Session 58

CRIMSON CURSE IV

Blackmoon 6, 4433

Characters:

Lothryk, cleric of Njord 3
Andras, druid 1
Tarr the Younger, archer 2
Krom, fighter 2
Katamtaman Toxotai, archer 2
Gaddock the Inebriated, fighter 2
Veythar "The Dartist" Varros, incantor 2
(NPC) Zhalgas, fighter 3

Return to the Undercity

Group 3 recuperated and took the fight back to the Temple of Set, hoping to cure the Crimson Curse quickly before any of their number succumbed to the disease.

The party carefully passed the chamber of poison, climbed over a pit of snakes and carefully ducked past a hallway of dripping acidic fangs.

In a chamber filled with dead rats, they fought a hideous bat-snake hybrid creature with a lethal gaze attack. Tarr weathered this assault with great luck and the creature was destroyed swiftly.

DM: "It's always gotta be something with you guys, huh?"
DF: "No, it's always something with YOU!"

The party entered the cultists' temple proper, attempting to avoid contact with the Setites with mixed success. The situation devolved into a series of smaller combats throughout the temple as cultists and acolytes came upon the group at various times. Particularly strange were the cultists with ragged robes and madness in their eyes - snake venom addicts who feared neither injury nor death!

Player: "It's YOUR fault... that we're breaking into your evil lair!"

The group explored some old catacombs lined with burial niches and filled with wandering zombies, mostly turned away easily by Lothryk. Some treasures were recovered here and a few strange things observed. Andras fell into a pit trap in a hallway smelling of charcoal and did not want to use the helpfully provided ladder to escape. Instead, Tarr let down a rope for him.

DM: "I may as well tell you. The ladder also had a trap on it."
Player: "The old double-double!"

The group explored some monks' cells, passed some strange doors, and fought cultists in a room filled with odd tubes which piped sounds down from the surface! They heard the voice of Haroun, a monk at The Sequence. Apparently the Setites are eavesdropping on the very agency that opposed them? A powerful advantage!

The group recovered some strange vials, passed through a misty great hall graven with murals, and discovered a room occupied by... someone. After a tense conversation at the door, the group entered a library, apparently empty of foes. Thinking quickly, Andras cast faerie fire and outlined a small creature with bat-wings, which immediately fled! Katamtaman was not about to let this happen, chasing the tiny glowing imp outside and shooting it down with the enchanted arrows he found earlier.

DM: "The mural is bizarre and vaguely unwholesome."
Player: "It's AI slop!"
Player: "By Shakkur's hairy homeless balls!"

The party is currently in the library contemplating their next move. There seem only a few unexplored rooms in the temple, primarily one engraved with glowing runes...

Hero Points:

Tarr gets 1 for his clever idea to get past the dripping fangs, and 1 more for roping Andras out of the pit trap.

Krom gets 1 for being quick on his feet distracting the cultists, setting them up for a surprise attack.

Andras and Katamtaman each get 1 for their team effort and good luck with the library imp.

[Remember: a character cannot hold more hero points than their level. Excess points are wasted.]

SUMMARY

Note - Turned undead don't give experience points as they might come back and fight you another day. No great loss, as you can see most of these weak monsters give very little experience, so let's hope some of this loot is valuable!

Session 57

CRIMSON CURSE III

Blackmoon 2, 4433

Characters:

Tarr the Younger, archer 2
Berit, thief 2
Krom, fighter 2
Lothryk Bjargson, cleric of Njord 2
Gaddock the Inebriated, fighter 2
Katamtaman Toxotai, archer 2
Tardif, ranger 2
Zhalgas (NPC), fighter 3

The Hunt for Imin

Group 3 continued their exploration of the Undercity following some clues to the Chalice of Aldren. 

The group explored this fortified section of the undercity, which seemed closer to the seat of the Setites' power. Strange relics, an old mysterious shrine, odd tombs and enigmas were discovered. A few characters dug in some trash and luckily avoided a Rot Grub infestation.

Berit avoided being strangled and suffocated by an animated black hood left by an ancient torturer, and later managed to deal with another animated carpet with some quick thinking and preparedness.

