Session 1 Clues

The party found a few curious texts during their adventure in Drydale. Here are the relevant details:

Blake's Diary

A few brown dog-eared pages remain from his days in the Legion. During the Deepwater Rebellion, Blake was drafted into a special unit sent to bring VIPs out of enemy-controlled zones all over Trident Gulf. Many were loyal Viridians fleeing persecution from the rebels, or at least that's what Blake was told; he seemed skeptical. Each had an identifying mark in common. A circling snake tattoo on the left forearm. It was never explained, but he assumed they were part of a gang of thieves.

He describes a rebel attack on their safehouse that went terribly wrong - they barely escaped and the man Blake was guarding died of his injuries soon after. He carried a copy of The Great Devourer which Blake kept and read. After these events he left the Legion and vowed to stay away from the oceans. He implies much in the diary but seems afraid to state things openly.

Several pages in the middle have been carefully cut out. After this gap there is only dull reportage about Blake's retirement, his farm, raising his daughter, etc.


The Great Devourer

A well-worn leather book with its title in flaking gilt scrollwork. Most of the text is flowery and morbid poetry describing the great worm Ouroboros sleeping in the ocean, waiting to swallow the whole world at the end of time. Cryptic metaphors and references abound and the poem's final resolution is unclear. Is Ouroboros supposed to be a monster, demon, god or something else entirely?

The second half seems to be a magical or occult treatise written in an ancient language or perhaps code. Any spellcasting character can attempt to decipher its contents, but it will take time and there is no predicting what mind-bending revelations or occult dangers might be concealed in the text.

[Any M-U, elementalist, cleric or elf who wishes to study the book closely: roll a d20 modified by your INT score (use the same progression as for STR or CON: 9-12 = no bonus, 13-15 = +1, 16-17 = +2, 18 = +3) and tell me the result. Alternatively it could be brought to someone's mentor, a sage or some other scholar if you want help.]

Satchel of Messenger's Papers

Found on Sir Karavon's corpse. A few crumpled papers, spotted with unknown brown stains. They mention two individuals of interest:

Lan Gaspar was relocated to the hamlet of Yakin Ley in the Brotbuckle Briars and has lived there ever since. He appears to be the local priest! What do we need him for anyway? Please advise.

I found Alekto. It would seem unbelievable, but he lives right under our noses! He is a leech and alchymist right here in Viridistan and owns a small country home near Midwall. His business is administered by his assistant Zhrana, and he rarely appears in public. He has taken pains to conceal his old identity and goes by the name Hooktong Ash now. I'll bet he would pay any sum so the Black Adders don't learn that an old rebel lives in their city!

Mysterious Blackened Tome

It seems to have awakened somehow, when Eric got blood on it. Words have appeared on the pages in bright crimson script:

Greetings. Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?

[Should you wish to answer the book, well... let me know what you'd like to do.]
[Lothos answered the book. It goes by the name of Pheldrazash and seems to know many secrets, including some magic spells it is willing to teach.]

Some rumours are circulating about shady goings-on that might be profitable in the port of Targnol, a small city about a week's march from Viridistan. It might be worth detouring to investigate one or both on the way back to the capital, at your option:

- A minor thieving crew called the Tenebrous Hand have stolen an ancient artifact of no small value. Well-placed bribes have kept the authorities out of it, but the original owners - a rich merchant consortium from Midwall - want their piece back and would probably pay generously. Hand members are often seen drinking in a dive bar called The Dog & Bastard.

- The rich merchant Philotheos Sten hasn't been around lately. His large estate lies on the edge of town, and nobody has been seen coming or going for several days. Some fear the worst while others remark on the man's riches, accumulated through a lifetime of trading. A few thugs are going to case his place soon. You might be able to beat them to it and see what kind of loot is lying around!
[The group visited Philotheos' home in Session 2.]

Session 1

NO SALVATION FOR WITCHES

1st Meadowlark, 4433

Characters

Aladar IX, half-elf magic-user 1 (Alex)

Tullius Jr, human fighter 1 (Jake)

Lothos the Undesirable, elf 1 (Mike)

Eric Withakay, human cleric 1 (Foulds)

Avala, human elementalist 1 (Brielle)

Two-Faced Humphrey, human spy 1 (Tim)

Funeral For a Friend

The characters met at the funeral of James Blake, an old army buddy who died under mysterious circumstances. They assembled to pay their respects on the way to Drydale Priory where longstanding rumours suggested heretical activities and/or valuable treasure.

