Great start to a new campaign! Filled with flavor. My current campaign is also in Nightfall. 

Fantastic! Third time's the charm!

lige wrote:

As they were pondering on whether to advance further they  were set upon upon by two more of the creatures - sadly identified as ghouls as they methodically attacked and paralyzed the whole party who seemed incapable of landing a blow over a period of about two rounds.

Hoping to revisit this soon - though sadly with another batch of characters!

Ouuuuuch.  Better luck next time! ;)

Allan.

Ghouls are awesome!!

lige wrote:

Thanks all for the interest!  I had to put most gaming on hold as I finished with the second part of a cross country move but I'm hoping to start up again next month after the dust settles.  

Ghul wrote:

[
This is part of the reason why I have my crew create multiple characters. We have different parties in different parts of Hyperborea. If one gets annihilated, there is always another group of characters to switch over to. Sometimes the groups mix and new parties are formed. It keeps things interesting, and if there is a TPK, there isn't a sudden lull in the gaming. 

I like the idea of the back up characters mixed with a backup location (also sounds like a good opportunity for the DM to prep/try out different stuff).  Do you always wait until a TPK or do you switch back and forth at different times?    

No, TPKs are relatively rare. Typically we might switch character groups upon the conclusion of an adventure or some other significant event -- or even at a cliffhanger! I like to keep my players on their toes. When I DM, they never know which characters they're going to have to pull out from their folders.
 

After only a six month hiatus I finally got to run a third session of this campaign!  As the last session was a TPK everyone rolled up a new character (using Method III this time).  Feeling bad about the last TPK I also let everyone pick from a selection of one off, somewhat (too?) baroque magic items I made for the occasion.  Since two players were new to the game I only had everyone roll up one charcter.   

Session 3:  Battle for the Leviathan (or Save the Whale)

wind – Zambrosia, Keltic Cleric (Level 2)
rob – Von the Unyielding, Kimmerian Cataphract (Level 2)
josh -  Grull, Kimmerian Barbarian (Level 2)
gabe – Venecius, Keltic Grocer (Assassin) (Level 2)

Since the events of the last game the region around Shipwrights Bay had begun to be plagued by sightings of and attacks by emaciated undead upon villagers as they gathered wood and hunted around the village.  Among the frost covered fiends the members of the last ill-fated expedition to the tower would often be seen.   Another expedition to the tower was seen to be warranted by the village head man but first he had another request for the guests of the village.  A group of villagers had spotted a recently beached whale about 2 miles up the shore.  A group was heading to butcher the whale and bring back much needed provender and the party was to go along to protect them.

The group that set out included the PCs as well as 6 villagers with two sleds pulled by shaggy ponies.  The party was all on foot save for Von the Unyielding who rode upon his reindeer (the player had asked about a mount – he wanted something that made sense in the snow and suggested an irish elk – I countered with the reindeer). The party made their way to a rise overlooking the sea where they first sighted the great creature – an enormous sperm whale. The cataphract rode ahead on his reindeer to make sure the way was clear and spotted a band of vikings and their one handed thralls making their way down the shore towards the whale.  Exchanging words he realized that they were aiming to claim the leviathan - with arms if necessary.

He quickly made his way back to the rest of the party, who had seen the vikings torches, and told them what he had seen.  The party resolved to protect the whale from the norsemen and hurried towards it.  The villagers were hesitant but Von gave a stirring speech (rolled an 11 on reaction + charisma bonus!) and they decided to join the defense.  The party decided to make their stand on one side of the whale with the 6 norse warrior and 9 thralls on the other.  Before the clash Grull lifted the assassin up to the whales back where he readied his crossbow.  The cataphract cantered away to allow for a charging attack into the flank of the vikings.   

The vikings attacked from both sides.  Von charged into one group  hitting one of the warriors with a blow that would have felled a weaker man but this warrior fought on eventually knocking Von out of the fight before succumbing to many wounds. The party fought a long battle losing all but one of the villagers in the fight though one slew several thralls and one warrior before he fell. The thralls attacked at first but as the tide  of the battle changed backed off.  In the end the hammer of the barbarian and the bolt of the assassin finished off the last of the warriors and at that the remaining thralls surrendered.  The fallen Von was tended to and brought back to his feet.  A fine sword was found in the hands of the viking Von hit with the initial charge and numerous gold and silver coins were also found.  Meanwhile the surviving villager had already dragooned the thralls into carving up the beast with a promise of a place to stay in the village.  

