Campaign Journal 40 - Zinasa

We last left our heroes camped near their destination, the ruined Onorian town of Zinasa, and the Tower of Rethorcar...

Friday, August 16 - The party wakens after a somewhat eventful night. During a few of the watches, strange lights were seen very far off to the north/northwest. The lights were similar to the flashes of a summer thunderstorm, but were of a rainbow of colors. Low rumbles like distant thunder could be heard. The party has heard of the Wyrd Storms that wrack the Onorian plains, and presumably this was evidence of those storms.

Best estimate was that the group was within a day or so of their destination, and were confident that they were heading in the correct direction, as they were following the overgrown remnants of an old road heading northeast.

After a morning's march, a brief lunch, and another couple hours' march, the party found themselves on a rise looking down into a valley below. The overgrown ruins of a sizable town were easy to see. On a small hill on the far side of the ruined town stood an intact tower...

As they made their way to the Tower, sounds of a fight became audible. In an open area on the hill near the tower, a hill giant and a handful of orcs and hobgoblins were fighting a small band of humans. There were several casualties on both sides, but the humans seemed to be in desperate straits.

Fight at Zinasa

Our heroes leapt into the fray, surprising the giant and his allies, and quickly turned the tide in their favor. Magical energy arced through the air, blades flashed, and soon the bad guys were killed or running. The hill giant fell to the combined attacks of much of the party.

Malachy and Thalmyr fight a hill giant

The other humans were in need of assistance and healing, which the party was able to supply. Their leader, Raclar Bearnson, told a fascinating tale...

Barbarians beset

Raclar's Tale - Raclar was a sub-chief of the White Elk clan of the Vornar barbarians from far to the northeast. This was a neighboring clan of Malachy's from his homeland. Raclar said that he had fallen out of favor with his chief (he didn't say why...) and had been sent abroad on a mission that was likely intended to be the death of him - he was to be delivered with a small group of his kin to the mouth of the Trillayan River (far north of the Kingdom of Alsberg). From here, he was to map the territory in that region, so as to expand the knowledge of his people as to what the land was like far to their west. Raclar's group of ten was dropped off and abandoned. They made their way west up the river into the land that was once the Elder realm of Nanerith (although Raclar would have no way of knowing this). They saw mountains to the west (the Iron Spires and the Craghorn Peaks), and decided that they should turn back and head to the coast. However, they were cut off by hordes of undead following along behind them, and were forced further and further west. Eventually they crossed the mountains via an old road through a pass (the Ironhorn Gap), skirted a large lake (Icemelt Lake), and had wandered south, finding themselves in these ruins. Of the eight that had made it this far, two were killed, leaving Raclar and five others.

The party gave them such supplies as they could spare and directions to Linden, from which they could take the Road back east to Rimini, Alsberg and the coast. Vornar longships occasionally made port along the coast, and they might be able to find their way home from there.

Malachy was able to ask Raclar whether he knew anything of his own clan, and his family. Raclar did. Mal's father, a contender for the rule of his clan, had been killed. One of his two sisters had been enslaved, the other had fled and was in hiding. His younger brother had also fled and his whereabouts were unknown.

After a short rest, the party approached the Tower, which appeared to be a simple four-story round structure approximately 30 feet in diameter. They could not reach the door due to a shimmering magical force field that protected the Tower, but Duncan recited the incantation Zamra had taught him and the force field allowed them to pass, and the door swung open...

Next - The Tower...

GM Commentary - This was another fun session with lots of roleplaying and one big fight (kinda like the prior session). The players learned more about the world, and Malachy's player was given the freedom to tell us about his family and their fate. Sometimes it is more rewarding (and certainly less predictable) to ask a player to fill in details about the world, rather than having everything fall on the GM. The little bit of roleplaying about news from Mal's homeland is fodder for potential adventures down the road.

The 5 characters present earned 800 XP each. This was for a hill giant, a bunch of hobgoblins, a bunch of orcs, aiding the barbarians (and subsequent information gathered in the ensuing conversations), and discovery of the Tower and successful entry. As has been the case for quite a while now, I am bending the rules to award XP for things other than killing monsters. By the book, the only way to get XP is to kill/overcome things. To make sure that the characters/players keep getting XP, I would need to keep throwing monster encounter after monster encounter at the party. Sometimes I'd rather not have to do that...

