3-25-19 – Xambaala Campaign, SESSION 11

Player-Characters
cadam – Josson, Common Scout (4rd Level)
gizmomathboy – Dennill, Common Monk (3rd Level) - DISEASED
Hireling 1 – Sappho, Kimmerian Fighter (0th Level) - DEAD
Hireling 2 – Kallisto, Kimmerian Fighter (0th Level) - DEAD

Synopsis: The adventure was glorious! Josson and Dennill traveled 100+ miles into the desert to find the legendary purple worm graveyard and its cache of ivory. Once they found it, all went to hell. They caught a nasty disease from some giant rats, ended up killing their own hirelings, lost their mules/camel to a purple worm and had to force march back through the desert to Xambaala with only what they could carry.
Enemies overcome: maggot women (x3), rats (x6)
Treasure won: gold pieces (x16), small diamond (x1), spell scroll (x1)
Adventurers slain: Sappho (killed by Josson), Kallisto (killed by Dennill)
Begin time/date: 12PM on Tuesday (12/17/576, Tempest [Late Spring])
End time/date: 5PM on Thursday (13/5/576, Tempest [Late Spring])

Preparations. Everyone else was training and recovering, so Josson and Dennill decided to investigate an earlier treasure lead – a map showing the location of a purple worm graveyard, presumably filled with valuable ivory. The spot was 100+ miles into the desert, so Josson bought a camel to ride and they pooled their money to buy an extra mule to pull the cart for Dennill and their supplies (two barrels of water, a month’s worth of food). They also managed to hire two Kimmerian archer sisters – Sappho and Kallisto – but had to pay them twice the normal rate as they were quite skeptical. At the Astrologers Tower, they paid a Hyperborean academic named Gonopol for any clues. He warned them that it was probably an old shrine to Yikkorth, the Ashen Worm, and told them about the dangers that giant purple worms posed. They paid him 60 GP for the info and a 100 GP deposit on “his share” of the ivory.

Maggots. After an uneventful ten day trek into the desert, they arrived at a small box canyon with a tunnel opening at its deep end. They left their camel, mules and cart outside and entered warily. Almost immediately they found a sand lizard corpse covered in maggots. The maggots suddenly formed a mouth warning them to either leave the cavern or submit to the power of the Worm God by speaking its name aloud. Sappho almost spoke it, but Kallisto stopped her. The group headed one way, found a strange tiled room with some ugly worm god looking statues and decided it was a trap, so they left and went down a different passage. They came to an three-way intersection, heard sounds around a corner ahead and decided to charge in and attack whatever they found. They rushed in and quickly slew three half-maggot, half-woman creatures that were feeding on a corpse. They found some gold, a small diamond and a scroll in the room, which appeared to be some sort of burial chamber.

Rats, disease and betrayal! Suddenly six giant rats scurried into the chamber, apparently attracted to the maggot-woman battle noise! One bit Kallisto, infecting her with nasty necrosis, then one bit Josson and infected him similarly. The wounds were already turning black and putrid! Before the rats were slain, one had also infected Dennill, but he seemed more resistant. They quickly realized they had to Cure Disease on Josson and Kallisto or they’d soon perish, but Dennill could only cure one of them! Sappho demanded he cure her sister, but when she realized he planned to cure Josson instead, the two sisters attacked! Outmatched, the Kimmerians soon fell.

Inscriptions, ivory, bells and gongs. Another passage from the junction led them into a large cavern with writing in various languages scrawled all over the walls, some seemingly formed from worm trails in the rock itself. Rather than attempt to understand it, they moved through the room into an even larger chamber – the graveyard! They saw dozens of mammoth tusk-sized ivory worm bones, some on the sand, some partially exposed. Also, a ray of light from a hole in the ceiling illuminated a twelve-foot tall altar. At the top was a small bell and a large gong. Dennill crept in, grabbing a load of ivory. Nothing happened. The two then planned to carry out as much as they could back through the tunnels to their cart. As Dennill gathered up a fourth load, his keen monk senses detected a tremor in the earth. He fled to the room’s entrance, near Josson, just in time to see a giant purple worm erupt from the ground, shrieking in rage. They hauled ass back to their cart in the box canyon.

