HYPERBOREA » Xambaala Campaign

Chainsaw · 11/02/2018 4:39 pm

SPOILER ALERT - XAMBAALA and THE BRAZEN BULL

10-7-2018 - Xambaala Campaign, SESSION 1

Player-Characters
ligedog - Nax, Half-Blood Pict Barbarian (1st Level)
ligedog - X’an, Half-Blood Pict Purloiner (1st Level) - DEAD
cadam - Josson, Common Scout (1st Level)
cadam - Drondon, Kimmerian Druid (1st Level)

Synopsis. The party tracked a thief to a lotus den in Xambaala's Old City, where it then discovered some caves and an ancient temple of Thaumagorga. X'an took grievous wounds and died, but Nax, Josson and Drondon found the thief sedated with some other prisoners.
Enemies overcome: mean lotus fiend (x1)
Treasure won: dagger
Adventurers slain: X'an (cut in half)
Begin time/date: 2PM on 9/22/576, Tempest (Late Spring)
End time/date: 8PM on 9/22/576, Tempest (Late Spring)

The party forms. In a small village on the Savage Boreal Coast, an Ixian thief named Estorane robbed Nax and X’an, twin half-blood Picts, Josson of mixed descent and Drondon the Kimmerian. The four found themselves unlikely allies, sailing westward, past New Pictland, past the weird Crab Achipelago, where they spied strange lightning storms, and toward the desert port town of Xambaala, hot on Estorane’s heels.

Gathering info in Xambaala. After arriving in sand-swept Xambaala, the party sought the Bazaar for protective scarves - and rumors. A scraggly old man named Zuagir warned them to avoid Aramis’ Caravanserai, but they lost him when the crowd parted for the satrap’s silk-curtained litter, borne by six Esquimaux-Ixian slaves and escorted by a dozen guards. People yelled the satrap and his wife's names, "Jangir’n! Nef’reetil!" and futilely begging for coins. Still near the cloth merchant, the party asked him about Estorane. He recommended they inquire at Saturn’s Luck, where most visitors first take drink. Dunn, the bartender, said that he had seen Estorane with Venutios, a degenerate lotus fiend who usually loiters near the docks. The party found him and then discreetly tracked him to the decrepit Old City, where he disappeared into a sagging mud-brick tenement.

The lotus den. X’an climbed up to the half-collapsed roof and peered in through some of its holes. She smelled black and russet lotus smoke and, down below, saw a small fire pit and four figures: one perched on a large crate waving a dagger, one rocking himself near a fire, one lying on the ground and one slumped against a wall. The group entered slowly, prompting the dagger-waving crate-man to warn, "Don’t come near my crate!" They lured him off with the promise of more lotus (actually a small bandage), then attacked when he went for it. He was vicious though! He quickly stabbed X’an to death before the others could stop him. They healed her with a magical elixir, then searched under the crate and discovered a 40’ shaft with a ladder.

Deadly guardian. Descending the ladder, they emerged in a natural limestone cavern system. Josson used his tracking skills to find footprints on the moist floor that led through the confusing caverns to a long-forgotten subterreanean structure built into the rock. In front, a 12’ tall iron statue loomed, fashioned in the likeness of a sneering, arrogant Hyperborean woman with robes and a scythe. There was an inscription on its plinth, but they couldn’t read the language, so they took an imprint and moved toward a bronze door behind the statue. Suddenly the statue animated and slew X’an in one nasty slice, chopping her completely in half! The others fled through the door into a short hallway, but the statue didn’t follow. Beyond the hallway, they found a small room with a baleful horned helmet engraved in the flagstone floor, inside a circle, pulsing with a dark red light. Thaumagorga, god of war, bloodlust, murder and torture often used such a symbol! They decided not to enter the sorcerous circle, but rather to search for any secret doors in the area. They found two, one leading west and one east, but distraught Nax could not leave his slaughtered twin behind. He had to retrieve her remains.