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - The Wyrd Storms on the horizon at night reminded the characters of the strange wild magic that pervades the Onorian plains, beyond the Shadow Wall to the northwest. They learned from the barbarians that something evil is stirring in old Nanerith (another fallen Elder realm), across the mountains beyond Spirehorn Gap to the northeast. We all learned that Malachy has two sisters and a brother, and learned something about the fate of his father and siblings. They also learned that perhaps the orcs and hobgoblins of the Shadow Wall have giant allies.

Campaign Journal 39 - Rest and the Road to Zinasa

We last left our heroes in the aftermath of their return from the evil Underdark City of Traniska. They had stumbled upon a secret meeting between their (semi-patron) cleric Fulcher of Alaron and local noble and power broker Cyric Graymantle, two men who they believed to be enemies...

July 27, Saturday (cont.) - As the party walked down a back hallway in the Linden Inn, returning from Raglin's quick tour of the basements, including the sealed doorway to an unknown place, a door to a back room opened and the characters heard a familiar voice say "well that's the plan then". Looking past a serving girl and into the room, they saw the cleric Fulcher of Alaron and local noble Cyric Graymantle smiling and shaking hands. The remains of a large meal was on the table near them. They startled on seeing the characters, looked at each other, and invited the group in for a chat.

Inside the private room, they sat down for drinks and an explanation. They then noticed another person in the room; a rugged looking middle aged halfling leaning against the wall in the corner. The halfling was introduced as Arlis Maplethorp, though the more perceptive members of the group got the feeling this was a name made up spontaneously after a slight pause.

"The Plan" referenced by Cyric in the comment overheard by the characters was explained as the moderate-term plan to unite the Shearingvale as a political entity based around the town of Linden. As Cyric explained, both Wegley to the east and Turil to the west were acting expansionistic, and the fiercely independent people of the increasingly prosperous Vale would be hard pressed to defend against falling under the sway of either of those larger towns if they remained fragmented.

Cyric's plan, with the assistance of his childhood friend Fulcher, was to fund enough civic improvements to show the Vale villages the value of governmental influence. The threat of Fulcher's castle building on the borders of the Vale was hoped (by Cyric) to be an additional factor in uniting the Vale, for the short term goal of resisting a takeover by Fulcher. Fulcher again professed no interest in forming the "kingdom of Fulcher", but was willing to play the foil to Cyric's unification drive.

Civic improvements in the works, or planned in the near future, include: expansion of the city walls, expansion of the Outriders (guards patrolling the Vale), construction of a temple to Alaron (complete with full clerical staff), bringing in a sage to establish a library, and various other possible business ventures. Cyric was already responsible for bringing in a high quality armorer and weapon smith.

The characters were asked to keep this information to themselves while the situation developed.

After the long meeting, the halfling, who had said very little, pulled Duncan the wizard aside. He introduced himself as Zamra Quickfire. Duncan recognized the name as an evocation Archmage, a halfling known to be very powerful but somewhat reclusive. Zamra said that he had heard good things about Duncan's talents from Alissara, the elven mage of Fulcher's Band. He asked if Duncan would like to study with him. Duncan agreed (of course).

July 28 (Sunday) through August 9 (Friday) - Over the next couple of weeks, the characters rest, recover and train. Duncan advances to level 6 under the tutelage of Zamra.

During this period, Malachy and Melior visit Martine the hedge witch, a potion-maker who lives a few miles north of Linden. She has the knowledge to produce some basic potions, and they buy a few healing potions. After a lengthy discussion, they agree to pay 200 GP to fund Martine's travel to the nearby city of Turil and allow her to buy additional texts on potion making. If all goes well, Martine's abilities will increase.

Zamra's Favor - As their training comes to a close, Zamra tells Duncan the legend of the Seven Sigils of Onoria - seven caches of hidden and lost magic, preserved for future generations by the elder mages of Onoria, before the final collapse of the Elder realms. Many mages over the centuries have searched for these caches, but none are known to have succeeded in finding and unlocking them. Each is said to be able to be found only by following a number of clues, collecting pieces of keys from various locations, and figuring out the final location of the cache (and then figuring out how to open it).

