NDT session 36: This is the end

 Int. a cavern below the temple.

The battle against Kartoeba (totally not a Shoggoth)

The party descended down the pit into thaw cage to the cavern below. It smelled foul and was ankle deep in slime.

They decided that they just would leave but before they could find an escape route, Kartoeba emerged, all oozy and tentacly.

Ham was swiftly grappled but despite this was able to cause significant damage to the beast. However, others were also restrained by the tentacles and Han was badly bitten in return.

It became apparent that attacking the tentacles was futile as it seem to have an endless supply. In the end, Ham, aided by healing from Xianti caused most damage and the creature was slain.

A key was found in it’ remnants - it looked like it would fit the secret door in the temple. In another cave there was a trapdoor in the ceiling with a ladder leading up. And up. 

Eventually they emerged in a room they hadn’t been in before - full of treasure. The stuffed as much as they could  in their bag of holding, and another magical sack they found , then left. (Unfortunately, the second sack was a bag if devouring but they still had a sizeable fortune).

They emerged from the temple, blinking in the noon-day sun. Stephan was outside, he had fetched the Hutakaans to help free the PCs from the Traldar but the adventurers ignored him and left.

After travelling a few hours, it still seemed to be noon. And even when they felt tired it was still noon. They found some shelter to sleep and the next day they reached the edge of the valley. The statues allowed them to pass but outside the gates… things were different.

After following a pass for a short way they turned a corner to behold a stunning view. Below them was a lush jungle but more bizarrely the horizon wasn’t there. Instead the world seemed to curve up around them until all was lost in haze…

The End.

NDT Session 35: A family reunion

 After deciding there were nothing further to explore in the temple the group decided to leave to find if the Traldar or Hutaakans had the key to the treasure room.

However, outside a different band awaited - the Iron Ring, including a mage who looked very similar to Golthar and the mysterious dark haired priestess who had been following them.

It appeared Stephan had been somehow coerced into aiding them but on admitting that he failed to find the treasure he collapsed holding his head and screaming.

After a brief negotiation where neither side agreed to surrender a battle started. Things went well for the party as a fire ball and a hasted Ham ploughed through most of the evil slavers forces. However Rosie was unable to damage a bunch of wererats and Ham was stopped in his tracks by the dark haired priestess who suddenly shapeshifted into his missing ‘wife’ Keothi, the Goliath. 

The reunion was not a happy one Keothi heaped abuse on Ham saying he wasn’t really married to her and he responded by beating her unconscious with the flat of his sword.

The rest of the Iron Ring members were either dead, or had surrendered or fled. Angus and Rosie had been badly bitten and Stephan had been stabilised.

However, any questioning of Keothi was put on hold by the bulk of the Traldar warriors arriving to ‘request’ that the party enter the pit in the temple to deal with Karteoba. 

The PCs managed to convince them they need to rest overnight but they awoke to find themselves in the cage over the pit…

DM notes: this entire battle was sprung off of Ham and Rosie’s back-story (and also because they didn’t hang around in Threshold to meet the Iron Ring there) and seemed to work quite well (well not combat wise which was a cakewalk really but that wasn’t the point).

I’m not sure about my railroad to the finale afterwards… the PCs (2 of them on the way to becoming evil wererats ) now want to get revenge on the Traldar.

NDT Session 34: Wraith? Fine…

 Int. Temple of Pflaar

The trap on the secret door was removed and the party moved along the passageway beyond. At the end was a corpse collapsed in a doorway to a room. Before this could be examined a spirit rose from it and attacked Rosie who was at the front.

After pushing the wraith into the room the party were able to finish it off but not before Rosie had been badly drained of health.

The corpse was holding the golden bowl for the ceremony, which the party returned to the main temple to perform. 

The ritual had some effect but exactly what remained to be seen so the party ventured into other parts of the temple. 

In some side chambers they found some recently collapsed corpses and skeletons. The ceremony seemed to have stopped the undead. They also found information about the history of the Hutakaan and the Traldar. 

Eventually they found a deep crypt with a conceal tunnel that lead deeper underground to room both a barred off view above a large cavern. The party used dancing lights and namfoodle’s familiar to determine that this was where the large pit in the temple above ended up.

TBC

NDT33: Temple of Pflaar Room Hire. Friday: Fight Club

 Int. Temple of Pflaar

The party began to explore the main room of the temple. 