Picking up the pieces. Nax sprinted from the hallway’s safety and toward his sister’s bisected corpse, scooping up both halves as the innards spilled out. But before he could sprint back, the statue animated again and cut him down! Staying in the short hall, Josson and Drondon used a grappling hook to snag all the parts and drag them back to safety. Sensing Nax still had a chance at life, they gave him the last of their magical elixirs and restored him to life. Nax packed up his sister’s corpse's pieces and the group left through the western secret door. They soon found a locked bronze door, a dead end and a locked prison cell with five apparently heavily sedated prisoners… including Estorane!

grodog · 11/02/2018 9:27 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
Picking up the pieces. Nax sprinted from the hallway’s safety and toward his sister’s bisected corpse, scooping up both halves as the innards spilled out. But before he could sprint back, the statue animated again and cut him down! Staying in the short hall, Josson and Drondon used a grappling hook to snag all the parts and drag them back to safety. Sensing Nax still had a chance at life, they gave him the last of their magical elixirs and restored him to life. Nax packed up his sister’s corpse's pieces and the group left through the western secret door. They soon found a locked bronze door, a dead end and a locked prison cell with five apparently heavily sedated prisoners… including Estorane!

Methinks I have adventured in some of these corridors before!---unless of course animating statues in dungeon entrances were all the fad in Hyperborea for a time? :D :D

Allan.

Chainsaw · 11/03/2018 5:29 am

grodog wrote:
Methinks I have adventured in some of these corridors before!---unless of course animating statues in dungeon entrances were all the fad in Hyperborea for a time? :D :D

Ha! Yes, both! Two of my more popular Foolsgrave room concepts found themselves reincarnated in The Brazen Bull. It all fits together perfectly! I can't wait for people to play it. I'll offer it at Gary Con of course.

Iron Ranger · 11/03/2018 8:23 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
SPOILER ALERT - XAMBAALA and THE BRAZEN BULL

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Oh this is just the worst timing of a tease ever!!!!!

Chainsaw · 11/03/2018 8:53 pm

Iron Ranger wrote:
Chainsaw wrote:
SPOILER ALERT - XAMBAALA and THE BRAZEN BULL

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Oh this is just the worst timing of a tease ever!!!!!

Ha ha ha!

Chainsaw · 11/05/2018 12:40 pm

SPOILER ALERT - XAMBAALA and THE BRAZEN BULL

10-23-18 – Xambaala Campaign, SESSION 2

Player-Characters
ligedog - Nax, Half-Blood Pict Barbarian (1st Level)
cadam - Josson, Common Scout (1st Level)
cadam - Drondon, Kimmerian Druid (1st Level)
NPC – Estorane

Synopsis. Nax, Josson and Drondon freed Estorane from the prison cell, then made a quick escape from the underground temple. As they fled, they briefly explored some adjacent caverns, discovering a stranded corpse and battling four black centipedes. They then returned to town, scouted out Aramis’ Caravanserai and later rented a room at the Sandy Serpent.
Enemies overcome: giant black centipedes (x4)
Treasure won: 50 GP, 3 pearls, 5 egg-shaped metal cylinders
Adventurers slain: none
Begin time/date: 8PM on Sunday (9/22/576, Tempest [Late Spring])
End time/date: 7AM on Monday (9/23/576, Tempest [Late Spring])

Rescue and escape. Standing in the quiet temple hallway, the party peered through locked jail cell bars at Estorane and four other lethargic prisoners. Josson quickly attempted to pick the lock – in vain. Despite being badly wounded, the party knew they couldn’t leave without Estorane, so Nax summoned his inner barbarian strength and bent the bars open. They tethered Estorane to Drondon and left the other prisoners behind. They then searched a dead end hallway around the corner to the south, found a secret door leading to some stairs down and to another dead end. Rather than descend the stairs, they searched the second dead end and found a second secret door, this one leading back to the main entry chamber, where the sneering Hyperborean woman statue had animated and slain Nax’s sister. They sprinted across the chamber and back into the caverns.

Braving the pit. As the party crept back through the wet limestone caverns, they decided to check out a few passages they’d passed the first time. To the southwest, they found a large cavern where the floor had collapsed entirely, dropping down some 50 feet into a pit filled with water – and snakes! They would have left it alone, but along the western wall, a small piece of the original flooring held what looked like a human corpse. Josson tied a rope to himself and deftly climbed along the slippery western wall to the outcropping. He searched the body and found that it wore some sort of reptilian leather jerkin and had 50 gold pieces, three pearls and five egg-shaped metal cylinders. The cylinders had writing on them, but he couldn’t decipher it. From the out-cropping, he could also see, but not reach without climbing, other passages to the southwest (the word “Help” faintly echoed from this one) and southeast. Shrugging, he returned to the party.

