Month: June 2022

Castles & Crusades Diary: Barrowmaze, Session 113

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Summary:
The PCs battle Raunus, a cursed Faun that wielded the Staff of Zuul, along with his lightning elemental and thralled cave bears. The PCs were whittled down, and NPC Sir Pelinore is gutted and torn limb from limb!

PC’s:
Llewelyn, Elf Cleric 8/Wizard 8 of Sehanine Moonbow
Gnoosh, Gnome Rogue 11/Illusionist 9 of Baravar Cloakshadow
Kyron, Human Cleric 9 of Charon
Magni, Dwarf Fighter 6 of Barundar Battleaxe
Sagira, Human Cleric 6 of Horus
Roulf, Half-Orc Dragonslayer 8 of Crom
Oswyn, Cleric 6 of St. Jasper

Game Diary:
This adventure continued where the previous one left off – exploring the base of the Moon Peaks in mid-January with over a foot of snow on the ground and 0°C weather seeking out Chernobog and Koschei cultists as well as the new wielder of the Staff of Zuul. Last session they dealt with the cultists, but this session they traveled several miles further into the forest following the base of the Moon Peaks where there was a constant state of chaotic weather. The wind howled (firing a bow even at short-range had the -6 penalty equivalent of long range). Visibility was also reduced by the blowing snow. Several months before Kyron had been able to free himself of the Staff of Zuul and leave it behind in the Barrowmaze during a very busy battle, but everyone had been wondering since if someone had picked it up. Tonight they discovered who had become the new owner of it. It was some kind of corrupted Faun-like creature that called itself Raunus.

In spite of the strong weather conditions that crippled most of the characters from seeing or hearing anything, Gnoosh had a hat of telepathy and a robe of eyes so he could peel back some of the layers of reality and see things freshly and even when there was partial cover for monsters to hide due to high snow banks and pillars of snow, he could still sense their thoughts (I laid out some simple battle maps with terrain features and tokens to assist the players with my theatre of mind descriptions, see picture below).

cursed Faun art by Johan Bass, ArtStation

As the PCs entered into the blizzard area they heard roars of cave bears approaching from several sides. There was also some kind of electrical elemental crackling in the sky above (but mostly hidden by the blowing snow). And then there was Raunus. Raunus presented the PCs with some new challenges, first, through the howling wind Sagira heard the sound of music and began to feel the need to join him, but she made her save and brushed off the attempt at magical charm (he was using pan pipes). Next, through the snow a lightning bolt crackled through the air and hit Kyron (the sentient Staff of Zuul clearly wanted revenge for Kyron breaking free from its influence).

Gnoosh moved forward and got glimpses of Raunus with his unique sight, Raunus had surrounded himself with some kind of chainmail armor made of smoke (no encumbrance!) and a strange cloud crackling with electrical energy (providing him with further magical cover even with those who could see through the blizzard or had magical sight). Dispel Magic was cast at Raunus. The spell removed the smoky chainmail and electrical cloud protection, but the Staff of Zuul managed to resist the spell. The act of casting the spell and further analysis revealed that Raunus also had a natural magic resistance and had a chance of resisting any magic used against him. Some new strategies needed to be prepared.

Sagira put sanctuary on Kyron so that Raunus could not target him anymore and then cast a spell that allowed Kyron to cast spells while in sanctuary. Kyron then managed to banish the lightning elemental before it could do anything too amaging. While this was happening the cave bears had entered melee and were striking people really hard. Haste was cast on Magni and he began laying out some heavy damage to the bears with his multiple haste attacks and cleaving strike attacks. Llewelyn began casting Summon Earth Dragon (it takes several rounds to cast). Raunus, losing track of Kyron (he failed his save to sense him within the sanctuary spell) instead focused a cone of cold on Magni (and any surrounding companions).

The cave bear damage was taking its toll and the clerics had to spend several rounds throwing cure light and cure serious wounds spells on PCs to keep them up. The NPC in the adventure – Sir Pelinore, a paladin of St. Luther – was hit by two cave bear critical hits (plus a few non-critical claw and bite attacks) and his body was torn limb from limb. Even though the players had a Deck of Dirty Tricks card that could raise dead, you can’t raise dead someone who has had their limbs torn off and their chest cavity torn open with all their internal organs spilling out onto the ground!

