all I have to say is thank the creator for having blessed me wiht the mind and ability to speak celestial as well as infernal hopefully some of these bound celestials can be free'd from thier millenia of sufferage and maybe reward us with some prime and helpful gifts
this next part should be a cake walk with so many good aligned outer planer creatures to help us along the way *G*
they probly have all those lesser prime plane evil creatures shaped up and turned around to the best way of being don't ya think guys ?
uh guys ?
hello ??????
damn they left me to ramble on alone again
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Useless orcs, never finishing the job. That fool half-orc and the imbecile paladin would be room temperature right now if those dolts had just exerted a little extra effort. At least I can look forward to the moment when half of these idiots turn into wererats and kill the other half. That'll be fun.
now now you naughty usurping little toady of a demigog
you have to give credit where credit is due
the orc blood and the dwarf would have likely been devoured by some hall crawling nasty if I hadn't run back and helped them
and you can thank our handy lil trap springer for informing us they were in trouble
and Walkers so GRAND sacrifice *sniffle* walkiing into the lower planes to be raped and beaten and sodomized ........wait a minute, oh never mind still he will be missed ( and if minas aim doesn't immprove soon more will be missed also )
don't worry you sweet lil pile of Otyough excrement we will find our way out and deal with you appropreately
such a BIG REWARD we will have for you for the wonderful training you are giving us in combat and spellcraft and working as a unit to defeat greater foes
such training genrally takes years and costs so much
and look at what we have accompilished in under a month with you as our driving force(smiling sweetly)
we ain't dead yet taggy baby
and we ain't planning on leaving until we can whomp you a new muddy hole
Nothing quite like talking smack to an archmage to get the blood flowing. ^_^
oh Taggy is just a big Pussy cat
aren't snuggums
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Howdy, readers! A couple of our heroes may have left the group after the battle with Longtail, but it's been a while since a member of The World's Largest Adventuring Party died. I guess it was only a matter of time...
DAYS 29-37 FANGS IN THE DARK!
Things had quieted down considerably in the dungeon since Longtail and the orcs were defeated. Balian, the cavalier, and Saelin moved the prisoners to the enchanted fountain room near the dungeon entrance where they would have access to water and a place to set up a fortified living area. The party spent a few days recovering from their wounds and gathering what information they could from the lantern archon, Ariel, before moving on. While there, Mina took the opportunity to pay back the cursed elven fighter, Marcus, for all the times he had struck her in combat by severely beating him and taking his armor to give to her companions.
Upon Longtail’s arrival, Ariel shut down access to the two neighboring regions of the dungeon in order to keep the wererat from gaining any of the celestials' weapons or magic. With the sorcerer dead, the party now had two directions they could choose. The archon told the party the region to the north was involved in some sort of war the last time it’d heard from them. The region’s custodian had told Ariel a team of inevitables had been conscripted to assist with the defenses but then things went quiet. Ariel also informed the party the region to the east had once been a facility where the celestials conducted research into the nature of evil and recommended they head there next. Despite old reports of a goblin infestation, some of the archons may still be there and, if not, the adventurers might find some of their equipment. Ariel also had some bad news for the party.
Sealing Longtail’s portal to Hell had reestablished the entire dungeon’s security measures against summoning and teleportation magic. In order to keep the inmates under control, wards had been placed throughout the dungeon robbing the demons and devils of their natural ability to summon aid and teleport at will. This also meant any such spells and abilities the party possessed would no longer function within the dungeon.
The party decided to head east and came first to a trapped hallway. Halfway down the corridor, Hurk and Ayla set off a pit trap that dumped the fighter 20 feet onto a bed of spikes. After getting the half-orc out of the pit, the elf rogue decided to get to work searching for more traps. Up a corridor from the pit, the group found a small room littered in graffiti. Goblin references to “The One Who Growls” and “The Mighty Grrr’t” interspersed with insults and dirty limericks covered the walls. The party also found a room stocked with clubs, spears, slings and ammunition and would later inform Balian of its location. Around the corner from the pit trap, Ayla discovered another dangerous device.
A stone door rigged to a massive stone block stood closed at the end of the hallway. Any attempt to open the door would result in the block hammering down into the hall only to reset as the door closed. With no way around the block, the party had no choice but to attempt to disarm it. Ranoth, for some reason, attempted to fool the party into believing his goddess would grant him the ability to disarm the trap and performed a small prayer before graciously inviting Ayla to open the door. Air’elon, uncertain of the priest’s results, cast a simple cantrip to open the door causing the stone to plummet from the ceiling smashing into the ground. After the stone lifted back into the ceiling, the rogue approached the trap and attempted to disable it.
The shock of seeing the stone crushing the floor caused the elf’s hands to shake and sweat. Her fingers slipped and, suddenly, the stone was on top of her. Ayla was slammed to the ground and dragged out from under the column as it lifted. Chu, the oracle, and Runath the dwarf healed some of her wounds before she attempted to try again. This time, nothing happened. However when Ranoth volunteered to go through the door, the massive rock crushed him as well. “I can’t believe we’re getting our asses kicked by a door,” muttered Runath. On her third attempt, with a little divine guidance from Chu’s wind spirits, Ayla managed to disable the trap on the door.
The room beyond the falling stone trap was large and housed another smaller enclosed room. The room within the room was marked by a set of black tiles with a line of white tiles leading up to a pedestal upon which a golden idol rested. The idol, set with jeweled eyes and belly, radiated magic under scrutiny by Air’elon and Mina and Runath both entered the room to retrieve it. Mina chose to drink a potion of spider climb she’d found and tried to reach the idol by walking across the ceiling while Runath walked across the white tiles. Suddenly, a cloud of caltrops exploded across the room dropping Mina to the floor and injuring the dwarf. Subsequent attempts to disarm the caltrop mines only resulted in more of the caltrops filling the room. With nobody willing to enter the chamber, the quest for the golden idol was abandoned.
The party moved on to a hallway where they found a wall of impenetrable darkness beyond another stone door. Something inside the darkness smelled dank and made strange growling noises but did not exit the room. Air’elon covered the floor of the hallway in caltrops he’d recovered from the doorway of the trapped room and attempted to communicate with the thing in the room. He was met with silence and sent an unseen servant with a torch into the darkness to check for danger. When the servant returned, still carrying the torch, Air’elon collected his caltrops and Ranoth, Ayla and Runath entered the chamber.
Darkness surrounded the trio of adventurers and neither the magical light of their continual flame rods or Runath’s darkvision, nor Ayla’s Goggles of Night could pierce the black. Ranoth suddenly shouted as something large bit into his leg and tore him to the ground. Ayla was next and the elf went down cursing at the furry beast that pulled her to the floor. Runath swung at the darkness and connected with something easily the size of a horse. Outside in the hallway, Air’elon closed the door to the room before the monsters within could escape to cause him harm.
Hurk cursed the wizard for his cowardice and flung the door open to grope blindly for his companions. The half-orc managed to find Runath in the dark and Chu helped him pull the dwarf to safety as Runath grabbed ahold of Ayla. The rogue, in turn, wrapped her arms around Ranoth and kicked at the floor as she attempted to back away from whatever was attacking. A moment later, a pair of massive jaws locked onto the elf’s head and crushed the life from her. Ayla’s corpse was nearly dragged away from Hurk but the half-orc, along with Chu, Mina and Runath, managed to pull their dead companion free of the creature’s teeth. With everyone out of the room, Air’elon once again closed the door and the group fled to a nearby chamber to heal Ranoth. While Ranoth recovered, Air’elon set fire to Ayla’s corpse.
The remaining party members retreated back to the prisoners' settlement after their run-in with the wolfish beasts within the blackened chamber. After a day of rest, Balian introduced them to Dammi-tall, an elf woman the prisoners had found at the dungeon entrance. Apparently, she was a barbarian rogue who had entered the caves leading to the dungeon while looking for shelter. Though attractive, Dammi-tall was violent, rude and vulgar and few of the other inmates could tolerate her presence for very long. The cavalier suggested she join up with the adventurers believing her talents would be put to better use among them and they accepted her into their ranks.
The adventurers entered Region B through a different corridor when they returned and quickly found the reports of a goblinoid infestation were true. In a room decorated with bones and the hides of various humanoids and other creatures, the party found four bugbears sitting around a table and examining a crude map. Ranoth, with Air’elon interpreting for him, entered the room and attempted to parlay with the bugbears. “We come in peace,” said Ranoth. “We want out of here just as much as you.” A bugbear wielding a warhammer glanced at his companions and growled, “Show them the way out,” and the four creatures attacked.
Outnumbered nearly two-to-one, the bugbears fell quickly to the adventurers who revived the apparent leader of the creatures for interrogation. Being the only person with understanding of the goblin tongue, Air’elon lied to the monster telling him Ranoth wanted him to convert to the worship of Pharasma. The bugbear spit and cursed struggling against the party members who held him still. “You are prey. You will be hunted. You will die,” is all the bugbear would say. In the end, Dammi-tall and Mina were left alone with the bugbear to finish him off.
First off I loved the pictures great representation of the events. Second the half orc wouldn't know cowardice if it pistol whipped him in the face. It was no act of cowardice closing the door, a great man once said "the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few or the one." I closed the door to protect the lives and sanity of the remaining party members, they didn't need to hear the screams of despair and death from our commrades. Furthermore, I am greatly saddened by the loss of Ayla she was a fine party member, and I do mean FINE, and her loss was most regrettable. It pains me that the party doesn't recognize my good deeds in this horrible event and the sacrifices I made to protect them. Maybe Antagonis was right to throw them in here, anyone who lacks the ability to show gratitude when one is willing to sacrifice greatly to protect others should be locked away.
I'd just like to put up here that I LOVE reading these journal entries. It must take a lot of time and work. Thank you! ^^
Ayla was a great lost. What she had against me, I don't know. But I must agree with Air'elon, she was a FINE party member. Tough this frisky barbarian may proove... interesting.
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The World's Largest Adventuring Party is off to a rocky start since entering Region B of the dungeon. In our last episode, the party's trapbreaker, Ayla, had her face chewed off by a monstrous wolf and several deadly traps nearly wiped out Ranoth, Mina and Hurk. Well, things didn't get any better for them this session as the celestials' ancient prison claimed three more victims.