Centipede ambush. Exploring back southeast, they found a cavern littered with human and animal bones. They rummaged through the bones and accidentally attracted four giant black centipedes that crawled in from a crack in the wall. One viciously attacked Estorane and send her to the ground, down, but apparently stable. Nax, Drondon and Josson engaged the bugs, with Nax killing two and Drondon killing two. Feeling like they had perhaps pressed their luck far enough at this point, they fled back to the entrance, climbed up the ladder and into the derelict building. Nax decided to hide his sister’s remains in the rafters so that he didn’t have to carry them around town with him.

Breakfast at Aramis' caravanserai. With Hyperborea's blood-red sun beginning to peek over its horizon, the party decided to head over to Aramis’ caravanserai and have some breakfast. The warning from the crazy old man in the bazaar had piqued their interest. Upon arrival, two guards escorted through inside of a large, walled complex, through some nice gardens and into a small tavern area. Immediately, a squat, greasy dough man entered with four bodyguards, announcing himself as Aramis. He pressed the party hard to have breakfast and then come back for dinner and stay the night. They found his pitch a bit too forceful, but ate breakfast anyway before leaving. From there, they headed to a new inn, the Sandy Serpent, to regroup and recoup. They didn’t want to return to the Saturn’s luck for fear of running into Venutio again.

lige · 11/05/2018 4:00 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
grodog wrote:
Methinks I have adventured in some of these corridors before!---unless of course animating statues in dungeon entrances were all the fad in Hyperborea for a time? :D :D
Ha! Yes, both! Two of my more popular Foolsgrave room concepts found themselves reincarnated in The Brazen Bull. It all fits together perfectly! I can't wait for people to play it. I'll offer it at Gary Con of course.

Sadly I had experienced that particular dungeon fashion myself but didn’t put two and two together. (I guess I could say I was keeping player and character knowledge separate!)

lige · 11/05/2018 4:01 pm

Nice write up chainsaw- looking forward to next game!

Chainsaw · 11/05/2018 4:53 pm

lige wrote:
Nice write up chainsaw- looking forward to next game!

Thanks! Me too. I feel like we're getting the hang of Roll20/Discord, which helps.

Chainsaw · 11/17/2018 6:12 pm

SPOILER ALERT - XAMBAALA and THE BRAZEN BULL

11-12-18 – Xambaala Campaign, SESSION 3

Player-Characters
ligedog - Nax, Half-Blood Pict Barbarian (1st Level)
cadam - Josson, Common Scout (1st Level)
cadam - Drondon, Kimmerian Druid (1st Level)
NPC – Estorane

Synopsis. The adventurers spent Monday recuperating, kidnapped Venutio that evening and then had another night’s sleep. Tuesday morning they questioned Venutio and then returned the temple, where they used him as bait to ambush two cultists and then explored the temple’s crypt. They blew up a dozen skeletons, freed an undead horror and found themselves witness to cultists performing an unholy ritual.
Enemies overcome: skeleton (x12), Venutio (x1)
Treasure won: gold coin (x30), electrum coin (x15), silver coin (x29), copper coin (x12), black lotus leaf (x5), smokey lotus leaf (x2), iron key (x2), fancy two-handed scimitar, broad sword, dagger (x2), necklace with wooden bull's head totem (x2), chain mail, studded armour, black robes (x2)
Adventurers slain: none
Begin time/date: 7AM on Monday (9/23/576, Tempest [Late Spring])
End time/date: 1PM on Tuesday (9/24/576, Tempest [Late Spring])

Capturing Venutio. Our hardy adventurers recuperated all day Monday at the Sandy Serpent, then headed for the Saturn’s Luck around 5PM, where they hoped to spot Venutio, capture him and learn more about the temple. Venutio stumbled in drunk around 630PM, then out again around 730PM, trailed by the crew, which promptly mugged him in an alley and dragged him back to the Sandy Serpent just before eventide bell (8PM). Yudo the Younger demanded extra payment for their new “friend” to stay the night, but didn’t ask any questions about his Weekend at Bernie’s style entrance. The next morning Nax and Estorane questioned Venutio, who said he would help them only if they gave him some of the black lotus they'd taken off him the night before. They did and so he revealed that one of his old lotus fiend dealers, Zilzoon Qaan, gives him black lotus in exchange for luring victims to the lotus den. Venutio said he didn't know what happens after Ziloon takes the victims, but he never sees them again.

