We played the twenty-second session of our Dungeon Module B1: In Search of Unknown AD&D 2e game last night. You can read past play reports here.
The roster for this session was as follows:
- Llombaerth, CG elf thief 4 (Adam)
- Mirkle, N human fighter 3 (Maya)
- Rory the Small, LN human fighter 2 (David)
- Zommernar, CN elf fighter 2 (Nael)
- Egbert, human necromancer 1 (NPC)
- Bilodeau, man-at-arms (NPC)
- Graves, man-at-arms (NPC)
- Brazile, halfling porter, and his dog, Ripper (NPC)
- Ejiofer, human porter (NPC)
- Lendeborg, human porter (NPC)
- Steinbach, human porter (NPC)
- Walgretor, half-elf porter (NPC)
- Hadric, Wilda Brambletoe, Corvin, Aelwen Riversong, and 20 oarsmen - the crew of the Mossy Turtle (NPCs)
Last we played, the party allowed a wood elf to board their barge and inspect the goods they were transporting back to Timbershore. The elf was satisfied that the party were neither brigands nor allies of the wizard Lambrecht. The elf seemed amenable to aiding the party in ridding the forest of its owlbear problem sometime in the future, and indicated where the party might locate he and his fellows at their forward scouting post deeper in the forest.
The elf also told them that, in the past, when his people were in conflict with the Black Crag barbarians, the barbarians had worshipped a horned demon, which might be related to the ancient, possibly evil stone carving the party had found within Quasqueton. He also shared that, in addition to the brigands and agents of Lambrecht, the forest was plagued by another group of humans - zealots who wore crude furs and horned headdresses, worshipped some primordial beast or demon, and were searching for something in the forest.
The elf and his retinue (who had until then hidden amongst the trees, unnoticed by all aboard the barge) departed into the forest. The party continued on to Timbershore the next morning. Egbert spotted a pair of illusory eyes watching them from the sky. The party concluded that this was Lambrecht scrying upon them. They pretended to fish along the river until the eyes disappeared, then continued on.
They arrived in Timbershore shortly after that, but elected to continue pretending to be humble fisherfolk until night fell, whereupon they lit a signal fire to summon their smuggler friends to their location. They offloaded most of the treasure plundered from Quasqueton, paying 10% of their earnings to the Black Crag barbarian accompanying them, then disembarked in town, parting ways with the barbarian and the gnome, Wilros Wackledeckle. They impressed upon their remaining hirelings the importance of secrecy, and paid them each an additional month's salary to reinforce their point. Everyone scattered to go about their business, and the party headed to the Mooring Post to get a good night's rest.
The next morning, they set about their errands. They advertised that they were looking for another magic-user to bring on as a henchmen, reprovisioned, purchased a bunch of dogs, asked a dwarf miner about the blue ore they had found in Quasqueton (it was basically worthless), and headed to Albertyna's manse to meet with her.
We picked up there. Albertyna was pleased to see them again. They told her about the encounter with the wood elves and what they had said about the human zealots prowling the forest.
Albertyna told them that it sounded like they were describing worshippers of the Horned Mother. The Horned Mother was the deity of Blanchefleur, a powerful cleric who ruled a religious stronghold in the Chapel Ward. The Horned Mother was either a predatory nature goddess or a demon, depending on who you asked. Her worshippers believed that all the world was prey, except for the Horned Mother and her children. Blanchefleur was the second most powerful individual in town, besides Lambrecht. There was no love lost between she and Albertyna.
The party asked about the relationship between Blanchefleur and Lambrecht. Albertyna told them that the two had an unsteady alliance. Lambrecht had allowed Blanchefleur to build her stronghold and collect tithes from the townsfolk, under the condition that Lambrecht received fitting tribute. Once the stronghold was complete, however, Blanchefleur had attracted a small army of zealous followers and soldiers, which dwarfed Lambrecht's household guard. While Lambrecht was individually more powerful, Blanchefleur's followers were more numerous, and served out of devotion, not for coin. Lambrecht was insular and rarely left his stronghold, so it was not unfair to say that it was Blanchefleur who truly controlled the town.
The party asked if there was a more secure location in which they could speak, as they feared they were being magically watched. Albertyna relocated them to her personal study, the walls of which were lined with lead to prevent such intrusions. There they told her about the eyes they had spotted watching them from the sky the day before. Albertyna said that it was rumored that Lambrecht used a magic mirror to spy on his enemies from afar.
The party asked how exactly this magic worked. If it worked as Albertyna understood it, Lambrecht had likely started looking for them based on a description provided by the man-at-arms he had captured. If it was true that Lambrecht had found them once, it would be easier for him to find them again, since he now knew what they looked like. His ability to locate them, how frequently he could attempt to do so, and for how long he could view them was determined by how well he knew them. It would be easier for him to find them if he met them personally or came into possession of an item belonging to them. And, just because he had found them, that didn't necessarily mean that they would notice.
The party asked if there was some way to prevent this viewing. A nondetection charm would achieve this, but only for a limited time, and it was not magic to which Albertyna had access. There were magic items such as certain amulets which could prevent it as well, but each of them would need to be so equipped, and such items were not easily obtained. The party asked if they could be viewed in a place such as Quasqueton. Albertyna told them there was no limit to the distance at which Lambrecht could observe them, unless Zelligar, in his paranoia, had accounted for such things in the construction of Quasqueton.
The party asked what it was that made Lambrecht the rightful ruler of Timbershore. Simply put, he was the most powerful person who had arrived there first. When Timbershore was but a humble village, it was Rogahn and Zelligar to whom the villagers looked to for protection. When the two left the region and did not return, Lambrecht arrived some time after, claiming to be Zelligar's apprentice. He erected a stronghold from which to project power, and under his guidance, the village had grown into the town it now was.
