Ahh, I’m not much of a multi-tasker (don’t ask my wife what she thinks of it). I’m always missing several cool moments that I should definitely have taken pictures of but didn’t ’cause I’m too busy with managing my cards or something. This time was worst than usual, don’t know why.
Characters
Lazy Liz the Deathwalker (David) lvl 2>>3, sun-averse, why walk when I can teleport
Britney the Banner Spear (Mathieu) lvl 5 a great leader, might be related to Bruce
Boson the Blink Blade (Guillaume) lvl 5, Master of the 4th dimension
After the last scenario with the elevator we had a choice opened to us, go to the quatryl library or to the rusted tunnels. One sounds a lot cooler than the other but, the fact that there was an alarm system activated on the rusted tunnel was lure enough for my character as she hates ruined machines (her personal quest).
Boson: « Why oh why didn’t we go at the Quatryl Library? »Britney pierces through a Flaming Bladespinner: « Bah! That’s not so bad! »« Ok guys we’ve reached the door, now here’s the big question: short or long rest? »There’s no end to these unfettered coming at us. Let’s collapse the whole thing! No, wait! There’s treasure to take first!No treasure? Some more Xp then and we’ll call it a day…
Closing Comments:
This one should be easy for any party sticking to the scenario goal. Or could go really bad otherwise!
The treasure is a good tactical dilemna though as the Blink Blade going for it got surrounded pretty quickly by spawning enemies and thing got a little hairy for a moment. As it was, the Blink Blade gave me the opportunity to kill several ruined machines. I hesitated to continue the destruction of ruined machines but in the end I got ahold of myself and destroyed the debris pile with a good shadow attack less things got too risky for us.
Session impromptue de D&D 5E alors que ce qui était prévue était plutôt la session annuelle de Vampire: Dark Ages (qui avait déjà été remise à plus tard ce printemps) mais deux des joueurs ont laissé tombé à la dernière minute. Le problème c’est que tous mes efforts de préparations des dernières semaines ont été mis au placard et en remplacement je me retrouve à faire une session d’une campagne quasi-abandonnée! Mais au minimum je pouvais me rabattre sur ma préparation antérieure (principalement celle-ci).
Personnages Joueurs (PJs)
(Marjorie) Kalohan, (level 11) High Elf Wizard (evoker), Inheritor, doit trouver un sort inconnu jusque là avant de pouvoir obtenir son héritage
(Isaac) Anfi, (level 11>>12) Locathah Fighter (eldritch knight), Outlander, venu sur la terre ferme en passant par la Caverne-Tunnel, là pour découvrir ce nouvel environnement + Salamandre Géante
(Olivier) Léon, (level 9) Human Monk (way of shadow), Outlander, revenu à la vie grâce à Zotzilaha, maintenant libre de faire ce qu’il veut
(Edmond) Vingt, (level 8>>9) Myconid Druid (circle of spores), Acolyte, envoyé de Zuggtmoy, la Déesse du fongique + Fourmi Zombifiée
(Chris) PaxDouble-Poches, (level 10), Halfling Rogue (arcane trickster), Criminal, fuyant un passé criminel, a vu de ses yeux les trésors merveilleux qu’a rapporté le ranger Flyzus de sa dernìère expédition et s’est immiscé dans le groupe depuis
(Chris) Rufb (level 10), Half-Orc Barbarian (berserker), Mercenary Veteran; capturé par des pterafolks, seul survivant de sa bande de mercenaires, délivré par Flyzus au sommet du Firefinger
(Jason) Shin, (level 10) Tabaxi Fighter (arcane archer), Outlander, veut devenir le plus grand chasseur de tout les temps + Vorn, Shield Guardian
Intro: Coup d’État à Port Nyanzaru
De retour de leur dernier périple dans les jungles de Chult, les aventuriers ont pris connaissance des bouleversements politiques dans la ville principale de la péninsule, Port Nyanzaru. En effet, un membre du conseil de gouvernement, Ifan Talro’a, s’est emparé du pouvoir avec l’appui de mercenaires étrangers et d’un mystérieux chef criminel (Jobal).
