HYPERBOREA / Expedition to the Crab Archipelago

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 5/08/2015 11:56 am

This is a Google+ game. Lige is running it. Players include Handy Haversack, Chainsaw, and capitalbill, though for this first session, only Chainsaw and Handy Haversack were present:

Chainsaw--Xolavil Qaan, Hyperborean cleric of YOG
Handy Haversack--Kesuk, Esquimeaux bard (inspired by http://straitsofanian.blogspot.com/)

That Dagger Really Tied the Room Together

Sailed 40 days on large galley of Zadalas Thraxos, Ixian. 100 slave rowers. Crew of sailors. 20 adventurer riffraff types from docks of Khromarium. Seeking info in Crab Archipelago. Paid 5 gp/wk. plus food.

2 advent. types lost when galley rendezvoused with another ship--crewed by either large men in horned helms or large man-things with horns. 3 adventurers went to that ship. Only one returned. We did not follow up.

3 others lost overboard.

6 enslaved as rowers for pissing off Zadalas in various ways, one for how he whistled when he spoke. Capricious bastard, don't you think?

Allowed run of ship except for Z's cabin. Rumors abounded--concubines? coffins? coffcubines? Guarded day and night.

Reached Crocodus Morr in Crab Archipelago. "Large Crab Island" in their evocative tongue. Z sends us ashore wanting us to look for large carved pillar he thought was inland somewhere. He had encountered in strange tomes in his reading in Scythium.

Crocodus Morr at Pict end of Crab Archipelago. Picts and Esqs., all "crab-men," servants/worshipers/food of Crab-men. Picts have skin dyed orange and red. Esqs. skin dyed blue and green. Hate each other.

Landed 40 miles west of main town. Hid boat, set off inland toward mtns. 2.5 miles: Saw vultures circling. Found corpse (~2 days old) of man with orange skin, stabbed in throat.

From hill, saw the fires of a settlement to NW. Headed there to ask about column. Trailed four young cattle drovers and their large, oddly shaved dogs. Orange-dyed skin (the drovers, not the dogs). Outside of town, approached, Kesuk playing flute. Managed to mesmerize two dogs, two people. Xolavil Qaan talked to the others. Found out they were often raided by blue-skins, who were supposed to be nearby. Blues do not understand laws of hospitality and are cannibals (follows logically). Take women of oranges. K planted suggestion that they travel with us and show us their holy sites. Lasted for 10 minutes. Told that the column is half a day to the east and is where the Mad Man dwells. Xolavil Qaan traded for a dog (Hardshell) his Hyperborean dagger, last relic of his noble Hyperborean family, who were successful dagger salesmen before the Green Death.

Headed east. Forded a river. Kesuk caught several large fish. Found a collapsing turf bldg. with gold on doorstep. Set roof on fire (do you know a better way?). Attacked in doorway by ghoul that could not leave the bldg. Killed with great sacrifice of K's arrows. Secured 13 GP (some melted).

Found column. A small bldg. nearby. Observed a man leave bldg. and enter column. Went down for closer look and were observed keenly by crows, though they responded to courtesy. Carvings on column showed beardless men in strange banded armor leave a battle, enter ornate bldg., emerge with glowing sword. Moved on to mountains. Scenes of more battles and the building of a city.

Old, old, old, old, OLD man emerged from column. Aurelius, keeper of the story of his father's people, the "Romans," who had come through the mists after fleeing a great battle and finding the Sword of Alexander, a great king. Sword could conquer all of Hyperborea, though the bearer is doomed to a short life. Aur. keeps the story and maintains a small museum (gift shop? remember to ask). Romans wiped out by Green Death. Possible survivors in the mountains. Tomb of first caesar also in mtns., and Sword of Alex. Alex. and his sword would be known to Ixians, who came from close to Romans.

Aur. would like us to go to mtns, bring back anything we can for his museum.

Kesuk likes Aur. Does not want Ixian to get his hands on that sword.

Gave Aur. fish and plan to stay a day or so at least.