The party decided to help and utilizing their whale lore decided to look for ambergris in the stomach of the beast.  Zambrosia sliced open the stomach in this quest but instead of ambergris a pale, seemingly dead, maiden, with her hair in long braids and her hand gripping an enormous piece of amber, slid out onto the snow.  Venecius grabbed for the amber and was immediately struck unconscious.  The maiden awoke and changed in color in quick succession from red, to blue, to purple and then back to pale white.  After a short discussion it was found that she could speak common but knew little of how she came to be found within the whale or really of anything else.  Venecius soon awoke and declared himself her protector.  

At this point the sleds were full so they returned to the village. The party had decided that the girl had some sort of relationship to squid and asked for her name and when she didn’t know decided after a number of options (Squidla and worse) to name her Octavia. They went back for more of the whale and she accompanied them.  After filling many more sleds the party decided to burn the remainder of the whale and also threw the bodies of the fallen villagers and their foes into the oily pyre.  

Back in the village they rested and outfitted Octavia with leather armor and and a knife.  They made preparations for the journey back to the tower.  One of the former thralls, an Amazon, asked to go with them.  She claimed to be a warrior and said the vikings had not removed her swordhand. The party accepted and outfitted her with armor and a sword and since she had claimed to be an archer before she lost her hand they decided to try to rig up a crossbow that would attach to her handless arm. (This I allowed with the caveat that until they used the rig in combat they wouldn’t know if it really worked.).  

At this they set out to the tower.  Halfway to the tower they were ambushed by two unliving creatures – one an ancient corpse and the other the frost covered remains of Progrok! The party took out the two creatures in short order – Grull’s hammer ending Progroks unfortunate encore – his powerless laser pistol was found still on his belt. The party then continued on until they stood at the base of the tower.
 

Last edited by lige (11/15/2018 2:13 am)

Great write-up, Eli. Your games always have an earthy feel that I can't quite duplicate in my own, heh.

lige wrote:

Among the frost covered fiends the members of the last ill-fated expedition to the tower would often be seen.

Haha! Reminds me of our WDR game, when you and capitalbill randomly received the same rumor in town like five times in a row ("The land west of the Run is littered with the bodies of dead adventurers like yourself!") and then proceeded to TPK on the way to the dungeon (well, except one of your guys who had a horse and fled). Classic!

"ligedog" wrote:

The party was all on foot save for Von the Unyielding who rode upon his reindeer (the player had asked about a mount – he wanted something that made sense in the snow and suggested an irish elk – I countered with the reindeer).

Haha! It's no halfing on a ram, but it's still pretty cool. 

"ligedog" wrote:

The villagers were hesitant but Von gave a stirring speech (rolled an 11 on reaction + charisma bonus!) and they decided to join the defense.

Love it when you get an unlikely result and it creates a memorable situation. Too bad all the villagers except one died!

"ligedog" wrote:

The party had decided that the girl had some sort of relationship to squid and asked for her name and when she didn’t know decided after a number of options (Squidla and worse) to name her Octavia.

Haha! I hope to read about how Squidla - I mean Octavia - betrays them to some fish-men.

Thanks Chainsaw!

Chainsaw wrote:

Haha! Reminds me of our WDR game, when you and capitalbill randomly received the same rumor in town like five times in a row ("The land west of the Run is littered with the bodies of dead adventurers like yourself!") and then proceeded to TPK on the way to the dungeon (well, except one of your guys who had a horse and fled). Classic!

 
That horse was the best thing I ever bought as a starting character!  There's a pretty packed down trail leading to the tower now.  I figure with no sun there can't be much weather, either wind or snow, so it's not really covered up.

Chainsaw wrote:

Haha! It's no halfing on a ram, but it's still pretty cool.

  
Never did get that ram  

Chainsaw wrote:

Love it when you get an unlikely result and it creates a memorable situation. Too bad all the villagers except one died!

  
Totally I think that's the essence of roleplaying games.  I've been trying to roll on characters attempts to convince people a bit more because of that - also keeps Charisma in play!  

Chainsaw wrote:

Haha! I hope to read about how Squidla - I mean Octavia - betrays them to some fish-men.

You're saying there's something a little suspicious about her? 
 

lige wrote:

Only two weeks between games this time!  At this pace I’ll really need to learn how to write concise recaps!