Firstly, they approached the altar. Unfortunately, the bowl for the ritual was missing. As Rosie examined the altar closely 4 statues sprang to life and moved to attack. The statues were tough to kill be were eventually defeated.

The PCs then inspected the pit and its surrounding flames. The actual pit was enshrouded in darkness so Namfoodle prepared to cast Detect Magic. However, Xianti decided to throw a stone into it. Almost immediately an ooze slithered out to attack her. Thus was swiftly killed but further oozes followed it. However, Ham was prepared and they were all slain rapidly. 

But before they could have much respite a group of skeletons and zombies emerged from some side chambers and moved to attack. They were fairly rapidly dealt with but the constant battles were wearing the party down.

Namfoodle’s spell revealed that the flames weren’t magical but the darkness was. It also revealed a magically sealed secret door that seemed to require a special key.

The group decided to investigate the rooms the undead had come from. Both seemed to be robing rooms but the second also had three hideous ghouls in.

They proved to be a fairly tough fight and only Xianti’s cure spell saved Ham from having to make death saves.

After these ghouls were defeated Namfoodle’s spell detected another secret door in this robing room but this one had a magical trap on. The party decided to barricade themselves in the other room to have a quick rest before dealing with the trap.

TBC

DM notes: we are approaching some sort of conclusion although I’m not sure how many sessions we have left now.

NDT Session 32: Temple of Boom

 Ext. Lost valley of Hutaaka

The party decided they couldn’t trust either the Traldar or the Hutaakans so spent the night travelling back to the temple to stop the undead.

Whilst they were resting outside a group of Traldar arrived and after some discussion informed the PCs they would need to collect some water from a ‘singing pool’ to pour into a bowl on the alter to stop the undead.

The group sped off to the pool, and after a brief fight with some arachnids, collected some water and headed back.

The next day they approached the temple. After breaking down the main doors they found a vestibule full of skeletons and zombies. These were swiftly dispatched by a Namfoodle and the group could enter the main part of the temple. The most striking sight was a large pit surrounded by flames. 

The group prepared to explore

TBC

NDT session 31: Are you the bad guys?

 Ext Lost Valley of Hutaaka

We had left things with the party being accused of murdering some men. The party quickly pointed out the evidence that suggested others were involved so the lizard riders determined that they had been killed by “The Mutts” and asked the party to help track them down.

The party, believing the attackers to be gnolls readily agreed and followed some tracks that led towards the attackers, who were revealed to be jackal headed men not gnolls after all. Despite this the party aided the humans (who called themselves the Traldar) to rapidly defeat their enemies.

The party then accompanied the Traldar back to their village (Ronkan). The Traldar leader told them a tale of how the had been enslaved by the ‘Mutts’ (or less offensively The Hutaakan) but had risen up so the Hutaakan’s had released a load of undead and worse to attack them.

Overnight the village was attacked by undead and a number of corpses were cremated in the morning.

Later some scouts returned reporting that the Hutaakan priests were preparing a ritual that night… possibly to summon more undead. As the Traldar were afraid of the dark they asked the PCs for help offering some gems for payment.

By the time the party arrived it was already dark and they were surprised to see the Hutaakan’s fighting off some undead. They decided to talk to them and were told a different story - the Traldar were ‘Wreckers’ who had rejected the Hutaakan’s benevolent rule and had more recently managed to drive the Hutaakan’s from their temple, which had caused the plague of undead. 

They said the ceremony they were performing was meant to stop the undead and they would discuss things further when it was completed. However, the party’s interest was piqued as they thought the temple may be where there was treasure to be found.

TBC

NDT Session 30: Road to nowhere

 Ext. Black Peak mountains

At the bottom of the gorge a lizard was attempting to attack the party but was quickly dispatched. Rosie entered its disgusting lair but discover nothing of worth.

After successfully negotiating the gorge they continued on until they came to another collapsed bridge that would have led to a grand gateway. This gorge was slightly easier to climb and they quickly regrouped by the gates.

Finding no easy access, Bear Rosie helped the rest climb up onto the wall above the gates disturbing some ravens in the process. They spotted some statues the other side but were able to bypass any danger as they descended. Stopping only to unbar the gate they continued onwards.