A neighbouring farmer was the only other attendee. He was confused that Bishop Gray hadn't sent at least a junior priest to officiate and worried about Blake's missing 11-year old daughter Deotina. He also mentioned a group of tax collectors had been asking questions, and asked the group to find out anything they could. A search of Blake's home turned up little except his old Legion gear and a scrap of paper torn from his diary about the taxmen. There were signs someone had packed and left in a hurry.

At the caravanserai, the party found human bodies everywhere killed and mutilated in the most horrible ways. The only two people left alive were a terrified, useless traveler named Arrerand and the concussed woman Naniela, who was beyond his power to help. She mumbled and raved about "red lights in the sky... the dancing woman with skin of diamonds" and clutched her bleeding head wound. Eric healed her injury and she became more lucid. The two helpless travelers were interrogated about the tax collectors and recent events but didn't know much. The party sent them on their way.

The priory itself was unreachable, covered by an impassable dome of lambent red light. Leaving it for the moment, the group proceeded to Drydale for clues and found the citizens in the middle of a witch trial! Leading the event was a thin, intense man named Kynnakon. Four women had already been killed and a fifth cried upon the scaffold, pleading for mercy. At the back of the village, a strange glow similar to the red dome could be seen.

Thinking quickly, Eric stepped in and engaged the man in a discussion about witches and their verification. As a man of the cloth his words carried weight on these matters and he convinced the crowd to disperse. Without his mob, Kynnakon was less confident. He released the "witch" Mertysa to the party's care and told them a strange story: six women had passed through towards the priory a few days ago armed and armoured, dressed in strange clothes. Since then all their livestock had died and they blamed witchcraft.

Lothos circled around the village to investigate the red glow. A small red sphere floated at head height, softly glowing. While the townsfolk were distracted he took it in his cloak and rejoined the group, who departed before the crowd's temper could change again. Returning to the priory, the small red sphere crumbled into dust, sympathetically bringing down the giant glowing dome and allowing entry. Unluckily for the elf, the sphere destroyed a few of his possessions as it vanished from the world - including his spellbook!

Inside The Priory

The party entered the grounds, avoiding the church for now. Searching the outbuildings revealed a succession of horrors - women giving birth to mutated children, a man and woman fused together while still alive and a puddle of fast-moving scarlet bile.

Outside the baths, they were greeted by an imposing figure - Sir Karavon, a knight in gleaming white plate mail. He demanded to know their business and claimed to serve the cause of Mistress Orelia. After all his tough talk, battle was inevitable. Lothos sustained a terrible blow from Karavon's greatsword but the group felled him together and stripped the body.

The group had had enough of these horrors. They barricaded the infirmary full of aberrant children and set the roof on fire. While they were debating their next move, Kynnakon arrived on the scene leading a small torch-and-pitchfork mob. The group took up ambush positions, Tullius Jr slipped inside incognito as Sir Karavon while Eric addressed the mob, whipping them into a witch-hunting frenzy.

Inside the church was a whirl of activity: dozens of peasant women dancing in a mad frenzy guarded by five heavily armed foreign women, overseen by two robed & hooded men and an ice-pale Avalonian sorceress in a red sash. Orelia called out to "Sir Karavon," asking the knight for a report. Tullius Jr indicated the angry mob outside and mobilized the warrior-women to battle, remaining indoors at Orelia's side in case of emergency.

Battle was joined in front of the church! The Five Bishops (as they called themselves) guarded the door in a wedge formation, bravely meeting the mob's charge. What they weren't prepared for was the party's vicious ambush: Humphrey ran up behind one for a backstab while Aladar and Lothos peppered them from a safe distance. The Bishops couldn't withstand this assault for long and began a fighting retreat into the church. This turned out to be a mistake, as the mob charged in and held the door open! Things began to happen very quickly. Tullius Jr showed his true colours when he struck Orelia by surprise with his greatsword, nearly killing her in one strike. Retaliation with her magic wand did not have its intended effect. Two-Faced Humphrey ran around to the back and climbed up to a window for a surprise attack. Eric began smashing windows which allowed Lothos, Aladar and Avala to take up firing positions.

In a deft use of magic, Aladar used his Unseen Servant to snatch Orelia's magic wand right from her hand before she could use it again. Tullius' greatsword finished her off after that. With magical support from Avala's earth elementine, a diving attack by Humphrey and a magical grasping fist from Aladar, the two robed figures were destroyed and revealed to be only the flayed skins of men animated by Orelia's witchcraft.