DAYS 38-40 A SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT
The adventurers had just defeated three bugbears and recovered a crude map marked by blotches and disjointed runes. Despite only just leaving the prisoners’ commune, they decided to rest in the bugbears’ chamber. Air’elon affixed the heads of two of the bugbears to the outer side of the door as a warning while the others prepared bedding among the grim trophies of the monsters.
Mina and Dammi-tall stood watch while Air’elon studied his spellbook, but it wasn’t long until the rest of the party was back on their feet. Less then an hour had passed when the watchstanders were surprised by a sudden slam from the door to the chamber. Something had opened the door and then slammed it closed without entering. A moment later, loud thumping could be heard from the other side of every wall. With the entire party now roused from slumber, Ranoth, Runath and Dammi-tall prepared to step into the hall to confront their rude visitor.
The sound of the thumping, so fierce only moments ago, stopped. Ranoth leapt into the hall and found nothing waiting for him beyond the threshold. However, the two bugbear heads were missing from the door. The group returned to the room and once again attempted to rest, this time with the door to the room open and Runath and Dammi-tall standing at the doorway. Roughly forty minutes later, the entire group awoke as a terrible howling echoed through the halls outside the chamber. Suddenly, an eerie light appeared from behind a large column forty feet from the doorway. Dammi-tall attempted to sneak around to investigate the light while Runath kept watch, but the light vanished as she rounded the corner and she found nothing waiting for her. There was, however, a door across from the column where the prankster may have gone to hide.
Runath, Ranoth and Dammi-tall entered the room while the others waited outside. The only contents of the room were a low well with a rope attached at its lip and an open bag of polished gems dropped haphazardly near the rope. Ranoth examined the gems and, finding them to be of little worth tossed the entire sack into the well. It nearly proved to be his undoing.
Lifting the bag from the floor tripped a pressure sensitive plate in the floor that suddenly sealed off the room’s exit while a stone wall dropped from the ceiling cutting off access to the well. If that weren’t bad enough, a vent in the ceiling suddenly opened unleashing a flood of water into the airtight room. Dammi-tall, Runath and Ranoth had to work quickly to find some way to disable the trap.
Water filled the room and the three adventurers fought to pry open a loose tile they discovered in the wall. Now completely submerged, Dammit-tall jammed and twisted her thieves’ tools into a mechanism behind the tile in an attempt to disable the trap. All Ranoth and Runath could do was hold their breath and hope the elf could rescue them from a watery demise. Snap! One of Dammi-tall’s tools broke off in the machine. She quickly removed the pick from the gears and tried again. Snap! Crunch! A second pick broke as another became twisted beyond service if the machine! A full minute had now gone by and, with only half her tools remaining, it looked like time was about to run out for the trapped adventurers! Dammi-tall jammed another pick into the device, air bubbles escaping her lungs as she cursed. Whirr! The gears spun and the stone wall lifted into the ceiling allowing the water to rush into the well. Dammi-tall was nearly swept away by the escaping water but Runath managed to grab her and anchor her down.
With the room now empty of water, the door to the chamber reopened and another door was revealed in the eastern wall. The rope in the well was swept down into the black void with the water so, with no other direction to explore, the party regrouped and headed through the newly revealed door.
The party traveled through a winding tunnel until Dammi-tall discovered a hidden door. Strange grunting could be heard from the other side. Mina and the elf attempted to slide the door open but it jammed and, by the time they gained access to the room, the grunting thing had escaped. Only four strongboxes, stacked one atop the other, remained in the room. Nothing could be done to unlock the boxes, the locks being to strong and complex. However, Air’elon managed to destroy the locks with a continuous barrage of acid splashes and opened the first of the containers. Fwip! A poisoned needle struck the wizard, but its toxin was too weak to cause him any harm. Unfortunately, the box was empty except for the dart firing mechanism. Two more of the strongboxes were also empty aside from the poisoned needle traps, but one of the boxes did contain five full potion vials. Finding a small room to sleep in, the party made camp once again.
The howling returned within the first hour of the party’s rest along with the sounds of thumping and bumping against the door to the chamber. Whatever was out there seemed determined to rob the group of any sleep, but the party did their best to ignore the noises and, with the exception of Dammi-tall, managed to get the rest they needed. Little did they know, three of the party’s members would find their eternal rest the next day
The party’s delving brought them to a large chamber filled with candles burning from four thick columns and walled with mirror-polished steel. The entire room seemed to have a calming effect on all who entered and a small wooden table rested at its center. A three-foot tall golden statue of an archon carrying a torch sat atop the table and a plaque at its base had the words “In Darkness, I bring light, never straying from my path” written upon it in Celestial. The party explored the room and found that the candles were enchanted with some form of magic that kept them from going out unless they were removed from their holders. Unfortunately, Mina had no interest in the candles.
Mina reached out and pulled the golden statue away from its base as the party examined it. A sudden boom of thunder crashed throughout the chamber and a bolt of lightning arced through the room glancing off of the steel walls. When the thunder and lightning ceased, Air’elon and Chu lay dead on the floor and Dammi-tall was seriously injured. Mina managed to evade the lightning but poor Ranoth, who had been standing near her, was now little more than a pile of charred, ill-smelling meat sealed within a husk of melted armor and ash. Hurk and Runath, though struck by the lightning, were somehow left uninjured by its divine power and rushed to help their companions. After retrieving any useful equipment from the dead, the survivors returned to the prisoners’ commune.
Leave it to a human to end my life. Never trust a human.
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Ha! Three birds with one bolt! Even after I had her order's monastery burned down and sent that flat-chested trollop to the dungeon, she's still taking care of my wet work. Such loyalty is rarely found in a woman. I hope she's rewarded with a quick and painles..Oh, who am I kidding? I want her to suffer like the rest of them.
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We've got a few days before the next session so I thought I'd use the time between sessions to introduce some of the NPCs who share the dungeon with our party of adventurers and explain how things are going with the NPC prisoners.
If you've read the last few updates, you'll know the party freed a group of prisoners from the clutches of Longtail the wererat sorcerer awhile back. Since then, the group of prisoners has set up a commune in Region "A" near a chamber containing four enchanted fountains. The commune has a population of about 22 (not including the PCs) and its members have been hard at work scavenging equipment and food from the dungeon.
Members of the commune you might already know are:
Balian - Order of the Shield cavalier and default leader/protector of the prisoners.
Saelin - half elf bard and former member of the adventuring party who opted to stay behind to help the other prisoners.
Marcus - elven fighter who left the adventuring party after he became cursed while exploring the dungeon.
Turag the Coward - orc warrior and sole surviving member of the Boat Axe orc tribe. He mostly just takes up space and complains, but he knows alot about the region and doesn't seem intent on killing and eating anybody.
Ariel - though not a prisoner, the lantern archon is a welcome member of the community and assists Balian with the defense of the prisoners while maintaining his role as custodian of the region.
The party met three more members of the commune during the last gaming session but I didn't feel the interaction was worth putting into the journal. Those members are:
Spishak Kilbane - halfling adept, follower of Abadar and firm believer in capitalism. Spishak was tossed into the dungeon after a number of customers complaining of strange side effects from his potions led Antagonis' soldiers to brand the halfling a quack. Spishak and his faithful rat familiar, Snoorfpk, have set up a new workspace in one of the abandoned alchemist labs the party found while exploring the dungeon.
Kalhiss and Slissth - Lizardfolk ranger and druid. Kalhiss and Slissth were Longtail's guides to the World's Largest Dungeon. After they became trapped in the dungeon, the pair quickly hid from the other humanoids to avoid being eaten. They were recently found by the prisoners and invited to live in the commune. Believing the magical fountains to be a gift from their nature deity, the scalyfolk promptly nominated themselves protectors of the fountain chamber, which they call "Vrrar Hesjingi" ("Four Waters" in Draconic.) In addition to guarding the water, the lizards, along with Slissth's viper companion, T'lakiss, assist with food preparation, healing and hunting what few natural animals call the region home.
That's enough for now. We'll meet a few of the craftspeople and laborers who call the commune home next time.
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We had a pretty intense session in the dungeon this week. The party was nearly wiped out, but it seems a certain goddess was smiling down on their endeavors (well, most of their endeavors.) Found out more in...
DAYS 41-42 THE KISS OF THE VARGOUILLE!
Mina, Hurk, Dammi-tall and Runath returned to the prisoners’ commune to lick their wounds after the horrible carnage of their latest excursion. They’d lost their companions Ranoth, Air’elon and Chu to one of the terrible traps laid throughout the dungeon and they knew they would need to enlist the aid of a few more brave prisoners if they were going to have any chance of succeeding in their quest to find an exit. Luckily, three dwarven brothers had recently arrived to the dungeon and were in just as much of a hurry to find a way out.
Thorin, Dorin and Drax had stumbled into the dungeon by complete accident while scouting for a place to establish a new clanhold for their family. The cave seemed like a good place to start and the crumbling, rune-covered archway they discovered at its entrance intrigued the dwarves. Little did they know it would lead them into the dungeon of Lord Antagonis. Thorin, the wisest and eldest of the trio was a cleric of Sarenrae and deemed it necessary for the brothers to aid these prisoners in any way possible. Afterall, they were all in this together. Dorin, the sorcerous middle brother (and not one to shy away from a chance to adventure with a pair of scantily clad women,) wholeheartedly agreed and Drax, always ready to support his brothers in battle, exclaimed something completely unintelligible as he was overcome by the spirits of so many of their fallen ancestors.
The new members of the party proved useful allies when the adventurers returned to the bugbear lair the next day to battle another group of the creatures (especially considering Dammi-tall had decided to stay behind and sample the prisoners’ first attempt at brewing alcohol.) The party also got lucky when they found a well-drawn map on the wall of the bugbears’ chamber and copied it into Air’elon’s old spellbook. Using the map, the party pressed on to the east and discovered a pair of stone doors set side by side in the northern wall. Runath, Mina, Dorin and Drax entered the room while Hurk and Thorin stayed in outside to watch for trouble. Suddenly the doors of the chamber slammed shut and spikes, dripping with some foul ichor, emerged from the northern and southern walls. Worse yet, the northern wall was beginning to slide toward the trapped quartet. The only escape seemed to be through a door in the east wall and the four adventurers ran to avoid the oncoming spikes. What they found beyond the door did little to brighten their spirits.