Zamra told Duncan that he believed he had found the location of the first key piece for the Evocation Sigil; he thought that it was hidden in a place called the Tower of Rethorcar in the ruined Onorian town of Zinasa, roughly a week northeast of Linden. The Tower was said to be the only completely intact structure in a town that had been destroyed 350 years ago. The legends say that the reason for its survival was that it is protected by the lost 10th level spell Invulnerable Mageward. It is beyond the power of any known magic in the world today to bypass the protections of an Invulnerable Mageward, unless the passphrase is known. Zamra gave Duncan what he believed to be the passphrase, and asked that he and his friends find and retrieve the key piece. He said he would do it himself, but he just found this passphrase, and he needed to travel to the far South (to Immilkan in the Dragon Coast lands), and could not do it himself. The need for speed was urgent, as he had reason to believe that knowledge of the passphrase could be found by others following the same recently exposed clues that he did. Duncan, with his character's thirst for magical knowledge, couldn't say no. The rest of the group was agreeable...

The Road to Zinasa

August 10, Saturday - The group travels from Linden to Fulcher's Hold, spending the night in the main keep of the rapidly progressing castle.

August 11, Sunday - The group sets out to the northeast, planning to skirt the northern edge of the Shadowveil Forest, across the plains south of the hills of the Shadow Wall. The day ends with the party camped well to the east of the hills holding Castle Langborne.

August 12, Monday - A second day's uneventful travel has the party camping in the open ground between the hills of the Red Barrows and the forest to the southeast.

August 13, Tuesday - On the third day, with the hills of the Shadow Wall looming in the distant northwest, the party sees smoke ahead. Approaching carefully, they come upon the scene of a recent fight, with many dead orcs and hobgoblins piled in a heap. The smoke comes from a still-smoldering funeral pyre. Arian, the Valwyn (high) elf, investigates, and draws on his knowledge of elven customs of the north, realizing that this is the funeral pyre of a Farendil (wood) elf warrior. It is the custom of the wood elves of the region to burn a warrior killed in battle at the site of his death. They advance a little further and camp for the night.

August 14, Wednesday - Proceeding northeast, and keeping the edge of the Shadoweil Forest near to their right, they make good time. Late in the day, as they are passing a small woodlot, they realize that they are being watched by a small group of elves mounted on horses. The party approaches cautiously making signs of peace and friendship, and after a cautious beginning, the party camps for the evening with the elves. They are wood elves from the Shadowveil, and several are wounded. It was one of their number who was killed fighting the orcs. Badric the dwarven cleric heals the wounded, and wins the respect of the elves.

Sindral, the elven patrol leader, pledges his friendship to the group, and says he will tell the tale of  their encounter (and the aid provided) to his people.

August 15, Thursday - The Monument of Irineth.

Breaking camp, the elves head off to the southeast while the party heads northeast.

For part of the later afternoon, the party is passing a large marshy area on their right. At one point, Niam the rogue notices a deteriorating old earthen causeway extending out to a small island in the swamp. There are three carved stone obelisks, one on the island and two in the swamps flanking it. There is a second small island beyond the first. Growing around the obelisk on the island appears to be a large cluster of star lilies, a rare flower that is a component of powerful healing potions.

The party decides to investigate the obelisk, and harvest the flowers. As they near the island, the elves in the party (Melior and Niam) hear the faint voices of elves singing a mournful song. Then monsters of various decaying shapes and sizes begin lurching up out of the marsh and advancing on the party.

The Monument of Irineth

Desperate combat ensues, during which the party notices that a metal torch in a bracket on the obelisk/monument has begun to glow with a dull white light. There is a second empty bracket. Realizing that there seem to be an endless number of creatures, and that the monsters replenish their numbers as soon as the characters kill them, the characters begin to look around for a solution to their problem.

Niam notices another glow of light in the reeds along the near edge of the other small island. Darting past the intervening monsters, he finds another dimly glowing metal torch lying in the underbrush. He brings the torch back to the monument, and while Thalmyr holds the nearby monsters at bay, climbs the monument and slips the torch into the second bracket.

Battle at the Monument of Irineth

As soon as the second torch is back in place, both burst into bright radiant white light, driving the creatures back into the marsh. While nursing their wounds, the party harvests the star lilies, and Melior is able to read the elven runes on the monument, which say "May Irineth always be a beacon of light in the darkness". Who or what Irineth is they have no idea...

