Cauldron Con AAR: Day 3 & Final Thoughts

Hello Blogland. The spine-tingling conclusion to my European adventure at Cauldron Con is here!!

DAY 3

I awoke feeling not too worse for wear considering my misadventures the previous night (see Part 2). Coffee was in short supply but I cadged a half-cup, ate some food and got ready for...

The Awards

Speeches! Settembrini mentioned every DM who ran a game (hurrah to all of you!), the volunteers who tirelessly put in their own time to make it happen, the people who spent money at the auction, and the bold players who came from around the world to game!

The Blackrazor Cup Champions

1st place: some group with 390,000 gold pieces collected!!!

2nd: 235,000 gp or so

3rd: our group, 220,000 gp!

The author leaps into the photo with the other bronze medalists, just in time.

GusB was wrong, we did not get first place. Nevertheless it was a close competition (except for 1st place, who knows what kind of loot they found) and well played by everyone - just wait until next year! Medals were handed out, pictures taken, and so much clapping that my hands started to hurt.

After this event the games filled up fast, but I managed to get myself...

***

Into The Cellars

DM: Grutzi

Players:

Me - Sven, Swedish vagabond

Chris - Charlie, English vagabond

Hynek - Ignatius, Czech student

Dominico - Mikael, Czech sharpshooter

Markus - Brother Frederico - Italian priest

Jay - Kryztof - Polish duelist

A Helvéczia adventure, the only one of the convention! Grutzi was fairly new to the system but I had run it once before (see my report on The Seven Knaves a while ago). He handled the system adeptly and of course is a veteran DM, so along with some other experienced players we had no problems in that department.

At a party hosted by robber baron-turned-gentleman Alveraten Perzholt [did I spell this right?], the guests received a chilling surprise: at the stroke of midnight all doors and windows of the manor house slammed shut, trapping everyone inside. A statue of the Archangel Michael spoke to the guests in a frightening voice, proclaiming that when the sun rose, the souls of all within would be forfeit to the Devil! The statue invited anyone wishing to change this outcome to venture below and negotiate a better outcome for themselves.

Six of the guests were chosen to sort out this issue. This motley group (us) took the servants' stairs and entered the manor's cellars...

We found a kitchen staffed by dancing devils, helpfully exorcised by Brother Frederico. After they disappeared, a fire in the stove began to grow larger and hotter, giving us the impression that something was coming. We made our exit quickly at that point and heard a fiendish voice after we closed the door. Better not to get involved in that!

Progressing further, we came to a large cistern with a group of patrolling skeletons. We had decided not to use our guns for fear of letting our hosts know we were coming, so we took the undead by surprise, pushing them into a pool of water where they were attacked by giant lampreys. Mikael, not having any weapon besides his carbine, knocked one on the head with a perfectly-aimed loaf of bread!

We avoided several hallways crowded with gargoyle statues, assuming they would come to life and attack. Following the distant sound of music, we came to a large mirrored hall filled with dancing ghosts. A skeleton band at one end played endless waltzes while at the other end was a large door. Alright, clearly something would happen if we entered but what? We checked out a dressing-room nearby and appropriated the finery for ourselves in the hopes of blending in. Meanwhile, Kryztof found a secret door leading to a strange room with a preserved human hand holding a diamond the size of a marble! Pocketing this strange item and treasure, we entered the ballroom.

Some of us danced well, making it across the room without a problem. Others clumsily bumped into the ghosts and were damaged by the icy cold of the grave. Nevertheless we all made it through eventually.

On the other side of the ballroom the corridors beneath the manor continued and we weren't sure which way to go next. Ignatius summoned a small imp to scout the possibilities [good move] and it reported to us: northwards was a sitting-room inhabited by a cinderman [a type of demon that eats flames]. To the south were some stairs, a fountain and a chapel. We elected to avoid the demon for now in the hope that Brother Frederico would benefit from a visit to the chapel, perhaps gaining new spells.

On the way to the chapel we spotted a secret door. As it turned out, the mirrors in the ballroom were one-way! We found ourselves circling the ballroom in some kind of spy tunnels. They led to an artists' studio behind the bandstand. From this vantage point we could see that just on the other side of the mirrors, behind the skeletal band, a pedestal rested with a suit of glowing chainmail on it. But how to get it without breaking the glass, alerting the skeletons and getting into a big fight? We would likely win but it was getting late and we didn't want to spend too much time on it.

I forget whose idea it was [Dominico's I think] to use the preserved hand holding the diamond to cut a hole in the mirror and pilfer the chainmail. Unfortunately for us, the cut out piece fell and broke, alerting the skeletal band! We grabbed the armour and ran through the secret tunnels, closing the doors behind us.

We moved on to the chapel where Brother Frederico preached a sermon to a congregation of ghosts, banishing them to their final rest and opening up a secret stairwell downwards. The group descended and found themselves confronted with three doors: one with a clenched fist, another with a pair of dice, and the third with praying hands. We decided to split up and tackle all three doors separately.

Ignatius and Brother Frederico tried the door with praying hands, the Test of Faith. It led to a simple hallway lined with statues. As they progressed, their virtue was tested more and more severely. Any time they failed, a holy fire scorched them! They made it to the end, but with almost no hit points left.

Charlie and Sven tried the door with a pair of dice, the Test of Luck, and found a room holding only a table with a deck of cards. Charlie boldly drew one first and not even his scoundrel's luck could save him from the result: DEATH! [This was harsh, but funny.] Sven got luckier, drawing a card which materialized a key in his pocket for the exit. He looted poor Charlie's pistol and shot and moved on.

Mikael and Kryztof tried the door with the fist, the Test of Might, and were embroiled in a battle to the death with an animated suit of armour! At this point it seemed the time for subtlety had departed, so Mikael started blasting with his carbine while the Italian swordsman fought two-weapon style. In a close match, the construct was defeated and the door opened.

Someone: "So we're switching to guns now?"

Dominico: "I'm out of bread!"

We all emerged from the same door on the other side, reunited by the mysterious forces that had created these tests.

Rest of group: "Where's Charlie? Hey... is that his gun??"

Me: "Uhmmmm..."

Descending the final set of stairs, we came to a room with a great banquet set up. Our host, Alverofen Perzholt was seated at the table while a horned demon stood talking to him. This was it!

The demon introduced himself as Nabigolo and invited our group to sit, explaining the situation: Perzholt had offered his soul to Nabigolo in a bargain many years ago in return for worldly wealth and success, but now the bill had come due. Not inclined to part with it yet, he had devised an alternate plan: hold a party and trap a whole group of other souls for Nabilgolo in exchange for his own. At this point the demon offered us wealth, success, and most importantly escape from the manor if we would sell our souls to him individually.

Well, the solution to the problem was a simple one and good work that Ignatius noticed it! Suffice it to say that Alverofen Perzholt got what was coming to him while the party guests escaped into the bright light of day.

This was a really good adventure and the whole group played well, made quick decisions, and were just fun guys to sit at the table with. Grutzi wrote this adventure himself, and I must say I think he nailed the particular tone of this game perfectly, not an easy thing to do! I hope he releases it for the other Helvéczia GMs out there.

***

And that was the last adventure of the convention! The weekend had come to an end and with heavy hearts we packed our bags, cleaned our rooms and drove home through the windmill-haunted hills of Deutschland.

SCORES

Games Run: 2

Players: 12

Characters: 13

PC Kills: 0/13

PC Transfigurations: 1/13

Player Wins: 2/2

Games Played: 3

Character Deaths: 0

Wins: 3/3

Technical Knockouts: 1

FINAL THOUGHTS

I am not much of an orator, so let's keep this short:

What a tremendous experience, especially for a first convention. Everybody was friendly and there to play the game. I met cool new people and had the chance to put faces to plenty of names I've interacted with or seen online over the years.

Playing adventures together (especially the challenge modules like the Blackrazor Cup or Assault on the Beckerdrome) brought out the TRVE GAMER SPIRIT of competition, a friendly battle for high scores with everyone showing up to win and playing their best. Players were focused (98% of the time anyway) on kicking ass, getting treasure and achieving victory. It's amazing what you can get done in a 4-hour game session with that mentality! The rest of the fun was laughing with other players and DMs over dinner or comparing notes with another group that had played the same adventure. There were so many great games that even showing up at the back of the signup line, you were definitely going to play in something cool.

The con is run by volunteers (including Settembrini's family!) for a small audience, and this really shows. The whole weekend had a family & friends atmosphere which was absorbing even for a foreigner who can't speak the language and knew almost nobody. People you had never met, had never gamed with, but had only passed on the way to get a beer would engage you in conversation over dinner and wish you a fond goodbye when you departed on the last day.