Four dead elves lay on the floor of the small chamber, their skin drawn tight and blackened as if by disease. To make matters worse, there was no other exit from the room. Mina and her companions were trapped.
Hurk and Thorin could only hear the grinding of the sliding wall from where they stood in the hallway and hastened to search for another entrance to the room as the heavy stone doors were now locked tight. Around a corner from the doors they could make out what appeared to be a pile of bodies in a small room up ahead. Goblin and bugbear corpses littered the floor, apparently killed by each other’s hands. As the pair searched the bodies, a sudden ear-splitting screech filled the air and Thorin found himself paralyzed with terror. Hurk looked up toward the source of the scream and spotted two small winged monsters entering the room. The beasts resembled the heads of demons carried aloft on batwing-like ears while a plethora of tentacles swayed and undulated beneath their chins. These horrid things were vargouilles, evil creatures from some terrible infernal plane, which had been drawn by the smell of the rotting corpses.
Mina, Runath, Dorin and Drax searched the bodies of the elves hoping to find anything that might aid in their escape but all they found were a handful of weapons, a few suits of armor and the elves’ bags. It was beginning to look like the small chamber would become their tomb. However, the grinding sound of stone on stone alerted them to the trap resetting beyond the door. The four of them raced for the double doors at the entrance to the larger chamber, but Drax was too slow and had to run back to the relative safety of the smaller room when the doors shut in his face and the walls once again began to slide forward. It would take the poor dwarf three more hours to escape, as he was not quick enough to exit on two more attempts. Becoming stuck in the small chamber may have seemed like an inconvenience, but the four adventurers could never know how lucky they had been that the real trap in the room had failed to trigger. In truth, the designers of the room had intended the spiked walls to be a ruse to frighten explorers into the small chamber where their fates would be sealed. The elves in the room had been killed by a radiation of negative energy that sapped their lives away over the course of an hour. Over the millennia, the magic of the trap had slowly deteriorated until it finally broke. Had the party arrived before those four hapless elves, it would have been their corpses filling the room.
Together again at last, the adventurers gathered in the hall and planned their next move. Dorin and Thorin broke into a heated discussion over which way to go next when the elder dwarf’s hair suddenly fell completely from his body. The now-hairless and beardless dwarf could only stand in shock at what had just happened. Then he remembered the kiss of the foul vargouille and ran for the commune where he hoped somebody would be able to tell him what was happening to him. As he fled, he ran past Dammi-tall who had just arrived with a human man wielding a large sword.
The elf had met the fighter Dorian at the prisoners’ new tavern and offered to take him to her (sometimes) companions for enough to trade for another drink. Being a new prisoner and an accomplished warrior with nothing better to do, the man accepted. Dorian, in his day, had been a soldier in the empire Antagonis crushed to take his throne. When he was given a choice to serve a new master or be sentenced to prison, he chose the latter and was tossed into the dungeon. Now, he stood before a fleeing, hairless dwarf and an odd gathering of adventurers.
The group, now minus Thorin, pushed on passed a trapped well that brought the ceiling down on top of them to a strange room covered in moss and decorated throughout with wands of various sizes, shapes and colors. Every wand radiated magic but, by now, the adventurers knew better than to touch any of them. Well, all of the adventurers but Dorin who plucked a wand from the wall with a simple cantrip only to feel an uncomfortable feeling of guilt and shame when he took it in his hand. Placing the wand back in its original position, the dwarf warned the others and passed through the room. Everything would have been fine if it weren’t for Mina who disregarded the dwarf’s advice and swiped another wand from the mossy wall. A chill shot through the monk’s body as her sudden and momentary loss of common sense resulted in an actual and permanent loss of common sense. The monk felt dizzy for a moment and seemed to have lost her seemingly supernatural ability to notice and predict incoming attacks. Mina’s recent streak of avoiding misfortune was over. Meanwhile, Thorin’s troubles were still progressing.
The dwarf had returned to the commune to find anyone who could determine what sort of curse he was suffering and he found the answer when he met with Edward Thistledown, a gnome author now living among the prisoners. Thistledown, a mystic scholar and poet, regretfully informed the cleric he was undergoing a transformation into one of the very beasts that had attacked him and had only hours to spare before his head would tear free from his body and join the ranks of the fiendish creatures. The gnome recommended Thorin see Spishak Kilbane, the commune’s adept, or Slissth, the lizardfolk druid, about a cure and wished him luck and a happy afterlife. Thorin’s hopes were crushed when neither Kilbane or the druid had the means to end his curse and next went to Ariel the lantern archon for help. Once again, the dwarf was met with regret when Ariel told him the only beings capable of helping him were the celestials in the further regions of the dungeon and that he’d never have time to reach them. Unsure of the time he had remaining, Thorin left his armor behind for his brothers and made for the shining shrine the party had discovered where the golden angel waited to send lightning and thunder down on the greedy and covetous.
The party, in the meantime, had met up with another new addition to their ranks. Once again, Dammi-tall had tracked them down with a warrior looking to get out of the dungeon. Marius, an elf with a gleaming curved blade, offered his services to the party. The elf was, like many others, a new resident to the dungeon. As Antagonis’ power grew, so too did his reach and many elven villages had been swallowed up by his ambition. Marius’ village was one of those that had tried to fight back and many of his people ended up suffering for it. The party moved on with their new ally and discovered a dark room similar to one they had encountered only days before.
The door to the room opened easily and no method of locking it was apparent. The gloom beyond its threshold seemed pervasive but gave way to magical lights the adventurers carried, and there in the shadows, smelling dank and growling fiercely were the four largest wolves anyone in the party had ever seen. Runath, Hurk, Marius, Dorian and Mina charged in to beat the wolves back before they could get into the halls where they would have more room to maneuver! Dorin and Drax remained in outside where they could support their allies with spells and incomprehensible, but inspiring, words! The fighting was savage and, one by one, the warriors were thrown to the floor by the massive jaws of the beasts! However, they would not relent, and steel tore through fur and flesh as Marius’ elven blade and Dorian’s heavy sword inflicted terrible wounds on the creatures! Mina, attempting to tumble to a safe position to heal her wounds, met with the bared fangs of one of the creatures and was tossed to the floor like a limp doll. Moments later, the fight was over and Mina was revived before her life’s blood could slip away. In another chamber, far from his brothers, a dwarf was about to meet his goddess.
Thorin knelt before the statue of the golden angel on the table at the center of the steel-walled room making a final prayer to his goddess. The transformation had come upon him again and, now, his ears had grown into large bat-like wings and tentacles grew in place of his beard. He knew he had little time and he reached out to touch the statue and reap its terrible reward. Just then, his eyes caught on the simple placard below the statue’s base. There, in the tongue of the angels were the words, “In Darkness, I bring light, never straying from my path.” Then, like the dawning of Sarenrae’s light, the dwarf remembered something Thistledown had told him. “Short of some form of disease-curing magic, you’re only hope of staving off this curse is sunlight, and we’re stuck in this dungeon where the sun never shines.” Muttering a new prayer to The Dawnflower, the dwarf rushed through the chamber extinguishing all the candles with torrents of created water plunging the room into darkness. The dwarf dropped to his knees clutching his holy symbol. Silence filled the room and something at the center of the chamber began to glow. The golden angel slowly brightened like a rising sun and filled the room with a light that reflected from the steel walls and caused Thorin to cry out as tears of joy rolled down his rough, but hairless, cheeks. The curse was not broken but, for now, the dwarf was safe.
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What if those heavily armed and sufficiently supplied random adventurers also happen to be diseased evil cannibals who hunger for fresh brai...you know what? Nevermind. I don't want to give you any ideas.
It's time to meet a few more of the NPCs who reside in the dungeon alongside our heroes. Here are three of the people the party met this week:
Kate Farrier - A human smith who beat up a group of soldiers when they tried to skip out on paying for their equipment by claiming her forge and the weapons belonged to them by right of the emperor. Kate now uses her talents to provide the commune with goods crafted from salvaged metal from within the dungeon. She's also something of an inventor.
Edward Thistledown - gnome author, intellectual and scholar. Thistledown's political opinions got him in trouble when his work was decried as subversive and dangerous to Antagonis' regime. The gnome is a poet and has a vast knowledge of the outer planes, history, magic and geography. He's also a socialist who enjoys debating with Spishak Kilbane over their differing opinions on economics, and he can craft a mean pair of sandals.
Roger Baker - human rancher and butcher. Baker is an ill-tempered, anti-social curmudgeon with a pathological hatred for authority who was sent to the dungeon after attacking a tax collector. He does not get along well with the other prisoners but begrudgingly relies on them for their skills as much as they rely on his abilities as a butcher. Baker especially dislikes Balian since he represents the law in the commune.
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I'm glad you're enjoying it, DM_aka_Dudemeister. It's kind of amusing to me the way the dungeon is slowly evolving into a campaign setting all its own. The party concept has grown from the classic "ragtag band of strangers thrown together by fate" into a team of pioneering explorers pushing against the fringes of the wilderness while settlers follows in their wake. I look forward to riding (or is that "writing") this thing out until its sure-to-be-bloody conclusion.
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Not only did Mina lose her WIS bonus to AC, she lost six points of WIS (bringing her score down to 9.) I can't reveal the duration of the effect, but I will say her Wisdom score is not going to increase, even one point, by the end of the next session.
Poor Mina... I have a soft spot for female characters, especially for her since she's been there from the start.
