Campaign Journal: The Queen of Cobalt Lake

Who is on the road tonight?

• Fulvus, halfling
• Frederick, thief
• Rondel, elf
• Jax, barbarian
• Various mooks

The party rested and healed at Hardbrand Tower. Gladwin and his fellow undead knights prepared for their new watch at the tower. The spare node lens was secured within the reliquary, to be retrieved at a later time.

They continued their trek south along the overgrown trade road, clearing brush as necessary for their wagon (currently full of various monster heads for Fulvus' brewery). The road was uneventful until the dice said that there were a couple of burrows along the roadside. Followed by a quick clarification. Burros? Barrows? Burrows.

Fulvus poked at the BURROWS, pissing off a pair of ankhegs. There was a bitey struggle, and Fulvus has another head for his brewery wall (building on is pretty much a given at this point). Burrow searched, and the party recovered some valuables, a +1 crossbow, and an unidentified potion.

Onward.

The following day, the party caught up with a tribe of goblins, also moving south along the road. The tribe was a pathetic lot, with a few skinny wolves pulling travois with their meager belongings. Was the party also going to meet Da Queen? Who was she? Well, she had a small domain along the lake, and was protecting folks who cared to join her. Along the lake, you say? Well, she may be near where we want to go. So I guess we are meeting the Queen.

They Met at a Tavern 3: Clearing the Water Under Wyvernseeker Hill

Last Wednesday's Meetup one-shot only had two plays (#3 was a missed connection). One was a Repeat Offender, and spoke well of my GM skills, so that was a boost.

With just a pair of players, I had each make up a pair of Deathbringer PCs to run through the wringer. 

• Player 1: Ferris Mantlefall, Witchhunter and Niles, Plague Doctor
• Player 2: Amberlin, Scoundrel and Pentaxin, Grimscribe

Finally a Witchhunter! So no undead this week. 

I kid.

I pulled up "Four Visits to Wyvernseeker Rock," a collection I put together some time ago, but haven't run through. Of the four scenarios, I selected "Wraithful River" (spoilers, of course).

The PCs were tempted into the scenario by word that the river upstream of their village had become poisoned, with a fishkill and dead wildlife. Coincidentally, the old mausoleum of Wyvernseeker Rock had been disturbed, with unknown things moving about.

So be it. Let's go test the waters.

The party found the locale, and sussed out the main entrance behind a waterfall. They were immediately set upon be a Tumorous Spider: 

Hi!

Campaign Journal: I Forgot My Notes, or, Beers, a Barrow, and a Beatdown

Welcome to another game-night scribbling...

Who's ready to rumble?

• Jax, Barbarian
• Fulvus, Halfling
• Frederick, Thief
• Slick, Also a Thief
• The Henches and Hangers-on

Like I noted on my last play report, if there is no cleric in the party, there will be a barrow... More on that, later.

First order of business. Fulvus had commissioned construction of a brewery in Neuforde. So it is desired, so will it be done...

My architectural drawing skills are rusty

A small brewery, designed off some fantasy floorplan I found, thought I'd downloaded, and could never find again. It's situated outside the new town wall, near the river and not far from the so-called "Bonk's Tower" gate on the north side of town. It has its first two employees, Adelheid Goold, a halfling new in town and with a brewing background, and Nordbert Underlake, the halfing bard picked up a few towns back. If his musical career doesn't pick up, he can push a broom. Fulvus is already making plans to expand...

The town continues to grow, especially with a number of new halfling "cousins" manning the walls for flying threats and other dangers. The rebuilt trading post will not burn down again if they have anything to say about it...

The party, reduced a bit without its two spellcasters and hench-cleric, decided to head out into the boonies anyhow, because there really isn't anything to worry about these days. Their intent was to seek out the next of the southern Barrier nodes, known to be along an overgrown trade road to the south.

They loaded up and headed out, with the intent to stop at Kabrel's Tower, where they knew that Thefri and a couple of other druids had holed up after being dislodged from Ashryn Tower by Chaos mutants. As they neared the tower, they noticed that the trees looked distinctly ... less friendly. 

source

Particularly evidenced by a few Chaos mutant corpses skewered among the branches...