The battle was wearing people down, but the bears were also getting cut down. Roulf saw an opening. Raunus was lurking on the top of a specially crafted snow drift 8-10 feet high, but Roulf has boots of springing and was prepared to leap toward Raunus. Magni also had fly cast on him and he began to fly toward Raunus. As this was happening Llewelyn finally finished casting Summon Earth Dragon and Raunus was shocked by the mighty beast he saw before him! He crouched down and used his natural blend ability to hide and ponder his next step.

But too much was happening, Roulf landed from his leap and attacked, Magni flew in and attacked Raunus, and then attacked the Staff of Zuul, sundering it. There was a huge explosion and the snow pillar crumbled.

With the bears, elemental, and Raunus dead, the weather subsided. The group found where the cave bear lair was and inside they found a small corner where Raunus had left a satchel behind with some exotic druid and wizard scrolls. In a belt pouch, he also had a bowl fragment. He had some notes, but no one knew sylvan or fey, so they couldn’t make much out (read magic and detect magic helped a little). They managed to work out that Raunus may have made frequent visits to this bear cave, but he actually spent his time in the long ruined – by the Army of the Light – Grand Temple of Nergal which once had the Pit of Chaos (which perhaps had corrupted Raunus) and once had a Nergal statue that held a massive bowl (the fragment Raunus had served as a material component for some kind of teleportation spell).

The adventure was now near its end, but one more thing had to be done. Barundar Battleaxe, the dwarven god the Magni worshipped had told him that if he could destroy the Staff of Zuul, Barundar would bestow a mystical companion onto him. The next morning as they left the cave, a saber-toothed cat awaited him outside. And that is where the adventure ended. The Staff of Zuul is now destroyed, but the lair of Raunus may be worth examining, for Raunus had clearly been a skillful magical creature.

Castles & Crusades Diary: Barrowmaze, Session 112

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Summary:
The PCs discover secret shrines to Koschei the Deathless, destroy a strange manifestation of his, and are presented with a cryptic message/riddle they will need to solve.

PC’s:
Llewelyn, Elf Cleric 8/Wizard 8 of Sehanine Moonbow
Gnoosh, Gnome Rogue 11/Illusionist 9 of Baravar Cloakshadow
Kiaria, Human Seeker 7 Bast
Tiberius, Human Cleric 7/Paladin 3 of St. Ingrid
Kyron, Human Cleric 9 of Charon
Magni, Dwarf Fighter 6 of Barundar Battleaxe
Sagira, Human Cleric 6 of Horus
Ria, Pacer 7 of Loki
Zen, Human Monk 8 of St. Agathos
Rosaline, Half-Elf (Elf lineage) Druid 9 of The Daghda

Game Diary:
– Background:
One subplot in this campaign involved Kyron wielding the Staff of Zuul. It forced him to become his priest, and he accidentally summoned a drought that devastated the region and prevented crops from growing for most of the year followed by catastrophic storms before he found a way to release the staff (it was left abandoned in a flooded part of the Barrowmaze) and he shifted back to being a priest of Charon.

Additionally, from previous adventures, the PCs fought demons of the Slavic god Chernobog and learned about an ancient wizard (Kolduny) king named Koschei (who once ruled the lands before the Ironguards moved in and created the Duchy of Aerik) and may not have ever died. Several farmers have built secret shrines to Koschei and they have been praying for the return of their mighty lord. This has increased a lot after the “Summer of Zuul” drought and flood.

– The Present
Magni, seeking a unique mystical companion to help him in his warrior ways, and knowing he would likely be sent on a quest to acquire such a creature, prayed to his god Barundar Battleaxe on how he could please his god and receive this mystical companion (a saber-toothed cat). Barundar came to him in a dream and told him to seek out and destroy the Staff of Zuul, for its source of chaos still exists and is beginning to spread under a new wielder. If Magni destroys the Staff of Zuul he will get his mystical companion.