Following the battle, the party continues a few miles north and camps a reasonable distance away from the marshes. They should reach Zinasa tomorrow.

GM Commentary - I enjoyed this session very much. After two sessions that were very heavy in combat (the two parts of the final Underdark fight), it was very refreshing to be (A) above ground, and (B) doing something that was setting up a completely new story arc. Good stuff. It was also a nice mix of lots of roleplaying and one big combat encounter. XP for the session was ~700 per character (which is very light at 6th level - the gap from 6 to 7 is 14,000-23,000 XP...).

Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - The party learned specifics of the political plans of Cyric and Fulcher. Duncan met and was befriended by a powerful wizard (more powerful than Alissara). The characters traveled new ground, heading further northeast than they had been before. They met elves of the Shadowveil Forest, and now know there are such things. They were reminded that there are orcs and hobgoblins prowling the lands around the Shadow Wall. They learned there are at least a few ancient elven ruins in the area. I like these things, as I hope that it helps create a sense of depth to the world, and thus to the campaign.

Campaign Journal 38 - Victory and Home

We last left our heroes locked in desperate combat with the priests of the Temple of the Shadowed Veil and their summoned demon minions...

July 27, Saturday [day 14, cont.] - The desperate fight at the cliffside Temple of the Shadowed Veil continues....

Realizing that more and more demons would continue to spew out of the summoning portals, Thalmyr edged closer to the Blood Orb and threw the Ruby Knight's hammer directly into the swirling ball of energy. The hammer disappeared into the Orb, which began to shake and pulse wildly. One of the Temple priests up on the balcony screamed "what have you done?!" and turned and ran from the area. Demons fighting for the Traniskans seemed to pause in their actions, and then scattered in all directions, attacking everything in sight, indiscriminately, some running, some flying.

With one final great pulse, the Orb imploded in on itself. As it did, a handful of various kinds of demons materialized in the air around the stalagmite, including another of the fearsome Death Demons. They flew off in all directions, with the newly appeared Death Demon screeching and wheeling off to fly west toward the city of Traniska.

The party decided that their work was done and it was time to leave.

Grandar's Gratitude - Fleeing the Temple by boat, the party made their way back to the Tomb docks and quickly hurried through the tombs to get back to the ancient dwarven tomb area where they had first met Grandar by the pool.

Thalmyr threw a stone into the pool, and Grandar appeared. He seemed pleased. "You have done well. The task is done! The city of Traniska will now begin to destroy itself with the Masters no longer in control of the fiends they have brought into the world!".

In return for the service of the party, he granted them each favors. Malachy and Duncan had their darkvision made permanent. Badric was granted permanent access to the 4th level spell Death Ward.
Melior's oaken quarterstaff was made to be a Staff of the Adder. Niam's rapier was made to be a +1 magical weapon. Arian's draconic nature was focused such that his clawed left hand was imbued with the power to deal lightning damage in addition to the claws' normal damage. Thalymr's boon was not specified. All were branded with a small symbol of Grandar on their left cheek bone. This would only be visible to dwarves, and would show that each person marked thus was favored of Grandar.

Lastly, the party was given a stoppered brass flask. Removing the stopper and releasing the vapors inside would return anyone within that cloud of vapors to the chamber with Grandar's pool. But only once, and with no return trip...

Return to Linden - Grandar then asked if the characters wanted to go home. When they replied that they did, Grandar murmured a word of power, the world went dark for a moment, and the characters found themselves in the crowded common room of an inn. The Linden Inn, as it turned out. Duncan was straddling a chandelier. Badric was standing on a table in the middle of someone's dinner. Niam was sitting on someone's lap. The remainder of the party was scattered around the room.

Hearing the commotion, Raglin, the proprietor, bustled into the common room and began scolding the group, only to realize it was this band of regular guests of the inn. Seeing them filthy (and smelly), he quickly hustled them upstairs to get bathed and into clean clothes. He then had them come down to a hot dinner in a private room behind the common room.

While eating a bowl of the Inn's famous spicy mushroom stew, Niam noticed that the spicy mushroom was in fact strips of Darkfire mushroom, an Underdark mushroom that they had just become familiar with, and which only grew deep underground (as far as he knew).

When questioned, Raglin was evasive, saying that only business partners got to know all his secrets.