Disaster! As they approached the cart, they saw the giant worm burst up from the ground in the box canyon! Josson activated his magical pterodactyl leather armor, which sprouted leathery wings and carried him high into the sky. From there he rained down arrows on the beast, hoping to lure it away. Dennill hid in the tunnel. The worm swallowed up one mule, then the second mule and then the camel, while Josson peppered it with arrows. Finally, the creature retracted back into its hole, but whether due to injury or a full stomach remained unclear. Josson and Dennill took stock of their situation. They had no way to move the cart back to Xambaala and Dennill’s sickness from the rat disease was worsening. They calculated that a force march back through the desert might just deliver them in time, so they rolled the dice. Several very tense wandering monster checks later, they began to see Xambaala on the horizon. They made it!

Very nice!
 

Man, I really missed out last night!  Way to survive guys!

gizmomathboy wrote:

Stupid giant worms...

Haha! As you said, at least now you have some good intel on the treasure (and dangers and tactics too).

Ghul wrote:

Looking forward to the next installment! The purple worm graveyard is a fantastic idea.

Agreed! Works perfectly, though of course I changed a few things as always happens. If anyone wants to chat about it, PM me or post in the referee's thread here. Link to the module itself below.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/93562

4-8-19 – Xambaala Campaign, SESSION 12

Player-Characters
cadam – Josson, Common Scout (4rd Level)
ligedog – Nax, Half-Blood Pict Barbarian (3rd Level)
Ray – Xirixan, Hyperborean Necromancer (3rd Level)
francisca – Ulfsteinn, Viking Fighter (3rd Level)
gizmomathboy – Taximagulos, Pict Priest of Helios (1st Level)
Del – Ka’chee Yeil, Half-Blood Pict Huntsman (1st Level) - Presumed DEAD

Synopsis: Our motley crue returned to the purple worm graveyard and collected a cart full of ivory, narrowly escaping another purple worm attack. They rode back to Xambaala, sold the ivory, then headed to the graveyard again for more action. Desert nomads ambushed them on the way, forcing them to flee and leave a badly wounded Ka’Chee behind. The survivors explored the graveyard shrine more and found a magical window showing a verdant, forested valley with a castle in the distance. After the deciding the window was probably some sort of one-way portal trap, they all jumped through it. Naturally!
Enemies overcome: zombified Amazon hirelings (x2), desert nomad (x1)
Treasure won: purple worm ivory (x16), reddish-brown potion, three notebooks
Adventurers slain (or captured?): Ka’Chee (fell to desert nomads, fate unknown)
Begin time/date: 5PM on Thursday (13/5/576, Tempest [Late Spring])
End time/date: 5PM on Tuesday (1/3/577, Deluge [Early Summer])

Easy money and old friends. Josson told everyone about the stranded cart and valuable ivory about 100 miles east of Xambaala, prompting a quick consensus to retrieve it despite any possible giant worm attacks. They bought six new camels, a two-wheeled cart and provisions and set off on the eight day journey. Upon arrival, they saw their old cart positioned in the box canyon at the cave entrance and cheered. They left the camels up at the top this time and proceeded into the canyon and inside the cave. At the first junction, the maggot mouth formed on the sand lizard carcass and urged them to speak the Ashen Worm’s name. Xirixan seemed strongly tempted, but resisted. Around the corner, they suddenly heard shuffling footsteps. Josson, Nax and Xirixan stepped forward and saw the rotting corpses of the two Amazonian hirelings fumbling forward. Xirixan the Necromancer attempted to dominate them with his evil will, but lacked sufficient evil, so Josson and Nax cut them down in short order.

