Just a quick shout-out to dripton from DF Whiterock as he consistently offers the best rpg play reports out there on his blog, in a category of his own really. Way better than what I’m doing over here I must say, my dear readers. He includes an impressive level of details for one, and never to the detriment of entertainment – not an easy feat to accomplish when writing play reports.
His present endeavor is a campaign of Dungeon Fantasy (a GURPS variant), he’s indeed a DF guy – within the Halls of Arden Vul mega dungeon (which as a bonus I’m also a big fan of).
So, what can I add? The best play reports ever, precise and humorous. Also, a lot of behind the curtain to be appreciated by dungeon masters or would-be dms.
I’ll try to have something like a weekly session, at least bi-monthly, of this campaign with my kids for the coming months until summer, we’ll see if I manage to do it.
Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)
Gunderholfen
We start in Level 4, with the Battle Brothers and Protectors in the ogres’ den. Having slaughtered most of the adult males and ordered the survivors away, the adventurers clean up the place, using the open pit to good effect, to make it, well, less of an ogres’ den.
After that, they block the door and camp there for the night. Forka, in his turn to keep watch, hear footsteps nearby and whispering voices. There’s the smell of orcs. But they seem to turn back the way they came.
Next day they begin together their ascent towards sunlight. They tie themselves together with rope for the slippery stairs to Level 3. Reaching Level 3, they do a small detour to see Grom the ogre and ask him some questions. They give him a 50 gp gem and learn from him of the quickest way to reach the « dwarven city » (going south of the ogre den in Level 4, then south-east and then west in a long, noticably warmer passage into a large carvern and then south to reach their destination).
They encounter a patrol of ant workers in Level 2 busy transporting dead giant rats and neither side is interested in fighting.
They reach Level 1C, into what was the hobgoblin area and got to a portcullis that was always closed to them in the past. They opened it and, a bit further, got to a deep vertical, artificial shaft with chains dangling but no easy way down.
They backtracked and then reached Level 1B and got out by the « goblins » door.
Ganfal Swamp
Aracyne leads the group competently through Ganfal Swamp and they make good progress despite the harassing environment but then, several hours in, they see a dozen or more humanoids in ragged clothes emerging from behind an outcrop: ghouls!
The adventurers fire a salvo of spells and arrows on the howling undead and four of them are slain and another immobilized by a spell of ensnaring roots. But the ghouls are now in melee. Bodil gets hurt by a claw attack and then tackled to the ground and is in great danger. Efram the Mage gets vomited on by a ghoul and then flees not long after, demoralized by the terrifying howling. Aracyne is dishearthened but stands his ground.
Two more ghouls are on the approach. Bodil the elf is badly hurt and unconscious. The Hunter Adalbert also flees after another howling near him. Two ghouls are avidly pursuing Efram and Adalbert. Bayard smashes a ghoul’s face in with his magic mace and it’s killed. Jedri drops his flail inadvertently but has a dagger to continue fighting two-weapons style. Grimoire the goblin Mage casts 3 small fireballs and efficiently finish 3 already wounded ghouls. Forka team up with spear-wielding Torch to slay another. The mage Delevan cast Levitate on the ghoul on top of Bodil and throws it away, hurting it in the process, then he goes to help his fleeing companions.
Twelve ghouls have been slaughtered, two surviving start to run away, one is stuck in place by Ensnaring roots and is finished by a big hammer blow delivered by Forka. The adventurers have won, with one casualty among them: Bodil is concussed and has infected wounds. Adalbert and Efram also have infected wounds. Fortunately they soon get out of the swamp, into the farmlands, talk to some peasants on the road and reach the city of Longfelt.
The two adventuring guilds make a vow of friendship, decide to leave each other signs (cray writings) in the dungeon if they go separately and then say farewell to each other.
Closing Comments:
Grom has gotten back his leadership of the ogres thanks to them, there’s that, but he thinks of the adventurers as dangerous and untrustworty and won’t be a true ally. Giving information in exchange for money to the PCs so they go explore a dangerous area is the most he’s ready to do in my mind.
The Level 1 mining shaft isn’t there in the book (it replaces an exit to open air), I added it for some unscrutable reason…
Rolled an encounter in the swamp and was tempted to just pick an appropriate monster in the Dragonbane Bestiary but instead I’ve rolled on the d20 table and got 20, ghouls.
Ghouls in dragonbane don’t have any paralysis abilities as the D&D ones but, as monsters, have a d6 table to roll on to determine what they do, and also, as monsters, they always hit (it’s up to the target to try to defend if they wish). I rolled for each ghoul separately and it went smoothly enough.
First session of Dragonbane/Gunderholfen since september of last year. Shame on me.
Last session the Battle Brothers had persuaded Bayard and his Protectors to make a temporary alliance and fight together against the denizens of Level 4.
Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)
Level 4
The two adventuring guilds, ten strong, descend the long slippery stairs down to Level 4, taking their time to decrease the risk of falling. They also devise a plan to fight the ogres which they already know reside very near the entrance of Level 4.
Upon arrival they go east and get to the door leading to the ogres’ den. First trying a quiet approach, they try to open the open door silently but it’s blocked from the other side. Letting go of subtlety, Bayard and Forka, the two strongest characters push the door open, displacing a large rock and a wooden beam, the latter falling to the floor with a loud bam. The PCs hear ogres nearby shouting to each other and get ready for a fight.
Getting back quickly to the first room, the adventurers get in formation, with 4 of them frontline and mages and archers (and Torch) behind. The first two ogres in are not very efficient (one good hit to heavily-armored Forka) and are assaulted by weapons and magic and are killed just like that. The following ogre is a bit more successful as he rushes in and rams into Bodil the Elf, tossing him aside on the ground while another ogre misses Jedri the Ratman with a big swing of his club. Aracyne hurts the ramming ogre with two arrows to the chest, wounding him badly and Jedri manages to finish him with a deadly two-weapons combo. Efram, one of the Protectors’ mage uses magic to make one ogre fall asleep and now there’s only one left from the five that were coming at them. The last one still has the will to fight though and wounds Bayard with a big hit but get overhwhelm quickly after.