A Business Deal, The Linden Inn basements, and a secret meeting - The group decided to invest 300 GP in the Inn, for which they would get a private suite in the attic area of the third floor. The money would be used for repairs and updates to better compete with the newer (and now nicer) Wagon Wheel Inn across the square.

Raglin then took them through his office and down a back staircase into a separate part of the old basements, some of which he indicated were the old basements of Lindenfell Keep. A locked door led to the sewers under the town.

A few passages and stairs down led into a large natural chamber. This chamber held a few interesting things. One was a robust crop of Darkfire mushrooms that Raglin cultivated personally. The other thing was a very old looking door, locked, and covered with arcane runes. The door itself had been blocked in behind a wall of stout iron bars. Raglin said that his father had never been able to open the door, and had never brought in a mage to try to open it for him. His father was the one who built the iron cage to block the door from the inside. Raglin had likewise left the door alone for fear of what might be behind it.

Pondering this information, the party went back upstairs. They were walking down a back hallway toward the common room when the door to another private room opened, and a serving girl came out bearing a tray of dirty dishes. A familiar voice in the room said "well that's the plan then". Characters standing closest to the door saw Fulcher of Alaron and Cyric Graymantle smiling and shaking hands. This was odd, as they believed these two to be enemies...

Next - Cyric and Fulcher...

GM Commentary - Looking back, the remainder of this combat was a blur. Lots of good guys. Lots of bad guys. Lots of spells and lots of dice rolling. As noted in prior session notes, it felt like kind of a relief to get out of the Underdark and be able to start something new...

Campaign Journal 37 - Temple of the Shadowed Veil

We last left our heroes standing on a high ledge overlooking a large lake below. A boat with three occupants was creeping along the base of the cliff below...

July 26, Friday [day 13, cont.] - As the boat passed directly below them, Sleep was cast on the occupants, causing two of the three to fall into magical slumber. The remaining person, faced with a well-armed adventuring party, surrendered quickly. Pulling the boat to the shore, the person in the boat proved to be a half-orc named Shrashtak. After much conversation, he turned out to be an escaped slave, one of a band of other such people of various races and backgrounds who lived in hiding from their former Traniskan masters.

He eventually agreed to take the party back to one of their hideouts (in two shifts due to the small size of the boat), where he and his companions were headed to originally. Once there, he was able to tell the party much about the city of Traniska, including how it was laid out, social structures, main areas of the city and outlying areas, etc...

When asked about the Blood Orb, he was able to tell the party that there was a temple called the Temple of the Shadowed Veil, located on an island offshore from the city proper. In the courtyard of this temple, high up on a cliff overlooking the lake, was a large stalagmite, atop which was a swirling ball of red and yellow energy. He thought this might be the Blood Orb, since this temple was the center of the religious cult of Querelath, the patron deity of the demon-worshipping Masters.

The party rested, had a good dinner with their hosts, and slept the night. They would decide what to do next in the morning.

July 27, Saturday [day 14] - After a good night's sleep, the party decided to go directly to the Temple of the Shadowed Veil and see if this was the location they were seeking. They traded some equipment for the use of a larger boat from Shrashtak, and with his directions in hand, made their way toward the Temple.

The trip across the lake was uneventful, and after a ~2 mile journey, they saw their destination ahead: a brightly lit temple compound on a cliff overlooking the lake. As they neared, it became apparent from the number of worshippers, the booming of drums and the chanting of priests, that there was a ceremony of some sort underway.

Temple of the Shadowed Veil

The party crept their boat toward the shoreside docks, and with a combination of spells and missile fire, were able to surprise and dispatch the dock guards. Niam and Malachy snuck across the docks and up the first set of stairs, surprising and killing another pair of guards on the second landing.

As the first of the characters climbed to the main level two things happened: a pair of summoned demons came out of a pair of portals in the temple, and the two glass golems guarding the stairs came to life, attacking the party.

Fighting to Destroy the Blood Orb

The long and complicated fight went on for quite some time. There were clerics, golems, major demons, minor demons and guards on the enemy side. The full complement of seven characters of the good-guy side. Niam, Badric and the spell casters did everything they could to deal with the lesser threats while Malachy and Thalmyr (wielding the Ruby Knight's magical warhammer) tackled the Death Demon, a fiend of great power.

The bitter fight went on for a long time, draining hit points, healing and spells from the good guys. The fight hung in the balance. And the summoning portals began to pulse once again with an unnatural reddish-orange light...

