"HOOAT!!!" Chapter 5 of the Lost Mine of Elder Flinch

In this chapter, the adventurers seek out the castle hide-out of the Cragmaw goblinoids. There they encounter some devious goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears, a duplicitous shape-changer, and a rampaging owl-bear!

Spoiler Warning! This is a prosaic retelling of the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure included with the Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition Starter Set.

The party:

• Varis, a Sylvan Shaman (Level 2 Wood Elf Druid)
• Fitong, a Tribal Warrior of half-Human/half-Orcine parentage (Level 2 Half-Orc Barbarian)
• Aline, a Thaumaturge of half-Human/half-Sylvan parentage (Level 1 Half-Elf Wizard)
• Braxton Hicks, a Hillfolk Explorer and Trail Guide (Level 2 Halfling Ranger)

Introducing:

• Garl Gembeard, a Daro Warrior (Level 2 Dwarf Fighter)

A Plan with Palok

Last week, the adventurers defeated the wizard Glasstaff, leader of the Red Cloak gang, only to learn that the remaining members of the gang had been recruited to serve Harra Thorntooth, the gnomish proprietor of the Miner's Hall and member of the secret society known as the Rahasya.

The adventurers had discovered that bugbears, as well as the timid goblin Palok, were allied with Glasstaff at the direction of the Black Spider. The presence of Palok indicated the alliance included the goblins that ambushed their cart in the Defile of Castragon, an inference that Palok himself soon verified. Knowing that the goblins took the dwarf, Gundren Rockseeker, and his map to the mine, to their secret headquarters, a place called Cragmaw Castle. At hearing their plans, Palok the goblin began jumping and repeating the only word he knew, "Meek! Meek!"

Interested, the adventurers began questioning Palok. Palok spoke only in pantomime, gestures, and various inflections of the word "Meek!". Using this crude sign language, Palok was able to express that he knew the way to the castle, and that he would help the adventurers in exchange for freeing his goblin brothers from the tyranny of the bugbears. However, they had to promise to not kill any goblins. The tall hairy ones, however, were fair game. 

The adventurers equipped themselves for the expedition and set out at noon that day.

"Isn't Garl a gnomish name?"

The journey across the lake and into the Defile of Castragon was uneventful until they reached the point where they encountered an ogre road-block the day before. There they met a daro (dwarf) who was examining the scene looking for clues. They cautiously approached and hailed the short fellow. 

The daro introduced himself as Garl Gembeard. Garl was looking for his kinsman, a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker. Garl was expecting Gundren to arrive in Flinch the previous day. When Gundren failed to show, he came looking for him. The adventurers brought Garl up to speed on what they knew of the fate of the dwarfish daro. Seeing as their quests coincided, Garl took the adventurers up on their offer to work together and joined their band.

The party continued, led by Palok. They eventually came within sight of one of the ancient signal towers of the ancient empire of Nedula Madhyans, perched high on a steep ridge overlooking the defile. There was nothing special about this tower, several such abandoned ruins loomed over the Defile of Castragon. Palok, however, indicated that this one was special and pointed to an old staircase winding up the ravine. The staircase was ancient and eroded to the point that it resembled piles of weathered stones forming a path. 

The sun had long ago disappeared behind the mountainous folds of the defile and the sky was darkening into twilight as the adventurers reached the top of the stairs. Pairs of standing stones formed a path that led along the top of the ridge to the half-ruined walls of the ancient fortification.  Under the cover of darkness, Braxton ranged ahead to scout out the castle. He could find no signs of life outside the walls of the ruin but the stench of goblinoid permeated the place. Peering through the collapsed rubble of the outer walls, Braxton could make out flickering indirect light on some of the interior walls. He returned to the party and reported his findings.

A Stealthy Approach

Based on Braxton's reconnoiter, the party left Palok at the top of the stairs and climbed down along the steep slope of the ridge where it would be harder to see their approach. They then climbed back up under the ruined north wall of the castle. They traversed the route with stealth over the fallen stones. Only Braxton was halted when he almost set a pile of stones tumbling down the pile, threatening to give away his position. The rest scrambled into the room, surprising the four hoboblin warriors resting within. 

Braxton eventually caught up and joined the fight against the crimson goblinoids, Varis turned himself into a brown bear and began chewing on their red almost-feline heads, and Fitong and Garl cleaved a bloody swath through the hobgoblin warriors.  The four warriors were soon defeated.

The party advanced cautiously into the next room, a store-room filled with booty taken from trade caravans. Inside the adjoining chamber, they came upon a yellow goblin priest and two acolytes, praying to the blood-stained totem-like idol of their dark goblin god. The three were quickly overwhelmed. True to their word to Palok, the goblins were taken alive and bound.

A Grick for Garl
The adventurers pulled away some curtains to explore the next chamber. The room was tall and dark. Aline case a light spell to illuminate the shadowed recesses of the arched ceiling. Carved bas-reliefs of the ancient gods of the Uuani, those who would later be cast down by the Aslak to become devils imprisoned in the nine hells. One of the statues resembled a large boa constrictor with octopus-like tentacles for a face. As Garl the daro ventured in to take a closer for hidden treasure, the bizarre creature came to life and fell upon him! Garl was grievously injured by the monster! The rest of the group attacked the thing and it was soon killed. Garl was soon revived and the party continued on their quest.

Beyond the next door, they encountered a hall with many exits and several collapsed walls and ceilings. To the north, beyond a curtain, they found a ruined wall exposing the room to the elements. Behind another door, they found a short hallway. Varis, in bear form, covered the curtain to the south while Fitong opened the next door to the east.

King Grol of the Cragmaws!
Behind the door was the largest hairy bugbear they had ever seen! Near the bugbear was the unconscious form of a daro, none other than Gundren Rockseeker! A large wolf stood at attention as the door opened. The bugbear called out an alarm and stomped as hard as he could onto the head of the unconscious daro before he swung his heavy morningstar at Fitong!

Fitong fought a desperate battle against both the bugbear and the wolf, supported by Braxton's bow , Garl's axe, and Aline's spells. Varis heard the approach of hobgoblin reinforcements from behind the curtain. The snarling, biting, clawing bear was able to keep them at bay.

Suddenly, another dwarf, the spitting image of Gundren himself, ran up behind Aline, shouting "Hold fast! I'm here to help!" Aline, momentarily confused, was even more confused with the burly dwarf swung his hammer, knocking her unconscious!

Garl turned from the battle with the bugbear only to see Aline standing over the unconscious form of.. Aline? Aline called out, "I was attacked by some kind of shape-changer! Don't worry, I took care of her!"

Varis, who had witnessed the whole thing, was still in bear form and was unable to shout out a warning. Garl was taken in by the deception. Aline said, "I think I hear some more goblins coming from this way. I better go take care of them!" and ran off around the corner and out of sight.

Varis killed the second of his opponents and, exasperated, turned back into human form. "That's not Aline! THAT'S Aline! The other one is a shape-changer! Someone help the Aline on the ground and someone else go kill the OTHER Aline!"

By this time, the bugbear and wolf had both been defeated, leaving only the shape-changer. Fitong, still enraged by his berserk blood-lust, chased off after the shape-changer, followed by Garl, while Varis saw to the unconscious body of Rungren and Braxton administered aid to the fallen Aline.

Fitong ran into the room with many exits and ran south. He found nothing but an open door that led outside and a ruined gap that led through the wall into an adjacent tower.

