Hugh’s scenario recap (Pcon 46)

GM Recap:   Harmony – City of [B]Light

GM:  Hugh

 

Prior to the Maw, the planetoid of Harmony had been a bright & well interconnected node in the constellations, illustrating that a Society is made up of diversity of peoples with an equally diverse set of interests & passions that can touch any of the senses: of music, of art, food, smell, or touch the soul.  Without these aspects of culture, society stops and becomes quite empty and dead.  Any resemblance to Paris was purely intentional.

Run #1:  “Impaled!”

 

Tabaxi Monk Chester “PeaceBringer” Lucian Gael Lambert

Elf Ranger Johnnie Walker Eric Eisenbeis
Human Bard Liam George McBride
Tiefling Warlock Morgan Keith Eisenbeis
Half Elf Bard Severen Lighteyes Kelly West
Human Cleric Siderius Noxx Ron Seidel
Human Wizard Visen Nightstar Alan Zitomer

The intrepid party prepares their journey and soon they find their Aether transport ship tied off near the top of impossibly tall, black iron spire, whose tip penetrates the layer of grey, almost oozy sludge of a foggy/cloudy atmosphere below them and the ground.  Disembarking above the clouds, they debate what the maximum safe height is for a Monk to fall and Chester’s reply is “MAX of FIVE FEET”.

 

They find a parlor-like room on the spire, with drawn heavy curtains over its many windows and that their vision has morphed to be monochromatic.  Likewise, they cannot smell anything distinct, nor even perceive differences in audio tonality/pitch (melody), nor even generate a rhythm.  After finding a glass and brass door to this room locked and no Rogue in the party, they batter the door down.

Within the room, they find a mural map of the city which they copy, a ledger, and one resident, who is still alive but extremely lethargic.  It is the city’s mayor, Phillipe TrueTone, who is in a dark fugue:  he is nearly spent from resisting the Maw.  Eventually, Phillipe is willing to talk in Elvish to just the Bards and reveals that his five Vice-Mayors have each fallen victim of what the Con will learn is “Maw Touched”, so their mission is to break each out of their ‘Inner Dungeon’.  They learn each of their likely locations in the city:  Champ, the luxuries district was first to fall, resulting in a loss of smell.  Osay was next, the art museum, as the sense of sight went from color to black and white.  Next was Op’ra (music/sound), then RueCler (taste).  The last to fall was Dom (feelings/emotions).  The meta clue here was that the locations’ sequence of failure correlated to how difficult the vignette was; for this First Run party, they logically chose to go to the Dom.

 

Navigating down the Spire, they found spiderwebs and spiders … increasing in size & hit points as they descended & fought their way down through the darkening, grey misty gloom.  While en route, the party found that only one individual didn’t have Darkvision and Siderius Noxx had an obnoxious 300ft detection range, which would prove decisive later, despite mucky fogs that limited visibility to merely 120ft.  Dang!

 

900 feet lower and finally at street level, they found the streets to be void of human life, but scattered with trash, debris, and spoor signs of even worse arachnids – Phase Spiders, for one.  Bare ashen-looking branches of the Liden trees along the boulevards had overgrown and were now interwoven overhead, forming eerie  tunnels (with ample spider ambush opportunities).

Moving cautiously yet expeditiously, the group arrives uneventfully at the front of the Dom, for which they proceed in with hardly a pause to overthink the unlocked main door.   Despite the great distance to the front of the chuch, Ron’s character ‘Siderius Noxx’, is able to see a stone statue at the dias which, oddly, is wearing clerical garb and cradling a lizardish-bird-thing, and that a large pile of cloth is on the dias…and this is when we all discover that ‘Siderius Noxx’ doesn’t speak Common to be able to communicate easily with the rest of the group, so Ron is coerced into playing Charades to describe to the others what his character is seeing.  George quips: “…and this is why Orcs never win at Charades!”  Without much consultation, a range spell attack is directed at the lizardish-bird-thing, as it was deducted to be a Cockatrice … but that attack is intercepted by the statue, which apparently is a Gargoyle.  They are gestured to come forward, and after brief exchange, they receive the cloth (my first Item Card of the ‘Con) and the unnaturally(?) calm Cockatrice is presented for them to step forward to touch, with the statement of “Have Faith”.  Touch it they did, each becoming magically petrified as the others watched, although not without reservations and not without roleplaying excellence from Johnnie Walker and Chester “PeaceBringer” Lucian, who were torn between their Character motivations to not be petrified by a monster versus their players’ meta-knowledge that the scenario design happened to have this linear trip-point.  A final assurance from the Gargoyle priest of: “Defend. Hunt.” was what finally was the convincing moment, yet even so Chester “PeaceBringer” Lucian the Monk had to resist against his own will to not punch the (“meep!”) peaceful cockatrice, and likewise to deliberately drop his saving throw to embrace the monster’s petrification.

 

As each took their leap of faith, they found themselves in the same place, but in a different time/dimension:  the Maw’s Inner Dungeon of Pentamoto, Priest of the Dom.  Now, the grand cathedral was in ruins about them, with the ceiling having collapsed into the Nave.  As each individual ‘popped’ in, once again Ron’s Siderius Noxx’ had to Charade that he saw multiple Ghouls and Shadows approaching from the front entranceway, along with a dwarf.  Thus we enter rounds of withering ranged attacks from the far-visioned players as the undead moves to approach and the dwarf vanishes.  Several rounds & three ice-based attacks on the party later, we finally almost get to hand-to-hand engagement ranges, whereupon ‘Siderius Noxx’ obliterated the remaining shadows with a ZOE/self, and one ghoul gets one swing in before being taken down.  But the dwarf is finally revealed and is quickly dispatched … at which this Inner Dungeon is dispelled and all are back in the undamaged church, with the Gargoyle & cockatrice, no longer petrified and everyone surrounding the dias.  Pentomoto, this dwarven druid of Daglier, apologized for the troubles his despair & mind prison [Inner Dungeon] caused, explaining that the last straw for him was the unraveling of the Tapestry (the cloth on the dias) which was the Dom’s link to Beauex and pull chord to ring the church’s wooden bell:  this needs to be restored with a new Tapestry woven at Beauex, to be returned here to perform a conjunction ritual, but also requiring the bell’s lost clapper: a giant wooden hammer/club with a hole in its handle.

 

Thus successful, the party retraced their way back to the spire, climbed up its 1665 steps, and returned across the Aether back to Beverly and Hireling Hall.

 

 

Run #2:  “A Twilight At The Opera” 

Tortle Druid Gell Teresa Ruby
Tortle Paladin MFDOOMfan446 Austin Lyman
Tortle Cleric Marcel Yanni Yessios

Tortle Druid Michelangelo Christo Yessios
Tortle Wizard Sualdit Will Torpey Hibschman
Tortle Ranger Tukka Johann Hibschman
Tortle Rogue noxcorp Eddit Lyman

 

The intrepid party of ALL Tortles(!) takes off.  After a brief exploration en route of some space debris (a clay tablet written in Babylonian – See Dennis), they soon find their Aether transport ship tied off near the top of the black iron spire again.  They also talk briefly with Phillipe True Tone, the lethargic mayor of the city, who seems slightly less bad off.   After a confirmational consult, they decide to make their way to the city Opera House to confront the next vice/sub-Mayor, Perrin of the Pools (“Poodle”).

The color spectrum is still shades of grey, but some of the oozy roiled gloom of the clouds has lifted some.  Meantime, the other senses are still deadened into flat nothingness.  The party makes their way down the spire, combatting some Spiders of Unusually Sizeable Sizes similar to the first party without event.

Skulking through the alleys and shadows of the city streets, they make their way towards the Opera, and with the assistance of Michelangelo’s animal companion (“Who”, the owl), they gain a bit greater tactical awareness, finding a procession of undead couples (Zombies in top hats & tuxedos, Skeletons in evening gowns) entering the city from across the island’s north bridge.  They investigate to find that the river isn’t quite a river at present, but a queasy, bubbly mass of various monstrous jellies, oozes, slimes (and probably worse) which might discourage swimming.  Fortunately, they find that if the undead cannot be curtailed at their source (where ever that may be, north of the city), at least their entry into the city can be curtailed by lowering the north bridge’s portcullis.  They accomplish this through a bit of finesse, and a magical hand cast by Sualdit to throw the portcullis lever to close the city gate.

With the zombie apocalypse temporarily denied, the city streets start to clear some as the remaining undead continue to make their way into the Opera house.  The party scouts the perimeter of the building looking for an alternate entrance, where they of course find.  Entering, noxcorp the Rogue scouts the back-of-house areas, finding them empty of hostiles, so the party joins back up.

Continuing to search through the back-of-house, they find empty musical instrument cases, as all of the brass instruments are missing.  Continuing to search further out, they find various passages & catwalks in the structure for running curtains, lights, backdrops, etc, plus staff back passageways to theater patron areas.  Meantime, the front-of-house has a large audience gathered tonight.  Why yes, it is the zombies & skeletons that they had observed coming this way, and undead is the perfect audience:  they’re seated silently with the tuxedo zombies on the main floor and the evening gown skeletons in the balcony, with no talking, coughing, cellphone use, camera flashes, etc.

 

And on the stage, they find a Tortle, in Shakespearian garb, holding a skull and performing the soliloquy from Hamlet.

 

But he is repeating that set of lines …  over and over and over, like a stuck record.

 

They conclude that this is Poogle, so they carefully gather by the Stage Left curtain to prepare to drop the curtain to cut off the undead audience (smart!) to engage him in conversation.  They do so, but Poodle screams “Noooo!  You’ve ruined it!”, drops the skull of Yorik, and sprints off Stage Right.  Oops, forgot to cut off the other exit!  A chase briefly follows, but they lose track of where Poodle has disappeared to.   They regroup and as they’ve gathered up Yorik’s skull, debating how to proceed, and reading the Item Card, they become inspired.  They decide to invoke Speak with Dead with the skull Yorik.  An …interesting… conversation results in them realizing that they missed a secret door in the back-of-house which leads down to the underground catacombs.  It also resulted in some animated discussions when they realize that Yorik was volunteering additional information on Poodle’s personal life – was he listening in on them while they were debating what questions to ask?  Later, they’ll also ask themselves: “Wait!  Was Yorik lying to us?”.

They find the hidden door and proceed down, into Poodle’s Maw-invoked ‘Inner Dungeon’ which is a large freshwater cistern.   Seems that the party didn’t know that the Phantom of the Opera play was based on the actual cistern under Palais Garnier (true!).  They find a few canoe-like boats and with the druid ‘Gell’ transformed into a crocodile form to be their in-water scout, did a circle around the place.  They were unconcerned about wearing armor in the small boats, as they bragged that as Tortles, they can hold their breath for an hour underwater.

On their reconnaissance, they find a water entry & exit (both too small to escape through), plus they paddle past two beaches, neither of which had any fresh tracks, but noticed an odd bubbling in the water just offshore.  Off the second beach, they decide to approach the ‘bubbly’ thing and Gell dove down to engage .. to find a Water Weird now attacking them.  The party range-attacked while Gell acted as hit point sponge, dying near the end and reverting (alive) back to humanoid form.  Realizing that the other ‘bubbly’ spot was probably another Water Weird, they came to realize that Poodle, like them, is a Tortle and could hold his breath for an hour, so they changed their tactics and did a more systematic search of the rest of the cistern, eventually finding & retrieving Poodle for a little chat.  This broke up the Inner Dungeon, where they learned that that brass instruments had been taken away to the brass quarry to the north of the city, after which the undead started to trickle in; a potential summoning circle? 

 

As they’ve done a rescue and gotten some leads on what’s required next to perform the ceremony to reconnect music, the party debates how to go about cleaning up the undead in the city who are residing in the opera house.  After debating some back-of-house passages which could ambush various balconies of skeletons equipped with bows, they settle on a rapid Piñata-drop of their cleric “Marcel” into the center of the theater audience, suspended from above, to maximize the 30’R coverage of his Dispell Undead prayer.  This goes off without a hitch, and with a large swath thus reduced, they beat a rapid retreat as the undead respond and give chase.  Down, down, down the grand staircase the Tortles race, out the Grand Entrance and into the streets of Harmony, where the chasing crowd is bunched up with a wizardly Slow .. whereupon the party discovers a pair of large “Bouncer” sized bodyguard undead Minotaur skeletons which had previously gone undetected.   A few more spells including a pair of fireballs is able to reduce the undead rabble into mop-up combat, leaving the street filled with bones, and fancy garb – - a few silk tophats are taken home as trophies.  Thus successful, the party retraces their way back to the spire, climbed up its 1665 steps, and returned across the Aether back to Beverly and Hireling Hall.

Run #3:  “Waiter, there’s a Cockatrice in my Soup” 

Tortle Wizard Cordsen Star Issac Lunar
Tortle Druid Quora Svetlana Johnson
Tabaxi Rogue Fingers-of-Argyle (Fin) Andrew Duke

Hill Dwarf Druid Kvasir Anne Marie Quint
Human Fighter Sgt. Fury Bob Peterson

Loxodon Paladin Beru Bob Cook

 

The intrepid party travels via their Aether transport ship and are soon tied off near the top of the black iron spire again.  They also consult briefly with Phillipe True Tone, the lethargic mayor of the city…and repair his broken front door.  They decide to descend the tower and make their way to the RueCler district of fine dining (“46 Stars!”), to seek out the chef/sub-Mayor, Ratatoulle (‘the Rat’).  Instead of dropping down to the main boulevard that others have used before, this intrepid group decides to take a slight back street detour to a suspiciously unlabeled building on the map, which they find is the headquarters of the Town Guard…and occupied!  They converse with a highly paranoid & fatigued ‘Captain Tigre’, a Tabaxi Urban Ranger who is concerned that they could be undead – or shapeshifters.  In exchange for news (and some rations), he provides a Tourism Board pamphlet which has a good map of the city’s layout, and details on the various shops and stores in the fine dining district of RueCler.

