The PC’s travel to Grimfeast, and make a bee-line for the Fiery Grog Tap Room.  There they meet several other adventurers including “The Hands of the Gods,” and Uabai, an accomplished Crasher.  Xander charms Uabai into guiding them down the underground passage into the tower located in the basement of the Tap Room.  Uabai wasn’t the best of guides, leading them into a kobold ambush, a run-in with a Otyugh, and finally a bizarre theatre complete with a ghostly actor (who was driven off by Willow).  Play ends with them getting deeper into the tower.

CK’s Notes:

All participants receive 720 XP for this session.  Willow gets a 300 XP, although the kudos seemed to be across the board.

I’ve been thinking about some logistical problems I’m having with gaming sessions.  First, there’s the unfortnate combination of a large group and small rooms.  Most rooms are 20′x20′, 20′x30′, or 30′x30′, because those were the sizes in the Descent board game.  I understand that you want to be able to lay out several rooms in a board game, but for my game of C&C, things are getting too crowded, and very often a good half of the PC’s aren’t able to affect play in a scenario because they are in the back of the queue.  Since I don’t want to limit the size of the group, I need to “air out” my dungeons with larger rooms, perhaps even going to a less “tinker toy” layout (rooms attached by long, thin corridors) to a “house” layout where the rooms are more adjacent.  Rather than cast loads of Hirst Arts bricks, I may just consider investing in a WorldWorksGames cardstock set and using it.

Second, I’ve changed gears in this campaign.  For a while I was going lightning-fast through the different relics that needed to be found, which the PC’s finding one after one or two sessions, then moving on.  I liked the roleplaying in this adventure and the corresponding greater depth of the backstory, but I could tell that the players were expecting to find the Lantern this adventure, and were getting antsy that it didn’t seem like they were getting close.  Truthfully, I wouldn’t mind setting aside the whole “quest” structure and instead get a chance to work a few Grimfeast-related subplots (and of course some good ol’ fashioned crashing) instead.

There are, throughout the world, dozens, perhaps hundreds of taverns, all similar to the Pale Wheel Guesthouse. Dim lights, dirty floors, and cheap drinks. And information, of course there is always information available for the right price. In this case, the right price was a bottle of amber liquid and a willingness to listen to a man to whom few people pay attention. But his story was definitely worth it…

To understand the city of Grimfeast, you just need to know about two people: Tynettas and the tarrasque. Let me tell you about the tarrasque first. In all of the world there is only one known tarrasque, thank the gods. It is a monster like no other, as large as a fortress, and impossible to kill. You think I am telling you a tall tale, but it is the truth. You can not kill the tarrasque, ever. Some say it was the horrible mistake of a powerful wizard, or the vengeance of a forgotten god, but the tarrasque can not be defeated, and years ago when it walked the earth kings themselves would move out of its way. It lives to destroy, not for food or out of any sort of emotion, it is just an engine of death and disaster. And it was unstoppable.

That is, until about a century ago, when the tarrasque began to walk towards the castle of Tynettas. The castle itself is a size of a city, dozens of stories tall, with towers that reach up to the clouds. And apparently Tynettas wasn’t interested in moving. So she took nine Rods of Immovability and she sunk them into the flanks and body of the tarrasque and she left them there. Now a Rod of Immovability is a strange magic item. Once it is set, nothing can move it from that spot ‘cept the one who activated it. You can’t dispel them, counter the magic, you can’t do nothing but just look at it there. And there are nine, set up in the air twenty feet about the ground, holding that tarrasque in place like the biggest, ugliest, most powerful butterfly in a butterfly collection.

But the tarrasque isn’t dead. It doesn’t need to eat to survive, but it can’t tear itself free—the rods are in too deep for that. So it is locked in place, sometimes sleeping, sometimes staring silently, sometimes roaring with anger, but it is still there.

And you’d think that no one in their right mind would get anywhere near it, but not too long after the tarrasque was stopped some guys got an idea in their head to make some money off of that monstrosity. You see, one of the factors that makes a tarrasque impossible to kill—aside for the giant fangs and claws and spell immunity—is that the tarrasque can regenerate almost any injury in an incredibly quick period of time. So these guys start cutting slabs of meat off the side of the tarrasque, wounds that heal right back.

That’s right, they start selling tarrasque meat. A never-ending supply of food. What’s more, the meat has some unusual properties. You eat it enough, and the right cut of meat, and you’ll stop aging, or at least age really slowly; no is exactly sure.