HOOAT!!!!
Braxton heard a door opening, he looked down the hall into the room once occupied by the two hobgoblin guards. He saw the shape-changer Aline opening a door from inside. The false Aline grinned and stepped aside as a hybrid horror straight out of the Valley of Beasts, some kind of massive bear with the head of an owl, squeezed through the doorway and came rampaging through the room, bellowing a hoarse growling "HOOT!" exactly like some cross between an angry bear and an owl!

Braxton immediately grabbed the unconscious Aline and pulled her into the bugbear's room, closing the door behind him. Varis looked up and said "What did you do that for?" Braxton hooked a thumb towards the hall and nervously replied, "Owl-bear."

The owl-bear ran past, squeezing into the doorway into the room with many exits. Garl turned around just in time to see the terrible monster coming towards him. The massive bear claws reached out ahd grabbed Garl, pulling him into the gnashing monstrous beak! The owl-bear munched down on Garl's head before Fitong arrived to engage the creature in battle. Garl was left to collapse like a rag-doll to the floor.

The owl-bear pushed forward into the room with many exits with a mighty "HOOAT!" and clawed and bit at the orcine warrior Fitong. Aline, once more conscious thanks to healing potions administered by Varis, chanted a magical incantation to put the great ursine beast into arcane slumber. The owl-bear stumbled and blinked, but shook it off and continued fighting!

Varis turned back into bear form and charged the creature from behind. The owl-bear's great head swiveled around 180 degrees and bellowed, "HOOAT!!!"

Braxton was able to maneuver past the battle and revive the unconscious Garl. Together, with everyone's assistance, the mighty owl-bear fell to its many injuries.

A Short Rest
After the perilous battle with the owl-bear, the party performed a quick reconnaissance of the area for the shape-changer, who was now long-gone. They checked on Gundren, but the poor daro had expired after getting his head stomped. They searched the room and found a leather pouch packed with coins stashed under the mattress of the bugbear's bed. The pouch was completely sewn shut with no opening. Braxtomn cut it open to find the gold within. In addition, he saw markings drawn on the inside of the leather.

Aline took the pouch and turned it inside out, revealing a map! The map, written in daro script, revealed a route from Flinch to the lost Wave Echo Cave!

The adventurers took an hour to rest and discussed their options. They had what they came for and could just leave. However, they decided to explore the rest of the castle, just to ensure no one would follow them.

When they left the room of the bugbear leader, the body of the owl-bear had mysteriously vanished!

Nobody Likes Bullies
The party continued their sweep of the south face of the castle. They opened the next door and found a kitchen with two long tables. Seven starving miserable goblins were preparing food at the command of a large fat goblin wearing an apron and a chef's hat and carrying a meat cleaver.

Everyone froze as the door burst open. The goblins hesitated. The party hesitated. The goblin chef began grimacing at Fitong in the doorway. Fitong strode forth, glaring his fangs and and brandishing his axe. The goblin chef began backing away, quailing under the intimidating mien of the orcine barbarian.

The goblin chef mustered up his courage and attacked Fitong, missing. Fitong pounded the chef with the butt of his axe. The chef crumpled to the ground.

The rest of the goblins looked back and forth at each other like students at Hogwarts. Fitong glared at them and pointed towards the exit. The rest of the party stood away from the exit and allowed the frightened goblins to file out and flee.

Mopping Up
The rest of the castle consisted of the two towers at the entrance guarded by two goblins each. Doors were opened, goblins were told to flee or die, goblins fled.

In addition, a trap at the entrance was triggered by safely avoided by Fitong.

After clearing the castle, the adventurers decided to spend the night. Braxton went to retrieve Palok. Unfortunately, he found the little goblin dead, murdered, no doubt, by the evil shape-changer.

Palok's body was returned to the castle and a cairn was made for both Palok and for Gundren. Dwarf and goblin, eternal enemies, laid side by side in eternal rest.

TO BE CONTINUED!

After Thoughts
We had a lot of fun this session. For one thing, we were joined by our good friend Jeffy who has been absent from our group for eleven months due to the birth of his second son. Jeffy will be returning full-time in a few weeks.

I got a good reaction from the players when the grick fell from the ceiling. A grick is kind of a new monster for them so there was a sense of "AGH! What the hell is THAT! KILL IT!"

Personally, I squandered an opportunity with the doppelganger. I should have had her impersonate and injured Gundren and have the party deal with figuring out which was the real one. I always have a hard time being convincing with shape-changers. My players did a fantastic job role-playing being confused by the switcheroos.

Finally, the battle with the owl-bear was by FAR the best fight we've played in a while. First of all, my comical bellows of "HOOAT!!" were just hilarious. Everyone was saying it for the rest of the night. Second, the little owl things like rotating its head 180-degrees really made it feel like an OWL-mixed with a bear. Everyone said "Of course it can do that! Why didn't anyone ever think of that before?"

Next week, the group plans on taking one of the side-quests because Jeffy won't be back for two weeks. So, probably the abandoned village, maybe some druid stuff, maybe a necromancer. You know how it is.

"We'll buy all the pots!" Chapter 3 of the Lost Mine of Elder Flinch

Wherein we continue the Lost Mine of Phandelver using D&D Fifth Edition. The party explores the village of Flinch, meet some nice people, run afoul of some ruffians, and head to their secret base underneath the ruins of the old manor house.

Spoiler Warning! This is a prosaic retelling of the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure included with the Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition Starter Set.

Our party consists of:

• Varis, a Sylvan Shaman (Level 2 Wood Elf Druid)
• Fitong, a Tribal Warrior of half-Human/half-Orcine parentage (Level 2 Half-Orc Barbarian)
• Braxton Hicks, a Hillfolk Explorer and Trail Guide (Level 2 Halfling Ranger)
• Aline, a Thaumaturge of half-Human/half-Sylvan parentage (Level 1 Half-Elf Wizard)

Last week, the party had defeated the goblins hired by the Black Spider to waylay them in the Defile of Castragon and had just arrived in the small village of Flinch at the far end of the mountain pass.

Getting to Know Flinch
It was late in the afternoon, about an hour before sunset, when the party arrived in Flinch. The gate was wide open with no guard. People went about their chores, avoiding eye contact with the newcomers. The party entered under the appraising eye of a menacing looking individual in a red cloak. The mysterious observer lurked just inside the gate. He skulked away as soon as they entered.

They stopped outside the inn. Sildar told them he would go inside and secure lodging. They were free to go where they wished. 

The party visited a shop bearing a sign like those they found on boxes salvaged from the goblin's den. The shop housed Lion's Shield Coster, a local outpost of the trading guild of the same name. They returned the goods they rescued and received a reward. While there, they also sold their woolly ox and cart as well as the the goods they were hired to transport. The guild-master, a shrewd Kalmathi woman named Linani, paid them in scrip. She also warned the party about the Red Cloak gang, saying that she wanted to no trouble and preferred to stay out of their way. 

They then headed over to the Miner's Hall to sell some loot and cash in their scrip. There they met a devious gnome banker named Harra Thorntooth, protected inside a cage. She cashed in their scrip and purchased the jade statue they took from the bugbear's hoard. She offered to store their gold in her vault but they declined. Sensing that they were travelling mercenaries, she then took them aside and secretly offered them a bounty to kill or capture the leader of the Red Cloaks, a wizard named Glasstaff. They took the job.