The path descended into a large valley in the mountains. This proved to be an eerie place with little wildlife. They came across a ruined and abandoned village and set-up camp in a deserted building. 

Their rest was not interrupted but during the night they spotted some undead - zombies and skeletons - acting in odd ways but not threatening.

The next morning Rosie felt sick, possibly picking up some illness in the lizard lair. They started exploring the valley but found only more ruins. It seemed that some places had been destroyed deliberately. They found some odd shaped footprints but no sign of undead during the day. Also no sign of this fabled treasure.

They camped in another ruin and again spotted the undead, some seem to be praying, others acting like they were at work. Even more oddly some of the undead had jackal skulls or heads instead of human features.

The next day Rosie felt better again and they continued onwards walking past a large lake.

 Soon after they came to another ruined village, which contained 3 recently killed humans. As they took in this scene a group of men riding on the back of giant lizards approached who were under the impression that the party had killed their kinsmen.

TBC

DM notes: this was the least satisfying session so far for me as nothing much happened really. However, things should pick up next week…

NDT session 29: Mule Ruinations

 Ext. Foamfire river valley

The party had stopped for a rest a mile to the north of the gnoll funeral ground when a large group of (alive) gnolls descended upon them.

A tense battle was fought Namfoodle wiped most of the gnolls out with a fireball and the remaining ones were swiftly defeated. Notably, Xianti was wounded and actually caused damage (vampiric touch) to an enemy for the first time in the campaign.

After completing their rest, the party continued up the valley. It became apparent that a sizeable gnoll warband was forming up behind them. The party used pass without trace to evade/slow down the gnolls and reached the top of the valley. A large waterfall marked the start of the Black Peak mountains.

A nearby cave contained a high spiral staircase that eventually led to a bridge leading across the river to a high mountain pass.

Xianti and Namfoodle managed to work out a non-violent way to pass some guardian statues and after a long rest the group made their way along the pass.

Unfortunately, the route was perilous. One mules fell hundreds of feet into the river below while reluctantly attempting to cross a narrow ledge.

Later, a high, rather unsafe looking bridge across a intersecting gorge was discovered. The group carefully spread out as they traversed it. Unfortunately, some griffons spotted them and the remaining mule, which panicked , ran off and was carried away by the griffons.

Slightly miffed at the loss of their supplies they continued. Several hours later another intersecting gorge was encountered. Unfortunately, its bridge had collapsed so Rosie and Rurik changed into bear and ape form to climb down and up the walls of the gorge whilst ferrying the others across. As they approached the base of the climb for the first time they spotted a large angry reptile.

TBC…

 DM Notes: the mountain pass in the module is a bit crap - in fact with this and the Loshad bit I ignored there is well over a page of stuff (in a 48-page module) designed to get rid of the PCs horses… and I don’t know why. I tried to be fair but some poor animal handling roles 

Still there was some clever play in the session (I did have to let them role for a hefty hint before the statues).

NDT Session 28: Gnoll Hypothesis

 Ext. Threshold

After returning from the haunted house the party’s thoughts turned to supplies for their journey ahead.

Despite warnings about the dangers in the mountains from gnolls, the party bought two mules. Rosie bet the ostler that they would return safely with them.

The next day they were ready to depart and started to follow the Foamfire river towards the mountains. The first day was uneventful but the morning brought signs of impending danger.

Firstly, they discovered the grisly remains of a campsite that had been attacked by gnolls. The bodies of some people had been burnt but there were no skulls.

Then as the mists descended down the valley they discovered a further horrors -  some human heads mounted on stakes and then a circle of gnolls corpses and skeletons ons stakes, which were identified by Rurik as the way that some gnoll tribes dealt with their dead. 

Before they could investigate further they were attacked. Firstly, by undead gnoll witherlings then a gnoll shaman and her entourage. These were swiftly defeated with the help of Stephan and the party decided to destroy the site with some remain call lightning strikes and bear attacks.

Some items were discovered (including potions in kobold skulls and some scrolls) but the party decided to move on before taking a rest.

A mile or so upriver they decided to take a short rest but they were interrupted about 30 minutes later…

TBC

DM notes: this part of the adventure is quite horrific - I’m surprised I wasn’t freaked out when I bought it when I was 11 years old.