Thus prepared, they head to the nearby RueCler neighborhood without sidequests of random undead encounters.  They find the street itself similar to other (and better) sidestreets – no undead, no people, some debris and trash .. oh wait, that big old trashpile has a Trash Panda on it .. and he’s trash-talking to defend his turf, threatening the party to back off with a pair of hand crossbows.  Party chooses combat and closes in to attack … well, that big old trashpile just took a swing at Sgt. Fury – that trash talking racoon is riding on a Shambling Mound!  The Paladin Beru closes in too, playing a smart game by choosing to do non-lethal damage, and in pretty short order, they have a dead & decomposing Shambler and an unconcious new friend to interrogate .. er, converse with once they awake.  The party quickly learn two things.  First, this street has other Trash-competitors in it, which will be circumvented by the sharing of some rations with a “capture & release”, and they also receive directions to the Rat’s café they’re looking for.

Upon arrival at the café (or is it a Brasserie?), it appears deserted, so they start searching and make their way into the back.  A horn blows, and giant rats start to appear and attack the party.  Rats keep appearing from the horn .. its actually a Cornucopia of ever-flowing Giant Rats.  As the party works to destroy the Cornucopia (and Rats), there’s a scurry of ‘someone else’, who flees.  Sgt Fury gives chase, and when this rat-like creature leaps into a large fireplace to escape, he follows into the flames.  The others follow too, in quick succession … and in doing so, enter into the Place of Madness of Vice-Mayor/Warlock Ratatouille.

Scene Change.

Each party member awakens to find themselves neatly seated at a large dinner table.  The table is covered in a very fine and very white tablecloth, and the table is to the nines for a formal dinner.  In addition to the fine china and crystal, each place seems to have no less than forty-six pieces of silverware, indicating a full & classical seven course meal is ahead of them.  Within the room and behind each of the party members, there’s a pair of floating white gloves of the invisible stalker-esque waitstaff attendants – they gesture and with a flourish, deploy the napkin for each of tonight’s diners.

APERTIF:  the first course arrives.    The floating white gloves carry small plates out to each diner, and with a flourishing gesture, silently indicate that it is theirs to enjoy.  The party has a bit of a challenge to identify (isn’t Avant-guard stuff usually like this?) .. it kind of looks a little “beak”-ish.  All choose to imbibe, and only Sgt Rock fails his Constitution save, becoming petrified from the cockatrice beaks in béarnaise sauce.  His petrification roils the party, but after two minutes, Sgt Rock de-petrifies and comes to.

ENTRÉE:  the second course is a soup of ‘Gulag gruel’, with zombie eyeballs.  Again, delivered silently on floating white gloves.  The Druids Quora and Kvasir become a bit nervous and seek out poison and food purification spells.  Thanks to that, has no one fails their STR save.

MAIN:  the primary plate is Blowfish livers sauteed in barracuda brains (for the ciguatera).  The purification spells continue to do their thing, but some of the party is starting to wonder what the point is..casting spells to counteract the dishes seems to be cheating on the experience.  DEX save for brain paralysis.

CHEESE COURSE:  an exotic import this time, of Casgiu Merzu, which is a Sardinian sheep mile cheese which contains live insect larvae (maggots) crawling through it.  It was about here where it started to get more interesting for the Party, since they actually recognized this actually quite real food.  Kvasir bows out; she will be ignored for the rest of the meal’s courses.  Quora feigns that she is allergic to maggots(?), which is eventually accepted and an alternative cheese is brought out for her, which contains phase beetles.  WIS save or be frozen with nausea.  Sgt. Fury and Beru start to quickly scarf down their courses before Quora can cast purification … and from here on out get paralyzed several more times.

LE DESSERT:  a choice is offered:  Way Too Sticky Buns -or- Chocolate Coated Sugar Bombs.  The now-reduced party continues .. and struggles with the stickiness .. but makes their way through.  A few of the diners become frozen with bliss of the sweetness overload (INT save).  Fury and Beru ask for both, of course, and are accommodated.

LE CAFÉ:  another reality based exotic import this time, of Kopi Luwak, which gets a strong reaction (and wonderful roleplay) from Fingers-of-Argyle (Fin), the Tabaxi Rogue.  Fin explained that this world’s version of Kopi Luwak doesn’t use a civit … but Tabaxi.  Fin is struggling with if he, as a Tabaxi can thus imbibe.  Does he make his self-imposed WIL save? In the end (get it?), those who can imbibe get called upon for a CHA save vs rectal pucker freeze.

DIGESTIF:  the final course is a quaff of distilled spirits, and another choice is offered:  Delirium Absinthe or a Zombie.   Fury and Beru ask for both, of course, and are accommodated, and chug them down before any meddling purification spells ruin the fun.  They both fail their {Weakest Save} and become a paralyzed Zombie for a bit again, which also means that every remaining diner has failed at least one course’s saving throw.

But by failing, they succeeded:  the chef, Ratatouille, appears, quite shaken but now smiling.  He thanks the group for their participation in his indulgence of the highest level of non-fine dining as a perversion (& Inner Dungeon):  it was their belief that dining should be a real experience is what broke the spell and set him free.   The party goes on their way .. and Ratatouille forgot to hit them up with the bill.  Collectors will be along, eventually!

Run #4:  “The Trojan Nickle Board” 

Dwarf Fighter Brummuki of the [Clan] Jan Skowranek
Human Bard Liam George McBride
Tiefling Wizard Morgan Keith Eienbeis

½ Orc Barbarian Nargulur Katerina Kanevche
½ Elf Bard Severen Lighteyes Kelly West
Human Cleric Siderius Noxx Ron Seidel

Human Wizard Visen Nightstar Alan Zitomer

Sunday morning and it’s the final run .. lots of work still to do, so the Party moves quickly to the Spire, then down into the City.  They bring with them a huge wooden club, which they take to Pentamoto at the DOM – the church’s wooden bell’s clapper has been found and returned, enabling a Constellation Ceremony.

Next, they’re off to Champs, to see a Dullahan named Machi about restoring the City’s sense of Smell.  They see & avoid the district’s High Society crowd, out parading the boulevard in this season’s finest cotton wrappings that any mummy would die to wear, and make their way safely to the Perfumery.   Upon entering, they find a few humans behind the counter, offering service.  Of just what is not clear, as there are no products on the shelves.  After a few words and more heightened insistences to see the owner (Machi) which are being stonewalled, Brummuki pushes his way past them and into the back of the shop, where he sees a path leading down, which he takes.  The rest quickly follow.   The path becomes darker and steeper until Brummuki loses his footing and rides a slide to the bottom.  The rest of the group will arrive sequentially, in dribs and drabs.

Within this Inner Dungeon is what appears to be an alchemist’s workshop.  Shelves ahead filled with bottles of stuff, books, body parts floating in jars, some poor soul’s head, etc.  To the side, there’s some light from gas burners and the chemistry bench proper, where there stands a humanoid of sorts – - white lab coat, black rubber gloves and boots – - working at the bench with their back to them.  As they try to engage with the alchemist, they’re hit by a flying blade .. thrown blind by the alchemist!  And a sneak attack!  A more proper fight happens as more party members arrive in a tumble to contribute, and in fairly short order, the alchemist goes down .. and their head rolls over into the corner.  Yet another sneak attack of a dagger.  The party starts to look for invisible creatures (nope!).  But then they spy that ‘poor soul’s head’ on the shelf and they realize that the clue was indeed of a Dullahan.  The head is attacked and dispatched … and everyone appears back in the storefront upstairs; another Inner Dungeon jailbreak.

Machi appears and thanks them for their attention, and offers small talk on what next season’s perfume scents should be .. perhaps Ode d’Mummy .. if they could perhaps arrange to have the Mayor clear  the street of undead soon?   Thus resolved expeditiously (and avoiding extensive runarounds of the staff minions), the group makes their way to their next appointed round, namely the Orsay, a museum of fine arts and artifacts.  When they left Hireling Hall, they were given a large hollow stone ‘coin’ that they could use with subterfuge as a “new exhibit” with the party’s Rogue hidden inside to gain undetected entrance to the currently closed building.

Before pursuing this route, they conduct a detailed reconnoiter of the building, and find a loose latch on a roof skylight that can be exploited.  They spend a great deal of time using the various skylights to map out the building and identifying what makes this ‘heist’ problematic.  The catch is that this Vice-Mayor .. Carillon of {…}, a Minotaur, has made the entire museum into his Inner Dungeon and the place is filled with mysterious mirrors which emanate magic – seem to be something “final run” type, perhaps of Opposition .. but there’s dozens of them.   The party does find a ‘landing’ spot where they can put two down without causing any reflections (invisibility helps) and they start to break mirrors, making a tortuous and slow path through the exhibit halls and clearing a ‘safe’ space as they go which enables the rest of the party to join as a konga line.

As they wind through the exhibits, they help themselves to some magical artifacts on display, because you know, just in case they might be handy later on.  Two thirds of the way through, they find a closed door, and mapping suggests an unknown space, rather than a door to the building’s exterior.  They bypass it for now and finish clearing the mirrors trap.  With this tedious work now done, the party deploys tactically for a door opening.  It opens towards them and as it does, a wall of black puddling-like tarry ooze flows quickly forth, threatening to envelope them.   Everyone retreats, a few get nearly trapped, and as the ooze flow spreads, it becomes less deep … and from within the ooze a large head – - then shoulders – then sword – - appears, as Carillon advances to attack.  A swirl of actions of dodging ooze, avoiding (or making) melee attacks, trying to missile, then move to escape the flowing ooze results in a few players surfing on a flying carpet over the ooze to get close enough to attack, while also trying to not fall in.  Eventually, they succeed and Carillon’s body drops face-down into the ooze.  Pulling back, the ooze shifts from black as does Carillon too, into a more human form.  He sits up and introduces himself as ‘Adam’.  He gets filled in on what all has happened in the City and how he had apparently made his Inner Dungeon a Minotaur’s maze.  Adam does not know what the mirrors themselves manifested, but the GM does .. and will use it again in the future.

The party is released, but has one more task assigned:  take out the undead gate that was created using the Opera’s brass instruments.  They proceed to develop a plan, which employs some of the artifacts of the museum, to carpet-fly over to the brass quarry to avoid the slimed river hazards.   They apply a very liberal dose of magical area spells to ‘soften up’ the undead before they risk melee, which works quite well for an encounter designed for a second run group.  With ground zero cleared of higher level undead, they make short work of breaking the brass gate and again of the undead zombies & skeletons which had made it to this plane, were quickly mopped up.  Thus the heroes, they head back to the Spire to return to Hireling Hall, with only a few forgotten minor details (like returning the borrowed artifacts, or clearing mummies from Champs), but well done, and expeditiously so, thirty minutes before the Con’s end time.

GM Recap:   Harmony – City of [B]Light

GM:  Hugh

Prior to the Maw, the planetoid of Harmony had been a bright & well interconnected node in the constellations, illustrating that a Society is made up of diversity of peoples with an equally diverse set of interests & passions that can touch any of the senses: of music, of art, food, smell, or touch the soul.  Without these aspects of culture, society stops and becomes quite empty and dead.  Any resemblance to Paris was purely intentional.

Run #1:  “Impaled!”

 

Tabaxi Monk Chester “PeaceBringer” Lucian Gael Lambert   

Elf RangerJohnnie Walker Eric Eisenbeis 
Human BardLiamGeorge McBride 
Tiefling WarlockMorgan Keith Eisenbeis
Half Elf BardSeveren LighteyesKelly West 
Human ClericSiderius Noxx Ron Seidel 
Human WizardVisen Nightstar Alan Zitomer 



The intrepid party prepares their journey and soon they find their Aether transport ship tied off near the top of impossibly tall, black iron spire, whose tip penetrates the layer of grey, almost oozy sludge of a foggy/cloudy atmosphere below them and the ground.  Disembarking above the clouds, they debate what the maximum safe height is for a Monk to fall and Chester’s reply is “MAX of FIVE FEET”.  

 

They find a parlor-like room on the spire, with drawn heavy curtains over its many windows and that their vision has morphed to be monochromatic.  Likewise, they cannot smell anything distinct, nor even perceive differences in audio tonality/pitch (melody), nor even generate a rhythm.  After finding a glass and brass door to this room locked and no Rogue in the party, they batter the door down.

Within the room, they find a mural map of the city which they copy, a ledger, and one resident, who is still alive but extremely lethargic.  It is the city’s mayor, Phillipe TrueTone, who is in a dark fugue:  he is nearly spent from resisting the Maw.  Eventually, Phillipe is willing to talk in Elvish to just the Bards and reveals that his five Vice-Mayors have each fallen victim of what the Con will learn is “Maw Touched”, so their mission is to break each out of their ‘Inner Dungeon’.  They learn each of their likely locations in the city:  Champ, the luxuries district was first to fall, resulting in a loss of smell.  Osay was next, the art museum, as the sense of sight went from color to black and white.  Next was Op’ra (music/sound), then RueCler (taste).  The last to fall was Dom (feelings/emotions).  The meta clue here was that the locations’ sequence of failure correlated to how difficult the vignette was; for this First Run party, they logically chose to go to the Dom.

 

Navigating down the Spire, they found spiderwebs and spiders … increasing in size & hit points as they descended & fought their way down through the darkening, grey misty gloom.  While en route, the party found that only one individual didn’t have Darkvision and Siderius Noxx had an obnoxious 300ft detection range, which would prove decisive later, despite mucky fogs that limited visibility to merely 120ft.  Dang!