Baiting the cultists. The group returned to the derelict building and headed back down the shaft into the caverns. They sneaked to the temple’s pronaos, where they hid and watched for the cultists to emerge. Nothing happened for several hours, so they secured Venutio’s bindings, gagged him and put a sack over his head – then placed him in front sneering Hyperborean woman statue – and waited again. Soon enough, two black robed figures emerged from a secret door and the party ambushed them to win an easy battle. Nax and Drondon donned the black robes, while the others stashed some armor and loot in the nearby rubble.

Down into the crypt. Nax, Josson, Drondon and Estorane entered the temple through the secret door, then descended the stairs they’d passed last time. They quickly found two parallel halls with floors, walls and ceilings mortared in charred human bones. Adjacent to each hall was a similarly fashioned room containing broken coffins and scattered bones and rusty weapons. These two halls led into the same large chamber, covered in black gneiss with a cavernous ceiling supported by enormous arched bones. At the other end, they spied a large bronze door inscribed with geometric symbols and an unknown curvilinear script. They opened the giant door (duh!), revealing a smaller room with similarly decorated rectangular stone sarcophagus. They pushed the lid off and found a bronze sarcophagus inside, sculpted to depict a corpulent dæmon woman with a lupine head, goat horns, a primary set of massive, simian arms terminating in great homarine pincers and a secondary set of arms ending in taloned hands. Suddenly they heard the sound of footsteps from behind!

Skeletons attack! Twelve skeletons approached from the mortared bone passages! Outnumbered and cornered, the group almost despaired – then Josson remembered his egg-shaped cylinders. He tossed one toward the skeletons, laughing as it exploded and destroyed all but one of the evil undead. The party cut down the remaining skeleton a few rounds later (lots of misses somehow!). Luckily the ceiling had not collapsed either!

Unleashing an undead horror. With the skeletal guardians destroyed, the crew returned their attention back to the inner sarcophagus, in no way scared off by its demonic exterior. They developed a plan. Drondon would open it and, if necessary, Josson would be ready to drop an egg-cylinder inside while Nax and Estorane slid the outer sarcophagus lid shut. When Drondon opened the inner sarcophagus, he triggered a poison gas trap that left them all blind – but they could hear something scream in a raspy voice, “I AM NOW FREE, ALL WILL FEEL MY WRATH!” They dropped the egg-cylinder and slid the outer lid shut. An explosion rocked the small chamber, hurting them all, but killing no one. They then heard something run away and a few seconds later regained their vision.

The Brazen Bull. Wounded and unsure of what horror they had unleashed, they decided, naturally, to flee, right? No way - they pursued the unknown terror! Determined to sate his curiosity, Nax led them back, around a corner and up some new stairs, where he heard chanting and a ghoulish bellowing echoing through the halls. The battered and bloody crew peaked around a corner and into a large chamber, where they saw two figures in robes prostrating before a huge bronze bull sculpture with a fire raging beneath it. Smoke and the stench of burning flesh filled the air…

grodog · 11/18/2018 1:58 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
lige wrote:
Nice write up chainsaw- looking forward to next game!
Thanks! Me too. I feel like we're getting the hang of Roll20/Discord, which helps.

How's DMing going via Roll20? I've not played with that interface at all thus far.

edit: learned two new words too!---pronaos and homarine :D

Allan.

Last edited by grodog (11/18/2018 2:34 pm)

Chainsaw · 11/18/2018 2:09 pm

grodog wrote:
Chainsaw wrote:
lige wrote:
Nice write up chainsaw- looking forward to next game!
Thanks! Me too. I feel like we're getting the hang of Roll20/Discord, which helps.
How's DMing going via Roll20? I've not played with that interface at all thus far.