The party have also done enough to make the gnolls extremely angry - even more than the module suggests.i think I may have given the impression that the staking gnoll corpses made the gnoll witherlings - the original module has ghouls but witherlings seemed more appropriate (plus I had a couple of minis)

Finally, my group seemed to have lost track of what was going on. Some of them seem to have forgotten they’d moved on from selling horses to finding a lost temple but when they were reminded they decided to press on instead of staying in town. 

NDT Session 27: The uncanny fortune teller

Ext: The town of Threshold

A busy town market

After disembarking from the boat the party sought out a tavern. Stephan had been in town many years before and had stayed at on called The Mid Inn, which proved to not be very popular but served surprisingly excellent food.

The next day the party headed off to get supplies. First, Ham and Xianti went into a money changers to sell the jewels and gems they had found, and buy some diamonds for spell components. The others went to explore the market.

Upon leaving the money changers Ham and Xianti were accosted by a group of guards and told to go with them to a local magistrate.

Meanwhile, Rosy was dancing by some musicians and Rurik had found himself talking to a fortune teller. Convinced she was the real deal, he agreed to pay for a reading. The 1st card he drew was of a mermaid leaping from the water which the teller interpreted as representing him leaving the mines to become a Druid. The second card revealed an undead creature emerging from a coffin, which represented his current life. 

An uncanny portent

The final card represented a strange creature, presumably representing something to be met in the future.

Meanwhile, Namfoodle had noticed the others going with the guards and attempted to find out what was going on and the went to fetch  Rosie in case there was trouble.

Meanwhile the magistrate was interrogating Ham and Xianti in his office wanting to understand where they had got hold of some ingots marked with a manacle symbol. He was somewhat dubious about their story of rescuing prisoners but warned them that the symbol was associated with a group of slavers called The Iron Ring. As the pair could give little information about them, the magistrate sent them on their way warning that these were very dangerous adversaries and that he didn’t want any trouble in his town.

Outside the party regrouped and were approached by a young mother named Mary asking for help because her house was haunted. The party agreed to help (after checking with a nearby guard that this would not cause trouble) and headed off to the west side of town to the house.

Xianti and Rurik entered the upstairs floor first while Namfoodle was looking for signs of rats outside. Rurik was then hit by a rapidly moving bed and it seemed rats were not the culprits. The other began searching upstairs while Xianti went downstairs and found a hidden trapdoor to a cellar. 

After letting the others know what she had found she went down the stairs into the cellar but tripped on a rotten stair and fell down. Ham leapt downstairs and Rurik carefully followed. 

Unbeknownst to the others at the point Ham got possessed by a spirit and began untying his peace bonded sword. Xianti spotted a dagger on the floor and went to pick it up. Finally noticing Ham was possessed she cast Hold Person on him forcing the ghost to leave Ham. A short combat followed and the ghost was defeated. Within a hidden hollow a coffin was found with a dedicated corpse and several books. The scene was unnervingly similar to the card seen by Rurik earlier. 

The grateful Mary went off to get a priest to sort out a proper burial for the corpse before letting the players keep the books and dagger as a reward.

DM notes: so this week I decided to put a load of minis on a board and see who they interacted with, with interesting results.

The fortune tellers cards were Everway Vision Cards. I genuinely didn’t know which ones (if any would get picked)…

And the haunted house, yes, it was the haunted house speed run.

NDT session 25: Old friends

 Xitaqa to Sukiskyn and beyond

I’ve got 20-odd flip mats so I’ve drawn blobs on a whiteboard

The group finished up in Xitaqa, with Xianti realising the the yellow robed mage was one of the slavers who had brought her to this region.

After a joyous reception at Sukiskyn, another feast was prepaared as Stephan touched one of the tapestries in the hall with the magic needle revealing a map that seemed to lead to… treasure? Somewhere in the mountains. Stephan was keen to join the group on their expedition.

It was decided that the group would finally take the white horses to Riflian to sell them to the elves. Droop decided to return to her tribe and bade the group farewell.

Surprisingly, the group were eager to leave early in the morning despite the late night. All apart from Aengus who was slightly worse for wear.

At the late Misha’s ferry they took several trips to ferry the 24 white horses and the ailing Aengus across. Misha’s bear appeared but shuffled off after peering at them for a bit.