It was great to have such a shared experience, united by what would seem such a small and simple thing we all do - playing D&D!

10 out of 10, incredible weekend. I'll see you all next year!

***

Well blogland, that was a roller-coaster ride, wasn't it? 

Stay tuned later this week for an after-action megapost about Gilded Dream of the Incandescent Queen!

Cauldron Con AAR: Day 2

Greetings again blogland! Cauldron Con was so awesome that a full report could not be contained in one post. Read on for...


DAY 2

Waking up early, I frantically cleaned up my pregen character sheets to return them to factory settings, since I only brought one set for the two games! [Apologies to those who wanted to keep their sheets from the first game, this is a mistake I won't make again.]

With everything in place, I hunted down some coffee and got into character. After the previous day's session I knew I would be fine, so we dove right in to...


***

Saturday Block I
Gilded Dream of the Incandescent Queen

DM: Me

Players:

Premier - Edward the Scissorhands II, fighter 5 and his henchman Wigmund & John Magic II, M-U 5
Chomy - Arok II, ranger 5 & Torglol, elf fighter 4/M-U 4
Bexter - Berwick II, cleric 5 
Der Oger - Wicked Joe, assassin 5
Vorpal Mace - John Magic II, M-U 5 (late arrival, Premier handed off one character at this point)

With a smaller group, I let a few players bring an extra character to bring the total PCs up to six.

I gave the group the same preamble (see Part 1) and we were off!

The party checked out the Meeting Room briefly and scooped up a few pieces of treasure, then moved across to the Hall of Primaries. They ducked past a few glowing butterflies and examined the objects in the room briefly, but couldn't come up with a plan to open the sealed door. They decided to move on quickly [smart move in a time-limited convention game!].

They progressed through the long hall and turned a group of skeletons who fled the sanctum and were destroyed by a massive lightning strike on the balcony [a lucky roll!]. The same lightning frightened a pack of glowing butterflies, leaving the way clear. The group turned the skeletons lurking in the Room of Night, and found an invitation on an adventurer's corpse.

In a departure from the previous group's play, the party returned to the entry room and showed their invitation to the butlers. The helpful servants brought the party upstairs to the Trophy Room, explaining that the Queen was further above but they were not permitted to enter. The group also asked the butlers many questions about the sanctum, learning about the queen's alchemist (who works in the basement) and the general of her armies (not seen for many years).

Opening the gold & silver doors to the grand throne room, the group carefully approached the apparently-dead queen in formation. Berwick II got close enough to breathe in her poisonous aura. I forget what exactly they did to disturb her but the undead monarch woke up, and the fight was on! The witch-queen gave a better account of herself this time [casting Invisibility on the first round, then summoning more skeletons] but between a Fireball from John Magic II, a few tense melee rounds for Wicked Joe and Arok II, Silence 15' Radius from Berwick II, and well-timed use of a Potion of Flying by Edward to fly outside the arena and attack from the rear, the queen was slain and her treasure [what wasn't melted by the Fireball] looted!

With this victory achieved early, the group investigated the throne room. Berwick II stepped upon the golden stairs and failed 2 saving throws! His spirit was split into pure good (ascending to the sun, never to return) and pure evil (a 1 HD skeleton, easily destroyed by Edward). Before he vanished into the rapturous heavens, Berwick II's player was allowed one question, which the DM had to answer with perfect truth:

Bexter, without hesitation: "What is the alchemist's stat block?"

Me: "HEY, have you read this adventure or what?!?"

After assuring me he hadn't, I explained that this was an excellent question: I opened the OSRIC book to the Glabrezu entry and the players decided they would be mighty careful dealing with the queen's alchemist!

Around this point, Vorpal Mace showed up and somebody passed him a character sheet. Bexter was handed Arok II to replace the departed Berwick II, and we were back in action.

Using the gold sun key they took from the queen, the party bluffed their way past a few talking statues and took the stairs all the way to the basement. They were accosted by an old man behind bars, begging to be freed - the queen's alchemist! They scammed him out of a bit of gold but had no intention of setting the demon loose.

Exploring the prison using the Queen's Key, they discovered a room with a puddle of mercury that took the form of a knight, electing to seal the door shut when it made an aggressive move. They rescued an old monk named Ernas who had been trapped by the queen for many years and made immortal by his trip up the golden stairs.

Around that point we were running out of time, and luckily for the group they had Ernas with them and he knew the password to the teleporter!

Great and tight play by these guys, especially in the battle with the queen. They saw a different slice of the dungeon than any other group and were the only players to try out the stairs or make their way into the basement!

[Full breakdown of treasure, etc. in its own post later!]

With another successful delve, we turned our attention to lunch. More laughs were had around the tables, folks regaling us with thrills & spills of their games. GusB was convinced that our group had secured the Blackrazor Cup in our game the day before, especially after hearing about the disastrous run Prince and Parti had (they went into the pit of wights, dear god!). I was fairly confident, but prepared for a surprise (wait for Part 3).

I reached the signup sheets near the back of the line and saw that most games were full already! Then I espied an adventure that looked very cool, and signed up for...


***

Saturday Block II
Caul's Dark Citadel

DM: Jonathan Becker


Players:
(sorry, I didn't write down everyone's characters!)

Me - Sheila, thief 6/cleric 6
Doof - magic-user

Theo - fighter I think

Michael S.

Martin

Hening
Grutzi - cleric 5

I saw that Becker had run Anthony Huso's adventure The Silver Temple of Transcendent Flame the previous day, so I had my suspicions about what would happen. I was not disappointed!

The antipaladin Caul, Flayer of Men (a villain from Huso's original Esoteric Order of the Twilight Princess home campaign) had kidnapped the Divine Child, and was holding it in his evil castle. Our job was to break in, steal the child back and escape!

As a diehard Huso fan, I was obviously all-in for this. Having read and immersed myself in the original play reports, this felt like having a chance to go back and fight Darth Vader before the first Star Wars movie!

Our characters were Becker's interpretation of the cast of the '80s D&D cartoon, now all grown up. This was a bit odd, since Huso's adventures are usually pretty dark - it seemed like a tonal mismatch. Having no knowledge of the cartoon myself, I grabbed the first sheet that said 'cleric' on it, and got a dual-classed thief/cleric with Boots of Elvenkind and - a Cloak of Invisibility? Now we're talking!

Sheila turned out to be sick as hell. Her invisibility cloak had unlimited uses, so I spent my time way out in front of the group, scouting out the situation invisibly. Many backstabs were dealt out, and much advance warning gained about upcoming problems in the dungeon.

Sheila climbed up to the top tower of the fortress and let a rope down. A single half-elf was lurking, and once the group got his attention a tense confrontation began. As soon as he reached for an item, it was backstabbing time! He turned out to be a tough cookie (an assassin with a Potion of Speed throwing 6 poisoned darts in one round, luckily we all made our saves) but soon he surrendered and we pumped him for information about Caul, his associates and underlings (including a drow witch), and some kind of "giant mutant crustaceans." Hmm...

Mapping this place turned out to be a real problem. Caul's fortress had clearly been constructed with infernal assistance - hallways and stairs looped up and down over each other with no rhyme or reason. Every NPC we asked about the fortress would respond "well, this place is kind of strange..." until Becker was, with a grin, repeating the line to a chorus of groans from the players! 

[The only complaint I have about this group is that we spent too much time talking to NPCs. I understand the impulse to make sense of a strange area - after all information is power - but there comes a point when the most useful details have been extracted and it's time to move on.]

The group wandered the twisting halls of Caul's citadel. I tried to use Locate Object to find the drow witch's sanctum, but it did not work. We rescued some slaves and got a few details. Then we came to the Great Hall, where we knew Caul held court. It was time to take down the villain (honestly, all I cared about at this point in the adventure).

We had two characters in disguise enter the hall, along with an invisible Sheila. Unfortunately for us, the Flayer of Men was not deceived - he ordered his gnolls to seize us! Sheila ran back down the stairs to tell the rest of the group and there was a mad scramble for a fighting position at the doorway.

At this point I was so stoked that it was impossible to contain myself, I was vibrating in my seat. I hope my excitement did not render me too much of a pain in the ass at the table...

While most of the group battled the gnolls, Sheila snuck up behind Caul and hit him with a Hold Person spell [he failed his saving throw, rolling a 2!]. Once again the feared antipaladin had been brought low, and in the same manner as in Huso's home game!