They hear a door slam somewhere close but no other ogres are coming for the moment so the mages have time to do healing magic and everyone is healthy anew.
There’s three corridors, with the one in front being were the 5 ogres got out. There’s nothing interesting northeast, they go south and walk close to the wall to get past a (non-hidden) pit trap.
They see a room full of refuse, inspect a storeroom (nothing but food & water) and then get in front of double doors, there’s a faint odor of woodfire smoke (along with strong body odours and other unpleasantness).
The adventurers bash the doors open and see a big room, something like a cooking area, two teenager ogres were ready for them and immediately kick the burning logs, spraying embers directly on Forka and Bayard. Neither of them were quick enough to evade and lose a round removing the painful embers. The two young ogres don’t stand a chance though and after one is killed the other surrenders and pleads for his life. Bodil would have killed him but Aracyne his in a merciful mood and spare hime in exhange of information. They thus learn of some of the closest areas in this part of the dungeon, not much, the young ogre says that their ex-leader, Gorm (from Level 3), knows a lot more more.
The adventurers then proceeded to round up the surviving ogres in the other rooms (in this self-contained area) consisting of: 2 adult male ogres, 5 adult females, the teenager and 2 other youngsters. Aracyne tells them to leave Level 4 and get to Gorm in Level 3 if he would take them. They agree to leave on the condition that they could take their stored food and water with them and the adventurers accept.
Closing Comments:
Not much exploration this session but a big step accomplished in removing the ogres, as their presence near the entrance of the Level was always going to be a problem each time they passed.
10 adventurers together are certainly a force to be reckoned with. I’m thinking that they must attract more attention than a smaller group obviously and, at the very least, I will adjust encounter rolls to reflect so in the future. Otherwise, in a non gold-for-xp system there’s just no much disadvantage in being that numerous.
My nephew Olivier, now seventeen, suggested we return to our Castle Xyntillan campaign.
Last time we played in this particular campaign was more than a year ago and the session led to a most dramatic change as the characters chose to flee Averoigne (through time-travel no less), teaming with the bishop/sorcerer Azédarac instead of fulfilling their mission for the Bénédictins monks and bring incriminating evidence to them. I told the players afterward that we could continue to play with these characters but in another setting entirely. I had in mind something closer to Zothique than Averoigne (still firmly inside Clark Ashton Smith’s cycles stories). But, well, I never came around to put together something satisfying for me and more or less let go of the idea.
But now is time to stop messing around and go back to something that was quite formative for us: Gabor Lux’s Castle Xyntillan. But! Before that, an interlude into a module of the same author – The Wandering Glade, that will, I think, do a proper transition for the events of the campaign.
The general idea is that the adventurers got caught in a trap that was meant for Azédarac…
TTRPG System used: Worlds without Number, by Kevin Crawford
Adventurers – Player Characters (PCs)
Noah (Isaac), crafts stuff, has a repeating crossbow and a magic sword called Scrupulous, Expert lvl 6
Cordélia Lenoir (Marjorie), using the dark arts for Good (probably), Necromancer lvl 5
Monmon (Edmond), has a powerful antique spear, Warrior lvl 6
Paul Nareff (Olivier), friend and sponsor of the numerous Jean clan, Warrior lvl 6
« He [Azédarac] was the wisest and the mightiest of sorcerers, and the most secret withal ; for no one knew the time and the manner of his coming into Averoigne, or the fashion in which he had procured the immemorial Book of Eibon, whose runic writings were beyond the lore of all other wizards. He was a master of all enchantments and all demons, and likewise a compounder of mighty potions. Among these were certain philters, blended with potent spells and possessed of unique virtue, that would send the drinker backward or onward in time. » (The Holiness of Azédarac, Clark Ashton Smith)
The Wandering Glade:
The PCs wake up in a clearing surrounded by some majestic oaks lording over the dense forest. The light of day is already starting to fade. There’s no trace of Azédarac nor of his acolyte Jehan.
There’s a statue of a woman, beautiful and proud-looking, and a plaque under it. It says: « Oh Azédarac! Not the place you expected to arrive perhaps? Where were you fleeing this time? Did someone caught you lying and cheating again? We’ll see if you can escape this green labyrinth of mine… »
There’s a big boulder nearby but nothing else so they leave the clearing by the only visible path, it goes west.
They see another large boulder, this one covered in wild flowers. A faded inscription says: << Wandering Glade >> Clearing of Secrets.
They turn right at an intersection and enter ameadow. The pleasant scent has attracted giant butterflies. The PCs turn back and takes another path.
They go through an area with old-growth forest, dead wood covered in moss everywhere. A dozen Mossmen jump up from the ground and threaten the adventurers with sticks and stones. PCs gets some light wounds from thrown stones but then obliterate half of the Mossmen very quickly and the surviving ones start to flee. Noah shoots some more with his automatic crossbow.
Thence, they go northwest but are soon surrounded by some celtic warriors. The PCs manage to bribe them with gold, they learn that they serve the Enchantress Moriannis and leave peacefully.
Going due west now, they get ambushed by several deadly archers. Noah is hit by an arrow. The group start to sprint further in the path and Cordélia gets hit by two arrows in the back and is severly wounded but then both her and Noah shoots back and down one archer and wound another, making them retreat.