Les aventuriers étant à peu près en guerre ouverte contre ces mêmes mercenaires, il ne leur sied pas du tout de les voir placer leur marionnette en tête de la ville…
Entrée et Retrouvailles
Avec un bateau-volant sous la main, faire le trajet jusqu’à Port Nyanzaru depuis leur repaire ne leur a jamais été aussi facile et rapide. Le capitaine Flyzus les dépose à une distance raisonnable de la ville pour ne pas trop afficher leur arrivée. Ensuite, profitant de leur réputation bien méritée de sauveurs, ils se dirigent vers le quartier des pêcheurs (Tiriki’s Anchorage) où les locaux favorisent leur entrée discrète.
Art: Mehmet Ozen
Pax et Léon surveillent les patrouilles des mercenaires, puis à l’aide d’un contact, le groupe s’infiltre à l’intérieur des murs de la ville par un tunnel de contrebandiers. Après quelques essais infructueux, Pax réussit à entrer en contact avec des membres de la Main Mauve, des teinturiers/gang de rue à la solde de Jessamine, une membre du conseil abolit et opposante du nouveau gouverneur. Dans le repaire de cette dernière, ou est aussi présent le magicien Wakanga, les PJs en apprennent beaucoup sur la situation. Après quelques hésitations, les aventuriers décident de s’en prendre à la partie cachée, mystérieuse, de leur ennemi en tentant de sortir Jobal de l’équation. Ce dernier à sa base principale quelque part dans les tunnels sous les antiques ziggurats de la Vieille Ville.
Un bâteau de pêche dépose les PJs près de la Vieille Ville, une illusion programmée de Wakanga les aide à passer inaperçu. Kalohan utilise un sort de True Seeing et trouve une entrée secrète dans un endroit nommée le Gauntlet où des spectacles sanguinaires ont lieu couramment. Les aventuriers s’y engouffrent…
Sous la Ville
Après une première salle bourrée de pièges et une deuxième pleine d’ennemis morts-vivants, les aventuriers s’enfoncent plus avant et affrontents d’autres morts-vivants, cette fois juchés sur un système de passerelle surplombant du bétail en contrebas. Un usage judicieux du sort Shatter de la magicienne accomplit une bonne partie du travail en précipitant les ennemis dans le troupeau, un piétinement s’ensuit….
Plus loin, une grande salle contient de nombreuses cages avec toutes sortes de bestioles à l’intérieur, le tout gardé par des cultistes (des guerriers et une mage). Les PJs ont un plan redoutable: laisser s’échapper des monstres tandis qu’ils s’occupent des gardes les plus proches. Kalohan brise la cage d’un wyvern, la bête s’empresse de terrasser la mage cultiste tout près et prise au dépourvu.
image: Rhadov
Une deuxième cage d’ouverte, cette fois par Pax, voit des Ettercaps cavaler vers la liberté après avoir empêtrés dans leurs toiles leurs geôliers .
Une fois les cultistes éliminés il y a un moment tendu alors que le wyvern semble hésité à les attaquer aussi mais finalement la bête part dans la diretion opposée (au hasard). La suivant à une certaine distance, les aventuriers voient le wyvern confronté à des adversaire morts-vivants et être submergé sous le nombre. Des flèches explosives de shin ont tôt fait de faire le ménage après la mort du wyvern.
TBC
Notes du DM:
Marjorie penchait davantage pour organiser une guérilla contre le nouveau pouvoir mais le manque d’enthousiasme des autres joueurs pour cette idée a fait tourner vers une implication plus directe des PJs (baston!).
Pour faire vite, j’ai « emprunté » la section Blood Pens du donjon Doomvault (Tales of the Yawning Portal) et l’ai présenté presque tel quel pour une fois.
Les joueurs ont bien apprécié d’avoir des monstres dans leur équipe en quelque sorte.
Our second session of the campaign outside of the Château. This one was a bit laborious in the going as the three boys were out of their zone of comfort in how to approach a somewhat subtle objective. It also led to an absolutely major change of the campaign further on, one that I’ve hinted was possible but I thought was unlikely to happen.
The action this time is set into the city of Ximes, in Averoigne, with a backstory as it turned out heavily inspired by The Holiness of Azédarac by Clark Ashton Smith and, as is my fancy with this campaign I’ve used material from Gabor Lux to help me flesh out the setting a little more.
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
Rumors:
There’s an extensive network of tunnels below the city of Ximes. Smugglers who makes the run on the Ysoulde river use the tunnels to hide their stuff.
Bishop Azédarac is often seen with merchant Jehan Mauvaissoir, a shady individual whom, like the bishop, nobody seems to have known a few years ago.