With all opponents defeated, the mob began dragging the dancers off the platform and the party felt the beginnings of a tremor run through the building. Thinking quickly they fled the scene just in time for the church to come crashing down in a blaze of light and magic, killing or wounding all inside! The rubble began to burn, but Eric and Humphrey dragged over a tub of water from the baths, buying everyone time to sift the wreckage, rescue a few townsfolk and recover some valuables and the mysterious book they originally sought.

Exhumation

The smoky priory grounds were visited by a new group - the much-talked-about tax collectors! Their leader was a turbaned Viridian named Irmugar, sent by the Padishah to investigate rumours that Blake had stolen or unreported wealth. They seemed not to know he was dead. The party convinced the taxmen to take the peasant survivors back to Drydale - Irmugar indicated Tullius Jr and agreed the situation was well in hand with a "Knight of the Cockatrice" present. But something else he said got the group thinking...

The adventure ended where it began with the party exhuming James Blake by torchlight. Inside his coffin with his body was a locked oak box. Prying it open revealed a battered knife in an old scabbard, a locket containing a single golden hair, Blake's diary and a strange leatherbound book called The Great Devourer.

Eric meanwhile was perusing the blackened tome he had found in the rubble and touched its faded pages with his bloodstained hands. They blossomed into fresh crimson runes and symbols, while words formed in Imperial: "Greetings. Whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

ENEMIES DEFEATED

Charles & Gwendolin
scarlet bile
Sir Karavon
"The Five Bishops"
Orelia
2 animated skin guardians

TREASURE

Sir Karavon's white plate mail & greatsword (Tullius Jr.)

Assorted armour, weapons and ammunition from the Bishops (various)

Orelia's ivory-tipped magic wand (Aladar IX) and red sash (Tullius Jr.)

A mysterious blackened tome (Eric)

Blake's diary (Aladar IX)

The Great Devourer (Lothos)

Locket with a golden hair (Eric)

Silver drinking horn, carved with runes and studded with garnets, slightly scuffed (640 sp)

A silver-gilt radiated brooch ringed with amethysts (1200 sp)

Solid-gold decorative phallus (800 sp)

Treasure value: 2640 sp

Each character gets 440 sp and 490 xp

Welcome To The Viridian Empire

Welcome to the Emerald City!

Once the pinnacle of social progress and development, the Imperium has fallen into oppressive decadence. This is the price of peace: no more kingdoms to conquer or wars to wage. The paranoid Emperor grows increasingly out of touch with reality while his stranglehold on the Imperial tributaries begins to weaken. The Inquisition rules all aspects of social life. Deviation, unrest and ‘strangeness’ are not tolerated. Magic is viewed with suspicion at best. Nonhumans, alternative religions and those born ‘different’ are repressed or forced to the very fringes of civilization.

The capital is VIRIDISTAN - City of Spices, The Immortal City, tarnished Emerald of the Empire. This millennia-old sprawl built by a forgotten people stretches across the cliffs above Trident Gulf, its glittering jeweled towers and crystal domes visible for miles. Who would dare this crumbling, treacherous bureaucracy? Your characters: disillusioned war veterans, cutthroat mercenaries, repressed sorcerers and feared holy men - a generation of lost warriors, the empire’s last hope for a cynical age.

Fight on the side of Law against enemies of the state and the rising tide of Chaos! Accomplish your goals, amass wealth and rise through the ranks, but watch your back - traitors and heretics are everywhere and it’s not easy to know who to trust. See to it that you don’t fall victim to their plots - or burn alongside them!

A Message from the DM

Welcome to the game! Let me emphasize this is a drop-in game. We are all busy adults. Show up when you can, it’s okay if you can’t. The goal is to play with whoever shows up on game day. As long as we have at least four people, we can game.

Thematically, this campaign might be a bit unfamiliar: I’m drawing from swords & sorcery fiction (Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser for example), history, the weird tales of H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, Conan the Barbarian (the books, not the movies), Dark Souls, Warhammer, horror movies and heavy metal. This isn’t the mythic or heroic fantasy of Lord of the Rings. Sometimes harsh shit goes down - on par with any Game of Thrones episode (with less tits).

There is no grand destiny that dictates victory. Adversity and tragedy will plague your characters every step of the way, and some will die! Adventuring requires teamwork, observation, luck, and bold action to succeed. Nobody knows who will be triumphant until the campaign’s end, but those who win through the coming days may call themselves mighty heroes indeed...



Rules:

Core Rules - Labyrinth Lord rulebook (free no-art version)

Expanded Classes & Spells - Advanced Edition Companion.

The Auto-Filling Character Spreadsheet - with instructions!!!

Players' Reference Spreadsheet - Equipment, Combat, Rules, Abilities & Magic - helpful reference!