HYPERBOREA » Hyperborea

kane · 5/10/2019 3:00 pm

Chainsaw suggested I share my campaign experience here so let's try it. My English is limited, so I'll do my best but feel free to point out any errors or incomprehensible phrases. I'm not over-sensitive ;)

We’ve started playing a week ago, for everyone it was first experience with AS&SoH. We went for straight 3d6 attribute rolls, repeating hp rolls of '1', rolling random races and the outcome was the party composed of:

Caidahan, male common (half-Pict half-Viking) Scout; ST 7, DX 9, CN 14, IN 14, WS 7, CH 10; 3 hp – outspoken, a bit pretentious and smart-ass, overconfident and ambitious – a set of qualities who gives him a 5-in-6 chances of swift death and 1-in-6 chance of huge success is he's half as good as he claims he is.

Gagan See’k, female half-blood Pict fighter; ST 15, DX 10, CN 6, IN 9, WS 11, CH 12; 9 hp - the sole warrior in the party has quasi-neanderthal physical features, teeth sharpened like shark, facial tatoos and growls more often than talks – definitely frontwoman of the team, with CH 12 she is the one first noticed by NPCs along with Xenokrates.

Xenokrates Rhaskos, male Kimmerian magician; ST 7, DX 13, CN 7, IN 9, WS 3, CH 12; 5 hp – now Wisdom 3 is something special, player decided that Xenokrates is completely oblivious to subtleties of conversation, human emotions and acts somewhat like a robot.

Karaksos Katokas, male Ixian assassin; ST 12, DX 9, CN10 , IN 11, WS 4, CH 4; 2 hp – this player, knowing mostly D&D 5e or Pathfinder is not used to having attributes like that so when he saw his WS and CH scores he gave me “how am I supposed to play this character?” look – but in the end he came up with his assassin being towering (6’8”) psychopath with calm and cold emotionless stance towards everything and it turned out great, he’s having lots fun. And his nickname “Cornflower” suits him perfectly. Well at least in Polish ("bławatek") it sounds awesome. Too bad he has 2 hit points...

Korrvull, female common (half-Esquimaux), shaman of Yon’Deeh; ST 7, DX 8, CN 10, IN 13, WS 13, CH 6; 4hp - she decided to represent the ferocious and unforgiving aspect of nature with the survival of the fittest. She is accompanied by a wild dog Carcass who warns with a growl everyone who comes to close to the mistress. And thanks to having 7 hit points he is potentially lethal to everyone in the party.

The party can be defined as ‘evil’, but I tend not to care much about alignments, I consider dropping them completely, maybe leaving only Chaotic / Lawful / Neutral options. I portrayed the world as the one in which it is hard to be a ‘good’ and ‘nice’ person because it is harsh on people and if you’re a mr nice guy, well, your chances of survival drop rapidly.
Our game style has a lot of pagan touch with superstition, brutality, racism, sexism, prejudice, religious hatred and people praying on each other’s weaknesses to gain advantage. Maybe we will tone it down a bit in time, maybe not. So far this is what feels natural and immersive for us.

So we’ve started in Swampgate, not knowing much about the setting I’ve decided to go with what’s proposed as introductory adventure. First scene was scouts of Cunobelinos coming back from the hunt, carrying dead giant toad and two wounded companions. The party then walked down the main street towards the Agriculture Councillor home, observing for the first time the town of Swampgate, their base for the many next adventures as I presume.
She met the characters to talk to them about the issue with missing couple of youngsters. But of course I wouldn’t be myself if I haven’t spiced things a little. I decided there is a political struggle to overtake peat industry in Swampgate with noble merchant houses of Khromarium interested in this profitable endeavor. So the Agriculture Councillor is not even a bit interested in the life of peat farmer’s children, but she needs to build positive PR within the peat farmers community, so she hires band of thugs (characters) and spreads gossip around town about a hefty reward she offered for the safe return of the children. Whether her mercenaries succeed or not is irrelevant, it’s all about propaganda and showing everyone how much she cares for peat farmers lives. She has not yet decided if to hire some thugs to kill the characters if they succeed so she can keep the reward for herself or to keep them alive as her personal ‘heroes’ to further build her visage within Swampgate. She also easily agreed to raising reward to 750 gp. Characters were a bit surprised by it at first about her being so generous and worried about some scheme on her part, but Xenokrates with his Wisdom 3 and Charisma 12 extinguished their worries instantly 😊