One important piece of information was obtained in downtime has Cordélia has finished deciphering the notes of the late Rogat Demazien. The latter had some kind of a deal with the « Holy Man »: find a way to create and control gargoyles in exchange for the recipe of a powerful time-travel potion. Could this saintly man be Bishop Azédarac? Certainly all the rumors they heard about him made it sound likely.
Could be useful as for now the adventurers have to work for the Bénédictins monks and the Church in finding incriminating evidence against the infamous bishop to pay off their debt.
Arriving in Ximes
Cordélia sends her homonculus at the cathedral to spy on Azédarac’s entourage. She finds a mark in the person of a young nobleman, one Boudevoy, who’s to become a churchman and is now a protégé of the bishop.
The adventurers manage to join a game of cards with Boudevoy at the Gamesman’s Court, Cordélia uses her natural charm on naive Boudevoy and convince him to show her (and her friends) where he works, at the cathedral.
Inside the cathedral, with the information gathered by the homonculus and with Boudevoy as a laissé-passez of sort, the party manage to find a door leading to the undercity.
They get into a large room lit by two braziers, armed men block their way, They get their weapons out and the fight is on! Even if the thugs prove no match for the battle-hardened veterans they still fight to the last one.
Thence, the PCs get into another large room and choose to follow the more visibly well-trodden path on their right, ignoring many others.
After a few turns this leads them to a locked, reinforced door. Noah starts to try some of his false keys but someone from the other side of the door says that whoever is there better leave very soon.
The adventurers retreat no further that in the corridor behind the angle and goad the threatmongers into coming to them. The door opens, furtive footsteps, almost inaudible. Noah advances, crossbow in hands but gets jumped upon by three assassins and almost die. Fortunately his companions rush to help him and manage to prevail.
Cordélia, Paul and Monmon then disguise themselves with the assassins’ clothing (bloodsoaked as they are) while Noah will wait back with most of their equipment.
They open the door into a large, dimly-lit room with other likewise clothed people and try their best to be inconspicuous. They get to the other side after uttering a quick explanation and get through another locked door.
Thence, they get lost for some time in a network of confusing corridors before finding a secret passage. They go North and open a door into a large plush hallway with a dozen thugs playing cards or sipping beverage. There’s a heavy curtain on the northern wall, the adventurers want to check it out but are stopped « did the Boss asked for you? » to which Cordélia replies that indeed they are here to make their report on the intruders situation. The PCs are eyed suspiciously but are brought forward nonetheless (and pretty much trapped).
Behind the curtain is a small room with arrow slits on each side, a set of bars blocks another area with and a vague human shape can be seen behind a veil: « Do you think you can fool me? Men, bring the other one » And here comes Noah, with his wrists tied together.
« Certainly not » replies Cordélia, thinking fast. And acting on her strong suspicion that it was Azédarac himself behind the veil: « We’ve been sent by the church but we’d much rather make a deal with you, something that could benefit us all and allow my special, frowned-upon talents to flourish… »
And so, after a bit more discussion between the adventurers and Azédarac (because indeed it was him), they reached some kind of understanding. Through his powers he would endeavor to get himself and his new allies into another epoch entirely no less…
Closing Comments:
There was many ways to approach the (ultimately discarded) mission. The most likely I thought would have seen the party explore a good chunk of the undercity, with possibly many sessions to do so. It did not happen like this at all and I was a bit disappointed quite frankly. I wanted encounters with hanging snagworths and slimecones and dubious characters but instead my players managed, part by inspiration and part randomly, to get the shortest route possible to the hidden domain of Azédarac.
Of course Azédarac doesn’t feature in Gont: nest of spies, I’ve switched him over with the assassin leader Grave-Wight. Likewise, the cathedral took the place of keldor’s manor.
I still feel a bit of an impostor when I cut open an adventure or setting, discard unwanted stuff, add some other, switch characters and so on and sew it back together to run at my table but at the same time I think it’s the next best thing if I don’t take the time to create my own.
It’s the end of this Castle Xyntillan run, big hanging threads and all, just like that.
It’s the beginning of something else if we choose so, I’m not quite sure myself. Do we hear the call of Khosura?
Okay we’re now truly in unfettered territory and this scenario is one of the best to date in my opinion. Of course the fact that Math took the time to put the main tile on a real mechanical device that could simulate our descent helped make it really impressive!