Xolavil Qaan and Kesuk debating whether to let Aur. in on their mission. He has powers--served by crows, blessed by the gods. We're happy to go to the mountains but unsure if Ixian is monitoring us or if we need to report back or can just go on without returning to ship.

Time elapsed: 43 days
Treasure won: 13 GP, Hardshell the dog, some fish (and maybe sea wages)
Enemies overcome: 1 Ghoul. Striped bass. Salmon. Bream. Trout. (Also impressed some teenagers.)
Maidens/youths rescued: zero
Adventurers slain: None. Some brave arrows lost, though.

Last edited by Handy Haversack (5/08/2015 11:58 am)

**Posted by Chainsaw** 5/08/2015 2:32 pm

Thanks to lige for running the game and to Handy for writing up our first session. We had a good time! I especially like the Greek and Roman angle of this adventure. I feel like the setting can support that angle well, but for some reason it's not something that occurs to me when I'm writing up my own adventures.

Also, I'm not quite sure about the agenda for my cleric of Yog, but I'm working through it. Basically, Xolavil Qaan was high on a several day lotus smoking binge when Yog came to him in a vision. Yog told Xolavil that his true purpose was to wander the Hyperborean wilds, recovering ancient artifacts that would aid in his return to power. So be it!

**Posted by Chainsaw** 5/12/2015 5:45 am

Here lies Xanovil Qaan
A Hyperborean Holy Man Known for
Courage, Honesty, Mercy
He died in Battle with Honor and Glory

**Posted by capitalbill** 5/12/2015 10:02 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
Here lies Xanovil Qaan
A Hyperborean Holy Man Known for
Courage, Honesty, Mercy
He died in Battle with Honor and Glory

Not exactly the way I remember it.
But no matter, my Necromancer will see to it that Xanovil has an hour or two more to show his "Courage", "Honesty" and "Mercy".

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 5/22/2015 7:40 am

We had to cancel last night's game because of some Green Death-related symptoms among the party, but here's a recap from last week:

If We Had It to Do Over . . .

This is a Google+ game.

Meanwhile, back on the boat: Sadalus gets impatient with K and X's lack of coming back. Sends a party out after them with the normal don't-make-me-drink-your-soul-wine-because-I-can-you-know warning.

Riko: Half-Pict scout: Fat and nimble, including sausage fingers
Ioudas Mourdragos: Ixian necromancer (capitalbill)
Josson: Kimmerian druid

With some very helpful natives, after landing on Cranc Ynss Mor, they find the column and Kesuk (Esquimeaux bard) and Xanovil Qaan, cleric of YOG.

Aurelius can give directions to where to start looking for ruins and the Sword of Alexander. Asks for any statues or relics that can be brought back. Follow river fork into mtns. Tomb will be on shore of lake that reflects the seven greatest peaks of the mtns. Possible presence of mountain apes. Possible remnants of his father's people. Also, copper miners of various stripes.

Aur. sends Caw-Caw, one of his crow companions, along as a watcher and guide and chants a parting ceremony to convey his blessing.

Party sets off before dawn. Riko keeps and eye out for tracks. Reach other fork of river, 200' wide, slow moving. A splash--large animals wading ford toward party--aurochs. The party moves out of the way, and the aurochs pass by with snorts. Trail leads up--more trees, steeper terrain, gorges. Occasional mantracks.

At end of day, more in mountains. Camp in forested canyon, sheltering among boulders and setting a confusing watch. Like Dali.

Watch 4: Josson on guard. Hardshell barks a warning. Several blue-dyed-skinned crabkin (crab-men-men) jump out of darkness. Josson's entangle traps 2 and for a moment seems like it will block 2 more, but they seem to make it through. Party straggles awake, armorless. Josson goes down wounded, and Kessuk is badly wounded by the spears and hatchets of outrageous fortune. Crabby. Finally the last two flee after Riko takes out their leader with an arrow. Xanovil heals Josson enough to get him on his feet.

Gear collected from the fallen: Crablike gauntlets (blue and orange sets) from leqader. Copper helmet. Also three flasks of effervesent blue liquid that stains Kessuk's mouth when he tests a small sip.