Characters learned that one of Cunobelinos’ scouts, a Kelt named Calbogorix already checked the hut where the youngsters were abducted for tracks, but unfortunately he is currently heavily poisoned by swamp snake venom and probably won’t last the night. It was a moment for team’s shaman Korruvull – she went to the Rangers’ Barracks and for the entire night performed rituals to heal the poisoned huntsman Calbogorix. She succeeded, learning about the ‘little people’ and the small footprints that Kelt saw around the hut where the youngsters were abducted. He suggested that the Black Moss-Hag of Lug is either commanding those small folk or she knows a lot about them, but at the same time he warned about the unspoken evil powers of Black Moss-Hag, building some fear in characters. He also expressed his gratitude for saving his life and party gained potential henchman/ally for future endeavors.

That’s all for the first session, it seems like little, but there was a lot of talking between characters, exploring Swampgate, talking to NPCs and immersing in setting which from what I saw and from what players told me, really captivated them. I think that the setting being so deeply embeded into sword and sorcery genre and based upon real European cultures, it is very easy to grasp from the start. We continue on Sunday, players leaving for heathland to find the hag and missing youths.

As soon as we finish the introductory scenario, we're going into old-school hexcrawling with the Swampgate as base of operations.

Last edited by kane (6/19/2019 2:06 pm)

Chainsaw · 5/11/2019 8:52 am

kane wrote:
The party can be defined as ‘evil’

Hahaha! Love it.

Anyway, sounds like you are off to a good. Looking forward to reading more.

kane · 5/25/2019 7:03 am

Swamplands

The party tried to keep a low-profile about their pay and job, but on the cold morning that they were leaving Swampgate, everybody was talking about the vast money they can grab from the job, making comments and so on. Obviously, the council wanted to make sure that citizens know how much they care about the lifes of common rabble and they've spread the word around. Not something the characters liked, not something they could do something about either. They were acommpanied by two henchmen, half-brothers Fjarn and Bolg, warriors eager to earn some coin.

So the party left Swampgate (017.009) and started heading towards peat farmer's housings (020.010). Xenokrates send out his raven familiar Corax to scout the area. Not far from town they travelled when a lone, chubby figure emerged from the shadow of a huge larch. The man was obese, a sight not quite common in these parts, and dressed in fine robes and jewelry. He smelled of Khromarium more than the surrounding swamplands reeked of swamp. He was alone, yet characters were sure there are thugs in the thickets, waiting to emerge at a sound of trouble. He presented himself as Prospero, a merchant from the Red Sun Merchant House based in Khromarium. With a jovial, broad stance he offered characters a hefty sum of gold if only they present themselves as mercenaries of Red Sun after a successful mission to recover the missing youngsters. "People giving money for nothing. Weird land" - summed up an ancounter Ixian assassin Cornflower. Nobody liked Prospero, but his gold - on the contrary so the party agreed, though cautiously, on his deal. Less light-minded party members like Korrvull felt there is something dangerous going around town that cannot be seen and the men like Prospero are more dangerous than they look, but her concerns were quickly dismissed by the rest of the group.

Party entered Damp Hills of Lug Wasteland by mid-day. First random encounter roll and of course it's 1 - encounter. Roll for surprize and of course it's 1 - the party is surprized. The 5 stirges emerged from the thickets and nearly killed Xenokrates and his familiar, luckily raven was fast enough to outmach the stirges. Xenokrates lost his all but one hp during the encounter, but otherwise party was unscathed. After couple of rounds two remaining stirges flew away into the swamp. It could go much worse if not for raven Corax who dragged away two of the stirges.

Rest of the road went peacefully and in the afternoon party reached Taran Macc Cathal's housings just to witness his drunk neighbour Brion Dunfell with a band of retainers, threatening to set houses on fire if Taran's son won't bring back kidnapped daughter of Brion. The party arrived and presented itself as mercenaries sent to find the missing youngsters, stopping the potential escalation of the conflict between two neighbours, who, minutes later, were good friends again.