Soon after the river was crossed, Loshad the horse Lord, appeared again asking for help to defeat a group of bandits who were holding horses and people captive a short distance away. They seemed to be captives from the homesteads that were being moved somewhere. The party quietly infiltrated the bandits camp using a distraction from Loshad to help them overwhelm the leaders - 2 humans and a bugbear. However, a group of bleary eyed hobgoblins had emerged from tents to join the fray.

To be continued…

NDT session 22: Xitiqa you and I know How the heartaches come and they go

 Ext. The vicinity of Xitaqa.

Rurik and Namfoodle retreated back to camp to luck their wounds and decide what to do next. There they found Sbske in conversation with a young Human woman and a Halfling man.

The irritating woman said her name was Rosie and she was looking for her mother, who was the Halfling’s wife. The halfling was a veteran fighter named Ham.

The group decided to rest up before heading back to the ruins. The night was uneventful apart from some growling nearby and the group headed off towards the tower.

Approaching the tower, the group came under fire by a small band of hobgoblins. This annoyed Rosie who charged towards them and turned into an angry bear.

Rosie-Bear, Ham and Rurik made short work of the hobgoblins but were then attacked by another winter wolf that emerged from the tower. It’s icy-breath caused some damage to the pcs (mainly Snake) but was wilfully put down.

The group rested up in a nearby empty building before entering the tower from a side entrance. Inside they found a dusty library full of old scrolls and a giant spider. Rosie turned into a spider as well and proceeded to win the duel of the spiders.

Ham then blundered into the spiders nest which was the home of its mate who attacked, protecting her young. Ham killed it with one might blow of his great-sword - the magical one they had obtained from Vlack.

Within the nest were many little spiders and a scroll case containing a comprehend languages spell.

DM notes: the  creature passing in the night was a wandering mountain lion, which I decided wasn’t suicidal. Rosie is a Barbarian-Druid and Ham is a champion Fighter. 

NDT session 21: You’ve finally made a baboon out of me

 Ext: Xitaqa.

Featuring: Bait, Glimmer, Rurik and Namfoodle

The group has arrived at the ancient ruined town of Xitaqa with old buildings built into the walls of the gulleys and a large tower visible.

They decided to enter the first building they came across. This was the home of some angry baboons upset by the intruders. The party opted to fight, suffering a couple of wounds and slaying 3 monkeys before deciding it was a rather pointless fight and leaving.

As the moved a little further on the heard some footsteps approaching and attempted to hide. Unfortunately, they were spotted a by a group of hobgoblins accompanied by some trained baboons.

Confident that his new half-plate and a sanctuary spell would protect him, Bait moved forward to draw the baboon attacks. Unfortunately, some lucky strikes from the baboons quickly brought him down. 

The others suffered damage from the hobgoblin’s crossbows as they closed in. 

A rather chaotic fight followed as attempts were made to save Bait and fight the baboons and hobgoblins. Eventually sheer weight of numbers threatened to overwhelm the other. Namfoodle began retreating first, followed by a badly wounded Rurik. Glimmer decided to valiantly/suicidally cover their retreat and was brought down by a baboon. 

Namfoodle managed to finish off the hobgoblins with magic missiles and the baboons were quickly defeated. Unfortunately, this was too late for both Glimmer and Bait.

Namfoodle and Rurik were left wondering what to do next.

DM notes: this was a rather brutal session. Unfortunately, for Bait I rolled 3 crits and a couple of 18s in one turn against him (plus the baboons had made their saves against sanctuary). After that things rather went downhill…

I had offered to run a one-off Call of Cthulhu scenario that would probably been less deadly than this was.

NDT Session 20: Another ropey session

 Ext. Wulfwolde Hills.

Starring: Namfoodle, Bait, Glimmer and Droop

As the group approached Xitiqa they spotted a group of horsemen approaching (men on horses not centaurs) from some distance. As they got closer Bait realised they looked hostile so Namfoodle cast rope trick and the party hid up the rope. 

Unfortunately, the horsemen’s leader worked out something was up so left 4 of his men to guard the area before the rest headed off.

The party tried several means to distract the men before Namfoodle succeeded in distracting some with his owl familiar and a magic mouth spell. 

The group descended the rope and quickly killed the men. Namfoodle noted they had similar markings to the men who had attacked them back in the river (session 1). 

The party continued onto Xitaqa and soon saw a tower looming over some gulleys, just as Loshad had described. Soon after that a group of baboons attacked them but were defeated with the survivors fleeing into the rocks.