 

900 feet lower and finally at street level, they found the streets to be void of human life, but scattered with trash, debris, and spoor signs of even worse arachnids – Phase Spiders, for one.  Bare ashen-looking branches of the Liden trees along the boulevards had overgrown and were now interwoven overhead, forming eerie  tunnels (with ample spider ambush opportunities).

Moving cautiously yet expeditiously, the group arrives uneventfully at the front of the Dom, for which they proceed in with hardly a pause to overthink the unlocked main door.   Despite the great distance to the front of the chuch, Ron’s character ‘Siderius Noxx’, is able to see a stone statue at the dias which, oddly, is wearing clerical garb and cradling a lizardish-bird-thing, and that a large pile of cloth is on the dias…and this is when we all discover that ‘Siderius Noxx’ doesn’t speak Common to be able to communicate easily with the rest of the group, so Ron is coerced into playing Charades to describe to the others what his character is seeing.  George quips: “…and this is why Orcs never win at Charades!”  Without much consultation, a range spell attack is directed at the lizardish-bird-thing, as it was deducted to be a Cockatrice … but that attack is intercepted by the statue, which apparently is a Gargoyle.  They are gestured to come forward, and after brief exchange, they receive the cloth (my first Item Card of the ‘Con) and the unnaturally(?) calm Cockatrice is presented for them to step forward to touch, with the statement of “Have Faith”.  Touch it they did, each becoming magically petrified as the others watched, although not without reservations and not without roleplaying excellence from Johnnie Walker and Chester “PeaceBringer” Lucian, who were torn between their Character motivations to not be petrified by a monster versus their players’ meta-knowledge that the scenario design happened to have this linear trip-point.  A final assurance from the Gargoyle priest of: “Defend. Hunt.” was what finally was the convincing moment, yet even so Chester “PeaceBringer” Lucian the Monk had to resist against his own will to not punch the (“meep!”) peaceful cockatrice, and likewise to deliberately drop his saving throw to embrace the monster’s petrification. 

 

As each took their leap of faith, they found themselves in the same place, but in a different time/dimension:  the Maw’s Inner Dungeon of Pentamoto, Priest of the Dom.  Now, the grand cathedral was in ruins about them, with the ceiling having collapsed into the Nave.  As each individual ‘popped’ in, once again Ron’s Siderius Noxx’ had to Charade that he saw multiple Ghouls and Shadows approaching from the front entranceway, along with a dwarf.  Thus we enter rounds of withering ranged attacks from the far-visioned players as the undead moves to approach and the dwarf vanishes.  Several rounds & three ice-based attacks on the party later, we finally almost get to hand-to-hand engagement ranges, whereupon ‘Siderius Noxx’ obliterated the remaining shadows with a ZOE/self, and one ghoul gets one swing in before being taken down.  But the dwarf is finally revealed and is quickly dispatched … at which this Inner Dungeon is dispelled and all are back in the undamaged church, with the Gargoyle & cockatrice, no longer petrified and everyone surrounding the dias.  Pentomoto, this dwarven druid of Daglier, apologized for the troubles his despair & mind prison [Inner Dungeon] caused, explaining that the last straw for him was the unraveling of the Tapestry (the cloth on the dias) which was the Dom’s link to Beauex and pull chord to ring the church’s wooden bell:  this needs to be restored with a new Tapestry woven at Beauex, to be returned here to perform a conjunction ritual, but also requiring the bell’s lost clapper: a giant wooden hammer/club with a hole in its handle.  

 

Thus successful, the party retraced their way back to the spire, climbed up its 1665 steps, and returned across the Aether back to Beverly and Hireling Hall. 

 

 

Run #2:  “A Twilight At The Opera” 

Tortle Druid GellTeresa Ruby   
Tortle PaladinMFDOOMfan446Austin Lyman 
Tortle ClericMarcelYanni Yessios

Tortle DruidMichelangelo Christo Yessios
Tortle WizardSualditWill Torpey Hibschman
Tortle RangerTukkaJohann Hibschman
Tortle Roguenoxcorp Eddit Lyman

 

The intrepid party of ALL Tortles(!) takes off.  After a brief exploration en route of some space debris (a clay tablet written in Babylonian – See Dennis), they soon find their Aether transport ship tied off near the top of the black iron spire again.  They also talk briefly with Phillipe True Tone, the lethargic mayor of the city, who seems slightly less bad off.   After a confirmational consult, they decide to make their way to the city Opera House to confront the next vice/sub-Mayor, Perrin of the Pools (“Poodle”).


The color spectrum is still shades of grey, but some of the oozy roiled gloom of the clouds has lifted some.  Meantime, the other senses are still deadened into flat nothingness.  The party makes their way down the spire, combatting some Spiders of Unusually Sizeable Sizes similar to the first party without event. 
 

Skulking through the alleys and shadows of the city streets, they make their way towards the Opera, and with the assistance of Michelangelo’s animal companion (“Who”, the owl), they gain a bit greater tactical awareness, finding a procession of undead couples (Zombies in top hats & tuxedos, Skeletons in evening gowns) entering the city from across the island’s north bridge.  They investigate to find that the river isn’t quite a river at present, but a queasy, bubbly mass of various monstrous jellies, oozes, slimes (and probably worse) which might discourage swimming.  Fortunately, they find that if the undead cannot be curtailed at their source (where ever that may be, north of the city), at least their entry into the city can be curtailed by lowering the north bridge’s portcullis.  They accomplish this through a bit of finesse, and a magical hand cast by Sualdit to throw the portcullis lever to close the city gate. 

With the zombie apocalypse temporarily denied, the city streets start to clear some as the remaining undead continue to make their way into the Opera house.  The party scouts the perimeter of the building looking for an alternate entrance, where they of course find.  Entering, noxcorp the Rogue scouts the back-of-house areas, finding them empty of hostiles, so the party joins back up. 

Continuing to search through the back-of-house, they find empty musical instrument cases, as all of the brass instruments are missing.  Continuing to search further out, they find various passages & catwalks in the structure for running curtains, lights, backdrops, etc, plus staff back passageways to theater patron areas.  Meantime, the front-of-house has a large audience gathered tonight.  Why yes, it is the zombies & skeletons that they had observed coming this way, and undead is the perfect audience:  they’re seated silently with the tuxedo zombies on the main floor and the evening gown skeletons in the balcony, with no talking, coughing, cellphone use, camera flashes, etc.  

 

And on the stage, they find a Tortle, in Shakespearian garb, holding a skull and performing the soliloquy from Hamlet.  

 

But he is repeating that set of lines …  over and over and over, like a stuck record.

 

They conclude that this is Poogle, so they carefully gather by the Stage Left curtain to prepare to drop the curtain to cut off the undead audience (smart!) to engage him in conversation.  They do so, but Poodle screams “Noooo!  You’ve ruined it!”, drops the skull of Yorik, and sprints off Stage Right.  Oops, forgot to cut off the other exit!  A chase briefly follows, but they lose track of where Poodle has disappeared to.   They regroup and as they’ve gathered up Yorik’s skull, debating how to proceed, and reading the Item Card, they become inspired.  They decide to invoke Speak with Dead with the skull Yorik.  An …interesting… conversation results in them realizing that they missed a secret door in the back-of-house which leads down to the underground catacombs.  It also resulted in some animated discussions when they realize that Yorik was volunteering additional information on Poodle’s personal life – was he listening in on them while they were debating what questions to ask?  Later, they’ll also ask themselves: “Wait!  Was Yorik lying to us?”.

They find the hidden door and proceed down, into Poodle’s Maw-invoked ‘Inner Dungeon’ which is a large freshwater cistern.   Seems that the party didn’t know that the Phantom of the Opera play was based on the actual cistern under Palais Garnier (true!).  They find a few canoe-like boats and with the druid ‘Gell’ transformed into a crocodile form to be their in-water scout, did a circle around the place.  They were unconcerned about wearing armor in the small boats, as they bragged that as Tortles, they can hold their breath for an hour underwater.

On their reconnaissance, they find a water entry & exit (both too small to escape through), plus they paddle past two beaches, neither of which had any fresh tracks, but noticed an odd bubbling in the water just offshore.  Off the second beach, they decide to approach the ‘bubbly’ thing and Gell dove down to engage .. to find a Water Weird now attacking them.  The party range-attacked while Gell acted as hit point sponge, dying near the end and reverting (alive) back to humanoid form.  Realizing that the other ‘bubbly’ spot was probably another Water Weird, they came to realize that Poodle, like them, is a Tortle and could hold his breath for an hour, so they changed their tactics and did a more systematic search of the rest of the cistern, eventually finding & retrieving Poodle for a little chat.  This broke up the Inner Dungeon, where they learned that that brass instruments had been taken away to the brass quarry to the north of the city, after which the undead started to trickle in; a potential summoning circle? 

 

As they’ve done a rescue and gotten some leads on what’s required next to perform the ceremony to reconnect music, the party debates how to go about cleaning up the undead in the city who are residing in the opera house.  After debating some back-of-house passages which could ambush various balconies of skeletons equipped with bows, they settle on a rapid Piñata-drop of their cleric “Marcel” into the center of the theater audience, suspended from above, to maximize the 30’R coverage of his Dispell Undead prayer.  This goes off without a hitch, and with a large swath thus reduced, they beat a rapid retreat as the undead respond and give chase.  Down, down, down the grand staircase the Tortles race, out the Grand Entrance and into the streets of Harmony, where the chasing crowd is bunched up with a wizardly Slow .. whereupon the party discovers a pair of large “Bouncer” sized bodyguard undead Minotaur skeletons which had previously gone undetected.   A few more spells including a pair of fireballs is able to reduce the undead rabble into mop-up combat, leaving the street filled with bones, and fancy garb – - a few silk tophats are taken home as trophies.  Thus successful, the party retraces their way back to the spire, climbed up its 1665 steps, and returned across the Aether back to Beverly and Hireling Hall. 

Run #3:  “Waiter, there’s a Cockatrice in my Soup” 

Tortle WizardCordsen Star Issac Lunar  
Tortle DruidQuoraSvetlana Johnson 
Tabaxi RogueFingers-of-Argyle (Fin)Andrew Duke

Hill Dwarf DruidKvasir Anne Marie Quint
Human FighterSgt. FuryBob Peterson

Loxodon PaladinBeruBob Cook

 

The intrepid party travels via their Aether transport ship and are soon tied off near the top of the black iron spire again.  They also consult briefly with Phillipe True Tone, the lethargic mayor of the city…and repair his broken front door.  They decide to descend the tower and make their way to the RueCler district of fine dining (“46 Stars!”), to seek out the chef/sub-Mayor, Ratatoulle (‘the Rat’).  Instead of dropping down to the main boulevard that others have used before, this intrepid group decides to take a slight back street detour to a suspiciously unlabeled building on the map, which they find is the headquarters of the Town Guard…and occupied!  They converse with a highly paranoid & fatigued ‘Captain Tigre’, a Tabaxi Urban Ranger who is concerned that they could be undead – or shapeshifters.  In exchange for news (and some rations), he provides a Tourism Board pamphlet which has a good map of the city’s layout, and details on the various shops and stores in the fine dining district of RueCler.    

Thus prepared, they head to the nearby RueCler neighborhood without sidequests of random undead encounters.  They find the street itself similar to other (and better) sidestreets – no undead, no people, some debris and trash .. oh wait, that big old trashpile has a Trash Panda on it .. and he’s trash-talking to defend his turf, threatening the party to back off with a pair of hand crossbows.  Party chooses combat and closes in to attack … well, that big old trashpile just took a swing at Sgt. Fury – that trash talking racoon is riding on a Shambling Mound!  The Paladin Beru closes in too, playing a smart game by choosing to do non-lethal damage, and in pretty short order, they have a dead & decomposing Shambler and an unconcious new friend to interrogate .. er, converse with once they awake.  The party quickly learn two things.  First, this street has other Trash-competitors in it, which will be circumvented by the sharing of some rations with a “capture & release”, and they also receive directions to the Rat’s café they’re looking for.

Upon arrival at the café (or is it a Brasserie?), it appears deserted, so they start searching and make their way into the back.  A horn blows, and giant rats start to appear and attack the party.  Rats keep appearing from the horn .. its actually a Cornucopia of ever-flowing Giant Rats.  As the party works to destroy the Cornucopia (and Rats), there’s a scurry of ‘someone else’, who flees.  Sgt Fury gives chase, and when this rat-like creature leaps into a large fireplace to escape, he follows into the flames.  The others follow too, in quick succession … and in doing so, enter into the Place of Madness of Vice-Mayor/Warlock Ratatouille.

Scene Change.

Each party member awakens to find themselves neatly seated at a large dinner table.  The table is covered in a very fine and very white tablecloth, and the table is to the nines for a formal dinner.  In addition to the fine china and crystal, each place seems to have no less than forty-six pieces of silverware, indicating a full & classical seven course meal is ahead of them.  Within the room and behind each of the party members, there’s a pair of floating white gloves of the invisible stalker-esque waitstaff attendants – they gesture and with a flourish, deploy the napkin for each of tonight’s diners.  

APERTIF:  the first course arrives.    The floating white gloves carry small plates out to each diner, and with a flourishing gesture, silently indicate that it is theirs to enjoy.  The party has a bit of a challenge to identify (isn’t Avant-guard stuff usually like this?) .. it kind of looks a little “beak”-ish.  All choose to imbibe, and only Sgt Rock fails his Constitution save, becoming petrified from the cockatrice beaks in béarnaise sauce.  His petrification roils the party, but after two minutes, Sgt Rock de-petrifies and comes to.  

ENTRÉE:  the second course is a soup of ‘Gulag gruel’, with zombie eyeballs.  Again, delivered silently on floating white gloves.  The Druids Quora and Kvasir become a bit nervous and seek out poison and food purification spells.  Thanks to that, has no one fails their STR save.