Characters
Lazy Liz the Deathwalker (David) lvl 2, sun-averse, why walk when I can teleport
Britney the Banner Spear (Mathieu) lvl 4 a great leader, might be related to Bruce
Boson the Blink Blade (Guillaume) lvl 5, Master of the 4th dimension
We’re on board the derelict elevator with its guards, some Ruined Machines, and we’re passing by side-platforms occupied by Ancient Artilleries. 12 rounds to go!
And a lot of tokens telling us that we’re in for a few unexpected things too…Shadows and banner out. Meanwhile the frantic Blinkblade jumps on the nearest platform to take out the artilleries.The Banner Spear will mostly stay in one spot doing what she does best: absorb and dish out punishment.4 rounds in and the security is keeping us very busy!Fortunately, the Ruined Machines have seen better days and aren’t very effective.Britney pulls an artillery on our side: « Come over here! »Debris keep falling down near us and now, a more potent defender shows up, a Flaming Bladespinner.We have the upper hand though but we’re still getting deeper and deeper. 3 more rounds to go!2 more of these dangerous foes but with the banner behind us we’re sure to prevail!
Closing Comments:
Most impressive set-up with Math’s 3d decor and very enjoyable tactical challenge.
It looked like a hard scenario on first sight but we managed to defeat the ennemy waves without much of a sweat.
The Ruined Machines kept getting the same card at random, Signal Jam, one of the least troublesome that only put the muddle condition on us. That helped us a lot.
The Blinkblade quickly killing off the artilleries on each side platforms while the Banner Spear and Deatwalker could stay put, focusing their efforts on the main tile, meant a very optimal situation for our team composition.
The Banner Spear even managed to get her mastery with the banner surviving to the end from round 1.
I’ve killed a whole bunch of Ruined Machines, advancing my personnal quest more that I’d hoped for.
We’re now starting the Unfettered thread of the campaign. What Frosthaven call unfettered are essentially robots so we could say its a big thematic change as per the yeti-like Algox thread we were focusing on earlier.
Characters
Lazy Liz the Deathwalker (David) lvl 2, sun-averse, why walk when I can teleport
Britney the Banner Spear (Mathieu) lvl 4 a great leader, might be related to Bruce
Boson the Blink Blade (Guillaume) lvl 4>>5, Master of the 4th dimension
Or at least, it will soon be a big change of theme but not yet. En route to investigate some strange sightings we’re now fleeing for our lives as we’re being pursued by a (an unlimited amount of) wolves with just one possible path ahead, into the narrow trench.
We must get out of the trench but to do so, we must fight snow bears and the ever annoying snow imps.The Blink Blade opens the hostility and gets invisible. Meanwhile the Banner Spear calls for reinforcement and the Deathwalker summons ominous shadows.The fight is on!Banner Spear: « I’m surrounded, that’s perfect! »Let’s move on. I’ll lead the way, don’t mind the creepy shadow following us.The wolves have caugth up,. Move, move, move!The Blink Blade gets face to face with one ferocious bear. He dances around it, stabbing it numerous times, killing it effortlessly.Meanwhile the Banner Spear fends off the wolves as long as she can and the Deatwalker is… teleporting way behind with a shadow conveniently left there, to fetch some loot!Finally, we’d better get out of there before exhaustion gets us.
Closing Comments:
Easy, straightforward scenario as it’s one of the first available too.
The Blink Blade had no trouble at all defeating an elite bear all by himself, that’s impressive.
The Banner Spear had a ton of unused bless cards by the end ot the scenario, they just refused to come up.
The Deathwalker and Banner Spear killed a lot of wolves, just to get xps and loot and got near depleted doing so.
Not a very fascinating scenario but it was mandatory to open up, as I said earlier, something that should feel different.
This is the long overdue second part of my review (that virtually no one was waiting for) of this mostly forgotten TSR adventure The Sword of Roele, for the Birthright setting. In the first part I’ve talked about how it has an absolute mess of a scenario, hilariously bad. But now I’m gonna talk about its main dungeon which I find, as the title says, pretty good.
The Sword of Roele, Wolfgang Baur, 1996, AD&D2E, levels 5-8
So you’ve gone through the arduous process of the module’s disjointed, scene-based nodes and finally found the adventure’s main dungeon where the macguffin, I mean the Sword of Roele is. You stand in front of:
The Great Tomb of the Order of the Sun
Mid-sized dungeon, 2 levels, 53 rooms
funerary complex of knights do-gooders and some of their major figures
designed by an evil magic-user architect to accomodate his own needs in his plans to achieve lichdom
The tomb’s only entrance is collapsed with only a narrow path to get in (shown as the « goblin path » on the map even though there’s no goblins in the dungeon, a obvious sign that the dungeon has been refurbished and changed from its original purpose). The PCs will immediately have to confront the troglodyte sentries and do some tunnel fighting.