Of course, I fully realize my foolishness to get attached to ANY character in this story. :)
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Of course, I fully realize my foolishness to get attached to ANY character in this story. :)
For those of you keeping score at home, the number of adventurers to have run with this party is currently at 19. That includes PCs who died or left the group and Foxy Loxy, the unofficial party mascot who was gobbled up by darkmantles. I don't call them The World's Largest Adventuring Party for nothing. Here's a rundown:
Ranoth = killed by lightning bolt
Marcus = cursed, left party
Mina = active member
Poker = killed by darkmantles
Lockwalt = killed by darkmantles
Foxy Loxy = killed by darkmantles
Saelin = left party
Hurk = active member
Air'elon = killed by lightning bolt
Walker = left party, in Hell
Runath = active member
Chu = killed by lightning bolt
Ayla = killed by dire wolf
Thorin = kissed by vargouille, left party
Dorin = active member
Drax = active member
Dammi-tall = inactive member
Dorian = active member
Marius = active member
If I have it right, Mina is the only surviving member of the original party. A good many characters seem to have met their maker via traps - a deadly dungeon indeed. And an amusing and well told story as well!
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Technically, WmTell, Marcus is also a surviving member of the original party. He's just completely unplayable as a PC because of his curse. The curse he's under works sort of like the Insanity spell except it only affects him when he comes under duress. Spishak and Slissth theorize he's become possessed by the spirits of the creatures tortured on that cursed throne but neither of them are powerful enough to give him an exorcism and, even if they could, there's no telling how many spirits inhabit his body since he sat on the throne so many times.
Between sitting on thrones and stepping on metal plates, it's a wonder any of the original characters are still amongst the living! Methinks that they need a better stratagy for disarming traps (assuming that they have an actual stratagy for this to begin with, of course...).
heh - so that's where the Chaos Theory originated! Ah well - enjoyable reading, and good luck (and many trap survivals) to all!!
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Woe and dismay, faithful readers. Things got dire during this week's session. Those bugbears our heroes have been schooling for the last few sessions finally had enough and dealt The World's Largest Adventuring Party a rough hand. If the last journal entry represented the adventurers' "A New Hope," then this week's journal title could only be one thing...
DAY 43 THE BUGBEARS STRIKE BACK!
The party returned to the prisoner’s commune after their battle with the dire wolves to find Balian had grim news for them. Bugbears had tracked the adventurers back to the commune and murdered two of the prisoners while the party was away. Worse yet, Marcus was missing. Scavenging for supplies had nearly ground to a halt due to fear of more murders and the cavalier asked the adventurers to find the bugbear camp and put an end to the attacks. Unfortunately for the party, it was at this moment one of their own chose to leave them.
Runath, the dwarf paladin, had struggled with his decision to leave the group. He knew their mission to free the prisoners of the dungeon was just, but he felt he could not hold true to the ideals of Iomedae if he continued to work with a group that so readily accepted members with questionable motives and methods. He decided his skills would be put to better use defending the commune from further attacks and said his farewells to the party.
With Runath gone, the party put out a call to the prisoners for anyone who would assist with their hunt for the bugbear pack. That call was quickly answered by a new face and an old friend.
Saelin the bard had nearly run out of stories to tell about the adventurers and their journey through the dungeon and knew he couldn’t rest while one of their former members might be in the clutches of monsters. The half-elf gathered his equipment and brought with him a halfling he’d met in the commune.
Traxxas wound up in the dungeon after Antagonis’ minions raided an inn where members of a resistance movement were holding a meeting in the basement. The fact that the halfling was only at the inn to rest and enjoy a drink didn’t matter to the soldiers who took one look at his gear and assumed he was an assassin hired to kill Lord Antagonis.
With their new (and old) allies, the group headed back to where they had first encountered the bugbears to search for clues.
The party’s searching led them to an unexplored hallway where a few strands of dark fur were scattered about the floor. Following the passageway, they came to a large block of stone reaching from floor to ceiling and surrounded by a narrow corridor. While most of the party searched the walls for secret doors, Traxxas, Dammi-tall and Dorian explored an adjoining hallway where they could hear something moving about in a room around a corner. Unfortunately, that something heard them as well.
A massive wolf launched itself into the passageway tearing Dammi-tall to the ground. The creature seemed stronger and faster than any of the wolves the party had faced earlier and it bit into Traxxas as he attempted to tumble through its legs. Dorian dragged Dammi-tall away from the wolf and a moment later the rest of the party caught up with their companions. Marius faced the beast and was floored by its powerful jaws twice before it turned its attention to Hurk. Dorin, chanting words of arcane power, reached out to Dammi-tall causing her movements to blur and shift and the barbarian, with some divine guidance from Drax, managed to slip past the wolf and deliver a blow that tore open its belly. The creature did not stand for much longer and the party once again had fresh meat to take back to the commune. While Marius, Dorin, Hurk, Dammi-tall and Drax hauled the wolf’s corpse back, Mina, Dorian, Traxxus and Saelin stayed behind to explore a pair of unexplored rooms.
The first room the four entered appeared to be a storeroom for the bugbears’ trap-crafting equipment. Bits of iron, wood, rope and stone littered the shelves of the room. While Dorian, Mina and Saelin set about to finding a way to transport the goods, Traxxus inspected the eastern wall of the room. According to the map the party had taken from the bugbears, there was another room next to the storeroom and the halfling was certain the entrance was concealed. Moments later, he found a seam in the wall that could be opened and alerted his companions.
Saelin stepped up to the secret door and pulled the wall open. Shuk! Thwick! Swick! Three javelins came through the door striking the bard who reeled back from the impact. The three bugbears in the adjoining armory had heard the adventurers and readied their javelins for the first creature they saw in the doorway. Now, they scrambled out of sight before the party could return fire. Saelin, infuriated by the ambush, rushed into the room only to find the bugbears had picked up longspears from some of the tables in the room. As the half-elf entered the room, he was impaled by the waiting monsters who grinned and laughed at his pained screams. Dorian and Mina, followed cautiously by the halfling, Traxxus, entered the room and closed with the beasts. Dropping their spears, the bugbears furiously swung their blood-rusted morningstars but they were no match for the adventurers in close combat. With the fight over, the four collected the bugbears’ stash of weapons and tools and headed back to the commune.
Hurk, Dorin, Marius, Drax and Dammi-tall were headed back to the bugbear lair when they passed their companions who informed them of the storeroom they’d discovered. The five rushed to see if there was any other loot to grab but found only a few pieces of iron and a bundle of short sticks. Heading south, they entered a large, eerily empty room. They’d attempted to cross the chamber once before but found it to be heavily trapped and turned away from it in favor of an easier route. Now, it was there only option.
Armed with the memory of their first foray into the room, the adventurers attempted to spring the traps ahead of them with the sticks they’d found in the storeroom. The plan worked once, but Marius quickly found the short reach of the stick he was holding could protect him from any spears shooting up from the floor but not from the clouds of darts firing from the walls of the room. Giving up on the idea, everyone but Hurk decided to barrel, full-tilt, through the room toward one of the two doors on the other side. Darts, spears, javelins and arrows whistled through the air and stone blocks swung like mad pendulums as the adventurers hurtled through the room. Though slightly injured from the traps, Marius had luckily chosen the correct door to leave the chamber and, after a short search, found a secret exit at the end of a narrow passageway. Hurk, still standing at the entrance to the trap-filled room, drew his sword and rested against a wall while he waited for the other half of the party to return.
The secret door led Marius, Dorin, Drax and Dammi-tall into a tunnel leading north into bugbear territory or south into the goblin empire according to their map. Not wanting to veer from their mission, the group went north and soon found what appeared to be another victim of the bugbears.
Something about the size of a man and wrapped in cloth hung from a spit above the floor of a small chamber near an intersection of tunnels. Marius approached the thing to untie it from the spit and had to leap back when the floor nearly gave way below him. Using his sword to reach over the pit, Marius cut a small hole in the wrappings revealing what looked like an elf within. Getting on either side of the pit, Dammi-tall and Marius lifted the longspears supporting the elf up out of the spit and moved him to safety. Once freed from the wrappings and revived from unconsciousness, the elf was revealed to be the missing fighter, Marcus.
Marcus told the adventurers the bugbears had herded him toward their lair and captured him after his cursed madness drove him to finally attack one of them. The elf considered staying with the group for safety but, after Dammi-tall and Drax voiced a desire to kick him into the pit, he decided to try to find his way back to the commune on his own. With Marcus on his way home, the party turned their attention to a stone door in the east wall.
The door was much like all the others the party had discovered; large, thick and held by a heavy brass-like lock plate at the handle. Dammi-tall got to work on it and, after several minutes of cursing at the door, the party heard a click in one of the north tunnels. A group of four bugbears had entered the hall to investigate the sounds of the angry elf warrior. Marius, speaking their tongue, told the bugbears the party wanted to make a deal for the safety of the commune. “We were just making plans to raid the goblins when we heard you,” growled a big bugbear named Oskin. “You may follow us into our war room if you want to talk about a deal.” The bugbears then turned back toward the door while keeping an eye on the party.
Marius, Dammi-tall and Dorin followed the bugbears into the hallway when Drax suddenly spoke up. “Um, guys? I think we’ve got trouble.” The dwarf had spotted another group of the creatures sneaking into the tunnel behind the party and they seemed intent on stabbing the adventurers in the back. “Screw it!” shouted Oskin. “Just kill them!”
Marius glared at the large bugbear as he quickly unsheathed his blade. “You’ve made a terrible choice, monster.” Surrounded by eight bugbears and trapped in a hallway, the four adventurers now had no choice but to fight.
The murderous goblinoids piled in on either side of the party swinging their heavy, spiked cudgels and cursing as Dammi-tall and Marius cleaved into them with quick, curved blades. Oskin held back a moment after one of his warriors fell but joined his monstrous brethren when he saw Dammi-tall collapse under a brutal assault. Dorin attempted to blast the bugbears to the north with a cone of flame but couldn’t maintain his composure in the middle of such heavy combat. Meanwhile, Drax attempted to heal his own wounds but had to dive to rescue Dammi-tall as a bugbear grabbed her legs and tried to drag her away. The other bugbears around the dwarf saw an opportunity and clobbered the oracle as he attempted to save his companion. With only two of the eight bugbears dispatched, things looked grim for the adventurers.