After that, they walk another 20 minutes and now they can see some sort of big camp and a lot of activity ahead, with fires and tents, and are soon intercepted by the lookouts. Cordélia uses her magic and takes the appearance of Moriannis from the statue they saw initially. She then speaks with the leader of the warriors, Brughaft, and explain that she’s only an « aspect » of the Enchantress and thus lacks the knowledge of her real « self ». Brughaft accepts her explanation and tells her of one way to get out of the Wandering Glade (and abstains from telling another one) – they must follow the spiral path called Morag’s Way, go to the end of the path and offers 3 things to the magic pool: the sap of roots of the night, petals from flowers of winter and blood from lovers. He also gives his bronze key. The adventurers for their part gives him some jewels and precious stones to ensure his loyalty.
The PCs also learn of several key locations in the glade but their exploration will resume next morning, after a night of sleep in the warriors’ camp.
Next day, the PCs want to find the « wall of trees » somewhere in the southeast. They’re not quite sure which paths will lead there though. They manage to take a shortcut and not get lost and find one of the tallest oak of the forest. There’s a cave mouth that opens between its roots.
They enter the small grotto, there’s a pool of silvery water with some rocks emerging with non-precious rocks, small crystals and trinkets laid on them. Paul look more closely onto the pool and sees a vision of black roots hanging from the ceiling of an underground area.
Leaving the grotto and great oak behind, the PCs go east in a path. They suddenly hear much noises at their right in the forest, small trees falling, a big claw marks appear on a boulder but no sign of what creature is doing all this damage. They hurry away.
They reach the Wall of Trees, impenetrable at first look. Cordélia attempt a spell of Extirpate Arcana (contested against the place’s magic) and succeed but knows it won’t hold very long. They enter the clearing and search the area. Monmon find 10 magical arrows, Cordélia finds a golden sickle and Paul finds delicious berries that seems to have healing capacities.
Leaving the clearing they decide to go north along the path, cross the area where they killed Mossmen, turn right and come across a burial site of a sort with thirteen mounds of earth, each having a green sapling on top. Paul puts a spade in one but then corpses start to emerge from every mounds, with each apparently having a sapling’s roots through its heart. Unpertubed, Cordélia goes right in the middle and casts Smite the Dead, slaying all of the undead at once.
Further north and then west, the adventurers go to the next area they wanted to investigate – a den of monsters they’ve been told. Sure enough when they approach they can see a cave and bones littering the entrance. Two big Sabretooths get out leisurely of the cave. Cordélia casts her last spell of the day, a Compel the Flesh on one Sabretooth, forcing it to attack its mate. Paul and Monmon both attack it too. Paul is wounded by the big cat’s claws but it soon is slain under the attacks from all sides.
Entering the cave they see 2 nervous cubs and Cordélia sends them the controlled Sabretooth mother so they stay calm. There’s not much in the cave except some faded cave paintings showing a vertical shaft and then stick figures seemingly fighting against trees.
From there the adventurers go west to get back to Brughaft’s camp because Cordélia wanted to rest to get her spells back, even if it was still quite early in the evening and with much disgruntled comments from Noah, Monmon and Paul.
The three non-mages decide to try to explore a bit more whilst Cordélia is resting. To the north, they find strange mossy boulders graven with mesmerising patterns. Monmon feels sick looking at them and they leave the place.
They then decide to try to reach the old well that they had heard of, first taking a path going west and south. They fight some other overmatched Mossmen and then reach a stone circle containing heaps of antlers. There’s a runic inscription: « SIGN SHOW, KINSMEN GATHER ». The PCs try a few things, mostly on the silly side, but without results.
They leave and, not very far from there, they find the old well. Noah uses his grappling hook & rope and begin to descend after having thrown some rocks in the water at the bottom to see if anything uncanny happened but nothing did. He saw four stone snake heads and was a bit wary but couldn’t see anything dangerous so he continued his descent and reached a bearded face crowned with a wreath of oak leaved, very druidy in appearance. Inspecting it closely Noah finds a keyhole and immediately thinks about Brughaft’s bronze key but unfortunately guess whom has the key, Cordélia! Cursing their 5-minutes day mage, they call it off and go back to camp.
Next day, the adventurers go back all together this time, to the old well. The bronze key indeed matches the keyhole, opening a secret door that leads into darkness. Into the Druid Grave.
TBC..
Closing Comments:
I’ve adapted a bit the adventure for my purpose, added the premise with Azédarac and Moriannis, made the module’s bandit gang as the latter’s followers instead, made them less hostile but also added a bit more stringent characteristics to the ingredients necessary to exit the Wandering Glade. Not much else really.
I had half a mind to send out the characters naked or without most of their stuff maybe, going a little Against the Slavers-style, but finally opted to be a non-cruel DM for this rekindling of a campaign.
Most of the fights were on the easy side, with one harder (against the « evil scouts ») ending in a stalemate. They didn’t stumbled upon the more dangerous stuff we could say (yet).
I think we’ll find a moment in the christmas holidays to continue this one hopefully.
XP = Participation 1, Treasures 1, Secrets 2, Total: 4
Battered from their last expedition, the Battle Brothers are back in town to recuperate and do some training afterward – before going back to the dungeon. They bring their new member, another goblin named Grimoire, a friend of Torch that can do magic.
Jedri, Ratman Thief, he likes his rat-shape curse (Isaac)
Forka, Dogman Knight, fierce warrior (Edmond)
Torch, Goblin Knight, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
Grimoire, Goblin Mage, frail but smart (me)
Longfelt
Rumor
-There’s a monstrous rat disguised as a person going by night in the thieves’ quarter – hey (pointing at Jedri) wait a minute, y-y you’re a rat!
Hearing of this « disguised monstrous rat » they immediately think of their friend Tlali and they go see her at her house. There’s a nice reunion, she explains that she started the process to get back her human form but there’s powerful magic involved (Sethid’s, the Master of the Dungeon) and it will take a while.