DM notes: a short session this week but the group have finally reached the outskirts of Xitiqa. Let’s hope those goblin gits haven’t been lying about this being where Stephan is. 

NDT Session 18: The Lion, The Witchbolt and the Orc Goths

 Int. Gnome Mine, Wulfwolde Hills

Cast: Rurik, Bait, Glimmer, Namfoodle

The party started to head down the tunnel the orcs were guarding and immediately another small group of orcs ran down it to attack them. A few seconds later more black-clad orcs arrived including their leader. 

The fight was fairly desperate with Bait and Rurik getting badly wounded but Namfoodle’s Witchbolt spell badly hurt the leader and Rurik’s Bear wildshape causing finishing off a few wounded orcs meant the party prevailed.

However, the party had hardly time to get their breaths back before another small group of orcs appeared. Rurik cast a moonbeam spell on them and they fled. The party decided they might be getting reinforcements so they sldo retreated to the relative safety of the gnomes mine to rest up for the night.

The next morning they returned to the orcs lair, which had been mostly stripped of valuables. The remaining orcs had left during the night via a different exit of the tunnels. The only thing of note left was a tatty stuffed lion. This appeared to contain valuables but to get to them required putting one’s hand in its mouth triggering a trap.

Instead the party decided to hack it open revealing some silver, some jewelry, a scroll that had unfortunately been cut into pieces and a single magic boot. Rurik seemed to think he had seen a similar boot somewhere in Sukiskyn so they packed it away.

The party then moved onto the large cavern that had been blocked halfway by stalagmites until  the gnomes had broken through a few days earlier. The only exit was a tunnel 30ft above the floor. Rurik turned into ape form to climb up carrying Namfoodle and they then helped the rest climb up with ropes.

TBC

NDT session 15: Too Ghoul For School

Ancient tombs, Wulfwolde Hills, Eastern Karameikos.

Present: Bait, Glimmer, Rurik, Snake

We left the group battling the last remaining shadow on the dark mound but it was quickly dispatched. After a quick rest to (literally) restore their strength the group headed into the tomb. 

A passage led downwards, its walls adorned with frescoes of people with jackal masks. At the bottom was a chamber containing a crystal coffin with a desiccated body holding a jewelled mace. The ever-eager Glimmer opened the coffin whilst Snake studied the frescoes. 

Somewhat predictably the body rose up and tried to attack Glimmer but was quickly dispatched back into the coffin. Glimmer grabbed the mace, closed the coffin up again and after a brief search finding nothing of interest, the party went to leave the tomb.

At that point, the frescoe Snake was examining came crashing down and a hideous undead ghoul emerged. It mauled Snake and paralysed her but the other PC’s quickly dealt with it despite its terrifying appearance.

The party somewhat warily head the the next tomb along. When they crossed the boundary of the scorched earth they found the recent remnants of a terrible battle with many dead bodies. Stepping over these, they entered this tomb. Within the tomb were many bones and broken weapons and from a chamber further in two undead figures appeared. They appeared to be the animated corpses of Elven warriors holding glowing balls  of light.

Rurik had heard of these creatures - Wyrds and tried to entangle them. Despite being slowed down they were able to throw the.maficsl spheres causing much damage. 

The fight was tough, Bait was briefly knocked unconscious before being revived by snake. However, with the use of several spells and magic arrows they were finally defeated. the party found some treasure and decided to return to camp to rest before investigating the final tomb.

DM’s notes: I found a 5e conversion document by someone called G.M. on Vaults of Pandius  which I used for the stats of the Wyrds. They proved to be a good tough fight so I’ll probably be using it for other monsters later on.

NDT session 14: Babushka, Babushka, ya, ya

A battle with a shadow.

 Wolfskull Lair.

Present: Namfoodle, Bait and Glimmer.

The party finished exploring the lair and found some treasure including magic arrows.

Then they took Babushka back to Sukiskyn. Along the way she explained some of the plot and revealed the hobgoblins were looking for a ‘great map’ and there was someone known as ‘ole skinny legs’ at Xitaqa.

The residents of Sukiskyn didn’t know anything about Xitaqa but Stellios and Kuzma suggested they ask the Horse Lord in the hills. He could be summoned near some ancient tombs by standing on one leg and whistling at midnight for 3 nights running.

