdquo;, but it\u0026rsquo;s not clear who exactly calls them that), and safe passage for the whole party through the bullywog\u0026rsquo;s territory to reach and deal with the lizardfolk.\nAs for the Scooby Gang, the frog scouts had seen them passing through their territory towards the lizardfolk camp from a distance. The frogs had no desire to interfere with the infernal beast pulling the cart or the hideous racket it made, so they allowed it to pass without challenge. At the time, everyone visible on the cart appeared healthy, albeit mostly unarmed. The bullywogs did not see the cart or anyone from it (as far as they could tell) returning from the lizardfolk lair. Their concept of time is not terribly clear beyond the seasonal variations and the day-night cycle, so the best they could offer was \u0026ldquo;before the current moon\u0026rdquo;, which appears to translate to \u0026ldquo;last month\u0026rdquo;.\nThe peace treaty was sealed with a party, and (mostly? partially? hopefully?) fresh fish stew was eaten by all. Kevin had the opportunity to demonstrate his nonmagical healing skills, and achieved a success that can be only be described as contagious and mouthwatering. Even Pyro got to enjoy warm leftovers brought to him by his caring human companions in that special way that only dogs and baby birds appreciate.\nAfter concluding their business with the bullywogs, which the frog-men appeared to view as an excellent bargain for some reason, the trio returned to their party\u0026rsquo;s campsite to spend the night. Finding their friends strangely (and yet, familiarly) unresponsive, they left a note and continued onwards to scout the path to the lizardfolk lair.\nTraveling a few miles from the party\u0026rsquo;s camp, the trio of scouts reached a wide river. Presumably, the Dunwater, which (according to the maps) feeds into the Nyr Dyv to the south. The lizardfolk lair is somewhere on the other side, near the river delta. Except, technically, all of the swampland is the river delta\u0026hellip; so we\u0026rsquo;ll suffice it to say, on the other side of the river and probably somewhat south of the party\u0026rsquo;s current location.\nThe immediate problem was to cross the river, which (at the point which the intrepid trio of adventures encountered it) stretched for about a hundred yards of slow-moving, brown water. The shore on either side was heavily overgrown with low trees and extensive root systems, lacking a clear boundary between river and shore. Of Barron, Leah, Kevin, and Pyro, only Leah could swim well, although Pyro can dog-paddle. After checking their inventory for possibly useful tools, the party decided to have Leah swim across the river and shoot an arrow with a rope tied to it back across. This would result in a rope bridge that the party could use to cross the river without actually swimming, and hopefully, without getting wet. The question of Pyro was left as an matter to be resolved later.\nThe first phase of the plan went swimmingly (pun very much intended). Leah crossed the river quickly, though she felt several strange tugs at her armor as she crossed. Perhaps there were fish in the river? She was able to re-string her bow and get a solid hit on a tree trunk with her second shot. The results of the first shot were, luckily, no more consequential than a lost arrow. However, suddenly Leah realized that, though her ranger training had shown her the technique for crossing a river with a rope bridge for companions unable to swim, no one had actually taught her how to tie the knots. The rest of the party, left behind for the moment, were in similar straits: after their best efforts, the rope bridge was sort of in place, but it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t remain in place for long without someone holding the rope on both sides.\nKevin volunteered to go next. The druid dangled himself from the rope by his hands and crossed ankles, and begin to swim across. Unfortunately the rope bridge dipped low to the water near the center (failed strength check on one side of the bridge) and soon his leather armor was soaked by the river. As his crossing disturbed the surface, something beneath the water began to grow interested in the activity, and three pairs of large, greyish-brown claws emerged from below.\nThinking quickly, Barron tossed a fish loaded with sleeping draughts to the first pair of pincers to appear. The fish landed with a splash, and the water briefly churned, before slowly calming again. That set of pincers did not reappear. (A fish in time saves \u0026hellip; well, four.)\nThat left two sets of claws to attack Kevin, whose grip on the rope was quite precarious enough already. He made his way across the rope slowly but surely, taking a series of increasingly more serious wounds as he did so. Just as he neared the far shore, he finally collapsed and fell into the water. Leah immediately rushed in to pull him out, just as Barron and Pyro (still on the eastern shore) began their crossing. Working together, Leah was able to pull the unconscious druid to safety and lend her strength (along with Pyro\u0026rsquo;s, and really, it was all Pyro) to the effort to pull Barron to shore before the mysterious crustaceans could claw him to death as well.\nAs the curtain closed on this session, the trio (and Pyro) were safely across the river, just far enough from the shore to avoid being dragged into the river by a wandering lobster or crawfish. It was about this time that Barron remembered a ford or crossing marked on the map a little to the north of where he thought they were\u0026hellip;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # 100xp each for showing up 100xp each for roleplaying 1 bullywog archer: 44xp Bonus for bypassing/surviving giant crustaceans: 1000xp Bonus for negotiating with bullywog village without killing them (mostly): 1000xp Total Group Experience: 2044xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # A natural 20 rolled in a healing proficiency check proved contagious Pyro was able to join in the celebratory feast after all Dangling Threads of Fate # Mr Crackers has been retrieved, without his feathers A negotiated peace is in place between the frogmen and the party The bullywogs claim they were forced from their ancestral home by the lizardfolk Player Character Experience Total Larry Michael 13230xp Mary Kriselle 6266xp Dean Thic Duc 11125xp Matt Barron 6569xp Mariel Leah 5636xp Nathan Kevin 1980xp Sean Beroch 326xp Jonathan Elion 326xp\n","date":"3 August 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-19/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Frog Village Map\nS2: Danger at Dunwater # The 19th full game session. Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Nathan (Kevin) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just survived an attack by a coordinated warband of bullywogs (frog-men) by the skin of their teeth. Michael healed Leah, Barron, and Kevin so the three party members could follow the escaping bullywog and hopefully catch it before it could warn any others. The rest of the party made camp, and woke up the next morning with a note pinned to one of their backpacks.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 19","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S2: Danger at Dunwater # The 18th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Nathan (Kevin), and Larry (Michael) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just arrived at the docks in Saltmarsh, hoping to find out what had happened to the Scooby Gang. The party took rooms at the local inn, and enjoyed the nostalgic comfort food of \u0026ldquo;fish stew\u0026rdquo;. The wizard and barbarian they met on the ship took rooms at the local inn, but declined to follow the party into the swamp, at least not right away. As best the party could tell, the barbarian was drunken to the point of insensibility when they left the next morning, and the wizard was occupied with his spellbook (or perhaps one of the local girls of negotiable virtue, depending on whether you ask the wizard or the bartender). Kriselle is in a Shrodinger\u0026rsquo;s Fighter scenario; no one thought to check on her today\u0026hellip;\nWhile Michael prepared his spells (choosing from those suitable to swamp life, such as \u0026ldquo;snake charm\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;augury\u0026rdquo;), Barron acquired three large baitfish, and Thic Duc a new spear with a spiffy metal loop on the end for reeling in whatever he happens to spear with it. Then the party split up, with Barron searching for a native guide to the swamps in the local tavern (Saltmarsh only really has one), and Thic Duc along with the rest of the party seeking out the local herbalist for advice.\nAfter paying the herbalist a single gold piece to reveal the name of a local guide familiar with the swamps and able to lead the party to success in the wilderness, she pointed to Kevin the Druid, \u0026ldquo;a worthy woodsman recently in search of employment\u0026rdquo;. Not without reason, the party felt they had perhaps overpaid for this advice. They proceeded to the mayor\u0026rsquo;s residence on the first floor of the lighthouse, and after a brief discussion among themselves about whether they would be blamed for the missing horse they had borrowed, asked about the Scooby Gang; the mayor said the gang had taken their wagon and tried to find a ship that would drop them off at an undisclosed location within the swamp with no docking facilities while carrying a wagon pulled by a huge creature accompanied by mysterious noises. Finding no sea captain willing to offer passage under those conditions, the Gang had chosen to travel overland.\nBarron, however, had a little more luck: each corner of the local tavern was occupied by a cloaked and hooded figure brooding ominously over the midday fish stew.\nA little interrogation, fast talking, and a forged electrum coin display convinced the disguised figure that Barron was affiliated with the smugglers who had previously arranged to provide the lizardfolk with weapons, and a little more that he would be in contact with the settlement to discuss making the missing shipment reappear. Though the disguised lizardman did not seem entirely impressed with the explanation for the missing goods, he did provide basic verbal directions and a warning of froggy danger on the path to the settlement. The directions weren\u0026rsquo;t very helpful anyway; they amounted to \u0026ldquo;Follow the road, continue on after the road stops, and eventually the road will start up again.\u0026rdquo; However, surely a party with a ranger and a druid will not balk at venturing into the uncharted swamplands\u0026hellip;\nReunited after their various errands, including the purchase of rations for the journey, the party arranged to share a pair of rooms and retired for the night. Having noticed the lizard men bedding down in rooms nearby, they made a hasty decision to sneak out of the inn in the early morning rather than wait to be followed.\nIn the morning, their sneaking out went without incident. Thic Duc went downstairs quietly, collected some of the remaining drunks, and helped them up the stairs into the rooms the party was about to abandon. This switcheroo enabled everyone to leave their rooms while leaving sleeping lizards to lie.\nThe road to the west along the coast started out clearly enough, passing the familiar turnoff leading to the not-so-haunted house, and continuing on into the swampland. Every mile or so, a sign marked a campsite by the side of the road, each one a small stone ring around a fire put surrounded by a larger ring of trees. None were occupied when the party arrived, though an opened package of scooby snacks had been dropped at the second campsite.\nShortly after the third campsite, the road gradually turned into a series of swampy trails. Leah and Kevin traded off the lead position, scouting ahead and hoping to encounter any creatures before the rest of the party could do so. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t long before the Leah head a splashing sound coming from ahead of her, and stopped to listen. Sure enough, the rest of the swamp sounds were much quieter; the splash was unusual. Looking around carefully, she noticed a large (but not giant) frog perhaps a hundred yards away. After a moment, it hopped and splashed again. Leah was faced with a dilemma; what should she do? Kill the frog, as the party had been warned they were hostile? Return to the party to warn them? Follow the frog as it hopped to\u0026hellip; whereever frogs hop to? The party had not planned for this.\nEventually she decided to let the frog continue on its way unharmed, and return to the party to warn them. Unfortunately, the news of the frog sighting reminded the rest of the party they had yet to have lunch, and so they stopped to eat from their rations while debating what to do about the frogs. Shortly afterwards, the frogs ambushed them.\nOnly Leah and Michael were alert enough to notice their approach. They drew their weapons just as a line of frog creatures appeared from the north, landing just outside of melee range. As the party begin to reposition to enter combat, the frog creatures hopped over their heads, landing to what the party had just assumed would be the rear of the fight\u0026hellip; and three more units of four frogs landed, one group on each side, until the party was surrounded. Each unit had one frog with a broadsword and shield, the rest fighting with their front claw-hands.\nThough none of the party fell during the resulting melee, it was a near thing. Michael\u0026rsquo;s healing spells kept people fighting, and the dynamic duo of Leah and Pyro managed to clear one whole unit of attackers by themselves. Pyro got a delicious taste of revenge for nearly being eaten by the last giant frog the party met, finding that these large frogs were much more palatable than a giant frog. Kevin\u0026rsquo;s Entanglement spell by itself took three frogs mostly out of the fight as well. (Though he had to leave early, one of the cats took over his character!)\nUltimately, the only party member lost was Mr. Crackers, who landed on a frog, attacked it with his claws, and was promptly eaten. That particular frog spent the rest of the fight trying not to throw up what he just ate, but managed to flee as the rest of his amphibious friends met their wet and soggy fate. Michael immediately used his healing spells to bring the rest of the party back to reasonably healthy status, while Leah examined the trail and announced she could follow it easily so long as the party left in the next half-hour or so.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # 4 broadswords 4 small shields Experience # 100xp each for showing up 100xp each for roleplaying and effective use of spells in combat 4 bullywog leaders (sword and shield): 176xp 12 bullywog soldiers: 240xp Total Group Experience: 416xp (not including individual bonuses) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Too many to record Dangling Threads of Fate # The surviving bullywog has swallowed Mr Crackers and fled, leaving a blood trail The Scooby Gang has gone missing again, and are being held pending a taste test by the lizard folk There are mermen attacking ordinary shipping through the Nyr Dyv ","date":"20 July 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-18/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S2: Danger at Dunwater # The 18th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Nathan (Kevin), and Larry (Michael) are returning cast members.\nAs we left the party, they had just arrived at the docks in Saltmarsh, hoping to find out what had happened to the Scooby Gang. The party took rooms at the local inn, and enjoyed the nostalgic comfort food of “fish stew”. The wizard and barbarian they met on the ship took rooms at the local inn, but declined to follow the party into the swamp, at least not right away. As best the party could tell, the barbarian was drunken to the point of insensibility when they left the next morning, and the wizard was occupied with his spellbook (or perhaps one of the local girls of negotiable virtue, depending on whether you ask the wizard or the bartender). Kriselle is in a Shrodinger’s Fighter scenario; no one thought to check on her today…\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 18","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 17th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Larry (Michael) are returning cast members. Dean and Mary had to leave early, and Sean (Baroch?) and Jonathan (Elion) entered play for the first time.\nAs we left the party, they had just arranged for the resurrection of Kriselle and were considering a change of venue when they received a message from Chesty the ex-marine. Among other things, the scooby gang had disappeared investigating the lizardfolk weapons smuggling ring. Perhaps it was this that inspired the party to return their homeland, or perhaps it was simply fear of the next dungeon level below\u0026hellip;\nAfter talking it over among themselves, the party decided to take a carriage ride back to the City of Greyhawk docks, and from there seek passage to Rookroost on a merchant ship.\nBefore actually leaving, of course, it was necessary to go shopping. Barron bought several more doses of poison, and spent time learning to use a sabre (which, for future reference, is documented in the Fighter\u0026rsquo;s Handbook) so that he could use the enchanted sabre the party captured from the captain previously. He had that weapon identified (+1 to hit and damage). He then successfully pickpocketed a very drunk minor noble in the bar, surprising Michael by leaving without a mob chasing him. Nonetheless, the party felt it was the better part of wisdom to depart hastily in the waiting carriage. (Barron\u0026rsquo;s stolen purse contained 160gp).\nOnce at the docks, Michael found a ship headed to Rookroost (the Sea Sprite) and arranged passage, while Barron took a spellbook from the party stash into the marketplace to sell (250gp) and commissioned a small cloak with a hood from a local sail mender. He also took the opportunity to ask about necromancy at a local magic shop, learning that a reversed healing spell might be able to restore his winged abomination should it take damage. While there, he bought a children\u0026rsquo;s starter magic kit, which included a strange air-filled bladder of mysterious purpose, while Leah waited outside the shop trying to conceal Pyro and the necromantic monstrosity riding upon it.\nThe ship was scheduled to depart with the morning tide, and so the party took rooms at a dockside tavern. While there, they met a strange barbarian, traveling with his goat and a large keg of beer. Apparently, this worthy young man was seeking knowledge of brewing better beer from the civilized city folk, but he was willing enough to accompany the party on their travels in return for the chance to sample more varieties of beer. Of course, somehow Michael failed to emphasize the nature of his profession during this discussion\u0026hellip;\nMorning arrived without incident, unless the barbarian\u0026rsquo;s hangover counts, or the \u0026ldquo;prayer cushion\u0026rdquo;.\nThe party boarded the ship and were promptly introduced to their fellow passenger Elion, a half-elf of somewhat noble bearing in a cloak and robes. Upon being introduced to Beroch, Elion prompted began a series of arcane gestures, and Beroch (having failed his intelligence check to identify a spell being cast, and failed his saving throw versus Charm Person) immediately felt very friendly towards Elion. (Beroch will get a new chance to save versus spells every 3 weeks, or any time he notices Elion casting a spell).\nOn the second day of their travel across the Nyr Dyv, the ship noticed a humanoid figure on the horizon, apparently floating (or perhaps swimming) in the middle of the vast waters. As they approached, it gradually became clear that the lone figure was no shipwrecked sailor adrift. Indeed, he made no cries for help or gestures seeking attention, and the features of his face had more in common with a fish than a man. As the ship approached, he was joined by two more figures, all somehow floating in the water miles from land or other ships.\nThe captain prepared to toss them a rope and haul them on board, but as he drew within range, two of the figures produced harpoons and hurled them at the ship. While the crew and the party began to react, the third fish-man creature held up a sack and withdrew the contents: a horrid fishy eye with little stumpy arms and tentacles. The gaze of the creature swept over the party and the ship\u0026rsquo;s crew, forcing them to shudder in revulsion. Michael in particular was horrified by the resemblance of the creature to Howard, a similar creature living peacefully in the petting zoo, and could not bring himself to act for several minutes while the attack commenced (failed his save versus spell). Most of the sailors were similarly paralyzed by their horror, and without anyone keeping the sails trimmed, the ship began to slow.\nThe rest of the party successfully prevented the two boarders from reaching the deck. Elion contributed his charm person spell, keeping one of the mermen out of the fight in confusion. (Charm Person is insufficient to convert an enemy of the party into a friend of the party, and will not cause someone to attack their friends; at most it will convert an enemy of the party into a friend of the caster. Nor will other party members automatically know that you have charmed an enemy, unless you somehow announce it, and indicate which one. As the spell has no visible special effects, it can be cast without being obvious about it; Beroch did not notice it).\nBarron launched his drone zombie bird monstrosity and it flew around the ship attacking mermen of opportunity. (Beroch likely did notice this, as it was bloody obvious, and he screamed something about keeping the bloody bird away from him; there may be consequences later). Leah shot at mermen, sent Pyro to guard the other side of the ship, and rescued Elion when he fell overboard after trying to pull one of the harpoons out of the ship. Michael eventually recovered from his paralysis and began to chant from behind the lines. (Beroch did not notice or object, as Michael was behind him and chanting during a battle has no visible spell effects).\nOn the other side of the ship, a row of 5 mermen gained the deck of the ship and squared off against the sailors. Two more remained in the water, having set harpoons deep into the ship\u0026rsquo;s hull and attached the lines to a team of giant seahorses. The seahorses swam fiercely, tilting the ship and threatening to capsize her, but the party\u0026rsquo;s intervention combined with the gaze effect wearing off was enough to shift the battle against the boarders. Beroch continued shooting at the eye of the deep, even as it floated helplessly just below the surface. Eventually, one of his arrows punctured something explosive, and the creature blew up, sending a surge of bubbles to the surface of the water (two natural 20s in a row with his short bow).\nThe party was able to travel the rest of the way to Rookroost without incident.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # 100xp each for showing up Eye of the Deep (crippled by mermen, explosively destroyed by the barbarian): 220xp 10 mermen (killed or driven off): 160 xp Everyone gets a 100xp bonus for roleplaying (since we spent literally hours on it this session) Treasure: 250xp Total Group Experience: 630xp (not including individual bonuses) Barron sold a captured spellbook for 250gp (without informing the rest of the party) Roleplaying moments and quotables # Too many to record Dangling Threads of Fate # The Scooby Gang has gone missing again There are mermen attacking ordinary shipping through the Nyr Dyv ","date":"6 July 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-17/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 17th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Larry (Michael) are returning cast members. Dean and Mary had to leave early, and Sean (Baroch?) and Jonathan (Elion) entered play for the first time.\nAs we left the party, they had just arranged for the resurrection of Kriselle and were considering a change of venue when they received a message from Chesty the ex-marine. Among other things, the scooby gang had disappeared investigating the lizardfolk weapons smuggling ring. Perhaps it was this that inspired the party to return their homeland, or perhaps it was simply fear of the next dungeon level below…\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 17","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nThe 16th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Larry (Michael) entered.\nAs we left the party, they had killed the troll and retrieved Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s ex-head, at the cost of Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s life. They carried her to the dial-a-diety in the Citadel Union, and asked the priests of Pholtus there to raise her from the dead. As her body was mostly intact, the operation proceeded without problems. The party then sold the two jars of sweet water to the herbalist Breanna for 700gp, as they were not planning any long journeys in which such a thing might come in handy, and spent a few days recuperating from the hectic events (and Kriselle from the Raise Dead). Some of the party gained a sense of improved skill and knowledge as a result. Others simply learned to duck when standing next to someone shooting a bow. Barron commissioned a perch for Mr. Crackers on Pyro\u0026rsquo;s back, over Leah\u0026rsquo;s protests.\nAs they recuperated, Michael remembered noticing a strange sign near the trapdoor lever. He drew a copy from memory and showed it to the rest of the party.\nThe symbol puzzled them until they remembered some previous similar signs. The one at the petting zoo was labeled: \u0026ldquo;You must be at least this tall to pet the monsters.\u0026rdquo; This was enough for them to realize that the symbol probably represented some sort of entrance requirement.\nThic Duc brought up the question of whether they had to \u0026ldquo;clear\u0026rdquo; the dungeon to get proper credit for it, or if they could simply make the level \u0026ldquo;safe\u0026rdquo;, and whether the current state of the dungeon would qualify. The conclusion was that the Petting Zoo Precedent suggests that \u0026ldquo;safe\u0026rdquo; is sufficient, so long as nothing will attack visitors without provocation. This raised the question of whether the inhabitants of the party level were actually evil creatures who needed to be slaughtered for the glory of St Cuthbert. That question remained unresolved, with Kriselle arguing that they were \u0026ldquo;just doing their jobs\u0026rdquo; and did not need to be slaughtered, and Michael preferring the simpler approach of killing them all and letting Cuthbert sort them out.\nThus prepared, the party descended into the dungeon once more, seeking to discover what had happened in the aftermath of the party disaster.\nOn entering the dungeon, they found that Stitches was still in place by the door, with his arms still disabled. Barron returned one of his snacks to the golem\u0026rsquo;s pocket.\nThe group then proceeded to the banquet hall. On the way, they overheard the small sounds of a post-party depression throughout the dungeon. It seemed no one was happy with the results of their celebration. Certainly, no one was out and about in the corridors\u0026hellip; the party did take a moment to check on the welfare of the bugbear babies, and the bugbear matron there assured them that the babies were all well and accounted for (by counting them, which was perhaps less reassuring that desired). Within the banquet hall itself, a solitary goblin had chosen one corner of the room to clean and was slowly mopping his way outward. The party immediately approached him for interrogation, while simultaneously speculating about how to open the trapdoor and access the lower level. One effort was more successful than the other.\nThe goblin revealed that with the banquet plan a failure, everyone on the level of the dungeon was despondent and really had no idea what to do with themselves. They just wanted to be minions to a really competent overlord, someone who could make them all pull together and get things done. Things like conquering the overworld and making it over into a place where monsters like them could live peacefully without prejudice and hate. Most of the rest of them had given up, but this one goblin still believed. He had the right stuff to make it as a minion, and someday, someone would see that in him. One day, he would meet a special overlord, an overlord right for him, and he would be an honored minion.\nBarron promptly hired him to open the freezer door for 2gp. Wilbur the goblin was delighted, though he said he didn\u0026rsquo;t think he could actually open the door; he was willing to try, and trying was all that would be required.\nThus having hired their first proper minion, the party returned to the scene of the toad. The freezer was still cold, and a quick peek on the way to the banquet hall had determined that the toad was still in place. Wilbur the goblin was paid and directed to attempt to open the freezer door. He did so, but was unable to open the door, despite climbing up the wall to apply the full strength of his arms and legs together. So, Barron opened the door while Michael grabbed the goblin by the shoulders and tossed the goblin into the freezer.\nThe toad promptly ate him.\nThe party then spent nearly an hour debating various different tactics for killing the toad while Michael memorized spells. First, they tried burning the door. This did not go well, as the fire was extinguished within a minute or two before any significant damage to the door was down. How burning down the door would hurt the toad was not clear. (Perhaps the toad would melt?) Eventually, they decided Michael would cast Resist Cold on Leah and Kriselle, who would then fire at the toad with their bows through a hole in the door. The hole was big enough to fire a bow through, and big enough for a toad\u0026rsquo;s tongue to fit through, but not big enough for a non-goblin party member to fit through. They would thus be safe from the toad\u0026hellip; mostly.\nThis plan worked out well. The toad died in two or three shots from Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s bow, shooting with impressive accuracy and precision. It had time for only a single attack, and it\u0026rsquo;s tongue failed to pass through the small hole in the door. There was only one small hitch: Kriselle accidentally shot Leah after the toad\u0026rsquo;s tongue nearly made it through the door, and Leah\u0026rsquo;s return shot (\u0026ldquo;a warning!\u0026rdquo;) missed Kriselle by a hair. (Two natural ones in a row)\nWith the freezer now safe, the party entered. Barron collected his minion\u0026rsquo;s wages to be recycled with his next minion. Kriselle performed the powerful ritual known as \u0026ldquo;opening the toad\u0026rdquo; and precured a toad-skin jacket which may help her to resist cold, at least if she remembers to cure it before wearing it. And while examining the contents of the toad\u0026rsquo;s stomach, it became clear that Wilbur was not the first goblin to be sacrificed to the cause of a cold glass of lemonade at the end of a long day in the dungeon.\nThe party next stopped by the wizard Mudstone\u0026rsquo;s small room, where Barron bargained for an Animate Dead spell on his stuffed bird Mr. Crackers. Mudstone promised that he would deliver a magnificient avian zombie, but it would take him a few hours. Barron asked for \u0026ldquo;goblin hands\u0026rdquo; on the front of the bird to grab things with. \u0026ldquo;Would you, by chance, happen to have a set of goblin hands on you?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Yes, yes I do.\u0026rdquo;\nThe success of that ploy encouraged Barron to ask for a goblin-tooth mohawk next.\nPayment for this avian construct was to be a sample of the glowing liquid from the Leaker mushrooms above. Those mushrooms lived beneath a grate where the party had stored the horizontal stalagmites. This presented a bit of a problem; how to get a sample of the leaker liquid without being impaled on a stalagmite? Barron made a few fumbling attempts to get a string wrapped around a mushroom from above so he could lift the mushroom out. Thic Duc, recalling his earlier, happier days going fishing for fungi with Kriselle while trying to convert her to the worship of Pholtus, made a makeshift fishing rod from a length of string, a simple loop, and a pole, then retrieved a large specimen with several smaller leakers growing on it \u0026ndash; and that on his first try. (natural 20 on fishing check) Barron was once again reminded that thieves property redistribution specialists prefer urban environments.\nThe next destination was the orc barracks, where Barron impersonated an interested overlord and got the orcs following his orders. He marched them out to the banquet hall and begin lining them up on the trapdoor, hoping their weight and numbers might be sufficient to open it and allow the orcs to plunder the level below, while leaving the rest of the party to search their barracks. The orcs were not sufficient to open the trapdoor, but Barron did confuse the chain of command by appointing Wilma the pink-dressed orc mother as the orc Mistress. He also temporarily separated them from their weapons, but was forced to return them. Wilma was instructed to lead the orcs in drill and PT while the party got the trapdoor issue sorted out.\nOn their way to the ogre barracks, they overheard an argument coming from room 15. Opening the door (and not being immediately noticed), they learned that the arguers were Wyperag and Gorgi, leaders of the ogres and bugbears respectively, who were busy blaming each other for the failure of their all-you-can-eat buffet to sufficiently impress a fiend into taking their crack force of professional event planners into a quest to conquer the world. The two leaders did not notice that the party had knocked on their door, opened their door, and even waited patiently for a few minutes. Eventually, the two leaders noticed their presence and asked what they wanted.\nBarron spun a tale of bullshit involving the bugbear\u0026rsquo;s mother\u0026rsquo;s pink dress being worn by Wilma the orc. No one seemed to be buying it, but it was clear that something was happening in the banquet hall that needed investigating. The two leaders and the rest of the party begin walking back to the banquet hall, continuing to discuss the matter, until Barron attempted to use his pickpocket skills to place the pink pearls found in the orc barracks into the ogre\u0026rsquo;s pocket\u0026hellip; and got caught. After briefly trying to figure out what was going on, Wyperag\u0026rsquo;s greed got the better of his paranoid, and he claimed the pearls as his own.\nThe party arrived back at the banquet hall with the leaders in tow and found the orcs engaged in PT with Wilma leading them enthusiastically. Immediately a further argument broke out between both of the leaders and the orc band, with various party members joining in to try to incite the factions to attack each other. Barron took the opportunity to sneak off for a few minutes and collect his animated, stuffed bird.