They do some training and are living at the Hare & the Hound inn for the moment.
They buy some supplies, Forka buys a great helm and then, after 9 days in town, are ready to go dungeon-delving once more.
Gunderholfen
Travel through the Ganfal swamp is uneventful.
They enter the dungeon and when they approach Level 1C they start to see a trail of dead hobgoblins – all missing their ears. The corpses are fresh – recently killed for sure.
Forka pick up the scent of non-hobgoblins and tries to track where it goes – more dead hobgoblins on the other side of the (cut) rope bridge that leads to the exit of Level 1. They spend some time reparing the bridge and continue their tracking down in Level 2 and then it goes south and west in an area the PCs already explored (and had a bad time against both zombies and giant ants).
They’re near the giant ants’ nest, the insects are clearly agitated. The PCs quickly cross the area and further south, they hear some voices coming from the room with the aforementionned zombies.
The Battles Brothers decide to go back the room with broken crates and wait there for the other guild to come their way (there’s no other path). They soon hear the sounds of a battle between adventurers and giant ants though.
It seems like the other guild is retreating in order, with a rearguard fighting in the narrow tunnel. The Battle Brothers see an elf, with short sword and buckler in hand, emerging from the tunnel. The latter is surprised and maybe a bit alarmed but then he asks for their help against the giant ants – they’re coming in great numbers.
Aracyne hesitates an instant on what his best for his guild (even contemplating murder!) but then he decides to help the other adventurers IF they accept to give his guild some money… The two elves quickly negociate and settle for 80gp to be given after this fight. The other members of the rival guild come into the room one by one, two mages, a hunter and the last being Bayard the Bold, their leader, brandishing a glowing mace and his plate armor covered in insect juices – an impressive sight! His companion informs him that the Battle Brothers will help the Protectors and already the first giant ants enter the room.
The ensuing battle is intense, with the fighters type holding the line, at least at first, against both normal worker giant ants and bigger, meaner soldier giant ants. Another wave of monsters arrives though and some get past the frontline and one mage of the Protectors get nearly bitten in half by a soldier ant. The other mage hurries to keep him alive with healing magic. Forka makes good work of his two-hand hammer, delivering massive blows left and right. Aracyne and his hunter counterpart shoot arrow after arrow on the incoming ants. Grimoire, their new goblin mage, proves to be a good addition and incinerates ants with fireballs. Two dozens dead ants are littering the floor and the two guilds seize the opportunity to move away from there, going east and south, with the Battle Brothers knowing their way around, and soon getting behind a door where the ants horde won’t reach them.
Now in safety, the Elf from the Protectors (their treasurer named Bodil) counts 80 gold coins and gives them to Aracyne with Bayard frowning at the sight but not saying anything. The two guild leaders then exchange a few compliments, talk about their recent delves and then Aracyne has this idea, he offers to the Protectors to do a joint expedition into Level 4. Bayard, not one to decline a challenge less his reputation for bravery takes a hit, doesn’t think much and accepts.
Closing comments:
I had decided when I started this campaign that I would put some emphasis on adventuring guilds interactions. I have written some random tables, erased them, re-written some more, to help me get a sense of what NPCs guilds would likely achieve as competing explorers (the PCs still having a decent headstart, of course it’s still about them). I’m not quite satisfied with this tool yet but it did indeed lead to this, I think, interesting session.
Now, dealing with so many NPCs, adventurers with all their abilities to boot, is certainly cumbersome for me as a the DM. In fact, I’m pretty certain it’s the reason why in most campaigns rival adventurers don’t seem to accomplish anything ever and are reduced to discreet appearances here and there.
Isaac’s first instinct was to ambush the Protectors while they were fighting the giant ants. A sound plan strategically speaking. Also quite ruthless. I let him choose his course of action but I’m happy in the end he chose to help (with a price attached) instead of killing.
Torch, Goblin Torchbearer, not expendable anymore (Edmond)
Ghardeet, hired Hobgoblin Mage/Shaman (me)
Level 4A
The Battle Brothers go back at the entrance of Level 4 nearby and there they see someone coming from the south. It’s an orc, grievously wounded but still standing. They decide to capture him so they can interrogate him at their leisure and get more information about this level. They jump on him but right at this moment there’s much noises coming from the ogre lair just the other side of the eastern door.
The orc isn’t happy either at the idea of meeting with ogres and they all flee together southward and then east into natural passages – unexplored territory yet for the PCs.
There’s boiling sounds coming from the east and it’s also noticably warmer the more they advance. The orc says it’s not a good place, better follow him and get to his home he says. The PCs accept to follow him.
They backtrack a little and now they see several ogres (five of them) coming their way. They hurry and turn south and then east, fleeing away from the brutes. After more than an hundred feet they turn north and soon get at the entrance of a large cavern (dimly lit).
There’s a lower section in the middle of the cavern with an island in the middle. To the left and right are also elevated sections and five orc archers stand on each side, bow at the ready.
The wounded orc shouts: « don’t shoot, it’s Snagrat! » They shoot anyway, the orc get hit by a several arrows and dies. Torch the not-expendable-goblin-anymore blocks many arrows with his nice dwarven shield.
The PCs hear the ogres behind them and they decide to they’d be better taking on the orcs and they all try to jump on the eastern section (I’ve messed up with the difference in elevations, that shouldn’t have been possible, oops o_O).
They all succeed to jump, except Ghardeet who didn’t react quickly enough (slow iniative) and gets caught by a massive blow from an ogre’s club from behind and he’s down! Aracyne shouts to Ghardeet to get up already (rally) and get with them and the mage makes an ultimate effort, get on his feet and tries a levitate spell but fails, falls down all the way to the bottom of the cliff and dies…
The Battle Brothers have lost their hired mage and are now fighting against 5 orcs in melee. The 5 archers on the other side concentrate their fire on the ogres for the moment and kill the closer one, the one who clubbed Ghardeet, forcing the remaining ogres to turn tail. The archers then switch their focus on the adventurers and shoot at them but, in the confusing melee, they hit their comrades as often as not.