[Cue George Lucas saying: "It's like poetry. It rhymes."]

After the battle our fighter [run by Theo, IIRC] put on Caul's armour and posed as the master of the castle. After a short detour to the slave pens to fight the ogre slave-master [and good use of Speak with Dead by Grutzi] we progressed to the final confrontation in the drow witch's sanctum. 

We had concocted a great plan. Our illusionist disguised us as gnoll troops with Spectral Force and we accompanied "Caul," following at a respectful distance. Our fighter started a conversation, walked right up to the witch and used his magical shield to create a dome of force, trapping her inside with him. Welcome to the thunderdome, baby!!!

At this point we unleashed as much power as we could and the fight escalated quickly: the evil cultists were targeted with a barrage of Hold Person spells, the monk grabbed the Divine Child and ran, while the rumoured Giant Mutant Crustaceans emerged from all around us, pincers ready! Sheila ran after the monk invisibly to provide backup while the rest of the group used spells, special abilities and some great attack rolls to destroy the gigantic man-eating crabs.

When the battle was done, the witch surrendered. Our fighter stripped her of her gear and spared her life with the following words:

"Return to the under-realms that spawned you, and know that your queen just witnessed your defeat!"

Awesome. Becker ran a tight ship, and the rest of the players were on the ball, coming up with really good plans and schemes, one after another. At this point the session had run long by about 20 minutes - we were late for dinner! Flushed with victory, we filled out some feedback sheets and hauled ass down to...

***

Dinner & The Auction

We laughed, we cried, we spent a mountain of Euros!

Dinner was roast pig, a patrician choice by the convention. Because I was late, I didn't eat as much as I should have. After Becker's game I was flying high on the thrill of victory, buckets of coffee, adrenaline, and a few beers on an empty stomach. This explains a little bit of what came next...

Settembrini held forth masterfully, describing the merits of every item and its place in gaming history. Many folks had donated games from their own collections, even pieces of original artwork!

An array of games both old and new appeared on the block. Some old Das Schwarz Auge material was snapped up (great to see some national pride from the Germans for their own homegrown RPG). Several classic Judges Guild books (Castles II and Temples, IIRC) disappeared in the blink of an eye, the prices raising so fast that I was left breathless, unable to even bid!

I steeled myself and resolved to get in on the action. Assisting in this plan, Chomy placed an assortment of Hungarian liquors on the table with a conspiratorial smile, inviting me to sample the various flavours. They were all quite smooth, and I was certain none of them had been made in a bathtub. At the same time, Becker slid a bottle of some kind of fancy high-proof American whisky down the table for us to try.

The contest was on! After throwing out a few numbers and being outbid at every turn, I found myself in a neck-and-neck contest with a German at another table who would simply add 1 Euro to my own bid in a vicious campaign to troll me (and raise more money for the Con, I'll wager...). With Parti banging on the glass behind me and waving his wallet, Prince slapping me on the shoulder, and the crowd's noise urging me to ever greater boldness, I persisted and won an original piece of Andrew W's artwork: the town of Silvash from Melan's Cloister of the Frog God!

At this juncture a bottle of Jamieson appeared in front of me as if by magic (another Irish trick by Lynchpin, I suspect). Flushed with success I threw out more bids, won a purple and gold Cauldron dice bag and pumped the numbers up on several more lots without winning them. Even losing at this auction was great fun, cheers to all the participants who scored so many great items!

It is at about this point, dear reader, that your narrator slowly - and then rapidly - lost the thread of his tale. Darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, wandering on roads that I dare not tell...


.


..


...


I regained my senses outside in the fresh air and had a nice chat with Chomy, who was kind enough to look after me. Perhaps he felt some nagging guilt for introducing this effete Anglo to his devastating Eastern European concoctions?

Either way, I was rendered totally incapable of playing in Attronarch's game in Block III (the only disappointment of the con, I really wanted to see how he does the Wilderlands!) and retired with some water and a few extra-strength Advil, thankful that I hadn't caused an excessive amount of mayhem.

To get a true sense of the experience, consult:


PALINKA MISCIBILITY TABLE (d6*d20):

1 - [SLURS]

2 - have a pleasant conversation

3 - go to bed early

4 - say "I'll tell you what, bud!" and then fall over

5 - leave unidentifiable crud on character sheet

6 - fight a Turk

7 - punch whoever is sitting next to you

8 - bid 2x more than planned

9 - run out of darts, stop rolling immediately

10 - throw up during a game

11 - swear to never drink again... and this time, mean it

12 - bidding war with a German

13 - raise the roof

14 - off-colour jokes during auction

15-17 - shout "HELL YEAH!" after anyone says anything

18 - wake up feeling pretty okay, considering

19 - swear revenge on duplicitious potion vendor

20 - death in 2d6 turns


Stay tuned for the senses-shattering conclusion of DAY 3!!!

Cauldron Con AAR: Day 1

Greetings Blogland! I have returned home from a low-ceilinged garret by the frigid Atlantic (an AirBNB in Iceland) where I was recuperating from the weekend's excesses and doing some light tourism. Now, the tales of woe can be told.

Cauldron Con began inauspiciously: after a few weeks of European travel I won't bore you with here, we packed our bags a final time and set out from Amsterdam a day early. The party consisted of Princeofnothing, the infamously cruel dutch reviewer; Particularist, the mad autist of Ransack fame; and your humble scribe. Attempting to drive a reasonable (but fun) speed on the autobahn, we were beset by etheral windmills looming from the mists and BMWs going 200kph (our little rental was barely capable of that speed), but we made it to a small and quaint German town, apparently ripped straight from the pages of The Witcher.


Pregaming

There we met up with discord stalwart Doof and his Northern comrade Niklas, and played the harshest session of Ransack I've seen so far. Parti had converted Slyth Hive, Prince's famous high-level AD&D module, to his own system. We used 12th-level pregens created in the depths of Dave Hargrave's most feverish unconscious (Prince's M-U had 3 clone replacements, Doof's ranger was a bird-man(?), and my changeling assassin had a nuclear bomb!!).

We assailed the slyth, using Prince's knowledge of his own adventure to our advantage. My assassin was mind-blasted to hell in the first encounter, but not before killing 170 slyth with Dust of Sneezing & Choking. Delving to level 3 with my replacement PC, a monk, we managed to slay 2 froghemoths in a single round with judicious (and risky) use of our special abilities. But not before the monk was turned into a super-werewolf, tore himself from a froghemoth's stomach, and ate the magic-user, whose clone arrived in time to see the monk revert to human form.

On the aquatic level, we fried a school of piranhas using a sentient energy-blasting lichen we had befriended, and Prince knew where the best treasure was buried... We had scored big, but it didn't feel at all like cheating.

Overall, a brutal affair played at an almost incomprehensible power level. Would play again, and Ransack rules.

By this point it was perhaps 2 AM and, energy flagging, we packed it in. I spent a restless night on a cold and lumpy AirBNB couch which I volunteered for in my usual "no problem bro, I've been doing this for 20 years" fashion. As it turned out, this would prove no impediment.



DAY ONE

After an artful breakfast served by a peppery old German fellow in a restaurant far too nice for us, we were ready to drive onwards to Cauldron!

The village of Rosenthal was the perfect place to hold the event: small and picturesque. We arrived early, stowed our gear and got acquainted with the venue. The indefatigable organizer Settembrini (assisted by his whole family - incredibly wholesome to see!) was running around, talking to people and setting things up. We were greeted by one affable German after another, all helpful (contradicting the reports I'd read regarding the Teutonic personality...). Someone's labradoodle ran everywhere. A massive cooler of beer lay outside ripe for plundering, an assortment of food, coffee and snacks inside. In one corner, a gigantic Chainmail game was being set up.

I found my designated game space in a narrow, rustic-looking upstairs hall with low ceiling timbers and long wooden tables. As folks arrived, I scrambled to finish writing up the pregen characters for my adventure. In all the chaos of my European vacation, I had not had time! In fact I didn't even bring blank sheets, but had to create them by hand the day before (Prince's wife helped - my wrist thanks her!). Giving myself 2 hours was not quite enough. I heard clapping from downstairs and realized I was missing the entire opening ceremonies! The only sound in the upper hall was the scratching of my pencil, the flipping of OSRIC pages, and the blood pounding in my ears.

I went outside to smoke with 5 minutes to spare before game time. As I tried to get into "DM character" I wondered: who would sign up for my game? Would it be fun? Had I cut the adventure to the right size? Should there really be 2 Caryatid Columns in room 24, or perhaps I should add a third?