\nThe bird was\u0026hellip; not exactly as expected. The wings had been mounted backwards, the hands provided extra weight, and the brain had deteriorated to the point where the magical animating force did not know how to make the body fly as it once had. Instead, the bird needed a runway; it would fully extend its (upside-down) wings and run as fast as it could with rear claws and front goblin hands. Given sufficient speed, it could then take off into the air and glide for a substantial distance without flapping. Turning, however, was a challenge, especially in close quarters. In combat, the creature could be commanded to attack, but not in very complex ways \u0026ndash; basically limited to flying into the target at full speed and perhaps trying to grab an object. After playing with his new toy for a little while, Barron returned to the banquet hall, where things were heating up.\nHistory may never know exactly what started the fight, but it was probably one of the party members in an unprovoked attack on one of the leaders, after someone pointed to the string of pearls hanging out of Wyperag\u0026rsquo;s pocket and accused him of stealing them.\nOne thing led to another, and soon the party was desperately shooting at Wyperag and hoping he would die before any of the other creatures figured out what was going on. There was some hope of that; while Michael and Pyro kept Wyperag distracted, Leah and Kriselle fired at him from range, and Barron\u0026rsquo;s drone made attack runs from above. The orcs slowly closed around the battle, clearly unsure of what to do, and the bugbear leader Gorgi took several rounds before he got into the fight himself. By that time, the appeals to the orcs about the theft of their Mistress\u0026rsquo; pearls had begun to sink in, and a few of the orcs were attacking Gorgi.\nUnfortunately, not all was going so well. Wyperag struck Pyro down rapidly, though the war dog made a good effort and briefly threatened to chew on the ogre\u0026rsquo;s other set of pearls. Sadly the animal succombed to blood loss, and Michael stepped in to take his place. Protected by his armor, the cleric held his ground, though his hammer blows did not seem particularly effective.\nThe rest of the party was not having better luck. Several of Leah and Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s arrows went shooting into the general melee after missing their primary targets, some of them striking orcs, which could certainly not help the party\u0026rsquo;s attempts to subvert the orcs to their cause. Barron moved forward to backstab when Wyperag\u0026rsquo;s attention was occupied with Michael, but dropped his dagger instead. Wilma the orc mistress stumbled backwards after Wyperag struck her fiercely, alive and bleeding but out of the fight.\nEventually, two of the orcs close to Gorgi were convinced to turn on the opposing faction in the dungeon and began to attack. Gorgi fought back immediately, killing two orcs in two rounds and wounding a third orc on the next.\nFinally, Wyperag collapsed, and the party decided enough was enough. Michael grabbed for the pearls in his pouch and lifted them high, shouting to the orcs, \u0026ldquo;He had the pearls all along!\u0026rdquo; and then running for the door like a madman. Gorgi was still fighting the orcs, though clearly on his last legs, and pursuit was blocked by the battle. The orcs did not seek to give chase once they had been attacked, leaving the party to flee.\nPyro was another matter. Leah was not about to abandon her loyal beast. Using the secret techniques of the treetop masters, and being careful to lift with her legs and not her back, Leah successfully lifted Pyro\u0026rsquo;s unconscious body off the floor and promptly overbalanced backwards, landing on the ground under the dog (natural one on strength check to pick up the dog). Thic Duc lifted Pyro up and carried him the rest of the way out.\nThe party will need to consider their next course of action carefully. The next level of this dungeon may be too strong for them.\nSession Map\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # 10 pink pearls (200 gp each; 2000gp total) 50 gp loose coin 2 doses mystery potion A (from orc's barracks) 1 dose mystery potion B (from orc's barracks) Experience # 100xp each for showing up Ogre leader: 800xp Bugbear leader (dethroned, perhaps deceased): 205xp 2 orcs killed: 30xp Ice toad: 425xp Barron: 100xp bonus for inventing zombie drone warfare Michael: 100xp bonus for remembering Resist Cold Kriselle: 100xp bonus for the idea to knock the holes in the door and shoot through them and many witticisms Leah: 100xp bonus for NOT risking Pyro because you care about him as an imaginary animal Treasure: 2050xp Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;Perhaps the biggest danger to the party IS the party!\u0026quot; (Kriselle) \u0026quot;Do you happen to have a pair of goblin hands on you?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Yes, yes I do!\u0026quot; (Mudstone and Barron) \u0026quot;Do you happen to have a set of goblin teeth on you?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Yes, yes I do!\u0026quot; (Mudstone and Barron) \u0026quot;I am a closet mushroom fisherman.\u0026quot; (Thic Duc) Apparently Kriselle and Thic Duc have gone fishing for mushrooms before \u0026quot;We now have two organisms that respond to the command 'heal'; the dog, and the cleric...\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Open the toad.\u0026quot; (Kriselle) Leah, after Kriselle and Leah both rolled natural ones during missile fire and put each other at risk: \u0026quot;That was a warning.\u0026quot; After hitting the orge right between the eyes (natural 20) and rolling 1 for damage, Leah should have said: \u0026quot;Right there! Hit it right there!\u0026quot; If memory serves, Leah later killed the ogre with an arrow to that exact spot Dangling Threads of Fate # What's happening with the plague in Rookroost? What about the General and his artifact? Is there a dastardly plot being conceived while the party focuses their attention elsewhere? The druids are still messing with the weather nearby to Castle Greyhawk. Why? Aren't they supposed to be for nature? Can the party retrieve the pink dress that matches their lovely new pearls? Player Character Experience Total Larry Michael 12560xp Mary Kriselle 6066xp Dean Thic Duc 10953xp Matt Barron 5078xp Mariel Leah 4146xp Nathan Kevin 816xp\n","date":"22 June 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-16/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nThe 16th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Larry (Michael) entered.\nAs we left the party, they had killed the troll and retrieved Thic Duc’s ex-head, at the cost of Kriselle’s life. They carried her to the dial-a-diety in the Citadel Union, and asked the priests of Pholtus there to raise her from the dead. As her body was mostly intact, the operation proceeded without problems. The party then sold the two jars of sweet water to the herbalist Breanna for 700gp, as they were not planning any long journeys in which such a thing might come in handy, and spent a few days recuperating from the hectic events (and Kriselle from the Raise Dead). Some of the party gained a sense of improved skill and knowledge as a result. Others simply learned to duck when standing next to someone shooting a bow. Barron commissioned a perch for Mr. Crackers on Pyro’s back, over Leah’s protests.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 16","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"The 15th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Larry (Michael) entered.\nAs we left the party, Thic Duc had been killed by a large green creature. Normally death is a temporary condition for a party that has kept their insurance payments in order. However, the troll had bitten Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s head off and swallowed it. This presented a problem for the local clerics, who need an intact body to raise from the dead. With Michael and Kriselle recovered from their food poisoning, the (almost) complete party gathered to discuss their options for reviving Thic Duc.\nThe first and most obvious option: retrieve the head. The party rejected this as being too difficult, since it would require them to kill the troll without one of their strongest members. Resurrection would require a trip to the City of Greyhawk, as no priests were available who could cast it. The party discarded this option, as they did not wish to wait. Reincarnation, however, was available (LeDurt the druid and his reincarnated party members) and did not require an intact body.\nOther options were also discussed, such as attempting Raise Dead on Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s body without the head and then luring the head with food so it would gradually eat its way out of the troll. Or, alternatively, using Animate Dead (duration: permanent) to turn the monk\u0026rsquo;s body into a slowly rotting companion, and then perhaps stitching some other head they found in the dungeon on top. (DM suggestions that they consider seeking the Head of Vecna were ignored).\nWith their options laid out and a representative of the Adventure Capitalists on site to offer advice, the party chose to contribute 500gp for a Speak with the Dead spell to discern what Thic Duc would have wanted. The local priests washed and cleaned his body, then covered it with henna designs, and arranged themselves around the headless body. The leader explained how it would work: \u0026ldquo;You will have 1 minute to ask two questions and hear the answers. First, when I tell you, you will ask your first question. Then, my acolyte Poryphius will press down on the body\u0026rsquo;s abdomen, compressing its lungs and expelling air through the severed vocal cords, which will form something hopefully close to speech. We will continue the bellows operation until the minute has passed and the answers are revealed. Now, ask your question.. and PUSH!\u0026rdquo;\nThus interrogated, Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s spirit told the party to trust in Pholtus and allow things to happen naturally. They took this to mean druidic reincarnation, and inquired whether LeDurt would be willing to conduct the spell, and whether the Adventure Capitalists would cover the cost. Both answers were affirmative, after some negotiation on danger pay, but the party was still uncertain as to exactly what would come back from the reincarnation process and whether they could manage to influence the results in a positive way. After much discussion, they chose to perform the reincarnation ritual next to the mysterious glowing wall in the petting zoo that would occasionally produce mysterious (and slightly odd) monsters.\nWhat they got, after an hour or so of waiting, was a glowing amulet. When rubbed, a column of mist appeared, and gradually gained a humanoid form, albeit with very plain features and a little mist remaining. The strange new creature appeared to gradually regain awareness and knowledge of his presumed past life as Thic Duc, though he also appeared to have some belief in his own personal divinity. A brief interrogation satisfied the others that this was as close to the original Thic Duc as they were going to get, and they returned (aggressively, in Barron\u0026rsquo;s case) Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s clothes and belongings.\nWith most of the group recovered from the bout of food poisoning, they gathered once more at the entrance to the bizarre party. It was time to meet the guests, recover the head from the troll if possible, deal with the troll itself\u0026hellip; and with whatever happened at the party.\nThe butler (now named \u0026ldquo;Stitches\u0026rdquo;) led the party to the banquet hall by the scenic route, passing the door to room 2B on the way. As the party passed, the door creaked open a crack as if something small was trying to escape, but due to poor lighting conditions in the dungeon, it was not immediately clear what was trying to open the door. The motion was enough to attract Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s attention, however, and the party\u0026rsquo;s denials of anything at all interesting being behind that door drew her interest. Kriselle and Michael (but mostly Kriselle) interrogated Barron and Leah about what exactly was in room 2B.\nEventually, Leah spilled the beans: \u0026ldquo;Bugbear babies.\u0026rdquo;\nStitches led the party forward, briefly stopping to comment on the thousands of mouse feet running in circles around the swill pit, and to wave in the direction of the freeze with it\u0026rsquo;s ice block. Finally, the party approached the entrance to the hall. The guards outside the doors had changed into ogre-sized tuxedos, though perhaps they had not originally been intended for ogres judging by the fit. Barron produced his invitation and had himself announced by Stitches as \u0026ldquo;Mr Crackers, Lord of Chaos.\u0026rdquo; Thic Duc was announced as \u0026ldquo;The One True God\u0026rdquo;. Those choosing to enter without invitations were assigned the duty of keeping water glasses full..\nThe banquet hall was covered with party decorations, including a massive banner reading \u0026ldquo;Welcome fiends!\u0026rdquo; The two co-leaders were perched precariously on their very, very high chairs at either end of the main table, surrounded by smaller tables packed with ogres, goblins, orcs, and bugbears. Tables were covered with empty plates, water glasses, the good silverware (perhaps a bit battered), with purple stink globe centerpieces and writhing strangleweed bases, even a large fountain with some kind of bizarre antigravity water. The serving tables had sectioned carrion crawler that the party felt unreasonably proud of, plus bubbling cauldrons of mystery stew, and whole flocks of roast seagull and other fowl dishes. A large The whole room was almost silent, though \u0026ndash; nervous sips of water, clinking of silverware, scooting of chairs, and only a little furious whispering about when would the rest of the guests arrive? Everyone was afraid to start without their guests.\nIt took almost an hour, with all the monsters waiting on their best behavior and a minimum of food fights and murder, for the rest of the guests to arrive. They announced themselves with a resounding crash on the door \u0026ndash; BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! \u0026ndash; followed by the doors themselves flying to the far end of the room. Following the doors, a devilishly-handsome man with horns, hooves, and a tail strode into the room, followed by three even more obvious demons with leathery bat wings, flaming swords, and vicious whips. As Stitches began to intone, \u0026ldquo;Asmodeus, lord of the 9th hell\u0026rdquo;, and the demon himself shouted \u0026ldquo;Who DARES summon me?\u0026rdquo;, the wizard Mudstone leaped up, gesturing wildly, and shouted \u0026ldquo;Let the dead arise!\u0026rdquo;\nImmediately, every single piece of roast poultry took flight, circling around the room in utter chaos, knocking over cups and getting in everyone\u0026rsquo;s hair. (Mr. Crackers was heard to cackle). Orcs and goblins threw plates at each other. Ogres and bugbears threw tables. And after a few shocked seconds of this, the demon could no longer resist \u0026ndash; and burst out laughing, and pointed at the center of the huge table, where a huge pillar of flame immediately erupted. His minions began doing the same to the other tables, filling the banquet hall with smoke. Barron flipped over a table to add to the chaos, and the other creatures soon began doing the same.\nIn the middle of all the insanity, Kriselle and Michael had approached the block of ice at the western wall of the room. It was resting on a wooden trapdoor of some kind, with a lever that was stuck inside the ice. Before the guests had arrived, they had managed to peak under the cover on top of the ice block. Within was a large ceratosaur, frozen in mid-pose, clearly completely intact. And the massive flames erupting from the tables was melting the ice!\nThinking quickly, the party used several still-burning tables to form a makeshift barricade around the melting cube. Michael started kicking at the lever, hoping he could release the trapdoor and drop the cube into whatever was below. Kriselle began hacking at the giant lizard, trying to get through the ice before the dinosaur could escape and attack them. As the ice continued to melt, the dinosaur began to wake up, and seeing Kriselle hacking at the ice surrounding its head, the creature began trying to break itself out. Thic Duc urged her to retreat and engage the creature from range, as the rest of the party was preparing to do, but she refused and stood her ground. The two titans of martial power, lizard and human, chipped and cracked the ice from either side. The fires continued to burn, with all the other creatures running around like maddened forest animals fleeing a fire.\nFinally, Kriselle struck a blow that penetrated the ice and wounded the ceratosaur. Though her sword tasted its blood, the dinosaur saw the hole in the ice and struck at it fiercely, enlarging the hole and sending cracks radiating outwards through the ice. It was clear the ice would no longer present a significant obstacle soon. Indeed, with it\u0026rsquo;s next blow, the creature\u0026rsquo;s head and neck emerged through the hole\u0026hellip; it\u0026rsquo;s other limbs tearing at the ice, claws ripping chunks free and pulling the reptilian body forth. As it struggled to reach its tormentor, the rest of the party readied their missile weapons, and Kriselle saw her opportunity\u0026hellip; striking a massive two handed blow with her bastard sword (natural 20), and embedding her sword deeply into the creature\u0026rsquo;s neck while it finally freed itself from the ice.\nRoaring in fury, and finally free to strike, the ceratosaur\u0026rsquo;s claws grabbed hold of Kriselle, lifting her towards it\u0026rsquo;s maw. Relishing the delicious taste of flesh, the creature rent her armor and drove its teeth into her body, leaving deep wounds, before shaking her viciously and dropping her to the floor unconscious. The panic in the room among the other monsters doubled as they saw the creature chomping on its meal, and they ran in even larger, faster circles. The party took a few rounds of missile fire, trying to keep their distance, but luck was not with them; aside from Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s grievous blow that opened the battle, they managed to do little damage. They did, however, stay ahead of the scaled beast while dragging Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s body with them.\nAt the entryway, the party paused to consider the possibility of closing the doors and trapping the dinosaur inside the banquet hall, but the doors had been kicked open and lay against the far wall nearly 50 feet away and looking rather worse for wear. The dino showed no interest in chasing the other creatures who continued to panic; it wanted those who had hurt it, especially the one whose sword remained in its neck. There were no alternatives; it was time for plan T.\nThe party continued to flee, desperately hoping to stay ahead of the creature. Mostly they were successful, though occasionally the monster would catch one of the party for long enough to exchange a few ineffectual swipes with its front claws. The party fled south along the map, seeking the entrance to the dungeon where they could escape, and possibly\u0026hellip; just possibly\u0026hellip; something else.\nFinally the group reached the intersection near the door to the troll\u0026rsquo;s room. Thic Duc hid just past the door, while the rest of the party split up, finding good positions to fire with missile weapons. Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s body was dragged further south, still in sight down the corridor to the pursuing dinosaur. Barron moved west, seeking to circle around and attack from behind. Leah and Michael remained with Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s body, guarding it, with Leah ready to engage in missile file. As the dinosaur approached, Thic Duc judged the moment was right\u0026hellip; and quickly knocked on the troll\u0026rsquo;s door, then threw it wide open in the dinosaur\u0026rsquo;s face!\nThe troll was not pleased to find a dinosaur at his door, and stepped out into the corridor to take care of business. The dinosaur would just as soon have run right by, but the troll filled the corridor and his long, dirty claws were tearing through even a dinosaur\u0026rsquo;s hide. The ceratosaur could not get past the troll, and the only acceptable alternative after that horrible banquet was to snack on the troll and finish using Kriselle as a chew toy. The two huge creatures struck blow after blow, but the limbs that had torn party members limb from limb so easily failed to get purchase. The troll had trouble penetrating the dinosaur\u0026rsquo;s scales, and the dinosaur\u0026rsquo;s tiny forearms simply didn\u0026rsquo;t have the strength to lift the troll into its\u0026rsquo; vast maw. Both were reducing to clawing at each other, doing little damage, but slowly wearing each other down. Of course, in such a contest the creature that regenerates has a distinctly unfair advantage\u0026hellip;\nThe troll barely noticed the party taking shots at its back with their bows. It didn\u0026rsquo;t turn around even when Thic Duc accidentally shot Leah right in the gut, immediately apologizing profusely and vehemently denying that it was done as revenge for spilling the bugbear baby beans.\nStaggering on its feet, the troll finally struck the ceratosaur with a forceful blow, landing a claw deep in the existing neck wound from which Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s bastard sword still hung. Seemingly seized by an idea, the troll planted both huge hands on the hilt and ripped the sword free, completing the beheading which Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s initial blow had begun. The dinosaur crashed to the earth. The troll\u0026rsquo;s wounds were already beginning to close as the party rushed in, hacking at the foul green beast, seeking to bring it down while it was still weak from the battle.\nTheir blades soon rendered the troll into a horrible pile of twitching green goo\u0026hellip; but it kept twitching, the wounds closing and the individual pieces crawling towards each other. The party frantically kept attacking, trying to keep the pieces from reforming, while Thic Duc retrieved a few flasks of lantern oil. Barron and Leah kept trying extract the monk\u0026rsquo;s previous head from the stomach of the beast, with directions from Michael (occupied preventing the creature from reforming itself) as to where the head would likely be in the body. After a few minutes of this, Leah had a moment of inspiration, remembering the killing blow that felled the insectoid horror. Calling on all the combat techniques of her treetop masters, she leaped into the air, reversing her sword, and slammed her sword into the troll\u0026rsquo;s stomach, putting her full body weight behind the blow\u0026hellip; and neatly spearing Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s head on her blade. For a moment, Leah lifted her sword, with the head still attached, above her head, doing a victory dance and screaming \u0026ldquo;I got it! I got it!\u0026rdquo; Then it dawned on her that the head was supposed to be recovered intact\u0026hellip; (She rolled a natural 1).\nAnd on that note, we fade to black\u0026hellip; for now.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nTreasure # 900 gp (Troll sack) Opal (Troll sack, worth roughly 1000gp) Experience # 100xp each for showing up Attending the party: Ceratosaur: 1200xp Troll: 859xp Bonus for finding an interesting way to restore Thic Duc: 500xp The enemy of my enemy is also my enemy, but I can arrange an introduction: 500xp Bonus to Barron and Thic Duc for grabbing invitations: 100xp each Bonus to Kriselle and Michael for investigating the ice block and finding the lever: 100xp each Treasure: 1900xp Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;It's me. I am the one god.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Well, you always were full of yourself.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Well, I never expected to see hot chicks table dancing at this party...\u0026quot; (Kriselle, after Mudstone animated the roast seagulls and the fiends set the tables on fire) The moment when the holy and infallible Thic Duc shot his friend Leah in the butt with his crossbow by accident... \u0026quot;Lead us not into temptation, for we can find it ourselves\u0026quot; \u0026quot;This one time I was choking a goblin with my rooster when I got stabbed from behind by a teammate. In the butt. Repeatedly. Nearly to death.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;I got it! I got it!\u0026quot; (Leah, after rolling a natural one on her attempt to surgically extract Thic Duc's head from a mostly-dead troll, which resulted in her impaling the head on her sword and waving it above her head in a victory dance before realizing the problem) \u0026quot;Of course we're fashionably late!\u0026quot; (As Leah and Pyro sought entrance to the party, from the guard ogre) \u0026quot;Is service animal?\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # Kriselle was killed by the ceratosaur, but her body was recovered mostly intact (slightly chewed about the middle) ","date":"8 June 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-15/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"The 15th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Larry (Michael) entered.\nAs we left the party, Thic Duc had been killed by a large green creature. Normally death is a temporary condition for a party that has kept their insurance payments in order. However, the troll had bitten Thic Duc’s head off and swallowed it. This presented a problem for the local clerics, who need an intact body to raise from the dead. With Michael and Kriselle recovered from their food poisoning, the (almost) complete party gathered to discuss their options for reviving Thic Duc.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 15","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nThe 14th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), and Mariel (Leah) entered. Only Barron and Leah left alive.\nAs we left the party, they were about to return to the dungeon seeking to complete their map of the second level. Since a mysterious case of food poisoning had left Kriselle, Michael, and Kevin feeling less than adventurous, they were also seeking to minimize the risk they took without everyone at full strength and intellectual capacity. The weaker (of stomach, anyway) party members gathered around the pit leading to the second level, and those more sprightly descended within.\nAfter another course of hors d\u0026rsquo;oeuvres from the butler (Pyro enjoyed his), the party chose to begin by returning to the centerpiece room, which they had previously visited while carrying a cart of garbage to the swill pit. Those inside had told them to take the cart to the pit and then return to help construct table centerpieces from a collection of strangely mobile foliage and a series of purple globes.\nAs it turned out, disturbing the weeds would occasionally produce a strangling effect, and handling the purple globes without the utmost in delicate care would cause them to burst and splatter everyone within the room with noxious purple gunk. Luckily, Thic Duc had come prepared, and his apron took the majority of the explosion. Barron, Leah, and Pyro were nauseated. Leah was briefly strangled, but Barron cut her free. With only a few mishaps after they were made aware of the risks, the party successfully arranged the centerpieces.\nAs the time of the party approached and the hosts grew ever more frantic and desperate, the party chose to volunteer their services to the chef in preparing the main course. Barron and Leah were each handed a dish to sample, and declared it \u0026ldquo;almost ready, but it needs a bit more rotted meat\u0026rdquo;; Barron volunteered to provide the oldest of his rather fragrant steaks as a contribution to the dish, forgetting to mention that it was soaked in poison. Thic Duc was assigned to washing dishes, which he did with deft skill. Pyro gleefully accepted samples of everything and approved..\nThe chef then assigned the group to butcher the main course of the dinner party. They were given large cleavers and sent to the butchering room (22) with an ogre to assist them and show them the way. Upon reaching the door, a horrid, many-legged skittering noise could be heard within. The party carefully lined up, with one party member on each side of the door and one directly in front of it. The ogre stepped forward to open the door\u0026hellip;\nWithin was a creature from their nightmares. Many legs, far too many legs, and a long, segmented body that filled the 30\u0026rsquo;x30\u0026rsquo; room. The head of the creature was on the far side of the room, but as it caught sight of the party, it turned and moved in their direction \u0026ndash; yet the bulk of the creature was such that it filled the room and had to shift its own body out of the way to reach the door. This delayed the creature\u0026rsquo;s attacks for several rounds, but the horrific visage of the insectoid horror was sufficient to prevent them from taking significant advantage. Even the ogre stumbled backwards in terror and disgust when the creature began to move towards him, crushing Barron up against the dungeon wall behind him.\nAs the head approached the doorway, the party began to recover and sought to strike the creature. However, with the ogre and Barron in front of the door (and Barron not very mobile), and only Thic Duc with a spear, and Leah reluctant to fire missile weapons into melee after many hard lessons, the tactical position was poor. When the creature sunk its mandibles deep into the ogre\u0026rsquo;s arm, and the ogre\u0026rsquo;s body succumbed to some sort of paralytic agent, the party decided to draw the creature out into the hallway so they could all attack at once.\nThic Duc retreated to draw the creature out, and the creature obligingly followed. Barron and the ogre shared a glance filled with soul-rending despair as the paralyzed monster was trampled by the insectoid horror that was meant to be dinner. The ogre could do nothing, and Barron drew his dagger and waved it ineffectively at the passing body segments. The thief was now trapped under an insectoid terror and a paralyzed ogre, and took a wound in the forehead from one of the creature\u0026rsquo;s legs for his trouble.\nSeeing that events were going down hill fast, Thic Duc stabbed at the creature with his spear, thrusting his weapon deep into the terrible, mandible-filled, slime-coated maw\u0026hellip; and the creature promptly bit the head off of his spear, leaving the monk with a quarterstaff. Feeling that this was a good time to move to close quarters, Thic Duc dropped the staff and prepared to squish the giant bug with his bare hands and feet.\nFrustrated by his inability to reach the insectoid terror that was keeping him pinned in entirely too close quarters to the ogre, Barron decided it was time for drastic action. He slit the paralyzed ogre\u0026rsquo;s throat, killing a helpless creature who had offered him nothing but aid and protection (and perhaps a little too much personal contact). The ogre\u0026rsquo;s blood poured out, coating Barron\u0026rsquo;s face and clothes, the stink sinking deep into his soul. However, this did nothing to actually get him out from underneath the ogre\u0026rsquo;s corpse, especially with a huge insect on top of them both.\nStaring into the many-tentacled creature\u0026rsquo;s ugly eyes, Thic Duc unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks that seemed to do little more than baffle the many-segmented menace. But Leah\u0026rsquo;s patience was exhausted, and her friend was in danger of death by ogre-stench. She drew her short sword and attacked, opening a wound in the creature\u0026rsquo;s carapace that leaked a white, oozing ichor. Seeing that half-measures would not be sufficient, Leah grasped her sword in both hands and leaped to the top of the creature, driving her blade into a gap between two of the body segments, and letting the full weight of her body drag the blade through the creature\u0026rsquo;s shell. A flood of white ooze covered the ogre\u0026rsquo;s corpse and Barron beneath it as the creature shuddered, twitched, and expired.\nBarron was pulled out from underneath both creatures, and his honed criminal mind went straight to the important matter: \u0026ldquo;What are we going to tell the chef about his ogre?\u0026rdquo; Thic Duc answered wordlessly by grabbing a mandible and using it to mutilate the neck wound, disguising Barron\u0026rsquo;s entirely too neat dagger slice. Barron took a moment to coat his dagger in the creature\u0026rsquo;s ichor, leaving him with a poisoned dagger (1d4 applications, save versus poison or be paralyzed for 1d6 rounds).\nAt this point, Pyro was looking decidedly sick to his stomach (perhaps after licking too much ichor off Barron\u0026rsquo;s face?), and Leah decided it would be for the best if he was returned to the dungeon entrance to recover. She escorted him to the dungeon entrance without incident, but on the way back, she was briefly pursued by a mobile pack of headless mice. Being headless and without sensory organs, the mice were not very adept trackers, and Leah was able to escape and make it back to the party.\nAfter all of that excitement, the party briefly moved north and opened the door to room 23, which they noticed was cold to the touch. Within was a frozen chamber containing many large carcasses hanging on hooks from the ceiling, a large block of ice covered by a cloth of some some (and perhaps with something within or behind it; the party was not able to see any details clearly from the door). In front of the block of ice sat a large toad.\nBarron threw a piece of poisoned meat to the toad and closed the door before seeing if the toad was at all interested. The party then returned to the chef to report their success and the availability of an ogre\u0026rsquo;s worth of additional stew meat. The chef thanked them, fed them more nauseating concoctions to taste-test, and sent them on their way.\nAfter reporting success to the chef, the party chose to head east, passing by a large set of double doors with two guards dressed in ceremonial ogrish regalia standing at attention outside. Barron tried to bluff his way inside (\u0026ldquo;I am Mr Crackers, lord of chaos, and I was not given an invitation to your party!\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;I may be an ogre, but I\u0026rsquo;m not stupid; I have layers!\u0026rdquo;) and failed.\nFurther north and east, the party was about to knock on a closed door when a voice from within called out to them, inviting them to enter. They did, with some caution, and the wizard Mudstone introduced himself. He explained about the party, the plan to invite fiends of all descriptions to come to a vast party and take on the dungeon-dwellers as minions and shock troops in a world-conquering reign of terror, and the tragic of his fellow wizard Mortykraken, now missing, who had been in charge of procuring a set of giant frog legs for the guests of honor.