Dorian, Traxxas, Mina and Saelin finally returned from the commune and met up with Hurk. Rather than attempting to run through the chamber, Traxxas suggested everyone follow him as he slowly searched for traps ahead of them through the room. This seemed like a good plan to everybody but Saelin who fell to the floor in a bloody heap after he attempted to charge to the door on the other side of the room. Now, the halfling had to work quickly to reach the bard if they were to have any chance of saving him.
Somehow, Traxxas managed get his companions close enough to Saelin to stabilize his wounds. However, they had no way to restore him to consciousness and had to leave him behind. Out in the passageway beyond the secret door, they could hear the sounds of battle and they rushed to investigate.
Drax and Dammi-tall were already being carried away by two of the bugbears when the rest of the adventurers arrived to aid their companions. Dorian and Traxxas spotted the creature carrying Dammi-tall and gave chase while Mina and Hurk charged in to lend a hand to Dorin and Marius. The dwarf sorcerer’s flame finally erupted into the hallway burning two of the creatures badly and setting one to flame as it fell screaming. Unfortunately, he and Marius both fell unconscious moments later. Hurk and Mina fought through the bugbears but could not reach their friends before Oskin grabbed hold of Marius and pulled him into the war room locking the door behind him. Meanwhile, Dorian and Traxxas were hunting another bugbear through the darkness.
The bugbear who absconded with Dammi-tall already had a huge lead on Dorian and Traxxas when they had arrived to the fight. Now, they only had a trail of blood to follow from the elf’s dangling body. The trail led back to the trapped room they had come through and, to their relief, the bugbear hadn’t stopped to finish off Saelin who still lay unconscious in the passage. Instead, it seemed the creature had taken the elf to the unexplored north door of the room. Traxxas, not wanting to risk the traps in the room, took the time to point them out so he and Dorian could avoid them and, after unlocking the door to the small chamber, the pair found the bugbear with a dagger to the Dammi-tall’s throat.
“Come no closer,” snarled the bugbear. The beast’s keen nose could smell the elf’s faint, shallow breath and he knew she was still alive. “What does this one mean to you?” he growled. “What does she mean to you?” responded the halfling. “She is prey,” said the bugbear. “I ask you again, halfling, what does this one mean to you?” “A lot,” admitted Traxxas. “Good,” smiled the bugbear as he drew the dagger across the elf’s throat letting her life spill out onto the floor. The creature was dead only seconds later as Dorian and Traxxas furiously charged into the room impaling the bugbear on their swords. Regrettably, Dammi-tall, the warrior-maiden of the elves who had only come into the dungeon seeking shelter from a storm, would never again feel the sun’s rays on her face.
Mina, Hurk, Traxxas and Dorian stood at the door to the bugbear war room as, the now-conscious Dorin kept an eye on what they believed might be a back door to the room. The halfling’s nimble fingers eventually managed to get the door open and the group prepared for the worst.
Oskin stood atop a large table with Marius helpless at his feet, the bugbear’s morningstar raised high above the elf’s skull. The room was a shambles and the bugbear said nothing as he waited for the reaction from the adventurers. Mina, not waiting for any dialogue between the beast and Traxxas (now the only group member who could speak with the creatures,) stepped through the room toward the monster. Oskin stared at the party in defiance and madness and growled, “You are all prey. You will all die,” before crushing Marius’ head beneath his weapon. His own corpse hit the table and rolled onto the floor seconds later when he was killed by the remaining members of the adventuring party.
Though the adventurers had robbed them of their stores and defeated many of their warriors, the bugbear tribe, these sadists and murderers so wholly devoted to terror and evil, had struck a terrible blow against the dungeon’s prisoners this day. Two of the adventurers were dead, many of them were severely wounded and Drax, the brother of Dorin had been carried into the darkness as a prisoner. Only time would tell if he, or his companions, would ever see the light again.
I am OFFENDED zat yu sink I wood do soocha Orebal sing as to BarB Cue an elpless captive on a speet like he was
he woold need to at least attack me for me to doo that
and now I must mourn mon cheri' Dammet awl such a beatifully homicidal creature of disturuction and wanton mayhem
I must mourn
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Luckily, I have enough ranks in Linguistics to understand what you're saying, Michael. I completely agree with you. Soap scum is offensive and it never seems like any amount of spit or barbecue sauce is ever enough to remove it from your sink. I don't know if I would go so far as to call it homicidal, but it can definitely ruin an otherwise beautiful kitchen. Fortunately, we don't have sinks or kitchens in The Enchanted Forest so I rarely encounter these sorts of problems, but we do have magical lakes where goblins occasionally congregate for skinnydipping jamborees so I share your pain. I suggest you relax with a nice bottle of that sherry you mentioned.
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It really sounds as if the group is getting a bit greedy for individual achievements and loot for fast upgrades instead of working together to accomplish the real goal, which would have been to eliminate the bugbears as threat and move on south to kill off the goblin population, its almost believable that getting a higher grade weapon or item would be easier and faster than returning wolf meat or newly found stashes for trade in, also how about getting a group core like : Rogue / fighter/ cleric / spellcaster/ and fill in with support classes and how about not seperating the group anymore 4 vs 8 with 3 squishies flanked not very good odds for any group against any level mobs.
It was 4 of us against 8
would have been 5 if the half orc hadn't Kitty catted out and thought crossing the trapped floor was too dangerous
hell I am a freakin sorc at 4th level and only got tagged for 5 to 6 point damage at most(yeah thats right a dwarven sorc wanna fight about it)
I agree it would have been wiser to wait ( hell I am still alive and kickin) but sometimes you wanna just get thru to the next zone and sometimes pushing thru is about the only way things get done
Post script
I am also one of the least greed driven players if I may seem such it is only to assure the other players that they get an item most appercable to thier class ( than danged one horned mule should be able to vouch for that)
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That is what i was saying, 4 of you against 8. Those of you who died or were carried off into where ever would have probably stayed alive if you would've waited for the other 5 before assuming that a bugbear scouting parting would be willing to negotiate with you after killing their brothers and hanging bugbear heads on poles upon entering their territory. Also it doesn't have to be all the party that is greedy to lose focus on the real purpose or goal of the zone you are currently in. Don't you agree that aquiring items from the dungeon itself would be easier less expensive and faster than carring wolf meat and personal stashes for little trade value, plus 9 vs 8 would have been much better odds. There's no I in team. please don't get me wrong these are just suggestion and not disrespect, i enjoy the journal and the hard work you all are doing, but things would be easier faster and more fun if you were alive and achieving your goals as a team and not a ME.
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Finally. Someone with sense enough to agree with me. Keep this up, Zorro or Tuxedo Mask or whatever your name is, and there may be a place for you in my organization.
Nine adventurers dead, one cursed, one kidnapped, one halfway to becoming a vargouille and one in Hell; not to mention the possibility that three of these people could turn into wererats any day now. This pleases me. You have my permission to continue with your story, dung-hoof.
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Gee. Thanks, your highn-ass. I'll get right on that...when I feel like it. Ooo! Burn!
For now, I've got profiles for three more of our helpful NPCs from the commune.
Poddy Podmore - An eccentric half-elf poacher who was sentenced to the dungeon for waking Lord Antagonis up in the middle of the night playing what he called a "chicken xylophone" from the roof of a nearby garrison. The poor chickens were traumatized. Poddy spends much of his time getting drunk and/or acting like a lunatic, but he's a crack shot with a crossbow, an expert hunter and a skilled bowyer so he's considered a boon to the community.
John Chance - A human carpenter with a love for theatre and music. John was sent to the dungeon after his latest play, "Assault on Garrison 13" was deemed subversive and anti-authoritarian. When he isn't constructing fortifications or furniture for the commune, John works on his plays and compositions.
Famous Macready - A half-orc innkeeper. Famous was sent to the dungeon after his inn's basement was discovered to be the hideout for a group of adventurers trying to assassinate Lord Antagonis. Unlike many half-orcs, Famous is not half human. His mother was a gnome and he inherited her dazzling charisma as a result. Famous and Spishak built the commune's still and the half-orc now runs the commune's pub.
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Good news for those of you pulling for our heroes. Nobody died or got cursed this week! However, I've got bad news for fans of Mina and Saelin. They're players have left the table and joined a caravan heading to some place called Ewe-tah. I think its some sort of commune for sheep. Anyway, this means Mina and Saelin will only appear as NPCs in the future and, as is the case with Marcus, that makes them expend..er, ah, I mean useful tools for progressing the campaign. Yeahhh! That's the ticket! Quick! Read this:
DAY 44 – GOBLIN EMPEROR ARGLISS
Drax’s eyes were foggy and his ribs were sore where a bugbear’s morning star had cracked them as he tried to rescue the elf maiden Dammi-tall from the claws of one of the beasts. He thought he could see something large and white slipping through a door in the corner of the room when a voice growled from behind him.
“You must be one of those who killed Sharpfang,” snarled the voice. “He was my son. I hear your companions have now killed Oskin as well. He was my nephew.”
Drax rolled over to see a heavily-scarred, gray-furred bugbear sitting in the corner of the room. The bugbear was unarmed and unarmored though a dagger rested on the floor near a small pile of rotting meat at the creature’s feet.
“Do not worry, dwarf,” said the bugbear. “I will not kill you. My people are not so close to our kin as your own. “I am Aughkin, once Huntmaster. My brothers and I came here to hunt He Who Growls, The Mighty G’rrrd many years ago. We thought he was a powerful druid or animal spirit, and we slew many of his pups in an attempt to lure him to us the same way Oskin lured you here by killing your people in the settlement. In his anger, He Who Growls killed my brothers and left me for dead. When I woke, Sharpfang had become Huntmaster. My son was not interested in druids and nature spirits. Wolves do not scream or beg for mercy the way goblins do and he turned his attention to those who live south of our tunnels. After you and your companions killed him, Oskin became Huntmaster. My nephew chose to hunt you, and I would have joined him were I younger. It has been many years since my hands closed around a dwarf’s throat, and I would throttle you now if I were not conserving my remaining strength for another.”