Very smooth. Works perfectly for my purposes, though I don't use even 5% of the tools, really. Happy to give you a tour sometime to demonstrate how I use it.

gizmomathboy · 11/18/2018 3:59 pm

I probably use more of than Chainsaw, but the biggest uses for me is the map and the chat (for rolls and such mostly).

Chainsaw · 11/19/2018 5:31 pm

SPOILER ALERT - XAMBAALA and THE BRAZEN BULL

11-18-18 – Xambaala Campaign, SESSION 4

Player-Characters
ligedog - Nax, Half-Blood Pict Barbarian (1st Level)
cadam - Josson, Common Scout (1st Level)
cadam - Drondon, Kimmerian Druid (1st Level)
NPC – Estorane the Thief
NPC – Karalas the Sage - DEAD

Synopsis. Our fearless friends ambushed the cultists, almost disasterously so, then gathered intel back in town and gained a new companion, Karalas the Sage. They returned to the temple, defeated the red-robed cultist's counter-ambush, lost Karalas the Sage, met Paikell the Alchemist and finally found some good treasure.
Enemies overcome: cultist (x1), lesser demon type xii (x1)
Treasure won: gold coin (x520), emerald (x2), ruby (x2), diamond (x3), vials of reddish-brown liquid (x2), sapphire-tipped wand (x1), brilliant chain mail (x1), tapestry of grotesque scenes (x1), smoky lotus leaf (x10), Karalas’ mud-brick home (x1)
Adventurers slain: Karalas (bitten in half)
Begin time/date: 1PM on Tuesday (9/24/576, Tempest [Late Spring])
End time/date: 4PM on Thursday (9/26/576, Tempest [Late Spring])

A perfect ambush? As the cultists prostrated before the brazen bull, Nax sprang from the hallway, charging the red robed cultist while Josson and Estorane attacked with their bows. Yet the three arrows not only failed to “thread the needle,” but also landed squarely in Nax’s back, nearly killing him! The fourth, thankfully, flew wide, but ultimately Nax missed his target. Many, many laughs were had at this tremendous display of S.W.A.T.-like efficiency! Next round, Nax and the others gained the upper hand, wounding the red-robed cultist and decapitating the black-robed one. Sensing his disadvantage, Red Robes sprinkled some dust on himself and disappeared. Before the crew could relax, however, they heard a rumbling in the bull. Suddenly, a corpulent dæmonic woman emerged from its side door! The unholy hag had a lupine head, goat horns, a primary set of massive, simian arms terminating in great homarine pincers and a secondary set of arms ending in taloned hands. She reached down, grabbed the body of the decapitated cultist, feasted on its blood, cackled an evil laugh and disappeared! Feeling lucky, the crew fled as fast as it could – but not before Nax grabbed a couple of pouches from the crumpled corpse, of course.

Gathering intel in town. Our brave heroes returned to the Sandy Serpent, where they spent two nights licking their wounds. During the day, Nax visited the Temple of Helios and learned that resurrecting his sister X’an would cost 1,200 gold coins. Pyrois the High Priest was less than enthused to learn that Nax did not intend to pursue the resurrection immediately and stormed off, angry at having his “time wasted.” Next, they visited the Astrologer’s Tower and met Karalas, a strange little Ixian sage that translated their imprint from the temple’s statue and agreed to accompany them back to the temple. On the way, they stopped by Karalas’ modest mud-brick home, where he loaded up a heavy backpack of manuals, librams and tomes, which he then requested Josson carry for him.

Karalas’ wisdom amazes. With their shiny new sage in tow, the party headed to the derelict warehouse, into the caverns and back to temple’s pronaos. Karalas reminded them that he would need at least 50 gold coins for his trouble. They denied ever having agreed to such a deal, but persuaded him to stay nonetheless. Karalas then examined the dangerous statue and revealed that it was indeed dangerous. They moved on to the chamber with the red-glowing horned helmet rune, where Karalas determined that the apparently evil run was in fact actually an evil rune, that its circle should not be entered. Next, they found a new chamber, this one containing a star-shaped alcove with meat hooks attached to chains hanging at each point. Corpses dangled from two of the hooks, their blood dripping down to drain through sluices into a large horned helmet rune that glowed dimly. Karalas warmed them that this too not only appeared evil, but was actually evil – and asked again about his 50 gold coins.