\nMudstone was also revealed to be the source of the headless hordes of mice roaming the dungeon at random. He had been placed in charge of making the hors d\u0026rsquo;oeuvres, and was using a golem servant to prepare the treats while disposing of the tiny little corpses by animating them and instructing them to throw themselves down the swill pit. Despite being headless, evidence suggests they did find the swill pit \u0026hellip; eventually.\nTheir curiousity aroused, the party traveled north to the messenger cave in search of the invitations. It turned out these invitations had been written out in very small print on rolls of paper attached to bats. The bats were then sent out to fly freely. At least some of the bats had returned with invitations removed, but the party was able to procure two invitations for themselves before their attempts disturbed the bats.\nDeciding that the rapid pace of party prep was challenging their stamina, the party returned to the dungeon entrance. On the way, they ran into an orc carrying a massive tray of dirty dishes. Each accepted another hors d\u0026rsquo;oeuvre from the butler, but while the butler discouraged them from leaving the dungeon, they were able to stick their hands through the gap in the door towards Michael, who lowered himself down on a rope and grasped their hands to perform his healing magic. He was heard to mutter \u0026ldquo;What am I, a healing vending machine?\u0026rdquo; in a good-natured tone of voice.\nNext, the party located the door to the large room (1) near the entrance of the dungeon level, and cautiously opened the door. Inside was chaos \u0026ndash; corpses of both goblins and orcs littered the room, lying among the shattered remains of chairs, papers, and a large, crude conference table. An examination of the papers revealed that the inhabitants of this room had been attempting to organize a party, and had failed.\nFrom there, the party entered a long, narrow room from which sounds of construction work could be heard. Upon entering, it was obvious that a wall had been knocked down to make more space for workers within. The workers (ogres and goblins) were busily hammering long boards into somewhat largish chair with legs thirty feet long. As it turned out, the chair was intended for Wyperag, who had a secret plan to be the leader with the biggest, baddest, longest chair at the head of the party table when the guests arrived. After asking a few questions about how the chair would be transported to the dining area, and being sworn to secrecy about the project, the party gave up on explaining the geometric flaws in the plan and settled down to help hammer boards into place.\nBefore long, they found another room with similar elongated shape, similar workers (orcs and bugbears this time), and a similar chair with 30-foot legs. They were again sworn to secrecy and recruited to help finish the chair, but mentioned that the secret chair plans had been stolen, and that another group just across the hall was working on another chair just as big or maybe even bigger. The party ducked out of sight around the corner as a furious argument began.\nReturning to the room labeled 3G (for \u0026ldquo;green back\u0026rdquo;), the party slowly opened the door, but failed to open it silently. Beyond the door, as before, they saw a large green-skinned creature in a loincloth speedo, hunched over something in the far corner of the room. Hearing the door open, it turned to look at the interruption, grumbling loudly, then stood slowly and turned towards the group, taking a few steps towards the door.\nSeeing this, Barron backed away from the door rapidly, trying to stay out of reach. The green-skinned creature reached out with one long arm, trying to grab him, but missed. Thick Duck positioned himself southeast of the door, positioned to strike from behind if the creature left. Leah was just a short distance further south, out of reach but within bow range. Barron stabbed and Leah fired her bow, both wounding the creature, but the wounds closed before their eyes! The party debated whether to flee, but decided to stay and fight it out.\nAfter the creature missed his grab at Barron, it lumbered out of the doorway and growled, sounding tired, irritated, and grumpy. Before the creature could react, Thic Duc struck with vicious force, his powerful fist striking the creature in one of its thin and spindly arms. With a rubbery thwack, Thic Duc felt something within the creature\u0026rsquo;s arm nearly give, as if he had nearly snapped a bone. Roaring in pain, it turned on him, clawed green hands reaching out to seize the monk by both arms. Struggling in horror, but unable to break free, the monster lifted Thic Duc towards its rotting teeth. His friends could do little more than watch in terror as the monk\u0026rsquo;s head disappeared into the horrible green mouth, and the monk\u0026rsquo;s terrible screams as the monster chewed and tore and finally pulled the monk\u0026rsquo;s head apart from his body.\nWith a disgusted grunting noise, the creature threw what remained of Thic Duc at his friends and slammed the door in their faces. It\u0026rsquo;s his party and he can cry if he wants to.\nBarron and Leah gathered up Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s body and fled, but before they could escape, they turned a corner and saw two goblins wielding huge meat cleavers \u0026ndash; just as the two goblins saw them. Screaming about a last-minute need for appetizers, the goblins charged! Barron and Leah made quick work of the two would-be butchers, however. As the conflict came to an end, the deep, sonorous sound of a gong announced the official beginning of the party\u0026hellip;\ngong!\nHearing the gong as they approached the entrance, the butler informed those party members still among the living that the party had begun, and their presence was required in the main hall immediately. The simple-minded creature refused to listen to their protests, finally reaching out with one hand and grabbing Leah by the neck of her tunic, lifting her helplessly into the air with Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s body still draped over her shoulder \u0026ndash; with one hand. With the other, it grabbed for Barron, whose dagger thunked into the thing\u0026rsquo;s torso with an ineffective, almost wooden, sound.\ngong!\nWith all three party members firmly in hand, the butler began to ponderously stomp towards the main hall. Leah struggled, kicking the creature in its expressionless face, but the blunt impact of her dainty half-elven feet had little effect. (A rare situation where stilletto heels might be more practical in a dungeon!)\ngong!\nThic Duc could do little but dangle headlessly, yet he did so with gusto.\ngong!\nBarron, with his hands free, continued to stab at the creature. The wounds did not bleed, but neither did they seem to heal.\ngong!\nOrcs and goblins, ogres and bugbears, oh my! Packs of creatures ran past, arms filled with last-minute items!\ngong!\nBarron\u0026rsquo;s knife and Leah\u0026rsquo;s boot smash into the butler, leaving horrid slashes and scuff marks on its finery!\ngong!\nStep by slow and ponderous step the party unwillingly approaches the party!\ngong!\nA group of bugbears run by, 30-foot chair in hand, and apparently in several pieces\u0026hellip;\ngong!\nTwo ogres run past, carrying a silver platter between them, on which rests a pair of giant frog legs, and a pair of tiny little frog legs\u0026hellip;\ngong!\nSeized by a sudden inspiration, Barron begins sawing with his dagger instead of stabbing with it, trying to disable the creature\u0026rsquo;s arms. His desperate sawing slices the muscles and tendons of the creature\u0026rsquo;s arm, and the thief tumbles to the dungeon floor amidst the chaos. With a firm grip on his dagger, he begans to saw at the arm holding Leah while the creature stares at him bemusedly, trying to move its other arm\u0026hellip;\ngong!\n\u0026hellip; and Barron succeeds, the creature\u0026rsquo;s arm going limp as Leah and Thic Duc tumble to the floor!\ngong!\nConsumed by grief and terror, pursued by the mocking sounds of the gong from far below, Barron and Leah bore the headless, bloody body of Thic Duc out of the dungeon, past the workers repairing the petting zoo, through the halls of the Citadel Union, and finally, kicked open the doors of the dial-a-diety temple complex, and laid (most of) the monk down upon the altar\u0026hellip;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nNotes on bringing characters back from the dead # Raise Dead requires that the body be complete, or only the parts present will be returned to life. As Thic Duc was decapitated, and the party retrieved his body without the head, casting Raise Dead on the body as it is now would be unpredictable at best. Retrieving the head before it is digested would presumably allow for success, though perhaps with scarring (think Deadpool without the mask). Resurrection is not so limited, assuming there is enough of the body present or details of the target known to be definitively and uniquely identified, but there may not be anyone capable of casting it within Castle Greyhawk. The city of Greyhawk itself would likely have a number of capable priests. Reincarnation, castable by either a druid or magic-user, does not require an intact corpse, and the party may recall an earlier encounter with a druid both willing and capable of casting a spell of such power\u0026hellip; but if it is to be used, there is a time limit to be observed (measured in days).\nExperience # 100xp for showing up 300xp for completing the centerpieces, chairs, dishwashing, and food tasting Carrion Crawler (sectioned for consumption): 132xp Ogre (paralyzed by the carrion crawler and throat-slit by Barron while stuck behind him): 190xp Toad that was tossed poisoned/drugged meat: fate unknown Dinner guests that were fed poisoned/drugged meat: fate unknown Butler (disabled, not killed): 250xp 2 goblin butchers with large cleavers: 88xp Treasure # One headless corpse 20 ep One large burlap sack, suitable for holding badgers to release on the village green to scare the girls, or temporarily holding a baby carrion crawler Roleplaying moments and quotables # As characters stuck their arm through a crack in the door to be healed: \u0026quot;What am I, a healing vending machine?\u0026quot; (Unspoken: \u0026quot;Yes!\u0026quot;) \u0026quot;Dial-a-diety\u0026quot; The party's new motto: \u0026quot;Grab the body and run!\u0026quot; As Barron cut himself down from the butler's grasp: \u0026quot;Sorry to cut and run!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;This is Mr Crackers, lord of chaos, and he did not receive an invitation!\u0026quot; \u0026quot;I may be an ogre, but I am not a dumb ogre. I have layers!\u0026quot; 100xp bonus to Thic Duc for thinking to use the carrion crawler's mandibles to disguise the ogre's wound Dangling Threads of Fate # Thic Duc was partially eaten by a large, green-skinned creature. His body, minus the head, was recovered. Can Thic Duc's head be retrieved? Can the body be resurrected without it? Or will the Band of Misfits recruit a new member? The party has started... the guests, if there are any, will likely be in the large northernmost room Barron's cleverly acquired ichor-based poison was used up by repeatedly stabbing his dagger into a creature immune to poison ","date":"25 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-14/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nThe 14th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), and Mariel (Leah) entered. Only Barron and Leah left alive.\nAs we left the party, they were about to return to the dungeon seeking to complete their map of the second level. Since a mysterious case of food poisoning had left Kriselle, Michael, and Kevin feeling less than adventurous, they were also seeking to minimize the risk they took without everyone at full strength and intellectual capacity. The weaker (of stomach, anyway) party members gathered around the pit leading to the second level, and those more sprightly descended within.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 14","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nThe 13th full game session was rescheduled for the following day at the last minute due to cancellations. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), and Mariel (Leah) were present. Kriselle is awarded honorary XP for showing up Saturday even though she wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to make the reschedule.\nAs we left the party, they were trying to figure out what to do about the minitaurs that had escaped their captivity. Since a mysterious case of food poisoning had left Kriselle, Michael, and Kevin feeling less than adventurous, they were also seeking to minimize the risk they took without everyone at full strength and intellectual capacity.\nThic Duc visited the temple of insert favorite diety here and got the priests of Pholtus to remove the cursed philosopher\u0026rsquo;s stone, a procedure which involved blue body paint, smelly white paste, and a cat. Barron visited the herbalist and bought three healing potions for 600gp, 2 doses of \u0026ldquo;nighty night\u0026rdquo; brand relaxing herbal tea concentrate (plan A), and 2 doses of \u0026ldquo;Knock you right out\u0026rdquo; endorsed by Bill Cosby.\nThe search for the minitaurs led the party to the tavern, where the bartender was more than willing to talk about the commotion he heard around midnight last night. He pointed to a man in the corner, wearing a tattered red cloak that had once been fancy, and said he had come into the tavern shortly after the commotion began and had been drinking since, complaining of having been trampled by roughly human sized bull-headed creatures. After interrogation, it became obvious the man had been trampled by the missing minitaurs, and was suffering a severe case of post-traumatic trampling disorder, which he was treating with the popular remedy known as \u0026ldquo;shots of whiskey\u0026rdquo;. It also became obvious that he had come to Castle Greyhawk seeking investment opportunities. After obtaining information about the minitaur attack, Barron cleverly prodded the drunken investor into revealing where he kept his money, then failed his roll to pickpocket the money pouch. The drunk staggered out the door without quite being sure what had happened.\nBarron bought four more raw steaks from the bartender, and marinated them in herbal relaxation tea (plan A) and sleeping droughts (plan B).\nThe party proceeded to the area where the trampling took place. No one was there, but the floor was clearly scuffed from hooves and there were bloodstains. The nearest door lead to the headquarters of the Cavaliers Club, where some sort of sporting event was being held. Dozens of armed and armored cavaliers were surrounding a tiny jousting ring set up in their headquarters, cheering for (and betting on) two of their members in red and blue tabards wielding lances. They were riding the missing minitaurs, who were now\u0026hellip; not quite as mini as before. Barron promptly lost 50 gp betting on red. Unable to leave such a scene of happiness behind them, the party tossed two drugged steaks to each of the minitaurs and casually walked out the door and away from the chaos.\nReturning to their quarters, the party discovered messages waiting. There was one from their old companion Chesty the (now ex) marine, and one that Cullum (presumably) recovered from Merrang the Enchanter. For a moment the whole party paused as they sensed the plot thickening around them\u0026hellip; but then it was time to return to the dungeon below, and scout out the next level.\nThe party members gathered around the entrance to the second level of the dungeon, and secured ropes through the trapdoor below so that they could climb back out should it become necessary. Those not suffering from food poisoning would descend and scout the area, while the rest waited near the ropes to pull them up if necessary. Zanto can probably use the help reopening the bathroom facilities, too. They jury-rigged a rope harness to lower Pyro into the pit, which he tolerated when Leah had herself lowered down next to him.\nIn the 20\u0026rsquo;x20\u0026rsquo; chamber below they found a large door, leading to another small antechamber. The antechamber contained a humanoid form apparently constructed of many separate limbs and body parts stitched together into a single being. The stitching was quite large, immediately visible, and a bit messy; the creature was wearing a tattered formal tailcoat, and asked, \u0026ldquo;What is the password?\u0026rdquo;\nThic Duc spoke up and said the password is \u0026ldquo;What\u0026rdquo;, which the creature accepted, and proceeded to offer a mouse-head hors d\u0026rsquo;oeuvres to each member of the party. All accepted. Only Pyro actually ate his. After everyone had their tasty snack, the creature opened the next set of doors and allowed the party to pass through. Thic Duc stuck a torch in the door to hold it open a little\u0026hellip; just in case.\nBehind the door was a scene of utter chaos. Orcs ran in one direction carrying trays of party supplies. Ogres ran in the other direction carrying party hats. Goblins frantically pushed a cart filled with trash and refuse down the hall. More goblins followed behind the cart picking up the trash that had fallen out, and the party chose to flag down that group. While the party frantically asking questions, the goblins gave them the cart of trash and told them they were the servants that had been expected before the party. (\u0026ldquo;Party? What party?\u0026rdquo;) They were told to take the cart of trash to the swill pit, and given directions (\u0026ldquo;north, and then east\u0026rdquo;). The goblins then ran off.\nThe party turned to the left and begin their explorations, cautiously seeking to avoid further notice amid the pandemonium. As they rounded a corner, they were surprised by an encounter with a bugbear, but their quick actions subdued the beast. They deposited the restrained creature into the trash cart and continued onwards to room 5, within which they found aprons and work clothes in various sizes. Thic Duc took an apron as a disguise and symbol of his authority as party leader.\nThe next door the party chose to open was labeled \u0026ldquo;2B\u0026rdquo;. Within the room, horrible, unspeakable events took place, which the party swore never to speak of again. They did, however, escape unharmed, and left the captured bugbear in the room as they left with the trash cart in search of the swill pit.\nThe party proceeded to room 6, which had no occupants but did contain a desk and some papers. After careful examination, the party determined that one of the papers was an elaborate seating chart. They stole a leather pouch with 10 gp and 50 sp.\nRoom 13 contained an ogre desperately trying to organize table decorations consisting of purple globes (perhaps some kind of fruit?) and mysterious weeds. The party showed their cart full of refuse and promised to return promptly to help once they had located the swill pit.\nRoom 20 was another barracks, empty this time, with goblin-sized bedding and clothes. In the corner lay an abandoned dice game, with the stakes piled nearby. The party contemplated hiding the empty, stolen pouch in the room, but chose to keep it and try to hide it in the offices of Morty (who the goblins had mentioned was organizing the party).\nRoom 12 contained a fountain of greenish liquid on an elaborate table setting. The party chose not to disturb it, but did open one of the barrels, and learned that it was filled to the brim with goat tripe. After a brief pause to detemine what that is, they all recoiled in horror.\nContinuing to room 4B, the party discovered several very grumpy bugbears, apparently hiding from the party preparations, and quickly shut the door again.\nHeading north once more, the two rooms to the north of room 12 turned out to contain the latrines and the swill pit. The party recoiled in horror at the first, and emptied their cart into the second.\nThey proceeded to room 14, within which they saw a sight that horrified them to such an extent that all three humans, and even the dog, failed to save versus paralyzation. The room\u0026rsquo;s occupants, several bugbears sitting at a table, rose up in fury at the interruption and seized the party immediately, delivering them back to room 2B.\nThe unspeakable horrors of room 2B were even worse on the second visit, and the party swore they would never reveal them, not even within their party journal. However, Thic Duc did feel like he learned something.\nThe party continued from there, heading north and east towards the center of the map. As they rounded a corner, they were set upon by a giant frog! The creature\u0026rsquo;s tongue snaked out and slurped Pyro into it\u0026rsquo;s gaping mouth while the party attacked with spear, dagger, and bow. As poor Pyro whimpered from the gnashing froggy jaws of doom (and the occasional arrow), and Barron\u0026rsquo;s daggers bounced off the creature\u0026rsquo;s slimy hide, Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s spear struck with the swiftness of a snake! First once, then twice, then once, then twice again! And with the final heroic blow, the frog\u0026rsquo;s corpse fell to earth neatly sectioned and ready for the chef!\nUnfortunately, so did Pyro\u0026rsquo;s unconscious body. The party argued whether to use a healing potion to bring him back from the brink of death. \u0026ldquo;From a purely rational perspective,\u0026rdquo; Thic Duc was heard to say, \u0026ldquo;The potion costs more than a new dog.\u0026rdquo;\nLeah won the argument by virtue of not asking permission, and simply poured the potion down Pyro\u0026rsquo;s throat, saving his life\u0026hellip; just in time for the arrival of two ogre guards charging the party screaming something about the appetizer, the appetizer!\nThe monk picked up Pyro\u0026rsquo;s body and fled, with the rest of the party close behind. They all made it to the ropes, avoided a second course of hors d\u0026rsquo;oeuvres, and climbed up to the Petting Zoo and safety. Michael managed to heal Pyro back to where the poor creature was at least able to limp along with the party.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # 100xp for showing up (including Kriselle) Barron: 100xp for interrogatin' and attemptin' swindlin' Leah: 100xp for using a healin' potion to save Pyro's life despite the potion costing more than the dog Dean: 100xp for steppin' up and takin' the lead when wrasslin' with bugbears Giant frog, sliced, diced and ready to serve: 120xp 100xp each for completing a shameful task which will never be discussed 110xp for treasure value Treasure # 10 gp, 50 sp from the pouch in Wyperag's office One chunk of rock crystal 150 cp, 110sp, 80gp from the dice game The knowledge that goat tripe is a popular and nutritious staple of British cooking ... high in protein and containing many vitamins and minerals... ... and consists of the stomach lining of the source animal. The knowledge that there is a food item more repulsive than haggis A set of giant frog legs, perfectly butchered and ready for the chef (left behind) Two new healing potions remaining (600gp cost total; 1 used to save Pyro's life) Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;We shall never speak of this to anyone. It shall be elided from the party chronicles.\u0026quot; \u0026quot;You know, that healing potion costs more than the dog did.\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # The second level of the dungeon has been entered... Events in Rookroost appear to be progressing in some sort of direction The minitaurs are no longer quite so mini and are being used as mounts in an indoor jousting competition by the Cavaliers' club ","date":"11 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-13/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nThe 13th full game session was rescheduled for the following day at the last minute due to cancellations. Dean (Thic Duc), Matt (Barron), and Mariel (Leah) were present. Kriselle is awarded honorary XP for showing up Saturday even though she wasn’t able to make the reschedule.\nAs we left the party, they were trying to figure out what to do about the minitaurs that had escaped their captivity. Since a mysterious case of food poisoning had left Kriselle, Michael, and Kevin feeling less than adventurous, they were also seeking to minimize the risk they took without everyone at full strength and intellectual capacity.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 13","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Saltmarsh is a small town, though still larger than Dunwitch. It is near the coast, with port facilities and a fishing fleet. The fleet sends its catch from both the ocean and the nearby salt marsh (for which the town is named) to Rookroost, providing a steady supply of seafood for those wealthy enough to afford it (and the necessary salt or preservation spells to preserve it). The road to town from Rookroost brings you to the top of a sea-facing cliff overlooking the town, and you can see the port itself laid out before you, with the bulk of town further inland on higher ground. The activity at sea appears to consist of mostly fishing boats, with one or two larger vessels at anchor by the docks.\nThere is one other notable feature of the town: a lighthouse, not far from the top of the cliff where you are now. The current mayor lives there and tends the light (it is one of the mayor\u0026rsquo;s official duties). His name is Lenny.\nThe manor house itself is located at the edge of the marsh, near a natural harbor, at the top of a hill overlooking the town (on the far side from the lighthouse). The house is set on a small peninsula, with cliff faces leading to the Nyr Dyv on three sides. Neither marsh nor harbor is visible from most of town, but the manor house itself is.\nIt is roughly a days\u0026rsquo; travel away by roads in poor condition, so details are not visible \u0026ndash; just the outline, and occasionally bright lights. No one lives close by, but travelers following the coast road occasionally pass by, and when they do so at night, they report noises of various indescribable types.\nThe Town Council # Posted at the docks and the Rookroost side of the coastal road. Mayor Lenny Dockmaster Holofax Guard Captain Miriam\nMilitia # Ned and Ed (assigned to maintaining a lookout for the Sea Ghost, now dead) Costs # 1 Night's Lodging, per person: 1sp Fish stew, per meal: 1cp Crawfish stew, per meal: 2cp Something-Other-Than-Fish Food, per meal: 5cp Good food, per meal: 1sp Large red crawfish, per meal, with melted butter: 1gp Treasure Tax: 25% ","date":"2 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/saltmarsh/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Saltmarsh is a small town, though still larger than Dunwitch. It is near the coast, with port facilities and a fishing fleet. The fleet sends its catch from both the ocean and the nearby salt marsh (for which the town is named) to Rookroost, providing a steady supply of seafood for those wealthy enough to afford it (and the necessary salt or preservation spells to preserve it). The road to town from Rookroost brings you to the top of a sea-facing cliff overlooking the town, and you can see the port itself laid out before you, with the bulk of town further inland on higher ground. The activity at sea appears to consist of mostly fishing boats, with one or two larger vessels at anchor by the docks.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Saltmarsh","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"Characters begin in the small town of Dunwitch, named (according to local legend) for its founder, a nameless hag and healer who lived out her years as a hermit outside the nearby walled city of Rookroost. Her cures were so efficacious and her protective spells so potent that she soon had a thriving community established around her small forest hut. As the poor woman was nearly deaf and blind in her old age, she never quite realized.\nThe master of Rookroost named the town when he sent his guards to hang the witch for cursing him with impotence. His proclamation named the town \u0026ldquo;Dunwitch\u0026rdquo;, in \u0026ldquo;honor\u0026rdquo; of the witch he\u0026rsquo;d had \u0026ldquo;done\u0026rdquo; there. No one else had felt the town needed a name, so this one stuck\u0026hellip; at least on a map. That was 30 years or so ago, and the town has grown to a substantial community since then.\nMost of the population in Dunwitch are effectively serfs. Many are farmers, expected to grow food to support the city of Rookroost, and legally bound to the land they farm. No one really keeps close track so long as the food arrives regularly in the city\u0026rsquo;s markets. Many others are foresters, providing the city with meat and firewood. There are still nearby forests, but they are shrinking. By tradition, Dunwitch itself is filled with trees, and the houses and businesses are built around them. The center of town is a small clearing surrounded by immense old-growth trees and a stone circle, at the center of which lies an ancient stone altar. Legend says the witch of Dunwitch performed vile rites and obscene sacrifices there at the dark of the moon, but those legends were started by the man who had her hung, so most residents discount them.\nBasic training is available for most adventuring professions, though the residents wouldn\u0026rsquo;t think of them as \u0026ldquo;adventuring\u0026rdquo; professions, just normal lives.\nCharacters in Dunwitch are, in practical terms, healthy, reasonably well off, and average in most ways. The town doesn\u0026rsquo;t bother with much government and the city of Rookroost, while ruled by a man best described as a petty and insecure tyrant, mostly ignores the town so long as the food keeps flowing in and the city doesn\u0026rsquo;t starve. However, no one in the town has any significant knowledge of the wider world (geographically or otherwise). At most, farmers and foresters will have traveled to Rookroost to sell their produce and provender regularly, and the more sophisticated and educated townsfolk make trips to the city for news and specialized materials occasionally. Border control in the area around Rookroost is a mix of very lax internal controls \u0026ndash; no one cares where you are going or why, so long as you pay the appropriate tolls \u0026ndash; and very strict external controls. No one in the town can recall visitors from outside of the broader Rookroost borders, and those who attempt to leave without approval in advance are never heard from again.\nLocal Law Enforcement # Tom o\u0026rsquo; the Seven Sevens # A small volunteer militia of three men keeps order when the locals get overly drunk, and at tax time they are reinforced by a squad from Rookroost. Their leader is Tom o\u0026rsquo; the Seven Sevens, named for the time someone called his bluff at cards and he laid down his hand of seven sevens, proclaiming \u0026ldquo;Ha! Beat my seven sevens, can ye?\u0026rdquo; Tom seems very proud of the story and tells it often, never mentioning who was on the other side of the table for that game.\n(Moe, a cleric with the town guard, tells a slightly different story)\nGrog and Juliet # His minions are two half-orcs who seem to have a comfortable arrangement with each other, going by the names of Grog and Juliet. Grog is always bragging about the time he won a pair of potions on a bet with a wizard in the city, one a permanent love potion and the other some kind of permanent shapeshifting potion, but never explains what he did with them.\nReligious Services # \u0026ldquo;Father\u0026rdquo; Faran # There is a cleric who tends the people\u0026rsquo;s religious needs, blesses crops, and performs marriages and funerals. He\u0026rsquo;s sort of unclear on the details of the pantheon but his spells seem to work, and he will teach what he knows to those who aspire to priestly work or the life of a holy warrior. He is the only dwarf anyone in the village has ever seen, calling himself Faran. In his cups \u0026ndash; which takes a LOT of dwarven ale \u0026ndash; he occasionally mentions a second name, but no one has gotten him drunk enough to hear it properly. Rumor has it there are more dwarves in the city, if you know which taverns to visit, and rumor also has it they speak his name with reverence.\nThe Old Man of the Forest # There is a druid who tends the stone circle and the remnants of the forest that remain. Like the forest he cares for, he seems bedraggled and worn down, but he says as long as the forest remains in Dunwitch itself, so will he. The village simply calls him \u0026ldquo;The old man of the forest\u0026rdquo;, and continually pesters him to train an apprentice.\nNo one quite remembers when he appeared, but he has been a fixture of the village for a long time.\nForesters # The half-elven ranger corps # Almost all of the foresters who nominally live in Dunwitch (perhaps better described as visiting the town to resupply with civilized goods and sell the furs and skins they have collected) are half-elves. Oddly, because no one seems to know of any full elves anywhere nearby. The foresters are willing to take apprentices, particularly those with some elven ancestry.\nWizards # Romeo the Not-yet-wise # Recently, a young man who claims to be a wizard by the name of Romeo has taken up residence in one of the better available homes in Dunwitch; no one is quite sure what he\u0026rsquo;s doing there, but he can manage minor magic when sober and horrid poetry about lost love when drunk. He is willing to teach enough magic to students to get their career started in return for strong drink, which he sternly admonishes his students to never ever consume before spellcasting.\nThieves and Rogues # No one in Dunwitch will admit to being a thief by profession, but then, no one really has anything worth stealing.\nThe Stone Circle # In the center of the town is a large stone circle. The inside of the circle serves as a public forum for whatever needs the town may have: weddings, funerals, religious services, a marketplace (once every 7 days or so), a tavern (in the evenings after market days), or just a soup kitchen to catch a quick meal. There is always a large iron pot simmering in the center, with simple food and ale available on the honor system (\u0026ldquo;Please drop your 5cp here\u0026rdquo;).\nOn market days, merchants from Rookroost set up stalls between each of the stones of the outer circle, and the local farmers and foresters can sell their crops, produce, or catch.\nThe Market # During daylight hours on market days, the stone circle serves as a bustling marketplace, surrounded by vendors of all types who bring their wares from the nearby city of Rookroost. Locals also sell their goods here if they would prefer not to take them into Rookroost themselves. Vendors offer mostly simple tools and trades; there is a blacksmith, a tanner, a tinker, and a tailor who make regular appearances. The blacksmith has a broad selection of tools and knives, and a few crude short swords. The tanner has leather goods that can serve as armor (leather or studded leather) but are more intended to protect against dangerous animals than men.\nNevertheless, most miscellaneous tools and adventuring goods can be acquired here. If they are not kept in stock, then by the simple expedient of placing an order with the appropriate merchant for delivery the following week. If the need is more urgent than that, Rookroost is perhaps a day of hard walking away.