Kessuk cuts the skin away from the eyes of the dead crabkin so that they cannot see their gods. Xanovil decides to get information from the prisoners and threatens them. Finally offers them a quick death. The first one freed tries runs away and evades pursuit. The second stabs Xanovil with a hidden dagger! Before the others can react, the cleric is bleeding badly and down. They cut down the crabkin but have no way to help or heal or move the cleric. Kessuk tries giving him the blue liquid, which solves all their problems as it efficiently poisons Xanovil. Kessuk then casts detect venom on the remaining vials, which, it turns out, contain poison. Xanovil's useful gear is taken, and the party prepares to wait out the rest of the long Hyperborean night.

The DM reminded me that "the crabkin had bowed his head at the promise of a clean execution but Xanovil decided to change the plan by stabbing him in the stomach (leaving the crabkin alive) most likely leading to the blue crabkin deciding to go out fighting."

You remember it your way, I'll remember it mine.

That said, we are accepting applications in our prisoner-liaison department. We're thinking about taking the company in a new direction, and we'd really like to see a range of candidates and just find the best fit, you know?

**Posted by Chainsaw** 5/22/2015 7:57 am

Nice write-up, thanks Handy. Also, I think Eli's confused about how it all went down between pious Xanovil (RIP brother) and the bloodthirsty crab-kin (I spit on your corpse).

**Posted by capitalbill** 5/22/2015 10:41 pm

Chainsaw wrote:
Nice write-up, thanks Handy. Also, I think Eli's confused about how it all went down between pious Xanovil (RIP brother) and the bloodthirsty crab-kin (I spit on your corpse).

Speaking of corpses, here's an updated sketch of your character Xanovil...

Last edited by capitalbill (5/22/2015 10:45 pm)

**Posted by Ghul** 5/23/2015 5:51 am

Thorouhly enjoying the read. Nice use of detect venom.

**Posted by capitalbill** 6/23/2015 8:39 pm

We have met twice more since the last report. The first...

Our session began with the party in camp. The Necromancer used the corpse of the Cleric to patrol around the campsite during his watch and the rest of the night passed uneventfully. In the morning the old man at the museum sent a message with his bird: there is a party following after us seeking the sword, he tried to throw them off in a different direction.

We continued on following the bank of the river and hid from a caravan of crabs with two crab-kin riders. We found a meadow clearing with two buildings, a cave mouth, a chimney, and a ledge with flags up the bluff. A mountain stream enters the meadow from a ravine which we have not yet explored.

Up on the ledge there was a cairn of strange rocks, carcasses, and copper rods with flags. The Necromancer animated a dead badger after pulling the rod out. Got weird feeling somehow related to Yog, but chose to keep the rod anyway. We delicately went back down and explored the first building. Dead spider, charcoal briquettes, think they smelted copper here. Attacked by giant wasps, the Bard played his flute and mesmerized five of the six wasps and suggested they fly away. Sixth wasp attacked but was killed by the Scout. We explored the second building, found dead guy in mail with empty scabbard- killed by wasp (still had stinger in chest). We decided that the wasp nest was in chimney so we left it alone.

Went into tunnel, found fork, went left (the Scout had a feeling) dead end. Went back, another fork, went left (the Scout had another feeling), another dead end but found gold broach of eagle with wings and XVII inscription. Broach did nothing, even when the Necromancer held it and went "KA-KAH" while flapping his arms. Took right path, portcullis dropped behind us. Two crab-kin attacked us. The undead war badger injured one ruining his spell. The Druid injured the other and ruined his spell. Nowhere to run to so we chose to fight to the death like real men. The Bard sang inspirational songs of victory (or glorious death in battle). By the end of the melee: both crab-kin were dead, the Scout was unconscious at 0 hp (he was revived by the Necromancer's wine), the undead war badger was dead again (although it did take out one crab-kin, earning MVP honors for the day), the Bard was at 2 hp, the Druid was at 2 hp, and the Necromancer was somehow still uninjured at 4 hp.

