Campaign Journal 28 - Into the Underdark...Again

We left our party having just passed a magical flame barrier in the dungeons under a ruined tower in Kristovaria...

July 13, Saturday (cont.) - The group finished exploring the small laboratory dungeon and comes upon a door with a glowing magical runes written on it. Duncan the wizard reads that they say "Dwarves say door." Thalmyr the dwarven paladin speaks the word "door" in dwarvish and the runes fade. They open the door and go into the chamber beyond. The part of the chamber near the door is a finished chamber, but the far side blends into a natural cavern.

A gray tarp is discovered to be hiding a small crawlway to a series of caves and passages. In the series of 7 or 8 caverns, the party kills a group of 6 gnolls in one encounter, kills a pair of gricks and a pair of grells in another, and finds the decaying dead body of a 7 foot tall lizard-like creature. They discover both a cave entrance to the surface (on the far side of a hill just west of the ruins), and a passage that seems to lead far down.

They camp on the surface near the cave entrance for one last night above ground.

July 14, Sunday - Into the Underdark. A full day's descent toward the location called Crystal Landing. Camp just short of Crystal Landing.

July 15, Monday - The group arrives at Crystal Landing and sees a group of gnolls below them, guessing that they are a different bunch of the same group that they killed in the caves near the surface two days earlier. They surprise the gnolls and are able to defeat them, Malachi and Thalmyr taking some damage in the process.

Crystal Landing and more gnolls

As they are investigating the huge and wondrous cavern filled with giant rock crystal formations, they hear noises coming. They hide, and a small drow elf merchant pack train of giant lizards passes through the center of the cavern (heading east, the way the party needs to go). The party decides not to attack.

Fighting Gnolls

After they let an hour or so go by, the party follows the drow group out the east passage, which is a wide and well-maintained road...

GM Commentary - I really enjoyed bringing out some of my new toys for this session. I wanted Crystal Landing to be an impactful visual moment as we began the Underdark story arc, and I think it went over well. It definitely as the "wow" moment I was hoping for.

[January 2017: I also think it is fair to say, looking back, that this was the first of a series of several sessions where I became so enamored of the terrain that I was crafting (and having a huge amount of fun doing it almost as a standalone hobby), that I lost track of certain other things that I could have been focusing a little bit more on. Also, spending time focusing on a few cool visual encounters per session (each of which take a while to play out) made it such that the journey to the Tombs probably took a session or two longer than it could have. It's easy to fall into the trap of wanting to use all of the cool stuff you are making and lose a bit of objectivity on some of the choices you are making. I'm trying to be mindful of this moving forward, and make sure that the crafting serves the game and not vice versa.

Campaign Journal 27 - Return to Kristovaria

We last saw our party in Turil, in the dark of night, holed up in the house of Nath Ravenblood, questioning the man who hired the slavers...

July 8, Monday - Having spent most of the overnight hours interrogating, and then talking to, Nath Ravenblood, the party decides to take the things that the noble has offered and let him live. His anguish over the bargain he made with the lizardmen to save his own life seems genuine. He is left with an admonishment to never get involved in anything like this or Duncan the wizard would know, and they would be back. Some imaginary spells were cast over him for effect and the party left.

The party spent much of the day resting in a decent inn, the Old Serpent, in the Sunrise section of the city (eastern area inside the city walls, near the citadel and the Society of the Arcane). They decide that after taking care of some routine business in the city, they will go to find the Tombs. Duncan visits the Society of the Arcane and pays his annual dues to be a member (which gives him the right to use the library and facilities...for potential additional charges, of course).

Near dusk the party goes back to the Slanted Shingle Inn to see if Baldur Kersk has returned. He has not (and is likely miles away by now!).

