(savage) THRONE OF NIGHT
1/6: Dark Frontier
THORIN TARNHAMMER
Dwarven Warrior / Heir to Dammerhall
Agility [d6] Pace [5”]
Smarts [d6] Charisma [+2]
Spirit [d8] Parry [8 (1)]
Strength [d6] Toughness [8 (3) / 10 vs ranged]
Vigor [d6] Power Points [n/a]
HINDRANCES: Slow (-1 Pace), Vow (restore Dammerhall), Arrogant, Code of Honor
EDGES: Tough (start with D6 Vigor), Low Light Vision, Noble, Trademark Weapon
SKILLS: Fighting [d10] Intimidation [d8] Notice [d6]
Persuasion [d8] Stealth [d4] Kn. Dwarven Royalty [d6]
GEAR: The Tarnhammer (Trademark Weapon +1 Fighting, Strength+d6, AP1 vs rigid armour), Platemail (AV+3), Medium Shield (+1 Parry, +2 TN vs ranged attacks)
POWERS: n/a
DAGARI DARKSTEP
Half-Orc/Dwarf guide to the Underdark
Agility [d8] Pace [6”]
Smarts [d6] Charisma [-3]
Spirit [d8] Parry [5]
Strength [d6] Toughness [6 (1)]
Vigor [d6] Power Points [n/a]
HINDRANCES: Outsider (-2 Charisma), Greedy, Habit (licks cave slime), Delusions
EDGES: Strong (start with d6 Strength), Infravision, Woodsman (+2 Tracking, Survial & Stealth while in underground caves),
SKILLS: Climbing [d4] Fighting [d6] Notice [d6]
Shooting [d8] Stealth [d8] Survival [d6]
Tracking [d6] Kn. Azathyr [d6]
GEAR: Shortsword (Strength+d6), Crossbow (2d6, 15/30/60, AP2, 1 action to reload), Leather Armor (AV+1)
POWERS: n/a
MAGNAMARD SPELLAXE
Dwarven Wizard / Advisor to Thorin Tarnhammer
Agility [d6] Pace [4”]
Smarts [d8] Charisma [+0]
Spirit [d8] Parry [5]
Strength [d4] Toughness [5]
Vigor [d6] Power Points [10/7]
HINDRANCES: Slow (-1 Pace), Elderly, Loyal (to Thorin), Bad Eyes
EDGES: Tough (start with D6 Vigor), Low Light Vision, Arcane Background (Magic)
SKILLS: Fighting [d6] Kn. Magic [d10] Notice [d8]
Persuasion [d8] Spellcasting [d10] Stealth [d4]
Taunt [d8] Repair [d4]
GEAR: Axe (STR+D6 > D4), Wizards Robes (+0 AV), Spellbook
POWERS: Smite (2pp, 3 rounds/1), Armor (2pp, 3 rounds/1), Burrow (3pp, 3 rounds/2)
DULLON BRIGHTHAMMER
Dwarven Cleric
Agility [d6] Pace [5”]
Smarts [d6] Charisma [+0]
Spirit [d8] Parry [6]
Strength [d6] Toughness [7 (2) / 9 vs magic]
Vigor [d6] Power Points [10]
HINDRANCES: Slow (-1 Pace), Vow (restore worship to Dammerhall), Heroic, Loyal
EDGES: Tough (start with D6 Vigor), Low Light Vision, Arcane Background (Miracles), Arcane Resistance (+2 TN vs magical attacks, +2 to resist magical effects)
SKILLS: Faith [d8] Fighting [d8] Healing [d6]
Kn. Religion [d6] Notice [d6] Persuasion [d8]
Stealth [d4]
GEAR: Warhammer (Strength+d6, AP1 vs rigid armour), Chainmail (AV+2), Holy Symbol
POWERS: Healing (3pp), Boost/Lower Trait (2pp, 3 rounds/1)
We are playing the Explorers campaign, using the Savage Worlds game system. Obviously, this thread will contain spoilers, so those who wish to play the AP themselves should probably stop reading now.
“This is the last chance for your people. For two hundred years, the dwarves have been scattered and leaderless. The dwarf holds are all but gone – conquered by invaders or overrun with outsiders. For decades now, the dwarves have mingled with the kingdoms of men. The humans have treated you well enough. They respect dwarven craft and tenacity. But with every passing year, the dwarves dwindle. Your tongue goes unspoken. Your ways are forgotten. Will there come a time when to be dwarven is merely another way of saying a short, bearded man?