Escaping the worm. The party then headed to the graveyard area. Taximagulos inspected the wall inscriptions in the graveyard’s antechamber, Ka’Chee guarded with his bow and the other four loaded up with ivory, making three full trips each back to the cart. While gathering for a fourth time, the ground began to rumble and everyone fled to the canyon. They tried to pull the cart out of the canyon, but suddenly the giant worm burst from the ground ahead. They scattered and stood still and quiet. A few minutes later, the worm disappeared back into its hole. They finished dragging the cart out, hitched it to the camels and made for Xambaala. On the way, they spotted a ragged person in black robes seeming to herd a group of slow-moving humans, but decided to ignore them and focus on reaching Xambaala safely. Xirixan attempted to negotiate ivory sales with three different buyers, but ultimately settled on Gonopol at the Astrologers Tower. They sensed they were getting ripped off, but it seemed they had no better option. Ulfsteinn then suggested they spend all their gold on a giant incendiary fire bomb that they’d feed to the monstrous worm, but the others seemed unsure. Ultimately they decided to return and explore the shrine more while leaving the graveyard alone.

Desert nomad surprise attack. Seven days into the desert, a large group of nomads surprised them, attacking from behind, where Ka’Chee had been positioned. At the same time, even further back, a sorcerer in black robes readied a wand and one in red robes began casting a spell. Suddenly Ulfsteinn and Josson, riding up front, felt paralyzed in their saddles (Nax shrugged it off). In the middle, riding in the cart, Xirixan and Taximagulos watched helplessly as a half dozen nomads cut into Ka’Chee, who toppled off his saddle into the sand, apparently dead. Sensing imminent disaster, Nax slapped Ulfsteinn and Josson’s camels, sending them running forward to safety, then charged back to attack. Xirixan attempted to cast a spell, but one of the nomads sliced him up, disrupting the effort. Taximagulos dodged a couple of attacks, urged the cart camels to run and they fled to safety. Nax cut down a nomad, but realized he was outnumbered ten to one, not counting the two sorcerers. So, he fled too and, on his way, reached down and scooped up Josson, who’d fallen from his camel when it bolted. Riding away, Nax realized red-robes seemed strangely familiar and the group mourned Ka’Chee's loss. Sadness quickly shifted into laugher, however, after Xirixan repeatedly called the dead man by the wrong name, “Too bad about what’s his name, Ka’mooch or whatever.” Friends ‘till the end, it seems… but not one second longer!

The magic window. They soon arrived at the graveyard and began exploring the shrine. They found a junky bunkroom with overturned beds, trash and stink. They ignored it. Another room had two statues facing each other, one a horseman missing a leg and the other a kneeling, cowled man. As they inspected this room, Ulfsteinn found a secret door to a third room. Inside, they saw a rocking chair, a table next to it, a large window on one wall (showing a verdant, forested valley with a castle in the distance) and a small fireplace on the other wall (with lit fire). They found a reddish-brown potion and three notebooks in the table. Ulfsteinn seemed fascinated by the window. Despite deciding it was probably some sort of one-way portal trap, he told the others to lower him down into the grassy meadow immediately below. They did. They then tried to pull him back in, but the window dissolved the rope as it reversed direction. So, they all jumped through to join him!

francisca wrote:

HA HA!!!

I'm so glad you jumped through the window! I have something awesome in store. 

mavfire wrote:

Awesome sauce! My new PC is done, and I will be ready to meet everyone in the paradise beyond the magic portal. 

PC's Killed by Chainsaw: 3 or is it 4... some kind of ill luck I have had!

Hahah! Yes, some bad luck. I have a good feeling about your new PC. 

ligedog picked the lock, not me.  I rolled for $#!+ all night opening doors, but put a whoopin' on things in combat.

francisca wrote:

ligedog picked the lock, not me.

D'oh! I'll fix it.

francisca wrote:

I rolled for $#!+ all night opening doors, but put a whoopin' on things in combat.

Sure enough crushed some enemies!

mavfire wrote:

Such an awesome time. And I DIDNT DIE this time. I even got some action and felt like I was a part of the game. Can't wait for next week. 

Great! Me too.