\nEntertainment # The Holy Day Inn # Normally, a town this small would have trouble supporting an inn or tavern. However, the local tradition was to gather around the stone circle in the center of town as dark fell, to share a meal and a drink (which everyone brought for their own family). Speculation amongst the young children is that the tradition rose to allow the residents to take a headcount and make sure no one had gone missing to various dangers during the day\u0026rsquo;s labors. Older residents suggest there was a lack of cooking tools and that a communal iron pot kept everyone fed with soup and stew until a proper blacksmith set up shop in town. Neither explanation seems entirely germane to the present, but the tradition continues.\nIn modern form, the Old Man of the Forest serves bread and stew in return for 5cp a head or an hour of simple labor. Faran brews ale (suitable for human consumption) and has built an open-air \u0026ldquo;bar\u0026rdquo; to serve it, along with a cunning set of wooden planks that, when laid over the stones, form a series of large tables. There is enough space for the whole town of Dunwitch (standing room only) or all heads of household (seated with room to eat). Those tables are brought out once or twice a month when the whole town gathers.\nOtherwise, there\u0026rsquo;s a pot of stew over an open fire, a tapped keg at the bar, a strongbox with a coin slot (folks are on the honor system to pay), and enough company to drown your sorrows alone or with a small audience most nights.\nAnd a sign with the name of the \u0026ldquo;tavern\u0026rdquo; on it, which was probably made as some kind of joke. No one seems to know the punchline.\nCow Tipping # Rumor has it residents like to tip over cows. That\u0026rsquo;s about the only other thing to do for fun.\nReading the Map # The official map of Greyhawk places Rookroost north of a riven (the Artonsonara?) that feeds into the Nyr Dyv, an inland sea. In my campaign, Rookroost is located two hexes above and one hex to the left of the point where that river feeds into the Nyr Dyv. Saltmarsh is directly on the shore of the Nyr Dyv and one hex further west. Dunwitch is one hex to the right of Rookroost.\n","date":"2 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/dunwich/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Characters begin in the small town of Dunwitch, named (according to local legend) for its founder, a nameless hag and healer who lived out her years as a hermit outside the nearby walled city of Rookroost. Her cures were so efficacious and her protective spells so potent that she soon had a thriving community established around her small forest hut. As the poor woman was nearly deaf and blind in her old age, she never quite realized.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Dunwich","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" The City of Rookroost # Rookroost is one of the bandit kingdoms, a city-state in barely civilized territory that exists in a state of low-level perpetual warfare with most of its neighbors and even its own residents. Half-Orcs are common and make up most of the city guard. Half-elves are common in the outlying towns and forests, but full elves are rare.\nLeadership # Officially, the city follows General Perneti, who is in charge of the city guard. Unofficially, those not being paid directly pretty much make up their own rules and break them on a whim. There are moments of unity when an external threat unites everyone, and the guard are mostly loyal to the general, but subject to bribery and intimidation in things that seem unimportant. Rookroost City Guard\nGeneral Perneti is officially the head of the guard The party has dealt with Guard Captain Malcolm of the Inner Ring several times Each ring of the city has it's own captain: The Inner Ring, the Outer Ring, and the Middle Ring The Inner Ring # The Sage\u0026rsquo;s Tower # In the Inner Ring is a small sage\u0026rsquo;s tower, presently a burned-out, mostly hollow stone structure.\nThe Guard\u0026rsquo;s Barracks # The party has spent a (partial) night with the guard in their barracks. It was very loosely disciplined for a military structure, but more organized than most civilian households. The Flaming Iron Skillet\nA high-class restaurant (for the Bandit Kingdoms, anyway) that offers prepared food for delivery as well as a fine dining experience. This restaurant held a contract for delivering food to the Sage\u0026rsquo;s Tower before the Sage\u0026rsquo;s untimely demise.\nThe Middle Ring # Merchants, marketplaces, and the (mostly) washed masses. The party has dealt with Aurelius, who bought the cargo off the Sea Ghost, and his guard leader Michelin, who transported the goods to his warehouses.\nThe Outer Ring # Speaking generally, the outer rings are the slums, ghettos, criminal underclass, unwashed masses, and general undesirables.\nThe Pearly Gates # An inn in the outer ring, with outdoor tables that have a view of the southern gates (leading to Saltmarsh).\nPublic works projects # Recently, someone has been making visible efforts to improve the conditions in the outer ring. There are no plague victims dying in the streets, though reports are that the treatment is \u0026ldquo;expensive\u0026rdquo; and must be taken on a regular basis to remain effective. Work crews appear to be installing sewers and cleaning up refuse and debris from the streets.\nSurrounding Towns # Dunwitch Saltmarsh The initial set of characters began their adventures in Dunwitch. New characters will be inserted where they can conveniently meet up with the party, though their history may have ties to Dunwitch or Rookroost to offer an easy excuse for trusting the party, and vice versa.\n","date":"2 May 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/rookroost/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"The City of Rookroost # Rookroost is one of the bandit kingdoms, a city-state in barely civilized territory that exists in a state of low-level perpetual warfare with most of its neighbors and even its own residents. Half-Orcs are common and make up most of the city guard. Half-elves are common in the outlying towns and forests, but full elves are rare.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Rookroost","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"The 12th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Nathan (Kevin).\nAs we left the party, Barron had just returned to consciousness following his not-just-near-death experience. He found it inspiring. He was filled with zeal for revenge against the dolphins, and as soon as he was able to walk, headed to the market to acquire several flasks of lamp oil, a large cut of raw steak from the Merry Memory Moss Tavern, and a 100gp vial of poison from the local herbalist. The rest of the party took a few days to level up, heal, and prepare for their next excursion. The rest of the party was not as pleased with the idea of poisoning the killer dolphins, however, and argued that simply placing a sign over their exhibit would be sufficient. (This Duc did not participate as he was busy fighting off panic attacks from being used as dolphin bait).\nAfter Kriselle bought paint and wooden construction materials to manufacture a warning sign, Michael begin to feel unwell. Thinking it was the odor of the paints, he went outside for fresh air. Opening the door to a massive lightning storm that somehow included rainbows, he decided fresh air wasn\u0026rsquo;t quite worth it and remained inside. However, this didn\u0026rsquo;t make him feel any better. Applying his healing skills, Kevin the druid diagnosed an acute case of gas orc spore poisoning. The party sent Barron to gather the necessary ingredients from the herbalist Bheanneh, but the herbalist argued passionately for respecting the natural life cycle of the gas orcs.\nEventually someone remembered that the party had an insurance policy and went off to get cure disease spells cast on the party members who felt sick (ie, failed their saving throws versus gas orc spore infestation).\nBarron made time during this process to track down Cullum and hire him to burgle Merrang the Enchanter\u0026rsquo;s office to search for the missing courier\u0026rsquo;s note.\nAfter taking additional time to rest and level up, the party proceeded to enter the dungeon and followed the passage west from the cafeteria area. The passage was liberally labeled with \u0026ldquo;This way to tremendous monster of gigantic proportions\u0026rdquo; signs, counting down from 500 feet to 0 feet in 10 foot increments. At the end of the passage they found a room with a large, circular cage in the center, the door of which had been ripped off and thrown against the wall. There were large bones in the cage, which were identified by Leah and/or Kriselle as mammoth bones \u0026ndash; real ones \u0026ndash; complete with tooth marks and mammoth flesh. The only other feature was a passage leading north labeled \u0026ldquo;Large Herbivore Exhibit\u0026rdquo;.\nThe party attempted to sneak up the passage, which opened into a large natural cave area covered in grasses, lit only by a large bonfire at the northwest corner. Near the fire and clearly preparing for a meal was the cretin, a huge humanoid creature with two heads and two clubs, wearing only a loincloth. Next to the fire was an improvised cage holding a robed man captive.\nBarron descended into the \u0026ldquo;large herbivore exhibit\u0026rdquo;, attempting to sneak up on the cretin after offering a prayer to his newfound diety. The prayer called for a wisdom check, on which he rolled a natural 20 and inspiring curses from the game master who had previously set his mental expectations for prayers to \u0026ldquo;Maybe it will work on a natural 20\u0026rdquo;. Damnit. However, no obvious effect was visible.\nApproaching the cretin, Barron successfully moved silently, but failed to hide in shadows. Luckily, the cretin was facing the other direction and didn\u0026rsquo;t notice anything unusual. Zanto, however, immediately began frantically waving at the party to attract their attention and begging (in pantomime) to be rescued. Barron ignored him and continued to approach, but the cretin eventually noticed the frantic gestures and turned around to see what the big deal was. This resulted in a brief argument between the two heads, one staring right at Barron and insisting there was someone sneaking up on them, and the other insisting that it was nothing to worry about.\nWhen both heads (and the body) finally turned around to face the party, Kevin cast his Entanglement spell. The cretin was held in place by the thick grasses covering the floor of this cavern, and a wiser party might well have backed off and finished the fight with missile weapons. A wiser party would not have chosen the moniker The Band of Misfits, however, so instead both Barron and Michael continued to close on the cretin.\nBarron was closer, and threw one of his flasks of oil at the cretin. He missed \u0026ndash; and tripped, faceplanting just across the border of Kevin\u0026rsquo;s Entanglement. Unfortunately, he was within range of the cretin\u0026rsquo;s long arms and large clubs. The cretin attacked with a huge club, smashing the thief into unconscious pulp with a single blow, and winding up for a second attack.\nSeeing the thief\u0026rsquo;s plight, Kriselle took careful aim and declared a called shot between the eyes of the right-hand head of the cretin, rolling a natural 20 and knocking that head (and arm) out of action for most of the fight. \u0026ldquo;You killed Fred!\u0026rdquo; said the cretin in horror\u0026hellip; and, as Barron\u0026rsquo;s body was the only character within reach, wound up for another strike next round. With Barron already unconscious and bleeding out, entangled by the grasses, spreadeagled on the ground staring death in the face with unseeing eyes\u0026hellip; a voice was heard to say, \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t expect this sort of thing on a regular basis\u0026rdquo;, and the cretin\u0026rsquo;s furious swing impacted the creature\u0026rsquo;s foot instead of Barron\u0026rsquo;s face.\nMeanwhile, Michael had been approaching the creature in foot, sticking to the far wall outside the radius of the entanglement spell. Glancing at the cage that held Zanto, he saw there was no ready way to open it, so turned to attack the cretin. Michael\u0026rsquo;s hammer swing (with a natural 1) connected with Fred\u0026rsquo;s dead head\u0026hellip; and woke Fred up to rejoin the fight! Fred and his fellow head furiously retaliated, knocking the cleric out of action.\nLeah and Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s arrows brought the cretin down permanently shortly after that\u0026hellip; right on top of Michael. It took Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s strength to lift the cretin off of Michael, and Kriselle and Leah combined their efforts to drag Michael\u0026rsquo;s unconscious form (and his heavy plate mail) out from underneath the giant creature.\nWith the cretin dead and Zanto still locked in a cage, negotiations began. The party eventually agreed to 5% of net profits after a year (per party member, totaling 25%, with 5% going to a charity on behalf of Thic Duc) in return for the rescue and helping with recovering exhibits as needed. Documents were signed to that effect.\nZanto explained the source of the monsters in the Petting Zoo is a small room with a strange glowing wall. Sometimes, monsters just appear in that room, and he finds a place for them in the Petting Zoo as quickly as possible. He has no idea why they appear there, or why they aren\u0026rsquo;t quite normal monsters.\nHe does, however, know of a deeper dungeon level. It is concealed in a hole under the desk in his private office, secured by a trapdoor and covered by a rug. He also has a map, suitable for turning in to Herzog the Merely Worried.\nThe party took a brief detour to visit the land sharks and verify that they were safely confined before returning to the surface. As it turned out, their cage door was unlocked, but still closed, and the land sharks were all present. Kriselle in particular enjoyed tossing them meat just barely out of the water and seeing them walk on their hind flippers to retrieve it. Thus amused, they left the dungeon, turned in the map in return for a bank draft, and discovered that the minitaurs had escaped their captivity.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # 100xp for showing up Barron: 100xp bonus for wanting revenge on the dolphins who killed him, and thinking to hire Cullum to retrieve the message Leah: 100xp bonus for making amends after accidentally shooting Pyro Kriselle: 100xp bonus for arguing that the dolphins just need a sign Cretin, dead: 800xp Map, completed: 1000xp Avoiding battle with the land sharks: 100xp Talking Zanto into offering to pay his own ransom: 100xp Finding a clue to the mystery of the monsters: 100xp Treasure # The cretin's keyring A percentage of the Petting Zoo's net profits for one year 1000gp for turning in a complete map of the first dungeon level Roleplaying moments and quotables # When the party spends an hour debating whether to poison the killer dolphins or just post a warning sign... When the party doesn't make a plan before letting the thief try to sneak up on the cretin... When the thief faceplants in the druid's entanglement spell within melee range of the also-entangled monster... When the fighter's natural 20 knocks one head out and the cleric's natural 1 wakes it up again... DM: \u0026quot;The cretin has a pouch hanging from its loincloth...\u0026quot; Barron: \u0026quot;I stick my hand inside and search for valuables.\u0026quot; DM: \u0026quot;Really?\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # The first level of the dungeon has been found and explored The entrance to the second level of the dungeon has been found Cullum's \u0026quot;dad\u0026quot; has been found and Cullum has been hired to perform a burglary for 15gp plus whatever else he finds Chesty was asked to keep an eye on the strange actors being hired to say things about the General The minitaurs escaped the jail and hurt or killed their guards in the process Player Character Experience Total Larry Michael 10256xp Mary Kriselle 3872xp Dean Thic Duc 10312xp Matt Barron 2111xp Mariel Leah 1179xp Nathan Kevin 816xp\nAfter the game, a question about backstabbing with a crossbow lead to viewing The Gamers, which is made by Dead Gentlemen Productions and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment\n","date":"27 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-12/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"The 12th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), and Nathan (Kevin).\nAs we left the party, Barron had just returned to consciousness following his not-just-near-death experience. He found it inspiring. He was filled with zeal for revenge against the dolphins, and as soon as he was able to walk, headed to the market to acquire several flasks of lamp oil, a large cut of raw steak from the Merry Memory Moss Tavern, and a 100gp vial of poison from the local herbalist. The rest of the party took a few days to level up, heal, and prepare for their next excursion. The rest of the party was not as pleased with the idea of poisoning the killer dolphins, however, and argued that simply placing a sign over their exhibit would be sufficient. (This Duc did not participate as he was busy fighting off panic attacks from being used as dolphin bait).\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 12","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"The 11th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah).\nAs we left the party, they had just emerged from the Castle Greyhawk Petting Zoo following their first venture below the surface. Shortly after emerging, a crossbow bolt from the shadows killed the messenger Starron.\nThe party delivered the ensacked minitaurs to Mina in Herzog\u0026rsquo;s Tower, facing a raging storm of hail and thunder. Mina informed them that they would need to seek a reward from Zantos, the proprietor of the Petting Zoo, but they could store the minitaurs in the guard\u0026rsquo;s small prison in the meantime. Apparently the prison needs beta testers. Mina also mentioned that Zuphaitz, the Citadel Union sage, wanted to see the group about a message he had received recently.\nThe party braved a heavy mist that blocked nearly all vision to return to the Citadel Union and speak with Zuphaitz. As it turns out, Zuphaitz wanted to ask about the message that Starron delivered to him. He said it was an incomplete fragment of something that arrived without explanation, but the fact that two messages and two couriers arrived at the same time made him suspect the other message (addressed to, but not delivered to, Merrang the Enchanter) might offer context. The party agreed they would try to determine the contents of the message, if at all possible.\nAfter briefly discussing strategies for doing so, they decided to start by making inquiries at the local tavern. The most popular tavern within Castle Greyhawk is known as the Merry Memory Moss Tavern, possibly because it is also the only currently operating tavern. The bartender there was happy to answer questions while feeding Barron and his pet stuffed bird drinks. Asked about Zanto, Cullum\u0026rsquo;s dad and the proprietor of the Petting Zoo in the dungeon, the bartender mentioned that Zanto was not known to have any children. Zanto had been missing for the last several days and some of the workers he had hired were getting nervous about their job prospects. One of those workers was drinking in one of the corners, and had been doing so pretty much every day this week.\nThe party immediately moved to investigate this lead, interrogating the worker \u0026ndash; who turned out to be a short-order cook, responsible for serving delicious tourists to unsuspecting Monsterburgers. He told the party that Zanto had been working on the Petting Zoo ever since Zanto discovered the dungeon below the floor of his house in the Citadel Union\u0026rsquo;s residential level, and the bizarre and weird monsters that filled it. Cullum had been seen hanging around, but presumably looking for something to steal, not as Zanto\u0026rsquo;s son. The cook had no idea where Zanto got the monsters he was displaying, but did notice they weren\u0026rsquo;t being shipped in and Zanto didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to expect them ahead of time. Instead, he was surprised when they appeared and had to figure out how to confine them in a hurry.\nThe party also inquired about Merrang the Enchanter. They learned that his offices are in the Tower of Wizardry, across from the library.\nHaving conducted intelligence operations, it was time to visit the Enchanter himself. He was not very helpful, repeatedly refusing to answer questions \u0026ldquo;due to client confidentiality\u0026rdquo;. He did admit to recently receiving a message, however. Perhaps he stores it in his office\u0026hellip;\nGiving up that line of inquiry for the moment, the party returned to the Petting Zoo. They began their explorations with the closed door leading to the south from the dining hall. This door led to a very short \u0026ldquo;T\u0026rdquo; corridor, which Cullum claimed was the bathroom. A sign on either end of the corridor confirmed it, with a lady in a dress on one door and a barbarian warrior on the other.\nAs they approached the doors, the party heard a rumble from the ladies. They lined up before the door, and Kriselle took the lead; pushing the door to the ladies room open carefully. Inside was a normal bathroom, with flowers, a fainting couch and changing table, and two stalls separated by partitions. Kriselle was considering how to investigate the stalls when the party was attacked from behind by two snake-like heads on long, thin necks.\nThe party quickly smashed the heads to pulp, poured oil into the toilets, lit the oil on fire, and filled the toilets with rubble. If anything was still alive in the septic tank, it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be coming out for a long time.\nContinuing their explorations, they chose to take the southeast passage out of the dining hall. It lead to a room with a stream flowing through the center, crossed by a small bridge. Across the bridge was a small circular pool; two channels had been cut into the floor from the stream, one leading to the pool and one leading down a corridor to the northeast. The stream itself exited underground to the west, and flowed into a southeast corridor. An additional exit, with neither stream nor dry channel, lay to the east.\nUpon closer examination, the pool was found to be occupied by a small, spherish creature. It had a single large eye, several tentacles ending in claws, and splashed playfully at anyone coming close to the pool. A sign promised that the creature from the deep would grant wishes to those who tossed in coins. Barron promptly tossed in a coin, wishing for wealth to appear near his feet. A moment later, he was struck by a coin the creature from the deep had spit at him, and it fell at his feet.\nThe party chose to explore the passage to the southeast once they finished playing with the creature from the deep. As they approached the corridor, they saw two orcs floating in their direction, and immediately prepared a violent reception. Only Thic Duc had a moment of premonition and took cover before Barron\u0026rsquo;s crossbow bolt struck the lead orc\u0026hellip; and the orc exploded, filling the air with a yellow powderish substance and bits of some vaguely orc-like flesh.\nKriselle, Michael, and Barron failed their saves versus poison. Thic Duc and Leah saved successfully.\nThe remaining \u0026ldquo;orc\u0026rdquo; was wrapped in two sacks, top and bottom, then punctured from a distance. The roof where the gas orcs had originated turned out to contain nothing but \u0026ldquo;Uniduck Island\u0026rdquo;, so named by a sign on the wall.\nAs they finished dealing with the gas spore orcs, the party was surprised by four ducks waddling rapidly towards them from the corridor to the east. They were noble animals, with feathers both white and black, and occasional speckles of green and blue, and each one sported a large ivory-and-gold horn sprouting from its forehead. These visions of purity were indeed the infamous \u0026ldquo;uniducks\u0026rdquo;\u0026hellip; and on their heels were 6 goblins, weapons out, charging the party!\nThe ducks took refuge in the pool, swimming in circles above the creature from the deep. The party made short work of the goblins, save one which made it to the pool, desperately swimming towards the center with the ducks\u0026hellip; and was quickly torn to sheds. Never attack a uniduck on its home turf!\nThe passage from which the uniducks and goblins emerged contained nothing more than a small room with four aquariums. One was broken, labeled \u0026ldquo;Uniducks\u0026rdquo;. The others were labeled \u0026ldquo;Baby giant crabs\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Merciless Lobster\u0026rdquo;, and \u0026ldquo;The Amazing Invisible Octopus\u0026rdquo;.\nAgainst his better judgment, but egged on by peer pressure and the desire to use his new swimming proficiency, Thic Duc entered the water and attempted to play with the dolphins. They attempted to eat him.\nAs soon as it was clear that the playful splashing was no longer playful, Michael sprinted to his rescue along the bridge above the pool. Arriving there, however, he realized that he couldn\u0026rsquo;t quite reach the monk to lift him out of the pool, and descending into the pool wearing heavy armor would be suicide even without the killer dolphins.\nGrasping one of the rings the dolphins had been trained to jump through, Thic Duc attempted to pull himself out of the water, but leaping dolphins tore at his flesh, knocking him unconscious and loosening his grip on the ring. He fell back into the water, simultaneously drowning and bleeding to death.\nSeeing that the monk was unconscious, the killer dolphins found a new game: knock the cleric into the pool and tear him to shreds while he drowns. They hurled themselves at the cleric as he stood on the bridge above the pool, biting at him as they passed, until finally a dolphin latched on to Michael\u0026rsquo;s throat with its teeth and bodily knocked him from the bridge. With but a single hit point remaining, dangling by one hand over the deadly pool, Michael prayed for the chance to live long enough to help his friends\u0026hellip; and his prayers were answered in the form of a crossbow bolt from Barron, spearing the dolphin\u0026rsquo;s snout and forcing it to let go, splashing into the water once more.\nBarron would be next to know the dolphin\u0026rsquo;s fury as the one he wounded tore through the water in his direction. He threw the monk a rope, but as Thic Duc was unconscious and the lasso missed, it did not help much. Next time, tie ropes to characters before they jump into the pool with the killer dolphins.\nFor a moment, time stopped, as the party members (and indeed, the universe itself) pondered an existential question: did any other party members have swimming proficiency to get Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s body out of the water before it was torn to shreds? Michael did not, and wore heavy armor besides. Barron did not. Kriselle was engaging in urgent business elsewhere. All eyes turned to Leah, who had not yet chosen any of her non-weapon proficiencies. The universe was merciful, and allowed that a ranger would likely have learned to swim at some point.\nLeah jumped into the water and swam rapidly towards Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s unconscious body. The dolphins ignored her in favor of charging at Barron, and she was able to tie the rope Barron had tossed around the floating body. Barron grabbed his end of the rope and began to drag the bait unconscious monk back towards the edge of the pool. Meanwhile, Michael recovered his footing, cast a quick healing spell on himself, and ran back to the edge of the pool nearest the rest of the party to help out while Leah swam back alongside Thic Duc.\nMichael occupied himself first by healing Thic Duc with a Cure Light Wounds spell, and then using his healing proficiency to bring him back from drowning. It took three rounds before he achieved a success on the roll, and the monk coughed the water from his lungs and took stock of his surroundings.\nMeanwhile, with a shocking and impressive string of four natural 20 attack rolls, one of the dolphins was clearly feeling especially killer this evening (perhaps he stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night?), and succeeded in first knocking Barron out, then dragging him into the pool, and finally savaging his corpse before Leah could drag it out. Barron was beyond the skills of the party to bring back to life, but his corpse was recovered mostly intact. The killer dolphins watched them leave the pool area with happy smiles on their faces and a sinister glint in their eyes.\nOn the way out of the pool area (carrying Barron\u0026rsquo;s body), the party met the Little Guys, a group of stand-up comics hired (theoretically, on a trial basis) to make the guests at the Petting Zoo laugh so they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t notice how awful the food was or how expensive the meal turned out to be. They were quite friendly, and offered to help make a stretcher and carry him out. For four little guys, they were remarkably strong.\nThey also volunteered that they pretty much had free run of the place, and knew where Zantos was being held captive (the southwest passage from the cafeteria) and what was holding him captive (a \u0026ldquo;cretin\u0026rdquo;, which they said was like an ettin but less intelligent). Exactly why the cretin was holding him captive was unclear, unless perhaps Zantos had simply found a way to be eaten last. The dolphin exhibit was supposed to be labeled \u0026ldquo;Killer Dolphins\u0026rdquo; but the sign wasn\u0026rsquo;t ready yet; the trainers in charge of having it made kept disappearing. Oh, and the \u0026ldquo;creature of the deep\u0026rdquo; was named Howard and actually is really friendly if you can talk to him, but you need some kind of spell to do it.\nBarron\u0026rsquo;s body was carried to the multi-faith Citadel Union temple. After a brief discussion of Barron\u0026rsquo;s faith, the monk took his body to the priests of Pholtus (who mentioned they had heard of him and his quest to \u0026ldquo;walk the earth\u0026rdquo;). They retired to a small back room, turned the crank on the altar to show the face of Pholtus instead of the many other dieties therein represented, and brought him back to life per the Adventure Capitalist\u0026rsquo;s policy. As he coughed himself back to life, Barron felt roughly 20% less himself than he had before, but as the alternative was death, he shrugged and accepted it.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip; Experience\n100xp for showing up 100xp to Barron for first character death and feeding drinks to his bird (and -20% experience as the Adventure Capitalists collect the death tax) 100xp to Leah for identifying the baby giant crab 100xp to Michael for making a successful healing skill check... finally 100xp to Thic Duc for swimming with the fishes voluntarily and against his better judgment 50xp for escaping the killer dolphins 50xp for temporarily defeating the restroom creature 90xp for 6 goblins 50xp for 2 gas spore orcs 25xp for not fighting the uniducks 50xp for information gathering at the tavern Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # The first level of the dungeon has been found and partially explored Cullum (the annoying kid) wants to rescue his father(?) from the monsters What exactly was supposed to happen with this dungeon? Was it meant to be a tourist attraction? What about the other letter? It was stolen and then lost... and possibly found again? Chesty was asked to keep an eye on the strange actors being hired to say things about the General When the gas spore orcs exploded, Kriselle, Barron, and Michael failed their save versus poison Session Map\n","date":"13 April 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-11/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"The 11th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah).\nAs we left the party, they had just emerged from the Castle Greyhawk Petting Zoo following their first venture below the surface. Shortly after emerging, a crossbow bolt from the shadows killed the messenger Starron.\nThe party delivered the ensacked minitaurs to Mina in Herzog’s Tower, facing a raging storm of hail and thunder. Mina informed them that they would need to seek a reward from Zantos, the proprietor of the Petting Zoo, but they could store the minitaurs in the guard’s small prison in the meantime. Apparently the prison needs beta testers. Mina also mentioned that Zuphaitz, the Citadel Union sage, wanted to see the group about a message he had received recently.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 11","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Castle Greyhawk # The 10th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Todd (Phil), Jennifer (Garmanargar), new player Nathan (Kevin), and a one-shot character player Starron.\nAs we left the party, they had decided to investigate the adventuring and real estate opportunities available at Castle Greyhawk. Passage to the City of Greyhawk proper was obtained from a convenient ship, at a cost of 10gp each\u0026hellip; plus a 90gp fee for everyone except Thic Duc, who weaseled out of the extra fee by not taking the cabin. Michael took the time to acquire some plate mail in Rookroost before leaving.\nOur two new players were recent hires at the Expendable Illiterates Courier Service in Rookroost. Each was given a message to deliver to a sage at Castle Greyhawk, along with payment for passage.\nThe passage across the Nyr Dyv to Greyhawk passed mostly without incident. The party shared the passenger cabin with the two couriers, leaving only Thic Duc in a hammock with the crew. Towards the end of the second day of passage, a flock of giant seagulls tried to abduct the crew for food. They succeeded in carrying off several of the crew before missile fire and the party\u0026rsquo;s efforts to negotiate with salted pork and fish drove them off.\nDuring the battle, one of the couriers attempted to speak with animals and inquired as to the birds\u0026rsquo; motives, which amounted to \u0026ldquo;FOOD!\u0026rdquo;. This resulted in pulling all available meat from the ship\u0026rsquo;s stores (mostly dried fish and salt pork), spreading it on deck to try to distract the birds from the crew. This attempt was only moderately successful. A few seagulls went for the food instead of the crew, but the rest continued to carry off sailors.\nAfter a pitched battle, and the loss of more than half the crew, all the seagulls were either dead, wounded badly enough to be driven off, or feasting on abducted crewmembers. Many baby seagulls thank the party for their contributions to feeding the hungry.\nDuring the confusion, Barron stole acquired the druid\u0026rsquo;s sealed message and opened it. He had only the chance to read it briefly before the message was angrily reclaimed. So far, he has not shared any of the contents with the party.\nTime spent in Greyhawk proper was limited. The party passed mostly around the city from the port (west of the city proper) to the north gate (where directions to Castle Greyhawk begin), only making inquiries at the local branch of Expendable Illiterates for any other messages that needed delivery. (There were none at the time).