Next - The conclusion of the big fight...

GM Commentary - Pardon the abbreviated writeup containing not too much detail, but this session was mainly driven by a long and involved combat sequence once the party reached the Temple. There were 7 different characters and probably as many different "initiative" groups of enemies at the Temple. This made for ~12-14 different initiative order turns in each round, with many spell casters involved on both sides. In over 2 hours of a 4 hour session, we probably only got about halfway through the climactic battle.

The details of this long drawn-out combat elude me at this point (and probably wouldn't make for great reading anyway). These were powerful enemies, and this was probably the closest any of the party members had gotten to death since perhaps first or second level. And the outcome was by no means a sure thing at this point...

Campaign Journal 36 - Escape from the Noble Tombs

We last left our heroes as they entered a chamber filled with noxious slime pits...

July 26, Friday (cont.) - The characters entered to chamber, and immediately began to gag on the noxious fumes rising from the fluorescent slime pits. In the eerie green glow, they could see what looked like it might be a body crumpled on the floor on the far side of the chamber.

Noxious Slime Pits and old dead body

Approaching the form, they could see that it was indeed an old dead body, clutching a satchel. The satchel seemed to be in good condition, and had preserved the papers inside, which included what turned out to be a spell book, inscribed as that of Illvag of Korvann. One or two of the characters were able to recall that Illvag of Korvann was the name of the wizard from the Silver Swords Company (the adventuring group whose map and notes they were following to get here). According to the Silver Swords' journals, Illvag got separated from the rest of party, along with a warrior named Arstof, and they never saw them again. This apparently was Illvag's long-dead corpse. Near the body was a hole in the ceiling, from which the tattered remnant of a rope hung down. They also found a wand that would later prove to be a Wand of Magic Detection.

Navigating the slime pits

Also in the satchel was a hand scribbled map with notes in the margins. The map was written on the back of a scroll of Blindness/Deafness. The map and the notes seemed to detail what happened to Illvag and Arstof after they got separated from the rest of their group, and their (unsuccessful) attempt to find their way through the Underdark wild from a spot labeled "lake shore" to a spot labeled "slime pools".

Illvag of Korvann's Map (and journal scribbles)

The notes described their struggles as they tried to find their way back to the tombs, while trying to keep a badly wounded Arstof alive. Illvag described Arstof's eventual death, and marked the location of the burial cairn he was able to erect over his dead body. The notes specifically mentioned Arstof's shield, and that he wished he could bring it with him, but was unable to carry it. This interested the characters.

Reviewing these materials, the characters decided that they would go up through the hole in the ceiling and use Illvag's map to get to the lake shore, hoping to be able to find a way to the city and the Blood Orb using this rugged back way. The characters assumed that there would be temple guards looking for them back in the tombs, and in the temple areas beyond.

About halfway to the lake shore, the party found the chamber containing what appeared to be a heaped pile of stones making a cairn. As they were about to investigate the cairn, three cave fishers attacked. Their thick outer shells proved to be difficult to penetrate with melee weapons, but they were eventually slain.

Cave Fishers and Arstof's Cairn

Moving on to the cairn, the party removed enough rocks to find Arstof's shield. A Detect Magic spell showed that the shield was indeed magic. Badric took the shield for his own use.

Arstof's Shield

Moving on, the party soon reached a ledge overlooking a very large body of black water. They heard a noise off to the right, and realized that three figures were rowing a crude boat carefully along the shore in their direction. They didn't look like priests or temple guards, and gave the impression of trying to be quiet and sneaky...

Next - Shrashtak and the Temple of the Shadowed Veil.

GM Commentary - The group is getting closer to the end of the story arc, and I have to admit (writing this later) that I was having mixed feelings at this point. It felt to me like there were a certain number of sessions that could/should have been allocated to this whole story arc, and that I had spent too many of those sessions in the "getting there" part of the arc. Honestly, this may be more my feeling than that of the players, but I was feeling mental fatigue, and was not at all happy with my GM'ing of this arc with regards to pacing, etc... Oh well. Live and learn. In retrospect though, I definitely fell like we should have done just a couple of sessions on getting here, and then spent more time in the city and its environs than we ended up doing.

The next couple of sessions, because of the above, felt disjointed and rushed, which is my fault entirely. But that is a story for another day...