I've always struggled with journal format. These days I tend toward longer ones that can serve as a reference for me and the players, though I've added a synopsis and used some headings to make the content easier to follow. If someone outside of our group finds them interesting, great. If not, no big deal. Some people like shorter ones that are more like social recaps, but I'm not as good at writing those.

lige wrote:

Three players from previous sessions joined this time but they had to roll up new characters.  We decided they were a second force sent out from the village.  The new viking was from the same ship as the bunch they fought last time who had indepedently made it to the village.  He had no hard feelings and looked to prove himself to his new companions.  The cataphracts player was ill so Von the Unyielding was put to guard duty outside the tower.

Makes sense

lige wrote:

Session 4:  Back to The Tower

wind – Zambrosia, Keltic Cleric (Level 2)
josh -  Grull, Kimmerian Barbarian (Level 2)
gabe – Venicius, Keltic Grocer (Assassin) (Level 2)
mike – Ole Oleson, Viking Fighter (Level 2)
terry – Sparky, Keltic Pyromancer (Level 2)
ahi - TerenceParkKhun (TPK),  Ixian Cryomancer (Level 2)

Great names

lige wrote:

The party first scouted around the tower and noticed the body of the mammoth in the courtyard.  Deciding they might be able to recover some valuable ivory they went to investigate and discovered the "dead" body of one of the ghouls. Upon examination they saw it had been mauled by some sort of beast. At that they also noticed a large hole in the carcass of the mammoth out of which the broad head of a bear sized wolverine soon appeared.  Speaking in strangely accented common the beast warned them away from his prize and said they were lucky he was already full or he would eat them.  The party heeded his warning and made haste to the tower.

I love this! I'm stealing it.

lige wrote:

They again  entered on the second floor and surveyed the carnage.  Half eaten bodies of lizard men and adventurers were strewn everywhere and Kelvins severed head was placed so that his disapproving final expression greeted their entry.  They also discovered a broad brimmed, high crowned black hat lying on the floor.  They investigated this (with player speculation about which house they'd be sorted into) and Sparky ended up taking it. Taking no chances they dragged the corpses to the top level and with copious amounts of whale oil, and much of the roof structure, as fuel they set them all ablaze

Haha! Burn off your dead!

lige wrote:

They descended further to the basement where they found the icy corpse of one of the lizard hunters as well as a strange man shaped burn mark on the floor.  Sparky did not think good clean fire had caused the burn.  They moved further to the room with the excavation and were set upon by more ghouls including the remains of Barbana.  A furious battle ensued but the party was victorious.  They descended further by the stairs uncovered by the excavation.

At the lower level they found themselves in a room with many doors.  Another of the lizard hunting dogs  was found wrapped in a blanket.  It did not seem as icy as the other.  TPK implored the other characters to spare it.  They also  found bundle of brass rods tied in a blanket and one door that was open.  This was studded with silvery nails.  The nails "burned" Grulls fingers when he tried to pull them from the door.  The party decided to enter the open door - TPK did not join and instead stayed at the now shut door with Octavia - planning to open it when the rest of the party returned.

The party made their way into the chambers beyond the door methodically - watching out carefully for attacks from behind.  But because of this they found themselves split and fought what turned out to be the last ghouls encountered - including the remains of Bran and Apex - in two separate battles.  They did prevail however and in lieu of burning the bodies, and risking asphyxiation, Grull simply crushed their skulls with his mighty hammer.   Vambrosia recovered a pendant of clear crystal set in a metal loop hanging on chain from the neck of one of the ancient ghouls.  They then journeyed into a small central chamber where after fighting an invisible guardian they recovered three scroll tubes.   One containing a letter describing the gate that had been dismantled earlier accompanied by a map purporting to show the way to a wizards base of operation within a land of reptiles know  as Torth,  a second containing a magic user scroll and a letter imploring the finder to revenge the writer (apparently the wizard who had lived here) by slaying a traitorous apprentice named Praxigoras who had entombed him (promising an unspecified reward from the other side), and a third with two blank pieces of paper.  The letters were all dated nearly a hundred years in the past.  Sparky held a flame under the blank papers but no writing appeared.

The party, with the eager assistance of Octavia, then reassembled the gate in a side room.   They also discussed going after Praxigoras, who Sparky and TPK thought might be the person as an ancient and feared wizard of the same name  in Khromarium, but decided they would try their luck beyond the gate. The letter and map described valuable gems to be found there  (and of course fearsome beasts to fight) and they were not sure if they could stand against a foe like an ancient wizard.  They activated the gate by pitching a coin through it and illuminated a land of orange vegetation and purple skies. TPK stepped through immediately while the rest of the party decided to rest in the dungeon for at least a night to recover their strength.

Nice! After those valuable gems.