MAIN:  the primary plate is Blowfish livers sauteed in barracuda brains (for the ciguatera).  The purification spells continue to do their thing, but some of the party is starting to wonder what the point is..casting spells to counteract the dishes seems to be cheating on the experience.  DEX save for brain paralysis.

CHEESE COURSE:  an exotic import this time, of Casgiu Merzu, which is a Sardinian sheep mile cheese which contains live insect larvae (maggots) crawling through it.  It was about here where it started to get more interesting for the Party, since they actually recognized this actually quite real food.  Kvasir bows out; she will be ignored for the rest of the meal’s courses.  Quora feigns that she is allergic to maggots(?), which is eventually accepted and an alternative cheese is brought out for her, which contains phase beetles.  WIS save or be frozen with nausea.  Sgt. Fury and Beru start to quickly scarf down their courses before Quora can cast purification … and from here on out get paralyzed several more times. 

LE DESSERT:  a choice is offered:  Way Too Sticky Buns -or- Chocolate Coated Sugar Bombs.  The now-reduced party continues .. and struggles with the stickiness .. but makes their way through.  A few of the diners become frozen with bliss of the sweetness overload (INT save).  Fury and Beru ask for both, of course, and are accommodated.  

LE CAFÉ:  another reality based exotic import this time, of Kopi Luwak, which gets a strong reaction (and wonderful roleplay) from Fingers-of-Argyle (Fin), the Tabaxi Rogue.  Fin explained that this world’s version of Kopi Luwak doesn’t use a civit … but Tabaxi.  Fin is struggling with if he, as a Tabaxi can thus imbibe.  Does he make his self-imposed WIL save? In the end (get it?), those who can imbibe get called upon for a CHA save vs rectal pucker freeze.  

DIGESTIF:  the final course is a quaff of distilled spirits, and another choice is offered:  Delirium Absinthe or a Zombie.   Fury and Beru ask for both, of course, and are accommodated, and chug them down before any meddling purification spells ruin the fun.  They both fail their {Weakest Save} and become a paralyzed Zombie for a bit again, which also means that every remaining diner has failed at least one course’s saving throw. 

But by failing, they succeeded:  the chef, Ratatouille, appears, quite shaken but now smiling.  He thanks the group for their participation in his indulgence of the highest level of non-fine dining as a perversion (& Inner Dungeon):  it was their belief that dining should be a real experience is what broke the spell and set him free.   The party goes on their way .. and Ratatouille forgot to hit them up with the bill.  Collectors will be along, eventually!

  

Run #4:  “The Trojan Nickle Board” 

Dwarf FighterBrummuki of the [Clan] Jan Skowranek  
Human BardLiamGeorge McBride 
Tiefling WizardMorganKeith Eienbeis

½ Orc BarbarianNargulur Katerina Kanevche
½ Elf BardSeveren LighteyesKelly West
Human ClericSiderius NoxxRon Seidel

Human WizardVisen NightstarAlan Zitomer

Sunday morning and it’s the final run .. lots of work still to do, so the Party moves quickly to the Spire, then down into the City.  They bring with them a huge wooden club, which they take to Pentamoto at the DOM – the church’s wooden bell’s clapper has been found and returned, enabling a Constellation Ceremony. 

Next, they’re off to Champs, to see a Dullahan named Machi about restoring the City’s sense of Smell.  They see & avoid the district’s High Society crowd, out parading the boulevard in this season’s finest cotton wrappings that any mummy would die to wear, and make their way safely to the Perfumery.   Upon entering, they find a few humans behind the counter, offering service.  Of just what is not clear, as there are no products on the shelves.  After a few words and more heightened insistences to see the owner (Machi) which are being stonewalled, Brummuki pushes his way past them and into the back of the shop, where he sees a path leading down, which he takes.  The rest quickly follow.   The path becomes darker and steeper until Brummuki loses his footing and rides a slide to the bottom.  The rest of the group will arrive sequentially, in dribs and drabs.  

Within this Inner Dungeon is what appears to be an alchemist’s workshop.  Shelves ahead filled with bottles of stuff, books, body parts floating in jars, some poor soul’s head, etc.  To the side, there’s some light from gas burners and the chemistry bench proper, where there stands a humanoid of sorts – - white lab coat, black rubber gloves and boots – - working at the bench with their back to them.  As they try to engage with the alchemist, they’re hit by a flying blade .. thrown blind by the alchemist!  And a sneak attack!  A more proper fight happens as more party members arrive in a tumble to contribute, and in fairly short order, the alchemist goes down .. and their head rolls over into the corner.  Yet another sneak attack of a dagger.  The party starts to look for invisible creatures (nope!).  But then they spy that ‘poor soul’s head’ on the shelf and they realize that the clue was indeed of a Dullahan.  The head is attacked and dispatched … and everyone appears back in the storefront upstairs; another Inner Dungeon jailbreak.  

Machi appears and thanks them for their attention, and offers small talk on what next season’s perfume scents should be .. perhaps Ode d’Mummy .. if they could perhaps arrange to have the Mayor clear  the street of undead soon?   Thus resolved expeditiously (and avoiding extensive runarounds of the staff minions), the group makes their way to their next appointed round, namely the Orsay, a museum of fine arts and artifacts.  When they left Hireling Hall, they were given a large hollow stone ‘coin’ that they could use with subterfuge as a “new exhibit” with the party’s Rogue hidden inside to gain undetected entrance to the currently closed building.  

Before pursuing this route, they conduct a detailed reconnoiter of the building, and find a loose latch on a roof skylight that can be exploited.  They spend a great deal of time using the various skylights to map out the building and identifying what makes this ‘heist’ problematic.  The catch is that this Vice-Mayor .. Carillon of {…}, a Minotaur, has made the entire museum into his Inner Dungeon and the place is filled with mysterious mirrors which emanate magic – seem to be something “final run” type, perhaps of Opposition .. but there’s dozens of them.   The party does find a ‘landing’ spot where they can put two down without causing any reflections (invisibility helps) and they start to break mirrors, making a tortuous and slow path through the exhibit halls and clearing a ‘safe’ space as they go which enables the rest of the party to join as a konga line.

As they wind through the exhibits, they help themselves to some magical artifacts on display, because you know, just in case they might be handy later on.  Two thirds of the way through, they find a closed door, and mapping suggests an unknown space, rather than a door to the building’s exterior.  They bypass it for now and finish clearing the mirrors trap.  With this tedious work now done, the party deploys tactically for a door opening.  It opens towards them and as it does, a wall of black puddling-like tarry ooze flows quickly forth, threatening to envelope them.   Everyone retreats, a few get nearly trapped, and as the ooze flow spreads, it becomes less deep … and from within the ooze a large head – - then shoulders – then sword – - appears, as Carillon advances to attack.  A swirl of actions of dodging ooze, avoiding (or making) melee attacks, trying to missile, then move to escape the flowing ooze results in a few players surfing on a flying carpet over the ooze to get close enough to attack, while also trying to not fall in.  Eventually, they succeed and Carillon’s body drops face-down into the ooze.  Pulling back, the ooze shifts from black as does Carillon too, into a more human form.  He sits up and introduces himself as ‘Adam’.  He gets filled in on what all has happened in the City and how he had apparently made his Inner Dungeon a Minotaur’s maze.  Adam does not know what the mirrors themselves manifested, but the GM does .. and will use it again in the future. 

The party is released, but has one more task assigned:  take out the undead gate that was created using the Opera’s brass instruments.  They proceed to develop a plan, which employs some of the artifacts of the museum, to carpet-fly over to the brass quarry to avoid the slimed river hazards.   They apply a very liberal dose of magical area spells to ‘soften up’ the undead before they risk melee, which works quite well for an encounter designed for a second run group.  With ground zero cleared of higher level undead, they make short work of breaking the brass gate and again of the undead zombies & skeletons which had made it to this plane, were quickly mopped up.  Thus the heroes, they head back to the Spire to return to Hireling Hall, with only a few forgotten minor details (like returning the borrowed artifacts, or clearing mummies from Champs), but well done, and expeditiously so, thirty minutes before the Con’s end time.

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Alex’s scenario recap (PrinceCon 46)

Alex’s Scenario Recap

Overview

There were two primary components of my scenario:

  • A leviathan (aether whale) named Cygnus, Beverly’s son.

  • A (former) constellation of petit planets bound by a Great Charter.

 

The general arc of expeditions was to:

  1. Explore with Cygnus as transport and get a sense of the Firmament and the dangers out there, map the locations of some Worlds, and… lose Cygnus to the Maw.

  2. Explore the World of Runnymede in more detail and begin to understand more about connections between Worlds.

  3. Explore the World of Keebler and make connections between it, Runnymede, and Bayeux.

  4. Explore the World of Saguaro and make connections between it, Runnymede, Bayeux, Keebler, and Yap to create the first Constellation.

  5. Explore an object in a very low orbit around the Maw, discover that it is Cygnus, and help Cygnus decide what to do next.

 

Open Wide!

Fri 17:34 – Sat 02:05 (8.5h)

Player Characters

Agnes Syquis, Human Wizard (Divination)

Dr. Wyndilakrius, Kenku Warlock (Maw)

Elrhana (Lia), Kenku Bard

Kvasir, Dwarf Druid

Palle Lorek, Tortle Fighter

Senchan Haddock, Kenku Cleric

Stealthephant, Loxodon Rogue

What Happened

We need to know more about the Maw!  An astronomer and an astrologer are outfitting Cygnus, Beverly’s calf, to go on a scouting mission.  When the party arrives, they see that Cygnus is “only” 600ft long, and does not yet have any permanent structures on him, like there are on Beverly.  Various modules are connected via flexible leather tubes.  A gnomish crew maintained the modules and tubes (which were fitted for the use of small creatures).

 

Agnes was an astrologer, and had an interest in checking in with them first.  The party introduced themselves to Da’anorli (Dan for short), a high elf; Sibyl Rider, a tortle woman who enjoys going on aether walks; Cassandra Waite, a tabaxi woman who goes by  “Mama Cass”.  Dan has been a foil to the astronomer Gillian (see below) in debates between Astronomers and Astrologers.  To the surprise of many, he supported this mission, but only if the Astrologers were also represented.  Senchan expressed his concerns about the mission; to assuage his fears, Dan laid out a Tarot reading that … that did not look promising to Agnes’s eyes.

 

Dr. Wyndilakrius was an astronomer, and confidently nervous to meet the other astronomers onboard.  Dr. Gillian McRae was a human woman who was responsible for organizing this expedition.  She is well respected within the Astronomer community and wants hard evidence on the nature of the Maw that can only be gained through study of it in closer proximity.  She hypothesizes that the Maw is not a physical object, but a magical shroud.  If that’s so, it raises the question: what is it hiding?  She has two assistants to help with her astronomical equipment and readings.  Dr. Alex Durant, a loxodon man, and Dr. Marcie Lewis, a halfling woman.

 

There are also three of “Beverly’s children” on board to be the Voice of Cygnus.  Palle, Kvasir, and Stealthephant entertained the children, and bonded especially with Michael.  On their journey they encountered an emotional nebula in which each person experienced an overpowering emotion; sadly, while Michael was distraught with sadness, Palle was gripped with apathy.  In order to go around the emotional nebula, they ventured into the middle ring around the Maw.

 

They made friends with aether dolphins, who followed Cygnus and the free food that the party fed them.

 

They did a flyby of a flat planet (its name was later found to be Runnymede) and mapped what they could from afar for later investigation.

 

They spied a small planet in the outer ring, and in going to investigate, discovered the time dilation between rings: 1 month was passing in the middle ring per day in the outer ring.  The planet in the outer ring was a sphere with a large tree growing on it (its name was later discovered to be Keebler).

 

Back into the middle ring, they encountered the World Loom of Bayeux and met the weaver, a Lapin (an anthropomorphic rabbit).  He called Hildegard von Blingin’ from the world weaving, and she left for Vega Cluster on a borrowed aether dolphin.

 

Finally, they headed for the inner ring to scout the Maw.  Cygnus was grabbed by a tendril of darkness extending from the Maw, and the party evacuated everyone they could, connecting the “escape pod” of dolphins to a module they detached from the structures on Cygnus and getting a boost from a tail slap.  The party blacked out from g-forces, and woke up later and returned home with their findings.  Gillian stayed behind to be with Cygnus, and Agnes sacrificed themself to buy the party time (though once Cygnus managed to stabilize his orbit, Gillian picked up Agnes and brought them onboard).

The Great Charter

Sat 09:10 – Sat 13:07 (3.9h)

Player Characters

Chester “PeaceBringer” Lucian, Tabaxi Monk

Gareth Firebringer, Tiefling Wizard

Glide, Kenku Cleric

Severen Lighteyes, Half-Elf Bard

What Happened

Revisited Bayeux to better assess the damage to the World Loom.  The shuttle is cracked and unusable, and the frame will require more wood to repair somewhere down the line.  Rabbit recalls that the wood for the Loom came from the Mercer Oak on Runnymede, so the party decided that’s where they would go next.

 

On Runnymede, the party spoke with the Eponai (anthropomorphic horses) and learned that the Great Charter had been lost.  Without the Charter, they are now resorting to their ancient traditions of vis et voluntas, or “force and will” to decide their next King.  The jousting lists are long.  There are still some holdouts in Windsey Castle who support the Chancellor (“Ex-Chancellor!”).  The party agreed this was Not Their Problem™ and asked about the Mercer Oak.  The Eponai pointed to the swamps where the forest that was the home of the Mercer Oak used to be, and cursed the Vulpini (anthropomorphic foxes) for destroying the forest.