It was not always so. Once the greatest empire in the all the world was dwarven. Once the majestic kingdom of Dammerhall was where all roads converged. The whole world came to pay tribute to the dwarven high king and his mithral throne. And then calamity. The great mountain-city burned with black flame for three days. All the bridges into Dammerhall collapsed. All the gates were sealed. The only survivors were those who by chance were outside the city. For two centuries dwarves have tried to retake Dammerhall and discovered what really happened that dark day. And for two hundred years, they have failed. The remaining dwarven holds, once vassals to Dammerhall, fell to squabbling about who should rule the dwarves. Weakened by division, many dwarf holds were overrun by orc or dragon. Some signed treaties with the realms of men, all but forfeiting their autonomy. And most disgraceful, some holds fell because of civil war where dwarf turned upon dwarf.
But there is yet hope. It is said that there is another way into the sealed city – a dark road beneath that goes through the uncharted depths of the earth. This expedition will be the one who will find that hidden road. This expedition will reclaim Dammerhall and restore dwarven glory, dispelling two hundred years of disgrace. You have found an entrance into the darkness. Rumor speaks of a deep gnome village known as Fasturvalt where dwell the elusive svirfneblin, the deep gnomes. The first step is clear – Find Fasturvalt and secure a guide. Nothing will stop you in your quest. Nothing will stay your hand. This is your hour. This is the moment when the dwarven diaspora ends and where dwarven glory begins anew. In the realms below, you will make for yourselves and your people a Throne of Night.”
The dwarven expedition begin their quest near a major tunnel that their half-orc guide names the Gnome King’s Highway. The only other denizens of the Azathyr that the small party have encountered are the bats, thousands of the leathery-winged rodents fluttering through the dark. Dagari assures the dwarves that they can follow the highway right to the doorstep of the svirfneblin.
On the third day of their descent into the earth, a tremor shakes the tunnel the party are traversing. After several anxious moments, the tremor subsides with only minor damage to the cavern. Dagari assures the dwarves that such tremors are not uncommon and rarely dangerous.
(OOC: little to the players know, the tremor has sealed the entrance to the Azathyr, preventing their return to the surface should their quest go pear-shaped)
On the fourth day, the party stumble upon a strange object, what looks to be a wheel fashioned from some fibrous matter. Dagari advises the dwarves that the svirfneblin use the stalks of some large mushrooms much like surface-dwellers use wood. The half-orc makes a Tracking roll to establish in which direction the wagon was travelling and establishes that it was heading for Fasturvalt too – but the tracks end abruptly. Dagari notices some strange markings leading up the tall embankment to the side of the highway and scrambles up to investigate. The dwarves remain on the road. He finds the rest of the wrecked wagon. Strands of sticky, white webbing cling to its sides and the seats are stained with blood. The rest of the party join Dagari atop the embankment and investigate the wreckage. The webbing suggests the caravan was attacked by spiders, but that is all the PCs can deduce, there is no sign of the passengers or their cargo.
The party get the creeping sensation that they are being watched. Thorin (who rolled highest on his Notice roll) spots a small, humanoid figure ducking down behind a rock. Dagari moves stealthily to flank the stranger while the dwarves try to communicate, asking if he/she saw what happened to the gnomish caravan. The half-orc sees that the stranger is a lithe gnomish woman wearing a dark hood. Making a co-operative Persuasion roll, the dwarves convince her to warily emerge from concealment, though she does not lower her crossbow. The dwarves learn her name is Iverna (though she is nicknamed Knify Ivy) and she was a passenger on the wagon before it was ambushed by skis’raal (giant, intelligent spiders). She tells them that the creatures slew Sheriff Gunter during the attack, but the other six gnomes travelling with the caravan were poisoned and dragged away, presumably for later consumption. Being Heroic (hindrance), Dullon Brighthammer believes the party should find and rescue these unfortunate souls before they are eaten by the wicked skis’raal. Magnamard Spellaxe counsels would-be King Thorin Tarnhammer that to do so would earn the gratitude of the svirfneblin, who will surely aid them in the quest to find Dammerhall. Ivy accompanies the group as an NPC hireling, as to travel the Azathyr alone is to invite death.