The party travelled to the tombs with the intention of travelling in to see the gnomes. The tombs turned out to be 3 burial mounds of scorched barren earth. The camped out and at midnight Glimmer did as suggested. The next day the party decided to explore the ruins. After losing a race to the bottom of the mound, Glimmer had to go and lead the party into the first tomb.

 As soon as she stepped onto the mound darkness surrounded her. This was not apparent to those still outside the mound. 

Worse was to follow as 5 shadows emerged and attacked Glimmer draining strength as well as causing significant wounds. A desperate battle followed as the shadows wrecked havoc on the part. However the battle finally started to go the way of the party when Bait turned the undead.

To be continued…

DM notes: I let the party level up after finishing the wolf skull lair, which probably saved them from a near TPK by the shadows, which are nasty.

NDT session 12: More goblins

The Wolfskull lair, Dymrak forest 

As the party were finishing off the fight with the goblin and wolf guards, an old friend appeared - it was Snake/Xianta who had found Aengus and Droop at the entrance to the lair. They helped to finish off the party’s remaining foes in relatively short order.

Snake was slightly confused by there being another friendly goblin (Bait) and was also upset by the death of Aimiir. 

Following Bait’s lead the group decided to confront Kloss, the goblin king in his throne room.

was guarded by a large group of goblins who immediately moved to attack the party. 

A fog cloud shrouds the goblin king’s room 

Bait charged into the fray casting Sanctuary on himself , which disrupted the goblin horde. Rurik cast a fog cloud to confuse matters and then changed into a giant snake w

A number of goblins fell as Kloss himself entered the fray.

To be continued

NDT Session 11: More Goblins

A Petrified Forest within the Dymrak Forest

Present: Rurik and Glimmer (plus Droop)

The group had arrived at a petrified forest, presumably caused by some ancient curse, that was said to be the home of the Wolfskull goblins.

After travelling along a creepy trail they heard a group of goblins and wolves approaching. The party successfully hid themselves and ambushed the patrol.

The party gained some unexpected assistance from another goblin, who seemed quite handy with a whip. The Wolgskull’s were quickly dispatched. 

The newcomer turned out to be a renegade Wolfskull called Bait who was seeking revenge on Kloss the King of the Wolfskulls. He decided to join forces with the party.

Bait led the group to the Wolfskull lair which was formerly a copse of tree surrounded by a black stream. 

The party crossed the bridge into the lair where they were attacked some goblin guards and a wolf. A couple of the guards ran off deeper into the lair.

The remaining wolf and goblins were quickly despatched, mainly by a moonbeam spell from Rurik but more wolves kept arriving from deeper in the lair. The guards had obviously started releasing them from pens within.

To be continued.

NDT Session 10: None more black

 Island of lost dreams

The party quickly dispatched the remaining skeletons and healed themselves up.

The only thing of interested in the room was another ladder leading down to a lower level. Aiimir grabbed the ladder and suffered an electric shock, which also caused him to fall to the lower level.

The rest of the group successfully made their way down without injuring themselves, revealing a passageway to another door. No sounds could be heard so Aimiir, not learning from his earlier mistake flung open the door.

A large black chamber was revealed. The blackest room they had ever seen. In front of them was a large black mirror that showed a distorted reflection from which a winged stone creature emerged. Simultaneously, a poison dart trap was triggered by the door opening causing Aengus to fall asleep.

The gargoyle proved to be a tough opponent and managed to kill Aimiir before Rurik could wildshspe into a snake and constrict it. Rurik, Glimmer, and eventually awoken Aengus managed to destroy the gargoyle. Glimmer retrieved Vlack’s two-handed sword from Aimiir’s corpse and used it to smash the mirror, which seemed to lift the curse on the island.

The apologetic Pixies gave the party some healing potions as recompense for the trouble they had caused whilst cursed and promised to make amends with the elves.

Back on the mainland the group decided to head south to continue the goblin hunt instead of north to help the gnomes. One of the elves lead them to the edge of a petrified forest where the wolf-skulls were said to live.

To be continued….

DM notes: I had decided that with only 4 wounded characters, a single gargoyle would provide enough trouble to them, which proved to be the case.

Aimiir’s player was rather foolhardy and unfortunate with death saves (a natural 1) so a new character will be joining next time. Along with hopefully the return of Snake and possible Namfoodle.