And most pressing: what if nobody liked the way I handled AD&D initiative?

I should have known what would happen.


***

Friday Block I
Gilded Dream of the Incandescent Queen

DM: Me

Players:
GusB - Edward the Scissorhands, fighter 5 and his henchman Wigmund
Prince - Torglul, elf fighter 4/M-U 4
Melan - Sir Glyptodont, paladin 4
Doof - Bluff, dwarf fighter 4/thief 5
Lynchpin - John Magic, M-U 5
Alex - Arok, ranger 5
Chris - Berek, cleric 5


I returned to the table and was faced with a motley crew of sellswords hungry for gold, glory and earnest violence... and I knew things would turn out fine.

A group of adventurers was teleported into Queen Purah's summer palace, a floating sanctum on the Plane of Air. There she conducted alchemical experiments and sought the secret of eternal life. Had she succeeded? It had been 1000 years since the Queen was last seen. The group not only had to loot the place and find out what happened, but discover a way to escape in the allotted time!

After meeting some butlers made of clouds, the party skipped the Meeting Room. Using his partial dungeon map, Bluff got a sense of the area and the group entered the Hall of Primaries where they used Edward's henchman Wigmund to test out some ideas. Bleeding from his ears, the long-suffering Northman nevertheless executed his orders [good morale check helped by some healing] and the sealed door was opened!

In what would become a running theme, Sir Glyptodont used Detect Evil on everything and instantly clocked a sinister-looking book, dousing it in oil and burning it. The group looted some nice magic items and treasure and moved on.

In a vast hall, they rescued some radioactive butterflies from a pack of bloodthirsty skeletons with a well-placed Turn Undead and some missile attacks. They explored a room suffused in magical darkness [wisely turning the undead inside, which they couldn't see but just KNEW were in there]. In a corpse's backpack they found an invitation to the palace with the Queen's seal - useful!

Emerging in another entryway, they were accosted by flickering, man-shaped lightning elementals, calling "come play with us!" Reasoning that these electric beings could be grounded out, Arok opened his Decanter of Endless Water [I should have thought this one through...]. The bottle made its saving throw and the creatures arced out with a CRACK and the smell of ozone, without the ranger being zapped himself.

The party defeated more skeletons by bashing open a pit trap and found a secret door into the stables where they met Mr. Hall and Mr. Waits, confused celestial beings who seemed friendly enough [a paladin, a good reaction roll, and not bringing along the assassin helped here]. These two agreed to lead the group to "The Stairs," apparently the path they had taken to enter the palace.

The group entered a huge jungle cave - clearly some kind of extradimensional space - where they were attacked by tropical fire-spitting birds and drank from a magical fountain [all the rolls were great here, plenty of healing].

[It was at this point that someone in the group pointed out this game's timeslot was THREE hours, not four! Like the hard-charging mercenaries they were, the whole group kicked into fifth gear. Watching them coalesce into a decisive and aggressive commando team at this point was incredibly fun.]

The party ascended to the second level and opened a few doors, but did not tarry - their goal lay on the top floor. A vast hall floating above the clouds, littered with corpses, and on a great throne of jade rested the body of the Incandescent Queen herself!

The M-U and cleric sallied forth in gaseous and ethereal form to investigate. Using Unseen Servant, John Magic began pilfering the Queen's golden jewelry and the invitation she held in her hands. When her mask was lifted she awoke, an enraged undead monstrosity [as if there was any doubt!].

The party came prepared for war. A Fireball from John Magic, a barrage of missile attacks, and clutch shots by Sir Glyptodont, Torglul and Edward made short work of the evil Queen. Out of time, with a Queen's Invitation in hand, the party was able to get the teleporter password from one of the butlers and return home safely. Not bad for 3 hours' work!

Well played, gentlemen! This group kicked rich amounts of ass, especially considering they only had 3 hours to do it in. The Queen never stood a chance. Tight, tactical and aggressive, just what I wanted to see.

[A full breakdown of treasure, kills & XP will come in its own post later, stay tuned.]

After this frenetic ending we broke for dinner, consisting of a mountain of grilled German sausages and potatoes which I shoveled into my face at high speed. I talked and laughed with my players about the session, met some strangers and heard stories of their games, and unwound after all the day's excitement.

But things weren't over yet...


***

Friday Block II
Rivers of Blood, Death and Glory
Blackrazor Cup tournament module


DM: Grutzi

Players:
(sorry, I forgot to write it all down, this is based on my fallible memory)
Me - cleric
James - halfling thief
Chris - M-U
Melan - dwarf fighter
GusB - monk
Lynchpin - elf fighter/M-U, I think
Doof - bard
Niklas - ranger


Tackling the legendary Blackrazor Cup this year was a gritty challenge. The pregens filtered down the table until Gus, stuck at the very end, disgustedly picked up a monk (sorry bud!). While he frantically looked up the rules for his class, I had a few minutes to choose my cleric spells based on the opening blurb (good thing I paid attention!) and we were off.

Our group set out into a frigid mountain dungeon. We played tightly and tactically and had initial success against a group of yetis using Lynchpin's Web spell. Disaster almost struck when we entered a large chamber and the first two ranks were paralysed for 3 rounds by the yetis' gazes!! Somehow the monk, thief and (I think) ranger managed to hold the line for 3 rounds until the rest of the group could recover. The last yeti covered in Faerie Fire was tossed into a pit, the eerie glow illuminating over a dozen bloodthirsty wights. No thanks! This fight bogged us down for a while, but once the combat was done we really took off running.

In a vast hall we discovered a throne of ice inset with giant diamonds. No problem, I had prepared Resist Cold and Melan's dwarf was happy to pry them out. After taking these we explored a room with a crystal ball [we pondered it for a while]. Divination helped here, along with demihumans' ability to detect secret doors. Peeking through one we found revealed a mighty stone golem waiting in the hall, guarding stairs upwards - uh oh!

Locate Object, searching for an item to use against the golem, led us to the south into a room with a corpse holding a weapon and wearing an ornate chain of office. Various ideas were considered, until I decided the cleric would bash in the skull of the corpse - just to make sure, you understand. This was the wrong move, as a spectre revealed itself, and laughed off my attempt to Turn Undead! The horror was dispatched but not before draining 2 levels from Melan's dwarf.

This harrowing experience aside, we looted the corpse's identifying chain, which of course allowed us to pass down the hall past the stone golem unharmed. This led into the treasure room, where heaped before us were the treasures of uncounted ages!

After transporting it all back to our boat, we had a few options: would it be possible to pass by the golem up the stairs, somehow? Scouting with Wizard Eye revealed valuable treasures. James even boldly tried to climb his halfling thief over the golem's head and got bashed with a stony fist for his troubles.

A few ideas were proposed, but it was getting late and we were running out of time. Instead, we looted the crystal ball from the previous room (good job disarming that trap James), and loaded everything out onto our raft. Victory was ours!

By my tally, we had removed over 200,000 gp worth of treasure from the dungeon. Could anyone else do better? We didn't think so at the time...


***

When the adventure was done it was already about midnight, or maybe 1 AM? Time enough to have a snack and maybe one more drink, then pass out in my bunk and set an alarm for 7:00 AM when we would do it all over again...

[Play Report] Helvéczia - The Seven Knaves

A few months ago, I got the wonderful Helvéczia boxed set from EMDT (read all about it here, and then go buy it here). One day when my online B/X group was a bit short-handed, I decided to run the starting adventure included in the book. My players had a great time. I thought I would have to explain everything to them but they understood the premise instantly and got right into character. Now they ask me when we can play "the fop game" again!

Here is how it all went down:

THE SEVEN KNAVES

Meeting on the Road

Three wanderers ambled along a cliffside highway after sunset:
Tarasz Lobodou - a handsome Cossack wearing expensive boots and a feathered hat;
Wilhelm Rudd - a sure-footed, sharp-eyed Dutchman with a crossbow, at home in the wilderness;
and 
Zenzi - formerly an innkeeper, this German was now pursuing his education in arcane sciences, while carrying a sack full of grenades.

Tarasz, introducing himself: "People outside Zaporizia can't pronounce my name very well."
Zenzi: "Yes, and those inside don't want to!"

Having just been turned out of Oberwalden village by the sullen residents, they were on their way to the next town and the next adventure when they came upon an old moss-covered stone cross by the roadside. A dishevelled vagrant slept beneath it, his hat over his face. Tarasz shook him and he woke with a start of fear, only relaxing when he noticed the group wasn't hostile.