Brion was left to sober up, while MaccCathal and the party went to the old hut where missing lovers were taken from, but neither Caidhan found any tracks nor Korrvull's dog Carcass was able to pick up a scent. That left the party with an unwelcoming option to visit Black Moss Hag of Lug. MaccCathal directed the party, but had no wish to visit dreaded Black Moor, especially with Helios setting.

Characters reached the hut of Black-Moss Hag of Lug (020.009), where the witch told characters about the worms of Ymir and the story of lost Roman legion. Agreed also to show characters the way to the Dagon's Mound if one of the men in the party "pledges his fiery loins to her". Caidhan and Karaksos shuned the idea, but obviously Xenokrates with his Wisdom score of 3 was happy to get laid down for free.

The morning brought frost that fell upon the Black Moor along with the thick fog. The hag took characters to Dagon's Mound (020.008) and vanished in the mist. Thanks to the protection of hag, no creatures harassed the party. They descended into the depths and emerged hastily not long later with one dead and two heavily wounded, but that's a story for next entry.

Iron Ranger · 5/25/2019 9:39 am

kane wrote:
this player, knowing mostly D&D 5e or Pathfinder is not used to having attributes like that so when he saw his WS and CH scores he gave me “how am I supposed to play this character?” look – .......and it turned out great, he’s having lots fun.

This always seems to happen. I love it!

Iron Ranger · 5/25/2019 9:41 am

kane wrote:
We went for straight 3d6 attribute rolls,

Yes!

kane · 5/27/2019 4:40 am

Iron Ranger wrote:
kane wrote:
We went for straight 3d6 attribute rolls,
Yes!

Players who played more modern D&D/d20 systems always wince when I tell them we roll straight 3d6. After some time and, sometimes, some characters later, they wince at pointbuy or 4d6/drop lowest systems. The advantages of 3d6 are not obvious at a glance, but in the long run the positive impact it has on game is enormous.

Chainsaw · 5/27/2019 6:18 am

kane wrote:
The party tried to keep a low-profile...

Hahaha, yeah, like that ever works.

kane wrote:
Nobody liked Prospero, but his gold - on the contrary so the party agreed

Money talks, as they say. Great name for a sleazy merchant.

kane wrote:
Xenokrates lost his all but one hp during the encounter, but otherwise party was unscathed. After couple of rounds two remaining stirges flew away into the swamp. It could go much worse if not for raven Corax who dragged away two of the stirges.

Sounds like a good time.

kane wrote:
Rest of the road went peacefully and in the afternoon party reached Taran Macc Cathal's housings just to witness his drunk neighbour Brion Dunfell with a band of retainers, threatening to set houses on fire if Taran's son won't bring back kidnapped daughter of Brion. The party arrived and presented itself as mercenaries sent to find the missing youngsters, stopping the potential escalation of the conflict between two neighbours, who, minutes later, were good friends again.

Love situations like this.

kane wrote:
Agreed also to show characters the way to the Dagon's Mound if one of the men in the party "pledges his fiery loins to her". Caidhan and Karaksos shuned the idea, but obviously Xenokrates with his Wisdom score of 3 was happy to get laid down for free.

There's always one, lol.

Iron Ranger wrote:
kane wrote:
We went for straight 3d6 attribute rolls,
Yes!

I have always liked the "destiny" aspect of straight 3d6 and the way it shifts player focus away from attributes. Plus, AS&SH has a reasonably shallow attribute bonus curve, which helps it accommodate straight 3d6 more easily. Maybe we'll try that it my next campaign.

Iron Ranger · 5/27/2019 8:02 am

kane wrote:
Iron Ranger wrote:
kane wrote:
We went for straight 3d6 attribute rolls,
Yes!

Players who played more modern D&D/d20 systems always wince when I tell them we roll straight 3d6. After some time and, sometimes, some characters later, they wince at pointbuy or 4d6/drop lowest systems. The advantages of 3d6 are not obvious at a glance, but in the long run the positive impact it has on game is enormous.