 

The party headed to the swamp and encountered a Kenku who gave a somewhat different story of what happened to the forest.  She was partial to the Vulpini side of the story, explaining that the Vulpini were never part of the original Charter, and finally revealed that she was Marian of the Hood, leader of the Vulpini on Runnymede.  She offered a plan to create a new Great Charter, and gave the party a vellum document that placed a Suggestion on whoever read it that the Vulpini should rule Runnymede, and a quill that could copy any person’s signature.  If the party could at least get the Vulpini a seat at the governing table, she would give them a piece of Mercer Oak, kept in safekeeping in the bogs, that was large enough to create a new shuttle for the World Loom.

 

The party agreed their ultimate goal was to create a connection of trade between Runnymede and Bayeux: wool from the goats of Runnymede in exchange for pennons woven at Bayeux, and the excess wool going to weave on the World Loom.  Getting the wood for the shuttle would be key; however, they did not fully agree on how they would go about doing this.

 

They made their way to Windsey Castle to talk to (ex-)Chancellor Megan and (ex-)Chequer Daddle, who were initially wary b/c the party had talked to the “rebels” first.  The Chancellor comes around when the party explains their mission, and explains more about the problem with the Great Charter: it disappeared from the Charter Isle, and in its place have appeared competing and contradictory versions of the Charter.  The party goes to the Library, where they meet the WOL, an owlish Kenku who is one of the four Paragons that witnessed the original signing of the Great Charter.  They learn he has been Keeper of the Charter since, and when the original Charter disappeared, he tried to write out copies to send to the Marshals of the Fields of Runnymede, but every copy came out different.  He had been feeding his fear of looking foolish to the Maw, and the party helped him to write consistent copies of the Great Charter.  This new Charter included Vulpini Marshals, was signed by all parties, and while Marian did not become Queen of Runnymede, she honored her bargain and gave the party a hunk of Mercer Oak wood.  This was fashioned into a shuttle and taken to Bayeux along with a load of wool, and pennons returned to Runnymede, and a mutual connection established.

Bench Knives Out

Sat 13:28 – Sat 19:13 (5.7h)

Player Characters

A-ran-nis the Cursed, Elf Warlock (Maw)

Gully Foyle, Dragonborn Fighter

Liam, Human Bard

Siderius Noxx, Human Cleric

Visen Nightstar, Human Wizard

What Happened

The party was looking to make further connections between Worlds, so they went to this small spherical world with a giant tree on it.  There they found a family of elves that looked more to their eyes like gnomes – small of stature in brightly-colored clothes.  The Keeblers welcomed the party and explained that they needed flour, eggs, butter, and a sweetener in order to make their cookies.  The party was all ready to go off and find these ingredients, but were drawn to the problem of the missing Erne Keebler.

 

Immediate suspicion fell on Roger, who had gone off to Vega Cluster and returned just a day or two before Ernie’s disappearance.  Roger was a high elf, adopted into the family many years ago, and apparently the cause of friction because of his seemingly constant need to innovate the types of cookies the family baked (at least, according to Ma Keebler).  The party searched the house and Ernie’s room, finding only some rainbow-colored crumbs that Ma said she had never made cookies with.  A-ran-nis decided to eat one of the crumbs, and found it was poisoned.  In his agony, his patron the Maw offered to ease the pain, but he refused and recovered.

 

That night A-ran-nis staked out Roger’s room, and observed Roger leave via his window, and visit the brown lake of fudge that was near the tree.  In the morning, Gully and Liam discovered Ernie’s body in the lake of fudge, apparently dead from poisoning.  A-ran-nis was now certain of Roger’s guilt, though Siderius noted, “Every time I’m absolutely sure about something, I’m wrong.”  When they questioned Roger, he broke down crying and told them of how he felt unwelcome by some members of the Keebler family, his trip to Vega Cluster as the Princess of Keebler, his ideas about a new type of cookie with rainbow chunks instead of fudge chunks, and how he found the courage to return to Keebler.  When he returned, Ernie was open to the idea of a Rainbow Chunks Deluxe cookie, but died when he ate one of the cookies Roger baked.

 

Now the party tried to pin down the timing of when rainbow chunks became poisoned, because they were suspicious that someone on Vega Cluster was behind it.  Roger swore that he had tasted chunks on Vega Cluster, so the party turned to going over the facts with the other Keeblers.  Ma Keebler revealed her Inner Maw, driven by a fear of the changes that Roger proposed, and the party helped her take responsibility for Ernie’s death.  She relocated to another planet, and the Keeblers were *almost* ready to start making cookies, but they needed a sweetener from Saguaro.

Beware the Worm

Sat 19:40 – Sun 01:35 (5.9h)

Player Characters

Lisha, Elf Rogue

Betsy Shell, Tortle Druid

Brummuki of the Angernanimel, Dwarf Fighter

Julian ‘Jules’ DuBois, Half-Elf Rogue

Marsh Potao, Kenku Druid

Nargullur, Half-Orc Barbarian

Ned, Tortle Druid

Prof Irving Weil, Human Warlock

Shemeber of Tzboiim, Human Wizard

What Happened

The party was charged with exploring Saguaro.  Along the way, Brummuki and Nargullur were interested in investigating the fate of the World Chitt-crrt; heading to the coordinates given, they saw it being consumed by the Maw, but also observed an object in low orbit around Maw, which would bear investigation for later.

 

Saguaro’s upper atmosphere was a shell of swirling sand… or was it sugar?  They created a hole in the barrier to get to the surface, and found it was… sand, not sugar!  Sand as far as the eye could see in the low ambient light, but were there figures on the top of that dune in the distance?  In fact they were 3 large cacti (each 10-15′ tall).  Ned’s attempt to carve a sample from one of the cacti resulted in a blow that sent them sprawling, and the party heard whispers in the wind: “Beware the Worm; Fear the Crow.”

 

With the aid of an item that would point them in the direction of Saguaro’s World Heart, they set off on summoned camels.  After a time, they noticed that the cacti were not receding into the distance as expected, but it wasn’t until they came upon the entrance to a ravine that they could be sure that the cacti were in fact following them, and that they weren’t being impeded from making forward progress.  Down the ravine they went, with cacti following, until they came to a space where several paths ended around an enormous blue agave plant, with what appeared to be a worm(?) on it.  However, when the party debated destroying it, the cacti became aggravated and threatening.  They eventually figured out how to communicate with the Cactus Folk, and learned that this was the larva of the guardian of the World Heart, and it needed light and heat to pupate, grow, and fight the Worm.

 

Armed with this information, the party decided to set a trap for, and attack, the Worm, which the Cactus Folk had described as being able to swallow three of their warriors whole at a bite.  After 2 rounds of combat, the party was in full flight and reconsidered their options.

 

They built an enclosure that would be conducive to the larva pupating, and then left the planet for a while, returning when a year had passed (Saguaro was in the inner ring about the Maw, where a year would pass for each day in the outer ring).  Upon return, the larva had become a giant moth, carried off the Worm, and tossed it into the Maw.

 

With these problems solved, the group had Connections between 5 Worlds and created the constellation of the Great Snacker!

In, Through, … and Beyond

Sun 09:34 – Sun 14:21 (4.8h)

Player Characters

A-ran-nis the Cursed, Elf Warlock

MFDOOMfan446, Tortle Paladin

Marcel, Tortle Cleric

Michelangelo, Tortle Druid

Sualdit, Tortle Wizard

Tukka, Tortle Ranger

noxcorp, Tortle Rogue

What Happened

A well-balanced party of adolescent tortles was joined by A-ran-nis to investigate an object in low orbit around Maw, which had been observed by a previous party.  They went in a ship run by the AI Henry, who practiced their humor with the party on the journey.  They had some difficulty fighting the Maw’s pull until they neared the object, which turned out to be an enormous ship.  In the space near the ship, they did not feel the pull of the Maw.

 

They landed Henry’s ship on a docking port, and security (unseen, just a voice on a speaker) asked them to leave behind their weapons, but once inside, they seemed to be allowed to explore freely.  They spoke to a number of people who had been rescued by this ship, and had apparently been doing so for decades.  Going through research papers produced by the scientists on the ship, they found references to readings taken by Dr. Wyndilakrius 105 years ago, when they knew that these readings had been taken on that astronomer’s trip to the Maw (see the cast of Open Wide! above).

 

Realizing the time dilation must be even greater for this ship than the rest of the inner ring, they explored the astronomy lab and then the astrologer’s den, where they discovered that Agnes Syquis was still alive and grown to a very advanced age.  From her they discovered that this ship was, in fact, Cygnus grown to his adult size.

 

The party eventually met with the half-elven Dr. Max Reinherz, captain and confidante of Cygnus, who told the party of her plan to go with Cygnus into the Maw at an angle that would transport them to a Firmament where Cygnus could be a child again, and live happily with his mother.  However, other adventurers (see Dennis’s recap) had stolen the probe that would give her the final readings to calculate the correct angle of approach.  The party and Henry agreed to have Henry’s ship updated to be able to get these readings.

 

While on this mission, they debated whether to enter the Maw on their own, ahead of Max and Cygnus, but ultimately decided against it.  Word had arrived from Hireling Hall that many worlds swallowed by the Maw still existed inside the Maw, and they convinced Max and Cygnus to help the people trapped there.

 

Henry took all the crew and families on Cygnus who were afraid to enter the Maw back to Beverly.

 

Upon entering the Maw, the adventurers “entered a place so dark that it’s impossible to see.  You’re there for a time that you cannot measure, until there is an explosion of every color of the rainbow, and you feel propelled at an unimaginable rate through a corridor of colors flashing by, until all has gone dark again.  But, not quite.  As your eyes adjust, you see an inverted glowing Maw set in a field of misty grey. Through the mist, you begin to pick out a number of little planets, dark and forlorn, and ready to be saved.”

Read More

Zach’s scenario recap (PrinceCon 46)

Prologue

Before the Maw grew in the Firmament, consuming all in its path, people who were bored came to visit Bor’d to play some board games. With each completion of a planet-sized game, the planet thrived, able to generate boundless resources without causing wear or tear to its pieces. However, as word spread about Bor’d, people with mal intentions game to play. They wanted to take advantage of the planet and farm its resources. Unknowingly, the misplaced hearts of these winners caused the games to degrade, worrying The Villagers or the people who lived on the planet. Soon, it fell on their hands to repair the games. Jacob, however, saw this as unsustainable. What was needed was a player who could beat those who played the game just for their resources. He went on to find The Villager who was best suited for this role, looking for a person he called “The Player.” After testing The Villagers for their gaming skills, Jacob found no one good enough for the role. It is unknown whether Jacob tried to train someone to be The Player, but the end result was Jacob ruining many of his relationships with other Villagers. As a result, Jacob decided the person that must take the mantle of The Player should be himself.

TL;DR of what happened next

As The Player, Jacob did not fully succeed in protecting Bor’d from both mal-intentioned players and maw-afflicted raiders. So much so that it caused him to be slowly afflicted with the Maw and leaving an unfinished game of Catan.

The first expeditioners come to Bor’d, fighting maw-afflicted raiders and finding The Dice, Bor’d’s world heart. In the process, they learn how to play the game and get hints about The Player’s history.

The second expeditioners go into The Player’s inner dungeon, clearing him from the effects of the maw. They also find out how to activate The Dice: finishing games and rebuilding relationships.

The third expeditioners activate the world heart. They also learn how the winner of the game can improve/degrade the state of Bor’d depending on their heart’s intentions. Finally, they learn about constellation requirements.

The fourth expeditioners finish rebuilding all relationships. They also learn about constellary rituals as the first constellary bonds are formed.

The fifth expeditioners fight back against the maw-afflicted raiders. They also learn about Jacob’s failures and help him accept the maw that lives inside him.

 

Run 1: Catan

On Whale’s Tail, Ra’alith, a gith bounty hunter, looks for a party to join them on an expedition to a distant planet to gather resources. Brummuki, Derek, Gobi, Myra, Nargullur, and Sir Luxembourg join the expedition. Before they leave on a bounty hunter ship, the party realizes that all other parties are going on expeditions to help save a planet and push back the Maw whereas they are going out to take resources. When asking Ra’alith about this, she explains that she does not know how to save this planet, if possible, but she assumes that the resources will be important for saving other plants.

Upon arriving on the planet Bor’d, they find a game laid out on its 25-square-mile mahogany table surface. Amongst the game’s disarray, they meet the Villagers, the 7 people who live on the 25-square-mile surface of the planet. In the process, they learn about how the planet can be fixed either by repairing game parts or by cheering up The Player, the 5-mile tall human who sets up the game. They also learn about the game of Catan and how it can be played with The Dice, an artifact that causes changes to the game.

The party ponders on the fact that the game of Catan lacks resources and the fact that The Player also loves playing games. In the end, they decide that the best way to help repair Bor’d is by taking the mantle of The Player’s opponent and finishing the game.

To do so, the party sets off to find The Dice which, according to the Villagers, was last seen with Ra’alith. When Derek confronts Ra’alith about the matter, Ra’alith tells the party about their experience with The Player and how she lost her partner and The Dice due to The Player punishing them for cheating in the game.

After Ra’alith tells them how The Dice works, Nargullur befriends a shark to help them locate The Dice. However, she discovers multiple sets of Dice at the bottom of the ocean. The party works overnight to upgrade the bounty hunter ship to be able to dive into the depths of the ocean. Once they do, Gobi is able to use their knowledge of different metals to find the right pair of dice.

While this occurs, Brummuki learns from Daenelis that Ra’alith is most likely part of the faction of gith who want to speed up the spread of the Maw. The dwarf runs back to the ship’s location only to find Ra’alith pushing the party out of the ship. However, as the ship lifts off to leave, Sir Luxemborg hears Brummuki and jumps onto the ship. The party works together to wrangle the ship out of Ra’alith’s control and retrieve The Dice. Unfortunately, Ra’alith escapes with another bounty hunter ship waiting on standby.