Aracyne isn’t in melee though, he stays behind his companions with his bow and he kills two orc archers and disable another over the course of the fight. He manages to evade several arrows aimed at him too (good evade skill and fast footwork).
Meanwhile, Forka, Jedri and Torch slowly gain the advantage despite being initially outnumbered. They eventually kill all 5 orcs on their side but they’re also all pretty banged up from this fight, with heavily-armored Forka being the least wounded.
But now they see a throng of orc warriors coming from the west and they don’t have much choice but fleeing the way they came, with the remaining orc archers shooting at them (but missing fortunately). Forka throws Torch moria-style across the chasm (as his acrobatic skill his poor and he suffers from a condition making it even more difficult) and then himself, Jedri and Aracyne jump back on the southern section.
They hurry down the passage to get away from the orc arrows. The ogres don’t seem to have lingered fortunately.
They want to go back at the level’s entrance and they go westward but then they see a giant lizard (pretty much like a komodo dragon in my mind, bacteriological-hazard bite included) coming at them from a side-passage (random encounter) and they now sprint to escape.
They’re in sight of the entrance, the stairs, with the giant lizard breathing down Aracyne’s neck (last on marching order) and they can see an ogre sort-of keeping watch nearby. They dash for the stairs. Aracyne dodges a bite attempt from the giant lizard and then also manages to get into the stairs. Now the ogre and giant lizard face each other and start fighting harryhausen-style and the adventurers climb up not looking down. Halfway, Aracyne throws up from exertion (sickly condition) and almost fall to his death but he wills himself and soldiers on.
From Level 3 they get to Level 2 pretty quickly with the ladder that leads to the secret room and then they’re down to Level 1 in no time.
There their hobgoblin allies complain that the blockade of Level 1 isn’t doing that great, the adventurers are inflicting heavy casualties on them. But they also trapped one party into the special room, they’re there right now but one adventurer mage have blocked access with a magic stone wall. By the time the hobgoblins manage to enter the room the adventurers are gone, the portcullis trapping them smashed open. There’s one dead adventurer left in the room, it seems like the Black Axes don’t care that much for each other.
Chief Nerulf is in a bad mood and he tells the Battle Brothers that since they lost his mage (Ghardeet) he’ll keep theirs (Hedralynn) as his warriors need a healer.
The Battle Brothers leave Gunderholfen to go back in Longfelt and, apart from a few stings from angry wasps, don’t have any troubles crossing Ganfal Swamp.
Closing Comments:
Very near tpk territory here. In fact if I hadn’t messed up with the elevation in the orc cavern I don’t think they could have survived.
I’m a bit disappointed by myself for that mistake really. Not that they haven’t been killed but I very much like verticality in dungeons, something that is often lacking, so to mess this up is annoying. Less skimming through the rooms’ description I guess.
The rally mechanics in Dragonbane allows for a fellow characters to « persuade » another to still act even getting down to 0 hp. I was on the fence about that but I think it makes sense narratively speaking and I’m all for it now. There’s also a « 3 failures- 3 successes » count (borrowed from D&D 5E no doubt) and that I don’t like that much and I’m replacing with the grittier Frail feature from Worlds without Number where one is kept at just another hitpoint from dying unless he receives magical healing.
Fleeing in unkown territory is very very risky. Their orc « guide » had his own motives for sure. The issue of whom to trust is maybe a bit too much to ask from my young players though. They have a nice childhood, why wouldn’t they be trustful? Well ttrpgs are good for a variety of reasons, one is to simulate non-favorable situations and learn from those perhaps (i.e not everyone has your best interest in mind).
I like the concept of the Screaming Devilkin monster. More of an alarm system than a real threat, it does only light damage but is hard to kill (27hps as per the book). The real threat of course is in having a good chance of provoking a random encounter and possibly alerting nearby denizens too. I’m thinking about making them somewhat more prevalent in the dungeon, that may be a bit evil…
The Battle Brothers (their official guild name now) go down the long slippery stairs to Level 4A.
They get into a rectangular room, there’s a stuck door east, with deep ogre voices coming from the other side.
The PCs go south down a slope and into a natural passage. They look into a small cavern on their right and find several dead orcs, hard to tell what they died from.
They go south and ascend a little now and come in front of a 10′ wide chasm barring their way. They all jump over on the other side without any special precautions.
They’re inside a large cavern and further south into a smaller one with no exits and suddenly their torchlight diminish to only the faintest of glow. From the darkness a small, stunted-built humanoid comes at them with a wicked dagger but Jedri the ratman reacts quickly and stab him first, with both his daggers, the Dark Creeper dies and his body releases a dazzling flash of light.
Inspecting the room further Forka feels a slight draft of air from the southern part of the cavern and the party soon discover a secret door (that lead to Level 4C).
They follow a long, sinuous passage and get into a small cavern where they’re immediately ambushed by 3 other Dark Creepers (their torchlight almost extincted again). One Dark Creeper place himself behind Torch and is going to slit his throat but Forka saves his underling by rushing to his help (Heroic Ability: guardian) and takes the hit instead (mostly blocked by his superior chainmail). Jedri gets stabbed and is hurt. Aracyne kills an opponent with a well-placed arrow but the ensuing burst of light dazzles Ghardeet. Forka kills another with a big blow of his two-hands hammer and Jedri kills the last one.
The PCs get a bit further and Aracyne spots two Dark Creepers standing on ledges on each side above the floor. He shoots and kills one. The other jumps and dash towards the PCs but he quickly meets his demise.