Same here and could not agree more!

kane · 6/10/2019 2:49 am

Caidhan, male common (half-Pict half-Viking) Scout
Gagan See’k, female half-blood Pict fighte
Xenokrates Rhaskos, male Kimmerian magician
Karaksos Katokas, male Ixian assassin
Korrvull, female common (half-Esquimaux), shaman of Yon’Deeh
Fjarn & Bolg, two hirelings, 0-level men-at-arms

The party entered the mound. Half of the party descended, the other half stayed up and started arguing about some unimportant issues and, obviously, it was a good moment to roll if random encounter occurred. Players rolled and, obviously, they were immediately attacked by giant fire beetles, attracted by noise while half of the party was still up outside the mound. Chaos, wounds and panic. Noobs entering their first lair. After defeating the beetles, further caution exploration took place.

After some walking around, the party followed a heard noise and discovered a group of worms of Ymir building a wall. The combat was brutal and since worms had nowhere to run, it lasted to the death. Gagan fell, heavily wounded but stable. Just as soon as last worm fell, the players rolled for random encounter and it was '1' again, noise attracted another group of worms of Ymir, who attacked with fury. Karaskos fell, gravely wounded, Bolg died outnumbered, but Shocking Grasp by Xenokrates delivered in the right moment caused the worms to fail their Morale check and they fled the battle. Party emerged from the mound, carrying two wounded and one dead while achieving nothing particular. Good start.

Bolg was buried near the mound of Dagon as there was no time to make a pyre. Luckily no other encounters occurred during the way through Black Moor. Party reached the peat farmers in 020.010 and thanks to hospitality of Macc Cathal and his wife, rested for four days.

In the meantime Korrvull and Caidhan tried to recruit some men from the local steads but with no success - the infamy of Black Moor and Mound of Dagon scared away everyone.

Last edited by kane (6/19/2019 2:13 pm)

Iron Ranger · 6/10/2019 10:35 am

kane wrote:
Caidhan, male common (half-Pict half-Viking) Scout
Gagan See’k, female half-blood Pict fighte
Xenokrates Rhaskos, male Kimmerian magician
Karaksos Katokas, male Ixian assassin
Korrvull, female common (half-Esquimaux), shaman of Yon’Deeh
Fjarn & Bolg, two hirelings, 0-level men-at-arms

The party entered the mound. Half of the party descended, the other half stayed up and started arguing about some unimportant issues and, obviously, it was a good moment to roll if random encounter occurred. Players rolled and, obviously, they were immediately attacked by giant fire beetles, attracted by noise while half of the party was still up outside the mound. Chaos, wounds and panic. Noobs entering their first lair. After defeating the beetles, further caution exploration took place.

After some walking around, the party followed a heard noise and discovered a group of worms of Ymir building a wall. The combat was brutal and since worms had nowhere to run, it lasted to the death. Gagan fell, heavily wounded but stable. Just as soon as last worm fell, the players rolled for random encounter and it was '1' again, noise attracted another group of worms of Ymir, who attacked with fury. Karaskos fell, gravely wounded, Bolg died outnumbered, but Shocking Grasp by Xenokrates delivered in the right moment caused the worms to fail their Morale check and they fled the battle. Party emerged from the mound, carrying two wounded and one dead while achieving nothing particular. Good start.

Bolg was buried near the mound of Dagon as there was no time to make a pyre. Luckily no other encounters occurred during the way through Black Moor. Party reached the peat farmers in 020.010 and thanks to hospitality of Macc Taran and his wife, rested for four days.

In the meantime Korrvull and Caidhan tried to recruit some men from the local steads but with no success - the infamy of Black Moor and Mound of Dagon scared away everyone.

Great stuff!

kane · 6/11/2019 12:59 pm

Caidhan, male common (half-Pict half-Viking) Scout
Gagan See’k, female half-blood Pict fighte
Karaksos Katokas, male Ixian assassin
Korrvull, female common (half-Esquimaux), shaman of Yon’Deeh
Fjarn & Bolg, two hirelings, 0-level men-at-arms

Does anyone knows if I could post here a map of Worm's Caverns from the official adventure here or is it copyright infringement?

017.009 - Swampgate
020.010 - Peat farmers
020.009 - Black Moss-Hag of Lug
020.008 - Dagon's Mound

Friend playing Xenokrates couldn't attend, so we've decided that he departed towards Swampgate, unwilling to explore the mound.

Party reached Dagon's Mound and discovered that shallow grave of Bolg has been opened. Scout Caidhan discovered that the grave has been probably dug from the inside, what stirred party a bit and lowered morale even more.