With The Dice in hand, the party plays the game. The Player reluctantly plays Catan with the party. In the process, the party learns that their actions on the board of Catan allow them to affect the roll of The Dice. Using this to their advantage, the party easily wins against The Player. As The Player throws a tantrum, the party leaves to go back to Whale’s Tail.

Run 2: Munchkin

As the people on Beverly learn about the existence of world hearts, a new gith astrologer assembles a new party to return to Bor’d in order to retrieve and activate it’s world heart. However, as the party of Edmund, Evaleen, Kreeg, and Narkos assembles, the astrologer learns that The Dice have entered an afflicted state due to The Player turning into a Maw-touched creature. Having some experience with helping out Maw-touched, the party goes off to the planet.

Upon arriving on the planet, they find The Villagers a safe distance away from The Player who is currently bawling on the surface of Bor’d. They learn from the Villagers that The Player used to be a Villager called Jacob. However, relationships between Jacob and the rest of The Villagers soured. Hence, they currently do not know how to help him.

Knowing that may be afflicting The Player, the party goes into their inner dungeon, meeting a child named Jacob and finding a note saying bring Jacob to the exit which was four rooms away. In the second room, they meet the Maw incarnations of the Villagers Yala and Zaunna in a Judge’s bench. Kreeg protects Jacob from their punishments while Narkos charges up to destroy them. In the third room, they meet the Maw incarnations of Daenelis and Morren standing on chests in a tiled room, most of which are trapped. Evaleen and Edmund used cotton candy clouds to float through the room and gave them to the rest of the party to retrieve the items in the chests. In the fourth room, the party meets the giant versions of Alqun and Nuqla, whose debate has manifested into actual weapons getting hurled across the room. Amidst the chaos, the party realizes that these Maw incarnations of The Villagers reflect how The Player sees The Villagers or maybe vice versa. With this in mind, the party convinces Alqun and Nuqla to walk in each other’s shoes and give each other a chance. In the process, they learn that, in order to activate The Dice, both the games of the planet and the relationships between The Villagers and Jacob must be repaired.

In the final room, they find the Maw incarnation of Okutur, The Villager who used to be Jacob’s closest friend, firing arrows at the boy from 200 feet away. According to Okutur’s bad memory of Jacob, someone has to lose in a game and sometimes someone has to get hurt in order to uphold fun. As the barrage of arrows went, the party convinces Okutur that today it is them who needs to lose.

As they exit the last door, the party finds them on the surface of Bor’d. The Player appears to have returned to their normal self and The Dice are back to their inactive state. Before the party travels back to Whale’s Tail, the party helps The Villagers and The Player realize that they have both wronged each other in one way or another, and, in order to fix their relationship and save Bor’d, both parties must be willing to give each other a chance. In the end, everyone on Bor’d agree to make an effort to fix their relationship, although some more reluctantly than others.

 

Run 3: Here to Slay

Having learned of the restoration of The Dice, the gith astrologer on Beverly once again asks for volunteers to go on another expedition. This time to activate The Dice, reigniting Bor’d as one of the stars that would push back the Maw. The party that volunteers for the expedition is composed of Jules, Kv, March Potao, Penelope, Professor Irving, and postdoc Shemeber. The gith briefs them, mentioning that the previous expedition learned that the relationships and games of Bor’d must be repaired in order to activate The Dice.

Upon arriving on Bor’d, the party talks to The Player who has been updated by some of The Villagers about the ongoing efforts of the people of Beverly to push back the Maw. The Player finally reveals how the games of Bor’d work. In essence, if the heart of the player who wins the game has positive intentions for planet Bor’d, then the planet is refreshed and rebuilt when the game ends. Otherwise, it degrades, resulting in spilled food, broken parts, and faded markings seen in previous games. The Player then suggests playing one of Bor’d’s more complicated games in order to create a more restorative effect — assuming that the party has positive intentions for the planet. To this, the party agrees, choosing Here to Slay over Dead of Winter.

During the game, the party must to recruit Heroes and/or retrieve Monster parts in order to win. When recruiting Heroes, they can learn more about their relationship with The Villager. On the other hand, when retrieving Monster parts, they can learn more about other planets and how to help push back the Maw. Professor Irving maximizing recruitment and retrieval so as to repair as many relationships and learn as much about other planets.

In the game, the party recruits three heroes. Marsh finds Yala sleeping amidst a rockslide. Upon waking him up, Yala tells the story of how Jacob once tried to fight against the previous players of Bor’d but was unsuccessful — the frustration of which caused the Maw to grow in Jacob. Kv takes Daenelis up on their drinking challenge in which anyone can do anything to make the other person throw up. Upon beating them, the impressed Daenelis tells this story of how Jacob refused to play games from their own home planet which made Daenelis sad. Finally, Jules finds Alqun meditating up in the trees and tries to convince him to join the party. Alqun, however, is reluctant saying that it’s difficult to hear Jacob’s kind heart due to the whole mess. Jules convinces Alqun that Jacob has apologized for their actions which is enough to convince Alqun to join the party. After each recruitment, the party helps each Villager to remember good memories between them and Jacob, slowly helping them let go of grudges and focus on working together to rebuild the planet.

As for monster parts, the party retrieved two monster parts. Penelope caused the twinned-dragon’s claw to fall to the ground while postdoc knocked the tooth out of the kanghemoth. After each battle, the party saw visions of constellations which pushed back against the Maw. They learned that each planet involved in the constellation must give something to some planet and take some from some planet. With the final vision, the game ends and The Dice glow a radiant light that could be seen from across the firmament. Some of The Villagers and The Player begin talking to each other. To further help them rebuild relationships, the party teaches them how to play Dungeons and Dragons. After that, the party hurriedly returns to the Whale’s Tail in order to spread word about the power of constellations and how to form them.

 

Run 4: Dead of Winter

With information about building constellations spreads throughout the firmament, the gith astrologer organizes another expedition. This time, she hopes to learn more about constellations and retrieve resources that could be given to other planets. Kriv, Chester, Gareth, Gell, Derek, and Eagle Screech quickly volunteer.

Upon arriving on Bor’d, they find an apocalyptic land space on its surface. Finding Jacob, he explains that, in hopes of rebuilding more relationships with The Villagers, they wanted to play a cooperative game. Hence, they had set up Dead of Winter. Unfortunately, a large chunk of the instructions were missing but he believed the expedition would be able to figure it out.

Not long into the game, the party learns that they must find a sustainable way to live in the apocalypse to win. Most of the party quickly go into an abandoned bunker to set up as their sustainable base. The party clears it out, with Kriv and Gareth dealing massive amounts of damage. Chester then begins to barricade and repair the location. As this night passes, Severen spots Nuqla, one of The Villagers turned survivors, in less than positive terms with the group. Upon talking to her, Nuqla explains how emotions have no place in astronomical research and that rebuilding relationships will not help in saving Bor’d, much less the Firmament. The party helps Nuqla realize the flaws in their argument. As this occurs, a ray of light shoots from The Dice to a distant location. Nuqla and Gell recognize this as the premature connections of a constellation. Gell studies this connection and learns of the ritual needed in order to fully form constellations.

As for Derek and Eagle Screech, they go to investigate the survivors whom Gell also spotted repairing a cell tower. There, they find a colony being set up by Morren and Okutur. After learning that The Player is with them, Morren says that they are unwilling to let the rest of their party into the colony. After some persuasion, Morren explains that The Villagers have tried multiple times to reconnect with The Player but he had never reciprocated. The two convince Morren that Jacob is willing to cooperate and that he will be the one to initiate rebuilding relationships this time around. Although reluctant, Morren gives them the go signal to bring the rest of the party.

Morren’s colony (with some resources from The Party) go to rebuild the bridge connecting their region to the colony. Then, the whole party uses magic to sneak by the zombies and join the colony. With that, the game ends and the party receive a Resource Card to be used to make connections with other planets. Before the party leaves, however, Derek follows an intuition and finds Mahogany inside of the table that is Bor’d. With minimal convincing, the dryad decides to join as a Villager of Bor’d, serving as its caretaker. With that, another constellary bond is made, showing out to yet another point in the sky.

Run 5: Monopoly

Having learned about news of constellations coming from Bor’d and constellary bonds forming with it, Ra’alith returns to wreak havoc on the planet. Jacob surmises that they are planning to destroy The Dice. Hurriedly, Jacob walks through the book of doors to get to the Whale’s Tail and forms a last-minute expedition with Kriv, Gareth, Derek, and Ned.

Upon arriving on the planet, they find all of its board games scattered and broken. The only one left is Monopoly. All The Villagers, now including Jacob and Mahogany, agree that they are useless in a fight, but they can provide support through this game. Asking the party to protect The Dice, The Villagers quickly set up the game.

As the setup concludes, the gith set up their own game, throwing down pieces from Catan and Dead of Winter to attack the party. Quickly dispatching the enemies, the party goes to find the bounty hunter ship that was responsible for the attack. With Derek going back to the Monopoly board, Ned and Kriv deal with the surrounding enemies allowing Gareth to destroy the bounty hunter ship which the gith were upgrading with some Dice stealing appendage.

Back on the Monopoly board, Derek goes to jail out of curiosity and finds what appears to be a Maw-afflicted Jacob. Derek rushes over to Jacob’s property in the game and finds Jacob, quite happy and content with his relationships. However, as Derek and Jacob converse, the Maw incarnation of Jacob appears crying at the property’s doorstep. He explains that he has failed in protecting Bor’d, that he had sacrificed much of his relationships as he overthrew the previous players, and yet he was not a good enough player to keep the planet protected from mal-intentioned attackers and players. Derek, however, begins to realize the truth about the Maw and how it is simply a part of us and is controlled by who we choose to be. With this in mind, Derek is able to help Jacob accept his Maw incarnation, fusing them back into a new Jacob.

As the party reunites on Bor’d, the last bounty hunter ship lands on the Monopoly board. Ra’alith steps out, defeated. The party converses with her, learning of her true story, how the Maw has always been a part of her life, and how she wanted to make others feel exactly how she felt. The party explains that they now understand how she feels and how to fix it: to find connections that will allow her not to quell the Maw but simply take control of it and prevent it from spiraling out of control. With that Derek chooses to remain on Bor’d as one of its Villagers, performing the rituals of being a part of Bor’d by being the designated game master for a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons.

Epilogue

Gareth and Ned go to different planets, delivering resources and living games from the planet of Bor’d. In the process, Bor’d becomes a part of The Great Whale, the constellation that spans the whole Firmament and keeps the Maw at bay.

Read More

Dennis’s scenario recap (PrinceCon 46)

The Sisters

Princess Bathtilda of Logia was despondent after losing touch with uncle Karo Ermine, princess of Nomos. The party of Jules, Penelope, Prof. Weil, Ruth, Shemeber, and Sylvester discovered, talking to various people on Logia, that all forms of communication and travel between the sister planets had broken down, including the Amber Ladder, the royal carriage, and the Tabaxi taxi service. Investigating the Soobers Tabaxi taxi company, they discovered contract negotiations over profit-sharing and the handover point had broken down. They convinced taxi pilot Zeetra to take them to Nomos in order to talk to the other taxi company, talk to Princess Karo Ermine, and see the other side of the coin.

After delivering Bathtilda to the curmudgeonly Princess Karo, the party put pressure on taxi boss K’Bye to open services again and relieve the hunger on Nomos. After a harrowing encounter with the Lion of Pride within Mr. K’Bye’s inner dungeon, they allowed K’Bye’s common sense to emerge so that he could meet Soobers Taxi company representatives at the negotiating table, and with the help of the astronomers within the party, come to a fairer agreement and restore delivery and taxicab service between the Sisters.

Then, addressing the still-despondent Princess Bathtilda with the encouragement of Princess Karo Ermine, the intrepid party delved into and overcame her nightmares, opening the world heart within her and allowing the connection to be relit.

The Sacrificed King

Erlhana, Glide, Senchan, and Echo found the Kingdom of Ur enthralled by tragic prophecies and a desire to avert them via sacrifice—a goat for an orchard-keeper, and a man for King Erra-imitti. Fearful that the beloved king would meet an unfortunate fate, the priests arranged for a simple gardener, Enlil-bani, to assume the crown, planning to kill him in order to satisfy the prophecy of regal doom.

After puzzling out a convoluted web of characters, the party uncovered a plot by Princess En-bara-zi, sister of the king, to break the magic circle around the real king’s retreat in order that the deadly fate would find him. Re-interpreting a new prophecy read in the entrails of a sacrificed goat, the party convinced the real king to stand up for justice against an institution that would sacrifice innocents. At his behest, they challenged the scheming sister, hoping she could be redeemed and that she would rise to share some of the duties of administration. They entered her inner dungeon as her ruthlessness attempted to kill the respect, honor, love, empathy, and humility that she thought were holding her back from gaining ultimate power. In this they were partially successful, stopping ruthlessness, but not before her honor and love were destroyed.

Returning with the news that En-bara-zi would plot against him no longer, the heroes arrived just in time to see the king’s original fate find him, as he overindulged in some piping-hot soup and choked to death—but were able to revive him. With the first prophecy now ameliorated and the second reinterpreted, the re-seated king gave the adventurers his warmest thanks and equipped them for the journey ahead.

 

Names of people on mission:

Glide, Echo, Mell, Senchan

Where did you go? Who did you meet? What did you do while there?

We went to Ur, where Enlil-Bani is crowned New King. However, we soon learned this was to avoid a prophecy of the previous King’s death. We attempted to foil fate by interpreting the prophecy ourselves and trying to save the true King Erra-Imitti from the prophecy + Enlil-Bani from sacrifice to avoid the prophecy.