Aline Joins the Party

After leaving the Miner's Hall, the party gathered around the town notice board to look for work and catch up on news. While reading notices and dividing gold, they met Aline, a wizard of half-human/half-Sylvan ancestry. After some chit-chat, the group offered Aline a job with a signing bonus of 10 gold coins. She accepted. A few Red Cloaks, loitering outside the nearby Worker's Hall, took notice of the transaction.

The party went to smithy to purchase weapons. There they met the young blacksmith Yurgh and his wife Gathe. Yurgh was a young journeyman, fresh out of his apprenticeship in Swallow. Gathe was learning pottery because the town needed a potter. Unfortunately, she wasn't very good. Clumsy Fitong accidentally broke a few he was handling. Feeling bad, Braxton declared, "We'll buy all the pots!" and over-paid for the lot.  

Having procured a new better axe for Fitong, the party entered Barthen's provisions and geared up, purchasing ropes, rations, and other sundries. 

Fitong Loses His Shit

Suitably equipped, the party marched to the rear gate with the intent to head up the hill to the ruins of the manor house. Two Red Cloaks blocked their way, noting they had seen the wealth being exchanged at the notoice board. They demanded that the party hand over the scratch. Two additional Red Cloaks began to amble up behind the party from the Worker's Hall.

Fitong sprang into action, rushing forward to the two at the gate. One of the rear Red Cloaks tried to grab Aline by the wrist, but was shocked by magical electricity for his trouble. Braxton fired an arrow at one of the Red Cloaks at the gate, pinning his wrist to the wall, while Fitong lost his shit and started chopping off heads!

A crowd began to gather and watch, shocked at the sudden escalation of violence. After all the Red Cloaks were dispatched, Fitong, still in a frothing frenzy, charged into the now empty Worker's Hall and started smashing up the place. He was eventually becalmed by his fellows.

The crowd, at first disgusted by the brutal killing of the Red Cloak, now clapped and cheered as the party exited the gate and marched up the muddy hill to the manor to eliminate the bullies that plagued the village.

The Ruined Manor House

Within the ruined compound of the manor of the old archon, the party found a set of stairs descending into the darkness. They explored the stairs and came upon a cellar and large cistern filled with water. Two Red Cloak sentries tried to sneak up on them in the darkened room but were instead spotted by Varis and soon dispatched. A third hid in the adjoining storeroom and set up an ambush behind some crates. His ambush was detected when he knocked over a box. The party, aware of the ambush, rushed in and the third ruffian was soon killed. Three red cloaks like the kind worn by the ruffians hung on a nearby wall. The party took the cloaks from their hooks and donned them. 

The only exit was a door to the north. Braxton determined that the door had been unused, so the party ignored it and instead searched the south west corner for a suspected secret door. It was Braxton that located the hidden passage.

"I Know Many Secrets!"

The party came upon a large natural cavern was torn asunder by an ancient catastrophe, leaving a deep crevasse. The crevasse emanated and unnatural cold. Two wooden bridges spanned the rift. One of the bridges was spotted as being unsafe and ignored. As they crossed to the other bridge, Varis began hearing hissing alien thoughts in his head.

"I know your secret! You're here to kill the wizard! I know many secrets!"

A Creepy Beastie

Fitong spotted a mysterious figure lurking behind a natural column on the other side of the rift. The party sprang into action! Varis magically turned himself into a bear. Everyone else rushed the figure, attacked, and quickly killed the strange one-eyed beast as it clawed and psychically lashed out at its assailants in futile self-defense. As the alien creature died, it fell backwards into a spatial rift that resembled burning edges of paper. 

The party explored further down a hallway. They found two doors, one left and one right. They opened the door to the left, Varis, still in the form of a bear, walked into the room while four Red Cloaks played games at a table. At the sight of the bear, the Red Cloaks immediately jumped up and attacked. A bloody battle ensued. At one point, Fitong went down and had to be magically healed. Ultimately, all four ruffians were defeated.

After the fight, the party retreated to a storage alcove located north of the natural cavern. There they rested for an hour before pressing on. 

Flight of the Wizard

The party returned to the corridor and took the door to the right. Within they found a wizard's laboratory and library. A rat scurried into hiding. The party took a few minutes to explore the library and examine the vials and alchemical apparatuses therein. 

The party prepared themselves and opened the door to the adjoining room. To their surprise, the found an empty bedroom. Looking around, Varis saw a secret door slowly closing. Still in bear form, he charged through the secret door and up the stairs. As the party followed behind, Aline noticed a letter on the desk signed with the mark of a black spider.

The bear burst into the natural cavern where a wizard with a glass staff was destroying the functioning bridge. He gave up and ran into the cellar with the cistern. The bear gave chase!

The bear that was Varis pursued the wizard Glasstaff into the cellar but found nothing! No wizard was to be found! Only a wet spot on the floor like something had been retrieved from inside the cistern. However, the bear used his keen sense of smell and located the wizard, hiding invisibly within the room but making his way towards the stairs. The bear lunged and clawed the wizard, turning him visible. The wizard screamed and shouted out a spell. There was a burst of mist and the wizard disappeared.

Varis the bear looked around for the wizard as rest of party caught up. He spotted more mist in hallway at top of stairs where the wizard has teleported. Varis gave chase up the stairs. 

Glasstaff the wizard had disappeared into the night. The party, having caught up with Varis, began their quest to track down Glasstaff the Wizard, leader of the Red Cloak Ruffians.

After Thoughts
We're still really enjoying the new edition. Woobee said that he likes it so much he's thinking about running again. He also bought his own Player's Handbook, which brings our group's total to three.

During the fight at the gate, Woobee (who plays Braxton Hicks) said, "I want to shoot an arrow, pinning one of the ruffians to the wall." Without hesitation, I said, "Sure! You forego damage and impart the 'restrained' condition until he spends an action to free himself." Woobee said, "Deal!"

Boom, instant archery maneuver. Everyone loved it. I'm really liking the little ways I can quickly improvise things like that.

For example, in the fight in the gaming den, Trevor (who plays Fitong) wanted to jump up on the table to gain capital-A Advantage vs. the ruffians. I said, "Sure, make an acrobatics check. If you fail, you don't fall down. If you succeed, you gain Advantage."

I didn't give any stakes for failure because I didn't want to punish my players for thinking creatively. There's a DM of the Rings comic that captures this sentiment perfectly. And whenever a player in my group wants to do something fun and imaginative, only to be shut down by rules or the GM, the player says, as passive-aggressively as they can, "Fine, I attack its foot like everyone else!"

I want to reward the awesome with incentives, not punish it with rules!

Anyway, my only complaints with the Lost Mine of Phandelver so far is that the Nothic went down too easily. Like a chump! The module suggested to make use of its "Know your secret" power, but how? Second level PCs don't have secrets yet!

Also, they make it easy for the wizard Glasstaff to escape, and even suggest having him come back later on, but my players, like most players, are LOATHE to ever let anyone get away! And I didn't want to drop plot immunity on them. Varis the bear has the wizard's scent and can out-run him. Oh, there will be a reckoning next week. 

Jalani of Spit

Jalani of Spit

Jalani comes from a small dairy farm outside Spit.  As a girl, she was sent to Spit to sell the cheese and butter from her farm. While in town, she met the local priestess of Amun-Tor, a friendly scholar and teacher. The priestess gave Jalani private lessons, tutoring her in basic literacy, history, and geography. When her family discovered that she had been receiving an education, they immediately forbade her from returning to the village and put her to work in the dairy.  