The tramp introduced himself as Bernard, explaining that he had been begging for alms at a house up the road when he was set upon by a gang of toughs who took what little money he had and gave him a thrashing for his troubles - they posted a few guards on the road by a stone arch, so he wouldn't come back. 

Moved by the poor man's plight, Tarasz gave him a few coins [+1 Virtue]. The group thought they might investigate these ruffians to see the truth of his story.

But first, Wilhelm's keen eyesight spotted a distant red glow in the nearby forest and the group decided to investigate, with Bernard in tow. Walking along a narrow path through pine forests that had never known a woodsman's axe, they came to a small patch of glowing red mushrooms with fireflies dancing above. Each adventurer took a piece, and the glow persisted after they had been picked.

The forest path continued past the mushrooms until the group came upon a small mountain lake (more of a pond, really) surrounded by rushes. A cave opening in some rock formations was visible beyond. Peering into the water, Zenzi noticed a yellow glow amongst the weeds at the lake's bottom. Wasting no time, Tarasz stripped to the waist, set his sword & pistol carefully aside, held a dagger in his teeth and dove into the water.

Lucky he was to bring a weapon, as the brave Cossack was immediately attacked by a gigantic man-eating frog! The horrid beast almost swallowed him whole, and only swift action with his main-gauche allowed escape. Meanwhile two more of the creatures leapt towards the group on the shoreline, one almost swallowing Bernard whole.

Zenzi, noticing one of his areas of study is Amphibians: "This is the greatest day of my life!"

While Tarasz swam for dear life, a keen-eyed crossbow shot by Wilhelm and a blast from one of Zenzi's grenades taught the other amphibious predators a lesson. Making it to the shore just ahead of his pursuer, Tarazs managed to put a final bullet in it a split-second before it bit him again! After the fight, Tarasz swam down and recovered a glowing golden cross from the bottom of the lake while Wilhelm managed to treat Bernard's wounds [a very lucky Medicine roll!].

In the cave was a tomb, showing an armoured man and an inscription: Von Oberwalden. Part of the carving was movable and had a place for a key or signet of some kind. Zenzi made an impression of the symbol, but lacking any such key the group moved on.

The House

Emerging from the woods, the party espied a moss-covered stone farmhouse across the road. Cheery light shone from its windows and the sounds of song & merry-making could be heard. Further back up the highway, a stone arch was visible against the starlight.

Deciding on a 'divide-and-conquer' strategy, Wilhelm snuck through the woods while the rest of the group walked up the road with a lantern towards the stone arch. Lurking in the trees, Wilhelm could hear the two guards playing dice and grumbling about their posting.

Tough 1: "We have to sit out here, watching out for that bum! Meanwhile Raoul and the lads are drinking in a nice warm cabin. Pfaugh!"
Tough 2, notices the party appraching: "Oh, what's this? Mayhap we've got some relief after all."

But it was not to be. As the party got close enough to recognize, Tarasz whipped out a pistol and the game was up. Caught by surprise, they considered their options but were thoroughly demoralized to see Wilhelm emerge from the trees at their flank, crossbow levelled. The toughs were forced to admit they had robbed Bernard, were interrogated, then bound & gagged and left in a roadside ditch. The beggar was overjoyed to get his handful of coppers back [+1 Virtue for everyone].

Tough 1: "As a good Christian, you wouldn't shoot an unarmed man?"
Tarasz, brandishing pistol: "Mayhap I'll send you to G-d and let him be the judge of that!"

The group learned very little except the gang's leader was a rich gentleman named Raoul, and something important was happening tonight. 

As the party returned to the house, the Oberwalden town church bell tolled ten o'clock. The sounds of merriment still issued from inside. Listening carefully, Wilhelm felt sure there were no more than six men inside. The stables held only a fierce-looking, night-black warhorse nobody dared approach. The party decided to lie in wait for a while, reasoning that after all this drinking somebody would have to come outside to relieve themselves.

Half an hour later, their patience was rewarded when a shabbily-dressed thug stumbled out towards the forest. Tarasz and Zenzi crept up on him carefully, the latter preparing to cast a spell on him: The Mirror of Narcissus.

Zenzi's player: "And just as he whips it out, I step forward and meet his eyes..."
Tarasz's player: "I take some small steps back from the scene."

Failing his Temptation save, Witless Heinz (for so he was called) saw Zenzi for a simple rogue just like himself, happily having a few drinks. He spilled the whole story: Raoul was a tough & fearsome leader who sometimes ventured into the woods all alone and showed signs of knowing magic (his boots were shoed in reverse). He had told the gang that an important visitor was arriving tonight, commanding them to return to the house at eleven o'clock. The group sent Heinz back inside with a commandment to keep silent about them [he made a Temptation save to keep his mouth shut, another of the company's lucky rolls this night!].

The group heard Oberwalden's church bells ring out eleven as they deliberated on their next move. Finally they decided on the direct approach: Zenzi threw a grenade through the window while the rest of the group charged in through the stable door! There was the crash of gunpowder, screams of agony & fear, fire and smoke. Tarasz spotted the rogue Raoul standing in the front doorway, lace spilling from his cuffs. The black-clad Spaniard held up a crystal globe which seemed to absorb Tarasz's mind, drawing his whole consciousness towards it - but the Cossack's will was stronger than this black magic and he resisted. Inside, Wilhelm cut down some Frenchman who tried to blast him with a blunderbuss, while Bernard went wild with a club in the confusion & smoke.

Seeing things were turning against him, Raoul tried to flee down the highway, but Tarasz managed to hit him with a flying tackle, knocking the crystal sphere from his hand just as Zenzi came around the corner! Together the two of them subdued the rogue.

As the smoke cleared, Wilhelm saw that poor Witless Heinz had been laid low by Bernard in the latter's zeal to punish the ruffians who robbed him. Taking pity on the fool, he saw to his injuries [another great Medicine roll, and +1 Virtue!].

The Visitor

With the villains subdued, the group searched the house and interrogated Raoul. They found a few Pfennigs on the ruffians, and Zenzi took Raoul's spare set of fancy black clothes, putting them on so he resembled the dashing criminal.

Searching Raoul was illuminating: the party found a catalogue of grave sins (murder, arson, etc), each one signed by himself and another called Goodfriend. The man was tough-minded and resisted interrogation, but the group did manage to get a few details out of him - the mysterious midnight visitor was to be the Devil himself, with whom Raoul would make a bargain most foul!

A plan began to form. The group tied Raoul to a tree outside and cleaned up the house as best they could. Zenzi carefully cut Raoul's moustache off and stuck it to his own lip. 

As midnight tolled, the clatter of wheels and neighing of horses could be heard. An elegant black carriage pulled by four fierce chargers pulled up to the small country house. Its driver was obscured by a cloak & broad hat, with clouds of red sparks issuing from beneath as if exhaled by a furnace. Stepping jauntily out of the coach, dressed in an elegant vest & monocle was the sooty-faced Devil, horns and all! 

He rapped sharply on the door and Zenzi invited him in. "Ah, nice to see you again Raoul. Do you look a bit different...? No matter." Whether Zenzi's hasty disguise had fooled the demon [another fantastic roll this night!] or all men looked much the same to him was unclear.

"You have the papers?" Zenzi produced Raoul's paperwork and Goodfriend reiterated the terms: worldly fame, wealth, magical power & skill at the Devil's Bible (playing cards) in exchange for a sequence of heinous crimes... and one immortal soul! After signing the contract, Zenzi really didn't feel any different, but Goodfriend said the changes would take effect the next day. He offered to do deals with the rest of the group, but when they weren't interested he bid everyone farewell, jumped into his carriage and was gone with a clatter of hooves.

Return to the Crypt

After this, Raoul gave up some of his secrets under intense pressure from Wilhelm [torturing a captive, uh oh, -1 Virtue!]. The group was able to recover his treasure - a lockbox with some coins and a signet ring showing a snake coiling around a sphere - the same symbol as in the Von Oberwalden tomb.

Returning to the forest cave, the signet ring unlocked a deeper passage inside. Descending the stairs, Tarasz just barely avoided a hidden spear-trap [lucky save!]. At the bottom was a large stone coffin with a carving of a bearded man with a mace & shield, while four moldering coffins lined the walls. 

Opening the sarcophagus revealed an ancient armoured corpse with a sword on its chest, holding a scroll-case. When Zenzi's Faithful Servant spell retrieved the scroll, the sword rose into the air and attacked! A tense struggle ensued but with Zenzi's quick thinking, a chunk of coffin-wood and Wilhelm's net, the sword was thrown back into the sarcophagus and the lid slammed shut.