There’s an whole tribe of 41 trogs in the rooms near the entrance. The trogs are also intruders to the dungeons.
Here’s a great bit:
« If the troglodytes lose 10 or more of their number, they retreat into Areas 3 and 6. In the storage area they climb up the tunnel into the audience chamber (Area 8). They are cold-blooded so they suffer only one-quarter damage from the brown mold’s cold. In the hall, they hide in the shadows behind the statues, waiting for a chance to ambush foes. »
The trogs take advantage of their resistance to brown mold, that’s great!
When the PCs are in they’ll see large double-doors at their left (upper right on the map), they’ll feel a draft of cold air coming from the right (caused by the brown mold) and see an impressive hallway in front with rows of stone statues/caryatids on each side. They’ll probably notice the corpses of dead thieves on the floor too, at the limit of their light source. Good telegraphing for what represents the main gimmick of this dungeon: of course some caryatids are monsters (circled in red below)! As written the caryatids are the equivalent of lesser stone golems and are perfectly beatable. When I ran this dungeon I’d upgraded the stone statues to full stone golems status, they absolutely have to constitute a proper threat to force some hard choices (and clever ideas) from the players IMO.
a caryatid ready to crush your skullAn « optimal » run to reach the second level could look something like that, with some tense moments of crossing the hallway with the help of diversions. (huh, you may want to include room 21 and 22 if you feel confident! 😉 )
Apart from the troglodytes and caryatids the main denizens are of the undead variety with some constructs sprinkled here and there. The dungeon definitely suffers from a gygaxian naturalism syndrome where things make sense for a tomb but there’s a lack of wonder involved.
Aside: Funnily enough there’s several mention of a resident vampire in the tomb, he’s supposed to be a big deal but he’s in fact nowhere to be found, he’s not even statted! Oops!
The rooms themselves are a mixed bag.
Some are great, like the Chamber of Shadows:
« Three of this chamber’s walls are covered with an abstract pattern of black lines. The fourth wall depicts a black bridge over a misty chasm to a gate of light. Words are carved into three of the four stone walls. »
[…]
« The painted bridge at the far side of the room is the Bridge of Sighs and Shadows, a magical link through solid rock between this room and the Divination Room. Only those who know its secret can cross it. »
Other rooms are pretty boring. There’s several rooms in a row that are just filler; here’s a room with undead falcons, here’s a room with undead hippogriffs, the next one with undead griffons…
The second level is smaller and is designed essentially to confuse the players. It’s heavy on teleportation tricks, traps and of course it has more undeads and constructs.
There’s no faction play in this dungeon, the troglodytes are immediately hostile and other than them there’s few sentient beings. There’s an imp to be found who actually gives good advice as it serves his purpose, that’s nice. There’s also an homonculus but if you’ve met the imp he’ll feel kinda redundant. As written you may also be accompanied by the ghost of the order’s high priest that you can meet before entering the tomb and he does have useful information to provide (and some big secrets) but he’ll get angry if you fall into the usual adventurer’s tomb-robbing habbits and most people will be happy to put him to rest one way or the other before long.
So all in all, this dongeon has several weaknesses, even a few gaffes, but it has also several strong points, the hallway with the caryatids being a favorite of mine. It’s not a great dungeon but it’s good and it certainly doesn’t deserve to be completely forgotten as it is now.
We played two short sessions to date in Edmond’s own dungeon, le Château d’Éfaurmaje.
Here’s the Dungeon Master with his homemade books.
I’m playing a Magic-User that has a mix of protection and attack spells, Isaac is playing a Warrior that can summon beasts to help us in combat. We basically proposed character concepts to Edmond and he invented our character’s powers on the spot.
We’ve rolled our character stats at random down the line and we’re mapping our progress in the dungeon, the old-school way!Here we see a tower with a portal of teleportation that we hurriedly jumped into after taking a beating at the hands of an ogre.
The monsters are mostly vanilla fantasy: zombies, goblins, orcs, etc. We’ve also encountered « pyrymies », invented by Edmond, small (smaller than goblins) humanoids that fight with a knife in each hand and are very adept at dodging.