Team Lorax was definitely not messing around.

The party was confronted soon after by a pair of dire wolves. Thefri appeared and let the two good boys (Gagnin and Anzel) know that the party was okay, and Goober and the two wolves did dog things. His compatriots Divos and Albus were present, as well as two new companions, Eryn and Othulf, who seemed to be responsible for the tree magic. The druids reported that they had been watching the area for the abominations that were the Chaos mutants, and that the trees were sensitive to the Chaos forces. The manipulations of natural forces for malicious ends was an affront, and they weren't having any of it. The party camped for the night at the tower, and let the druids know that they were continuing south to find the next node location.

The Sanctuary of Oies, or, Dwarves Behaving Badly...

Greetings, heroes!

Tim graciously posted up a spare map some time back, and like so many maps, it languishes in my notebook with many of its kin. But occasionally, the muse strikes, in some way, shape, or form. In the case of Tim's maps, it seems that, at least for the last few maps I've stocked, there are either dwarves in trouble, or causing trouble. So dwarves it is.

The project lived unto the working title of "dwarves behaving badly" until I could give it a proper title. Here, we have a temple to a dwarven earth god, abandoned after a ritual gone awry. But... Someone wants to unseal the doom that came to the temple. That happens. The PCs must stop said ritual, or potentially be in a World of Hurt (tm). The adventure is set up with a timer, so successfully stopping the unsealing of the second level will halt the escape. But, if the thing escapes and is defeated, there may well be reward in the deeper level of the temple.

I had a bit of fun with the boss monster. It was a name that came to me as I was brainstorming, and I made a critter to fit the name. I hope it's disturbing enough. 

The second level map was provided by Jackson, and fits the theme of the scenario well enough, as well as helps illustrate the introduction and worship of a new deity. 

The cover art images were discovered among the works of Jacques Collet, and illustrate our namesake dwarves behaving badly...

PWYW Here

They Met At a Tavern 2: Another Deathbringer One-Shot

Howdy folks. Time for another Meetup One-shot session at the brewery. Since I'd had a successful run with Deathbringer last time, I wanted to play with the game a bit more. The night's miscreant PCs:

• Rosey the Plague Doctor
• Ferrick the Plague Doctor
• Timber the Deathbringer
• Young Gerrin the Scoundrel

Plenty of local healthcare providers

Note: No Witch Hunters, again. So yes, there will be undead... But first, the Shorter Half asked, "Aren't we going to roll for hats?" Of course we are.

I recently finished "The Temple of Dynss" and wanted to give it a playtest. The scenario is more appropriate for 2nd to 3rd level PCs, so I softened the lizardfolk guards, otherwise things were run by the book. 

The party got hired as expendables to go check out the goings-on at the abandoned temple, since the local lizardfolk tribe had become more belligerent lately. Having few coins to rub together, and the promise of heaps of jade sent them on their way.

Random encounter en route - a lizardfolk hunting party. Great... Reaction roll: 11. "Hi, would you like a rabbit? Look out for snakes!" The party soon arrived at the temple and cooked the rabbit for lunch.

Rosey reconnoitered the perimeter of the temple, with Gerrin scrambling up the ruined side to check out the platform. He spotted the statue and an undead gecko. With a little planning, Timber made a racket, and lured it away into the woods while the remainder of the party checked out the statue, which was surrounded by obvious scorch marks. So of course Ferrick went up and poked it. No boom. He got away with some pocket change left on the alter.

The party entered the temple proper, inspecting the first room. They took a close look at the stele there, then poked their heads into the large central temple room. Here, they were spotted by a pair of guards, who rushed them. Ferric missed his throw with a potion (an ongoing issue), but Gerrin and Rosey took out one, and Timber critted the second. The party checked pockets, then broke down a rusted door to find a small idol.

By now, it was time for another wandering monster, so I attacked them with the undead gecko because that was funny. They dispatched it without too many wounds.