The delve got bizarre when a magical door was discovered which revealed a different room depending on how it was opened. The two rooms each held a statue holding a treasure. Tarr seized a blue gem and was Polymorphed into a cat, while Tardif took a two-handed sword and was Polymorphed into a badger!

[Point of order: I completely forgot that being the victim of a Polymorph requires a system shock roll to avoid death! You guys got a free one this time, don't rely on it happening again.]

Undaunted by these setbacks the group pressed on and, solving the riddle of the door, used it to open a new pathway. They came upon a strange jackal-headed creature (surely a servant of Set) and his two bodyguards. The fight was short and brutal, and Tarr's feline form was invaluable in helping downed party members and distracting the foe, providing the group more combat opportunities. The jackal-man lost his stomach for the fight rapidly, so the party closed in and finished him off. 

The group followed the only lead left: a tunnel leading further into the Undercity. They discovered a crumbling chamber filled with giant snake statues. The bloated corpses of two thugs attested to the dangers. Berit and Tarr discovered that - yes - this room was filled with pressure-plates releasing poison gas. Luckily, nobody was killed!

At this point the group was low on spells and hit points, electing to retreat, sell their treasure and identify some magic items, and get Tarr and Tardif un-Polymorphed.

They spent a pile of money at Seven Visions (including some provided by grizzled veteran and company patriarch Robert the Swift) to reach the top of 2nd level!

Hero Points

Tarr: brave cat antics
Berit: good thinking and stepping into the line of fire

SUMMARY

Monster and treasure XP already awarded, money already divided.

Sessions 52-53

HOLIDAY IN VIRIDISTAN 

Blackmoon 1-2, 4433

Characters

Tarr the Younger, archer 2
Lothryk Bjargson, cleric 3 of Njord
Krom, fighter 2
Tardif, ranger 2
Berit, thief 2
Katamtaman Toxotai, archer 2
Gaddock the Inebriated, fighter 2
(NPC) Zhalgas, fighter 3

Bargains with Snakes

Group 3 of the Wretched Company had finally arrived in Viridistan! They sold off the trade goods from the Sea Ghost and paid their first mate Bloody Bjorn to watch the ship in their absence. He was also ordered to remodel it so the authorities wouldn't recognize it as a smugglers' ship, christening it anew as the Miserable Maid.

After making contact with Uriah and speaking to the Church of Seker, the group was keen to help the locals with the Crimson Curse currently rampaging through Otherside and track down the Chalice of Aldren, the holy relic Zhalgas was searching for. They had spoken to the monks of The Sequence to get more information, and tracked clues left by the smugglers to a tavern called the Smiling Sultan.

Lothryk and Berit managed to bluff their way inside and have a conversation with the person in charge: a bizarre amalgam of snake and human named Sasha. She had ties to various criminal enterprises including the gang of smugglers the group destroyed in their introductory adventure [see the Village of Braddol]. The duo explained that they had replaced Captain Sigurd and she would have to deal with them now, but their agenda was different and they sought to speak with the cult of Set. There were some tense moments of improvisation based on the meager clues the party had about all the players in this situation, but they made it out with some useful information [the hefty shares of the smuggling operation they paid surely went a long way].

The cult of Set had a base underneath The Morass, a crumbling muddy sinkhole in a neighbourhood near the river. Exploring it got the group accosted by leprous beggars, starving and drug-addicted, who wanted all their nice expensive gear! This turned into an unbridled slaughter as the beggars were cut down mercilessly.

After driving these urban scum off, the party explored the ruins at the bottom of the Morass. They found a secret passage under some debris leading to a tunnel below...

The Undercity of Set

Immediately as they began to explore below, the party were set upon by a pack of thugs and a cultist of Set! Things got vicious as the cultist deployed a wand to blast the group with fire, but was unable to handle the sheer number of attacks the group brought to bear.

The party began to explore the underground complex, scooping up some trade goods and a few curious items. They spoke to the cook (who knew nothing) and fought a tough battle across a rope bridge against some crossbow-wielding thugs. During the fight, Gaddock the Inebriated fell off the bridge into the water and had to be rescued with some quick thinking and a rope (lucky for him!).