Drax gulped nervously. In his current condition, there was no doubt the old bugbear could crush the life out of him. “My people have only one god: The Hunter,” continued Aughkin. “The Hunter is darkness and fear and sorrow and murder. He is everything we wish to be; everything else is prey. My son and my nephew thought they were only hunters. They forgot we are all prey; we will all die. If you have questions for me, ask them quickly. I do not know when The Hunter will come for me, and I intend to see if he waits for me in the jaws of The Mighty G’rrrd.”
“Is there anything we can do to have peace with your people?” asked the dwarf. Aughkin grinned. “Not a peace you could trust,” he slyly remarked. “Never trust a bugbear, dwarf; even an old bugbear that spends his days hidden in a dark room will likely betray you at the moment of your greatest need just to see the look on your face.” “In that case, how do I get out of here?” quipped Drax. The dwarf thought he could hear the old bugbear chuckle.
Aughkin told Drax about the bugbears’ time in the dungeon and of their decline. The wolves had long been an enemy of the bugbears and the goblins were never much of a problem until a new leader took over and organized them with the aid of a group of hobgoblin taskmasters. The bugbears had only a few females among them and the adventurers had killed many of them during their attack on the tribe (the old bugbear wasn’t surprised nobody had noticed the difference between the males and females claiming it took a powerful sense of smell to make the distinction.) Dwindling supplies and infighting had contributed to the tribe’s fall as well and, Aughkin guessed, the party’s attacks had dropped their numbers to five or six survivors. The bugbear who had kidnapped Drax was likely already escaping the region with any surviving females. The only other bugbear nearby was a large, old, white-furred brute who served as the bugbear’s shaman and healer. The Healer, Drax learned, did not hunt but was just as likely to poison those under his care as he was to heal them and the dwarf was once again warned not to trust any aid the shaman might give him. After a few hours of rest while speaking with Aughkin, Drax felt well enough to make his escape. He left the old warrior to prepare for his final hunt and headed to The Healer’s quarters.
The massive bugbear shaman was hard at work, mixing poultices and potions in his lair when the young dwarf entered. “Hel-lo,” Drax said as he waved. “Do you un-der-stand the words that are com-ing out of my mouth,” asked the dwarf as he gestured with his hands. The Healer grunted, but said nothing. “I am try-ing to get out of…” as Drax spoke, The Healer turned to him, grabbed his hand and placed five small packets into it before turning the dwarf by his shoulders and pushing him toward the door. Drax understood the message and quickly left with the strange medicine.
Aughkin had told Drax where to look for a concealed door out of the bugbears’ hidden camp, but the dwarf spotted another door the old bugbear hadn’t mentioned. He approached the door with caution, listened for movement and entered when it seemed safe. The room beyond the door appeared to be a communal living space for the bugbear tribe. Rotting blankets, garbage and broken furniture lay scattered around the room along with what looked like the bugbears’ leftovers. Realizing he hadn’t eaten for several hours, Drax moved in for a closer look. The bones of whatever they had been eating suggested the creatures had been humanoids, possibly small goblins. However, a few scraps of fur and half of a broad, small-fanged skull quickly betrayed what had become a staple of bugbear cuisine. Drax left the room quickly and headed for the exit to the camp.
Drax discovered no sign of his companions on the other side of the concealed door, but he did find that goblins were beginning to explore the bugbear tunnels. After hiding from the creatures in a narrow passageway for several hours near the large trapped room his party had discovered, the dwarf heard a grinding sound as the stone door to the room came open.
“Bruzzair!” shouted Dorin as he rushed forward to give his brother a hug. The dwarf sorcerer had come with most of the adventuring party and a couple of new faces. Dorian and Mina had returned to the commune carrying Saelin who had been seriously injured by traps but a pair of half-elves was there to pick up their slack.
The half-elves, Annali and Laze Ebuns, met up with the adventurers while delivering food to the vargouille-tainted dwarf, Thorin, and the paladin, Runath, in the shrine of the golden angel.
Annali was a hard-nosed thug who had fallen in with a bad crowd before a cleric of Iomedae named Myriel turned her around and put her on the path to righteousness. Unfortunately, her redemption only made her a target when Lord Antagonis had her church razed and Myriel assassinated. Annali was, in turn, arrested as an agitator and tossed into the dungeon.
Laze, the son of an easy-going human barbarian and a serious-minded elf bureaucrat, was, like many recent prisoners, sentenced to the dungeon for a list of completely ludicrous charges Laze’s particular “crimes” included “impersonating a drow, copyright infringement, dual-wielding scimitars without a license and being a piker.” Solely interested in escaping the dungeon, Laze joined up with the adventurers because he heard they were looking for a way out.
Dorin’s outburst, of course, alerted a garrison of goblins positioned close to where Drax had been hiding and the party suddenly heard the goblins forming up in response. Laze and Traxxus’ attempt to sneak out into the hallway was foiled by their companions light sources and the goblins’ ability to see in the dark, causing a goblin warrior to shout, “Don’t come any closer! Who are you?!” To the adventurers’ surprise, the goblins were formed up into ranks at the end of the hall. They did not advance, but held their spears and javelins ready for any sort of attack and covered each other with large shields. A moment later, a burly hobgoblin pushed through the crowd of warriors and addressed the party.
“Why are you here?” asked the hobgoblin.
“We’ve come with an offer of peace,” replied Laze.
“You must be the ones I was told about. The king has been expecting you. Three of you follow me while your companions are shown to our jail. I think we have something that belongs to you.”
Uncomfortable with the idea of being split up, but trusting in the sincerity of the hobgoblin’s claim they would not be harmed, Dorin, Annali and Laze accompanied the hobgoblin while Traxxus, Drax and Hurk followed a couple of goblin warriors to the jail.
Dorin, Annali and Laze were led through a long, wide hall where another large and mean-looking hobgoblin was putting a platoon of goblins through a military-style drill into a massive and elaborately decorated chamber. There upon a throne of solid rock, draped in regal finery and wielding a jeweled scepter, sat a small goblin with a crown upon his brow. Upon seeing the adventurers led into the room, the goblin’s eyes lit up and he gestured for them to approach.
Other goblins and hobgoblins sat all about Argliss’ throne room keeping a watchful eye on the adventurers while they drank wine from brass goblets and feasted on steaks of wolf meat.
“Help yourself to the refreshments, friends. You must be tired from your battle with the bugbears,” offered Argliss. “My scouts report a drastic reduction in their numbers since your arrival to the region. Praise The Stoneshaper for sending us such powerful allies in our time of need. You see, our happy empire has been the target of terrorists and assassins sent by a rival goblin chief. Guk and his tribe live on the other side of a dangerous, trap-filled maze and have made numerous attempts to murder me. Worse yet, they’ve threatened to destroy the statue of The Stoneshaper, which rests in our most holy shrine.”
“Tell us more about this god of yours,” said Dorin. Neither he nor Laze had ever heard of The Stoneshaper and Annali could remember no such god mentioned during her time at the temple of Iomedae.
“The Stoneshaper is a god we discovered when we came to these tunnels,” replied Argliss. “Many of our people, including Guk, refused to see the wisdom of his teachings but those who remained have greatly benefitted. He can be as peaceful as unmoving stone but his wrath is as destructive as an earthquake. With His guidance, I have elevated my people beyond the trappings of common goblinkind. All who serve The Stoneshaper will be greatly rewarded in this life and the next. Guk and his rebels are a threat to all we’ve achieved, and he must be stopped. You will help us won’t you?”
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However, I've got bad news for fans of Mina and Saelin. They're players have left the table and joined a caravan heading to some place called Ewe-tah.
<--- disappointed.
So the bugbears let the dwarf go just like that, and the goblins are giving the PC's free food? I bet something truly terrible is brewing behind the scenes...
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I’m sure Aughkin and The Healer were just tired of murdering everything they’ve encountered when they decided to let Drax walk away. They’re both getting on in years and don’t have much to gain from hunting the party. Besides, they’re both old enough and wise enough to understand hostage-taking and kidnapping are for amateurs. I wouldn’t worry about the bugbears. Their numbers are too low and they’re certainly too busy with their exit strategy to pose any more of a threat to the party at this point…right?
I don’t know about Argliss and the goblins though. They’re serving free food to PCs that isn’t poisoned, allowing armed dwarves to walk around their home and agreeing to parley despite their total ignorance of what that word means (let alone how to spell it.) It’s preposterous and completely un-goblinish. That and their “empire” seems to be some sort of militant cult, (which is never good.) They’re obviously up to something. I guess we’ll have to wait until the next session to find out what that something is.
Until then, I’ve got three more NPCs to introduce:
Jakob Schweikart – the commune’s tanner and leather worker has a dark past and was actually sentenced to the dungeon for a legitimate crime; banditry. Despite this, Schweikart is generally well-liked by the other inmates since his targets were usually vassals or servants of Lord Antagonis.
Thomas Rose – A military officer from a rival nation seeking to depose Lord Antagonis, Rose’s forces fought and lost against a large contingent of Antagonis’ soldiers. Rose was forced to watch the execution of his comrades before being sent to the dungeon where he uses his considerable knowledge of engineering (particularly mining) and strategy to assist the prisoners with the defense of the commune.
Molly Stuart – a prostitute who was sentenced to the dungeon for the vigilante slaying of a priest who had raped and murdered two of Stuart’s friends and fellow harlots. Stuart helps Famous in the commune’s tavern but has fallen back on her old profession as a means to avoid scavenging for the commune since she has no other marketable skills.
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What do you get when you put seven adventurers in a room with 53 fearless goblin fanatics? Well, if you're in The World's Largest Dungeon, you get the biggest battle our heroes have ever faced.
DAY 45 – REBEL LEADER GUK
Traxxus, Hurk and Drax stood at the door of a prison cell holding an emaciated goblin and a tired and hungry-looking Marcus. The elf had once again gotten into trouble when he stumbled into a goblin patrol during his return to the commune. The goblins, to their credit, hadn’t hurt the fighter. “He one of yours?” asked the goblin jailor. “Yes. We know him,” replied Traxxus. “Any chance you guys could just keep him?” It was then that another goblin arrived to inform the adventurers their presence was requested by Argliss.