Other members of the Army of the Light wanted to follow up on the growing number of peasants of Slavic heritage who had been turning to Chernobog and Koshei to feel empowered again in the face of the environmental disaster and unsatisfaction with the leadership under the Viscount Kell Ironguard.

It is now mid-January (a one-month time jump from the previous session). Even though there is more than a foot of snow on the ground, the group knows paths to take that go from Ironguard Motte south to Bogtown and further south until the forests meet the Moon Peaks to seek out the hidden caves where cultists to Koshei or Chernobog might be. Rosaline, the druid, was also aware of strange shifts in the weather for that area, and Magni, through his dream from Barundar, speculated that this is where the current wielder of the Staff of Zuul might be, and so they headed out to deal with both these situations.

After an encounter with skeletons attacking from under the feet of the adventurers (they were walking over deep drifts of snow) and from a rocky plateau above them, they moved into a series of caves where they thought the Koshei cultists might be. It was clearly a place that had seen visitors on and off over the centuries with sometimes years passing with no activity. However, with the recent Zuul problems, the descendants of Koshei’s lost empire began to increase their visitation to the location.

The Army of the Light discovered a tunnel only high enough for humans to crawl through covered by some rocks. Part of the group remained in the larger chamber and a smaller group crawled through into a small 5-foot high chamber with a stone statue of a robed figure wearing a mighty crown, a long beard, and a large sword (see picture below). The people in the small room guessed that this might be a representation of Koshei from long ago. Magni slashed at the stone statuette, destroying it.

Koschei model from Miniset.net

In the larger chamber, the ground began to shake and a skeletal army emerged from the center of the room (although Kyron could tell that this creature was not undead). Llewelyn told everyone to scatter to the corner of the room and he focused a fireball at the emerging figure. While this happened Magni felt a desire to swing his sword and slay his friends. He rolled a Charisma saving throw – and passed! – and the feeling faded. After the deafening explosion of the fireball in the main chamber and after the flash of the explosion allowed normal eyesight to return, they saw that the skeletal-like being – seemingly untouched by the fireball – had descended back into the ground.

The group decided they had better leave these caves, for this was now the second time that they attacked and seemed to “defeat” a Koschei-like being yet also was aware that it did not seem to take any damage from their attacks. Kyron, a worshipper of Charon (the Greek god who carries the souls of the deceased from the world of the living to the dead), wanted to better understand more about this apparently immortal sorcerer but who was not undead. He cast divination and the player asked, “what is Koschei’s location?” Normally a grammatical mistake like that can give me as a GM some fun since the spell dictates that my response can be cryptic, or a riddle. But in fact, this was actually a very good way to phrase the question, since the PCs were beginning to think that Koschei is part of something they have not encountered, thought of, or experienced before, and may involve other parallel realms. While the players thought out loud about this I had time to formulate a response:

“What is Koschei’s location?” Kyron asked.
“chest, egg, duck, hare/hair.”

They wrote it down and gathered around over the written words to think about it some more. They were even more puzzled! Is “duck” a reference to the animal, or the need to “duck” down from something? And how was hair/hare spelled? Was it a reference to “hare” the animal, or the “hair” on our heads? (I am intentionally including both spellings of the word to keep things cryptic).

It was now approaching dusk and the players needed to find shelter in this mid-January weather where the temperature was -5°C during the day, but going back into the Koschei cult caves was not something they wanted to do. So they moved on to some new caves that were a part of a large rocky plateau. There they discovered caves where some sort of giants lived (based on their footprints in the snow). The entrance had a left and right tunnel with most activity and sound coming from the right. A circle of invisibility was cast on some of the group and they entered the cave to the right as others remained at the left entrance to watch their backs.

Coming upon these 10-foot-tall giants preparing a meal and playing some drums with their clubs leaned up against a wall, the group placed themselves between the giants and the clubs and began to attack. The surprise round they gained gave them a great advantage. Weapons were swung, the monk managed to stun a few of them, and magic missiles were fired. The giants got a few good hits in, but they were beginning to fall. The noise they made was heard by the giants in the left tunnel and that group began to move to help their friends, but the remaining members of the Army of the Light were waiting for them. Fighting in such tight quarters gave the giants a disadvantage and the group took advantage of that.

