Spoilers: Rats in the Walls, The Brazen Bull, Anthropophagi of Xambaala
(and apologies to Chainsaw for liberally ripping off his format - his campaign's been great fun to follow and it helped me organize my notes)

I recruited a few players through the local Meetup groups and scheduled our first game at the Georgia Beer Garden in midtown.  None of the players had played AS&SH before, but two had grown up on 1e and they all picked it up quickly.  Although Xathoqqua taunted my hopes that my GM screen would arrive in time for the game (it arrived at the Atlanta hub on Saturday, but no delivery made), I did pick up a Players' Manual at Gary Con which helped for referencing.  Between the art on that, the main book, and Glynn Seal's beautiful map that I laid out on the adjacent table, AS&SH makes an impressive display.

Session 1: March 31st 2019

Player Characters
Ted S: Archeleos, Atlantean Magician, lvl 1
Philip K: Dis Yeil, Half-Blood Pict Scout, lvl 1
Aaron N: Chodios, Ixian Necromancer, lvl 1

Synopsis: The party quells a mutiny aboard the Berg Breaker on the voyage to Xambaala. At the Silvery Eel tavern, they are hired to take care of a rat infestation, which leads to the discovery of an ancient shrine beneath the tavern. They fight through giant rats and animated skeletons to slay the rat-daemon queen, though two companions die in the battle.

Enemies Overcome
Mutinous sailors: 6
Giant rats: 13
Skeletons: 4
Gnagana: 1

Treasure Won
Kthulhu idol, +1 shield, +1 halberd, 250 sp, 280 gp, periapt of health, pearl necklace

Deaths
Khano: face chewed off by gnagana
Rhen: eviscerated by gnagana

Begin Date: IV - 18, 576 CE (Tempest)
End Date: IV - 22, 576 CE (Tempest)

Mutiny on the Berg Breaker: The adventure began with the party as passengers aboard the Berg Breaker en route to Xambaala. With low supplies and the captain's health failing, some of the sailors organized a mutiny in the night. The party awoke to the sounds of battle and approaching footsteps as three sailors began searching the passenger quarters for loot to steal. Dis hid behind the door waiting to strike, but one of the sailors delivered a wicked cut to Archeleos before Dis's attack gutted him. The other two fled - they weren't expecting a real fight down here. Chodios used his dark arts to animate the corpse of the sailor and sent it up to the deck, with Dis and Chodios following close behind, while Archeleos nursed his wound. On the main deck, the animated corpse of their comrade frightened a few of the mutineers into jumping overboard, while Dis scattered a bag of marbles across the deck, causing a handful of sailors to lose their footing and fall. With the mutineers organization broken, the loyal sailors quickly overcame them.

The Silvery Eel Tavern: In thanks for their service, the first mate Kiliplo Vheez, now made captain, awarded them three healing potions and offered the services of the ship as long as it harbored in Xambaala. He gave them some information about the city and recommended a tavern, the Silvery Eel, which had just opened last time he was in this port.
At the Silvery Eel, the party was surprised to find a near deserted tavern. Only the tavern keeper, Xill Vuntos, and his wide-eyed daughter remained. Xill told them of the troubles he'd had with rats - unusually large, diseased creatures, capable of breaking through traps and eating cats, they'd caused several deaths among his patrons and even his family, and the last adventurer he'd hired was found gnawed to the bone in the basement. A quick investigation of the basement discovered a few giant rats, which they quickly slew, and a large flagstone that could be removed to reveal a spiral staircase descending into darkness.

The Temple of Auroros: The party returned to the Berg Breaker and hired two crewmen, Khano and Rhen, to join them in the exploration of the dungeon beneath the Eel.  Descending below, the found a cavernous room with a 60' high ceiling supported by massive pillars. A dais on the north wall, flanked by heavy tapestries depicting an alien world, supported a 14' tall statue of a goddess Archeleos recognized as Auroros. The south side of the room was filled with centuries old crates and an staircase descended beneath an archway further down. Among the crates were more giant rats, but Archeleos cast sleep on them and the party executed them easily. Searching through the crates they found mostly rotted trade goods, but a couple bags of coins stamped with a long forgotten kingdom's signia and a carved golden idol of a squat octopoid/humanoid/draconic deity.

Secret Doors Are Always Best: As adventurers are wont to do, the party began with a careful examination of walls behind the tapestries, discovering two concealed doors. In the first they found an iron cage with a horrific skeleton - equal parts man, pig, and bat - inside, and a magic circle with an ornamental dagger in it. Archeleos and Chodios both recognized the summoning circle and advised not to break it, but Chodios attempted to animate the skeleton and found it resisted his control. A woman's voice echoed through the temple: "Foolish sorcerer, your feeble attempts at magic are useless here! Even now I prepare a new vessel which will free me from this lair!" This, they decided, was the source of the evil below the Silvery Eel and would need to be slain.
Exploring the second concealed door, they found a bedroom but were quickly attacked by four seven foot tall animated skeletons wielding halberds. As Dis fled the room, Khano panicked and hurled the lantern in, setting the heavy tapestries ablaze. The ensuing fires burnt up three of the skeletons and the party was able to slay the last without trouble.

R&R: Having taken expended their magic and taken some wounds, the party returned to ground level and decided to rest the night. They inquired about a cleric that might be able to help and Xill set out to fetch an old friend, Venutios, who he believed had connections with the Temple of Rel. While he was gone, the party spoke with Xill's daughter, Annesta. Her strange dreams of a woman speaking to her, then waking to find rats nuzzling at her, confirmed the party's suspicion that the child was the next vessel spoken of. When Venutios arrived, they found him to be a lotus addict that was only interested if the statue below the Eel was of a bull. He sneered and cursed at their description of the Auroros statue and left.

Into the Queen's Nest: After their rest, the descended once more into the temple below and then through the archway and down the stairs. Here they found a dungeon absolutely littered with a diverse range of human, ape-man, and subhuman skeletal remains. A half dozen giant rats moved to attack, while the bloated, eight-foot long daemon rat queen cackled in a too-human voice and slowly waddled its mass toward the party, baby rats hanging from its nipples even as it moved to attack. In the battle Dis and Chodios were both knocked down and had to be drug up the stairs and revived with Kiloplo's healing potions, while Khano was overwhelmed by the rats before the gnagana chewed his face off. The daemon also paused to feed on the spilling guts of Rhen, giving the party a few moments to prepare a strategy in the main temple. As the daemon lumbered slowly up the stairs, the scout, magician, and necromancer circled the cavernous temple room peppering it with oil flasks, darts, daggers, and sling shots, until it finally stopped moving, leaving a spiraling trail of blood, singed fur, and charred flesh on the temple floor.

Rewarded: Xill was distressed with the presence of this evil place beneath his tavern but satisfied with the slaying of the daemon and awarded the party a pearl necklace, along with any other treasures they brought up from the dungeon. Xill asked that nothing be said of what is beneath and set to sealing up the floors in the basement. He would hardly be the first person in Hyperborea to cover up and forget about the ancient evils that slumber beneath us all.

Last edited by under_score (4/22/2019 9:54 am)