They then fail to spot a well-concealed trap and Torch falls into a spiked pit trap and is fatally wounded. Only magic can save him but Ghardeet doesn’t see any value in saving the still (for him) expendable goblin. He’s finally convinced with the gift of a wine jug. Torch is saved.
Thence, they get to the entrance to a large cavern but before they get in another Dark Creeper jumps on them from somewhere above. Jedri, the fast-footed thief, manage to evade the blade that targeted him and his own hit connects efficiently. A flash of light but everyone cover their eyes in time.
Other Dark Creepers come out from somewhere inside the large cavern. Aracyne kills one with a well-placed arrow. Ghardeet kills another with his magically-augmented staff.
With no immediate danger the PCs come across a hut furter into the cavern, search it but nothing much of interest.
There’s a rope bridge that goes over a large chasm and the PCs get across. On the other side they follow a reddish cobblestone patway that lead to another cavern with several huts. There isn’t anyone there but the adventurers do some good looting in coins, jewelry and semi-precious stones.
Further south the adventurers hear a piercing whsitle sound and then fight against 3 more Dark Creepers that they vanquish without much trouble.
There’s a guard hut nearby and a large palissade south-east with large double doors. The doors are slowly opening and large throng of Dark Creepers, dozens, emerge from the palissade.
The adventurers can’t hope to win against such numerous foes and flee the way they came. They have to be quick, any delay and they’ll get a blade between their shoulders. They manage to get across the rope bridge and they quickly cut it down from their side, this is met with nothing more than threatening whispers from the other side of the chasm.
The PCs get all the way back to the entrance of Level 4A.
They go north into a corridor and then west. They spot a skeleton (unmoving) inside a small room, adorned in chainmail and his skull crushed.
Next room they get assaulted by a monkeyish Screaming Devilkin that took surprisingly many blows to kill, and yes, screaming devilishly loud all the while. Troublesome situation.
TBC…
Closing Comments:
A series of fight that went really well and then a desperate flight. Things can change fast!
There’s a whole village of Dark Creepers and the book specifies that since it’s their home they try to kill the intruders instead of just stealing from them like they would do elsewhere in the dungeon.
I’ve changed a bit the effect of darkness, or at least the fluff, the way I describe it – the Dark Creepers aren’t casting the spell Darkness in my version, rather their bodies just absord light (and release it upon dying). I don’t know, not important but I prefer it this way, like it’s something of a quasi-natural biochemical effect. Furthermore I think a 5 or 10′ radius of faint light, a torch reduced to a candle let’s say, with shadowy figures dancing just outside, isn’t that much more reassuring than foes shrouded in darkness I would think.
But this time either the Dark Creepers missed their sneaking checks or the PCs succeeded their awareness checks (even with bane), surprise attacks just did not happened in any of the ambushes.
Good reaction from the boys to cut the bridge, twas the only way to survive I think.
Ended in hostile territory this time and lot happening in next session…
There’s officialy 5 parties of adventurers (including the PCs) in our campaign that have been given permits to explore Gunderholfen. Being the first one in place gave the PCs a huge headstart, particularly with their alliance with the hobgoblins. But now comes a dilemna, do they help their allies against other adventurers and be complicit on such a dubious course of actions or do they let them fare for themselves onward to their incoming annihilation?
Leaving Longfelt and all went well with getting across the Ganfal Swamp.
In Gunderholfen, they talk to Nerulf who informs them that the Hobgoblins are taking heavy casualties againts adventurers, most recently against a party with 3 magic-users. This party has installed itself in Level 1A for the past few days and is still there. With current rate of losses, Nerulf will remove patrols outside of 1C except the nearest exit in 1B.
Unmoved by the hobgoblins plight, the PCs hire Gardheet, the hobgoblin mage (30gp and 10% cut) and go to Level 3, taking the shortcuts they know.
Down the ladder in Level 3 they go west where they hear sounds of grunting and growling and open a set of double-doors and come face-to-face against 7 kiigoths.
They kill a few quickly but as much as 15 others rush from the 2 adjacent rooms!
The PCs take a few steps back to get into the corridor behind them in order not to get immediately surrounded.
A long and violent brawl ensues. Kiigoths often keep fighting even when mortally wounded and get more ferocious while doing so. Jedri gets wounded by a club attack but Ghardeet casts stoneskin on him at maximum power and the protected thief is able to stay in the fight and, with one knife in each hand, stab foes left and right. Forka’s chainmail deflects most attacks from the crude weapons but is still getting bruised after getting hit by numerous blows. Aracyne shoots arrows from behind and Torch even manage to burn a couple of kiigoths here and there. With several of his own now dead the bigger, meaner kiigoth leader gets into melee against Forka and has one good hit with his deadly-looking, not-crude-at-all battle-axe but is smashed to pulp by the knight’s 2-h hammer in return. The death of their leader isn’t changing the savage kiigoth’s will to fight unfortunately and the adventurers eventually have to kill them to the last, not without being severely hurt themselves in the process.
The fight over, the PCs go to Jedri’s place nearby and Ghardeet heal all their wounds. They then get back to to the big pile of dead kiigoths, but there’s not much else other than the very nice battle-axe (nobody is very proficient with axes though).
They then go at the big room south and find big non-locked chests that contain coins, a nice chainmail (taken and wore by Forka) and a big, sturdy dwarven shield (given to the less and less expendable Torch, who’s overjoyed by the gift).
Going to the west now, they find a lot of broken, useless stuff and also an intact clay jug of wine. A bit further they also find an okay helmet (to Jedri).
They get into a very long and narrow passage going south, there’s also a side-passage going west with a brirge going over fast water. There’s a really bad smell coming from that way though and they decide to go further south instead.