\nFrom the north gate at Greyhawk, it is a two-day carriage ride to Castle Greyhawk. A taxi service with the Castle Greyhawk logo operates the regular service and accepted the party as passengers. The first day of travel passed without incident, though ominous storm clouds were visible in the direction of travel. On the second day, a gang of feral halfings attempted to hold up the group. One ran into the road to force the carriage to stop while demanding the party stay in the vehicle and make no sudden moves.\nThe party made sudden moves.\nGarmanargar charged the visible halfling and wounded him badly, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there with her foot. He began to cry piteously. The rest of the party clambered out of the carriage while hidden ambushers hiding behind waist-high bushes by the side of the road used slings to throw stones. A great deal of missing took place. Michael and Barron charged the halflings to the left of the carriage. Barron was hit by multiple sling stones from the right side of the road, distracting him and foiling his attack. Michael, however, pushed through the hedge and commanded the \u0026ldquo;alpha halfling\u0026rdquo; there to run. The alpha halfling stood his ground, but the rest fled, as facing an armed and armored full sized human was too much to ask. Leah put an arrow right between the eyes of the alpha halfling, ending the threat from the left.\nOne of the couriers, Starron, murdered the captive halfling spokesman at the front in cold blood.\nIt took a round or two of repositioning the party to face the threat from the right side of the road, but after Leah sent Pyro charging the hedge, the rest saw the wisdom of surrender. They were promptly tied up and stuffed into sacks.\nUpon arriving at Castle Greyhawk, the party exited the carriages into blazing desert heat and unrelenting sun. They quickly hurried to see Herzog, whose office appeared to be enchanted with some form of temperature control. It was cool and dry inside, despite the blazing heat outside. The door was opened for them by Mina Harker. Mina is temporarily taking over the duties of her fiance, Jonathan Harker, who is absent arranging a large real-estate deal for a noble client. (She has taken his name despite the unexpected business travel delaying their wedding).\nThe terms offered by Herzog were thus: The primary goal is to resolve the problem with unusual monsters appearing in the dungeon at random. This continuous repopulation is dangerous, unpredictable, and threatens the safety of potential guests and staff. Also, some of the random monsters escape the dungeons, threatening potential investors. There is an additional bonus of 1000 gp per dungeon level surveyed. The levels need not be cleared for this, just mapped. Bonuses may also be offered for live capture of unusual specimens that are suitable for exhibition. All treasure recovered in the dungeons below the castle belongs to the party which recovers it successfully to the surface. Herzog offers room and board in his tower (basically, a barracks, and mess with the castle guard).\nAnother party of adventurers has already undertaken some of these challenges, but their information is out of date after a near-total disaster. The paladin and wizard were killed, with the party\u0026rsquo;s druid as the sole survivor. According to the druid, LeDurt, \u0026ldquo;I was able to reincarnate the fallen party members, but this did not turn out as I expected.\u0026rdquo; His fellow party members are Kandahar, the pixie paladin, and Nesselrode, a magic-user in the form of a badger. According to the badger, LeDurt reincarnated the party before encountering an undead creature of some kind that left his powers greatly weakened. If they fell in battle, he would be unable to reincarnate them again, and a resurrection would simply return them to their current forms. A \u0026ldquo;polymorph\u0026rdquo; spell might help.\nMost of the party then proceeded to the Citadel Union, though Garmanargar and Phil were still recovering from the sleeping gas trap on board the Sea Ghost and needed an early nap. Those members of the party still awake found the local armorer and weaponsmith, a dwarf who responded quite well to Michael\u0026rsquo;s ability to speak his language. His shop contains almost anything made of metal or wood that an adventurer might need, including masterwork-quality weapons, but he does not sell enchanted goods. The party bought several of his higher-quality items, particularly crossbows and a pair of throwing daggers. (See updated house rules for masterwork weapons).\nStarron took the opportunity to deliver the message he had been contracted to. The sage Zuphatiz, whose offices are in the Citadel Union, expressed some puzzlement at receiving the message. Apparently it was a message that he wasn\u0026rsquo;t expecting and lacked additional context. Zuphaitz asked about other messages, but Starron was unable to give much more information.\nAs they left the shop with their purchases, the party heard a small child crying about his father, who had been parentnapped by monsters and was being held captive in the dungeons below. Finally, the chance to be proper heroes rather than tax-enforcement agents! After much nagging by the young near-orphan, whose name turned out to be Cullum, the party agreed to investigate. Cullum led them to a building which might be a residence or perhaps a converted storefront on the lower level of the Citadel Union. The first floor of the building had an open floorplan with a trapdoor in the corner, which the orphan was able to open. Below the trapdoor, a staircase led into darkness below.\nAfter a brief pause to light a lantern and for Michael to cast a Light spell on Barron\u0026rsquo;s bird, the party descended. At the bottom of the staircase they found a small guard shack with a sign listing admission prices. Slightly further in, a concession stand offering everything from beer to monsterburgers at unreasonable prices.\nThe party next entered a room filled with conical stone formations protruding horizontally from the walls and a grate covering a pit in the center of the room. Strange blue and green lights were visible in the darkness. Exercising caution, a single party member moved into the room to investigate. They approached the edge of the grate, looking down into the pit to see a field of glowing mushrooms\u0026hellip; mobile mushrooms. They simultaneously heard a strange click\u0026hellip; followed by a burst of flame as one of the horizontal stalagmites launched itself like a rocket directly at the party!\nExperimentation with Barron\u0026rsquo;s bird, lanterns, and torches determined that the stalagmites react to heat rather than light or movement, so the party tied torches to the end of ropes and created an improvised (but spectacular) fireworks display. Certainly a dungeon first. Unfortunately, it was too dark to say what they could see, far from the dawn\u0026rsquo;s early light, but the rocket\u0026rsquo;s red glare and the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the evening that the stalagmites still fought\u0026hellip;\nBriefly, anyway. After dozens of explosive missiles were spent harmlessly against the walls, Starron felt the room must be safe to enter. But he was not expecting the Spanish Inquisition last stalagmite, which struck him full on in the stomach, penetrating his armor and sending his unconscious form rocketing into the far wall of the room. Luckily, a few healing spells got him back on his feet.\nThe party briefly examined the mushroom pit, and consulted with Kriselle later to determine that the mushrooms were a mutated variety of \u0026ldquo;shriekers\u0026rdquo;. Instead of making a loud shrieking noise when disturbed (which often serves as an alarm), these mushrooms are \u0026ldquo;leakers\u0026rdquo;: when disturbed they emit a brightly glowing liquid with consistency similar to honey. A vessel roughly the size of a lantern or a hollowed out stuffed bird with glass eyes would contain enough liquid to see by, though a true lantern would provide substantially more. Available in green, blue, and (rarely) red.\nMoving on, the party passed through a door labeled \u0026ldquo;Employees Only\u0026rdquo; and entered a short 20-foot-long passage with another door at the far end. They opened this door, and three things happened all at once: they read the sign on the other side of the door (\u0026ldquo;Janitors Closet\u0026rdquo;), they saw two tiny bull-headed humanoids ransacking an office, and Cullum, lurking behind them, screamed, \u0026ldquo;Oh no, not minitaurs!\u0026rdquo; This, of course, alerted the minitaurs, who turned towards the party and away from the crates labeled \u0026ldquo;MEAT\u0026rdquo; they had been trying to open.\nTense negotiations ensued with the help of a speak with animals spell. The minitaurs wanted the meat and didn\u0026rsquo;t care about anything else. The party wanted to move through the room and possibly kill the minitaurs to prevent a later ambush or potential goonies moment. Also, the magical globe of light on the ceiling looked shiny. Coming to an agreement was difficult.\nLeaving the room with the minitaurs behind them, still trying to open the crates of MEAT, the party entered another short corridor. Michael, in the lead, stepped in a puddle of something that\u0026hellip; sizzled? He quickly pulled his boot out of the puddle and began scraping off the residue.\nThic Duc noticed a nametag on the puddle of translucent, jellylike, mobile! material and leaned in for a closer look. It missed, but he was able to read the nametag. It bore the words \u0026ldquo;Janitorial Staff Member\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Please do not disturb\u0026rdquo;, and what appears to be a name: \u0026ldquo;Room Ba\u0026rdquo;.\nThe door at far end of the short corridor was labeled \u0026ldquo;Extremely Dangerous: Do not feed meat!\u0026rdquo; Beyond was a chamber containing a dry moat, an open cage, and large bones. When Leah examined the bones, it became evident that they were bones from a bear, carefully cleaned and preserved. Obviously, they had been placed within the cage for show.\nNow certain that they had failed to avert a goonies moment, the party turned back and determined to capture the minitaurs if possible, and kill them if not. Michael argued against the betrayal, and refused to participate in the fight. Barron attempted to open the festivities with a backstab while the minitaurs were distracted eating the meat, but failed his sneak rolls. They turned on him in fury, his intentions obvious, and the fight began!\nBarron did get the chance to backstab later on, after the druid used an \u0026ldquo;Invisibility to Animals\u0026rdquo; spell on him.\nAfter a surprisingly large struggle from such small creatures, the minitaurs were eventually subdued, then tied up. The party left the dungeon hoping to gain a reward for the live capture of such mysterious beasts, and to determine by that reward whether attempting further live captures was worthwhile.\nAs the party left the dungeon, a crossbow bolt from the darkness struck and killed Starron. A note tied to the bolt read \u0026ldquo;Apologies for the inconvenience. It was necessary.\u0026rdquo;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nInformal loot auction # Michael bid on and won one of the rings of protection +1 Experience # 100xp for showing up 100xp bonus to Barron for volunteering to draw the party map and getting the first successful backstab 100xp bonus to Nathan for trying to resolve matters with the seagulls peacefully 100xp bonus to Michael for refusing to betray the minitaurs 1 gelatinous disk (flipped over but left unharmed) 10 (of 20) giant seagulls (defeated; 500xp total) 11 halfling bandits (defeated; 264xp total) 24 Horizontal Jet-Propelled Stalagmites (outwitted; 480xp total) 2 Minitaurs (defeated and removed from dungeon alive; 80xp total) 1 Mysterious Black Orb (bypassed; 0 xp) Total: 1324 xp Roleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026quot;How will we get the captives back to the authorities?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;Hmm... How many halflings can I stuff into a large sack?\u0026quot; \u0026quot;The rumors say large bandits. These are clearly small bandits. The rumors are greatly exaggerated.\u0026quot; Dangling Threads of Fate # The first level of the dungeon has been found and partially explored Cullum (the annoying kid) wants to rescue his father from the monsters What exactly was supposed to happen with this dungeon? One courier delivered his letter and was then murdered. What about the other letter? It was stolen and then lost. Chesty was asked to keep an eye on the strange actors being hired to say things about the General. Player Character Experience Dean Thic Duc 266xp Mary Kriselle (not present) Larry Michael 366xp Todd Phil 266xp Jennifer Garmanargar 266xp Matt Barron 366xp Mariel Leah 266xp Nathan Kevin 366xp\nSession Map\n","date":"30 March 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-10/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"Castle Greyhawk # The 10th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), Mariel (Leah), Todd (Phil), Jennifer (Garmanargar), new player Nathan (Kevin), and a one-shot character player Starron.\nAs we left the party, they had decided to investigate the adventuring and real estate opportunities available at Castle Greyhawk. Passage to the City of Greyhawk proper was obtained from a convenient ship, at a cost of 10gp each… plus a 90gp fee for everyone except Thic Duc, who weaseled out of the extra fee by not taking the cabin. Michael took the time to acquire some plate mail in Rookroost before leaving.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 10","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 9th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), returning player Mary (Kriselle) and new player Mariel (Leah).\nAs we left the party, they were returning to Saltmarsh on board the Sea Ghost. The goal was to sell the cargo, possibly the ship itself, and to figure out where to take the party next. The obvious next step would be to investigate the lizardfolk village expecting a shipment of weapons, but those lizardfolk had also paid for those weapons and would not be inclined to pay twice. They would also be familiar with the Sea Ghost and might take it amiss that the ship had captured by pirates and their shipment intercepted.\nMeanwhile, in Rookroost, Kriselle had found a merchant willing to consider a bulk purchase of silk, brandy, and other cargo for a reasonable price. With that task settled, she found a tavern near the southern gates (named The Pearly Gates) and set herself up to wait for the party to return. In the meantime she made friends with Leah, who also seemed to be waiting for someone.\nThe party arranged to hire carts to transport the cargo to Rookroost at a cost of 25gp per trip, and with some effort (and an assist from Chesty) managed to talk their way past the various gate guards with the first load. Kriselle spotted them at the gates on the way into Rookroost and introduced Leah to the party, who noticed the exchange of glances and aliases with the man they know as Barron. Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s contact among the merchants turned out to be a man named Astenon, who handed the first half of the cargo off to his own guards, led by Michelin.\nThick Duck made use of new friend and Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild contact Barron to acquire his own set of lockpicks. Barron made use of his new affiliation with the party to fence a number of their goods, including the astrological instruments from the top of the Sage\u0026rsquo;s Tower. (As it turns out, the tower itself had burned while the party was in Saltmarsh, with the cause of the fire unknown and the fate of those staying at the tower also in question. Fafhrd and his friend the Mouser were alive and well, having left the burning tower and returned to their normal lives, but the dwarf and his research into a cure for the plague were both missing).\nOther information gained from the interaction with the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild through Barron, as filtered through Barron\u0026rsquo;s account to the party, included confirmation that the 2000 electrum coins found on board the Sea Ghost were counterfeit.\nMichael accompanied Barron on one of the trips to the guild to offer the spellbook found in the mate\u0026rsquo;s quarters at the manor to them. Being offered 300gp for it, he asked to think about it and withdrew. After suitable prayer and contemplation, he realized that his urge to deliver the Second Mate\u0026rsquo;s spellbook to the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild was a suggestion that Sanbalot had cast on him as the second mate had fled the battle beneath the manor. This suggests (heh) a connection between Sanbalot and the guild, and might also explain Daphne\u0026rsquo;s apparent problem with sleep-murder.\nArrangements were made to sell the weapons onwards to the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild for a small discount on their original price: 800gp.\nThic Duc has been punching walls. A lot.\nRookroost guard captain Malcolm said he was unaware of a recent lizard man incusion into the city\u0026rsquo;s extended territory and would appreciate the party scouting their lair and determining if the lizardfolk presented a threat. If the party does not investigate, he will arrange for others to take up the task, so he would like a solid yes or no from the party within a few days.\nDespite a passionate plea on behalf of honor, justice, friendship, and loyalty, the party chose to leave Shaggy to his fate among the lizard men. A small sop to politeness allowed Fred to invite them to help in a rescue attempt later, should their assistance seem required and the party be available.\nBarron purchased a falcon (Polly) and is training him to attack. Leah purchased a guard dog (Pyro), already trained to attack.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # 100xp for showing up Treasure # The Sea Ghost itself (5000gp with Thieves' Guild discount) The (visible) contents of the ship's cargo hold totaling 15,480 gp Astrological instruments from sage's tower (400gp) Hidden cargo of weapons sold through Thieves' Guild (800gp) Electrum \u0026quot;counterfeit\u0026quot; coins laundered through Thieves' Guild (800gp) Total: 22480gp Identified magic items # 2 Rings of Protection +1 Captain's Sabre +1 Wand of Magic Detection (found on ship's wizard) Going back over the session notes for the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, I calculated the number of shares in the Sea Ghost\u0026rsquo;s capture. Those are in the table below. Each share indicates showing up for a session in this part of the campaign; for NPCs it means contributing meaningfully to combat or otherwise being helpful.\nSince you sold the ship through the Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild, you can get 5000gp for it. The total value of the cargo at the prices paid by the merchant Kriselle located is 15480gp. Combined, your total haul is 22480gp, and after taxes, 12364gp. That\u0026rsquo;s 661xp per share, and 364gp per share. Assuming the gold is divided by shares the same way as the xp:\nThere are a total of 34 shares. Characters who have undertaken vows of poverty still receive shares, they are just expected to contribute those shares to their own organization or, lacking a local branch, charitable causes. For the sake of convenience, assume there is a working local postal system to send the rewards due to characters no longer present, though they may not arrive entirely intact\u0026hellip;\nMy advice as a DM is to consider what your character\u0026rsquo;s long term goals are and talk them over with the rest of the party. Do people want a keep on the borderlands? A tower in a major city with fewer half-orcs? Seed money for a thriving merchant train? A church to call their own? Followers, peasants, a faithful flock? If you know what you want, you might be able to get there, and the first big lump sum might be better invested than spent. If you don\u0026rsquo;t know what you want, you\u0026rsquo;ll never recognize it when you find it.\nRoleplaying moments and quotables # There were a few of these but they have already slipped my mind due to all the math above. Nominations welcome.\nDangling Threads of Fate # Velma claims she was captured by sailors while exploring the basement of the haunted manor Shaggy is still missing. The sailors said he might be with the lizard men. Velma says she heard him once on board ship. ","date":"16 March 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-9/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 9th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), Matt (Barron), returning player Mary (Kriselle) and new player Mariel (Leah).\nAs we left the party, they were returning to Saltmarsh on board the Sea Ghost. The goal was to sell the cargo, possibly the ship itself, and to figure out where to take the party next. The obvious next step would be to investigate the lizardfolk village expecting a shipment of weapons, but those lizardfolk had also paid for those weapons and would not be inclined to pay twice. They would also be familiar with the Sea Ghost and might take it amiss that the ship had captured by pirates and their shipment intercepted.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 9","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 8th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), and new player Matt (character name to be determined).\nAs we left the party, a number of them had fallen victim to a gas cloud released from the chest in the wizard\u0026rsquo;s cabin. Due to player absences, characters without players were declared victims of the cloud and would wake up when their players return.\nDiscussing their options, the party decided to do their best to clear the rest of the ship before the shore party returned. First up was the hold, from which loud banging noises could be heard. Interrogation of the remaining crew revealed that there were additional people on the ship, but not in the hold immediately below where they had been captured.\nThe party decided to use the surviving captured crew as guinea pigs, sending them into the wizard\u0026rsquo;s cabin to try to open the window and let the gas out of the room. They failed, but Thic Duc was able to climb down the back of the ship and open the window from the outside. This eventually resulted in clearing the air from the cabin. Discussions of dangling the captured crew over and into the cargo hold as bait to see if there was anything hungry down there were reluctantly discarded.\nDescending into the hold, the party discovered that layout matched the ship above for the non-cargo spaces. Two rear cabins matched those above, and a large front room appeared to be similar to the crew quarters on deck. The door to the front compartment had been spiked to hold the door closed, however. Loud banging noises were coming from within the front compartment. Later, Daphne sort-of admitted she had spiked the door.\nAs it turned out, the front compartment held a lizard man, who had been trying to get out the door\u0026hellip; with an axe. The party helped, opening the door to let him out, and he did not immediately attack. Instead, noting the armed party members, the dead bodies on the ship, and the party with bloody weapons, the lizard man demanded an explanation via hand gestures and very loud hissing. The language barrier prevented one.\nThe lizard man examined the bodies and then climbed up to the deck, seeing more unfamiliar faces and more dead bodies. He grew visibly more agitated and soon fled belowdecks. The party let him go for the moment, but he returned from the front compartment with three more lizardfolk, all armed. With little time to react, Chesty took up a stance blocking the way out of the hold, and the rest of the party gathered around to fight off the lizard men while the marines took up positions fore and aft to watch for the return of the shore party.\nChesty\u0026rsquo;s valiant stand at the top of the stairs out of the hold served the party well, but he was felled by an axe to the leg in the process. The leg could not be saved, but Michael jumped into his place and kept the lizard men bottled up.\nAfter several minutes of combat the lizard men were all in bad shape. Two were dead, and the remaining two fled out of sight below. The party let them go for the moment, but upon hearing splashes over the side of the ship, they saw the two lizard men swimming away. Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s last javelin made one of them an ex-lizard, but the other escaped \u0026ndash; swimming towards the shore party\u0026rsquo;s rowboat, now visible making its way back to the Sea Ghost.\nIn it were four sailors, a man in a fancy suit with a hook hand and peg leg, and the first mate \u0026ndash; looking a bit worse for wear. The party prepared their ambush, fetching barrels of brandy from the hold, setting up the two whole marines at each end of the boat with crossbows, and generally readying what missile weapons they have available.\nThey allowed the shore party\u0026rsquo;s boat to approach within missile range, and opened file on the first mate, knowing he was a spellcaster. Almost all of the attacks landed, and his body fell into the water, resembling a porcupine. Will Stoutly, expert marine, shot himself in the other foot and is considering a career change to something that doesn\u0026rsquo;t involve pointy objects.\nThe sailors and the captain rowed on, under continued fire from the party, while the captain yelled about pirates stealing his ship. The party concentrated their fire on the captain, striking again and again, but the distance and his armor appeared to weaken the strikes. He continued to yell threats until the boat pulled up near the anchor chain, and began climbing up to the anchor chain to the deck. His surviving crew followed.\nMissile fire from the marines and the party took out two of the sailors before they reached the ship. The third died as soon as he got on deck, and the captain lasted a few rounds cutting into various party members before diving off the deck. No ticking noises were noted in his presence, and he was not eaten by an alligator before climbing into his rowboat.\nHe was, however, summarily knocked unconscious by a barrel thrown from the ship. The party recovered his body, and the prisoner they had found hidden in a secret compartment on board ship was barely prevented from slitting the captain\u0026rsquo;s throat outright. However, while the party searched his body and argued over division of treasure, he died from blood loss.\nSearching the rest of the ship turned up a number of interesting items.\nThe captain\u0026rsquo;s cabin contained papers which included a crude navigation chart showing a rendezvous point on the shore near Saltmarsh. It bore a mark resembling a crudely-drawn lizard with a forked tongue, as did a letter written in crude common requesting \u0026ldquo;more goods\u0026rdquo; according to previously agreed terms. A small chest contained 1,000 ep and a trap, which the party found ahead of time but failed to disarm successfully.\nThe compartment on the right at hold level contained a bearskin rug. Below the rug was a trap door leading into a long, narrow compartment below the hold, filled with crude iron and steel weapons. Another trapdoor was present in the roof of that room, leading into the captain\u0026rsquo;s cabin.\nThe front compartment in the hold was obviously set up for the lizard men to use as quarters, and contained a trapped chest with 1,000 ep. The chest exactly matched the one found in the captain\u0026rsquo;s cabin.\nThe cabins on the hold level each contained a narrow prisoner compartment disguised as a chest. Within those compartments, the party found (Matt\u0026rsquo;s as yet unnamed character), who claimed he had been kidnapped from Rookroost for reasons unknown, and Velma, a member of the Mystery Squad. When Velma was found she was unconscious and clearly much the worst for wear. The party has not yet thoroughly interrogated either of the captives to learn what they may know. However, (Matt\u0026rsquo;s character) did admit that there are rumors among the thieves of Rookroost that their guild has a mint capable of producing electrum coins with the Rookroost markings.\nVelma\nThe party, with the help of the marines, sailed the Sea Ghost back to Saltmarsh and made their plans for the future. They discussed the possibility of offering Chesty the captain\u0026rsquo;s slot on the Sea Ghost (using her cargo to pay the adventuring tax on her value), and what to do with the smuggled cache of weapons. The proposals were to turn it over to the town authorities, sell it to the intended destination (the lizard men, probably?), or sell it elsewhere. Inquiries directed to the Dockmaster revealed that, basically, it\u0026rsquo;s legal to transport and sell weapons so long as the recipient of the weapons isn\u0026rsquo;t at war with Rookroost. Being \u0026ldquo;at war\u0026rdquo; with a kingdom of bandits is sort of a nebulous concept, however, as is a small kingdom being able to stop a ship that trades on the open waters without docking within its borders. This is perhaps best summarized as \u0026ldquo;don\u0026rsquo;t get caught\u0026rdquo;.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience # 100xp for showing up 100xp bonus xp to Matt's character for successfully finding a trap the easy way for the first time EVER 100xp bonus to Michael for heroically \u0026quot;volunteering\u0026quot; for the position of trap-disarmer Monsters # 4 sailors (dead or defeated, 120xp total) 1 Captain \u0026quot;Snakes Eyes\u0026quot; Sigurd (350xp) 1 First Mate Sanbalot (killed in a weakened state; 30xp) 4 lizard men (3 dead, 1 defeated; 200xp) Total XP from monsters: 700xp Treasure # The Sea Ghost itself The (visible) contents of the ship's cargo hold totaling 15,480 gp (needs to be transported and sold in Rookroost to be realized) 2 vials healing potion 1 vial cure disease potion 1 vial neutralize poison potion 1 set of leather armor Various bloodstained sets of sailor's garb Crude silver necklet with forked tongue lizard emblem 2 crude axes, 2 crude short swords (the lizardfolk weapons: 30gp total value) Small magical book from wizard's cabin Scrollcase and scroll from wizard's cabin 1 glowing ring from wizard 1 wand from wizard 1 gold ring with gem (75gp) 2 gold earrings (20gp total) Captain's sabre (glows) 1 blue cloak 1 maroon cloak 1 suit chain mail 1 fancy captain's hat with metal lining 5 total unremarkable daggers 4 small gems (50gp, 75gp, 75gp, 200gp) 2 gold chains with charms (20 gp total) 50 gp misc cash 11 sp misc cash Quite a lot of keys 500 sp (wage chest) Silver bowl, carafe, and goblet from wizard's cabin (400gp total) Silver jug from lizardfolk quarters (100gp) Principles of Navigation (10gp if sold) Legal Distinctions in Letters of Marque (10gp if sold) The contents of the ship's hidden cargo area (crude iron and steel weapons, value unknown): 10 morning stars, 10 broad swords, 9 small shields, 20 javelins, 1 large shield with a lizard emblem 1000 electrum pieces found in lizard men's quarters (500gp value) 1000 electrum pieces found in captain's cabin (500 gp value) Total immediate value of treasure (assuming silver tableware, jewelry, and gems are sold): 2065 gp After Tax value of treasure: 1135 gp Because we had only three players and a large cast of NPCs to help seizing the boat, for experience purposes I am awarding Chesty, Will, and Tom (the three marines) and the useful members of the Scooby Gang (Daphne and Fred) full shares in experience from the battle and seized goods. The party may make whatever arrangements they can get the marines and the gang to accept regarding the division of actual treasure, but the experience value will be shared.\nRoleplaying moments and quotables # \u0026ldquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s dangle the sailors over the hatch leading into the hold like bait and see if they get eaten\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; Dangling Threads of Fate # Velma has been found, but no one has really talked to her yet Shaggy is still missing. The sailors said he might be with the lizard men. \u0026ldquo;Scooby\u0026rdquo; may be a small dragon-like thing with wings. How does that pull the Mystery Machine? One lizard man appears to have escaped after being wounded in conflict with the party What happened to Fred\u0026rsquo;s sword? Why is he using a staff now? How would the lizardfolk obtain thousands of fresh electrum coins from a single source? Normally, coinage is found in mixed lots, with only a loose agreement on the weight and purity of a particular metal coin between realms. Finding a single chest of coins filled with only one type of coin wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be unusual, as they have roughly similar values, but you would expect to find some local coins, some foreign coins from surrounding kingdoms, etc, in any large collection\u0026hellip; There are rumors that the Rookroost Thieves\u0026rsquo; Guild has an unofficial mint capable of coining electrum coins Arrangements will need to be made to sell the cargo, and transport it to the buyer. This will likely require a trip to Rookroost. ","date":"2 March 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-8/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 8th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), and new player Matt (character name to be determined).\nAs we left the party, a number of them had fallen victim to a gas cloud released from the chest in the wizard’s cabin. Due to player absences, characters without players were declared victims of the cloud and would wake up when their players return.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 8","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 7th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), Todd (Phil), and new player Jennifer (Garmanarnar).\nAs we left the party, they were spending the night at the Fish Tail Inn, having sent to Rookroost for reinforcements and rooted out the rest of the enemy forces from the cave system. The town council met them at the inn the next morning, eager to hear their explanation for the death of Ned and Ed, the missing horse and cart, and whatever else had gone wrong. The council also came bearing rewards for the party\u0026rsquo;s work in resolving the mystery of the haunted manor, and requested that the party retrieve the bodies and effects of Ned and Ed, to be returned to their families. (Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s reward will be provided when she returns from Rookroost, where she has been seeking a bulk buyer for silk and brandy).\nThe party spent the rest of that day attempting to make plans and allowing Michael to commune with his deity. Michael communing was more successful than the making of plans.\nThe next day, Phil noticed his friend Garmanarnar eating fish stew and grumbling about it. He promptly recruited her for the assault on the pirate ship. Thus augmented, the party left Thic Duc to continue his self-study and returned to the manor, intending to spend the night keeping watch for signals from the ship. The bodies of Ned and Ed, along with the enemy crew, were hauled up to the surface by the road. Ned and Ed (only) were wrapped in silk as a burial shroud, to await transport back to their families.