Another descent under the Dagon's Mound went more smoothly than first, and the dice were more favorable, resulting with fewer random encounters, which allowed deeper exploration.

Party discovered the severed head of one of the missing peat farmers, partly eaten by rats and placed upon a pedestal. A message from dirt worms to the creatures of the outside world.

When examining the battlefield, party discovered that creatures built a wall from mud and stones, blocking the passage. Heroes assumed that creatures must've built a wall to protect something important and spent a substantial amount of time tearing down the wall. After a while, when exploring tunnels beneath the wall, party discovered that the wall was meant to contain creatures living in the tunnels - giant crab spiders that attacked surprised party. The "run away!" command was issued smoothly and executed perfectly, miraculously nobody died... yet. Party escaped the spider tunnels and moved towards the unexplored parts of the caves.

Then the unfortunate random encounter occured, party was attacked in a dark tunnel by four crab-spiders, who probably followed party to make an ambush. The poor dog Carcass, companion of Korrvull was swiftly killed by rapid attack and the party made a rather hastily retreat, taking advantage of the fact that the spiders began consumption of the Carcass' carcass without delay.

After a while the party followed a noise it heard from the deeper tunnels discovered behind the cave glowing with strange mold. The tunnels forked and the party left one unexplored branch of tunnels behind their back which turned badly for them. Soon they were attacked from front and rear by fourteen worms of Ymir, more than twice party members. Assassin Karasksos fell quickly, fighting in the front rank with his 2 hit points (but had little choice frankly, being attacked from two sides), Korrvull joined him after a while, and it would surely be tpk if not for Gagan See'k, the half-wild but fully mad woman, who killed 9 (!) enemies with her spear, causing the remaining four enemies into retreat, unable to harm her and scared of the martial prowess they witnessed.

With another two wounded the party decided that it is once again time to retreat to the surface. Luckily they've manage to pull wounded out of the caves without any random encounter, and despite late night and darkness, decided to travel through the Black Moor, away from the damned Dagon's Mound and seek help from the Black Moss-Hag.

Having scout in the party, they had only 1-in-8 chance of becoming lost in the darkness and I guess nobody is surprised to learn that the roll was '1'. Carrying wounded, the party slowly pushed forward, discovering that instead reaching the hut of the hag, they entered the unknown marsh, covered with thin sheet of ice. Caidhan managed to backtrack to the moor, and the party came back to safety, exhausted but in one piece.

The Black Moss-Hag of Lug, to much surprise, was in the very advanced stage of pregnancy, didn't let party near the hut, but since they provided her amusement telling story about their ineptitude and failures under Dagon's Mound, she let them rest near her hut, mocking them mercilessly.

Next day the party then traveled back to the farmstead of Macc Cathal. Saying that morale was low would be a huge understatement. While Karaksos and Korrvull recuperated, rest of the party discussed future plans...

To be continued.

Last edited by kane (6/19/2019 2:14 pm)

kane · 6/19/2019 3:13 pm

Caidhan, male common (half-Pict half-Viking) Scout
Gagan See’k, female half-blood Pict fighte
Karaksos Katokas, male Ixian assassin
Korrvull, female common (half-Esquimaux), shaman of Yon’Deeh
Fjarn 0-level men-at-arms
Zay - 0-level men-at-arms
Zenk, Zoon & Pen - hirelings, 0-level commoners

Season: Hare / Tempest, year 576

The party spent three days at the house of Macc Cathal, exploiting his hospitality a bit further. Taran Macc Cathal didn't even ask about his missing son, he obviously made peace with the situation. Only thing he told was "The damned moor takes away everything.", biting his pipe. When Korvull and Cornflower were able to walk, the party moved towards Swampgate, acknowledging their failure in Dagon's Mound.

With no encounters on the road, party reached Swampgate. They managed to extract some money from the council, however, the intel on worms of Ymir and head of one of the creatures were worth something and 83 gp per character was distributed among player characters and NPCs.

Next two days were spent on planning, collecting gossips, buying equipment and recruiting NPCs. Three poorly equipped commoners (Zenk, Zoon, Pen) and one ex-militia (Zay) joined the party.