Battling across the bridge put the group face-to-face with a pack of jackals who were also dispensed with rapidly. From there, the party descended to a lower, more open level and continued exploring.

They found a long-abandoned forge where they were attacked by an animated carpet and two daggers, which also proved a tense fight. After destroying the objects, the party found the blacksmith's concealed treasure - a masterfully made silver longsword and some gold.

someone: "This is just like in Aladdin!"
someone: "I used to have a rug like this."
Justin, probably: "We sent that bitch to a Whole New World!"

In an abandoned temple, they fought a zombified fish-man and then dredged its pool of muck to find an old and macabre icon. On the walls of this blue and green edifice the party saw the following disturbing message carved:

"Dark lord, baron of the unholy tide, we implore you to fill our gills with your retched slime so we may do your accursed bidding until the black waters cover all dry ground and you return to your people."

They passed on towards a great gate and engaged a group of turbaned fanatics with crossbows and swords. Fighting at range through the portcullis proved tricky but with some luck they won, and we left the party here debating what to do next...

Tarr: "Don't bend over too low, snake worshippers, or your master will swallow you whole!"

[Welcome back boys, sorry this one took a while, preparing for the convention and other things took precedence earlier in the year. I'm excited to get back to some blood & guts adventures in the Undercity very soon!]

Summary:

Session 41

THE SHADOW MARKET

Thistleburn 14-19, 4433

Group 2:

Cassia, fighter 3

Salzige, necromancer 4

Black Phalaros, necromancer 3

Finrod, elf 3

Clif, elementalist 4

Owen the Vitalizer, cleric 2 of Shang Ta

Gaddock the Inebriated, fighter 2

A Nighttime Discovery

The group spent some time training and doing research around town. Clif got a Wand of Lightning from his mentor, which has an unknown number of charges. He asked if his mentor could cast some spells into his Ring of Spell Storing [details forthcoming on that, watch this space].

Finrod spent some time at the Hall of Records, discovering that Rogat's home is built above an old temple of Armadad Bog, the Viridian god. He cast Charm Person on the clerk, so future research will be easier to do without pesky bribes.

After dosing themselves with the Oil of Revelations, Finrod and Salzige found the path to the fabled Shadow Market! They met a water-seller pulling his wares on a donkey cart, but he wasn't too talkative. 

They purchased the foul-smelling Incense of Zalamphel for the necromancer Zalán. Then they brought the rest of the group and everyone explored the market, speaking to its strange denizens and seeing what was for sale. 

They ventured down an alley and found a bricked-up door, and spoke to the terse men on a large mansion's balcony. They spoke to a down-on-his luck weaponsmith named Tolvaj, who owes 50,000 silver in gambling debts. met a fortune-teller who is also a member of the Night Wolf Inn adventurers' guild, and considered having their fortunes read with her magical cards. They met a tattoo artist who examined Salzige's guild tattoo and told him that it magically tracks his location! They found a shrine of ringing bells, which provides astral travel services. The group perused a bookseller's wares, there were a few magical scripts for sale:

They spoke to some sages and hired them to do research (one on the Astral plane, the other to discern the curse upon the Coat of the Panther), and bought a few pinches of Ghostdust from one of them, a rather unsavory fellow. They discovered the secretive Cockatoo Club, and learned the Waterday password "barbaric gelatin" from Tolvaj while he was drunk. 

With all this new information, now Group 2 has plenty of leads to explore. Where will the nighted pathways of the city take them next?

Monsters Defeated:

none

Treasure Found:

none

Treasure Sold:

Cursed gem & box (already accounted for)

NOTES:

Owen the Vitalizer is capped and ready to train again to level 3! 

[Normally this won't happen. It is an artifact of him gaining so much XP in Session 40, before we instituted the new training rules.]