\nPhil, Michael, and Garmanarnar stayed overnight at the manor to watch for the ship. The night passed mostly without incident, though around 3am they were awakened by strange scuffling and skittering noises. These were investigated, and determined to be giant ants retrieving the body of the weasel. The party felt that the better part of valor was to leave them to their prize.\nIn town, Thic Duc greeted the dawn, feeling newly enlightened. He was immediately inspired to act on something that had been nagging him during the previous day spent meditating: recruiting a skinner to part the giant weasel\u0026rsquo;s valuable pelt from the beast. He trudged off towards the manor, muttering about how they say it\u0026rsquo;s safe\u0026hellip;\nShortly after that, the reinforcements from Rookroost arrived\u0026hellip; in the form of Daphne, driving her Mystery Machine, with Fred in the back. Living and breathing. Also in the cart were Chesty the Marine Sargeant and his two subordinates Will and Tom Stoutly, who introduced themselves with impressive military bravado if somewhat informally. Fred explained that he had been \u0026ldquo;knocked unconscious\u0026rdquo; and woke up with the Dunwitch dwarf looking at him and conducting some sort of ceremony.\nThe rest of the day was spent making plans and ferrying men and ships back and forth between town and manor. The plan turned out to be: signal the ship that everything was normal, and send a rented fishing boat to approach the ship by stealth towards the seaward side, while the ship\u0026rsquo;s landing party presumably investigated matters on shore. This would split the ship\u0026rsquo;s forces and allow them to be defeated in detail.\nMichael was sufficiently disconcerted by Fred\u0026rsquo;s return from the dead to use a detect evil spell on the reinforcements. (Chesty and Fred were clean; Daphne and the Stoutlies had an aura of minor, selfish-type evil).\nOn the trip back to the manor with the rented fishing boat, the party spotted a rowboat pulled up along the shore at a seemingly random point. They returned to investigate it, and found evidence of a campsite for a single person. They surmised that the first mate, Sanbalot, spent the night there after escaping the party at the manor. Seeking to prevent further mischief they took his boat back to the manor, where they argued at length about what to do with it. (Garmanarnar settled the argument by punching a hole in the boat, rendering it significantly less seaworthy if not completely useless).\nMichael took the opportunity to perform a burial ceremony for Ned and Ed. Fred assisted.\nFinally, the plan was complete. The party bought additional supplies in town (mostly grappling hooks and spikes), noticing that a new weapons dealer had set up shop in the market, and returned to wait for dark and the ship\u0026rsquo;s signal\u0026hellip;\n\u0026hellip; which arrived around 10pm, after full dark. The signaling system they extracted from Larry the Pirate proved correct, and the party rushed from the signal room to their boat in the cove and set off immediately, with the marines handling the rowing and navigation. Before long they were a ways out to sea, with the two half-orcs watching the Sea Ghost via their infravision. They witnessed a boat being lowered from the side. The party chose to approach the mothership slowly and carefully, from the seaward side (just barely), and managed to come up alongside without being spotted.\nThic Duc climbed the side of the ship like a castle wall, and hooked a grapple on the rail for the rest of the party to use before slipping over the rail and into the shadows. The rest of the party followed rapidly, leaving Tom Stoutly the marine in the boat. Daphne was also supposed to stay in the boat \u0026ndash; but when the party looked down to check on her, she had vanished!\nIt being too late to address the missing Daphne, the rest of the party begin a stealthy approach to positions where they could attack the enemy crew on deck by surprise. The two marines on board, Chesty and Will, took aim with their crossbows. Thic Duc held his javelins at the ready. They attacked simultaneously, surprising the crew of the Sea Ghost. Chesty\u0026rsquo;s shot hit the sailor manning the tiller, knocking him back. Will, however, tripped as he was prepared to fire, and his crossbow bolt impaled his own foot, pinning it to the deck. The other attacks missed.\nRather than reload, Chesty swung into action, charging the sailor on the aft deck and beheading him with a single blow! The rest of the party gathered around the remaining sailor, who begged and pleaded for his life. His pleas fell on half-orc ears, however; Garmanarnar squished his chest with her huge warhammer.\nThe screaming had alerted the crew, however. Quick thinking from Chesty secured the deck hatch, locking the crew in the hold below for the moment. Thic Duc took a quick peak into the forward chamber on the ship, which turned out to be the crew quarters (both empty and thoroughly filthy), then stood guard over the deck hatch and poked at those trying to open the hatch with his spear.\nTowards the rear of the ship, however, one of the officers was demanding to know what the hell was going on. The party tried to lure them outside, which took a lengthy exchange and a threat of plague, but finally succeeded. The man who emerged from his cabin \u0026ndash; barefoot and in robes \u0026ndash; quickly observed the situation.\nThe ambush the party planned did not go well. Michael tripped and fell flat on his face, nearly kissing the newcomer\u0026rsquo;s feet, who immediately begin casting. The sleep spell affected everyone close to the wizard, which was most of the party. Only Thic Duc, who was hiding behind the mast, Chesty, who was above and behind the wizard and hadn\u0026rsquo;t been seen, and Fred, who was at the back of the group. Chesty attacked from above, giving the wizard a nasty cut but not taking him out of the fight. The wizard responded with a magic missile that stagged him backwards. It was Thic Duc, stepping out from behind the mask to hurl a javelin, who ended the fight by impaling the wizard dead center with the thrown spear.\nWith the fight mostly over, Garmanarnar moved to assist Will Stoutly with his crossbow-bolt-in-foot problem. She ripped the bolt out of the deck (and his foot) with a single quick pull, and Will screamed again as he fell unconscious. Swiftly, however, Fred moved to his aid, laying his hands on the wound and saying \u0026ldquo;It was only a trick, Will.\u0026rdquo; The wound healed.\nBack at the deck hatch, the sailors were frantically trying to cut the knots holding the hatch closed. Thic Duc moved back to stand guard again, watching as four sailors frantically sought to escape the hold. Suddenly, a shape loomed out of the shadows and slit the throat of one of the sailors! The three remaining redoubled their efforts, and Thic Duc negotiated their surrender, then threw open the hatch to let them out. Two escaped, the other having vanished.\nThic Duc was about ready to close the hatch again when Daphne stolled into the light in the hold below and asked him to hold the door for her. She was covered in blood and holding a knife.\nWith the sailors subdued on the top deck (though ominous banging noises from below could be heard), the party explored further. They found the galley, galley stores, and two compartments of ship stores. The second door to the rear of the ship was locked, so they were left to explore the room from which the wizard had emerged. Garmanarnar went first, and tried to open the wizard\u0026rsquo;s chest, banging and shaking it. This released a poison gas cloud that filled the room. She failed her save and fell into an unnatural slumber.\nDetermined to rescue her, Michael prepared to enter the room. He took a deep breath just outside the door, rushed inside\u0026hellip; and collapsed, having taken a lungful of gas.\nThic Duc was next, trying to pull his friends out, but he demonstrated forethought and tied a rope around his waist before making the attempt. On his first trip, he was able to drag Garmanarnar out of the room, but on his second trip he collapsed. Chesty hauled him out by the rope, then took out a grappling hook and went fishing for clerics. For now, the gas keeps the room off limits.\nSo far there is no sign of the ship\u0026rsquo;s boat returning, but the noises from below continue. Something is going on down there. And that is where we leave the party for today\u0026hellip;\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # 100xp for showing up 100xp bonus xp each for various witty remarks that I can\u0026rsquo;t recall 500xp for Thic Duc, Phil, and Michael (xp value of quest reward) 2 dead sailors (60xp total) 1 dead magic-user (124xp) 500gp each to Thic Duc, Phil, and Michael for resolving the matter of the haunted manor 500gp Kriselle when she returns for helping to resolve the matter of the haunted manor (The above rewards are not taxed) Subtract one bolt of silk used as a pair of burial shrouds Roleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # What the hell is up with murder-Daphne? Why can Fred heal people by saying it was a trick? Why is Fred even alive? Where is the rest of the gang? ","date":"16 February 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-7/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 7th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), Todd (Phil), and new player Jennifer (Garmanarnar).\nAs we left the party, they were spending the night at the Fish Tail Inn, having sent to Rookroost for reinforcements and rooted out the rest of the enemy forces from the cave system. The town council met them at the inn the next morning, eager to hear their explanation for the death of Ned and Ed, the missing horse and cart, and whatever else had gone wrong. The council also came bearing rewards for the party’s work in resolving the mystery of the haunted manor, and requested that the party retrieve the bodies and effects of Ned and Ed, to be returned to their families. (Kriselle’s reward will be provided when she returns from Rookroost, where she has been seeking a bulk buyer for silk and brandy).\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 7","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nS1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 6th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).\nAs we left the party, they were preparing to spend the night in the basement, with Ned and Ed trading off watching for signals from the ship, and the secret door leading to the unexplored cave system blocked off by a bed. Just as Ned and Ed were complaining that they didn\u0026rsquo;t want to be left alone in the house until the whole place was explored and declared safe, the party noticed someone \u0026ndash; or something \u0026ndash; trying to open the secret door from the other side. Thanks to the bed barricade, the attempts to open the door failed. The party promptly sat on the bed in front of the cracked door and discussed their plans to ambush the presumed attackers in a normal tone of voice.\nBefore long the attempts to open the secret door stopped, and the party heard no further noise. This occasioned further discussion and movement of furniture, arranging the door so it could be opened partway (enough for a monk without armor) but would be blocked by beds braced all the way to the far wall if anyone tried to open it further. After eventually noticing that the noises had stopped, they rearranged things to allow the door to be easily closed if needed and proceeded to explore the area beyond the secret door. Deciding that two additional fighters would not be helpful for some reason, and discarding the advice of hundreds of fairy tales and legends told to them over and over during their varied childhoods to never split the party, they split the party and left Ned and Ed alone together to watch the secret entrance to the cave system.\nBeyond the secret door was a small chamber, 10x20, leading to a staircase heading down. At the bottom of the stairs, the walls shifted from obviously manmade to mostly a natural cave system, though occasionally improved with rough steps, handrails, and torches mounted to the walls. (OSHA has clearly inspected these facilities). The cave system diverged, and the party took the left fork first. it lead to a large, roundish room with makeshift shelves near the walls. The party halted near the entrance to the larger room, and with the cleric in the lead, the party proceeded into the room.\nTheir scouting was not sufficient to notice the green slime colony living on the ceiling. As Michael passed beneath the slime, it dropped upon him from above, fulfilling the dreams of every little kid who ever watched Nikolodeon. Unlikely children\u0026rsquo;s television, however, this green slime consumes both flesh and metal\u0026hellip; eating away at his armor, which was hastily removed, and beginning to consume his flesh. However, thanks to quick thinking from Thic Duc, the party was able to open a cask of brandy and dunk the contaminated armor in it. (Luckily, the slime missed as he ran back under it). A second cask of brandy provided a rinse. This was sufficient to clean off the slime, but may the gods help whoever drinks the brandy, and Michael will smell like a drunkard for the foreseeable future.\nContinuing to explore, the party found another storage cavern, also empty, and another staircase leading down. This one ended in a tiny beach area, open to the sea, with a low ceiling and signs of use as an anchorage. (Among other things, a large rock with a metal ring, suitable for attaching an anchor chain or rope). To the right of the entrance, a ladder leads up to a trapdoor in the roof of the room. Through the trapdoor is another empty storage room, leading back to the fork in the road that was previously not taken. The party promptly promptly blocked the trapdoor with another brandy cask on top and continued their explorations.\nA few minutes later, however, a loud crash from above announced the presence of others within the dungeon. The party promptly began retracing their steps, only to encounter a pair of dog-headed humanoids (chain mail and broadswords), followed by a pack of men in sailor clothing (effectively leather armor, short swords), led by what appeared to be an officer. Upon seeing the party, the sailors and dog-headed humanoids charged, yelling and howling respectively. The party\u0026rsquo;s morale broke, and most fled, with only Michael standing firm against the charging pack at first.\nThe mob of sailors clustered around Michael, who killed several before a sailor\u0026rsquo;s short sword slammed through the spot in his armor weakened by the slime and into his gut. Michael collapsed\u0026hellip;\nThe dog-headed warriors charged past Michael in pursuit of Thic Duc and Phil.\nPhil was the one who gathered his courage and stopped to face them, making his stand halfway between the storage room and the beach area. Wielding only his staff, with nothing but robes to protect his tender flesh, he swung his staff as hard as he could at the snarling dog-faced creature approaching him\u0026hellip; and smacked the creature across the face with in a solid hit. The creature stumbled backwards, whining, shaking its head, and spun around to charge back up the stairs!\nBehind the creature was a sailor, however\u0026hellip;\nThe other dog-faced creature continued chasing Thic Duc all the way down to the water, but stopped at the edge, apparently unable or unwilling to risk swimming in heavy metal armor. Thic Duc climbed the cliff wall to escape.\nBack in the storage room, the enemy leader screamed \u0026ldquo;Take them alive, you fools!\u0026rdquo; and cast a spell that flooded the cavern and hallway with a dazzling rainbow lightshow. So dazzling, in fact, that it left both Phil and the sailor attacking him dazed. Thic Duc was out of range, and Michael was already semiconscious, and he woke to find the enemy leader bandaging his wounds. Wisely, he took no immediate action to attract further attention\u0026hellip;\nThe dog-headed creature growled and snarled as the dazzling lights hit it, but continued on towards the leader. One of the sailors clustered around Michael was standing in its way, and the creature swung at the sailor with its broadsword, killing the sailor with a single blow!\nThe enemy leader looked up in a panic as he realized the dog-creature had turned on him. He rapidly began casting another spell, while the creature attacked! Even as a spray of blood from the wound hit the wall, the enemy leader disappeared from plain sight! The dog-faced creature attacking him swung wildly for a few minutes, then howled loudly and sheathed his sword. Michael used the time to cast healing spells on himself, and walked \u0026ndash; alone \u0026ndash; further back towards the house, perhaps thinking to follow the dog-creatures or locate the missing enemy leader.\nRegaining consciousness at the same time, Phil resumed his frantic defense against the sailor\u0026rsquo;s attack, and eventually prevailed. The dog-creature chasing Thic Duc gave up and returned to its fellow. All the sailors now being dead, the two dog-faced creatures consulted with each other in a strange language, then walked off together. They left the party alone.\nStill weak from blood loss despite the healing spells, Michael hears a sudden sound behind him and spins around, to see the enemy leader appearing from out of thin air and already casting a spell! The spell goes off, and the world fades away for a few minutes. When he comes to again, Michael is still standing, but the enemy leader is gone, and he has no memory of where or how. Despirited, he returns to tend to Phil\u0026rsquo;s wounds.\nMeanwhile, Thic Duc reached the top of the cliff and went back into the house, making his way down to a vantage point from which he could observe the secret door. He spotted the bloody corpses of Ned and Ed, who evidently died when they met the sailors. After a minute or two, Thic Duc saw the two dog-creatures emerge, but no sign of the enemy leader. Some time after they left, he ventured through the trapdoor and met the Michael and Phil making their slow and injured way up.\nAfter nervously waiting for the missing leader to possibly make his presence felt, the party returned upstairs to investigate the discrepancy between the size of the basement and the size of the first and second floor. Phil and Michael settled down to study spells for an hour, while Thic Duc paced the skeleton room. After about an hour of searching, he finally located the secret door. The party lined up for another SWAT-type entry\u0026hellip;\n\u0026hellip; and opened the door to discover a dusty mess of junk, piled high enough to partially block the door, and make entering the room silently or swiftly an impossible proposition. Nonetheless, they persisted; silently removing the bits and pieces of stuff in the doorway until they could see inside the room.\nThe results were disappointing. A few intact copper pots of some kind, many more \u0026ndash; both glass and clay \u0026ndash; broken on the floor. Sticking their heads further into the room, with Michael in the lead, they saw an L-shaped desk against the far wall, and a chair with the back to the party, and just a hint of cloth robes in the chair\u0026hellip;\nThic Duc stealthily approached. The figure did not respond. Thic Duc used his spear to push the book that was open on the desk out of the figure\u0026rsquo;s view. The figure did not respond. Thic Duc used his spear to poke the figure directly, still from behind. The figure still did not respond. So Thic Duc turned the chair around to face the party, and it turns out the figure was an ordinary human skeleton still dressed in ancient (and decaying) robes\u0026hellip; and there was a sudden loud click as the chair turned around.\nWithout hesitation, displaying his superior training and reflexes, Thic Duc dropped instantly to the floor and lay flat, safe from any sort of possible trap that his action could have unleashed. Instead, he noticed an item that had fallen to the floor when he moved the body: a shiny stone, faintly sparkling in the party\u0026rsquo;s lanternlight. Without hesitation, he claimed the stone, then stood back up to examine the situation from a more normal perspective.\nThe desk contained various glass containers relevant to alchemy and chemistry, along with the book the skeleton had been reading, and a scattering of rather ordinary objects that appeared to have been transformed into gold. The containers were either smashed or empty, containing nothing visible. The book is titled \u0026ldquo;Ye Secret of Ye Olde Philospher\u0026rsquo;s Stone\u0026rdquo; and is a very advanced book of alchemy describing the process for creating a philosopher\u0026rsquo;s stone and using it to transform ordinary items (starting with lead) into gold. The rest of the items on the table are those the alchemist had presumably successfully transformed: a human skull, a pipe, a wrench, a candlestick, a chef\u0026rsquo;s cooking knife, and a noose.\nOne of the characters sought to investigate the copper pots, shining a light into the opening to see inside. Though the pot appeared empty at first glance, a massive burst of flame erupted from the pot when the lantern was brought close by. Clearly, the pots once contained oil. The 2 remaining pots, with lids intact, still contain some form of liquid.\nAfter discussing the possible implications of their discovery, the party set up camp in the only secure area of the house they could find: the alchemist\u0026rsquo;s lab, complete with decaying skeleton, broken glass sharp hazards with god only knows what mysterious substances on their edges, not to mention the possibility of invisible spellcasters or undiscovered traps. They set a watch, and the first two watches passed without incident.\nDuring the third watch, the party awoke to scratching noises coming from the door. They arranged themselves for an ambush, then carefully opened the door. Shadows cast from their lantern showed huge rats lurking outside! Someone immediately grabbed one of the copper pots of oil and dumped it all over the floor outside the room, preparing to burn the rats alive\u0026hellip;\n\u0026hellip; when a closer look revealed they were normal sized rats casting giant rat shadows, as they skittered away from the spreading puddle of oil.\nDeciding the alchemist\u0026rsquo;s study was no longer a desirable piece of real estate, and that it was practically morning anyway, the party made their way across the oil-slick floor. Thic Duc slipped on the oil, falling and soaking his robes in the flammable liquid. Since he was not holding the lantern, the party did not die in an oil-fueled conflagaration\u0026hellip; this time.\nThe party returned to Saltmarsh. They stopped by the blacksmith, seeking to open some of the locked chests they had previously found, and succeeded with the box found in the mate\u0026rsquo;s room. Inquiries with the local herbalist revealed that she would identify potions for 50gp (per type) or buy unidentified potions for 10gp each. They have not yet spoken to the town council to retrieve their reward for discovering the cause of the \u0026ldquo;haunting\u0026rdquo; and, presumably, stopping it.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip; Letter from Rookroost\nTo the aptly named Band of Misfits, Congratulations on your discovery of such a nefarious plot! Persuant to item #1 on my list of guidelines, you will be well rewarded for your civic engagement. I am organizing a squad of elite marines to aid your efforts to capture the ship of pirates! Await them before you leave the shore. General Perneti PS: Gosh this stuff works. All the do-gooder types are actually helping! Wait, stop writing that, I'm just talking to myself! Hey, I said- Experience and Treasure # 100xp for showing up 100xp for standing alone against a massed charge (Michael) 100xp for escaping (Thic Duc) 100xp for bravely smacking the dog-headed attacker with a rolled up newspaper staff (Phil) 5 dead sailors (30xp each, 150xp total) 1 green slime colony (30xp) 1 dog-headed creature defeated (turned on the First Mate after being struck solidly on the nose; 50xp partial) The first mate escaped Gold skull (750 gp) Gold clues (150 gp each, 750gp total) 1 large copper pot of (presumably) oil Ye Secret of Ye Olde Philospher\u0026rsquo;s Stone 3 bolts of cloth (300gp total; left at the house for lack of transport) 5 casks of brandy (150gp total; left at the house for lack of transport) 2 casks of open, contaminated brandy (worthless to honest characters) 2 symbols of a popular patron diety of sailors (60 gp) 2 large gold earrings (50gp total) Gold bracelet (75gp) 11pp, 50gp, 15sp (105gp total) 3 pale yellow potions 1 light blue potion 1 deep green potion Assuming the party turns in the gold skull, clues, cash, and pirate jewelry for their estimated value, the xp value is 1850, and the after-tax value is 1018gp (Saltmarsh adventurer\u0026rsquo;s tax 25%, and Adventure Capitalists fee is 20%). There remains substantial outstanding treasure to handle in some fashion: the contents of the stolen cart if it can be recovered, the value of various books and potions should the party decide to sell them, and whatever reward the council deems it fit to provide).\nRoleplaying moments and quotables # Dangling Threads of Fate # Why did the dog-heads attack their allies and then flee? What type of creature are they? Now both Michael and Thic Duc smell like drunkards. Is fate trying to send a message? Is Phil the only party member without a drinking problem? Will the town reward the party for their efforts in unhaunting the manor? Where is Daphne now? Does she still have Fred's body? What exactly happened between the first mate and Michael when Michael failed his save versus spells? What exactly is the stone that Thic Duc found? Is it the philosopher's stone? The weasel, presumably, still swings... Dartagnan gets 100xp for guest-DMing\nMap of the cave system\n","date":"2 February 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-6/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nS1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 6th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).\nAs we left the party, they were preparing to spend the night in the basement, with Ned and Ed trading off watching for signals from the ship, and the secret door leading to the unexplored cave system blocked off by a bed. Just as Ned and Ed were complaining that they didn’t want to be left alone in the house until the whole place was explored and declared safe, the party noticed someone – or something – trying to open the secret door from the other side. Thanks to the bed barricade, the attempts to open the door failed. The party promptly sat on the bed in front of the cracked door and discussed their plans to ambush the presumed attackers in a normal tone of voice.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 6","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Previous Next If you whisper the name of Gygax with reverence, it\u0026rsquo;s time to open the closet, dust off the rule books, and convince the cat to give you back that icosahedron it\u0026rsquo;s been chasing all over the house for years. (Good luck with that last one).\nWe are a group of old-school tabletop roleplayers in the Austin area, currently playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1st Edition.\n","date":"29 January 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"Old School Gamers","summary":" Previous Next If you whisper the name of Gygax with reverence, it’s time to open the closet, dust off the rule books, and convince the cat to give you back that icosahedron it’s been chasing all over the house for years. (Good luck with that last one).\n","title":"Old School Gamers","type":"page"},{"content":" S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 5th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).\nAs we left the party, they were preparing to camp in the forest overnight, but they quickly thought better of that idea and chose to return to town instead. They set off down the road, in the dark of night, with naught but a bullseye lantern for light\u0026hellip; and were promptly ambushed by bandits.\nAs it turned out, ex-sailors don\u0026rsquo;t make good bandits and don\u0026rsquo;t use shortbows with proficiency. The party quickly closed the distance, despite scattered arrows landing in the road. The bandit leader took a hit from Michael\u0026rsquo;s hammer and a poke from Thic Duc\u0026rsquo;s spear in the first round, and was promptly skewered on the spear in the second round. With the bandit leader wounded and bleeding, the party demanded their surrender. After brief negotiations, the rest of the bandits surrendered in return for a small amount of coin and the promise to head inland and try their luck as actors on the world stage, or something like that.\nTheir leader (Larry the Pirate) agreed, at spearpoint, to assist the party in return for being set free without punishment. Thic Duc promised to release him if the council would not honor the deal, and in return, they got his story: the ship Sea Ghost was once an honorable vessel plying the waters of the Nyr Dyv, but the captain could never quite make ends mean on his trading ventures. As the financial pressure mounted, he replaced good crew with bad, and bad crew with worse, and began to seek out smuggling opportunities. Saltmarsh manor was one such: the captain put aside his first mate and those of his crew with some honesty left in their hearts, asking them to set up a hidden landing and base within the manor. From there, goods could be brought to land without the Saltmarsh docking fees or taxes and sent on to Rookroost.\nAccording to Larry the Pirate, it\u0026rsquo;s possible those goods are no longer being merely smuggled, but may in fact be pirate loot. Those of the crew set ashore at Saltmarsh were the last of those to object to outright piracy. Remaining on the Sea Ghost are the crew of somewhere between one and three dozen sailors (Larry\u0026rsquo;s skill is sailing, not math). Possibly on the Sea Ghost or possibly lurking nearby are the actual unloading crew, some sort of humanoids with dog heads. One of the party identified them as an \u0026ldquo;intermediate form of werewolf\u0026rdquo; based on Larry\u0026rsquo;s description and suggested they give more credence to the rumors of The General baking children into pies with his crew of werewolves.\nLarry the Pirate also explained the lantern signaling system, as written out on the parchment found in the First Mate\u0026rsquo;s quarters.\nThe party arrived at Saltmarsh near midnight, and went straight to the local herbalist and healer\u0026rsquo;s shop. Their minor wounds were tended to, and a gentle interrogation discovered that Daphne had been seen earlier that evening driving the Mystery Machine through Saltmarsh at high speed. Witnesses were not clear where she was headed, though \u0026ldquo;out of town\u0026rdquo; seemed to be the consensus. There may have been someone in the back of the cart, but if so, they could not be identified with any certainty.\nAfter staying overnight in town without incident, an impromptu meeting of the Saltmarsh council was convened. Mayor Lenny, Dockmaster Holofax, and Militia Captain Miriam met at the lighthouse to discuss the smuggling ring revelations. Despite much concern among the party, no one immediately revealed themselves to be a traitor working with the pirates. That said, Rookroost is one of the bandit kingdoms, so it\u0026rsquo;s entirely possible the rulers of Rookroost are in bed with the pirates. (Probably not literally, but you never know with pirates and politicians).\nThe council agreed to send a message to Rookroost asking for reinforcements to capture the Sea Ghost and end the smuggling. One of the party is to draft a letter with the evidence and requested time of arrival.\nThe party (and their new guide Larry the Pirate) then returned to the manor, where they heard a terrible animalistic screeching from quite a distance away. Closer investigation revealed that the giant weasel had been caught in their trap, and was still there, hanging from the ceiling like a pinata\u0026hellip; that is, like a frenzied, writhing, furious pinata that managed to disarm two attackers despite being suspended helplessly above the floor, unable to attack, before finally being beaten unconscious in a 30-minute travesty of honorable combat. (It\u0026rsquo;s probably a good thing we have no rangers in the party). The weasel corpse still hangs from the trap, its presumably valuable pelt still attached.\nThe party then descended into the basement, where Larry the Pirate demonstrated (without opening) the mechanism the would reveal the secret door into the cave system used to unload the Sea Ghost. Michael cast Detect Evil, and reported 4-5 small evils and one medium evil somewhere in the cave system. No venti evils were detected. Finally, the party retrieved the brandy from their aborted forest camp, and set Ned and Ed up with a space on the 2nd floor of the manor to watch for signals.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip; Letter to Rookroost on behalf of the Saltmarsh Council\nTo whom it may concern, In short, a smuggling operation has been discovered on the outskirts of Saltmarsh. Steps have already been taken to disrupt the future of the operation in that area, but assistance is requested to capture the leaders and prevent the criminals from moving their operation to a different location. After receiving a tip from Tom of Seven Sevens in Dunwitch, we went to investigate a disturbance at a manor near Saltmarsh. During the harrowing travails, it was discovered that the disturbance was of a more human origin than supernatural. Later, we were set upon by the land based guards of the operation. After overcoming them, we interrogated the survivor and discovered the extent and history of the criminal activity. As this criminal enterprise fails to pay the appropriate fees, it is stealing money from both Saltmarsh and The General. We request aid in the form of a troop of soldiers to capture the captain of the enterprise when he next comes to Saltmarsh. Our best estimate predicts his return on the nights surrounding the next new moon, starting in three days from the date of this letter. Regards, The Band of Misfits In cooperation with: Mayor Lenny Dockmaster Holofax Guard Captain Miriam Experience and Treasure # 100xp for showing up 100xp for successfully turning Larry the Pirate into a double-agent 5 ex-sailor bandits defeated (4 minions, 120xp, and a leader, 120xp) 1 giant weasel pinata (vengeance is ours! and worth 210 xp) 4 flying bloodsucking bat things (160 xp) Attic ring (magical, effect unknown) 1 weasel pelt (value unknown but assumed high; not yet removed from weasel) First Mate\u0026rsquo;s spellbook Locked box from under loose stone in First Mate\u0026rsquo;s quarters Roleplaying moments and quotables # Larry the Pirate: \u0026ldquo;This is how banditry works. We promise not to kill you, and in return we take all your stuff.\u0026rdquo; This Duc the Monk after impaling Larry the Pirate on his spear: \u0026ldquo;See, this is how banditry works\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; (100 xp for Thic Duc) Thic Duc (trying to deal with a poison needle trap): \u0026ldquo;I pour rum on my thumb and suck on it!\u0026rdquo; Everyone else: \u0026ldquo;What?\u0026rdquo; Thic Duc: \u0026ldquo;It works for snake venom!