July 9, Tuesday - With the intent to follow up on the materials on the Tombs of the Alberneth, some of the party finds an antiquarian bookseller in order to try to find books related to the Underdark. Maps said to be of the Underdark, but in distant locations, are passed up on. Some expensive tomes are also considered and rejected. In the end, a pair of book are purchased from the bickering gnomes that run the shop; Poisonous Plants and Fungi of the Deeps and Monstrous Creatures of the Sunless Realms. The last is for a copy of an original (and very expensive) small work.

[Mistlethorp's Fine Books and Tomes, in the Northmarket neighborhood, is a deep but narrow shop cluttered floor to ceiling with shelves of books, scrolls and documents of every imaginable type. It is run by a pair of middle-aged gnome brothers, Silas and Roderick Mistlethorp, who bicker and correct each other incessantly. They are very knowledgeable, and have a good variety of wares.]

The remainder of the day is spent buying equipment, replenishing stocks of rations, etc...

July 10, Wednesday - The party sets out to return to Kristovaria, but with Duncan now possessing the knowledge of Fireball, and Arian possessing the knowledge of Lightning Bolt. This should aid our heroes immensely. The route back to Kristovaria will be to go northeast on the Great North Road to (or near) Pittston, and then south/southeast cross-country to skirt the lake and find the same trail used previously.

The day's travel passes uneventfully and the group spends the night in the small roadside village of Jerikan (at the Wayward Traveler Inn).

Turil and the Great North Road northeastward (Hexographer 1 mile scale)

July 11, Thursday - A few miles west of Pittston, and nearing the end of the day's travel, the party comes upon a group of three men camping by the side of the road. The trio invites our heroes to join them for dinner and drinks. The pheasant roasting over the fire is tempting, but the wary characters are able to correctly perceive that something is fishy. The trio is drinking something from one small cask, but are offering the party drinks from a different one. The party is able to avoid a trap of sleep-poisoned ale. The three potential thieves are captured, questioned, and then executed. Their bodies were stripped, marked, and left on the road as a warning to thieves. The night passes...

Pittston and south to Kristovaria (Hexographer 1 mile scale)

July 12, Friday - The day's journey from the roadside camp to a new campsite in the hills on the lakeside overlooking the ruins of Valtana passes with no problems.

Valtana from the North

And the night passes without incident.

The Ruins of Valtana

July 13, Saturday - Arriving at Kristovaria late in the afternoon, the party is ambushed by a number of displacer beasts. Two attack from out of the ruins, and then a third joins the fight. Eventually, the party overcomes them, killing two and chasing off the third, but are badly bloodied in the process. This is one of the toughest fights our heroes have had to date. Niam was down and several others were very low on health.

The group spends time healing and then goes to explore the large ruined tower at one end of the central plaza. It becomes obvious that the tower, while ancient, has been renovated in recent years, and then once again fallen into disrepair. A secret door is found in the basement, and the party begins working its way through a small dungeon which is obviously the laboratory of a magician or alchemist of some sort. Not much of value is left, although a beautifully carved wooden staff (non-magical) is recovered, and a chest containing 200 GP in coins and 4 large pearls is found. [These pearls will be important for Duncan to have for use in Identify spells while underground].

Their way becomes blocked by a chamber trapped with blue and red magical flames. Runes on the threshold of the door say "feed the flames and pass unhindered". It takes a while for the characters to figure out that if they cast any kind of fire-based magic into the flames, they will subside for a period of time, and they can pass safely. The session ends when they figure this out. More dungeon to come...

GM Commentary - So we have set out on a major story arc for the Underdark, and I am anxious to begin using some of the stuff that I have been busily crafting for Underdark terrain. Underdark oriented D&D minis are showing up in the mail in bunches. These should be different kinds of sessions, and the grind of being far underground with no easy or quick exit should be a challenging backdrop to play against.