Opening the scroll case revealed an ancient paper: The Testament of the von Oberwaldens. This ancient will seemed to indicate that anyone who held it and the signet ring is the true and rightful master of Castle Oberwalden and the whole valley around it!

With this new windfall, the group wonders what strange escapades might come next?

The Catalogue of Sins:

Tarasz - offered charity to Bernard (+1 Virtue)
Everyone - returned Bernard's stolen money (+1 Virtue each)
Wilhelm - showing mercy, healing Witless Heinz (+1 Virtue)
Wilhelm - torturing Raoul (-1 Virtue)
Zenzi - using Student spells (-1 Virtue)
Zenzi - making a pact with the Devil! (-3 Virtue)

Tarasz: +2
Wilhelm: +1
Zenzi: -3

Zenzi's future...?

[Play Report] Land's End II, Session 2 - Escaping the Tunnels

Unknown in-game date

Characters

Iron-In-Blood, Lizardfolk

Heka, Wildman

Floros, Human

Xenia, Planetouched

Pale-Heart, Lizardfolk

Duul, Wildman

Pallas, Human

Agàta, Human

Kazik, Human

Dimemnu, Chthonic Elf

*****

The slaves continued their exploration of the complex beyond the Room of Stars.

From the central chamber with the fire-shooting statue, they ventured to the right into a small tomb. Seven grave niches held loose bones topped with primitive humanoid skulls - perhaps they were wildmen? Primitive metal armour, weapons & funerary masks were displayed prominently next to each collection of bones.

"Gross," said Xenia, touching some of the bones with one bluish foot. "Maybe these masks are valuable, though?"

As the group sifted through the grave goods, a sinister clattering arose. The mounds of bones sprang to life, rolling in unholy bundles towards the group! The slaves stood in the center of the room, laying about them with their stone picks and the butt-ends of spears. The abominations were destroyed, but not before one pile of bones got a lucky shot in - Xenia the planetouched lay dead, bleeding from a grievous neck wound.

A few weapons and a suit of armour were recovered. They were of antique design and slowly rusting away, but far better in battle than the slaves' crude stone mining picks.

Returning to the central room, they took the left exit. This led to a sort of throne room. A stone chair faced a wall made from grey, cracked glass. Tablets lining the walls depicted winged visitors from the skies granting magical gifts to ground-dwelling humanoids. These earthbound peoples used the gifts to wage war on an army of demons led by a goat-headed, bat-winged monstrosity. Finally the winged beings departed, promising to return at some future time. Were they supposed to be angels, gods or something else?

On a table at the back of the room lay the shattered remains of glass vials, clay jars & tablets. A few intact vials held strange fluids: one clear green & cold, the other soft milky blue. The slaves took these, wondering what they might do. Beside them, a clay tablet showed pictograms accompanied by unknown text: a wounded man drank from a bottle and got back up, a fighting-man drank from a bottle and struck his foe, and a man poured a bottle into a river and then walked over it.

"Hmm, three sets of instructions, but two potions" said Pallas. "We'll have to try out which is which later."

On another table rested a small black metal box with a handle on top, adorned with shiny metallic protrusions & crystals on one side. Pallas noticed that a small panel on the bottom could be opened up. Inside was a mess of coloured threads & strange metallic pieces, their functions obscure to him. With a little bit of fiddling, he managed to install one of the threaded metal cylinders they found earlier [last session].

The box came to life! Coloured lights danced around the metallic knobs & dials on the front face. Buzzing, crackling noise filled the room. Frightened of this strange magic, Pallas managed to fiddle with the controls enough to turn down the volume. He could hear distant voices buried in the waves of distortion, but wasn't able to clear up the signal. After some more fidgeting, he removed the metallic cylinder (some kind of power source. Was it magic, or something else?) and the box quieted again. The group brought the black box with them, intending to plumb its secrets a later time.

Through the last door in the large chamber, they entered a darkened room lined with pillars. A shallow pool of water ran through the centre, shimmering with underwater lights. A few lumpen, crystalline golems shuffled towards the group with unknown intentions. They moved slowly, but the slaves weren't taking any chances with a fight. After some experimentation, Kazik realized they were attracted to the groups' lamps. He left one brazier burning in the corner, and the crystalline creatures surrounded it, warming themselves by its light.

Giving these odd beings the slip, the group ventured down a spiral staircase at the end of the room. They next found themselves in a long room with two large tables. Toy battles were set up with tiny clay miniatures showing humans, lizardfolk, elves and stranger beings battling amongst hills, forests and cities. Not understanding this game, Dimemnu the elf took a handful of the figures in case they might be valuable or useful later.

There was only one door left, at the end of the hall of miniatures. It opened onto another room full of clay soldiers - only these ones were life-sized! Under the watery light of a great crystal sphere, a clay general rose from his throne, pointing an accusing finger at the invaders. Seventy clay soldiers began to animate, climbing up from the pit they had been preserved in and moving towards the group.

"Never mind!" said Iron-in-Blood, slamming the door. With no desire to fight ten times their number, the slaves hustled back up the stairs, past the slow-moving men of crystal and back out towards the Room of Stars.

"I hope those clay soldiers can't follow us through this magic door..." Agàta mused.

the deep obsidian caves

The slaves continued exploring, progressing downslope from the Room of Stars. They entered a vast cavern filled with a darkened frozen lake, seemingly frozen in mid-wave! It was not cold or icy to the touch, but some kind of greenish glass. The group could see dim shapes buried underneath the surface, and a few shattered sections that looked as if something once frozen inside had busted out.

Walking on this strange lake was like a maze amongst the breakers. The slaves were accosted by the faint, ghosts of hunched-over, hulking humanoids. Attempts at communication were met with impatient hand gestures. The ghosts seemed to understand a little bit, but couldn't speak themselves. They didn't seem hostile, and the group was at a loss until Floros asked if they knew a way out. The ghosts led the slaves back the way they came, to the edge of the frozen lake. They indicated the group should head up the tunnel to the Room of Stars, then slowly faded out of view.

After this enigma, the slaves returned to the underground river through the Room of Stars. Curious about some of the items they'd brought, Floros decided to don the strange silver helmet garlanded with thin wires. "I can see it! I can-" he exclaimed, before the poor fellow died messily, his eyes exploding from their sockets in a shower of fluid!

Mourning Floros, the slaves explored further into the tunnels. The hopping piranhas were gone now, and the river safe to walk by. Turning back down an unexplored tunnel, the slaves came to a set of three stone statues in alcoves. One of a humanoid man with an elongated, ovoid head, wearing robes and an ornate circlet, pointing a scepter upwards to the ceiling. The second statue was the same man holding a shield, his open hand pointing downwards. The third statue was covered in mineral deposits and unrecognizable. Writing in an unknown language lined the statues' bases and each one had a small bench or step in front of it. 

Duul was interested in the humanoid with the sceptre, and stepped closer to investigate. When he touched the bench, he began to levitate! After some experimenting, it seemed Duul could float upwards or downwards under his own power, but not sideways. The effect wore off after a few minutes. The group decided this was their chance, and each stepped up to receive the statue's blessing in turn - then their friends pushed/pulled them towards the river, before shoving them until they floated to the opposite side. The statue's magic ran out before everyone could be levitated, and Pale-Heart had to jump across into the waiting arms of her companions. Luckily, nobody fell into the swift & cold mountain stream.

Beyond the river, a narrow tunnel extended deep into the mountain. The slaves walked on, with only the flickering coal's light to illuminate their next step. They were all accustomed to fatigue and hunger, but it was impossible to know how much time passed in those dark tunnels. After perhaps one work-shift of walking, at the end of their endurance, the slaves reached the end of the tunnel. A crumbling, rocky opening led out into a lush, rainy mountain valley with a river running lazily through the center. Signs of cultivation were apparent, but nobody was around. 

Have the slaves found a safe place? Will the clay army take over the caverns? What about those ghosts on the frozen lake? What's the deal with that black box? Plenty of unanswered questions remain...

Monsters Defeated:

7 bone-piles

Treasure:

some antique armour & weapons

7 funerary masks

2 colourful potions

tablet with writing & pictures on it

black box that makes noise

a few clay figurines

Experience:

1000 xp each for escaping slavery

*****

Phew, the holiday hangover is beginning to wear off! Thus shall we work through the play-report backlog. Session 3 and 4 were short and exposition-heavy affairs, shouldn't take too much effort to transcribe although memory does play tricks on me sometimes. Our next session is upcoming in a week, and I am hoping for some action!

