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 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 26: All buy by elves.

 The wilderness north of Kelvin

The party quickly defeated the remaining hobgoblins and released the horses and prisoners. The prisoners were mostly people who had been captured at various homesteads plus a few goblins (who ran off as quick as possible). Included amongst them was a young woman who had been captured along with Babushka (who had been left at the wolf skull lair). The ex-prisoners decided to return to Sukiskyn to start rebuilding their lives, Loshad allowed them to ride the freed horses.

The next day the party encountered a merchant caravan, the lead merchant Akihitos fleeced them by selling the some information which was largely useless but included the titbit that a red-robed mage and a dark-haired woman were looking for them.

That night they stayed at a very expensive inn run by some gnomes who operated a ferry across another river. A small group of shady characters left with undue haste when the characters entered the inn. 

The next day they finally reached Rifflian, crossing yet another river, The Windrush. The elves were keen customers for the white horses and the party could finally complete the quest given to them many weeks earlier. But they now had other fish to fry - journeying to the north.

At the local inn, the proprietor, a half lung called Stubbs Platterman, seemed to be friendly with Stephan and mentioned a dark-haired woman had been asking after the party members.

The next day Tara’s left the party to take Pyotr’s share of the profits back to Sukiskyn. Stephan and the party then caught a ferry heading upriver to the frontier town of Threshold. The 2-day journey was largely uneventful but overnight Aengus heard some loud honking which disturbed some of the party and the next day a flying carpet was spotted bearing a red-robed figure northwards.

Late in the afternoon, the party arrived at Threshold - the end of the line for boat travel upriver. A guard seargent (Athos) met the boat and made them aware of certain local bylaws. 

So will the party spend much time in town? Get sidetracked by some side-quests? Or head to the mountains post-haste? 

DM notes: As the party have completed their original task I thought they could level up. They’ll also have the opportunity to do some shopping.

The original module mentioned that Babushka was captured along with a young woman but no indication is given of her fate so I thought I’d tie up that loose end for my sake.

I also ignored the attack on the boat because… well… it’s just too like in all the old fantasy novels where in the first book the hero is told he has to travel in a caravan for safety and it then gets wiped out by bandits and he then spends the next 2 and a half books travelling by himself and never meets any more bandits.

As for next time I have some ideas… we’ll see what catches their fancy.

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 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 16: A horse called horse

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Loshad

Go right to the source and ask the horse

He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse.

He's always on a steady course.Talk to Loshad 

Wulfwolde Hills

The party made their way to the 3rd tomb. This seemed to be a well kept tomb on a lush green hill.

However, once inside the party found a pile of recent skeletons and the door to the tomb slammed shut. After looting the bodies the party found a secret door leading to a rough cavern. A figure emerge from the wall morphing into a hostile living statue of a man with a Jackal head. Bait managed to keep it distracted and it was defeated without much bother to the party. Another secret exit led the party back outside so they went to camp for the night.

A Living Statue about to be killed by some PCs

Glimmer again performed the one leg, whistling under the moon ritual so the next morning the party heard thundering hooves and what appeared to be a centaur appeared accompanied by 3 stallions. This was Loshad, the Horse-Lord. He warmly greets the party’s horses before begrudgingly addressing the ‘pedestrians’. 

Loshad told the party the location of Xitaqa across the river but said they would have to perform a task for him on the way. A strange beast had apparently taken residence at the ford and was upsetting the wild horses. The party were to kill it or drive it away. Bait was disappointed because he had heard whore-sword instead of horse Lord but maybe the party were finally going to be able to find Stephan.

Unfortunately, Xitaqa was the opposite direction to the gnome mine but the party decided it was time to aid Namfoodle and Aengus’s clansmen in their struggle against some orcs

On arriving at the mine it was apparent the situation had worsened. The gnome and dwarf miners had found a  cavern sealed off by a wall of stalagmites and stalactites  but could see a fabulous looking necklace beyond. They had broken through and retrieved the necklace but after that dwarves and one of the gnomes had started going missing from the mine. Some kind of spiders seemed to be the culprits. However, on the plus side the orcs had seemed to have retreated.

The party agreed to help and headed into the caves. They could occasionally hear skittering noises. After dodging a few hazards they found a paralysed orc wrapped in webs. They unwrapped the orc and took it back to the dwarves to guard so they could question it when it woke up. 