The group won and now needed to heal up. But they now had a place to rest for the night. They also wanted to search for loot! But the game session was over and that will have to be done in the next session. Also, in the next session, after the group heals up, they will be on the search for the new wielder of the Staff of Zuul. Who are they and can Magni defeat them and destroy the staff?

Castles & Crusades Diary: Barrowmaze, Session 110 & 111

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Summary:
PCs engage in a sidequest to remove the petrification of a friend. They encounter:
1. Ruined Hobgoblin camps found within the borders of the Duchy of Aerik (the hobgoblins hail from the City-State of the Invincible Philosopher King, ruled by a hobgoblin Philosopher King named Thrasymachus).
2. Arrive at the Galeb Duhr settlement (who would help petrified PC to recover) and healed their pet Bulette who had become diseased.
3. The PCs make new friends drinking with Snubblefus, the leader of the Gnome settlement of Garblewood.

PC’s:
– Session 110:
Llewelyn, Elf Cleric 8/Wizard 8 of Sehanine Moonbow
Martin, Human Rogue 11 of Bacchus
Kiaria, Human Seeker 7 Bast
Belden, Gnome Bard 8 of Aengus
Roulf, Half-Orc Drachentöten (Dragonslayer) 7 of Crom
Larkin Human Warlock 1 of Ceridwen
Kyron, Human Cleric 9 of Charon
Magni, Dwarf Fighter 5 of Barundar Battleaxe
– Session 111:
Llewelyn, Elf Cleric 8/Wizard 8 of Sehanine Moonbow
Martin, Human Rogue 11 of Bacchus
Kiaria, Human Seeker 7 Bast
Belden, Gnome Bard 8 of Aengus
Roulf, Half-Orc Drachentöten (Dragonslayer) 7 of Crom
Larkin Human Warlock 1 of Ceridwen
Ria, Half-Elf (Elf lineage) Pacer 7 of Loki
Rosaline, Human Druid 9 of The Daghda

Game Diary:
– Background
In the campaign calendar, we are in December and the adventurers wanted to have one last little side-quest adventure before they settled down for winter and engaged in a several-month time jump and return to adventuring to the Barrowmaze in the spring.

Since Oswyn (human cleric 6 of St. Jasper) was petrified by a Medusa several months back, there has been a nagging desire by the player to get him brought back to normal. Since the Army of the Light had previously gone on an adventure to unpetrify their wizard Balthazar, they had made connections with some Galeb Duhr (with their pet Bulette) and through them got material to reverse the petrification.

Now, it was over a game year later and winter was arriving (there was 7 inches of snow on the ground). Traveling through the snowy forests bordering the Barrowmoor as they headed out of the Duchy of Aerik they encountered a giant skunk and a giant wolverine. In both cases, they saw evidence that hobgoblin soldiers had been killed by these creatures near their dens. However, due to the incredibly strong musk from these beasts (which was so strong that it could reduce your Strength and Constitution scores by half even if you did pass your saving throw!), they decided to return later after the area aired out.

– Galeb Duhr Lair and Diseased Bulette
After another couple of days of travel, they arrived at the area where the Galeb Duhr lived. As they searched through the snow for the entry point in the ground which would lead to the Bulette and the Galeb Duhr home, a horn broke through the surface of the earth and began heading toward them – the land shark was approaching and Rosaline with her Druid senses could tell that there was something diseased and sick about the beast that was approaching.

Bursting from the ground it landed in front of the PCs and attacked. Each claw and bite attack caused 20+ damage to those struck, additionally, the poisonous festering of disease on the bulette caused all those near it to take even more damage. The hit points of several characters were plummetting.

Fortunately, Belden is a powerful bard with 22 charisma and used his fascinate ability to calm the beast. The healers cured disease and removed the poison in the bulette’s system (it vomited it all over those in front of it and they in turn needed cure disease). With a successful suggestion, it headed back to its lair to rest. The group then headed to the Galeb Duhr lair.

art from ceallach-monster, DeviantArt

Unable to control their bulette while it was sick, the Galeb Duhr had set up a magical barrier to keep it away from them. Now with the bulette healed a Galeb Duhr went out to rebond with it as it recovered from its illness. Rosaline and some other healers went throughout the underground lair and its passages and purge the underground area of the poison. However, the Galeb Duhr also mentioned that the bulette had left their territory and had attacked a nearby gnome community and they would like to make peace with them. So the remaining members Belden, Martin, and a few others headed out to Garblewood through the underground tunnels to meet with the gnomes and broker peace.