 

When Jalani was a young teenager, she learned that she was betrothed to the son of the owner of the neighboring hay farm. Their union would create one of the largest and most profitable dairies in the valley. Unfortunately, the son was an insufferable lout and more than a bit mentally unstable. Jalani knew that if she married him, she would be stuck raising loutish children and she would probably never see the inside of a book again.

 

Poor as she was, she didn't have a lot of options for escape.  Eventually, Jalani was once more allowed to take the dairy products to market in Spit, so long as she was accompanied by a chaperone. Planning for weeks, Jalani had been able to set aside enough coins to buy a set of men's clothes and some basic traveling gear.  Strong and tough from a childhood shoving cattle around, she chopped her hair, bought passage upstream to Wince and hired herself out as Jack, a stout man-at-arms.  

 

She was hired by Valerius, then an unknown warrior from a back-water village of Duirndown, and joined his band on an adventure to explore the haunted house of Saltmarsh Manor.

 

After she had gotten a little experience of the world under her belt, she once again felt the pull of books and mysteries. A chance encounter with the temple of Amon-Tor in Thither revealed to her a new calling. She knew she had been chosen by the god of mysteries and riddles to seek out truth and knowledge and understanding. She had been consumed with a divine passion. Afterwards, she took the vows of a peregrine priestess of Amon-Tor and shed her guise as Jack, revealing to her comrades that she was, in fact, a woman named Jalani.

 

The new Jalani is an independent, confident woman, as unlike the shy girl she once was as her alter ego: Jack. Given her childhood isolation and complete change of garb and attitude, it's unlikely that anyone in the valley will ever recognize her as the young girl from Spit.

 

She will still eat cheese, but she will never make one again.

"From Wince We Came" Chapter 14 of the Xanthus River Campaign

First, an announcement.

For the past few weeks, I have sensed some discontent among my players regarding the Dungeon Crawl Classics rules. Yesterday, Bill announced that he was going to sit out the rest of the campaign because he was not having fun with the current rules. So when everyone arrived tonight I had a referendum on DCC.

The group indicated that the DCC rules were great for short-term games, a few dangerous dungeon crawls (hence the name, I suppose) but it wasn't being conducive to long-term campaign play and character building. They felt the player character rules didn't provide enough player control over the character's design or destiny and that rules led to gloriously short character lifespans that, although fun in the short run, were detracting from the type of long-term story-building the players were looking for.

On top of that, the players found the random nature of the spell-casting system infuriating and discouraging.

I was a little disappointed but not at all surprised. I like the DCC rules but I was seeing the same problems creeping in.

So we discussed alternatives. I briefly considered some retro-clones such as Legend of the Flame Princess or Swords and Wizardry or Labyrinth Lord. I also weighed them against plain old D&D Rules Compendium and AD&D. I wanted something old-school and nostalgic. For the BRIEFEST of moments we entertained the idea of trying Pathfinder or even returning to 4E.

In the end, I decided on AD&D for no other reason than everyone has the books (not everyone has D&D and none of my players have even heard of the word "retro-clone") and everyone wanted race separated from class.

With that choice, everyone became excited and reinvigorated. Lucinda practically squealed with nostalgic delight. We set about converting the DCC characters over to AD&D.

The conversion was pretty simple.
Strength = Strength
Agility = Dexterity
Stamina = Constitution
Intelligence = Intelligence
However, I allowed players to choose if Personality = Charisma or Wisdom.
Luck, therefore, became whichever they didn't choose.

Level = Level.

I calculated the percentage of experience points to the next level in DCC and applied that percentage to the next level in AD&D and gave each player character that many XP.

Everyone re-rolled their Hit Points.

After that, it was determine your AD&D abilities, saving throws, etc.

One slight change I made (the first of many house-rules, I am sure) was ascending to-hit bonus and ascending AC. It's just so much EASIER and I don't understand why Gygax didn't write it that way to begin with!

Level	Cleric, Druid	Fighter, Paladin, Ranger	Magic User, Illusionist	Thief, Assassin
0	-1	-1	-1	-1
1	+0	+0	-1	-1
2	+0	+0	-1	-1
3	+0	+2	-1	-1
4	+2	+2	-1	-1
5	+2	+4	-1	+1
6	+2	+4	+1	+1
7	+4	+6	+1	+1
8	+4	+6	+1	+1
9	+4	+8	+1	+4
10	+6	+8	+1	+4

Monster HD = To-Hit Bonus
Monster AC = 20-Original AC

When we were done converting characters, we had:

• Valerius (Level 3 Paladin)
• Absalom (Level 2 Cleric of Justica)
• Babu (Level 2 Thief)
• Jalani (Level 1 Cleric of Amun-Tor)
• Knott (Level 1 Fighter)

We picked up where we left off last week. The party had killed Explictica Defilus, God-Queen of Serpents and Avatar of Set, once and for all and emerged from the hidden underground temple.

It was around noon. It had been raining hard for nearly twelve hours. The town was wet and muddy. Shafts of sunlight supported the ceiling of clouds like luminous columns. Survivors began to tentatively emerge from their hiding places from the previous night's massacre. Blood was everywhere. Windows were smashed, buildings burned, doors hanging loose int heir frames, animals slaughtered, wet clothing lay in the mud. 

The false archon had fled the city during the chaos. The magistrate was murdered. Most of the town guard had collapsed into masses of writhing snakes, the vile magic that created them having been extinguished. 

One of the remaining guards called out from the gate house, "The Archon approaches!"

Soon, another guard called out, "No, there's the Archon!" 

Two identical archons were approaching the city simultaneously. A group of villagers gathered. Valerius ordered both archons held. Both archons claimed primacy. Both declared the other the impostor. Valerius had each archon recite the phrase, "Ka nama kaa lajerama". One archon complied. The other archon protested his innocence and refused to comply. 

The guards looked to Absalom. The magistrate was dead. The priest of Justica was dead. Absalom was the ranking member of the order of Justica and thus had the legal authority to make a ruling. Absalom ruled in favor of the archon that complied. The archon, thusly empowered, passed judgement on the impostor and called upon Absalom to declare the punishment. The crowd called for blood! They wanted to burn the impostor. Absalom looked to Valerius. Valerius reminded Absalom of the atrocities committed and suggested that Justica's will called for a swift death. Absalom agreed and sentenced the impostor to death by beheading, to be immediately carried out by Valerius.

The impostor was dragged screaming and struggling to the raised platform in the center of the town square. A chopping block and wicker basket was produced. Valerius carried out the judgement. The impostor's head rolled into the basket, the head of a large boa constrictor! The body that remained was thick, ropy, sinuous, like a snake, with clawed limbs. 

Afterwards, the archon proclaimed his thanks to Valerius and offered to elevate Valerius to the rank of armiger. As an armiger, Valerius would become a nobleman. He could require others address him as "Sir Valerius". He would be granted land and provided with the income generated by that land. He would be allowed to create a heraldric coat of arms to be kept at Wince and passed on to his offspring. In exchange, he would be expected to come to the defense of Wince when summoned and would be expected to join the archon at court on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Valerius agreed and was immediately elevated during an impromptu ceremony in front of the entire village. He was granted the land farmed by Dunth, currently owned by Patrician Umok. Dunth would continue to be the steward of the land. 