Red Robes ambushes! They left the meat hook chamber, searched through two cultist bedrooms and found a new secret door. Suddenly they heard laughter and footsteps behind themselves! They wheeled around to see Red Robes in the distance and some dæmonic abomination charging them – a deformed lizard, dead-grey in colour with a miasmal odour, insectan legs, and wicked fangs in its malformed jaws! The foul beast bit off Karalas’ top half, but, strangely, not a tear was shed among our heroes. Josson hurled a egg-shaped cylinder over top, landing a direct hit on Red Robes, while Nax and Drondon cut down his dæmonic guardian. When the smoke cleared, Red Robes was nowhere to be seen, but they heard an evil voice threaten, "Beware, fools, for I will return when you least expect it!” They shrugged and resumed their search for treasure.

Treasure! Josson expertly unlocked another door, went to open it and two giant scything blades sliced down into his flesh. He toppled over, nearly dead, but Nax stabilized him. Behind the door, they saw a messy laboratory and heard someone say, “Hello, I am Paikell Darr.” They saw a sunken-faced man with bulging red eyes and long, greasy black hair. He further asked, “Did Zilzoon the Red send you? Wait, is Zilzoon dead?” The main explained that he was Zilzoon’s captive alchemist, offered them a healing salve for Josson and said he would show them “the treasure” in exchange for his freedom. They agreed. He took them downstairs to the crypt, where they did a more thorough search of the sarcophagus and found gold, gems, armor and a wand in a secret compartment. Overjoyed, they parted ways with Paikell and returned to the surface to celebrate their wealth and their new mud-brick home.

grodog · 11/20/2018 4:01 pm

Aha!---I recognize another encounter area! :D

Is Paikell Darr a member of the party now, replacing Karalas? If so, did he inherit the sages many tomes? ;)

I'm sending that Zilzoon the Red Priest may become a recurring enemy soon! :D

Allan.

Chainsaw · 11/20/2018 4:07 pm

grodog wrote:
Aha!---I recognize another encounter area! :D

Hahah! Yes, it was such a crowd pleaser at the conventions that I wanted to share it more broadly.

grodog wrote:
Is Paikell Darr a member of the party now, replacing Karalas? If so, did he inherit the sages many tomes? ;)

Nope! He hit the road. The PCs "inherited" Karalas' tomes and shoddy mud-brick home - at least until some long lost relative shows up. Muahaah!

grodog wrote:
I'm sending that Zilzoon the Red Priest may become a recurring enemy soon! :D

He'll be back, count on it.

lige · 11/21/2018 3:36 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
grodog wrote:
Is Paikell Darr a member of the party now, replacing Karalas? If so, did he inherit the sages many tomes? ;)
Nope! He hit the road. The PCs "inherited" Karalas' tomes and shoddy mud-brick home - at least until some long lost relative shows up. Muahaah!

I'll pretend I didn't see that - I'm looking forward to a respite from upselling by skeevy innkeepers!

Chainsaw · 11/21/2018 3:44 pm

lige wrote:
Chainsaw wrote:
grodog wrote:
Is Paikell Darr a member of the party now, replacing Karalas? If so, did he inherit the sages many tomes? ;)
Nope! He hit the road. The PCs "inherited" Karalas' tomes and shoddy mud-brick home - at least until some long lost relative shows up. Muahaah!
I'll pretend I didn't see that - I'm looking forward to a respite from upselling by skeevy innkeepers!

Ha ha ha!

Chainsaw · 11/27/2018 10:16 am

11-25-18 – Xambaala Campaign, SESSION 5

Player-Characters
cadam – Josson Common Scout (2nd Level)
cadam – Drondon, Kimmerian Druid (2nd Level)
ligedog - Nax, Half-Blood Pict Barbarian (2nd Level)
francisca – Ulfsteinn, Viking Fighter (1st Level)
gizmomathboy – Dennill, Common Monk (1st Level)
Ray – Xirixan, Hyperborean Necromancer (1st Level)