Anyway, for this dungeon the gang did fairly well, only running away at the very end when things got crazy. I also removed one of the monsters (in the throne room) because they already had to venture through a monster-infested dungeon just to get there, and it didn't exactly fit the theme.

I don't think you should run a DCC level-0 funnel every single day, but I am glad I gave it a try. It is easy, fun, and a nice introduction for rookie players. Nobody has to pick skills or even classes, or worry too much about anything - we just jump into the game! From such humble beginnings, who knows what heroes will emerge?

[Play Report] Land's End II, Session 1 - Jailbreak!

Unknown in-game date


Characters

Iron-In-Blood, Lizardfolk

Heka, Wildman

Floros, Human

Xenia, Planetouched

Pale-Heart, Lizardfolk

Duul, Wildman

Pallas, Human

Vorvou, Chthonic Elf

Agàta, Human

Kazik, Human

Dimemnu, Chthonic Elf

Gold-Foot, Lizardfolk

Hafza, Wildman

*****

Life in the mountains digging obsidian for the lizardfolk is the same every day: Get up early. Dig up the glass. Get beat by the overseers. Go to sleep and do it all again. 

The slaves tell each other stories to pass the time, dreaming of escape to ZEMPHAS, the Lost City of Silver, where no being is made to serve another. One old warm-blood named Agàta said he heard of it from another who had actually been there - he described the argent towers, brass domes that blaze in the sunset and ethereal bells that ring through the city at dawn. He said it lies past mountains, jungle and desert on a vast blue ocean. It seems an impossible distance away.

One day, something changed:

Most obsidian mines are open-air trenches, but then a cave is found with veins of the black & green stuff running through it. The tunnels are deep cracks in the mountain, webbing out in every direction. The overseers sent groups down to extract more obsidian for the Black Wings’ war efforts and to enrich their warchief above all others in the Drowned Lands. 

The nightmares began soon after. Every time it was the same: 

…Horns ring out from the mountaintops. Strange constellations glitter, lighting an unknown earth. Floating in icy water, black and still. The taste of hot blood. The touch of fine-grained stone, cold and damp. Whistling music in the firelight. And voices echoing in a vast, timeless, frozen darkness… 

They persisted for weeks. One slave choked on his own tongue during the night and everyone else was terrified. The overseers & guards stopped going into the tunnels, since only those who work down there get nightmares. 

One day, Agàta made his rounds at mealtime. He was tired & sickly, the nightmares taking their toll on even his mighty frame. He spoke briefly, only to those who worked underground: 

“We’re getting out of here. Tomorrow. Tell only those you trust, ten or twelve at most. Spread the word tonight. They’ll never catch us. I’ve found a way out… down below!”

Escape

At the beginning of the workday the group followed Agàta down into the obsidian tunnels, trusting in his vague plan of an escape route. Each one knew they had until nightfall to get as far as they could before the overseers expected them back. Equipped only with stone picks, leather sacks & lumps of coal for light, they crept through dark tunnels deep within the earth, venturing farther and deeper into the mountains than they ever had before - until Agàta indicated a narrow crawlspace.

"Smell that? Bat guano. We've never seen bats fly through these caves, so there must be a way to the surface through there! And look what else I found!"

Agàta showed the group two strange relics: a chunk of yellow metal with writing on it, and an oddly-shaped... key?... with a glowing orange gemstone in the handle.

"Look at the lettering... this could be from Zemphas itself!"

Treasures? Clues? Relics?

Crawling through the narrow passageway, their backs scraped by the razor-sharp rock, the stench of guano got steadily stronger. The slaves emerged into a pool of the foul stuff, hearing the twittering and fidgeting of thousands of bats above their heads. Their faint coal braziers barely illuminated several narrow tunnels exiting the cavern.

"I've an idea," said Vorvou. "Let's disturb the bats, and see which way they fly!" 

The group assented to this plan, covering their lights while the two chthonic elves used their unnatural cave-adapted eyes to watch the bats. Throwing a few rocks caused the flock to exit to the left, but a few of the bats had a thirst - with a shriek, Vorvou was set upon by a few and his blood was drained in an instant! The rest of the group covered their heads with their leather sacks and hid at the bottom of the cavern, luckily avoiding the vampire bats' attention.

Following the flock of bats took the group to a narrow chimney they couldn't climb. Well, so much for that plan. Unwilling to backtrack towards servitude, the party continued their exploration of this hostile & bizarre cave. They came upon a vast underground lake that stretched into darkness, the only sound a distant drip of water. A narrow ledge stretched along the lake's edge, but nobody dared chance the crumbling stonework so they moved on.

Climbing upwards they found a glistening, iridescent trail of slime on the ground that led them to a room with a huge rainbow snail-shell. Assuming this was the territory of some bizarre invertebrate, they hurried onwards. They passed a room with a black handprint burned into the wall but decided not to investigate.

At the shores of a cold and swift river they disturbed a school of ravenous piranhas who leapt out of the water in hungry pursuit! The group made a terrible tactical mistake, which luckily didn't work out too badly - they fled forwards into unknown territory pursued by the hopping, gnashing school of fish. 

They ran down a narrow tunnel and broke into a round room of worked stone. A pattern of stars was carved on the ceiling, and an ancient stone bed lay to one side. A layer of scented dust covered every surface. 

Thinking quickly, the slaves jammed the old bed against the crack in the wall - the tiny land-piranhas couldn't jump over it and gave up pursuit, retreating to the river. Behind the bed was an old brass tablet with obscure markings, which the group took.

The slaves pressed on through this constructed area. They entered a rectangular room covered in carvings showing a robed humanoid figure floating or flying through a field of constellations. In a small alcove guarded by an ancient, collapsed pit-trap they found a purplish crystal skull (definitely not human) that looked valuable and three tiny metal cylinders with threaded ends, glowing with a faint reddish light.

In another domed room smelling of old incense and dust, they found a metallic skullcap with a cluster of silvery filaments extending outwards from it in intricate, twisting patterns. Nobody was willing to try it on, so they took it for later.

Then they entered the Room of Stars. Seeming to float in the void of space, the group could barely navigate the room without falling over it was so disorienting. As the approached the back alcove, the stars shifted along the walls, coalescing into a glowing doorway of light. Nervously, Agàta reached out to open it and the group entered.

The deep obsidian caverns

The group found themselves in a narrow hallway of worked stone, leading to a small room with four bronze statues of spearmen, ready to throw. Entering the room cautiously, the inevitable happened: the statutes animated, hurling their spears towards the group! Everyone tried to duck, but Hafza the wildman was too slow and was impaled.

The statues didn't seem to present further danger after this, and the group took up the finely-crafted spears for themselves. 

The next room was a large chamber with a huge statue in the center of a robed man holding a tablet in one hand, while his other pointed imperiously forward. Three other doors were visible. Gold-Foot and Agàta entered, noticing that the statue swiveled on its base, continuing to point at them wherever they roamed in the room. Nervous about this, they tried to leave when blasts of fire issued from the statue's finger! Gold-Foot was burned to a crisp while everyone else ducked for cover.

When the jets of flame ceased, they heard only triumphant crowing: "Hah! Stupid magic statue, you think you can get the best of me?" Proving himself a tough old man once more, Agàta had survived another scrape.

It seemed the statue had exhausted its magic and the rest of the slaves contemplated their next move: three doors presented themselves, but this area was obviously quite dangerous. What to do?

*****

And so it begins! 

A brand new in-person Land's End game with a very small group! "Season 2" is set a little ways off from the original Land's End theatre of action. It maintains a handful of connections to the original (the Black Wings lizardfolk and their slaving ways, for example) but with a slightly different focus. 

Follow along with us as we uncover more mysteries, explore more snake-men tombs, and get trench foot in the jungle again! We begin on the right footing by killing a handful of PCs in this introductory funnel. I've always wanted to run a "no equipment, no abilities" adventure, a trope that's been floating around forever but fits Land's End quite well - a setting where even established adventurers struggle to find decent gear! 

Some readers may recognize the first few rooms of the Dungeon Crawl Classics 0-level funnel "The Door Beneath The Stars," which has been modified a little bit to fit the setting.

Play Report: Death Love Doom [LotFP]

I have been writing these play reports for my online Labyrinth Lord group, set around the City-State of the World Emperor. Since I spend so much time on them, I thought I'd share them here for everyone to peruse. This session actually took place last year, before we switched to online play a few months ago. This weekend we're also returning to Land's End - the fun never stops.