(OOC: Ivy joins the party as an NPC, she can endure multiple wounds, but has no wild die or bennies. If the PCs keep her alive, they can level her up whenever they earn an Advance. Eventually she may become a Wild Card NPC)
Dagari finds the tracks of two large arachnids dragging something larger than a gnome through the tunnels. He cannot identify what this might be, but Ivy suggests it was probably the pack lizard that drew the wagon, which the greedy skis’raal returned for after all of the surviving gnomes had been dragged away to their lair. After four miles, the trail terminates suddenly. Dagari identifies a sticky flap obscuring an opening in the roof of the tunnel. As he was the only character with any points in Climbing (d4), he is the first to ascend the rocky chimney. He climbs quietly/carefully enough that the skis’raal in the next area do not detect his intrusion. Dagari lowers a rope for the others, then melts into the shadows, crossbow trained on the webbed entrance to the spider’s den. Dullon is first up the rope, but he climbs clumsily and makes such a racket that one of the skis’raal comes out to investigate (combat).
Dullon has only just reached the top of the chimney when the first skis’raal skitters towards him, fangs bared and dripping with poison. He draws his warhammer and swings clumsily, driving the spider back a step. From his hiding place, Dagari shoots the creature (with The Drop, +4 Shooting/Damage), killing it. Another of the eight-legged monsters emerges from the lair, shrieking in its own spidery tongue. It spots the half-orc as he begins reloading his crossbow and hisses murderously. Rather than charging its mate’s murderer immediately, it shoots a blob of sticky webbing at the dwarven cleric to keep him out of the combat. Below, Thorin begins climbing the rope, but rolls a Critical Failure (which cannot be rerolled). Since the rope is occupied by his struggling lord, the wizard Magnamard casts Burrow and sinks into the very rock.
As the spider speeds towards Dagari, he hurriedly reloads and fires the crossbow (-2 MAP). He hits with a Raise, but the vengeful creature is merely shaken. Suddenly, Magnamard steps out of the stone wall behind the spider and strikes it with his axe, felling the second skis’raal, which is still reeling from the half-orc’s attack. Dullon struggles free of the sticky webbing and the dwarves work together to haul Thorin and Ivy up the narrow chute.
The PCs find all six of the captured gnomes alive, although they are still a little woozy from the spider’s venom. Their spokesperson is a veteran soldier called Harvald, who thanks the party for rescuing them from the predatory skis’raal. He asks the dwarves to return with them to Fasturvalt, where there bravery will surely be rewarded by the lord of the gnomish enclave. Searching the spider’s lair, the party also find… Sheriff’s Gunter’s badge of office, Sheriff Gunter’s mithril wedding band, Sheriff Gunter’s masterwork Shortsword (+1 Fighting/Damage), Sheriff Gunter’s Armory Key, 6 potions of Healing and one bottle of rare elven brandy from the surface, a bag of strange coins and a masterfully crafted axe inscribed with the dwarven letter ‘D’. The dwarves immediately realize that this weapon was crafted in the forges of lost Dammerhall and become very excited. They ask the gnomes where it came from, but none of them know – perhaps they will find the answers they seek when they reach Fasturvalt. Dagari examines the unfamiliar currency and concludes the coins were minted by the Drow.
(OOC: Leaving the spider’s lair, the party completely missed the hidden cache in the adjacent cave, the author seems to assume that they will find it, so I will have to see how the adventure pans out without the gnomes-bane being found)
It takes the party and their new gnome allies a further four days to reach Fasturvalt. The gnomish enclave is situated in one of the largest natural caverns that the surface-dwellers have ever seen. A swift, dark river runs through the centre of the cavern, dividing the town. Harvald offers to escort the group to the keep overlooking the settlement, where Lord Geirni holds court. Ivy has no desire to stand before Lord Geirni and makes herself scarce, telling the dwarves they can find her later at the Blue Rat Inn. After surrending their weapons to the guards upon the gate (all except Thorin, who refuses to relinquish his trademark weapon), the group are allowed to approach the lord of Fasturvalt. The group are surprised to find that Lord Geirni already has visitors, a group of Drow emissaries from Vothys, here to (allegedly) negotiate a truce between the two settlements.