Synopsis. The party grew larger, agreed to rescue Yudo’s brother Ozar and discovered him held by cannibals in the desert. Aided by magic, they rescued Ozar, but found Yudo had no real reward to offer. They tracked the cannibals back to a crumbled, half-buried palace in the desert, where they fought more cannibals and were nearly defeated.
Enemies overcome: cannibals (x15), slaves (x10)
Treasure won: none
Adventurers slain: none
Time elapse: 15 days for training and miscellaneous errands in town.
Begin time/date: 3PM on Saturday (10/14/576, Tempest [Late Spring])
End time/date: 2AM on Tues (10/17/576, Tempest [Late Spring])

Yudo begs for help. As Nax, Josson and Drondon pondered their new treasure map at Saturn’s Luck, Ulfsteinn, Dennill and Xirixan overheard and offered their blades. Josson and Drondon departed after a bit. Suddenly, Yudo the Younger burst in, pleading with the Nax and his new companions to rescue his brother Ozar the Elder. Yudo said that a pack of brutal, almost beast-like Esquimaux-Ixian slaves broke into the Sandy Serpent the prior night, kidnapped his brother and a merchant, then disappeared into desert. The crew, ever shrewd, haggled for a good reward that included free room at Yudo’s for a year and a special sword that Yudo says he forged in the mythical cold fires of the Plain of Leng many years ago.

Cannibal feast. The adventurers then scouted the outskirts of Xambaala’s decaying Old City and found several sets of tracks. They staked out a decrepit building and waited to see who entered from the desert after the eventide bell rang. Once the bloated red sun had set, they spied a suspicious pack of Esquimaux-Ixians entering the city, then later dragging bodies out into the desert. With Nax and Dennill leading, they tracked this fiendish pack back into the desert, toward beating drums and screams in the night. From behind a nearby dune, they saw two men burning alive at stakes in a large fire pit. Around it, Esquimaux-Ixians danced wildly, chewing on human bones, tearing at flesh, praising Kthulhu and beseeching his help to reclaim Xambaala from their masters. The crew also saw Yudo and two others bound on the ground nearby. Counting over a dozen cannibals, they decided that a direct assault would be certain death.

Black magic. Xirixan the Necromancer had an idea – they could wait for the staked victims to die! He could then use his dark sorcery to speak through their corpses and try to scare off the cannibals. Everyone agreed to the ghoulish plan. After the screams of the cooking victims had finally dwindled, the cannibals heard a gravely, unholy voice from the charred dead, “If you wish to reclaim Xambaala, you must devour each other!” Drunk on human flesh and lost in revelry, the wild-eyed cannibals attacked each other! Some died and the remainder fled into the cold desert night, heading southeast. The party rescued Yudo (and two sailors) and returned to Xambaala, though briefly hassled by a pack of giant bats.

The grand reward. They recuperated at the sage’s shack until dawn, then sought their reward at the Sandy Serpent. Yudo claimed to have only ever offered them a 1 sp discount to the 5 sp nightly room rate, but, in his generosity, agreed to let them sleep on the floor in the common room any time. When asked of the sword, Yudo admitted he sold it to a sorcerer two decades ago, but that he was sure the shrewd party could probably recover it with minor negotiation. He wrote them an introduction to Uravulon Calcidius and marked the sorcerer’s tower, some 56 miles into the desert, on their map. Meanwhile, the sailors convinced their ship’s captain to offer the party free passage to Khromarium at some point. The ship ports here in Xambaala once a month, they learned.

The warlord’s palace. They rested Sunday night, then head back to the cannibal camp at dawn on Monday. Except for a few slaves, the camp was empty. The slaves began to stir – two returned to town and two others walked southeast into the desert. The party tracked them and eventually arrived at a crumbling palace, half-buried in deep sand. Xirixan scouted the palace’s rooftop, discovering several large openings where the ceiling had collapse. They hid in the dunes until nightfall, then, after the eventide bell could be heard, saw half a dozen or more cannibals leave the palace, walking toward Xambaala. In the darkness, they dropped down through one of the roof holes and killed two sleeping cannibals and ten sleeping slaves. They explored a bit, found another couple of sleeping cannibals and slit their throats as well. From another direction, they began to hear chopping and moaning sounds and smell burning flesh. Firelight flickered from underneath a door.