The goblin emperor stood in anticipation of the party’s answer to his request for aid. In exchange for the defeat of Guk and his rebels, Argliss would speak with the commune about establishing trade and peaceful relations. Furthermore, Argliss offered to free Marcus as a show of good faith and provide him an armed escort to the shrine where Thorin and Runath stood vigil. The commune could use an ally in the dungeon and the party welcomed the idea of being able to move freely through the goblins’ territory unmolested so they readily agreed to the bargain. “Excellent!” exclaimed Argliss. “You might want to speak with our other prisoner, a goblin rebel we captured during one of Guk's raids."
The captured goblin (the emaciated warrior who shared a cell with Marcus) turned out to be little help. G’lp, as he called himself, was fiercely loyal to Guk and refused to aid any allies of Argliss. The goblin merely maintained that Argliss was a usurper to the goblin throne and an enemy of the tribe. When the party asked to take G’lp with them into the maze, Argliss insisted he would free the warrior only if the party brought him the heads of eight of Guk’s rebels. The party had no choice but to go on without the rebel.
The maze lived up to its reputation. There, the party found narrow, twisting paths and tunnels filled with traps and barricades Argliss’ goblins used to hold off attacks by rebels and the monsters of the labyrinth. A strange wall of standing water obstructed the party at one turn and required the adventurers to fashion a pulley system in order to haul their weaker swimmers through the storm-force currents within the wall. On the other side, they were confronted with one tunnel that led into impenetrable darkness and another that turned out to be an elaborately painted wall made to look like a tunnel. Rather than pushing on into the darkness (and realizing nobody had slept for close to 20 hours,) the party decided to set up camp in the tunnel. After several hours of rest (interrupted briefly by the sound of grinding stone from within the maze) the party discovered things within the tunnels had changed.
The wall of water was gone and the painted tunnel was now a very real tunnel with vines of ivy descending from the ceiling and clinging to the walls. The darkness only led into a dead end so the party continued through the vine-choked passage. It wasn’t long before they entered an area where the air crackled and popped (alas, but there was no snap) with tiny sparks and a smell like ozone filled the corridor. The smell and the energy in the tunnel made the group sick, but they had no choice but to continue. Suddenly, a muffled scream pierced the silence of the maze. The sound came from beyond a door to the west, which the group cautiously approached.
The stone door slid open to reveal four vargouilles tormenting a cowering, cornered goblin. Not far behind them, the adventurers could see their ally Dorian charging the beasts from the shadows (he’d finally returned from a darkmantle hunt back at the commune and was directed to the maze by Argliss’ goblins.) The fiends were so concerned with the goblin; half of them were dead before they had a chance to react to the party. Within moments, the other two were cut down. The goblin, it turned out, was one of Guk’s rebels and he was grateful enough for the rescue that he agreed to lead the adventurers to the outskirts of their hideout, his only condition being that he would go on ahead of them so as not to be seen among them when they arrived. Of course, once the goblin departed the party’s company, he reported them to the tribe’s guards and then ran off to alert all the other goblins in Guk’s lair. This led to a skirmish with the goblin garrison and a brief standoff with twelve goblin warriors holed up in a barracks room before the party finally found Guk and twenty of his warriors waiting for them in a large chamber entirely devoid of the regal trappings of Argliss’ throne room.
“Who have the Stone Spirits sent to us today?” exclaimed Guk as he waved off the horde of warriors. “You would not have survived the maze if the Stone Spirits did not want you to reach me, so the only question is why would they send you here? Are you here to die by my hand or join me in my crusade against that throne-stealing false prophet Argliss? Consider your next words carefully because they may be your last.”
Laze spoke for the party and they learned that Argliss was once a priest of the Stone Spirits who had broken with his faith to follow the newly discovered god, Norendithas Stoneshaper. The goblin priest, along with his hobgoblin allies quickly made converts of many of the warriors and challenged Guk for power over the tribe. The followers of the Stone Spirits and the new cult of The Stoneshaper fought a brief battle that drove Guk and his loyalists out of their ancestral home. Seeking an opportunity to provoke Guk into a fight, Laze challenged the rebel leader into a duel for control of his rebels. The goblin laughed and told Laze that, even if he had the right to make a challenge for leadership, his tribe would never follow the elf or his companions. When Laze responded by implying Guk was a coward, the goblin chief’s patience met its end. Guk had sensed all along what Laze was driving at and what infuriated the goblin most was that the elf had wasted his time. If he and these intruders wanted a fight, all they had to do was ask. The goblin horde descended on the adventurers and quickly surrounded them, jabbing with their spears as Guk prayed for blessings from the Stone Spirits.
Traxxus finally managed to tumble through the goblins and deliver a much-needed potion to Dorian who lay dying on the floor and Annali managed to stabilize Drax and revive Dorin long enough for the dwarf to cast one more spell before he was knocked unconscious a second time. Hurk, in the meantime, tried to keep the goblins from slaying the half-elven cleric and Laze could do nothing but shield himself from the goblin onslaught while he pleaded with the creatures to relent and come to terms. The goblins, still outnumbering the party but finally seeing the carnage brought to their people, eventually let up long enough to discuss terms with the party.
Nearly two-dozen goblins lay wounded or dying on the floor of the chamber. Dorin, Drax and Dorian were still unconscious and Hurk and Annali were barely able to stand. Traxxus and Laze had managed to escape serious injury but neither of them liked the party’s odds against the remaining warriors. The goblins, in turn, decided it would be better to let the adventurers leave and agreed to let the party have Guk’s head as proof of their victory over the rebel forces. In exchange, they promised to collect their things and leave the region. An offer of protection from Argliss and safe travel to the commune by the party was flatly denied. The rebels had seen enough of these interlopers who had ruined any chance of their return to power and wanted nothing to do with them or their commune. With that, the goblins collected their wounded and the equipment of their dead and left to prepare for their exodus. Their parting words to a party, a warning of a demon-worshipping tribe of gnolls to the east.
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Only a couple days until we find out what Argliss has in store for the adventurers now that Guk is out of the way. Have they outlived their usefulness or will be they heralded as heroes of The Goblin Empire? In the meantime, I've got the final three NPCs to introduce:
Anemone Actiniaria - a kind-hearted, but spirited, elven diplomat who was imprisoned after attempting to persuade Lord Antagonis to give up his plans to invade the nearby elven kingdom. She now uses her linguistic and diplomatic skills to help the commune negotiate with the native creatures of the dungeon.
Writa and Wrunt - a pair of outcasts from their respective families, Writa and Wrunt are a goblin and a dwarf who were tossed into prison due to their "objectionable presence." Wrunt, the dwarf, is incredibly strong but too dim to realize his best friend is a goblin. Writa, on the other hand, is fully aware of Wrunt's race but remains completely loyal to the dwarf regardless of the hatred between their peoples. Around the commune, the two are most often employed as porters and scavengers.
That's it for the named NPCs in the commune but more people are thrown into the dungeon every day so you never know who will show up.
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It is with great regret that I must say this is a moment Lord Antagonis has been waiting for...
This week's session began shortly before a full moon rose large and bright over the sleepy little town where our gaming group meets and, taking a cue from the heavens, the DM decided to tie up a loose thread in the campaign.
The wererat sorcerer Longtail managed to taste the flesh of four of the party's members before they managed to bring him low. Ayla, Saelin, Hurk and Mina each felt those cursed fangs close upon them. Ayla died before she ever learned if she had contracted the sorcerer's curse, but Saelin, Hurk and Mina have survived. The bard and the monk, of course, have taken up residence among the members of the commune (a frightening prospect) and the fighter, Hurk, still travels with the party of adventurers. Any one of them could very well have a monster waiting to gnaw its way out of their heart and it was really only a matter of time before the beast got free...
DAYS 46-50 LONGTAIL’S LEGACY
Guk and his rebels were defeated. Over the next couple of days, the party rested in the former meeting hall of the Stone Spirit Goblins while the remaining rebels packed up their belongings and left the region. With the goblins gone, the adventurers decided to explore the rebels’ former home.
Through a secret door found in one of the storerooms, the adventurers discovered a long, narrow hallway trapped with a deep pit and ending at another concealed door. Dorin, not waiting for the trap to be disarmed, decided to try his luck and ended up falling into the 80-foot shaft. Though the dwarf suffered serious injury, he survived the fall and had to wait while Laze constructed a makeshift bridge out of some broken spear racks in order for the rest of the party to cross the pit. On the other side, the adventurers found a long corridor littered with broken barrels and ash. The goblins had apparently set up some sort of barricade here in the past in order to keep something from getting through. The corridor stretched from north to south and each end led to a stone door. Beyond the north door, the party could hear terrible moans and snarls coming from the darkness ahead and dried blood stained the floor. A few strands of coarse fur near the threshold alerted the party that they were nearing the lair of the gnolls the goblins had mentioned, and they turned back before they could draw the creatures’ attention. Back in the goblin tunnels, the party found a hallway with four doors on either side.
The first five of the rooms along the hall contained little more than rotting hay, but in the sixth room Drax discovered the broken remains of four wooden cages and the beasts which had broken free of them.
Four ravenous worgs turned their attention to the dwarf who now stood between them and freedom from their prison. The goblins had left the beasts behind after they became too crazed to control. Little did they know, the room was haunted and prolonged exposure to the chamber’s negative influence had driven the worgs insane with rage. The creatures charged Drax, pushing him into the hall and knocking him the floor. Within seconds, all four of the beasts were in the hallway biting and dragging the group from their feet.
Drax was knocked senseless and pulled to the far end of the hall by one of the worgs as the other creatures continued their assault. Hurk and Dorian hacked at the beasts with their swords as Laze tumbled through the creatures and Traxxus beat at them with his sling-staff. One of the creatures had its jaw unhinged by Dorin’s claws and tried to escape but was cut down as it fled. Only moments later, the final three wild worgs fell to the party as they were cornered and cut to pieces.
The remaining rooms held only a few cracked wooden bowls and the evidence of a goblin infirmary coated from ceiling to floor in blood, scraps of flesh and small bits of cracked bone. Not finding anything of value, the party rested two more days and headed back into the maze for their return trip to the goblin empire.