Session 40

RETURN TO THE UNDERCITY

Thistleburn 12-13, 4433

Characters:

Cassia Tannin, fighter 2

Salzige Brauen, necromancer 4

Black Phalaros, necromancer 3

Finrod, elf 3

Clif, elementalist 3

Owen the Vitalizer, cleric 1

Gaddock the Inebriated, fighter 1

Wrath of the Black Cloud

The party stood in the hallway as a cloud of murky darkness swept out towards them from the sealed cabinet. Clif and Salzige tried to blast it with cold magic which seemed to have no effect, but it was eventually dispatched with a fire elementine, enchanted steel and Finrod's risky final strike with a torch. Salzige was knocked out by its icy touch, but after the battle he recovered quickly - the damage was but an illusion! What could be trusted in these rooms of shifting shadows?

The group resumed their search. In the sealed closet they found a confused & concussed fighting-man named Gaddock, the only survivor of the last group of thieves who came to plunder the house. They also picked up a nice black coat with some clues in the pocket [see #player-notes in the discord] and plucked some pieces of pure silver out of the hanging cobwebs.

Ascending to the roof, the party was ambushed by the final guardian idol, another hideous gargoyle! This one was brought low without too much trouble by a cooperative effort - newcomer Gaddock showed his bravery, charging it with only his mundane shield to knock it off-balance. 

After gaining the roof and surveying the area, the group scanned the neighbourhood and re-searched the house looking for anything they had missed. Finrod found a trapdoor to the basement under some stacked crates, and the group descended.

They found a few strange enigmas in the basement, and were haunted by spectral voices. In one corner, Clif spied an invisible chest hanging from the ceiling with chains. After taking it down, the brave elementalist tried to pry it open and was stabbed by a poison needle! 

With his skin rapidly turning purple, the party had little time to help. Salzige recalled an alchemist's shop nearby [with a combination of quick thinking and a lucky roll] and the group carried Clif there. They purchased a potion of Neutralize Poison and spoke to the proprietor a little bit, a strange old man named Hooktong Ash.

Next Door

After a badly-needed rest, the group returned to the Old City the next day.

They crossed from one house to the next, breaking their way into the neighbouring building through a bricked-up doorway. There were a few signs of habitation but nobody was around. They explored this dusty, abandoned building decorated everywhere with an aquatic theme. A few clues and some thorough searching revealed hidden treasures like gold coins, a bar of white metal (platinum!) and a strange potion decorated with eyes.

Again, they descended into the building's basement and explored. It was obvious they had entered a section of the Undercity! They passed through a temple room with a massive stone stele, by a fountain with an old inscription, and through a windowed passage that looked out over a huge chamber below. 

Beneath them they could see a hive of beggars & madmen dressed in rags, living a degenerated existence beneath the city. Passing along they discovered a fresco of a strange door, but decided enough was enough - it was time to leave before getting into a dangerous confrontation!

Monsters Defeated:

cloud of darkness (345 xp)

gargoyle idol (555 xp)

Treasure Found:

black cat coat

silver seal

bat amulet

silk cloak

silver ore pieces

electrum coins (1950)

potion

scroll

silver lantern

gold coins (200)

platinum ingot

vial decorated with eyes

everburning brazier (keeping)

rainbow crystal in wooden box

Treasure Sold:

silver seal (600 sp)

silk cloak (50 sp)

silver ores (250 sp)

silver lantern (225 sp)

platinum ingot (1000 sp)

(more about the rest in downtime)

Congratulations for finding a huge amount of treasure in this area!

Each PC gets this payout:

This is a combination of coinage shares & selling off treasure.

28 gold
278 electrum
124 silver (310-186 for identifying magic items)

Clif is now level 4!

Owen the Vitalizer is now level 2, and his experience total is capped at 3,124, one point away from 3rd. (You can't gain two levels at a time)

Gaddock the Inebriated is now level 2!
Cassia is now level 3!

NOTES

Congratulations gang on reaching session 40!

Most D&D games last about 10% as long as this.

As discussed, we are taking a short break while your long-suffering DM rations his limited mental faculties towards school. Please see the #downtime-activities page on Discord for downtime notes, identifying items, town activity between sessions, etc. This will be updated sporadically as I have time.

Gaddock the Inebriated made a lucky roll on the Random Items table, and began play with a Potion of Levitation! We'll just say that he forgot he had it in his confusion after being stuffed into the closet. Mike, let me know if you'd like me to roll for a chance that Gaddock is psionic.