We’ve heard orcs talking (while we listened to a door) about how it was this time of the year when they changed every door of the castle. Very funny!
Edmond has prepared a table of rumors (not all true I’ve been told) that potentially lead to treasures and other sites.
There’s also another random roll at the start of a session and Isaac got a Sick condition from it that diminished his strength score until resolved. That’s an interesting addition, clearly something else that Edmond came up on his own.
We’ve fled from an ogre as I’ve said but also from a Hydra that we had tried to beat with the help of pyrymies (!), it was way too strong for us!
It’s quite fascinating to me to play in a TTRPG without any rules constraints – Edmond is improvising 90% of the rules along the way and it still works perfectly fine!
Second scenario of Boson’s personal quest, the Aether Outpost. The first one was hard, this one we teetered on the brink of disaster.
Characters
Lazy Liz the Deathwalker (David) lvl 2, sun-averse, why walk when we can teleport
Britney the Banner Spear (Mathieu) lvl 4 a great leader, might be related to Bruce
Boson the Blink Blade (Guillaume) lvl 4, Master of the 4th dimension
Last time we secured a special place for a stranded group of Aesthers. They need more of our help, we have to secure four (no less, no more) Elemental Cores so they can power up their, I dunno, their machine? Spaceship? Or…
Their nightclub! (okay, I’m totally making this up, but isn’t it a cool decor by Math yet again?)As far as Haven goes, it’s a bigass map. Do we have the stamina? Let’s open two rooms at once shall we.The Blink Blade opens the light-blue room and finds four demons between us and our goal. We must find a way to get the Core behind and bring it to the central room.Second room, the green, four more demons. Boson gets face to face with a meaty Earth Demon.And uses his lucky dice…An epic avalanche of luck for the win!One Elemental Core brought back courtesy of shadow jumps. I’m so smooth, I’m so dope, yah.Opening two more rooms? Why not?Hey guys, ‘member how the Wind demons have disarm abilities like half their attacks? Wait? What?!Things aren’t so smooth now. Not one bit.But demons can bleed. Now, who can outlast the other?
That’s victory for us!
Closing Comments:
An amazing start for us led to a bit of overconfidence. I could easily have added 5-6 more pictures with grim comments attached.
The Wind Demons really messed up our momentum. Fortunately I was able to place a bleeding shadow on their path (along with the always pesky flame demon) and, lucky for us, they got a move on their cards and got the bleed condition. That reignited our hopes of winning.
The Banner Spear fought against a whole bunch of enemies all the way through and almost got a mastery even but had to let go of the project when things turned south.
The Blink Blade covered incredible distance while dishing out impressive damage, very strong character.
My shadow abilities were somehow both very restrained by the size and non-linearity of the map but also really instrumental to winning, All in all an auspicious start for the Deathwalker I think.
Okay last segment of our sessions at the cabin and we’ll be up to date.
The boys want to find Count Giscard. Not to put a stake through his heart like they did with his wife the Countess, no, they wish to make peace with him as they think he’s a cool dude or something. I mean, is he a cool dude? Maybe! One thing I did told them, to reinforce the point that the Château isn’t a static place, is that they shouldn’t expect the Count to be found in his Entrance Halls’s room, not after what happened to his wife quite recently.