The maze was as confusing as the party remembered. None of the tunnels they’d used to reach Guk seemed to exist anymore and ghostly sounds of screaming, rattling and growling seemed to echo from every corner. It was especially hard on Hurk who had woken up from his rest with a splitting headache and terrible fever. It was Annali who determined the half-orc had come down with a case of mindfire, a horrifying disease that boiled the brain and impaired the memory of its victims. Unfortunately, the fighter’s troubles were just beginning.
The party was slowly making their way through a tunnel filled with impenetrable darkness dragging two sleds of worg meat behind them when Hurk suddenly cried out in pain. Something had clawed him from behind, sending a soul-piercing chill through his body. The half-orc suddenly felt weak, but some bestial rage awoke in him. The rest of the party ran ahead through the darkness to escape whatever was attacking them and could barely hear the sounds of Hurk’s struggle over the ghostly wailing and keening that echoed through the halls. Hurk, in the meantime, doubled over and released his grip on the sled as his entire body seemed to burn from within. His last memory before he blacked out was of the feeling of his bones stretching and his skin peeling from his body.
Dorin and the others stood at the edge of the darkened passage after fleeing from the attacking thing waiting for any sign of Hurk. He did not come. Laze suggested they move on without the fighter, but Annali and Dorin wouldn’t have it. The dwarf and half-elf took Dorian and Drax with them into the passage to find their missing companion.
A humanoid form lay on the floor of the tunnel. The adventurers dragged it out into the light fearing the worst. The body was thin and pale. Long, stringy, unkempt hair fell from a rotting skull and filth-encrusted claws grew from the thing’s hands. This was not Hurk but seemed more like the corpse of a madman. Something had crushed the thing’s throat and torn large chunks of meat from its limbs. Whatever it was had run off with one of the dead worgs and left the rest of the sled behind. With no sign of Hurk in the tunnel, Dorin and the others spread out to search while Laze and Traxxus remained on the far end of the darkened passage.
Curious if Hurk had wandered down a tunnel hidden by the dark, Laze felt along the wall as he moved slowly into the tunnel. A passage to the east led him out of the magical veil but straight into an ambush by a maddened creature like the dead thing found in the tunnel. The creature charged from the shadows and delivered a slashing blow to the rogue that seemed to sap his resolve. Laze fled from the rotting thing and returned to where Traxxus was waiting, shouting for the halfling to run as the creature burst from the tunnel behind him. The two ran ahead of the evil thing and into a vine-choked passage unaware of the celestial trap waiting for them.
A fireball erupted into the hallway that both of the adventurers were able to avoid thanks to their agility and a series of convenient alcoves in the tunnel walls. The evil, rotting monster that pursued them, a wight, stopped in its tracks and searched the way ahead for signs of the trigger but fled when Laze fired a bolt into its shoulder. There were easier, less dangerous ways to murder the living, the beast thought as it disappeared into the shadows. Shortly reunited with their companions, the pair moved on into the maze without Hurk. Whatever beast had killed the other wight, had likely claimed the half-orc as well and carried him off to his doom. Of course, dear readers, you've likely already guessed the truth of the half-orc's fateful encounter within the shrouded confines of that blackened tunnel.
Another vine-cluttered hallway lay before the party and Laze and Traxxus did their best to pick out any traps set by the ancient celestials. Unfortunately, they missed one and Laze suddenly stopped and clutched his chest. An undead abomination or writhing flesh and hollow, hate-filled eyes rose up before the rogue and plunged its bony fingers into his chest as the rest of the party halted in confusion, unable to see the terrible thing. Laze stumbled a moment as his heart nearly stopped with fright, but managed to recover. The loathsome undead thing was gone. Both Laze and Traxxus searched the area for signs of a trap but found nothing. Dorin, Drax and Annali decided to move on and each, in turn, received the same horrifying vision. The dwarf brothers managed to survive their encounter through sheer force of will alone, seeing the creature for the illusion it was, but Annali was not so lucky.
The half-elf cleric’s screams were cut short as her heart exploded from fear and her body fell to the floor. Now, determined to find the source of the effect, Traxxus searched again and found a celestial rune buried beneath the vines of the tunnel. With Laze’s help the halfling managed to temporarily disable the trap long enough for Dorian and himself to pass. There was nothing to be done for Annali. They piled her body onto the litter with the worgs so as not to leave her for the creatures of the maze. Hours later, they would finally find a way out thanks to an unexpected meeting.
A halfling in leather armor with a rapier at his side jumped from tile to tile down the hall, seeming to carefully measure his leaps. He looked up at the party and exclaimed, “Who the hell are you?!” Back in the Stoneshaper Goblin’s Empire, the party had been notified of a halfling adventurer named Bartleby in the employ of Argliss. Judging this to be him, they bargained with the halfling to lead them out of the maze. Though crude and mercenary in his attitude, the halfling (who never admitted to being Bartleby) agreed to lead them back the way he’d come. Once getting the party back to the goblins, the halfling took his payment and promptly disappeared back into the dungeon. The goblins, of course, were very surprised to see the adventurers return and quickly inquired about their mission. Pulling the head of Guk from a sack, Laze told the warriors they’d succeeded at their task and one of the younger goblins was ordered to immediately escort the party to the king.
Argliss was overjoyed to see the head of his enemy dangle before him and he sent the young goblin on a mission to carry the head to the far corners of his empire in order to show all his people the proof of the rebel leader’s demise. In the meantime, he offered the party a place to rest and told them he would have a feast prepared in their honor. Not one goblin or hobgoblin seemed ready to pounce on the adventurers now that they’d completed their mission. Argliss himself was as cordial as ever and there was no indication of treachery in his voice. It was weird. Allowing the goblins time to prepare the celebration, the party took their leave and returned to the commune.
Balian had grim news for the party on their return to the prisoners’ commune. Saelin was dead and Mina was missing. Whatever had killed the bard had eaten his heart and torn out his throat. They believed the monk had gone to hunt the thing, but she hadn’t returned. Security had been tightened around the commune and Poddy was organizing a group to hunt and slay the beast. With the goblins happy, any alliance that could be made would be greatly beneficial. With that in mind, the elf diplomat Anemone Actiniaria was sent to accompany the party on their return to the empire. A cleric of Irori, Gofer Boneyard, also offered his services to the party in light of their recent tragedy in the maze and, after trading in the worg meat to the commune, the party traveled to Argliss and whatever the goblin monarch had in store for them.
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To all of our faithful readers:
We're not done yet! Scheduling conflicts, road trips and pagan fertility rituals may have conspired to delay our adventures, but we'll have a new session posted in about a week. Until then, I guess I'll post something about the behind-the-scenes workings of the adventure.
One of the early challenges of running this adventure came from the lack of a "town" the party could go to in order to sell their loot. The book itself doesn't say the party has to be trapped inside until the end of the adventure, but it sort of defeats my story concept to say they can just pop on down to the nearest village so I made having a village a reward for rescuing the prisoners in the first region of the dungeon.
The next challenge came from organizing the prisoners' economy. The prisoners have no money and what few coins and gems they've found aren't nearly as useful as food and equipment. Being mostly good or neutral, I figured few of the prisoners would want to live in an every-man-for-himself system of dog-eat-dog self-preservation so they came up with a system where everybody shares whatever equipment or food the community can build or recover from the dungeon.
The community is broken down into two basic groups: Artisan/Professionals (APs) and Scavengers. APs are people with specialized training. They craft and maintain equipment and tools and provide services like cooking, healing and defense of the community. Scavengers are prisoners with no marketable skills. They're only job is to go out into the dungeon to recover crafting materials and serviceable equipment for the APs.
Every prisoner is assigned a duty and given equipment from the community store that will help them do their job. Everybody who contributes to the community gets fed from the community larders and can count on their equipment being maintained by the APs. Community members also accumulate credit they can use to purchase food and equipment if they ever decide to leave the community (this helps explain how new party members acquire their starting equipment.) The adventuring party's work contributes to the community but they are not actually considered members (they don't get free food and equipment.)
Any group that might enter friendly trade relations with the community may purchase goods from the community store. The PCs fall into this group. Most of the trade is handled through barter since coins and gems are hard to come by, but adventurers can also accrue credit by performing tasks for the community (to make this easy, I follow the standard half-value trade for equipment.) Each PC has their own account they can use to purchase equipment based on what they bring in to trade and what they do for the community. This actually cuts down considerably on the amount of weight the PCs are carrying since they don't have to keep track of coin weight.
Well, I guess that's enough for now. We'll have more danger and derring-do for you in about a week.
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To all of our faithful readers:
We're not done yet! Scheduling conflicts, road trips and pagan fertility rituals may have conspired to delay our adventures, but we'll have a new session posted in about a week. Until then, I guess I'll post something about the behind-the-scenes workings of the adventure.
One of the early challenges of running this adventure came from the lack of a "town" the party could go to in order to sell their loot. The book itself doesn't say the party has to be trapped inside until the end of the adventure, but it sort of defeats my story concept to say they can just pop on down to the nearest village so I made having a village a reward for rescuing the prisoners in the first region of the dungeon.
The next challenge came from organizing the prisoners' economy. The prisoners have no money and what few coins and gems they've found aren't nearly as useful as food and equipment. Being mostly good or neutral, I figured few of the prisoners would want to live in an every-man-for-himself system of dog-eat-dog self-preservation so they came up with a system where everybody shares whatever equipment or food the community can build or recover from the dungeon.
The community is broken down into two basic groups: Artisan/Professionals (APs) and Scavengers. APs are people with specialized training. They craft and maintain equipment and tools and provide services like cooking, healing and defense of the community. Scavengers are prisoners with no marketable skills. They're only job is to go out into the dungeon to recover crafting materials and serviceable equipment for the APs.
Every prisoner is assigned a duty and given equipment from the community store that will help them do their job. Everybody who contributes to the community gets fed from the community larders and can count on their equipment being maintained by the APs. Community members also accumulate credit they can use to purchase food and equipment if they ever decide to leave the community (this helps explain how...
Very clever work-around, I always had difficulty figuring out what to do about the "You can not leave" aspect of the dungeon. Well done.