The pearls were an intentional treasure reward for the group. One of the hacks we have incorporated in drifting our game away from pure 5th edition D&D is that we have eliminated the idea that anybody can gain full knowledge of a magic item just by sitting with it and concentrating on it for a while. This completely eliminates the need for several wizard spells, and takes away one of the arcane abilities that makes spell casters different from normal people. Our group no longer knows anything specific about a magic item, or even knows for sure that it is a magic item, until someone realizes that it is magic (Detect Magic spell) and then figures out what it is (Identify spell or similar).

As a final side note, I found the group's treatment of the thieves to be somewhat startling. It was out of character for the characters (and for the players too). We haven't had too many flat-out murder hobo moments in the campaign, but this was certainly one of them. Harsh punishment for a failed robbery attempt, but hey, it's a tough world.

Campaign Journal 26.5 - Interlude

The Silver Swords company and the Tombs of the Alberneth

The following is a recap of the many pages of scribbled notes, sketches, writings and maps related to the Tombs of the Alberneth.

Nath Ravenblood's Materials
An adventuring party of some note (the Silver Swords) found a well-hidden and difficult passage deep in the Underdark behind a series of waterfalls. The passage led several miles, coming out in a series of man-made (or creature-made) tombs. The party was able to use magic to read and transcribe inscriptions on some of the tombs and memorial carvings. They fought powerful undead and a number of fiends. The group lost two of its members (literally separated and lost, never to be seen again), but they were able to escape with sacks loaded with gems, jewelry, and strange gold and silver coins. [This occurred in NR 698, ~9 years ago]

Upon reaching home, the Silver Swords were able to research some of the names and carvings they had transcribed (with the aid of the sages of Talengard), and came to the conclusion that they had found the tombs of the Alberneth, a family of powerful spell casters who fled the surface world back in the time of the Elder Wars (~300 years earlier).

The Silver Swords intended to return to the tombs, but first went into the northern Tellarn Mountains (southeast of the Greenreach Woods) to investigate recent rumored sightings of the great (and near legendary) blue dragon Vassylspeere. Nobody is know to have returned from that expedition.

Years later, the Silver Swords' written materials found their way into the hands of Nath Ravenblood, a part-time adventurer and the last member of a fading minor noble family of Turil. Desperate for cash, Nath organized an expedition to recover treasure from the tombs. Shortly after entering the Deep Realms through the ruins of Kristovaria in the Greenreach Woods, Nath's party was ambushed by lizard-like humanoid creatures, and all but Nath were slain. Nath bargained for his life by promising to deliver additional slaves to the lizardmen. Later, the party intercepted Nath's hired slavers, tracked them back to Nath, and were given these materials...

The materials included detailed maps and notes on how to get from the ruins of Kristovaria to the secret entrance to the Tombs of the Alberneth.

The Elder town of Mirron (Hexographer, 6 mile scale)

Alberneth Background
The Alberneth were an influential family in the Elder Days, essentially ruling the town of Mirron (in the realm of Ithilkar) in the southeastern Hills of Horeb. There were many powerful spell casters in the extended family, and they were the patrons of a famous (and somewhat notorious) wizards' school specializing in conjuration magic, the Tower of the Shadowed Veil. As the Elder Wars raged, there were concerns within the ruling circles of Ithilkar regarding the increasing use of dark magic by the Alberneth and their students, especially necromantic magic and the summoning of powerful fiends.

As the Wars raged on and things turned against Ithilkar, most of the population of the town of Mirron, including virtually all of the staff and students of the Tower, simply vanished overnight one night. Investigation by the authorities revealed that this was a planned evacuation, and that the missing people seemed to have gone down into the Underdark via old caverns and tunnels under the town.

Little was heard directly of the Alberneth thereafter, but occasional tales and rumors said that they had carved out a realm for themselves deep in the Underdark, where they devoted themselves completely to the pursuit of dark magic and demon worship. These tales said that even the drow avoided the territory claimed by the Alberneth.

Campaign Journal 26 - Nath Ravenblood

We left our heroes camped on the shores of a small lake, on the edge of the northwestern Greenreach Woods, with 12 freed captives in tow...