They open a door into a room with a statue of a dwarven warrior. They spot a depression on his extended hande but can’t do much with anything and right then, an ooze drops from the ceiling on Forka’s head! Torch burns the ooze a few times with his torch and saves his boss from asphixy. Forka looks at the ceiling fearfully for a while.,
Nearby, they see a Sun Face carved into a wall and messing with it, manage to obtain a ruby from its opened mouth. It’s exactly the rigth size for the depression on the statue’s hand and they put it in place. An aura of virile dwarven energy surrounds them and they all feel a bit more competent. Except the elf, virile dwarven energy isn’t for elves obviously.
Next room, looking for it, they spot an ooze suspended on the ceiling and they send Torch with his shield up to bait it to drop down, which it does but it somehow slides on the shiels and target Torch’s head and it’s the turn of Forka in coming to the help of his sidekick.
The PCs now have found their way to the Level 2 stairs coming from the other way around and connecting their map in the process. They decide to go to the lair of ogres in the central corridor but the door is stuck and that’s enough to dissuade them for the moment.
They get back into the long passage west and Jedri, who’s walking a few steps ahead, sees an ogre coming the other way. He’s dragging a kiigoth corpse along.
Aracyne tries to cast Augment Weapon on his bow but only gets a nosebleed for his effort. He shoots nonetheless and hurts the ogre. The latter try to bum-rush the elf archer but Forka valiantly gets in front (guardian) and takes the hit instead. He gets slammed hard against the wall but still manages to take a big swing of his hammer at his foe. Jedri then plunges his dagger in the ogre’s chest and gets the kill.
Leaving the dead ogre behind but picking up the dead kiigoth, the party goes back to the ogre lair and boldly shouts at the inhabitants that they want to make a deal. Or more of a fait-accompli, since they killed the kiigoths, the enemies of the ogres, they ask that they show them the way to Level 4. The ogres (there seem to be 3 of them) are surprisingly amiable (excellent persuade and reaction roll) to this non-deal and Glorm, their leader escort them to the stairs to Level 4. He also tells the adventurers that there’s an ogre colony in Level 4 (not in good terms with himself) and also an orc colony.
Closing Comments:
The players chose to explore and let the hobgoblins fight alone, that’s probably the thing to do. I’ve built an okayish random table to see how goes the protracted fight between the hobgoblins and adventurers and let the dice decide, mostly.
Big fight against the kiigoths, close one too. Forgot one major thing on my side though, the squares on the map are 10′ wide, so that was a 20′ wide corridor not a 10′ one like I had in mind. Fighting there wouldn’t do much to prevent encirclement in fact. Bad DM, bad!
The ogres of Level 3 were amiable at that moment but will find their dead kin before long. With an arrow protruding from his chest, even an ogre will make the link…
They found the entrance to Level 4! The last of the Upper Levels and more complex than what they’ve seen so far, no doubt about that.
Short session without any combats but in which the PCs managed to get out of the dungeon efficiently (after 3 sessions inside) with the help of their new friends.
We start in Level 3 in a set of rooms occupied by Tiali and Jedri, cursed adventurers turned into rat persons. They shared a nice broth together and had time to rest and talk.
Among the things Tiali and Jedri shared is a shortcut to get to the entrance of Level 2. It’s near, to the north, next to the kiigoths’ den.
The PCs set for a plan of action, they would get out of the dungeon ao that Tiali could ask in town for a cure to her affliction. Jedri for his part, doesn’t mind being a rat person as it gives some good advantages as a thief and he never was a good-looking fellow anyway.
Getting out of the room, wary of the Gelatinous Cube in the vicinity, the PCs go north at the pair of double doors.
They get inside a large room that has a dead ogre and 3 dead kiigoths, casualties from the conflict going on between these two sides.
There’s a locked room at the left but the two thieves warn that there’s something dangerous inside.
Door to the right, there’s a small closet with a lone skull in a corner. Forka smashes it with his 2h hammer and kills a green centipede at the same time.
Going north they get into another large room with another dead ogre (no kiigoths this time) and a ladder next to the northern wall.
Forka goes first up the ladder followed by Torch (they named the goblin follower by what he does) and everybody else and up they go for a 100 feet until they reach a secret room right next the great hall, the entrance of Level 2!
From there they get among their hobgoblin allies and separate from Ghardeet and Torch until their next delve, maybe.
They get out under the sun, which they haven’t seen for several days, and start the trek through Ganfal Swamp. Aracyne the hunter manages to lead them well through the treacherous swamp and they reach the town of Longfelt before the end of the day. They leave Tiali to her own device but promise Jedri to invite him for the next delve.
Forka and Aracyne both takes training course in their respective guilds, pay 100 gold each and learn new tricks.
They’re then ready to leave for their next delve, out in the farmlands they encounter a patrol of horsemen and talk with them a little. They learn that the adventuring party « The Protectors » led by Bayard came back from Gundeholfen a few days ago with 9 pairs of hobgoblin ears that will earn them money by one Reginald in town, a Halfling inn-owner who pays for any dead hobgoblins.
The PCs are unsure if they can do something about that at first but then decide to turn back and talk to Reginald at his inn. They learn thar Reginald’s village had suffered heavily from hobgoblin raids in his youth and now he spends his money to avenge himself.
TBC…
Closing comments:
No big eventful things happening but a very useful session nonetheless for the players as they progress in their knowledge of Gunderholfen.
Jedri will be a nice addition to the team.
I finally chose how to deal with the Ganfal swamp in my game: I make Aracyne the hunter makes a bushcraft check, that’s a skill in DB, if he succeeds there’s still a 1 on 6 chance of encounters, if he fails there’s a roll on the Dragonbane journeys’ mishaps table and also a 1 on 6 chance of encounters. At the moment, there’s still a bit more than 50% chance that something inconvenient/bad happening which seems fair to me.
Forka learned the heroic ability Massive Blow with his weeklong training and Aracyne learned Fast Footwork with his.