Albertyna had arrived some time later. Now, she hoped to erect a stronghold of her own, but required Lambrecht's assent. She hoped to earn it by dutiful service as Lambrecht's loyal servant.
Since Albertyna was responsible for enforcing Lambrecht's laws, the party asked if she might be able to protect them, perhaps by pulling strings with the town guard. Albertyna explained that the town guard reported to Manolito, a warrior who was himself captain of Lambrecht's household guard. Manolito served Lambrecht loyally more so by nature than by any sort of devotion to the wizard, and he and Albertyna had much in common and had good rapport. It was something she could work on.
The party considered their options. Blanchefleur and her worshippers were clearly not people to trifle with. What was the relationship between them and the Horned Mother, the Black Crag people, and the stone they found in Quasqueton? Could they be leveraged against one another or against Lambrecht? For that matter, how did Lambrecht relate to these supposed demons and their followers? What were these groups after, and how could the party use it to their advantage, if at all?
They departed from Albertyna's manse and returned to the Mooring Post, deciding to wait a few days to see if any prospective henchmen turned up. The snowy rain persisted the following day, so the party remained indoors. That evening, Llombaerth found a pair of piercing blue-grey eyes floating in his fish stew, staring up at him, blinking.
The party decided to leave town immediately and return to Quasqueton, abandoning their search for a new henchman. The split up, scurrying about town under cover of darkness to round up their hirelings and retrieve their mules and dogs. Their men-at-arms' and porters' term of employment would end in just a few days, so they paid them up front for another twenty days of service. They arranged for their hirelings to meet them at the barge first thing in the morning to depart - the last minute orders seemed to have a negative effect on the group's morale. The party themselves would sleep on the barge that night, just in case.
The night passed without incident, and the party woke to hail storms raining down on them from above. These were not ideal conditions for travel, but they had made their minds up. Once the barge crew arrived, the party set out with their hirelings, heading downriver.
The day's travel was uneventful, and they made it more than halfway downriver and deep into the forest. Around 5:30 pm, with the barge moored along the river's edge, they spotted a group of six humans in crude fur cloaks and horned headdresses stalking through the forest some fifteen feet from the barge. Somehow, the group had not spotted the barge. The party debated whether to ambush them and attempt to capture one for questioning, but opted to remain in hiding. The hunting party passed them by, as did the rest of the evening.
The weather cleared the following morning, and the barge was able to make it the rest of the way downriver and to the edge of the lake by noon. The party disembarked, bringing just Egbert, their men-at-arms, their dogs, and two hirelings - Lendeborg and the halfling Brazile, who would be their hound master. They would return for the rest once they had assessed the situation in the dungeon.
The party made their way into the forest and up the hill, following the river to Quasqueton. At around 4:30 pm, the party had just begun their ascent of the hill when two giant birds with 20' wingspans came swooping down low over the tops of the trees, screeching loudly. Loosened leaves and twigs came rustling down to the forest floor, along with several huge feathers. Fortunately, the giant birds had not intended to make a meal of them, and flew onward out of sight.
They arrived at the dungeon at nightfall. They circled around the crag to the main entrance, and Llombaerth snuck inside.
Again, the dungeon appeared differently than last they had visited. The entrance corridor was lined with spikes planted between the flagstones, with heads skewered upon them. Near the entrance were the heads of Mangug and his orcs. As Llombaerth proceeded further inside, he saw, to his dismay, the heads of the party's remaining two zombie followers. Beyond that were the heads of two gnolls. One was unknown to Llombaerth. The other was recognizably the head of Indur.
Could this be the work of the party's goblin allies? Perhaps the psychotic goblin Tobb was responsible?
Llombaerth could smell the rich aroma of a heavy broth being simmered over a fire, wafting into the corridor from the kitchen area. He decided to trigger the twin magic mouths at the end of the corridor to lure out whatever might be up ahead, then retreat to an earlier pair of alcoves to hide and see what emerged.
He did so. The magic mouths made their loud warnings, and Llombaerth retreated and hid. He heard a deep voice grumble to itself in a language he didn't understand, and felt heavy footsteps shake the floor as the creature made its way out into the corridor. A 9' tall female humanoid emerged from the kitchen and glared out from the top of the short flight of steps, but did not spot Llombaerth. It advanced to the alcove with the magic mouths, inspected the area, grumbled to itself again, and returned to the kitchen.
Llombaerth crept back out of the dungeon to reconvene with the rest of the party and share what he had seen. We ended the session there.
These social interaction-heavy sessions are always hard to recap! So much information is exchanged, and I don't take as good of notes when I'm running those encounters as when I'm running a dungeon exploration. Still, I think I captured everything.
I'm delighted to see the party graduating from simple forays back and forth to the dungeon to learning about faction politics and the complex web of NPC schemes which they're bound to get roped into eventually. Lambrecht's scrying has made the players feel an immense sense of time pressure, for better or worse. There's nothing they can really do about Lambrecht right now, and they know it, which feels a bit bad, but so long as I don't have him teleport into their camp and blow them up with a fireball, I see no harm done. Such is life when the local government is ruled by an evil wizard!
There is a palpable feeling of tension, like things could pop off at any moment, and the party making a hasty exit from town was a fun moment. It really feels like the party's time in Quasqueton is coming to a close (the players speculated that this may be their last foray into the dungeon), so naturally the players have begun speculating as to what it is they might do next.
Ridding the forest of the owlbears seems a likely endeavor, and the players are convinced that whatever lives beneath the "Great Oak" is what stole their precious oriental emerald. There are two powerful evil NPCs in town which they'd like to be rid of, but it will probably be some time before they can accomplish that. And there's plenty more to the sandbox which they are yet to discover...
No comments:
Post a Comment