\u0026rdquo; Phil threatens Larry the Pirate: \u0026ldquo;If you so much as twitch in a way I don\u0026rsquo;t like, I\u0026rsquo;ll shock you!\u0026rdquo; Larry the Pirate: \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s just your hand. Are you really a wizard?\u0026rdquo; (100 xp for Phil) Larry the Pirate: \u0026ldquo;Hey, the first mate is a real wizard. I\u0026rsquo;ve seen him cast spells. That guy with you is just a guy in a robe.\u0026rdquo; Michael: \u0026ldquo;If you surrender and consider helping us, I\u0026rsquo;ll heal you.\u0026rdquo; (100xp for healing the enemy) Random pirate: \u0026ldquo;I hate this job!\u0026rdquo; Larry the Pirate: \u0026ldquo;You can lock me in the room with that pretty lass you\u0026rsquo;ve had guarding me all day\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; The Mage\u0026rsquo;s Lament, aka Big Blue Dress, or Why a man of my stature should have to wear a dress Dean (OOC): \u0026ldquo;You know, the description of the module says we should be able to finish it in about 4 hours\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; Larry the Pirate has registered a formal protest of his innocence on the charge of piracy and requested a new nom-de-plume Dangling Threads of Fate # Someone needs to write a letter to Rookroost requesting guards to enforce the laws against smuggling Daphne was seen driving the cart through Saltmarsh at high speed. It\u0026rsquo;s unclear if anyone else was in it. What happened to the rest of the previous investigators? Kriselle believes she has identified Shaggy as a wolf Any characters failing the save vs spells upon entering the house have a -1 on future saves Any characters failing the save vs spells upon going down the staircase have -1 on future saves (cumulative) No additional sheep were harmed producing sheepskin on which to record maps during this adventure.\n","date":"19 January 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-5/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The 5th full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).\nAs we left the party, they were preparing to camp in the forest overnight, but they quickly thought better of that idea and chose to return to town instead. They set off down the road, in the dark of night, with naught but a bullseye lantern for light… and were promptly ambushed by bandits.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 5","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nS1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The fourth full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).\nAs we left the party, Daphne had just been rescued, and most of the party was still recovering from the wounds suffered at the teeth of the giant weasel. Thic Duc, as the only hale and whole member of the party, drove the Mystery Machine back to Saltmarsh, where the local healer tended wounds and restored vigor.\nSince it was getting dark anyway, the party decided to stay the night, putting Daphne (whose purse had been taken, along with most of her clothes) up in a room of her own. The drunken trapper also enjoyed the party\u0026rsquo;s hospitality for the night.\nAsking Daphne about herself lead to some confusing answers. She claims to be from a place called \u0026ldquo;Earth\u0026rdquo; (not Oerth), where \u0026ldquo;scientists\u0026rdquo; use \u0026ldquo;technology\u0026rdquo; (which is something like a wheel, but also something like magic) to create things that work like magic, but Daphne insists they are not magic and that magic is all tricks and fakery. She went to some place called \u0026ldquo;college\u0026rdquo; and spent her \u0026ldquo;weekends\u0026rdquo; investigating ghosts and haunted houses. Somehow these ghosts and haunted houses never actually killed her or her friends, even though none of them had really noticeable combat skills. She named her friends as Fred, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby (the wolf?).\nShe acquired the Mystery Machine cart from a wizard in Rookroost who said it would be \u0026ldquo;perfect for her\u0026rdquo; and doesn\u0026rsquo;t remember how she got to Oerth, if this even is Oerth (she\u0026rsquo;s skeptical, but admits that if this is a renaissance faire it\u0026rsquo;s the biggest one she\u0026rsquo;s ever heard of). She does remember that her squad of amateur investigators went to sleep while investigating a place called \u0026ldquo;stonehenge\u0026rdquo; on \u0026ldquo;Earth\u0026rdquo;, and woke up on \u0026ldquo;Oerth\u0026rdquo;.\nMore pertinent to the current quest, she mentioned the lights and sounds at the manor did have a pattern to them. Specifically, there were only large, frightening noises when someone was near the house or investigating it. Most of the time, the lights and sounds were small and relatively quiet. Those smaller lights and sounds did not always appear, but were clustered near the times of the full moon and usually coincided with the tides. They always appeared at night, at least before the party began investigating the house during the daytime.\nThe party went to bed to puzzle those mysteries over in their minds, but were woken after a few hours by the faint sounds of footsteps from Daphne\u0026rsquo;s room. They opened the door, only to find her walking back and forth, back and forth, clutching a table knife from dinner above her head and making stabbing motions. When touched, she woke up, and had no idea what she was doing. She did remember dreaming of something strange\u0026hellip; eyes, and a voice, but not what it was saying. The party was disturbed, but not sufficiently disturbed to do anything more than go back to bed and make sure that Daphne was not armed.\nIn the morning, the party departed from the Saltmarsh taven. As they left town, one of the guards pulled them aside to offer a warning \u0026ndash; someone in town, possibly connected to the council, had been asking about which rooms they were staying in, and whether there was an external window to those rooms\u0026hellip;\nBack at the manor, the party decided to leave a trap for the giant weasel in hopes of guarding their backs while exploring down below. They relied on the drunken trapper\u0026rsquo;s rope use skills, with some help from Thic Duc to check his work. The trapper kept muttering about how much a weasel pelt from a weasel that size would be worth (\u0026ldquo;I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have to eat fish stew for YEARS!\u0026rdquo;). The trap was set on the second floor, in the passage leading to the kitchen staircase, near where Daphne\u0026rsquo;s clothes were found. Daphne gratefully redressed herself in the process.\nThus safe from the giant weasel, the party tossed a torch down the stairs in the scullery. It revealed little more than shadowy lumps on the walls and floor of the room, but there was no movement. The party, with much trepidation, chose to begin their descent into the basement, and promptly fled the house in terror as horrifying, terrible screams of torment rose up from below. Kriselle stood firm, her shining example of courage in the face of adversity shaming the rest of the party into returning after a few minutes to recover.\nBecause the party had tossed the torch onto the stone floor rather than the wooden staircase, the manor did not burn down in the meantime.\nThe room below contained a few casks of brandy, wine racks all along the walls, two storage containers filled with junk, the corpse of Daphne\u0026rsquo;s friend Fred, and 6 rot grubs infesting his corpse. While Daphne screamed in terror and grief, the party defeated the rot grubs (with the help of some last-minute self-surgery by Thic Duc), carefully cataloged Fred\u0026rsquo;s possessions (noting that his purse had been cut), trying on his armor, and leaving his naked, grub-infested corpse to rot. After going off on odd tangents related to the rot grubs, Kriselle chose not to take the time to fit the armor to her much smaller form. Instead, the party carried Fred\u0026rsquo;s gear to the Mystery Machine, and left it there. They returned to the basement, where Fred\u0026rsquo;s maybe-a-week-old corpse continued to rot. Daphne sobbed quietly in the background.\nThe party searched the room for secret doors, traps, and tracks. They found tracks leading to a blank wall, and eventually (after cleaning up the wall with some of the leftover wine) found the mechanism to open the door. Oddly, as soon as the door opened, Daphne tried to attack one of the party members \u0026ndash; but missed, and she didn\u0026rsquo;t even have a weapon on her hand. Kriselle grabbed her and shook her, shouting her name, and the combination was enough to wake Daphne from whatever state of mind she was in. Nonetheless, the party felt it prudent to return her to the cart and ask the trapper to \u0026ldquo;watch over her\u0026rdquo;. They gave him Fred\u0026rsquo;s dagger to use if necessary (and did not specify what might make it necessary).\nBeyond lay a much larger room, and a striking difference from the rest of the house. The area is well lit, with multiple torches mounted on the wall. 10 cots line the south wall, and a table with a mess of plates and silverware (not actual silver). Footlockers at the end of each cot hold clothes and small personal knickknacks. To the left of the entry from the basement of the house are a pair of doors. The first door, to the left again, is unmarked. The other is barred and marked with the word \u0026ldquo;DANGER\u0026rdquo; in chalk. Stored against one of the walls is a large bolt of silk cloth and two fresh casks of brandy, along with several opened casks, and a variety of food stores commonly used aboard sailing ships.\nExploring the unmarked door first, the party found a combination office and living quarters, of clearly better quality than the group living outside. Several books, better clothes (including oilskin cloak and boots), a map of the local coastline, and (under a loose flagstone) a small, locked iron box. Two parchments were also located, one with a set of words in the common tongue and what appears to be translations in some other language, and the other with a sequence of cryptic signs and markings.\nReturning to the cart with their loot, the party found the cart missing, with blood splatters on the ground nearby and tracks leading back to the road. Daphne, the trapper, the cart with the treasure\u0026hellip; all gone.\nDispirited, the party chose to take the remaining treasure (the casks of brandy and bolt of silk cloth) and camp out in the woods.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nParchments\nExperience and Treasure # 100xp for showing up 100xp for interrogating Daphne and getting potentially helpful answers 8 rot grubs (31xp each) 6 skeletons (36xp each) 2 casks brandy (50 gp) Bolt of silk cloth (100 gp) A book of erotic poetry (illustrated) A book on the local tides A book on something called \u0026ldquo;mesmerism\u0026rdquo; printed on strange, glossy paper Parchment with strange picture Parchment with words in common tongue and translations in an unknown language Fred\u0026rsquo;s plate mail, large shield, and long sword (missing, along with the Mystery Machine) Roleplaying moments # Michael gets 100xp for successfully turning undead on his first try! Yay! Thic Duc gets 100xp for thinking to check the trap the local drunk failed to set properly Phil gets 100xp for successfully using a spell in combat for the first time! Yay! Kriselle gets 100xp for foregoing an armor upgrade before a proper fitting could be done Dangling Threads of Fate # Fred is dead. Daphne is missing. So is the drunken trapper. What happened to the rest of the previous investigators? Kriselle believes she has identified Scooby as a wolf Any characters failing the save vs spells upon entering the house have a -1 on future saves Any characters failing the save vs spells upon going down the staircase have -1 on future saves (cumulative) ","date":"5 January 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-4/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nS1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # The fourth full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).\nAs we left the party, Daphne had just been rescued, and most of the party was still recovering from the wounds suffered at the teeth of the giant weasel. Thic Duc, as the only hale and whole member of the party, drove the Mystery Machine back to Saltmarsh, where the local healer tended wounds and restored vigor.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 4","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # Session Map\nPreviously\u0026hellip; The third full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).\nThe adventure resumes where the last session left off. The party has finished their lunch while waiting for the monk to regain consciousness. After an hour or so, he did, and the party reentered the manor, resuming their explorations towards the back area of the first floor. The first room appeared to be a dining room, and was completely empty. The final set of rooms on the first floor consisted of a kitchen and a scullery, both in generally poor condition. The kitchen had a staircase leading up, and the scullery had a staircase leading down. The kitchen staircase was in poor shape and missing several of the steps.\nThe kitchen also had a sink, fireplace, and cupboard against one of the walls. When approached, a swarm of giant centipedes attacked from beneath and within the sink. Michael was in the lead and chose to retreat rapidly, with the rest of the party just outside the room waiting to attack as the centipedes emerged. This strategy was a success, though two party members suffered centipede bites and the resulting temporary weakness.\nThe monk successfully climbed the staircase and looked around, finding another staircase up (to an attic, perhaps?), and the second floor of the house. The rest of the party prompted followed, and the staircase promptly collapsed \u0026ndash; doing 1d6 damage to everyone who failed a dex check. Thic Duc was impaled on one of the bannister supports and lost consciousness, but came to after the wound was bandaged.\nContinuing to explore the second floor, the party located two mostly-empty rooms with chests. One of the chests was empty (and possibly had been emptied recently). The other was full of musty and moldy clothes, along with papers in a similarly useless condition. In addition to the chests, a moldy sack with some provisions (cheese, water) was found, and a set of clothes probably belonging to a female, some of which were purple. After careful examination, Michael declared the high heels to be \u0026ldquo;potentially demonic, or associated with servants of Lloth\u0026rdquo; due to their resemblance to garments used by their clergy. Or perhaps they are just high heels.\nIn the next room the party explored, they found a cupboard, inside of which was a fancy yellow cloak. Michael chose to search the cloak, disturbing the yellow mold, which released a cloud of spores into the room. Kristelle failed her save, and begin choking, eventually falling unconscious. A frantic search for remedies by the party members revealed that the mold could be burned away by fire, which resulted in frantic attempts to light torches, a mildly-explosive event as the cloud of spores burned to a crisp in midair, and an improvised smoke tent that finally allowed Kristelle to regain consciousness by burning out the spores.\nIn the next room, the monk used his spear to sweep the cobwebs away from the ceiling of the room before the rest of the party entered. He was attacked in legal self-defense by two giant spiders whose only motive was to defend their homes from the rampaging human. Being normally pacifistic civilian giant spiders, unused to facing adventurers, they died without a single successful bite.\nUpon returning to Saltmarsh for the night, the party encountered a strange madman claiming that The General is actually a vampire. He claimed The General will be destroyed by sunlight or a stake to the heart, that he drinks the blood of basically everyone, that he must be stopped. But upon being questioned more closely over a meal, he admitted that he was being paid by the Rookroost guard to make these pronouncements. And paid well \u0026ndash; he ordered the lobster. Several of his mannerisms and elements of his clothing suggest a history of acting. Asked whether he knew anything about a new open-visor policy in Rookroost, he denied it, but did recall the guards referencing something about a number on a list in regards to the job he was hired for. Come morning, he was gone.\nVisiting the local herbalist and Adventure Capitalist\u0026rsquo;s Inc representative, an old woman named June, the party obtained cure disease potions to fix the effects of the centipede bites. (\u0026ldquo;Very expensive. But covered under policy!\u0026rdquo;)\nThus restored and fortified, the party returned to the manor to continue their explorations. Three rooms on the second floor remained unexplored, and the party continued to use aggressive SWAT entry tactics \u0026ndash; kicking down the door and leaping into the room to attack. This went fine on the first room, where nothing of interest was found beyond a small hunk of crystal in the fireplace. As Michael leaped into the second room, however, the floor collapsed beneath him, and he fell through to the first floor, where the description (when carefully examined and re-read) revealed evidence of an unsound ceiling above. Oops.\nThe remaining door in the hallway was locked, but being less than sturdy, the party began to aggressively dismantle it. As their efforts finally concluded in a door smashed to splinters, the house shook, and a giant weasel fell from the ceiling above them to land behind the party.\nBeing a very bad-tempered giant weasel who had been in the middle of a very nice dream about a pleasant lady weasel just a moment before, the weasel naturally attacked Phil, the mage who had been leading from behind.\nThe mage cast shocking grasp \u0026ndash; and missed with his touch attack. The weasel made short work of him, latching on to his throat with vicious giant weasel teeth. Blood and bits of mage flew everywhere. Kristelle saved his life by darting past the weasel and the unconscious mage into a nearby doorway, drawing an attack of opportunity as she did so; the weasel missed but had to stop attacking the mage to snap at her.\nThat didn\u0026rsquo;t help much, as the weasel landed a blow on her next round, and neither of the two party members close enough were able to land a blow in return. Kristelle fell unconscious, and as the weasel turned to Michael, Thic Duc dropped down the collapsed ceiling in a nearby room and began to race around to get behind the weasel\u0026hellip; or perhaps to flee out the front door. During the next round, Michael missed again, and the weasel struck. Thic Duc advanced towards the staircase, listening for the sounds of a victorious party\u0026hellip; or a victorious weasel.\nHearing neither, he returned to the scene of the ambush. The weasel was nowhere to be found, but the party remained, bleeding from their wounds and unconscious. after having bound the parties\u0026rsquo; wounds and dragged them to the Mystery Machine, the monk tried (and failed) to sneak up on the final second floor room. He intended to investigate a rhythmic thumping noise. Within the final room, he found Daphne, tied up and gagged, banging her feet on the wall of the room, presumably to attract attention and a rescuer.\nDaphne Blake\nWithout much of a chance to interrogate her thoroughly, she claimed she had been investigating the manor with her friends and some sort of beast, and that the \u0026ldquo;Mystery Machine\u0026rdquo; was her cart. No sign of her other friends so far. She\u0026rsquo;s willing to remain with the party until her friends are found, at least as long as the party is investigating the manor. She was also rather peeved about not having access to her food after being tied up for 24 hours, and would like to recover her actual clothes as soon as possible.\nTo be continued\u0026hellip;\nExperience and Treasure # 100xp for showing up 5 giant centipedes (50xp total) 2 giant spiders (70xp total) Yellow mold inside cupboard (50xp total) 1 giant weasel (escaped but not defeated) 1 additional hunk of shiny rock from a fireplace The \u0026ldquo;well stone\u0026rdquo; was identified as quartz crystal (10gp) The \u0026ldquo;rose colored liquid\u0026rdquo; from the smashed desk was tentatively identified as cure disease or poison, multiple doses Roleplaying moments # Kriselle and Michael (\u0026ldquo;Are you BLEEDING me?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m restoring the balance of your humors!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m losing blood, not gaining it!\u0026rdquo;) 100 xp each Thick Duck for thinking to retreat and recover the party later 100 xp Phil gets a 100xp bonus for twice putting himself at risk to protect the party (successfully against centipedes, less so against the weasel) Dangling Threads of Fate # What happened to the rest of the previous investigators? What exactly is the \u0026ldquo;hideous huge beast\u0026rdquo; that pulled their cart? ","date":"15 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-3/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # Session Map\nPreviously… The third full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), and Todd (Phil).\nThe adventure resumes where the last session left off. The party has finished their lunch while waiting for the monk to regain consciousness. After an hour or so, he did, and the party reentered the manor, resuming their explorations towards the back area of the first floor. The first room appeared to be a dining room, and was completely empty. The final set of rooms on the first floor consisted of a kitchen and a scullery, both in generally poor condition. The kitchen had a staircase leading up, and the scullery had a staircase leading down. The kitchen staircase was in poor shape and missing several of the steps.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 3","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # Session Map\nThe second full game session. Dean (Thick Duck), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), Karl (Burgess), Todd (Phil), and Patrick. Todd is a new player, with a magic-user.\nInitial discussion centered on exploring the mysterious lights and sounds in the manor near Saltmarsh. However, there was some unfinished business to sort out first..\nIn Dunwitch, a ranger and a magic-user noticed a raving madman standing upon one of the stones at the Holy Day Inn. He was claiming to \u0026ldquo;know The General\u0026rsquo;s Secret!\u0026rdquo; and knew how to defeat him. He claimed the General is a werewolf who steals children every full moon, bakes them into pies, and eats the pies. They approached him and asked for details, which he provided at incoherent and substantial length before being dragged away by Juliet. (In the meantime the plague treatment arrived and was given to Grog without incident; the three retiring characters remain in Dunwitch).\nThe ranger and mage set up for Rookroost, intending to \u0026hellip; well, it\u0026rsquo;s not quite sure what they intended to do. Travel to Rookroost and investigate whether the General is actually a werewolf, perhaps. They arrived at the first gate and paid the toll. The passed the second gate and paid that toll (but were reminded of the previous two groups from Dunwitch, and found out about the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower and the barracks). Off to the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower they went, to meet up with the others and introduce themselves and inquire about werewolves\u0026hellip;\nMeanwhile, the characters in the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower were trying to figure out how to extract books from the bookcase without becoming extra crispy. After experimenting with tossing several items at the bookshelves, including a metal fork from the kitchen, the party eventually settled on using a sword to short-circuit the protective dweomer on the bookshelves and then using a wooden staff to knock books off the shelves. This eventually succeeded, but upon discovering only a tome about astronomy (and a verbal warning about taking books out of the library without checking them out), and despite being notified that books are rare and valuable things that a sage might protect with a deadly magical trap, the party grew bored and abandoned the pursuit of scientific knowledge.\nThey forgot about the fork they left in the bookshelves, still sparking. Consequences next session.\nIt was about this time that the magic-user and ranger arrived at the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower and quickly introduced themselves. After determining that the General was probably not actually a werewolf, the now larger party decided to seek their fortune in the manor near Saltmarsh together.\nSaltmarsh is about a day\u0026rsquo;s travel from Rookroost and the manor another half-day. On the approach to Saltmarsh, they stopped at the lighthouse and met the Mayor, Lenny. Lenny told them where to find the manor and offered to convene the council to discuss a reward for ending the strange lights and sounds.\nHe also provided them with a cart (painted bright green) that belonged to a previous group of four investigators who had looked into the strange lights and sounds at the manor previously. The cart was empty, except for a small bag with some sort of pet treat inside. When moved, it somehow played a strange sort of music.\nThe Mayor also mentioned the town drunk, who had bragged about having actually been inside the manor recently. The party tracked him down at the inn in town, the Fish Tail Inn, and questioned him. It was clear that he was spinning more drunken tales than anything else, but he did provide proof that someone could enter the manor and escape alive even without being a competent adventurer, thus ensuring our heroes had at least some chance of escaping alive. He also mentioned a well. The party spent the night interrogating the drunk and trying to digest the fish stew. It the morning it would be off to the manor\u0026hellip;\nThe manor of Saltmarsh is more formally called Ren Fields, for reasons that presumably died with the alchemist and his antisocial personality. The party learned this by reading the name on the gates. They then searched the outdoors for entrances (secret and obvious), finding (in addition to the front entrance) a back door that once upon a time led into a small enclosed garden area. They also located the well mentioned by the town drunk.\nDetermined to investigate everything, the party lowered Thic Duc down the well, whereupon he was bitten by a snake and accidentally knocked unconscious by the party trying to hit the snake. They retrieved him from the well, eventually managed to kill the snake, and bound the monk\u0026rsquo;s his wounds. (This resulting in formalizing an update to the house rules for firing into combat).\nThen they chose to use the garden entrance and proceeded inside the manor.\nUpon moving to investigate the manor interior, they were immediately threatened by a booming voice that told them they had come to their doom. (Two characters failed a save versus spells and were frightened; they will take a -1 on similar things in the manor).\nInvestigating the next two doors revealed a library and desk, neither with much of interest. The desk had a single intact locked drawer. After initially failing to open it, one of the characters eventually returned and completely dismantled the desk (not caring about the noise). This revealed a single small vial of a pale rose-colored liquid.\nContinuing to the main hall, the cleric cast his detect evil spell, using it as a compass to locate sources of evil. Some beastial sources were within the house, particularly on the second floor, but the majority of the evil was coming from below the house and even extending out to below the front yard. Hmm\u0026hellip; aside from that, there were tracks in the dust covering the main room\u0026rsquo;s floor leading to the room they came in through and upstairs.\nMoving into the north wing, the party looked into western room first. Looking over the room, they noticed a loose stone in the fireplace, and immediately reached up to remove it, with two characters forming a human siege tower and lighting a torch to look inside before sticking their hand in. Behind the stone was a small locked box \u0026hellip; and a large spider. The spider ran out and attacked when they tried to push it away from the box, and eventually bit one of the characters, who is currently suffering an enfeeblement effect due to the poison.\nAt this point the party took a break for lunch, and the monk collapsed into a stupified sleep from which he would not awaken\u0026hellip; and the players closed the session.\n(To be continued)\nNotable Quotes # (Not said but should have been) \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s like shooting Ducs in a well!\u0026rdquo; (Not said but should have been) \u0026ldquo;Fish!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Today\u0026rsquo;s fish is trout a la creme.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Fish!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Today\u0026rsquo;s fish is\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; Dangling Threads of Fate # What happened to the previous investigators? What exactly is the \u0026ldquo;hideous huge beast\u0026rdquo; that pulled their cart? What is causing the muffled banging coming from somewhere in the second floor? Any characters failing the save vs spells upon entering the house have a -1 on future saves The monk was incapacitated by snakebite and arrow in the well. He was healed to 1hp but then succombed to poison and is in a coma or drugged sleep of some kind; the party conveyed him to the cart to hopefully sleep it off. One character (who?) was bitten by the spider and lost 25% of his strength for some (long) duration Treasure and Experience # 100xp (each)for showing up 1 well snake 1 chimney spider 100xp total (NOT each) for creatures slain No xp for treasure yet, because nothing has been sold Total XP: 117 each Locked fireplace box from room 8 Vial of rose-colored liquid from desk debris in study Well stone (quartz-type crystal) ","date":"1 December 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-2/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"S1: Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh # Session Map\nThe second full game session. Dean (Thick Duck), Mary (Kriselle), Larry (Michael), Karl (Burgess), Todd (Phil), and Patrick. Todd is a new player, with a magic-user.\nInitial discussion centered on exploring the mysterious lights and sounds in the manor near Saltmarsh. However, there was some unfinished business to sort out first..\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 2","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"","date":"17 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"","title":"Characters","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Session Map\nThe first full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Doug (Thorbald), Larry (Fafhrd), and Karl (Burgess).\nWe left the initial group of six people investigating the Sage\u0026rsquo;s Tower. With one of the players missing, three party members remained just outside the bottom of the staircase, cowering in fear and inexperience\u0026hellip; Fafhrd and the Mouser advanced boldly to the right, encountering two doors. One led to a room filled with animals, most of them in cages, but several giant rats and several bat-like creatures turn and rush the party in a frenzied mob.\nDisoriented, the bat-like creatures failed to escape the room or hurt the party. The giant rats, however, account for several of the bats \u0026ndash; and in an amazing display of dexterity, a giant rat leaps onto the Mouser\u0026rsquo;s throat and tears into it. The Mouser goes down screaming in agony. Fafhrd and his clerical companion defeat the rats, and shortly thereafter hear sounds from the stairs behind them\u0026hellip;\nPreviously, the rest of the party had been taking more time to organize themselves before departing Dunwitch. They spoke to Tom, obtaining information on the reward for finding information on the sage\u0026rsquo;s fate and finding a cure for the plague that he was supposed to have been working on. The party (minus Larry) also signed up for adventure insurance from Adventure Capitalists, naming themselves \u0026ldquo;The Band of Misfits\u0026rdquo;.\nAfter some discussion they set up towards Rookroost, arriving in the middle of a discussion among the gate guards about a new rule requiring that helmet visors be kept lifted. (\u0026ldquo;How am I supposed to intimidate anyone this way?\u0026rdquo;)\nThe half-orc Lunk escorted the party to the second gate, where Lunk returned to his duties and Harry took over. Harry is a neater and cleaner human specimen, and was able to escort the party past the third gate to the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower readily enough. Their investigation unknowingly followed in the footsteps of the prior party, noting the animal screeching and the abandoned food deliveries. At every step they were reminded that someone had been there before them, asking the same questions.\nThe Flaming Iron Skillet (whose logo is on the boxes of delivered food) revealed that food deliveries had been arranged, but hadn\u0026rsquo;t been picked up for a few days \u0026ndash; maybe a week. The delivery boy was accused of pilching from the delivered food, but denied it.\nFollowing Harry\u0026rsquo;s guidance, the party returned to the barracks in the hopes of contacting the investigators who had been there before them. The night was proceeding rapidly, however, and though the previous party had bedded down in the barracks, they were not there when the second party arrived. Thinking quickly, everyone proceeded to the tower, leaving the guards behind this time.\nSearching the bottom of the tower revealed no entrances, so the party sought entry climbing up the roof of the lower building. With a monk and a failed ranger candidate in the party, the short climb was easy. The harder part was getting the heavily- built and armored dwarf up the wall, but a masterful move with the monk\u0026rsquo;s spear and a bit of leverage had Thorbald almost literally flying through the air.\nOnce on the lower roof, the party discovered a rope hanging from the top of the tower, and rapidly climbed. Ignoring the scientific, astrological, or astronomical instruments after a very brief glance, they inspected the staircase leading down into the tower. After a moment to light torches, they descended to the body on the staircase and inspected it briefly. The resident failed ranger determined the death was due to knee injury and that the pockets of the corpse were empty. Without checking for traps, they descended the remaining stairs to the bottom.\nDuring the descent, the party heard the chaotic sounds of battle. As they arrived at the bottom, they found three adventurers notably holding back from fear, but willing to let them pass to investigate the sounds.\nAnd that is how the parties met: the Mouser dying with his threat ripped out by a vicious oversized mouse, Fafhrd standing in a pile of rat and bat guts.