In addition, the surviving acolytes of the pantheon urged Absalom to become the new priest of Justica or to take them as his students. Absalom declined both and noted that ten-year-old Helise had been chosen by Justica. He anointed her as the new priestess of the temple. The teenage acolytes bristled at the idea of serving a ten-year-old girl, but Helise quickly too control and established discipline under her holy authority.

With that, the party spent the day helping the town recover and re-build and slept soundly through the night. The next day, they arranged passage on one of the river boats going up-river. 

When the river boat approached the confluence of the Atrous and the Xanthus, a pirate long-boat blocked their way. The party formulated a plan. Absalom cast bless upon his comrades as they hid themselves under the deck planks of the river boat and allowed the pirates to come along-side. As soon as the pirates boarded the river boat, the party leaped out of hiding, taking the pirates by surprise.

Avast ye, scallywags!

A brief battle ensued. The party quickly killed the pirate captain and overwhelmed the crew. The remaining four pirates surrendered. 

The prisoners were lashed to their oars and forced to follow the river boat. The pirates were an uncooperative crew, however, and made the journey slow-going. The river boat had to slow itself in order to not leave the captured long-boat behind. The poor progress caused the two boats to dock at the pitiful town of Dribble.

Dribble was a depressing run down village with a few hundred inhabitants. Its dock was old and in poor repair. The inhabitants were dour and unpleasant. The archon's keep sat menacingly atop a cliff overlooking the town. The lone inn in town served pasty gruel and bland watery beer made with dirty river wash and some meat that everyone hoped was least fox or wolf. When the innkeeper, an abrasive ugly troll of a man with hairy warts on his face, told everyone that "...if the archon invites you to dinner, you better accept it.", everyone decided to spend an uncomfortable night on the boats. 

That night, before dawn, a drunken patron of the inn stumbled to the dock and shouted belligerent insults at the party and the crew before urinating at them and defecating on the dock in their direction. Knott but a warning arrow into the dock and the drunkard crawled away, slipping in the mud several times.

The next day, the party made it to the base of the Argent Falls. They transferred from the boats to the funicular and eventually arrived in Swallow. 

Knott immediately trotted off to find a whore-house.

Babu and Jalani explored the city.

Absalom and Sir Valerius delivered their prisoners to the temple of Justica. They accepted the bounty offered for pirates but immediately donated it to the temple. 

Sir Valerius then began interviewing young warrior-trainees at the temple, looking for a potential squire.

Afterwards, while shopping, Absalom ran into Kedrith, the merchant that hired them in Duirndown two months ago. After exchanging pleasantries and catching up, Kedrith related to Absalom that Duirndown has gone downhill fast. A pall has fallen over the village. No food is growing. Stores are wilting. The people are starving. They have no energy, no will to live. Kedrith said he could feel some supernatural force draining the strength from him, so he left as soon as he arrived.

TO BE CONTINUED

Post-Game Analysis

The players were already having more fun with the AD&D rules. Other than increasing AC and to-hit bonuses, and maybe a few other house rules, I'm going to try to run it RAW. 

Morale took me a minute to figure out. But once I grokked it, it was simple. 

We're going to use one-minute rounds, segments, weapon speed, morale, the whole thing. I may or may not use variable attack bonuses vs. different types of armor. That one makes me cringe a little. 

In this regard, OSRIC is a great help. It recapitulates the AD&D rules into an easier-to-read and understand document. It does a much better job plainly describing the AD&D rules without having to jump around between different books. 

Hopefully Bill will come back next week. I think an Elf Fighter will suit his play style much better. 

"You Wince Some; You Lose Some" Chapter 13 of the Xanthus River Campaign

Our party consists of:

Valerius (Level 2 Warrior)
Absalom (Level 2 Cleric of Justica)
Gwen (Level 2 Elf)
Babu (Level 2 Thief)
Jalani (Level 1 Cleric of Amun-Tor)
Knott (Level 1 Warrior)
Helise (Level 1 Cleric of Justica)

Burk (Level 1 Thief)
Hadrud (Archon of Wince)

After escaping from their imprisonment in the swampy dungeon of the serpent cult, and killing Explictica Defilus, AGAIN, the party returned to the village of Wince, this time with Archon Hadrus. However, weary of their ongoing battle with the agents of the serpent cult, they sought shelter in one of the several farmstead compounds within sight of the walls of Wince. 

The first few farms refused to answer. Eventually, they were welcomed by a farmer named Dunth and his wife Luretia. Dunth allowed them to stay for the night and share a common peasant meal of barley gruel and beer. The party was welcome to sleep in the barn with the animals on one condition: No matter what you hear or see, do NOT go into the root cellar! When asked why, he simply replied, "It is a private matter!"

Late at night, of course loud noises came from the root cellar. Thumpings and bumpings as if something or someone was trying to escape. Remarkably, the party kept their word and did not go near the cellar door. Suddenly, the door burst into splinters. Into the courtyard emerged a frenzied-looking girl in her teens with wild hair, pallid skin, and frightening eyes. She cast about wildly for an exit. Valerius caught her while Absalom went to fetch farmer Dunth. Jalani woke the others. Farmer Dunth was soon out of the house with a lanthorn and pitchfork.

Dunth explained that this was his daughter, Fransca, and that she had recently come under the sway of the vile serpent cult. For the past few weeks, she had left the farm to join the cult in town. He followed her one night into the village temple, but lost her after that, finding nothing but an empty temple within. He said that the cult had changed her, that she had become rebellious, wild, and preternaturally strong. 

Fransca thrashed about in an attempt to break free, "Let me go! Infidels! My mistress calls to me! My brothers and my sisters need me! I must go to them!"

A freak magical storm was brewing over the village. Clouds swirled and eerie green lightning flashed, some striking the temple. Something was obviously going on.

The party decided to tie to a post and keep watch over her, with Dunth's permission. They thought about interrupting whatever was happening in the village, but Fransca cried, "No! No! Leave them be!" After soe debate, they decided to wait until morning. Fransca, hearing this, shouted excitedly, "Yes! YES! Good! Sleep well! My mistress returns! When next you face her, she will be MORE POWERFUL than you can possibly imagine! Ha ha ha ha!" At that point, the party decided to put a gag on her.

The dawn brought a pouring rain. The party had a breakfast of porridge, curds, and milk with the farmer and formulated a plan. They would go through the gate and head straight to the temple and kill anyone that tried to stop them. 

Valerius took the farmer aside. He told the farmer he would like to pay him for his assistance. The farmer requested a paltry sum of 1 silver per person. Valerius paid the man 500 gold coin! Dunth was dumbfounded and confused. 500 gold coins was more money than the farmer would see for a hundred harvests! Valerius assured him of the gift, admonishing him to keep it hidden and secret and to not spend it all at once. 

Leaving for the village, Valerius asked Dunth if they could borrow a wagon, an animal, and some cloaks. Dunth said that all he had was a rouncey merychippus and a cart, but that the party was welcome to take them and keep them! Heck, you could take the daughter, if you wished! The party, silencing Knott, politely declined but took the merychippus and the cart. 

The party, clad in simple homespun hooded ponchos and carrying a bundle in the back of a cart, approached the village gate. The gate was mysteriously closed and no other farmers were seeking entry. At the gate, they called out. A strange voice answered, "The village is shut! Go away! You are not wanted here!"

While Absalom and Valerius distracted the gate guards, Babu and Burk slipped away from the group and scaled the wall beside the gatehouse. They slipped down and Babu activated his short sword, Scute, creating an impenetrable zone of darkness. Babu easily killed the two guards behind the gate, then climbed the ladder and slew the other two guards upstairs as they fumbled about looking for the alarm gong. When the darkness ended, Burk opened the gate and let the others in. 