As one of my players said the other day: "your world has more shit to do than the real one right now!"

*****

2nd-12th Meadowlark, 4433

Characters

Aladar IX, M-U 1
"Sir Karavon" aka Tullius Jr, fighter 1
Lothos the Undesirable, elf 1
Eric Withakay, cleric 1
Meep, dwarf 1
Veigar Thricescarred, fighter 1


Leaving Drydale
(see last session)

After their torchlight exhumation, the gang re-interred the corpse of James Blake with a mocking note, taunting whoever might come searching afterwards for his journal and The Great Devourer.

"Meet on the 10th of Blackmoon in Viridistan. Under the Grand Red Statue, look for the man with twelve lit candles."

After recollecting their previous adventures, they decided to follow up a lead at the port of Targnol a few days travel away:

"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 port of Targnol was a sprawling mess of crumbling wooden buildings packed with Imperial sailors on leave, dockworkers, merchants, thieves and cutthroats. Notable buildings included a grand temple to Thoth and a mysterious black pyramid containing a sleeping sorceress within a glass coffin. The town offers a standing reward for anyone who can reawaken this mysterious ebony-skinned woman.

Not having an interest in that, the gang met with a local contact of Two-Faced Humphrey's (he had business back in Viridisan, and couldn't accompany them). The man was a sullen and scarred Viridian named Komang. He gave them some basics, and a few trips around town asking questions filled in the blanks:

- Philotheos and his family hadn't been seen in two weeks, but there had been no surge of activity suggesting they were moving house or taking an extended vacation. The current theory was sudden illness or foul play of some kind.
- Old Graham's Gang, a strange and mysterious crew of all-child thieves from the capital about whom rumours have swirled for years, were casing the place. They planned to raid it for valuables the next night. Komang offered to put the party in touch with them, but this offer was declined.
- Philotheos kept no personal guards, for he lived on the edge of town in a rich area patrolled by (notoriously lazy) Imperial troops.

The party pooled their money and bought a wagon and two horses. On the way up to Philotheos' mansion, Eric and "Sir Karavon" drove while the rest hid under some straw in the back, hoping the "knight" and priest would discourage prying eyes or nosy guardsmen.

As night drew down they pulled into the driveway and approached the great mansion. Disdaining to explore the large grounds, "Sir Karavon" knocked on the door and getting no response, opened it. A distant weeping could be heard, but no foes presented themselves.


Charnel Mansion

The party entered the lightless home and progressed through a set of double-doors into a large parlor and dining-room. The place was trashed. Plates and vessels broken, splashes of blood everywhere, and the source of the weeping: a young Viridian girl strung up to the chandelier, her innards hanging out in a bloody mess!

In terrible shape as she was, the girl regained some lucidity after being released from the chandelier. She told them her name was Ariel, and related a strange story:

“One night after dinner, Father told everyone that he had a very special present for Mother. It was a very pretty necklace! But then a big monster and two smaller monsters came out of the necklace! And the big monster told the smaller monsters to get the lovers, and they jumped on Father and Nanny Alba! Then Mother and Grandma started yelling at Father, and everyone ran away! Then Grandma came to get me... and now I’m here.”

The child's injuries were quite severe and the party wasn't sure if they could help her. In the meantime, they explored the dining room and parlour, spotting an oil painting of a newlywed couple with a copper nameplate that read:

Philotheos Sten and Domitilla Sten. Married Sunstrong 17, 4423

Mounted on the wall above the painting were two fine-looking crossed falcatas that looked functional enough. The group took all these items and left Ariel for the moment to continue exploring.

The two other rooms on the main floor turned out to be Philotheos' office and a conservatory. The centrepiece in the conservatory was a grand harp, and three statuettes of dark blue & yellow marble rested on the mantelpiece: a dragon, eagle and nymph. The group took all of these and loaded them into their cart.

In Philotheos' office, Lothos rifled the great oak desk and found stacks of business papers - deeds, shipping manifests, etc. He pocketed a stack to peruse later, along with a fine stiletto in one of the drawers. The group was drawn to the large, shining silvery cube in the back corner which turned out to be an advanced combination safe! Three number-wheels ranged from 1 to 20. After giving it some thought, they fetched the painting of the Stens' wedding-day from their wagon. Guessing that 17 and 8 were important (Sunstrong is the 8th month of the year), they tried a few combinations until hitting upon 17 - 8 - 1. The shining door swung open and revealed Philotheos' hidden fortune!

It was at this time that Lothos thought to consult the mysterious ancient tome in Eric's possession. Pricking his finger, he wrote on the pages in blood, describing the party's situation and what they knew. Oddly, the book had a ready answer! This disaster was likely caused by the gift Philotheos gave his wife. The book identified it as The Necklace of the Sleepless Queen. It was created long ago by someone called the Dead King, to destroy all love in the world.

Perturbed by this news and not wanting to meet Ariel's sadistic grandmother or the "monsters" spawned by the necklace, the party elected to start the mansion ablaze and retreat safely with their wealth. Aladar IX used his Unseen Servant to carry a torch around inside the house while the others barred the door to prevent any aberrations from escaping. They waited until flames were visible from outside, then rode out of Targnol full-tilt, their wagon full of loot.

Return To the Immortal City

On the road home, Lothos consulted the strange blood-drinking tome again, learning its name: Pheldrazash. It claimed to know many other secrets, and was willing to teach him and Aladar IX a spell that would expand their knowledge for free: Call to Familiar Spirit.

Two days' travel from Viridistan, the party approached the Great Wall: a colossal structure a quarter-mile high and 200 feet thick, built by the ancients in the dawning days of the world for reasons unknown to men. Approaching the eastern entrance, called the Moon Gate, they met a farmer on the road who told them a strange tale:

"Not too far from here, a brand-new building has sprung up overnight! It's a great structure in a bizarre foreign style, red stone and dark wood with a peaked black roof and pointed square towers, set back from the road on the edge of the Elsenwood. Travellers say it simply appeared one day with no signs of construction, no work crews, and certainly no negotiations with the elves who make the woods dangerous for honest Imperial folk!"

After hearing that rumour, the gang pressed on towards the City of Spices, glad to be home after their bizarre and harrowing journeys. To move their ill-gotten loot, Lothos travelled to the Otherside district where many of his elven kinfolk live in ghettos, segregated from the larger city. His cousin Darius said he "knew a guy," and a meeting could be arranged at the Plaza of Dark Delights that night. The sullen, cloaked Viridian who met Darius & the party was eager to buy most of their loot - his eyes lit up with greed at the sight of the gold trade bars. He wasn't especially interested in the painting, but kicked in a bit of silver for it as part of the whole deal.

Thousands of silver richer than they had ever been before, the party cast about for something to spend their money on. Someone had heard of a pleasure palace for the rich in the exclusive Cliffside district, called The Sign of Olive & Lotus. Anything could be had there for the right price: fine liquor, exotic foods, high-stakes games of chance, tantalizing companions and strange drugs.

Once again installing "Sir Karavon" in the front of their humble wagon, the group rode up the gates of Cliffside, waving their stolen deeds in the guards' faces. Suitably cowed by the presence of a knight who owned such property, they opened the gates. Following the main Cliffsedge Road, the party espied a beacon in the night. A lone tout, signalling late-night revellers down to his place of business, which turned out to be the very establishment they sought!

The Sign of Olive & Lotus was built right into the side of the cliffs, accessible only by narrow, ancient stair carved into the living rock. The view of Trident Gulf during the day is said to be unparalleled. Checking in cost a princely sum of 200 silvers per person per night, for the cheapest suites and a berth for the horses and wagon! The group was led through sparkling marble hallways by a mute eunuch wearing only a sash of gold lamé. Over carpets made from the skins of striped tigers and snow-white northern wolves, past doorways trimmed in gold leaf with smiling silk-clad houris the party reached their rooms.

With a bit of privacy for the first time in a while, Lothos and Aladar IX ignited the special incenses and herbs they had previously brought and each cast the spell that would summon a spiritual helper to their side: Call to Familiar Spirit.

This done, the gang prepared to party as only those in the Immortal City can...

Enemies Defeated: 

none

Treasure:

3 blue & yellow marble statues
1900 copper coins

633 silver coins

10 gold trade bars

a mound of gold & silver jewellery - necklaces, rings, bracelets, etc

portrait of Philotheos and Domitilla Sten, in frame

Ornate grand harp (planned to sell later)
fine stiletto (Lothos)
2 decorative falcatas (Lothos and Meep)
stack of Philotheos' documents, deeds, etc (Lothos)