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.

kane wrote:

We went for straight 3d6 attribute rolls,

Yes! 
 

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. 

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)

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)

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.