– Snubblefus and Garbelwood
Arriving at the gnome territory (their homes are located under the roots of a massive forest of trees connected by tunnels and passageways) a gnome named Snubblefus met them. He was happy to hear that someone had taken care of the bulette problem. He was also excited to meet Belden, who he had seen perform in Ironguard Motte at the gnome tavern where he performs. Snubblefus invited them all back with him and offer them some Gnomish moonshine. This perked up Martin, who is a follower of Bacchus, the Greek god of drinking and merriment! Drinking occurred, and Martin rolled 19s and 20s when making drinking checks and drank everyone under the table. Along with using spell-like abilities given to him by Bacchus such as Mirthquake (the spell can be found in Elemental Spells and Adventurers Spellbook), he expanded the merriment and celebratory atmosphere. As a guild leader of the Light Traders Guild in Ironguard Motte, he was very pleased to have now acquired the friendship of this gnome community (his fellow guild leader is Gnoosh, a gnome rogue/illusionist).

With the bulette issue solved and new friends made with gnomes, the Army of the Light left with the blessing of the Galeb Duhr and the material they needed from them to return their friend Oswyn back from his stone state. Now they just needed to travel under snowy conditions for 4-5 days to return to Ironguard Motte.

– Hobgoblins from the City State of the Invincible Philosopher King
Arriving back at the wolverine den (which had aired out in the days since their last visit) they took time to explore its den and found a weapon and equipment cache for hobgoblin soldiers. The material included a stash of swords, axes, flails, morning stars, and shields, along with packs of rope, camping supplies, and some maps and notes.

Several bits of information stood out. First, the hobgoblins are clearly preparing for an attack (they had made an attack two years prior). Second, although they had hidden some caches of equipment closer to Ironguard Motte and Helix (2-3 days west from those villages), they seem to have set up a hidden camp in the Moon Peaks south of Ironguard Motte, and within the Moon Peaks they seem to be training Mammoths as war mounts as they winter in the mountains.

Traveling to the giant skunk lair they encountered an Ogre war party that seemed to intentionally seek out the giant skunk lair. Kiaria was riding on her trained Griffon and little Belden, who was along for the ride, cast hallucinatory terrain to distract them from the skunk lair. Llewelyn, using his giant bat familiar, cast distracting ghost sound cantrip to lure several of the ogres away. Further spellcasting and suggestions caused the ogress leader to question the loyalty of her underlings that stepped away to explore the ghost sounds and she began to attack them. The players were thrilled to have gotten the ogres to attack each other as they watched from the air or through their familiars. With most of the ogres now dead, the group moved in to take on the last few. After killing the last few ogres the Army of the Light explored the skunk den and found more cache of weapons and equipment.

Some people might have noticed references to the “City-State of the Invincible Philosopher King.” This refers to two major ideas – (i) the City-State of the Invincible Overlord (CSIO) from Judges Guild. The hobgoblin kingdom is located far to the east of the Duchy of Aerik in my world far into the Borderlands, and if at some point this hobgoblin kingdom is ever sought out, the CSIO will serve as its foundation. (ii) the reference to “Philosopher King” refers to Plato’s Republic. Indeed, the Philosopher King ruler of the CSIO in my world is named Thrasymachus, which refers to an interlocutor in Plato’s Republic who argues that “justice is the advantage of the stronger” (338c) and that “injustice, is more masterly than justice'” (344c). The hobgoblins in these city-states worship Greek and Roman gods (the rulers worship more philosophical Greek figures, and the soldiers worship more militaristic Roman gods). If my players ever want to take this subplot and expand upon it, there is a lot of potential for future game-play (this would be done after we complete the Barrowmaze campaign).

So, as the Army of the Light returns to Ironguard Motte as more snow falls (more than a foot has now fallen in the area in the last week), the group has some new things to ponder.