Campaign Journal 35 - Battle in the Noble Tombs

We last left our heroes camped for the night in the entryway to the Ruby Knight's Tomb...

July 26, Friday - The Noble Tombs.

The party woke after a sound sleep in the entryway to the Ruby Knight's Tomb when the sentry, Niam, heard sounds of an approaching boat. As he watched from the shadows, another boat appeared from the other (main) entry passage and docked across the cavern at the Noble Tombs docks. Three men in robes that looked like priests (confirmed as such by the captive Farrin) got off the boat and disappeared into the far passages. After a little while, they returned to the docks, noticed the party, and the characters attacked...

The nearest point between the two docks was about 35 feet apart, and as the characters watched, the older of the three enemy clerics pulled a glass globe from his belt pouch and smashed it on the floor. In the air above the spot where he smashed the globe, a glowing shimmering ball of energy appeared. From the ball spewed a number of winged creatures...

Battle at the Noble Tombs docks

In response, Malachy dove into the water to swim across and close the distance, and Thalmyr cast Find Steed in order to summon a large enough fish to drag her across the water to the far docks. As this was happening, the remaining characters drew bows and cast spells...

As Malachy swam and Thalmyr was dragged through the water by a giant fish, the flying demons attacked, striking with small halberds and flicking fiery motes of arcane energy from those same halberds. The ensuing fight had the party realize that the glowing globe was a demon-spawner which would keep bringing more demons into the conflict until something stopped it. Hoping that the answer to the problem would be killing the cleric that opened the rift, the party focused their attentions on that target, soon bringing him down. The rift closed, and the remaining demons were dispatched (although a few escaped, flying south down the main entry passage). A second cleric was killed and the last one ran away, heading east into a side passage.

Showdown

With Mal and Thalmyr now on the far side, the party uses the magical boat to assemble on the Noble Tombs side of the cavern. They skip exploring the main noble tombs area, following the fleeing cleric into the east passage. A few minor burials are plundered, and a shrine is discovered. The iconography in the shrine is to some sort of rodent god. Just beyond the shrine is an iron-work gridded barrier blocking the way forward, but the door in the barrier is open...

Forging ahead, the party descends a slope into a large cavern. The cavern is very rugged, and is filled with stalagmites, stalactites, and broken rock formations. A little bit ahead there are snarling, growling, and rending sounds. Approaching, the party sees a trio of six-legged rats munching on the now-dead body of the fleeing cleric. The plague rats turn to regard the party, and attack...

Plague Rats

The party is able to defeat the rats, and pause to regroup after the fight. They notice that one of the three now-dead rats is soaking wet. At the far end of the chamber is a pool of water. Exploring the pool, Malachy notices that there is an underwater passage out the far side of the pool. A simple breath-holding of a few seconds duration is enough to allow a person to dip under the intervening underwater area and come up into another dry passage ten feet or so on the other side.

Plague Rats closeup

The group navigates the pool and follows the passage to another rugged rock-filled chamber a short ways down the passage. While exploring the chamber, another plague rat sneaks up on the party from beneath a rocky outcropping and latches onto Farrin's leg. With a howl of anguish, Farrin is dragged down into a hole under the rocky outcropping and is gone. Screams of pain persist for a moment and then are silent...

Recovering from the shock of the death of Farrin, the party moves on into the next passage, and emerges into a chamber filled with noxious glowing green slime pits...

Next - The Slime Pits and into the Traniskan wilds...

GM Commentary - The players treated the events of this session with a degree of urgency, and that made for a good session for me. I know that given the time to do so, they would have loved to take the time to loot all of the tombs in this area, and it would have been very lucrative for them to have done so. Given the threat of alerted guards, more demons and any number of other threats, they elected to keep moving forward. Which made for a good session, I think...

XP for this session was a hefty 1,800 for each of the 5 characters present, accounting for a few evil clerics, a host of flying demons, and three plague rats...

Campaign Journal 34 - To the Ruby Knight's Tomb

We last left our heroes standing in a hallway between the Lower Tombs and Middle Tombs in the City of the Dead in the Underdark city of Traniska.

July 25, Thursday (cont.) - In Search of the Ruby Knight's Tomb.