Random gossip collected by the party:
* Hot Springs located somewhere in Tar Pits have magical healing properties, able to cure sickness and wounds, but they are, unfortunately, guarded by devils.
* Druids of Lugh'Nan'Duatha forbid entering the region of tar pits called Devil's Pits located in the southern portion of Lug Wasteland. They protect secrets they keep there.
* A sorcerer from Stonebrook is offering substantial sums of money for smoky lotus flowers that can be found in the Lug Wasteland.
* Mysterious culture that once thrived on the moors and around them left behind dozens of mounds, containing evil magic, traps and treasures.
* There is a hill not far from Swampgate called "Heron" which contains hidden shrine of Hefaistos full of ancient weaponry and armor.
* Long time ago, gold was mined in Stone Hills north of Stonebrook. To this day gold can be found in streams and abandoned mines.
* Dungeons of baron Aristarchos Porenbekis' castle in Stonebrook conceal countless tomes of forbidden lore and magic.

Party liked the idea of Hefaistos temple and followed this gossip. They've asked around and were told that on a sunny day Heron hill can be seen from the moors on Northern Road (018.011), looking towards south. 10 people party left Swampgate on 17th day of Month II and reached moor on the late afternoon same day. The weather was shitty - sleet - no chance of seeing the Heron hill from the desired spot. Random encounter was rolled and party encountered eight peat farmers with three dogs going to work from south. Both parties surprized each other in bad visibility conditions so the situation was tense, but luckily reaction roll was good and both groups put their weapons down. Party members talked to farmers and both groups decided it'd be safe to camp together.

The group moved to 017.011 where peat farmers had their camp. In the night, when sleet recessed and air became clearer, Gagan saw burial mound in the distance, covered with menhirs. In the morning party investigated. Entrance was buried by rocks and dirt. Luckily the peat farmers had spare shovels to sell.

Four days in total were spent until the discovered slab was pulled down. It was funny how everybody forgot about the temple of Hefaistos in a blink of an eye as soon as mound was discovered.

The barrow mounds in the Lug Wasteland and surrounding areas are based loosely on an excellent "Barrowmaze". The content of each mound is rolled randomly from the table I've prepared. So next time I will write about what was found inside the mound. Spoiler: two dead, one enchanted by foul magic, one lost sanity and run away into the swamp never to be seen again. Yes, the party is still out of luck.

Last edited by kane (6/19/2019 3:15 pm)

kane · 7/14/2019 3:57 pm

Caidhan, male common (half-Pict half-Viking) Scout
Gagan See’k, female half-blood Pict fighte
Karaksos Katokas, male Ixian assassin
Korrvull, female common (half-Esquimaux), shaman of Yon’Deeh
Fjarn 0-level men-at-arms
Zay - 0-level men-at-arms
Zenk, Zoon & Pen - hirelings, 0-level commoners

Party entered the mound just to discover the big bronze door engraved with black heptagrams, blocking way. Caidhan managed to open the door but released a trap doing so, releasing toxic fume he inhaled, got paralyzed and, a moment later, dead, as party shaman failed to help him. At least everybody thought Caidhan is good as dead. They left his body just outside the mound with two NPCs Zoon & Pen guarding the camp and took back to the mound to explore area behind the door. Soon they heard screams. Caidhan stood up, killed one of the NPCs with shortsword and started choking another one, charmed by some evil sorcery contained by the fumes he inhaled. "No one can enter!", he uttered while squeezing life out of Pen with bare hands. Karakstos managed to subdue him and Gagan turned his lights out with a single bash of her mace. He was tied down. In the meantime third NPC's sanity or loyalty (or both) crashed and he run away into the swamp, screaming.

Zay was left to guard the unconscious Caighan while the rest of the party descended into the mound just to release another trap on the stairs 20 yards behind the bronze door. Karakstos and Korrvull fell down, pierced by metal spears that struck from walls. Wounded were dragged away and party decided to leave the mound for now. They got back to Swampgate with two wounded and one insane and charmed. Aguta the Esquimaux told them either to burn him in wicker man to destroy the evil spirit who clouded his mind or to find a smoky lotus that she might help Caidhan with, fighting his madness with madness brought by lotus flower.

The party decided to go to the tar pits of Lug Wasteland and look for smoky lotus, even though the chances of bringing Caidhan back to sanity are slim. The now mad Caidhan was thrown into the dungeon where he would not harm himself or others and a hefty bribe offered the guards is meant to keep him well fed and unharmed.