\nIntroductions went quickly and the search for a plague cure began. Upon being revived and having his wounds bound, the Mouser informed the party that he had opened the door to a laboratory during the battle with the bats and rats, and at least one bat-like creature had escaped the room.\nIn the animal pens, many starving animals were still caged. Kriselle fed them, but did not release them, as they were evidently suffering from the plague.\nIn the laboratory, the party found a dissection table with medical instruments, many vials of mysterious chemical substances, most of them spilled or shattered, and the body of an old man\u0026hellip; presumably the sage himself. The ranger determined he was wearing nothing besides his robe and a hat. Absolutely nothing else, not even a coin purse, or a money belt, or a holdout stash in his sandals. Not even any sandals. Thorbald moved to investigate a locked cabinet with an inscribed rune\u0026hellip; when suddenly, another bat-like creature flew out of the darkness nearby and attacked!\nThe bite of the bat did little damage, but the frantic attempts to stab it while still attached to Thorbald left some bad cuts. After the bat was dispatched, the dwarf used his Cure Light Wounds to heal the damage, and promptly reached for the handle of the cabinet, which both the ranger and monk had assured him \u0026ldquo;Looks fine!\u0026rdquo; after carefully checking for traps.\nThere was a poison needle trap in the cabinet handle. Luckily the save versus poison was made, and only half damage suffered, which left Thorbald with only one hit point remaining. He determined to investigate the notes in the lab to try to find a cure while avoiding further danger. The contents of the cabinet consisted of 5 mysterious vials. (1: tranquilizer, 2: something that made the dwarf feel lightheaded and may be magical, 3: something unpleasant that the ranger will investigate, 4: another tranquilizer, 5: a potion later determined to be a treatment for the plague, 10 doses worth at 1 dose per day).\nThe rest of the party continued to explore, finding a storage closet (Burgess purloined the medical instruments for resale), a kitchen, a bedroom with attached bathroom and strangely glowing bookshelves. While searching for valuables, Burgess turned up a small locked strongbox (a woman\u0026rsquo;s necklace, a note \u0026ldquo;Keep your gift, I\u0026rsquo;ll keep my freedom\u0026rdquo;, and a strange book). Thic Duc, on the other hand, tried to pull up the rug to look for secret doors underneath, and in the process (failing a dex check with a natural one) brushed up against the glowing bookshelves. Crispy fried monk Duck!\nAfter spending several hours in the sage\u0026rsquo;s bed recovering, Thic Duc took a robe from the sage\u0026rsquo;s closet to replace his own rather burnt one. The monk\u0026rsquo;s choice was worn and threadbare, but given the idea, Burgess located one with decorative silver inlaid threads for his wardrobe (or perhaps the nearest pawn shop).\nThorbald has used the time to good effect, determining that the sage\u0026rsquo;s notes contain the ingredients and procedures required to manufacture more of the plague treatment. (1 hour per vial of treatment, 1 gp ingredients cost, by a character with healing skills). Burgess investigated the door and determined that it could be opened by a mechanical pull rope (from inside only). He tried this, and found a group of guards waiting outside the tower. They loudly proclaimed that \u0026ldquo;The sage is alive and well investigating the plague!\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;All is well here!\u0026rdquo; after briefly \u0026ldquo;investigating\u0026rdquo; the party\u0026rsquo;s presence at the tower. It seems the neighbors had reported noise and general chaos coming from within the tower\u0026hellip;\nAfter that minor incident was averted, the party waited for morning and sent the Mouser (in guard uniform) to summon a cleric affiliated with the guard. They hoped that the cleric could arrange for the promised reward (or at least some of it) and verify that the treatment worked. As they waited for the Mouser to return, Thorbald began to develop plague splotches on his skin.\nThe Mouser returned with Rookroost guard cleric Moe in tow. Moe verified the plague treatment by observing Thorbald\u0026rsquo;s symptoms and their disappearance following the treatment, and promised to arrange at least a partial reward in return for the formula. The party chose to remain in the tower for the nonce while discussing their next move.\n(To be continued)\nNotable Quotes # (Burgess checks for traps and fails\u0026hellip; every single time) \u0026ldquo;Looks fine to me!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;This is the DoorCloser 7000\u0026hellip; I read about it in Thieves\u0026rsquo; Quarterly last month. We\u0026rsquo;ll never pick it.\u0026rdquo; Fried monk Duck, extra crispy \u0026ldquo;Have you EVER successfully healed ANYONE? Keep back!\u0026rdquo; Dangling Threads of Fate # One bat creature escaped from the laboratory somehow and is loose in the city The plague is not cured, only treatable Thorbald has the plague The sage had a book on bats native to the Rel Mord area open and this may be where the bats originated Strange noises in the manor house (3 days from Rookroost) The Weird Creatures of Castle Greyhawk (1-2 weeks travel) The rumors about the mines (1 week travel) The ruined keep (1 week travel) What\u0026rsquo;s up with this strange book by Lysenko? What\u0026rsquo;s up with Tom? Why does The General care whether visors are open or closed on his troops? Treasure and Experience # Moe told the party the story of Tom o\u0026rsquo; the Seven Sevens 3 giant rats killed 4 flying bat things in animal room killed 1 flying bat thing in laboratory killed Strange book on the development of intelligent life, by Lysenko, on glossy paper of some kind Strange book found in lockbox under bed written in runes 50gp (and xp) reward for finding plague treatment from Moe the Cleric (each) 100xp bonus for being present (each) 100xp roleplaying bonus for Kriselle (feeding the animals) 100xp roleplaying bonus for Thick Duck (picking out a threadbare replacement robe) 100xp roleplaying bonus for Fafrrd (thinking to send a vial of plague treatment to his dad Grog) 100xp roleplaying bonus for Burgess (searching every! single! body!) 100xp roleplaying bonus for Doug\u0026rsquo;s character (for threatening toes everywhere) Medical instruments (35gp) 1 threadbare grey robe 1 grey robe with silver inlay threads (10gp if sold?) 1 vial mysterious lightheaded potion 2 vials tranquilizer 1 basic gold or copper amulet (35gp) 1 expensive woman\u0026rsquo;s necklace (100gp) 1 plague treatment recipe 2 vials manufactured plague treatment 1 vial original plague treatment Experience value of treasure 185xp Experience value of monsters 320xp Total group 505xp / 5 party members: 101 xp each (plus bonuses above) Total group treasure: 84 gp each (assuming equal division) ","date":"17 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-1/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Session Map\nThe first full game session. Dean (Thic Duc), Mary (Kriselle), Doug (Thorbald), Larry (Fafhrd), and Karl (Burgess).\nWe left the initial group of six people investigating the Sage’s Tower. With one of the players missing, three party members remained just outside the bottom of the staircase, cowering in fear and inexperience… Fafhrd and the Mouser advanced boldly to the right, encountering two doors. One led to a room filled with animals, most of them in cages, but several giant rats and several bat-like creatures turn and rush the party in a frenzied mob.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 1","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"","date":"17 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"","title":"Sessions","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"After a routine trip to Rookroost, Tom o\u0026rsquo; the Seven Sevens puts out the word to all residents of Dunwitch. Trouble is afoot, he says. The realm needs those of strong arm, quick mind, dextrous fingers. More than that, the realm needs men of good heart and a thirst for adventure.\n(\u0026ldquo;What about ale?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Aye, that too, but adventure first!\u0026rdquo;)\nAll men and women nearing adulthood but not yet settled in their lives, or yearning for something more, and especially anyone who is feeling the call of destiny or who has ever been the subject of a prophecy, are requested to gather in the tavern for an announcement that will have a profound impact on their lives, the lives of all their friends, and even the lives of their livestock and pets.\nAs the appointed hour approaches, a large half-orc thumps the head of his axe on the bar several times for attention. You think it\u0026rsquo;s probably Grog, but from a distance, it could be Juliet. \u0026ldquo;Hear ye! Hear ye!\u0026rdquo;, he roars, his speech understandable despite the large tusks protruding from his jaw.\nPer-su-ant to um\u0026hellip; Ex-ec-u-tive Order of our Overlord \u0026ldquo;The General\u0026rdquo; Perneti, and item number\u0026hellip; um, I can\u0026rsquo;t count that high on the Misunderstood and Benevolent Overlord List, all potential heros, protagonists, plucky kids who might make good, and their cute puppies or other animal companions are hereby offered the following distr-err, important quests-to improve the realm.\nHe looks up from the paper he is reading for a moment, hands it to one of the other guards, and there is a brief discussion. A more human-looking, less-tusky guard takes over the reading.\nFirst, there are reports of a plague among the downtrodden, oppress\u0026ndash;err, hard-working lower classes within the poorer districts of Rookroost. As we value their labor and wish it to continue, adventurers may seek a treatment or cure for this plague. As many of you country folk have no means to enforce a quarantine, it is in your own best interests to seek a cure as soon as possible. The General had previously hired a sage to investigate the plague and seek to create a cure, but has not heard from that individual in some time. The sage has a small tower within the walls of Rookroost, and that tower is the logical starting point for investigations into the plague. I can provide more details for anyone interested. (The sage\u0026rsquo;s tower in Rookroost is 1 day\u0026rsquo;s travel away)\nSecond, there have been persistent reports of unexplained lights, sounds, and mysterious disturbances at a manor house within a nearby swamp. In the benevolent wisdom of The General, it is better to be proactive than reactive. Also, \u0026ldquo;Dunmarsh\u0026rdquo; is a good name for a small town. So, find the source of the lights, sounds, disturbances, and so on and so forth, and be done with them. The future town of Dunmarsh is a few days travel on the other side of the city. Anyone wishing to pursue this quest will need to pass through the city walls, so we encourage them to investigate the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower on their way. (3-4 days of travel)\nThird, The General wishes to continue expanding the walls of Rookroost. In order to do so, he requires stone from a nearby quarry called Darkshelf. Disturbing rumors have reached the ears of The General, questioning whether the overseer of those mines is actually loyal. These rumors must be investigated. If proven true, it may be necessary to replace the overseer. (1 week travel)\nFourth, the famed wizard Herzog Akitrom the Merely Worried has invited adventurers and other assorted do-gooders to settle the lands near his soon-to-be-famous castle and help him clear out some pesky lower levels of his dungeons. The rumors accompanying this invitation are especially bizarre and, as this castle is located not far outside the borders of Rookroost, The General would appreciate anyone willing to volunteer their aid (and send back regular reports on what the hell is actually going on). (1-2 weeks travel)\nFinally, there is an unclaimed ruined keep some distance away. It is within the borders of our realm \u0026ndash; barely. It is rumored to possess both creatures and treasure in amounts exceeding even the usual consequences of an economy based on coin shaving and inflation. Volunteers are welcome to clear the monsters from this keep at a substantial discount on the adventurer\u0026rsquo;s tax (if they survive). The General wishes this keep restored and occupied to protect the borders of his realm, and you can be an important part of that! In fact, you can get in on the ground floor\u0026hellip; literally, as there are no other floors intact. (1 week travel)\nAs all of you here have responded to an advertisement for adventure, glory, treasure, rescuing cats from trees, or opportunities for do-gooding, we are happy to accept your desire to improve our realm for the betterment of everyone, especially \u0026ldquo;The General\u0026rdquo;. We remind you all that happiness is mandatory.\nAh, yes, there at the back. The new group of volunteers! Everyone please welcome them with a round of applause!\nPlease, each of you stand up and introduce yourselves.\nSince you are new at this, you may wish to make an arrangement with Adventure Capitalists Incorporated. They have a brochure at the bar. If you don\u0026rsquo;t I won\u0026rsquo;t be responsible for the consequences! Not that I would be anyway, of course.\nAs Tom winds up his prepared speech, Grog the half-orc tugs aggressively on his sleeve, almost knocking the guard down. \u0026ldquo;Tom! Tom!\u0026rdquo; the half-orc whispers urgently, \u0026ldquo;I gots de splotches! I think I gots the plague!\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Quiet, fool!\u0026rdquo; Tom shouts, but it\u0026rsquo;s too late, and the tavern is suddenly full of aggressive whispers.\nIn the confusion, a small group of 6 friends quietly leave the gathering\u0026hellip;\nIn the Beginning # DM Summary # Six brave adventurers set off from Dunwitch to investigate the plague that has been spreading throughout Rookroost. The party consisted of two clerics, representing the gods; a half-orc warrior (Faford), a halfing thief (the Grey Mouser), and a wizard.\nThe party decided to investigate the plague in Rookroost to begin their career as adventurers. Passing into town, they discovered that Tom o\u0026rsquo; the Seven Sevens has some sort of reputation among the gate guards \u0026ndash; after mentioning his name the gate guards asked for various fees. Mentioning the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower got them into the city without paying for anything more than directions.\nAfter passing through two more gates without incident, the guards escorted the party to the sage\u0026rsquo;s tower, which seemed abandoned. The outer gates were open \u0026ndash; perhaps once functional, but now decorative. The tower itself consists of a squarish lower building within the outer walls and a small tower, perhaps 50\u0026rsquo; high, with four windows and a collection of metal instruments at the top, possibly magical or astrological in nature.\nFood deliveries from The Flaming Iron Skillet (a classy restaurant in the district) were piling up and rotting at the entrance. After being cautioned by the guards about being discreet in obtaining entry into the tower, the party decided to wait for the dark of night. Before leaving, they listened for noises (something like a bat, and something wounded) and checked for smells (a faint scent of rot and death, aside from the stronger smell of rotting food).\nMaking arrangements with the guards to stay in the barracks overnight, the party waited till dark (noting in the meantime that the guards had had members fall to the plague as well, and had not been entirely thorough about removing the potentially contaminated effects) and returned to the tower.\nThere they investigated the grounds, searching for secret doors and finding none. The main door was locked; the thief attempted to pick the lock and believes he succeeded, but the door failed to open. Trying to force the door by main strength also failed. It appeared to be magically locked, or at least barred by some mechanism not visible to the party.\nThe thief climbed to the top of the tower and let down a rope for the party to follow. At the top of the tower, there was a trap door leading to a staircase going downwards. A body dressed as a thief (90sp, thieves tools, dagger and short sword) was on the staircase. The wounds on the body indicated a shattered knee, but those wounds did not appear to be the cause of death. Thirst? Poison? Paralysis? Hints suggesting a trap were found in the wall next to the corpse. The party continued down the stairs, thumping each step with a staff, as well as searching for other traps and ruining any chance at surprise.\nAt the bottom of the staircase, the party found a door.\nThe game session ended here.\nLarry\u0026rsquo;s Summary # A meeting was called at the stone circle in Dunwitch, and the recent companions Fafhrd, Gray Mouser and Michael were, for once, glad they attended. They heard about something they had been looking for, a way to make money and get some better opportunities. Michael was hoping to find a crisis to meet with his companions, while Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were hoping to find gold coin and adventure. One opportunity mentioned, sounded like something they could handle without too much risk. A wandering old sage had gone missing among some sick folk and they were too scared to look for him, the poor scared and soft city folk. The party wasn\u0026rsquo;t scared and would be happy to go have a look, figure it out for them, and collect some sweet coin. They didn\u0026rsquo;t prepare much, carrying all of what they owned, and so they immediately set out for the city of Rookroost.\nRookroost was not what they remembered from their few and infrequent visits. Inside, the first gate was filled with the sick. The smell attested to much more than could be seen. Although much less, there were even signs of sickness in the inner most part of the city. The companions, along with 3 other volunteers, took an initial look at the wandering sage\u0026rsquo;€™s tower\u0026ndash;looks rich. They then bedded down in a nearby barracks. Mouser talked everyone into some nice new guard cloaks and some food too. That night while others slept, they crept out to investigate the town, wanting to remain discreet so as not to alarm the already scared rich and noble folk.\nMouser unlocked the tower, but still the door wouldn\u0026rsquo;€™t budge, not even for Fafhrd. The tower was an easy climb though. Soon, all were atop and descending the interior stairs. A dead thief was found, generously donating his last belongings to his fellow thieves and their companions. Traps were found, but no one was injured. At the bottom of the stairs, a door was found, presumably to the locked room at the bottom of the tower. Various signs and omens made us twitchy and we all limbered our weapons in their harnesses and prepared to pass into the unknown.\n","date":"3 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/sessions/session-0/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":"After a routine trip to Rookroost, Tom o’ the Seven Sevens puts out the word to all residents of Dunwitch. Trouble is afoot, he says. The realm needs those of strong arm, quick mind, dextrous fingers. More than that, the realm needs men of good heart and a thirst for adventure.\n(“What about ale?” “Aye, that too, but adventure first!”)\nAll men and women nearing adulthood but not yet settled in their lives, or yearning for something more, and especially anyone who is feeling the call of destiny or who has ever been the subject of a prophecy, are requested to gather in the tavern for an announcement that will have a profound impact on their lives, the lives of all their friends, and even the lives of their livestock and pets.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Session 0","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Pyrzival (A gnome fighter played by Brian) in the Evil Overlord campaign # Pyrzival was born to two tutors to the royal household in the Great Kingdom. When he was young his parents took employment with the King of Nyrond to tutor his children. Pyrzival seemed destined to be a tutor to noble children as well, as he soaked up not only how to teach but also the information they were teaching \u0026ndash; that of science, engineering, mathematics, and astronomy. One year, when he was just a very young adult, he was sent to the County of Urnst to scout out potential employment, and his group was attacked by a large group of Orcs. Several weeks later, he was rescued by the human paladin by the name of Lord Tiberium Else, the first of his name. Grateful to be rescued, he accepted an offer to tutor the Lords children and stay on at his manor. Determined not to be helpless in the face of violence, he decided to take advantage of being in the service of a Paladin with martial followers, and studied weapons with the master of arms. Years later, the old lord died and his son (already married), inherited and they had children. Pyrzival stayed on to tutor their children.\nA few weeks after their only child, young Tiberium Else III turned twelve years old, more orcs again invaded the lands. Pyrzival offered to help some retainers guard the lords\u0026rsquo; wife and child while the lord and the rest of his retainers went to do battle with the orc horde. The lord and his knights were later found dead, and the orcs captured the keep where the peasants and non-combatants were sheltering. In the chaos, Pyrzival managed to escape with his charges, but discovered evidence of betrayal on the way. Instead of seeking help within the County of Urnst, where another betrayal could cost them everything, he took his charges to Rookroost where they would be safe from assassins until Tiberium grew old enough to claim his majority, his inheritance, and his revenge.\nAs Tiberium III comes of age, he finds a calling within his soul to the path of the paladin like his father before him, and Pyrzival, with three decades of weapons training but very little actual combat experience, decides to accompany him as he takes service with the church. The two would forge their path together.\n","date":"3 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/pyrzival/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Pyrzival (A gnome fighter played by Brian) in the Evil Overlord campaign # Pyrzival was born to two tutors to the royal household in the Great Kingdom. When he was young his parents took employment with the King of Nyrond to tutor his children. Pyrzival seemed destined to be a tutor to noble children as well, as he soaked up not only how to teach but also the information they were teaching – that of science, engineering, mathematics, and astronomy. One year, when he was just a very young adult, he was sent to the County of Urnst to scout out potential employment, and his group was attacked by a large group of Orcs. Several weeks later, he was rescued by the human paladin by the name of Lord Tiberium Else, the first of his name. Grateful to be rescued, he accepted an offer to tutor the Lords children and stay on at his manor. Determined not to be helpless in the face of violence, he decided to take advantage of being in the service of a Paladin with martial followers, and studied weapons with the master of arms. Years later, the old lord died and his son (already married), inherited and they had children. Pyrzival stayed on to tutor their children.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Pyrzival","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Warin (Human cleric played by Coby) # A novice cleric with a yearning for adventure at the beginning of his career, Warin was born and raised on a farm outside Rookroost. Taught to be helpful and kind to his parents, and seeing the state of the world in the Bandit Kingdoms, he joined the small church of St Cuthbert in Darkshelf upon reaching adulthood, hoping that the church would teach him to spread the doctrines of law and order throughout the land. However, he quickly gained experience with the ways of the world after joining the Band of Misfits. His faith was strong, if a little unfocused, and his experiences gradually refined him from a naive altar boy to a brave and skilled adventurer. His calling was strong, but unfocused. If only he had the power to impose his good nature and helpful aims upon the world! If only he could force people to respect the law! Might may not make right, but it seemed that might was the way of the world, and might can for damned sure make people act right!\nWarin briefly found moral clarity in answering the demands of a Mysterious Voice that speaks to him through a portal to the elemental planes. Experience has proven that the Mysterious Voice is not helpful with all problems, and an encounter with a wraith left him searching for new and better answers. The cold, cruel world outside the church has proven resistant to naive optimism and cynical embrace of power. Perhaps a new path will make itself clear to him?\n","date":"3 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/warin/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Warin (Human cleric played by Coby) # A novice cleric with a yearning for adventure at the beginning of his career, Warin was born and raised on a farm outside Rookroost. Taught to be helpful and kind to his parents, and seeing the state of the world in the Bandit Kingdoms, he joined the small church of St Cuthbert in Darkshelf upon reaching adulthood, hoping that the church would teach him to spread the doctrines of law and order throughout the land. However, he quickly gained experience with the ways of the world after joining the Band of Misfits. His faith was strong, if a little unfocused, and his experiences gradually refined him from a naive altar boy to a brave and skilled adventurer. His calling was strong, but unfocused. If only he had the power to impose his good nature and helpful aims upon the world! If only he could force people to respect the law! Might may not make right, but it seemed that might was the way of the world, and might can for damned sure make people act right!\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Warin","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Tiberium Elyse III (A paladin played by Chris) # Tiberium grew up within a minor noble family located within the County of Urnst. His grandfather, Tiberium the Elder, was granted knighthood and a small estate after making a name for himself in a campaign against an invading tribe of orcs. In the course of that campaign he rescued a gnomish tutor known as Pyrzival, who he later employed as a tutor for his sons. The estate he was granted had been overrun in the orc invasion, and he vowed that his family would ever hold the people of that place safe from invasion. He would repair the ruined fortifications and establish a force of men to keep the peasantry and honest townsfolk under his protection safe. His god heard the vow, but so did others\u0026hellip;\nWhen Tiberium III was about 10 food became scarce in the area, and crops were dying. An orc tribe invaded the town, burning what crops they had before they could be harvested, and Tiberium II rode out to meet them, alongside his older brother (Dorian, a paladin candidate) and a small force of knights and men-at-arms. The keep itself, a large project, had not yet been finished and the stores were empty of food due to the poor harvest. Nevertheless, the peasants, children, and those who could not fight, took shelter within its unfinished walls. Among them were young Tiberium III and his tutor, pressed into temporary service as a bodyguard for the boy.\nNight fell, and then dawn rose, with no sign of the elder Tiberium\u0026rsquo;s return. The day passed with no further news, but as night fell once more, the orc horde arrived and besieged the keep. The siege was short-lived, however, as a traitor opened the gates in the night, and the defenders were overrun. Pyrzival barely escaped with his life, escorting young Tiberium III and his mother through a secret passage to relative safety. From within the walls they overheard the orc chieftain claiming he had been tipped off to the vulnerable keep by someone within the nobility of Urnst, whose corruption had already caused conflict with Tiberium the Elder.\nFearing betrayal from among the nobiity of Urnst, Pyrzival called in favors and took the young Tiberium and his mother to a small town on the outskirts of Rookroost, known as Dunwitch, sheltering within a secret church of Pelor there.\nFor the past 6 years, Tiberium III has been raised by his mother within the church; he had already been training as a squire and was hopeful to some day become a paladin like his father. His training only intensified, but the local church lacked the resources and knowledge to continue his formal cavalier training. Their priests taught him what they could, and with time, he became a paladin candidate of Pelor. He has recently passed his last training exercise, and sought permission from the church to follow what he believes is a divine call towards Highport.\n","date":"3 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/tiberium/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Tiberium Elyse III (A paladin played by Chris) # Tiberium grew up within a minor noble family located within the County of Urnst. His grandfather, Tiberium the Elder, was granted knighthood and a small estate after making a name for himself in a campaign against an invading tribe of orcs. In the course of that campaign he rescued a gnomish tutor known as Pyrzival, who he later employed as a tutor for his sons. The estate he was granted had been overrun in the orc invasion, and he vowed that his family would ever hold the people of that place safe from invasion. He would repair the ruined fortifications and establish a force of men to keep the peasantry and honest townsfolk under his protection safe. His god heard the vow, but so did others…\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Tiberium","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Leah (Half-elven Ranger played by Mariel) # Leah is a ranger whose association with Barron keeps them both in a moral grey area. Her father was an elf, and her mother was a human mage who went insane. Having more elfish features physically (than Elward) she was less teased about being a half elf\u0026hellip; but everyone talked behind her back about being the daughter of a crazed mage. She ran away with Elward to escape her past and became the smarter, more level headed half of the treasure hunting duo. She tend to prefer working in the shadows and at a distance, covering Elward with her bow. She has no issues with theft from people she deems unworthy of their riches (typically the rich and especially the mean spirited), or the dead. She was doing some recon on a possible mark the night of Elward\u0026rsquo;s kidnapping and blames herself for not having his back the one time he needed it. She had been waiting in Rookroost for news of his return, where she became acquainted with Kriselle at the Pearly Gates Inn. She joined the party when the group brought the cargo of the Sea Ghost into Rookroost.\nLeah travels with a war dog named Pyro (AC: 6, HD 2+2, 14 hp, 1 bite attack for 2d4 damage). Pyro travels with an animated avian zombie perched on its back and has been trained to launch the bird into the air, as well as commands to attack and heel. Various additional commands, including fetch, guard, and desecrate have been attempted with some success.\n","date":"3 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/leah/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Leah (Half-elven Ranger played by Mariel) # Leah is a ranger whose association with Barron keeps them both in a moral grey area. Her father was an elf, and her mother was a human mage who went insane. Having more elfish features physically (than Elward) she was less teased about being a half elf… but everyone talked behind her back about being the daughter of a crazed mage. She ran away with Elward to escape her past and became the smarter, more level headed half of the treasure hunting duo. She tend to prefer working in the shadows and at a distance, covering Elward with her bow. She has no issues with theft from people she deems unworthy of their riches (typically the rich and especially the mean spirited), or the dead. She was doing some recon on a possible mark the night of Elward’s kidnapping and blames herself for not having his back the one time he needed it. She had been waiting in Rookroost for news of his return, where she became acquainted with Kriselle at the Pearly Gates Inn. She joined the party when the group brought the cargo of the Sea Ghost into Rookroost.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Leah","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":" Thic Duc (Human Monk played by Dean) # A monk from a distant land (Nyrond), Thic Duc walks the earth in search of impressionable individuals who can be brought to perceive the truth of the one true god. So far, he has successfully converted two people: Kriselle\u0026rsquo;s parents. He would desperately like to complete the set, and the two have spent many hours discussing philosophy, fungi, and religion while peacefully fishing for mushrooms. However, they both felt that there was more to the world than could be found living such a peaceful and sedate life, and now they travel the world in search of adventure, self-improvement, and wealth. To be donated to the poor, of course. Eventually.\nHis personal ambitions include wall-punching and experiencing every possible way of being knocked unconscious by traps. He would also like to remind the church of Pholtus on Oerth that Pholtus is the only true god, and all the others are impostors.\nDue to a quirk in his native language of Nyrondese, in which the letter K does not exist, Thic Duc is sometimes spelled Thick Duck in common. Any resemblance to wide waterfowl is purely coincidental.\nDue to a quirk in the Castle Greyhawk dungeons, Thic Duc was accidentally reincarnated in the body of a spiritual messenger of Pholtus. Shortly thereafter, he was restored from backup and replaced himself with an upgraded version.\n","date":"3 November 2016","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/theeviloverlord/characters/thicduc/","section":"The Evil Overlord","summary":" Thic Duc (Human Monk played by Dean) # A monk from a distant land (Nyrond), Thic Duc walks the earth in search of impressionable individuals who can be brought to perceive the truth of the one true god. So far, he has successfully converted two people: Kriselle’s parents. He would desperately like to complete the set, and the two have spent many hours discussing philosophy, fungi, and religion while peacefully fishing for mushrooms. However, they both felt that there was more to the world than could be found living such a peaceful and sedate life, and now they travel the world in search of adventure, self-improvement, and wealth. To be donated to the poor, of course. Eventually.\n","title":"Evil Overlord -- Thic Duc","type":"theeviloverlord"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tools/namegen/","section":"Tools","summary":"","title":"Fantasy Name Generator","type":"tools"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/search/","section":"Old School Gamers","summary":"","title":"Search","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tools/","section":"Tools","summary":"","title":"Tools","type":"tools"}]