The party resumed exploring until they found a chamber containing silver statuettes. Again these depicted people with jackal heads…

To be continued…

DM notes: some of you may have noticed I will be going off script soon… stay tuned for some stupidity.

Oh yes. I accidentally found out via google what Loshad means in Russian. And for the any amongst you who are thinking that Loshad is not a horse, well… he isn’t actually a centaur.

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 9: Island in the Dreams

 Dymrak Forest

The party woke, slightly shaken by the shadow attack but continued following the wolf tracks, which were growing fainter with the passing days. Droop suggested that they seemed to be heading into Red Blade territory, which confused the party slightly.

Just as the party was losing the trail they came across a group of three Elves. They said they could help the party find the wolfskulls in return for a favour. They were slightly reticent about what was troubling them but eventually revealed they had been attacked by pixies.

They elves the party to their camp on the Lake of Lost Dreams. There was an island in the lake that was taboo to their tribe where the pixies lived. The pixies had stolen a valuable statue from the elves. It turned out that the elves had been given the statue by the gnomes the party had messages for.

The elves and the party built a raft and the party (minus Droop who was left with the elves) sailed to the island. On the way they were attacked by pesky invisible pixies but fought them off.

On the island the party found an old building, possibly a temple to an unknown god, the stolen statue was outside but  a ladder down to a lower level was discovered where a clattering sound could be heard. Exploration revealed a room of skeletons, which a combat was begun.

To be continued

DM notes: pixies with daggers turned out to be real glass cannons with dex 22 and advantage from being invisible meaning they almost always hit and caused loads of damage before they were killed.

I vastly reduced the number of skeletons as 5e clerics lack the repeating turn undead of BECMI clerics.

Vampires: the blathering

 Inspired by a comment from The Guvnor on The Gaming Tavern, I’ve been thinking about Ravenloft and The Known World aka Mystara. Although this post then rambles off in a totally different direction. Probably too much caffeine.

There are two regions in the known world where Vampires are said to be prevalent - Glantri and Karameikos. 

In both cases, the vampires seem to have been introduced in the Gazetteers. Glantri didn’t seem to have much in the way of a description before then, apart from Castle Amber and the odd mention in other modules.

However, a province ruled by vampires fits as part of the country and indeed you could easily set Curse of Strahd there with only minor tweaking.

Karameikos on the other hand is an odd beast. Vampires fit in quite well with the cod-eastern-european culture. But very few published adventures set in the country have them. There’s everybody’s favourite Goth Hobgoblin*, King Vlack in Nights Dark Terror. There may be actual vampires in other adventures but on the whole Karameikos is a bit of a low-level adventurer place for tangling with Vampires. Lycanthropes, there’s loads of, right from the original description of Threshold. vampires, not so much.

So what’s the point of this blog then? I don’t know. Except… maybe there could be a better Known World!

There are strong thematic links between Glantri and Karameikos… but they are nowhere near each other. So in a better known world they would be much closer. 

Glantri also has similarities to Darokin so that would be nearby. That’s is the Byzantine empire so that could be the other way. Just get rid of all the slavery stuff *shudder*. Ylarum and Ethangar would be beyond that.

Hmmm, so basically, I’ve come up with a plan to just put all these places in medieval Europe. Averoigne could actually be part of the known world** and all the racist bits could be lost in translation.

So anyway, I seem to have started a new series of posts on the theme: things that I like that are actually rubbish.

* go on name another 

** the known world needs more weird horror. 

Mystara musings (Part 1?)

So my introduction to Mystara, or The Known World as it was then know, was in 1986 when I got the Dark Blue Expert box Set for my 11th birthday.

Of course, the most exciting thing about that set is not the rule book but the supplied module - The Isle of Dread. This was the second version with the Orange cover and a picture of some guys in the sea fighting a flipping T-Rex! Which was obviously really cool if you are 11. Dragons? Pfff.

"Those T-Rex look so stupid with their tiny arms... There's one right behind me, isn't there?"

So back to the Expert Rule book, well there wasn't much about the Known world in there. A bit about The Grand Duchy of Karameikos and a bit more about the small town of Threshold and that was it.

There was more info about The Known World in The Isle of Dread - a very brief description of each country and that was it. The Known World was our oyster.

And so it stayed for the next couple of years - there was dribs and drabs of info in various adventure modules and a world map in the Master Set. I think there was more in the Immortal Set but I never owned that.

A then came the Gazetteers. 

But next up - I'm going to think about monsters. Possibly.