The party made a dash down the town's main street. The town seemed deserted. Several of the entrance doors of the village shops were torn off their hinges and windows were smashed. Streaks of blood ran out of the entrances and across the covered boardwalks in front of shops. An alarm gong soon sounded from one of the other guard towers. The party turned right and made for the temple. Archers atop the gatehouse of the archon's keep began firing arrows, inuring a few of the slower members of the party. 

Once inside, the party made for the rear of the temple. They checked on the priests' quarters. Three of the four were scenes of violence and bloodshed, but no bodies were to be seen. They went downstairs to where the acolytes lived. The library was burned, the holy relics were desecrated. The acolytes' quarters held evidence of a struggle and bloodshed. The door to the senior acolytes' room was battered but secure, and braced from behind. Absalom called out and was answered by the young acolyte that summoned him in the middle of the night. The acolytes removed their barricades and opened their door. There were four survivors. 

Continuing their search, the party found a scene of charnel hell in the kitchen and dining halls. Several of the bodies of the villagers and acolytes had been prepared and eaten, their carcasses left on the tables, entrails spread across the room, bodies hanging from meat hooks, and other gruesome horrors!

So far, there was no trace of the cult. However, the party followed a trail of bloody footprints on the floor to a secret door hidden in the store-room. Stairs led down.

The party rushed headlong towards righteous vengeance, bursting through the door at the bottom of the stairs! They made short work of the four cultists standing guard at the entrance of the narthex.

A Traffic Jam of PCs!

They opened the door to the right to reveal four ophidian ghouls and four ophidian zombies, the corpses of the dead animated by muscles comprised of living serpents, feasting on the body of an acolyte! The squamous undead left their gruesome meal and rushed the doorway. Valerius, Knott, and Jalani held them at bay, killing each one at a time as they tried to exit.

A blurry shot of Serpent-Ghouls and Serpent-Zombies

When there were but a few left, they pushed into the room so that the remaining creatures could be surrounded and killed. 

Searching the room revealing nothing but a coat-room and simple storage. 

Across the hall, the party found a prison with four cells containing villagers and acolytes. When told of the atrocities committed in the village, one of the prisoners called out "By the Gods! I may be to blame!"

When asked for details, he revealed himself as Karzun, a sage and expert in ancient cultures. He had come to Wince searching for ruins of the ancient empire of Nagina Samrajya. Nagina Samrajya was the empire of the serpent ones, who ruled the earth millions of years ere the rise of man. He found the buried ruins of a city in the swamps a day's journey southwest of town. He even found what he believed to be the buried remains of the god-king and god-queen of Nagina Samrajya. Unfortunately, he was betrayed by the men he hired for the excavation. They stole the remains roughly six weeks ago. Later, he was captured by agents of a sinister serpent cult! They were led by at least two surviving members of the ancient serpent race. Apparently, the serpent race can cast illusions and can make themselves appear human, even specific humans! However, they have a weakness, because of the shape of their mouths, they are unable to pronounce the phrase, "Ka nama kaa lajerama", by this you can know who is human and who is ophidian.

The party asked Karzun about Babu's sword. Karzun said the sword was named "Scute" and was an ancient weapon of Nagina Samrajya. He said that Scute was the only weapon that could permanently kill Explictica Defilus.

The party release the prisoners but admonish them to stay back and be safe. They continue on and find a large room, the chamber of the serpent cult!

Explictica Defilus... AGAIN!!

 

The God-Queen of Serpents on her Throne

The room was large, nearly seventy feet per side with a twenty foot ceiling. A narthex on the west wall gave the room two entrances. A large raised platform dominated the east wall which was dominated by a large frieze and symbol of Set, God of Serpents. Lounging atop the dais was Eplictica Defilus, the undying God-Queen of the ancient Serpent Race, flanked by two priests wearing green robes: the priest of Justica known as Wethis and the elusive priest from the excavated dungeon whose name was Garliss. In the room were six snake-human hybrids, each armed with two scimitars, and two human acolytes of Set. A mysterious pit sank into the floor in front of the platform.

The party advances... cautiously with eyes closed.

The party split up, with Valerius, Gwen, and Jilani taking the left flank and Absalom, Knott, Babu, and ten-year-old Helise, truly a brave little princess, taking the right flank. Burk stayed behind in the narthex with the acolytes.  Gwen, Babu, and Helise, being ranged fighters, stayed back, avoiding the hypnotizing gaze of the naga queen. The rest blindly rushed forward, literally, their eyes squeezed shut against the effects of the charm. Gwen summoned a magic eagle which flew up and harassed Explictica for much of the fight before being bitten and dying from venom.

The battle bogged down at the stairs leading up to the dais. Valerius was caught in a magical web spell cast by the naga but managed to pull himself free. Shortly thereafter, Valerius, Absalom, and Knott were all three paralyzed by the effects of a dark incantation from Wethis. Unable to move or attack and only partially able to defend themselves, the charge was stopped.

Jilani rushed to the aid of Valerius but was of little help. Helise moved out from behind cover to likewise aid her allies, but in her haste did not close her eyes and was charmed by the queen of serpents. Explictica teased Helise, taunting her with descriptions of the torment of her people, forcing her to look into the well. The pit was clogged with the dying victims of the serpent cult's atrocities. Villagers were flung, living, into the deep pit. Their bones broken. There the poor wretches were left to die, heaped on top of one another like living garbage. Their pitiful moans and feeble cries for help  could not be drowned out by the din of battle that filled the room.

Knott fell to Garliss. Wethis, confident that the north flank was secure, moved over to the south flank and began to slowly choke the life out of Absalom, taunting him and declaring Justica a dead goddess and that all justice was false. Valerius had lost all faith and was ready to declare defeat. The battle seemed lost.

Babu activated the darkness of Scute and rushed forward to Absalom's aid, only to be covered in another web spell. The darkness was apparently ineffective against the dark-vision of the Naga Queen and her minions. However, Babu made it to the steps of the platform and Wethis, confused by the darkness, was killed by Babu and Scute. Babu, however, was cut down on the steps by a snake-human hybrid.

However, killing Wethis ended the paralysis. Valerius and Absalom broke free. Absalom rushed the north steps of the platform, followed closely behind by Jalani and now Burk. Jalani uttered a prayer and paralyzed Explictica Defilus. At the top of the platform, Valerius drew Duirn's Dwarven Dagger and began stabbing the naga in the head. Burk was charmed by the Naga and began attacking Valerius. Valerius was finally able to blind the Naga. Jalani crawled over the twisting coils of the blind Explictica to reach the other side of the platform, where she grabbed Scute. With a final blow from Valerius and Jalani, Explictica Defilus was killed.

Explictica Defilus' corpse slid off the platform and into the pit, where it exploded into a geyser of glowing blood like liquid sparks that rained from the ceiling of the chamber.

The god-queen of serpents was dead!

Meanwhile, during the confusion of the final moments, Garliss, who had been constrained by webs and ignored, managed to transform himself into snakes and slither away, again.

TO BE CONTINUED!

 Post-Game Analysis
My original plan was to use the teenage girl to provide the party with some intelligence on the cult, and bait to get them to destroy the cult once and for all. You see, Explictica Defilus had to be resurrected by Garliss each time she was killed, each time requiring a human sacrifice. The party had a small window to destroy the cult while Explictica was still "dead". Had they taken the bait, the assault on the temple would have been quick and easy. Two priests and a few acolyte guards.