Monmon (Edmond), has a powerful antique spear, Warrior lvl 5>>6
Paul Nareff (Olivier), friend and sponsor of the numerous Jean clan, Warrior lvl 5>>6
Paul-Jean Paul (Olivier), apprentice alchemist, don’t confuse him with Jean-Paul Jean, Warrior lvl 5
Constant Jean (Olivier), vigorous member of the Jean clan, heavily armored, Warrior lvl 4
Retainers:
Raymond (Isaac), Man-at-Arms, gruff, vassal of the Comte de la Frenaie, Morale 7
Raoulet the Pimp (Marjorie), undead pimp with a semblance of life, Morale 12
Valentin (Isaac), shoemaker, Morale 7
Gaston (Edmond), poacher, not very bright, Morale 6
Hyacinthe (Edmond), caravan hand, very calm and attentive, Morale 9
Crypt
Zachary, Elementalist, electrocuted in front of the Anteroom (corpse in castle)
Pierre-Jean Pierre, ex-monk, clawed to death by a dark monk (RIP)
Edgar, daytaler, throat slashed by a dark monk, (corpse in castle)
Charles, daytaler, skewered by a drunken skeleton (corpse in castle)
Hercule, caravan hand, seized off the raft by the Lake Monster (MIA)
Pierre Laroche du Rocher, mason, pierced by the Huntsman’s arrows (corpse seized by Charon, RIP)
Alphonse, crusader, savaged by Count Giscard’s Children of the Night. (corpse in castle)
Jacques, daytaler, got hit in the face by an Empty Armor’s halberd (corpse thrown in the lake)
Stuffed Jean-Paul, killed by stuffed animals, stuffed himself, bursted into flames (RIP)
Georges, militia man, killed by an axe blow from a rival adventurer. (corpse in castle)
Previous Infractions in the Château:
Eliminated Tristano Malévol the Love-Lost. Eliminated Merlerik the Ancient. Eliminated Aranéa Malévol. Eliminated Runcius the Dark Man of the Woods. Eliminated Countess Maltricia Malévol. Eliminated Agénor Malévol. Eliminated Béatrice Malévol. (+1)
Smoked the Ruined Quarters: 1/2 Angered a werewolf washwoman: 1/2 Stole the Reliquary of Bygone Kings: 1 Failed to convince Jean-Honoré the butler of their lies: 1/2 Stole a treasure chest full of gold from the Lake Grotto treasury: 1/2 Interrupted Runcius Malévol’s pagan ritual: 1 Slightly annoyed Count Giscard Malévol while he drank « wine »: 1 Stole the Scepter of the Merovings: 1 Defaced living portraits with holy water: 1 Bullied Jean-Honoré the Butler: 1/2 Smashed the busts in the Bust Gallery: 1 Stole the Oil of Cleansings: 1 Stole the Crown of the Lost: 1 Burglarized Count Giscard’s room (+1) Put holy water in Count Giscard’s « wine » (+1) Total: 12 1/2
We start in Ximes. Luc Le Chaudronnier’s Alchemy Lab: one more dose of Oil of Revelation. Paul buys a cask of wine with the idea to give it to Count Giscard to compensate for having burglarized his liquor cabinet earlier. (of course Olivier is making a wrong assumption here but nice try!)
Grand Entrance:
The PCs wish to go to the catacombs and they enter at the Grand Entrance. The two statues do their usual thing but nothing special happens.
There’s a boar in the vestibule! Large and fierce but already sporting many wounds. The adventurers attack the beast from all side and Noah stab it with Runcius’ poisoned poniard and the beast trashes around for a short time and finally dies.
Thence they go through the Entrance Halls and get into the Throne Room. They use the secret elevator and descend into the Lake Grotto area.
They make a detour to the wine cellar and they discover that the secret passage to the Indoorness doesn’t seem to be there anymore. Instead, there’s a bas-relief depicting a woman: the Enchantress of Sylaire who seems in the process of making a deal with Runcius Malévol. A bit disappointed the adventurers get back to their original plan of trying to find the Count’s hiding place.
They go north and turn right near the chapel of the three saints. There’s a lone ghoul into the adjacent corridor, it reacts quickly when it hears the PCs and lashes at the first in line, Monmon, but misses all of its attacks. Monmon quickly disposes of it with his antique spear.
Thence they open a door nearby and interrupt eight ghouls that were bickering over scraps. Noah immediately kills one with his repeating crossbow. Paul then swing his big Guts blade (whirlwind attack) and kill four others. Monmon skewers another with his spear. The remaining two ghouls don’t believe very much in bravery and try to scamper away but are quickly cut down for their effort.
There’s an interesting frescoe in this otherwise broken down room that served as a tomb. Very ancient, it depicts a scene with knights – the central figure, a mighty knight, holds a banner with a bleeding heart and in his other hand he holds a scepter. (Like the scepter they found and sold? Yes pretty much like it…)
Further into this new section (sill in the Lake Grotto area), another tomb, this time an animated shovel digs a grave filling another in the process. They don’t inspect further and leave.
Thence, another tomb, there’s what look like a gisant but made of wax. The PCs don’t like the look of it one bit and leave.
Next, they open another door and come face to face with Guy the Jocular, Malévols’ own court jester. The PCs ask him if he knows of Count Giscard’s whereabouts and he says: « why, yes, he’s right here » and he points to Hyacinthe (random) with his wand (of polymorph) and the latter transforms and takes the appearance of the vampire Count! « But where’s the Count, for REAL? » « Ha! Can’tone have a little joke? Err hmm, he’s very near in truth but I wouldn’t disturb him if I were you! HA HA HA hihi haha héhé! » spitting some maggots as he laughs.