Part of the interrogation of the captive Farrin was to ask about the location of a place called the Ruby Knight's tomb. He was unable to say with certainty whether he knew of the place or not, but thought it might be at the boat docks in the Noble Tombs area. Across the dock cavern from the Alberneth noble tombs themselves was a passage of dwarven carving that he and the other maintenance crew members were forbidden to enter. There were hints of flaking crimson paint on some of the carved ancient dwarven decorations surrounding the door.

With the guidance of Farrin, the party made their way quickly through the Middle Tombs area, avoiding the temptation to be distracted and loot the tombs. At one point, they heard some sort of creatures howling in the distance. Farrin was concerned that this was the sound of more Stalker Demons. This would be bad, as one Stalker Demon had been a significant challenge.

Passing through a shrine and a series of priests' chambers, Farrin led them the back way to a hidden boat dock that would lead them a few hundred yards down a water passage to the Noble Tombs area. This was a short cut that the priests and their minions used; citizens visiting the Tombs to pay their respects would come to these areas through other ways in.

Arriving at the boat dock, the characters came face to face with a small band of seven lizardmen snooping around the docks and the boat that was moored there.

Lizardmen at a boat landing

The melee characters, with an assist from Melior's creative use of the Wind Wall spell, were able to dispatch the lizardmen with little trouble, although Thalmyr did end up in the water...

Fighting the lizardmen

With Farrin's help, Malachy was able to pilot the magical boat, which was propelled by holding the rudder and guiding the boat with your mind. Think forward, go forward, think stop, stop.

A few hundred yards down the passage, lights were seen ahead, and the passage opened into a larger cavern. Passing into the cavern, the boat passed over a submerged rope strung across the opening, which in turn banged a gong hung near the entrance. After a suspenseful wait...nothing happened. The alarm had been sounded, but apparently there was nobody around to hear it.

Emerging into the cavern, the Noble Tomb entrances were on the left, leading from a well lit dock area. To the right, in the dim unlit corner of the cavern, was a much older dock and a passage opening carved in obviously dwarven style.

The characters docked in the dimness near the dwarven entrance, and started down the short staircase just inside the opening. There was a chamber at the bottom of the stairs, and in the chamber were several heaps of charred remains. Carved in the wall of the chamber, in dwarven runes, was the inscription "only the righteous may pass." Presumably the heaps of charred remains had tried to pass but not been righteous enough...

The Ruby Knight's Tomb

Niam was concerned about the inscriptions (based on some events in his past), and would not continue past the chamber. Mal, Badric and Thalmyr went through the far door, into another chamber, and had a choice of going left or right down a pair of short hallways ending in dwarven doors. They chose to go left, went into a tomb chamber, and had brief but disastrous encounter with a wraith. Courtesy of a critical hit from the wraith, Malachy had a very-near-death experience, but was able to get out alive. Barely. The three fled and were not pursued.

Going into the tomb on the right, they found the burial sarcophagus of the Ruby Knight, an ancient dwarven warrior, and were permitted (by the Knight's spirit) to remove the magical warhammer found in the sarcophagus.

The party then pulled their boat as far out of the way as they could, posted a watch, and settled down for a night's sleep.

Next - The Noble Tombs.

GM Commentary - After the bunch of sessions that revolved around slogging through the Underdark, this session (and the last one) were a nice change of pace. The characters were in a different environment, and their interactions with the captive Farrin were interesting.

Knowing that these encounters were likely to be coming, I had made some custom terrain pieces for them (as well as for some other areas that we never used). I think this helped create a concrete sense of "place" for the players (but I'm not one of the players, so I can never really be sure...). Yes or no, this was an enjoyable diversion in and of itself, and I am sure that I can eventually find a use for the pieces that I made for this that got skipped. [Side note: the most elaborate custom piece of terrain I made for this whole campaign arc never got used...]

Which I guess brings up an important point: the time you spend prepping for sessions as a GM (and also certainly in the crafting arena) needs to be enjoyable in its own right, because you have to do so knowing that some (or much, or even most) of your prep is never going to get used. The trap here is to force the players into doing the things that you prepared for them, which is a bad trap to fall into. Player agency (the ability of players to make meaningful choices for their characters) needs to be real and meaningful. The game loses meaning if the GM forces the events into a predetermined course no matter what the players do. I have many aspects of my GM'ing that I can improve on, but this one point at least is something that I think I have been able to internalize pretty well.