We discovered that moldy red stuff was falling off the crab-kin carcasses and coalescing on ground. The Necromancer poured some of the blue liquid on the red moldy stuff, which gave off smoke/spores. The party backs away. The Necromancer animates the skeleton of one of the crab-kin, gives him a torch, and has him torch the red stuff. The Bard, the Druid, and the Necromancer try to force open portcullis. Fail. Party must press on down tunnel in search of safe refuge to lick their wounds. The Necromancer brings the carcass of dead badger, he's pretty sure he can re-animate it again.

To be continued...

**Posted by capitalbill** 6/23/2015 8:44 pm

And the second...

The Druid started off the evening directing the party's exploration, keeping to the main corridor and noting where the side passages were. He found a white figurine of a man in a strange hat stabbing a bull in the throat that had been cut in twain and put the pieces back together which caused it to meld back into one piece.

Dangerously vulnerable and seeking shelter the party crawled through a cave in and found a closed off passageway, and deciding this was the safest refuge we were likely to find we holed up. The Bard strung his net across the opening and we set watch. First watch we heard some inhuman wailing. Second watch we heard some footsteps and bellowing. Third watch we heard nothing. We awakened somewhat rested (with fresh complements of spells and hit points). The Necromancer raised his badger companion again and as we all were healed up a bit we pressed on.

Down the corridor the party heard the sound of a gong from the south and bellowing from the north. A massive creature came lumbering down the corridor, slapping aside and killing the undead badger. The creature confronted the Druid and the Scout. From the other direction past our torchlight came the sound of chanting and the party was slowed save for the Druid.

After a brief melee: the Necromancer was down, the Scout was down, the lumbering creature was down, and the magic casting crab creature breathed spores all over the Druid and the Bard. The Druid rubbed his white figurine all over himself and the spores slid off. The Druid poured some restorative wine down the throats of the Scout and the Necromancer. The Bard tried washing his spores off with water but met with nothing except pain, burning, and spore growth. Deciding it was the best course of action the Necromancer splashed the blue liquid that had killed the Cleric over the Bard. The Bard collapsed but the spores went away, although his skin did turn blue. The Necromancer poured some wine down the Bard's throat. At this point the Druid was the only functioning member of the party so we absolutely pressed on.

Finding an exit from the cave system blocked by only a 10' radius puddle of water the Scout used his spear to test the depths. Only his spear sank into some acidic creature who lashed a pseudopod out and grabbed the spear away. The party stumbled away from the creature as it pulled itself out of its watery home. The Druid attempted to throw the Necromancer's incendiary oil at the creature but overshot it. As the party stumbled away the Necromancer broke his pot of grease on the ground. The Bard threw down his fishhooks and mixed out his glue powder. The Scout broke his lantern on the ground igniting the oil. The creature slid over all of this with no problem. Fleeing away from the creature the party gathered up some rations and lobbed it over the creature. The creature went for the easy prey. Throwing more rations even farther and in a different direction lured the creature even further away leaving a small window the party might be able to slide past it. Leading the way the Bard was hit by a pseudopod taking damage and losing his armor. The Bard grabbed him and dragged him past the creature. At a safe distance the Bard poured some restorative wine down the Druid's throat. Now all of the party was stumbling around so of course we pressed on.

Outside of the cave system we found ourselves beside the mountain stream just past where it opened into the meadow. Knowing that there were no really safe places to camp in that direction and not knowing what lay upstream the party stumbled upstream until coming to another cave entrance. The Scout felt comfortable that all the tracks he was seeing belonged to the same lumbering creature. And the party felt comfortable that was the lumbering creature they had killed. So the party pressed on (I'm noticing a running theme here).

Inside the cave the party found a tunnel heading off, most likely linking back up with the previously explored cave system, a small treasure hoard, and a maiden locked inside a cage asking to be rescued- that is, if we weren't murderers.

To be continued...

**Posted by Handy Haversack** 7/09/2015 12:11 pm

You guys did perfect in my absence. This is precisely what I expected. Glue and fish hooks for everyone!

**Posted by Ghul** 7/11/2015 5:52 am

Excellent reports.