July 6, Saturday - After fighting the misshapen giants, the group settles down for a night's sleep under overcast skies. During the night, the skies clear, and a full moon is revealed. A slight breeze picks up, coming from the south, and with it comes the sound of distant drums. The drums play intermittently, rising to a frenzied pitch at certain times and then dying away. The group decides not to investigate and the rest of the night passes uneventfully, if nervously and not very restfully.

A day's march with the 12 civilians in tow brings the group to the tiny village of Felrin. Four of the civilians leave the group here; the rest will stay with the group to Turil.

Turil and southeastern approaches (Hexographer, 1 mile scale)

July 7, Sunday - Another 16 mile march brings the party to the city of Turil (for the first time). The remaining 8 civilians express their thanks and go their separate ways. It's late in the afternoon.

While crossing the Caravan Grounds heading to the Slanted Shingle Inn in the Wagontown section of the city (outside the walls on the southwest side), Baldur Kersk slips his bonds and makes an improbable escape through the crowd. Niam the rogue, the quickest of the group, is unable to catch him in the crowd.

The City of Turil , Wagontown section at lower left

The party gets to the Inn, bullies the owner into letting them into Kersk's room, and are able to find (and take) the 325 gold pieces hidden in a sack under a loose floorboard. They then head to the Laughing Goblin Tavern and stake out the place, hoping to see that man the Kersk described to them.

Malachy (the barbarian) and Arian (the elven sorcerer) see a man matching the description while thy are tarrying (and dining) at an inn across the square from the Laughing Goblin. They waylay him outside the place, and drag him into a nearby alley. He is a shady businessman by the name of Thurbrin Weirich, and is easily strong-armed into telling what he knows.

Weirich was hired by a minor noble named Nath Ravenblood. His instructions were to find someone to take the assignment of capturing 50 people and delivering them to the troglodytes in the Greenreach Woods. He hired Kersk, paying him 500 gold pieces for the job. It turns out he was just a middleman with no particular ties to either Ravenblood or Kersk.

A few inquiries within the walled part of the city direct the party to Ravenblood House, a minor noble home in the Artisan's Quarter section of the city (inside the city walls, south/southeast of the Market, between Market Street and the Eastway). Ravenblood House is a not particularly well-maintained three story town house off of a side street. It is approximately 9:30pm and after dark by now.

Duncan the wizard casts Invisibility on Niam the rogue, who then sneaks into the house. He finds only one elderly servant (Joril) and a sleeping man (Nath Ravenblood) inside the house, which had definitely seen better days. The party enters the house and interrogates Ravenblood, who tells a tale of having been part of an adventuring band in the Underdark that was wiped out by lizardmen. He was the only survivor. He bought his freedom by agreeing to provide slaves for the lizardmen, delivered to the caves at Kristovaria. Ravenblood is wracked with guilt (genuinely) and begs for mercy.

For letting him live, he gives the party a magical tome called Ayaralan's Workbook volume 4, which is a spell book of unique trap-constructing magic. He also gives them a dwarven travel stone, a magical item that serves as both a compass and time of day tracker. This gives someone information on which direction they are headed, and roughly what time of day it is (day vs night, sundown vs dawn, etc). This is especially useful underground. Lastly, he gives them a packet of maps, papers and journals regarding the adventures of a band called the Silver Swords. The party spends the rest of the night in Ravenblood's House.

...More on the Silver Shields and the Tombs of the Alberneth in the next post...

[Duncan and Arian advanced to level 5 after this session]

GM Commentary - This was, for me, one of the best sessions we have had. It wasn't combat focused, but was driven almost entirely by story. We had players acting as their characters would do, we visited some new locations, and we added a lot to the fiction. Good stuff.

Cheating ahead, writing this 8 months after the session, the seeds that were planted here turned into at  least 10 sessions of game play. And all because we took a bit of a left turn from the expected. Nice.