The party leaves the jester behind with a somewhat perplexed Hyacinthe/Fake Count Giscard in tow.
They open another doo nearby, another tomb/room but this time there’s dozens of bats on the ceiling and gargoyles in the corners. There’s also a thick stone slab in the middle of the room. The PCs close the door and use their ever-useful Oil of revelation to a see a probable future. In the vision, the adventurers get in a messy fight against the gargoyles and bats and flee the room when the stone slab begins to slide sideway, they flee further in the Castle and hear the howling of wolves sent after them… The vision ends, they know who’s under the slab!
Paul puts a note on his cask of wine, opens the door and leave the cask inside. They don’t have to wait too long before the room’s inhabitant rise up from his tomb: « What’s all the ruckus? What’s that, wine? What do I care for wine? » Louder: « Bring me proper sustenance next time or I’ll take care of it myself! »
The PCs leave the area before the Count decide to act on his words right now. They want to explore one last area before calling it a day and they settle on the southern part of the Entrance Halls.
They get back to the ground floor via the elevator. Soon after ther encounter a woman in a lavender dress and heavy make-up and dragging a heavy bag. The PCs have seen her portrait before, she’s Lydia Malévol. She bows when she sees Fake Count Giscard, « My lord », and eyes voraciously his strange companions.
Nearer their goal, the adventurers open a door and find a crowd of 24 undead noble men, mostly insulting each other and each boasting of their superior qualities as a would-be suitor for Lydia Malévol. The 24 undead noble men bow to Fake Count Giscard, « My lord », and eye suspiciously his strange companions.
Thence, the PCs get into a weird room with floating furnitures and a giant ectoplasmic head of an old man being slowly absorbed and distilled into an alembic. They discover that they can use the ectoplasm to make complex potions.
The adventurers leave the Château.
Closing Comments:
Great session with two major discoveries: Giscard’s secret underground repose place and the Knight’s Door which I’m pretty sure they’ll get back to very soon if they get ahold of the scepter again
Their plan to get into the Count’s good will has failed but it hadn’t devolved into a hostile situation either.
lots of encounters again, mostly non-hostile and one hostile (Lydia) averted with quick thinking and the earlier opportune transformation of Hyacinthe into Fake Count Giscard. Fun stuff.
XP: Participation: 1 Treasures: 0 Secrets: 2
Treasures: none
Fatalities: none
New Infractions: Have disturbed Count Giscard in his no-longer secret tomb (-1)
That’s it, last mission of the Snowdancer before her retirement. Coincidentally this scenario is about helping the Boneshaper, my previous character, achieving a personal objective.
Characters
Grayzill the Snowdancer (David) lvl 4>> retirement, General Winter is on the field
Britney the Banner Spear (Mathieu) lvl 3>>4 a great leader, might be related to Bruce
Boson the Blink Blade (Guillaume) lvl 3>>4, Master of the 4th dimension
There’s necromancy afoot! Of course this is of interest to the retiree, the Boneshaper, enough to ask for our help in finding out what the source of the power is. As it happens we find amulet-wearing undead. We must loot the amulets fast less the undead just keep getting back on their feet.
Where’s the Boneshaper? Care to join us? We’ll be doing all the hard work won’t we? SighShield and Strengthen to you. The Snowdancer will be missed…Give us your shiny baubles and die! Meat Grinder time!What the heck is that thing?! (Our first Lurker of the campaign.)Another shiny bauble for us.Oh shit, this one is even worst!Making a last stand are we?Never underestimate the power of funnelling.A banner, a flag-bearing sidekick, ain’t the Banner Spear overdoing it a little?
Closing Comments:
A walk in the park this time, we even finished with everybody at full hp.
We were able to pick up the amulets as soon as they fell on the ground (or even before with loot cards) and so we didn’t have to kill the same adversaries again and again. It was key to our success.
We gained an item blueprint as a reward. A very powerful item, if only we could unlock one of the two prerequisite item to craft it.
The Snowdancer was an interesting character, with very efficient support abilities, but as soon as I realized that her retirement was coming fast I lost a bit of interest unfortunately. I’m very eager to try my new one though.
Streets & Spores 