Unfortunately, the party didn't take the bait and played it safe so I amped up the planned encounter as well as the consequences of their inaction. Explictica was returned, and this time more powerful than before, with a bigger hit die and +1 to her spell check. Emboldened, the cult then went on a rampage throughout the town, killing and pillaging most of the villagers. Garliss reanimated many of the corpses of the villagers into snake zombies to guard the walls.

The fight itself was very touch and go for the party. Paralyzing Valerius, Knott, and Absalom was almost a game-ender. I rolled REALLY well! Fortunately, paralysis is very loosely defined in the DCC rules. I gave the PCs the same benefit I gave the monsters when they were paralyzed by Absalom or Jalani: they could not move or act, but they still got their AC, minus their Agility bonus. In retrospect, I should have treated their Agility as 0 (-3).  Anyway, the paralysis was very demoralizing for the players and I had to encourage them to keep going.

Later, I looked up how paralysis worked in 3rd edition, and had I used THOSE rules, it would have been game over for the party. My paralysis is more forgiving, but I apply the same rules to the monsters, so there.

Gwen was a non-participant in the fight. She's still at -5 to all actions after losing Cake, and as a result Gwen's player was disengaged. I gave him Helise to play, but that was a mistake since no one wanted to endanger the ten-year-old orphan princess, despite her now being a first-level Cleric.

Finally, Scute's darkness ability is over-powered. The ability is poorly defined in the DCC rulebook, saying only that the wielder can create 20' of darkness at will. Can the wielder see in the darkness? Do creatures with darkvision see through the darkness? We decided that Babu could see fine in the darkness and that creatures with dark-vision could see fine. However, I am reconsidering changing that so that Babu can't see in the darkness but neither can darkvision.

Finally, the players are very concerned with the death spiral of taking on a permanent -1 penalty each time they are rolled over from death. We are having fun with these characters and the death-spiral mechanic is not fun.

I'm all about my players having fun. So I'm replacing that mechanic (we kept forgetting about it anyway, so it's never been implemented) with a permanent disfiguring scar table. Each time you survive a mortal wound, you receive a gruesome scar.

Finally, my players are worried about getting Luck back. As a result, I will be implementing the Luck guidelines from Kill it with Fire. However, I will be using the guidelines to make flat awards of 1-5 Luck per session, rather than forcing them to roll for them.

Does that make me a more forgiving GM? Yes. I'm not quite as harsh on the PCs as DCC suggests. We are telling a fantastic story, having fun, and enjoying our characters. If I need to increase the survival rate a little bit so that the players are having more fun, then I'll do it. If they're not having fun, I'll stop.

"The Lair of the Serpent Lord" Chapter 11 of the Xanthus River Campaign

Our party consists of:

• Valerius (Level 2 Warrior)
• Absalom (Level 2 Cleric)
• Gwen (Level 2 Elf)
• Sausage (Level 1 Dwarf)
• Babu (Level 1 Thief)
• Jilani (Level 1 Cleric)
• Knott (Level 1 Warrior)
• Wheezy (Level 1 Halfling)

Last week, the party had explored the lower level of the secret base of the cult of the Set, the god of serpents. They were nearly wiped out by hybrid snake-humans but were saved by Valerius and Cake the Rat. 

They had just found a large natural cavern flooded with water. The cavern was supported by eight tall phosphorescent pillars emerging from the middle of the lake. A small flat-bottomed boat rested on the shore.

It's a big dark cave!

The party boarded the boat and poled across the deep lake. 

Boarding the boat

They heard a hissing voice from the darkness, "Who dares disturb the fane of the lord of serpents? Who dares disturb EXPLICTICA DEFILUS?? Tell me your names that I might know you!"

The party engaged the sibilant voice in the darkness by answering its questions. Explictica Defilus recognized Valerius, "YOU! You are the one that killed by mate!"

Valerius was confused and consulted with his companions, "Um.. I am?? I don't recall."

Enraged, Explicta rose out of the darkened depths, revealing a large red and black snake with the head of a hideous human! Explictica was a Naga, one of the noble god-kings of the ancient empire of the serpent men!

Who dares disturb EXPLICTICA DEFILUS??

Valerius cautiously ordered the rest to pole the boat back to the muddy shore and disembark. There they waited as Explictica arrogantly closed the distance, unsuccessfully attempting to cast fireball spells. Gwen called upon the aid of the King of Elfland, imbuing her arrows with the spell of slumber. Her arrows failed to find their mark and she found herself under the enchanted charm of the naga queen. 

The naga approaches!

Explictica attacked the party, biting Sausage who survived the naga's venom by luck alone.  Explictica was soon overwhelmed. As a final act before dying, Explictica disappeared into a sulfurous ball of fire, leaving no trace behind and knocking everyone to the ground. 

The party soon regained their wits and poled the skiff to the far side of the cavern where they found the naga's treasure horde. After gathering up the treasure, the party decided to leave the dungeon and return to Wince to rest, divide loot, and resupply. 

On their way out, the party encountered a small pack of giant rats which were quickly dispatched.

Outside of the dungeon, the party saw that it was midday. They began hiking back through the swampy terrain. While passing near the sunken ruin of an ancient colossal statue, the party was attacked by a giant snapping turtle! 

Okay, an ankylosaur is the closest thing I had to a giant snapping turtle.

Does anyone else notice the humongous statue?

The turtle posed little threat and was soon killed.

The party arrived in Wince at sun-down, covered in mud and gore. A large crowd of villagers, nearly the entire town, had gathered in the town square to hear a message from Archon Hadrus. The villagers were much confused as to their state. It seems nearly everyone in town had amnesia and could not remember the last six or seven weeks!

Archon Hadrus appeared with his magistrate and Father Wethis, priest of Justica. He reassured the town, informing them the town had been placed under the spell of an evil warlock named Kn'Tor, and that he had sent his finest warriors to hunt down Kn'Tar and dispatch him. Kn'Tor will be made to pay for his evil crimes! The villagers were dubious but trusted their leader. They returned to their lives.

The party attempted to book a room at the Green Tiger Inn but were turned away until they had bathed and acquired new clothes. They were directed to the bath-house next door. After refreshing themselves, they returned to the inn and ate dinner and rested. Gwen decided to sleep in the forest instead and Knott returned to his own home (he is from Wince).

Absalom overheard some merchants exchanging rumors about Kn'Tor. Absalom contributed a rumor of his own, that a naga had placed the town under its spell and that the naga had been killed. 

That night, while sleeping in their private rooms, Absalom heard a gentle knocking on his door. The knock was the secret code used by clerics of the holy order of Justica. He answered it and was greeted by a young acolyte carrying a paper lantern. The said that Father Wethis wished to see Absalom in private and that Absalom was to follow the acolyte to the meeting. Absalom did so. 

The acolyte led Absalom to a darkened chapel in the village basilica. The hooded and robed Father Wethis stood on the raised dais in the apse, illuminated by a candle. Wethis asked Absalom about his travels and where he was the past few days. Absalom answered evasively. Wethis said that he has heard that Absalom was spreading rumors of a naga, thus undermining the Archon's story and authority. Absalom was to stop immediately. In addition, Absalom, being a traveling mendicant, should be on his way, unless he has in interest in settling down and joining the hierarchy here in Wince. Absalom answered that he planned on leaving soon. Wethis replied, "Good". With that, Absalom was escorted back to his room without incident.