How do I know? Because the people who came up with idea founded an entire city around the tarrasque in the shadow of Tynettas’ tower. And they have made their fortune selling the nicest cuts of tarrasque flesh to the wealthy and the powerful. Gods, they’ve practically made a religion out of it. Over the past hundred years Grimfeast has steadily grown on a diet of tarrasque flesh and all the stuff that comes from it. If you live there, you’ll never go hungry. Of course you’ll be eating the gristle of a monster at the community chest. If you’ve got money, you’ll be eating steaks that’ll help you live forever.

Now, as I said, to understand the city, you need to know more than just about the tarrasque, you need to know about Tynettas…

Tynettas was one of the most powerful wizards in her day, and had lived herself beyond the normal span of human life exploring magicks and learning spells. She even had a few named after her, she did. But what most people don’t know is that she didn’t build that tower that she lived in—she conquered it. It had been around much longer before that, and in fact no one really knows who made it, just like no body knows how many floors it has, or how many rooms, or how deep it goes into the ground. In fact some say that Tynettas hadn’t driven out all the old inhabitants in the castle, she just carved himself out her own space there, and was slowly working her way through the mazes of hallways and rooms inside when the tarrasque came knocking on his door. And after pinning that tarrasque to the ground, no one saw Tynettas again.

Some say he’s dead. Others say he’s a lich. Still others say she wanders the halls of the castle as its true owner and mistress. But no one really knows for sure, not even the Crashers.

What are Crashers, you say? Oh, I thought you knew, because you were Crashers yourself. You see, with that big castle several times the size of the city itself, there’s plenty of people who will try their luck getting into the place and out with whatever treasure they lay their hands on. Of course, a lot of them don’t come out, but the ones that are lucky can make their fortune. There’s dozens, perhaps hundreds of ways into the castle, and Crashers are always trying to discover the big score.

They’re a secretive lot though, I used to be a Crasher myself, back before…well, anyways, the few that are still alive wouldn’t want me talking to you about where we’ve been. That suits me fine, just the same… Anyways like I was saying there’s lots of ways into the place, although most of the outside is guarded by gargoyles and other beasties. But you can get in from below. There’s two ways everyone knows about—so I’m not telling secrets to you by this. The first is behind the waterfall west of town on Bright Rock River. Beyond that is mostly natural caves for a good while, but eventually you’ll start getting to part of the castle. I’ll warn you, though, there’s a lot of oozes and the like in that first part, so tread carefully.

The second is the well in the basement of the Fiery Grog Taproom. Gwyram, the owner, has made a little side business of letting Crashers go down into the tunnels beneath the city through his well. He charges them a fee going in and coming out. I can’t tell you much about how that goes, ‘cept make sure you’ve got enough money to get out, of he’ll leave you at the bottom of the well, and sooner or later something will find you.

Well, anyways, Grimfeast will have plenty of adventure for anyone who’s interested, the way that you lot seem to be. You ought to look into becoming Crashers yourselves. Of course, I guess you’ll need to be to find that Lantern of Lost Souls you be lookin’ for somewhere in the castle…

CK’s Note:

Thanks to “Thomas T” at the RPG.net Forums for the seed to this adventure idea.

]]> http://strangequests.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/the-lantern-of-lost-souls/feed/ 0 Fr. Rob http://strangequests.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/the-scariest-monster-in-castles-and-crusades/ http://strangequests.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/the-scariest-monster-in-castles-and-crusades/#comments Sat, 24 May 2008 22:48:29 +0000 strangevistas http://strangequests.wordpress.com/?p=7 ]]>

Having searched the draugr forge and found it lacking in treasure, the group does something very unusual: they split up. Hammer and Ransook go one way, while everyone else goes the other.

Editor’s note: for a multitude of reasons, only Hammer and Ransook’s players showed up for this session. As they are the two least powerful PC’s in the campaign, things had to be toned down considerably, and eventually Willow was added as an NPC to provide medical care.

Hammer and Ransook encounter several of the draugr and an ogre ally, but little else of interest. In one main room, however, the two (and Willow) encounter three draugr armed with wooden clubs, leather armor, and a rust monster on a leash. Even though it does no actual physical damage, the rust monster tips the scales in favor of the draugr, and the PC’s are on the ropes most of the fight. The rust monster itself consumes Hammer’s bearded axe and Willow’s masterwork warhammer, mace, and chainmail suit. Ransook finally manage to lodge enough arrows in the rust monster’s armored hide, and the battle turns in their favor.

Finally, the three come across the stone bridge reputed to be the last stand of the Hammerhands. On the bridge of the bottomless chasm reside ghostly remnants of the dwarf army. Far beneath the bridge is a another shadowy threat, a belker. Hammer, with surprising ease, dispatches the belkar while Ransook is scaling the cliff walls looking for the Celestine Mirror. With the belker defeated, the ghostly veterans laid to rest, and the magical mirror recovered, the group heads back the surface.