We found Erra-Imitti’s sister plotted to kill him, and found THE MAW had imparted her with ruthlessness. We took this corruption away, but not before she destroyed her love + honor.

Is there anything else your fellow adventurers should know about or be wary of? (i.e., what problems remain to be solved? Are there potential connections to be made?)

Ur is in need of copper—potential connection.

Erra-Imitti did die by choking on soup suddenly, but we revived him.

The Parable of the Peppercorn

Brummuki, Nargullur, Screech, Jinx, Moc, and Stealthephant responded to a request by Dr. Kisa Urssenbeck for peppercorns—from a house in which nobody had died, and from someone who had never known loss.

After realizing that the despondent Kisa had given them an impossible task, they failed to comfort her as she stomped off, carrying the body of her husband, who she hoped to cure with the fabled peppercorns. In her wake arose a host of ghosts, which flooded into the busy tavern. The party fought them off, but not before a number of bystander patrons were possessed and knocked out.

The adventurers then caught up with the doctor outside and delved into her inner dungeon, a grand hall of candles, each burning the flame of a life. Kisa forlornly remembered her husband while Death watched over her, wary that she would attempt to steal wax from another’s candle to refuel that of her lost love. Fortunately, while fighting off more undead apparitions, the party was able to convince her to move past denial to reach acceptance of the death that had happened.

 

Names of people on mission:

Brummuki (Jan), Nargullur (Katerina), Eagle Screech (Kevin), Jinx (Andy), Moc (Joe), and Stealthephant (Sean)

Where did you go? Who did you meet? What did you do while there?

  • stayed on Beverly

  • Met Dr. Kisa, she requested a peppercorn from a house in which no one has died and from a person that has never lost a loved one to cure her husband, who died.

  • We explained to her that the peppercorn was a metaphor and unobtainable. We fought the ghosts of her loss.

  • Made her accept the death of her husband.

  • A new star (world) appeared in the sky.

Is there anything else your fellow adventurers should know about or be wary of? (i.e., what problems remain to be solved? Are there potential connections to be made?)

The Maw probably fueled her lost.

Aether Encounters

On the spacelane between the City of Blight and Ur, our travelers, bearing samples of brass, encountered a nebula of remorse and a little planet with a remorseful kenku thief on it. The thief wished to return boots he had stolen, but those boots were in the custody of a mob boss, who fortuitously was out eating dinner. The adventurers went into the mansion, braving its deadly and tricky security measures, to recover the boots, but also picked up numerous other valuables that, as it turned out, also had been stolen from townsfolk.

After causing immense property damage, the party made good their escape. Senchan found the rightful owner of the boots in the tavern and returned the boots while disguised as the mob kingpin himself, prompting various bystander townsfolk to ask about the other stolen items. The crowd found the rest of the party, bearing those items, outside the tavern. Thus confronted, the party returned most of the items, but, with the blessing and encouragement of the townspeople, retained some useful items for the continuing fight against the Maw.

 

Names of people on mission:

Wolf as Dr. Wyndilakrius, Cory as Merry Smoke, Rishi as Narum, Sam as Palle, Anthony as Echo, Rayne as Senchan.

Where did you go? Who did you meet? What did you do while there?

We were dispatched with a flock of aether dolphins to establish a trade route between a brass quarry on the City of Blight and planet Ur. On the way, we discovered the parrot nebula, Otpelk. The emotion nebula caused feelings of remorse, so the small planet inside had a remorseful thief who requested we recover boots he stole. We did so, braving a nightmare booby trap mansion, and burned it down in the process. We recovered numerous valuable items and returned them to the townspeople they belonged to. We then continued on to Ur and successfully established the trade route, forming the connection between the worlds.

Is there anything else your fellow adventurers should know about or be wary of? (i.e., what problems remain to be solved? Are there potential connections to be made?)

Senchan cast Awaken on an aether dolphin. It is still around, somewhere.

There is a very angry mob boss in the nebula.

Saving the Saints

Tracing the steps of the Kolibra the Astronomer, the adventuring party of Kaya Shohmer, Malkava, Oz Nasser, Pizzazz, Ruth Fallowkettle, Sir Luxembourg, and Stealthephant landed on Iona, a planet orbiting deep within the gravity well of the Maw. Most of its hundred-odd people had, over the years, been sacrificed via trebuchet launch into the Maw, which loomed huge in the sky, an overwhelming presence. After informing a tearful and old Cassandra, the local Astrologer, that forming connections, not sacrifice, is the antidote to the Maw, they followed Kolibra’s path by launching themselves.

In space, they were picked up by Cygnus, now maw-touched and grown massive, old, and built-over as a spaceship. They found onboard a number of refugees from Iona, as well as Kolibra, who, as an astronomer, had been studying the Maw for about a time-accelerated century aboard Cygnus. She relayed her theory that the Maw will never be truly gone, because loss and forgetting, the essence of the Maw, are inescapable aspects of life. This theory met little applause from the adventuring party, but Kolibra was interested in heading further into the Maw to learn about it and find Silgo, her friend, academic partner, and love, and so she and the party soon commandeered and stowed away aboard a scientific probe for Umbra.

Landing on Umbra, the planet in the heart of the Maw, they forged through the perpetual blizzard of dark ash to find the heart, guided by divinatory light toward the petrified figure of Silgo. Against the suffocating emptiness, Kolibra served as an inspirational beacon. Attacked by depressed antisocial ghosts that attempted to separate the party in the gloom, they realized that they could form connections by declaring their shared commonalities to unite against the Maw’s annihilatory pressure. The party then forged connections with even the spirits around them, accumulating a growing constellation. As they reached the crowd of petrified figures—Silgo had turned himself and the other exiles from Iona to stone in order to weather the storms of time-accelerated centuries—the spirits reunited with their bodies, and Silgo with Kolibra.

Cygnus in the meantime had come to Umbra, and hitching a ride, the exiles returned home.

 

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PrinceCon 46 overall recap

Premise of the Con

The story of PrinceCon 46 is set in a storybook universe of tiny worlds that exist in an aetheric ocean, known as the Firmament.  Each world is connected through social and economic bonds between the people.  THE MAW is a tendency towards self-centered emotions that are in all of us, taken to an unhealthy extreme.  It is the manifestation of people turning inwards to the detriment of others, and its presence influences others to fall into that pattern as well.  It reached a critical mass in the Firmament, and appears as:

  • The CELESTIAL MAW, a hole in the center of the Firmament that is consuming Worlds, and as

  • The MAW-TOUCHED, creatures who discover their hearts are filled with ambition, fear, hatred, or other emotions.

 

At the start of the Con, the Connections between Worlds were broken, World Hearts had gone cold, and the Maw was growing.   To save the Firmament from being wholly consumed, the heroes would have to:

  • Help creatures who were Maw-touched

  • Activate World Hearts of planets where the Maw’s affliction has been cleared

  • Connect Worlds to each other through meaningful bonds

  • Constellate Worlds in more complex groupings of beneficial connections that further strengthened their resolve in the face of the Maw

 

Results

With each Connection made, whether to help a Maw-touced creature or reconnect two Worlds, the hearts of the firmament reopened, spilling out in beautiful chaos.  Initially two constellations were formed, The Great Snacker and Blue Steel, and then The Great Whale illuminated the skies, linking almost every world to each other.  The influence of the Maw has been greatly diminished, as has the power of the Celestial Maw to trap and consume Worlds.

Still, now that the doors to the Maw have been opened, they would never be entirely closed.  For better or worse, each heart was known to be a window into a realm that knew no light.  The stories of the firmament, once simple and clear, grew more complex.  The future would ever be unknown, but it was certain there were further adventures to undertake.  Those who were Maw-touched remained in the Firmament, memories need to be rebuilt and new memories made, and there remain Worlds that were consumed by the Maw with people who might be saved.

 

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Andy’s scenario recap (PrinceCon 44)

OVERVIEW

My scenario was a series of 4 one-shot Holds, each based on a different Dwarven Clan (Subrace) invented for PrinceCon 44.  Thank you to all the players who ran with me this year.  You made the experience even more fun than I had hoped. It was an honor to run for you.

Run #1: AMAGRA FARAKHDUM (Lost Hold of Diazoden Dwarves; focus: Bureaucracy)

PrinceCon 44 Andy's poster

Background

The entrance to this hold was found in the library of Drozvindrian (GM: Conway Niles) buried beneath veritable a mountain of overturned books.  This is an “Easter Egg” scenario which can only be unlocked by characters exploring

As the bureaucrats charged with keeping the Empire running, and being inclined to efficiency, Clan Diazoden was naturally put in charge the Arnagra Farakhdum, the Bureau Imperial Measurements.  Naturally they establish an orderly system to ensure the precision of Imperial Standard Measurements (ISMs). Over time, the loss of their obsessive quest to maintain the ISMs has caused much former Imperial technology to fail or become substantially less reliable.

The Party

Claire Vaywont (Human Wizard)

Korthos Firerose (Klaxton Dwarf Monk)

Pholiccular (Human Cleric)

Shamash Silverbeeard (Half Elf Paladin)

Sir Gen Tell (Human Cleric)

Thorgal Graniteaxe (Klaxton Dwarf Barbarian)

The Adventure

The door to this hold read simply, “Imperial Business Only!”  The party pried open the huge doors and were immediately confronted by a giant clockwork spider with the torso of a woman.  She bore the Mark of Parok (GM Alex Reutter); her name was Khoh.

She inquired if they had an appointment, and learning they didn’t, began a countdown after which they needed to vacate the premises. Her job was to keep out the riffraff.  Pointing to their Observe, the party claimed they were official inspectors sent by the Emperor himself to assess the state of the hold. Khoh allowed them to pass to the elevator behind her.

An assistant met them and led them to the to the Bureau Chief’s office.  A long and winding series of halls, stairs, and passages led the party to conclude that this hold must be incalculably large.  The assistant explained that due to the space requirements for their scientific experiments, “the Bureau may be a tad larger on the inside.”

The Bureau Chief seemed both haughty and obsequious, the very model of a CEO perhaps a bit out of his depth.  He pointed out that the facility had not received its Imperial Funding Allotment for the last “857 ayarus  2 ‘uf 16 narat  16.45987 adaram (hours).” He was completely unaware of that his hold had been lost, and the party determined it was best not to reveal this to him.

The Chief admitted that the Bureau needed to recertify the dragon glass rods that function as the SIM’s for distance: the kafka (Shard), the kargh (Dove’s Egg), the sulum (Full Step), and the khuzdsig (Dwarf-Height).  They were last known to be in the Heart of the High Temple of Hione in Velzan-Gol (GM Michael Tumerello).  The party was asked to retrieve them.

Before setting out, the players cast an Augury to ensure that the rods were still at that Temple.  When they got to the Old Imperial Capital, they saw that the magnificent sity had been utterly destroyed in the Collapse of the Empire.  The Temple of Hione, being an enormous Ziggurat, seemed to have survived largely unscathed however. Using magic, they uncovered an entrance into the ziggurat’s base.

Inside the Temple was a labyrinth of corridors with windowless rooms off them.  Exploring several of the rooms, the party determined that something had bored through the solid stone construction and despoiled the rooms over the centuries.  They soon determined that the burrowed tunnels converged near the center of the ziggurat, quite near where the rods were supposed to be.

Good news: They found the dragonglass rods still in their magically protective case.  Bad news: the case was being sued as a pillow by an eldritch horror. As the group debated their next move, Korthos decided to explore a nearby room.  He entered the burrowed tunnel, realizing that it was an alternative entry to the room with horror.

When the party finally opened the main door and engaged the horror, Korthos used the distraction to grab the case with the rods and flee back to the passage.  Alas, he flubbed his stealth roll. The horror whipped around, and began to chase him through the tunnel which was juuust big enough to accommodate the case, slowing down Korthos’ escape. The party met Korthos as he emerged back into the original room inches ahead of the horror which they soundly defeated.

The Burueau Chief was delighted at the party’s success.  He noted that the glass rods and case were being sought by the Ffloyd’s of Fflondon The Arkinthel Governemnt used the insurance payment to “make up” the missing past-years funding for the Bureau, so it was best that the party not mention their find to Ffloyds.

Run #2: GIBASHEL (Lost Hold of Potenkhan Dwarves; focus: Belief)

Background

Many years ago, a charismatic Visionary arose among the Potenkhan Clan. As his visions proved prophetic, his following grew; as his following grew, his visions turned very dark. He foresaw an inevitable race-ending tragedy that would consume the great dwarven empire.  The Visionary used his Marker to ask the Beating Heart of Stone to help him lead his followers safely through these trials, that the Dwarven Race and the Visionary’s followers would not be extinguished.

He and his followers secretly delved Gibashel and retreated into it, sealing the doors behind them. Once the doors were sealed, the Visionary revealed that the group had a quest: to discover the True Nature of the Heart – a concept that has come to be known as Commonality. Only then could the Heart be made fully manifest and save them from the Disaster To Come.

The Party

Farro Lastwell (Elf Druid)

Myko Hypha Dikaryaon Cerevisi (Gnome Druid)

Chadwick Thistlewick (Hafling Fighter)

Nokrun Boneminer (Dwarf Wizard)

Jold Sonpher (Human Barbarian)

Gregreg Toregy (Human Paladin)

Maystorh (Half Orc Barbarian, convinced he is also a Bard)

The Adventure

Myko had in her possession the bones and a magic locket of a Potenkhan woman which had been found in the Necropolis (GM Jacob Lisner).  The woman’s ghost asked Myko to ensure she was reunited with her true love who possessed the other half of the locket and her 3 daughters.  She told her when to look for the hidden entrance to the secret hold.