Second session at our cabin. The boys nearly got themselves killed the previous session in Level 2 so the logical thing to do is to go deeper, of course!
Having fled from Living Deads and Giant Ants, their wounds magically healed by Ghardeet their hobgoblin honorary mage, the PCs are ready to explore some more. They start by opening the door in the large boulders room and it’s not long before they find a set of stairs that goes down and down…
Level 3
With Expendable Nameless Goblin now officially the group’s torchbearer (he tries hard to be useful and is obsequious to Forka, his savior), the PCs exit the stairway into a dwarf-made room with layered stone and bricks and 3 sets of double-doors.
Listening to each doors, the PCs finally opt to open the northern ones and enter into a very long hallway that goes well beyond their torchlight.
Aracyne listens to the first door at their right and hear some metallic scrapings and they decide to let it be.
They go the next and see that it’s staked to make it unopenable.
Still further on the hallway, in an open area at their right, they see a sun-face carved on the wall. They interact with it, manage to make it open its mouth but it doesn’t seem to do much else.
Everything is quiet at the next door and they open it to reveal a small room with a pedestal in the middle, with drawings of dwarves holding something up. Ghardeet casts sense magic and says there’s some dwarven-affiliated magic at work here but isn’t able to do anything with it.
Next room, after opening the door, Forka’ sense of smell is assaulted by overwhelming body odors, rot, excrements and other unpleasantness. A trophy of sort is in the middle of the room, with non-human (pointy teeth, giant bat? feline?) skulls on display and with a crude drawing of large matchstick men smashing smaller figures with their clubs.
Listening to the door they can hear several loud snorings coming from nearby.
The PCs get out of this smelly den of brutes and continue north, still in the long hallway.
Now in a large doorless room, full of large mushrooms, something is moving amongst them but hidden from view. They send in E & N Goblin (thus proving that his expendable status still applies), he wearily moves into the mushrooms and soon let out a surprised yap and flees back to the adventurers, pursued by a Giant Beetle. The beast is obviously heavily-armored so Aracyne aims at a weak spot with one of his newly-acquired magic arrow and inflicts a severe wound. A massive blow from Forka’s 2H hammer is enough to slay the dangerous monster before it could do much (slow iniative). A good search of the floor beneath the mushrooms revealed an impressive hoard of coins as well as dozens of semi-precious and precious stones. Treasure, at last! They also collect several rations worth of edible mushrooms.
Thence, the PCs get out of the mushrooms room, continue their way north and, after a 45 degree angle turn, get in front of a large cistern, water dripping in it from the ceiling – and more importantly, before 4 surprised, hairy humanoids that were busy filling many waterskins (more than for their own use for sure).
The adventurers quickly fell 2 Kiigoths before they even reacted. Those, despite being mortally wounded, still had the will to fight but one more blow each and they stopped moving. The 2 surviving creatures proved no match for the PCs who won the fight without a scratch.
The PCs refilled their own waterskins and then checked the great double-doors across the cistern but couldn’t open them, even with their combined strength – they were blocked from the other side most likely.
They then got back to the stairway room and went east from there, past another set of double-doors.
They got into a large rectangular room with a basin within filled with murky, smelly water full of algae.
They open a door and get into a long hallway with many doors and openings. Aracyne listens to the first door at their right but is immediately assaulted by some kind of psychic attack and is disheartened.
Not opening this door, they go further in the hallway and turn right, into a side corridor and then left, which gets them back in the main hallway. (it wasn’t obvious beforehand, proceeding forward with torchlight hides much) They see a small, sooth-covered room in front of them but also, oddly enough, there’s a floating sword (in its sheath), very near them at their left.
Forka try to seize the sword but screams in pain as he forcibly pulls back his forearm, acid goo dripping from it. The sword (and its near-invisible Gelatinous Cube holder) then lunges forward but Forka and his companions retreat hastily.
Seeing that they run faster than the « sword », the PCs calmed down a little and lured the monster in the side-corridor just enough so they could then have time to get to the unexplored area.
They opened a door (didn’t have time to listen) into a narrow corridor and came face to face with two armed rat-persons (rat-headed humanoids, clothed, not too unkempt). Both facing them, obviously ready, one in front with a wicked dagger, one behind with a spear. As the PCs didn’t attack outright, the rat-person with the dagger started talking, said that he was named Jedri and his companion was Tlali and enquired who they (the PCs) were. Aracyne told them they were adventurers, that they came in peace and reassured them enough so that the two rat-persons invited them to their dinner in the adjacent room. There, a cauldron of broth was put above a small fire and the PCs added mushrooms and fish and thus enhanced it considerably, making everybody one step happier.
Closing Comments:
Level 2 is now mapped something like 85% but several rooms were barely entered because they seemed to hold danger in them.
Related to this, before finding the Mushrooms room hoard, Isaac complained of the lack of treasure (they found nothing significant since the meagre kobolds’ treasure) but, well, it’s a push-your-luck game. There IS treasure, but it often comes with danger.
If Level 1 was mainly humanoids and Level 2 mostly populated with critters (with a few surprises here and there), Level 3 is more mixed, having two groups of humanoids within (among other things). Still pretty vanilla stuff, but it gets weirder the deeper you go in Gunderholfen, oh, yes it does.
The encounter with the Gelatinous Cube was fun, a beginner’s mistake by 10 yo Edmond for sure, but we have to do them in order to learn… I was lenient, giving them time to react (rolling ini) instead of being surprised, next time though…
Jedri and Tlali in the book are supposed to be evil wererats that will try to murder PCs with a devious plan but I’ve changed them into cursed adventurers and potential allies in my game. They know some useful stuff about the dungeon too (not shared yet) and at least one could become an hireling if the players wish so.
Streets & Spores 