Despite their victory, the group is hungry and now short equipment, so they head for the nearby town of Fair Oaks. Fair Oaks is anything but, however, as the PC’s discover that the authorities tend to round up outsiders as thieves and debtors as sell them into indentured servitude. After buying four prisoners from the courts, Ransook and the rest of the group decide to have a few words with the sheriff. Angry words become threats, and before you know it the PC’s have slain half the town guard and quite a few townsfolk and have lit several buildings on fire.  Needless to say, the PC’s flee the city.  Once safely away, Hammer informs the group that he has had enough of this quest (his own fault to begin with, some think silently) and heads out on his own.

CK Notes:

Both participants receive 1800 XP for the adventure.

Hammer’s player had been slowly becoming disenchanted with the lack of interesting advances available to barbarians.  At third level he could only activate a power that made his a peril to his teammates.  Looking ahead to fifth, all he had coming was the ability to essentially have a few extra hit points.  Following this session, he asked if he could change PC’s completely.  In the past I’ve said players could swap out PC’s any time, and in fact one had switched character classes, but this was the first total character change.  Given Hammer limitations, both in abilities and personality, it seemed wise.

The upper level of the Hammerhand clanhold turns out to be the home of some nasty creatures, referred to as “giant cave chickens” but are known to more informed monster hunters as archaierai. Unfortunately Hammer succumbs to the barbarian rage while battling the archaierai and, after dispatching his opponent, severely injures Xander. He continues to attack his friends until Ransook drops him with a well-placed arrow. After making sure the other party members are healed, Willow brings back Hammer to the verge of consciousness. The following day, Hammer promises not to let that happen again (any time soon).

The next level below reveals the true identity of the Hammerhand’s foe: a sub-race of dwarves called draugr, or “Deep Dwarves.” Long ago the draugr abandoned the dwarf gods in favor of diabolical powers. In return they gained access to dark magics, including the ability to create fields of silence around themselves, causing no end of havoc to the spellcasters in the group.

The session ends with the group having dispatched the crew of the dwarven forge, and are eagerly looking to complete their search for the Celestine mirror.

CK Notes

PC’s present: Xander, Xane, Ransook, Frankie, Willow, Hanthil, Violet, Hammer

All participants receive 578 XP, with Hanthil getting the XP bonus of 250.

As the story begins, our heroes have found the location of the clanstead of the Hammerhand dwarfs. On the way to their destination, they come across an old friend “Frankie the Fantabulous,” a gnome illusionist. It has been a while since Frankie left the group to pursue his own adventures, but he is glad to reacquaint himself with his old teammates (and some new ones). It is only after he agrees to accompany them that they inform him that they are cursed by the gods until they complete their epic quest.

After hiring a local guide, they find the mountainside entrance to the clanstead. A rickety and crude elevator takes them deep within the earth, where the advance group (on the first trip down) encounter two medium spiders, one of which poisons Frankie and leaves him paralyzed for eleven hours. This causes the group to make a strategic retreat back up the elevator.

Once Frankie is feeling better, they descend again, this time finding a filthy and pitiful dwarf shackled to the wall. The dwarf is just an illusory trap for several barghests who ambush the party, and Xander the elven wizard is severely injured in the battle. The team cleric tends to his wounds, as the group ponders the ill-fated start to this adventure.

CK notes

Participating PC’s: Galinda, Xander, Xane, Ransook, Frankie

It was an welcome surprise to discover that Frankie’s player was moving back into the area, and that Kiera’s player may be rejoining the group as well. Since we were unloading a moving truck before the game session started, it was a quick one this night. The group is discovering how vulnerable their spellcasters are these days, however.

All participants receive 112 XP.  Frankie gets the XP award of 55.

If you want the long version, you might consider going here.

The PC’s are theoretically the knight Galinda, a very minor noblewoman, and her entourage. This entourage includes a Xander her magical advisor; Hanthil her ranger guide; Willow her spiritual advisor; and Violet, Hammer, and Ransook her bodyguards. And there’s Xane, a sneaky little gnome who somehow got stuck with them.

While helping a count’s daughter claim her birthright, the group accidentally broke an ancient dimensional seal which was holding back Shuggutiegli, also known as the Reaper of Worlds. To re-establish the seal, they must gather twelve artifacts scattered about the known world. To date they only have two: the Shroud of Skelos and the Spear of Autumn Casting. Actually, they only have one; the Shroud was stolen by an acquaintance, Desire’, with the promise that they’d get it back when they needed it.

Currently, the group is after the third item, the Celestine Mirror…