While searching for the entrance, the party found an abandoned shaft in which a canary in an ancient cage had been left.  Recognizing this must be an antique magic item used to detect toxins while mining, Myko attuned to it. She was resistant to poisons, she could scout ahead and keep the others from danger.   It was not long, however, before she (alone) began to hear the bird whisper in her ear, “Dig deeper! Come closer!” She began to talk to the bird, eventually speculating if she was becoming Potenkhan herself.  The players handled this perfectly in character. Myko never told them what she heard from the bird, and the rest began to wonder if she were succumbing to Miner’s Madness for the rest of the run.

Further on, Nokrun used his mason skills to detect an unusual patch of tunnel construction.  Farro used Produce Flame to look for changes in airflow, which turned out to help him find gems embedded in the walls which “ate” the magical flames to project a puzzle on the unusual construction.  Nokrun then used his prodigious linguistic skills to decipher the puzzle which all party members contributing to the solution, revealing the portal to Gibashel.

Inside, the party found a veritable paradise although the architecture (Nokrun) and the fashions (Chadwick) determined were clearly centuries old.  Myko used her half of the locket to summon the other half, thus meeting the many-greats granddaughter of the woman from the Necropolis.

The party was brought to the Great House of the hold to meet The Visionary, who improbably was still alive although very, very old.  He stunned them slightly by referencing the adventures in finding Gibashel before they had told him anything. He explained to them the Quest of Commonality.

The party explained the state of affairs in Khazthand and the surface, asking if Gibashel could offer refugees a place to settle.  The Visionary invited them to tour Gibashel and learn more about life there.

The party found that society is organized into Thaiku (Mines) in which a “great question” about the Beating Heart’s Nature is examined, discussed, and debated.  Within these Thaiku are groups attempting to answer questions realted to the “great question.”  These are called Ganad (Shafts, Delvings).  As in mining, Ganad can converge and diverge depending on what the deliberation process requires. New Ganad are constructed when a new question arises, ending in a room for discussion of the new issue.

For example, the Thaiku of Divinity is where members go to discuss if the Beating Heart is a god.  Those who answer the question affirmatively dug a Ganad to a new room to begin discussing what kind of god.  Those who answer negatively dug a different Shaft to continue discussing what else It could be. Eventually, members believe all Ganad in every Thaiku will meet at one point, and  they will have reached Commonality.

In the meeting with The Visionary, Farro had asked if non-Potenkhan, indeed non-Dwarves could join the Quest.  During the tour of the Thaiku of Salvation he was show the new Ganadi being mined to explore his question.

The party played central roles in the interment of the bones they had brought, fulfilling their promise to reunite the women from the Necropolis with her true love.  They gathered copies of The Visionaries prophecies which later proved valuable as some of them provided clues to the opposition in a Hold near Velzan-Gol, the old capital.

A Note About Gibashel’s Design

This run was designed to play either of two ways, depending on the mood and inclination of the players involved.  The first possibility was that the players would take everything at face value and “get into” exploring the question of what the Beating Heart truly was.

The second possibility was that the players would treat The Visionary with deep suspicion.  Could he be a cynical, false prophet-messiah, who is taking advantage of his followers? Or, could he be sincere-but-delusional with enough Xharisma to lead others astray. My intent would be to run this so that there was never definitive proof either way.

The goal of either possibility was to examine the role of faith and belief – that of the Potenkhans as to the nature of the Beating Heart or that of the party as to the nature of The Visionary.

Run #4: IMHDUM (Lost Hold of Klaxton Dwarves; focus: Artisanship)

Background

Almost years ago, a group of Klaxton artisans created this commune in order to “focus on their art” and avoid the constant distraction of war. They accidentally isolated themselves when an art installation was incorporated into the gateway to the hold.

Free from outside intrusions, they have pushed the technological boundaries of artistic techniques to dizzying heights. However, they tightly closed nature of their society naturally lead to the formation of competing “schools” of art.  As with anything endeavor where the stakes are purely subjective, the rivalries have grown irrationally fierce.

The Party

Algwyn Tevantian (Elf Wizard)

Brogmira Axeborn (Klaxton Dwarf Barbarian)

Eldeth Grayforge (Klaxton Dwarf Barbarian)

Jiro Zincharvest (Diazoden Dwarf Fighter)

Kvadrato Thundergrip (Dwarf Wizard)

Larth (Half Elf Bard)

Morticia (Bugnear Druid) – NPC, guest Played by DM Hugh Huntzinger

The Adventure

After finding the portal gate to Imhdum, the party set out for the only monumental structure in the Hold, The Heykal (Great Temple) of Tabnimi, Dwarven Deity of Beauty and Artisanal Prowess.  The single-family dwellings were scattered about the temple; most had workshops or studios attached. Interspersed among the dwellings were several multi-story buildings which the party later learned were the homes to the main “Schools of Art”.  Beyond the dwellings were the fields that supplied the hold with food.

Each century, Imhdum celebrated the Festival of Grand Creations in which Schools present Masterworks to be judged for possible inclusion as Grand Offerings in the Heykal.  Fortuitously, the party arrived on the cusp of the next Festival.  Alas, the commune roiled on the verge of fracturing. A vandal had defaced many of the past Grand Offerings to Tabnimil.

The rivalries among the Schools ran so deeply, that no one within Imhdum could investigate the crimes credibly in the eyes of all citizenry. The party was pressed into service since they had no allegiance to any of the Schools.  In exchange, the community’s leaders agreed to hear the party’s proposal that Imhdum accept refugees.

The party decided to start by interviewing the Masters of the main Schools to determine where the rivalries and fault lines lay. They learned about the aesthetics of each Schools as well as their takes on their rivals.  It quickly became clear that every School had been victimized and no School could be eliminated from suspicion.

Now the significant advances in artistic techniques in Imhdum meant that all the works were immersive and experiential. In fact, several artisan from various Schools had died trying to repair the works from “the inside,” something which should normally have been impossible. So, the party decided to enter the lethal works to gain some insight into the vandal’s mind and motives.

To aid them, the priests of Tabnimi gave the party several Tools which the Schools had developed to create/repair the works.  The list of the art works they entered is bulleted below. After repairing each artwork (or at least neutralizing the danger), they found a symbol which they correctly assumed was the mark of a “hidden school” – one that rejected all of the others.

The hidden school was comprised of residents who had tried several of the schools and found them all lacking. Their School followed the principle that the only way to give art meaning and value was to strip it of all meaning and value. They called themselves the Paradox School or Doxxers. They had not just defaced the artworks, but they had robbed them of their originial meaning, thus turning them all into Doxxer Masterpieces.

The art was saved and the Festival was observed while the party was celebrated as honored guests and heroes.  In future years, their exploits became the subject of several masterworks displayed in the Heykal.

The Damaged Artworks

  • Paradise, By Design (porcelain, Designism) – this large platter has a decorative border with the interior disk covered by an opulent garden, all done in the blue/white style of Chinese porcelain.  Visitors are transported into the Garden and may walk its grounds – smelling flowers, listening to fountains or birds, and feeling the gentle breezes while admiring the meticulous design;  the vandal has introduced a troop of flying monkeys, however, who fling poo at visitors and pick them up only to drop them from heights; there is also a section with deadly poppies which Charm nearby viewers into walking into their midst and putting them to sleep with poison spores before devouring them. Monkey’s livery is emblazoned with the Doxxer Sigil.  (This is based on an actual commercial product: https://calamityware.com/products/calamityware-plate-1?variant=430269697

  • Velocitrons (sculpture, Emotionalism)– a collection of metallic spheres of various sizes (radii ranging from 6 inches to 4 feet) held in one piece but uncannily appear to be spinning on their axes; viewers grip handles attached to central box and their consciousness is transferred to a place on one of the spheres which then begin to move around one another, giving them the sensation of “riding” that sphere; the spheres had been flattened into disks and the party used the Bellows tool to re-inflate them.

  • Thread of Infinity (collage, Surrealism) – animated fractal in which a construct spider generator has been placed   the construct spiders shoot webs that electrify; They are stamped with Doxxer Sigil; the artist sent to fix this work was killed; The party destroyed the  spiders.

  • The Fall of Goth (painting, Formalism) – depicts the glorious victory of the Klaxton Forge Furies over the Visi Drow of Goth; defaced by someone using the “Spot Heal” Tool to turn the Gith invisible; the Formalist sent to fix the painting was killed by the Invisi-Goths; it took 76 tries, but the party eventually used the color brush to “paint” the drow, allowing the Forge Furies to massacre them.

  • Facet-nating (painting, Surrealism) – defaced by being completely empty – everything was turned to the same shade of black; entrants are effectively blind, needing to rely on sound and other senses to determine what is out there;  Surrealist sent to fix painting was crushed by moving objects he couldn’t “see” them coming; the party did not attempt to fix this work.

  • Hydra, and Lions, and Dwarves (ceramic amphora, Designism) – this amphora is composed of parallel scenes separated by decorative borders; all in the same black tone, emphasizing designs/patterns; visitors enter a band of figures and experiencing the sights/smells/textures as the figures of that band “come to life.”  The vandal twisted the bands causing them to cross and interact with each other as well as patches of weird gravity. The point where the bands are twisted for the Doxxer Sigil; there is a Doxxer Sigil on the forge table. The party did not attempt to fix this work.

Tabnimi, Dwarven Deity of Beauty and Artisanal Prowess:

  • Domains include all Arts, Crafts, and Competitions of things hand-made or created

  • Symbol is a obsidian mirror with downward-pointing ox horns as tine for its handle

  • Depicted most often as female or androgynous, but gender unfixed

  • Always holding a mirror or hammer; depictions can have many arms

  • In some eras, considered Consort of Daglir

  • Worshippers most often Klaxton although not all Klaxton by any means worship Tabnimi

  • name derived from Neo-Khuzdul meaning “cause to become or make beautiful and graceful.”

Run #3: KHELUZDUM (Lost Hold of Myletha Dwarves; focus: Hospitality)

Background

This hold was a major rest stop along the main Hypogean Way between Velzan-Gol (Old Imperial Capital) and Arkinthel. Run by community of Myletha Dwarves, the hold was more popularly known as MADAMAI – an ancient Dwarven word meaning “All Are Welcome.”

During the last days before the fall of Velzan-Gol, it was used as a refugee center by those fleeing the fighting deeper in the Middledark.   As Arkinthel was preparing to seal its connection to the rest of Kazthand, Kheluzdum sealed itself off from the Hypogean Way and was never heard from again.

The Party

Alice Lucia (Half Elf Bard)

Dr. Richard Reterson (Half Orc Barbarian)

I’m the Trashman (Klaxton Dwarf Bard)

Jane “Twice” Rachnell (Human Ranger)

Pip, Imagainative Rascal (Human Ranger)

Shiroi Akagi (Half Orc Paladin)

Skalgan Mrishni(Half Orc Paladin)

Thokk Hammerfist (Half Orc Barbarian)

Tim the Enchanter (Landrrol Dwarf Bard)

The Adventure

The party found the turn off leading to the hold easily.  However, they immediately encountered strange signs, indicating that something horrible lay ahead.  These include heads on spikes (typical warning/wards of orcs) as well as graffiti left by Drow and other ancient enemies.

The outer doors of Kheluzdum were locked and sealed with three blood-red runes of protection.  Adding to the mood, the party realized that these wards were placed as if to keep something IN mot out of the hold.  But, they had a mission to accomplish; in they went.

Immediately they were met by a Parok-made clockwork construct named Marvin.  He informed them that all weapons needed to be checked before entering the entertainment and recreational areas of the hold.  He was quite depressed that there had not been any visitors for him to greet for so many years, although he was unable to calculate the precise time since the last visitor.

Marvin conducted them to the Gamboling Gelding Inn where they were offered food and drink by the proprietor who leads the hold.  The only other “customer” in the joint was a Half Orc Barbarian, out of whom Thokk attempted to wheedle information. He bitterly revealed that  he had been a guard escorting refugees along the Ways when he became trapped here along with them.

It soon became clear that the residents were older than they appeared.  They seemed to have memory problems about their past and trouble judging the passage of time.  The party began to suspect that they were the original inhabitants of the hold when it was sealed over 800 years before.

The residents were hiding something, but what?.  The inhabitants had managed to arrest the plague that forced them to institute the quarantine, but they had not found a cure.  As long as the party left before dusk, they would not be at risk for contracting the disease.

Deciding to look around the hold for clues, the party decided to visit the hold’s Wise Woman, an herbalist of great skill.  She explained that the disease was an aggressive fungus that, left unchecked, would consume host and turn it into a giant fungus.  The refugees brought it into Kheluzdum.

When the disease was detected, they isolated the refugees, but it was too late.  The entire hold had been infected. The initial victims formed a “field of fungus” between the village and the Refugee encampment.

The party decided to visit the refugees next to gain further information about the fungus ith hopes of deciphering a cure.  On their way, they were intercepted surreptitiously by one of the inhabitants, a young man. He led them to a secret chamber below his home where he introduced his extended family.

Unlike the other villagers, these Dwarves did not suffer from memory problems.  Confirming the earlier suspicions, they explained that the others were the original inhabitants and that fungus was a bit of a cover story for something much worse.

Unlike the others, these people were the descendants of a particular family from the time of the quarantine. Something about their family home brew had protected them from the greater evil that the refugees brought with them.  The memory lapse side effect has aided them in keeping the secret that they are immune.

One of the refugees was indeed infected with the fungus.  By the time they learned to arrest its progress, however, most of the inhabitants had become violent monsters.  Each night they transform into beasts with claws and tear into any person who crosses their path. Come the morning, they appear in their Dwarven form, none the worse for wear.  They have virtually no memory of their rampages the night before.

 

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