Feasting in hell’s kithchen. Thirsty for battle, Ulfsteinn the Viking burst through the door, saw a cannibal’s back and immediately buried his axe to the hilt, killing the fiend in one chop! Ulfsteinn then saw a macabre kitchen – a bloody butcher’s table, two spitted torsos rotating over open flame, three more cannibals chewing on human parts and two sinister orange robed figures near a stairwell. Nax, Dennill and Xirixan then joined the fray, weapons drawn! Several rounds of bad luck later, one cannibal cut down Ulfsteinn, a second cut down Dennill and a third cut down Xirixan. Nax found himself alone and outnumbered, but fought hard, killing two cannibals and forcing the third to flee. The orange robes were nowhere to be seen. Nax treated his badly wounded companions with restorative elixirs. A minute later, the last cannibal returned, hands in the air.

Chainsaw · 12/04/2018 9:04 am

12-3-18 – Xambaala Campaign, SESSION 6

Player-Characters
cadam – Josson Common Scout (2nd Level)
francisca – Ulfsteinn, Viking Fighter (1st Level)
francisca – Friar Cook, Common Cleric of Helios (1st Level)
gizmomathboy – Dennill, Common Monk (1st Level)
Ray – Xirixan, Hyperborean Necromancer (1st Level)
NPC – Dagr, Viking Fighter (0th Level) - DEAD
NPC – Sveinn, Viking Fighter (0th Level)
NPC – Catai, Common Fighter (0th Level)
NPC – Lonan, Kelt Fighter (0th Level) - DEAD

Synopsis. Once again, the party grew larger, bolstering their numbers with several mercenaries, and then launched a second attack against the cannibals at the ruined palace. They defeated the cannibals, but again found themselves badly wounded and low on resources, so they returned to town to plot their next move.
Enemies overcome: cannibals (x7)
Treasure won: three elixirs of healing
Adventurers slain: Dagr and Lonan, cut down by cannibals
Begin time/date: 2AM on Tues (10/17/576, Tempest [Late Spring])
End time/date: 6AM on Thurs (10/19/576, Tempest [Late Spring])

Best hirelings ever. Our bloody band of cutthroats left the ruined palace’s cannibal kitchen, returning to town. Xirixan questioned Azos along the way, but learned little from the simple-minded cannibal cultist except: there were at least as many orange-robed “masters” below the temple as Azos had fingers. When asked about any “secret signals,” he bared his sharpened-teeth. After arriving, Friar Cook turned Azos over to Pyrois, high priest at the temple of Helios. Pyrois said he would question the vile creature privately and gave the party three elixirs of healing in exchange for agreeing to clear out more of these devilish heathens from the palace. Next, the crew went to Saturn’s Luck to bolster their numbers. They hired Dagr and Sveinn (Vikings), Catai (Common) and Lonan (Kelt), though all turned out to be rather weak and clumsy – I rolled really bad hit points and attributes for them! Ha ha ha!

Against the cannibals! With their new sellswords in tow, they marched back into the desert, to the ruined palace. They dropped down through the same roof hole as before, landing in the dirty sleeping area where they’d slit so many throats previously. As Dennill rappelled down, some of the roof crumbled in, making a noise and attracting some cannibals. Ulfsteinn charged down the hallway, cutting the first one down quickly. A fierce battle ensued, in which Ulfsteinn, Josson, Dagr and Lonan fell (I rolled lots of 20s), but ultimately the party slew all the cannibals except one, who ran away. Friar Cook invoked Helios’ restorative mercy with a prayer and elixirs, healing Ulfsteinn and Josson. Sadly, Dagr and Lonan perished.

What next? Wounded badly once again, the party fled the ruined palace and returned to town. Ulfsteinn and Sveinn burned Dagr’s body in a funeral pyre at the edge of the desert, then bought a bottle of mead and all headed back to the sage’s shack. Xirixan translated the ancient Hyperborean writing on Nax’s map (from the Thaumagorgan temple) and determined that it marked the location of ivory from a purple worm. The party then reflected on its situation. They had slain 22 cannibals and ten slaves, but felt like they weren’t making any progress against the cult. Should they attack a third time? Stake out Aramis' caravanserai? Request an audience with the satrap? Seek out Yudo’s Cold Fire Sword from the sorcerer’s tower? Investigate the cache of purple worm ivory? Fight at the arena while betting on themselves? Something else?