The next day, the party spent the morning dividing loot and treasures. Absalom was able to identify each magical item through intense prayer. Afterwards, the party consulted with a local alchemist on the properties of various potions they had obtained. They then purchased additional arrows, torches, food, and other equipment and prepared to return to the dungeon.

Before they could leave, they were met by representatives of the town guard who informed them that they were invited to an audience and lunch with the Archon. They politely agreed. 

The Archon was a gracious host, talking up the towns trade facilities and many services. Apparently, he had heard that the party was flush with coin and was hoping to get them to spend it in Wince. He gave a tour of the village's defensive capabilities while his younger sister provided a tour of the dock and warehouses.

Afterwards, they were brought into a fine dining hall equipped with many victuals for lunch and conversation. Each of the party members were poured goblets of wine and offered a toast to their good fortune. Valerius politely declined, creating a breach in etiquette and offending his host, the Archon. Everyone else drank to the toast. Sausage and Wheezy immediately passed out. Everyone else became groggy and disoriented. Valerius drew his sword as men-at-arms rushed into the hall with halberds brandished.

A dry hissing voice came from behind a curtan, "Foolish mortal! It takes more than that to kill EXPLICTICA DEFILUS!"

TO BE CONTINUED!

"Knock Knock! Who's there? Your DOOM!" Chapter 10 of the Xanthus River Campaign

Our party consists of:
Valerius (Level 2 Warrior)
Absalom (Level 2 Cleric)
Gwen (Level 1 Elf)
Sausage (Level 1 Dwarf)
Babu (Level 1 Thief)

Jack (Level 1 Warrior)

Knott (Level 1 Warrior)
Wheezy (Level 1 Halfling)

Last week, the party cleared much of the first level of the secret lair of the serpent cult near Wince, getting as far as a flight of stairs descending down before they decided to retreat to a defensible position and rest.

They moved all the cots into a single cell, formerly used by cultists guarding the entrance, and closed and barred the door. Valerius had the first watch.

Before resting, Jack made two announcements to the group. First, Jack was not a man at all. He was a woman who had been pretending to be a man! Her name was Jilana, and she fled a live of servitude and arranged marriage back home. Also, she was not a warrior but was, in fact, a cleric of Amun Tor! The party was shocked for a moment, but glad they had another cleric, hoping this one would be proficient in their craft.

Settling down for a rest

About an hour into Valerius' watch, there was a gentle knocking at the door. Valerius woke everyone and they positioned themselves around the door and prepared for battle.

Valerius queried, "Who is it? What do you want?"

The voice responded, "Open the door! I must tell you something!"

Valerius dubiously countered, "Can't you tell us through the door?"

The voice said, "I don't have much time! Open the door else I must leave."

Valerius, wary of a trap, slowly opened the door.

The figure beyond was clad in black robes and leather armor, his bald head, lack of eyebrows, pallid complexion, and sinister countenance bespoke of a member of the serpent cult. The figure was holding two clay flasks of oil with burning wicks, which he promptly tossed into the room.

One grenade shattered and burst into flame, catching Knott on fire, while the other failed to shatter.

As the figure turned to escape, the party quickly rushed him, surrounding him. He was quickly stabbed to death before he could even act.

"Ahh! My Initiative was lower than I anticipated!!"

 The party saw that the hall had been barricaded at both ends. One end was completely walled, the other left a small gap open to allow exit one at a time.

Another cultist wearing armor and carrying the weapons of a warrior called out to them from beyond the gap, taunting them. He dashed back towards the guard post near the entrance. The party gave chase, only to encounter a devious trip-wire+clothesline combination trap. The armored warrior continued south down a corridor, trying to lure the party deeper into the dungeon. Valerius, wary of more traps and an ambush, had everyone stop and withdraw.

"Come and get me, COWARDS!"

Gwen asked her lazy familiar Cake the rat to scout down a hallway. Cake responded, "Well, I WOULD, but it's all the way over there I'm way over here!"

The group retreated to their cell and re-barred their door to continue their rest. Gwen, perhaps unwisely, allowed Cake to take a watch. Cake immediately fell asleep, meaning there was no one to wake the next on watch, or the next. Luckily, the remainder of the rest was uneventful.

"Nope! We're not falling for it!"

Waking an unknown number of hours later, the group continued their expedition. They travelled west the south, cautiously retracing the path of retreat made by the mysterious warrior, searching for traps at every doorway and intersection, sometimes unsuccessfully.

They passed through the large columned chamber and travelled west, then north, to a heavy wooden door which was barred from within. It took Valerius maybe fifteen tries before he was able to kick the stout door down, given anyone within plenty of warning and time to prepare.

Inside was a sitting room with overturned chairs and upturned tables. Behind the table was the mysterious warrior.

The overturned chairs were very nice. They were upholstered in velvet with brass hobnails and fancy arm-rests.

 The party rushed in with Sausage at the lead followed by Valerius. As Knott came through the doorway, he was attacked from behind by an assassin that could have been the twin of the cultist who earlier knocked on their door. The assassin was cut down in a single stroke. The warrior was soon felled by Sausage and Valerius.

"Curses! I am undone by my lack of Hit Points!"

A brief search indicated that the assassin bore a magical short sword, an ancient looking weapon with a curved sinewy blade. Written on the blade in a curvilinear script was the word "Scute". When Babu took the blade, he was overcome with ambition and paranoia. He knew then that he would one day rule Nagina Samrajya- the ancient kingdom of the Serpent People! He will eliminate all the fools who oppose him through the subtle art of assassination! Wait, what? Whoah! Where did that come from?

Anyhow, they continued searching, finding a room shared by the twin assassins, a room for the warrior, and a room for one other, as yet unaccounted for cultist, apparently a spellcaster for within his room was a chest protected by a glyph of warding. Babu failed to disarm the chest and was paralyzed until Jilana uttered a prayer to revive him. Within they found clerical robes, a mace, and a scroll with two "cure light wound" prayers written to Set, god of the serpents.

Exiting the chambers of the cult lieutenants, they took the west passage, noting that the way south was blocked with mud and dirt from a ceiling collapse. Northward took them into a large flooded natural chamber supported by a column.

Valerius: "It's a flooded cavern. So I'm going in alone then?"

Valerius trudged through the wet sticky muddy bottom to inspect the door to the east. In so doing, he was attacked by a large killer frog.

Valerius about to get french-kissed by a giant carnivorous frog.

When Knott came to help, he, too, was similarly attacked. The frogs were swiftly dispatched and it was soon verified that the east door joined up with the main entrance.

The party turned back and retraced their steps, south then east then south through the secret door. They took the boat to the west passage from the crocodile cavern and found the way blocked by mud and debris from the ceiling collapse. Wheezy the halfling scrabbled through a narrow gap and explored the way south, finding a flooded cavern filled with rotting decaying bodies and the putrescent stench of the dead. Disgusted and repelled, wheezy returned to report. The party elected not to follow up.

The party then took the boat back to the south corridor from the crocodile cavern. They explored the south passage and found that excavations had ended abruptly. They backed up and explored the west passage until they located the den of the giant weasel. Searching the mud, they found coins of all kind littering the muck, plus the tattered clothes of the Archon of Wince!

Afterwards, they returned to the hybrid guard post and decided to descend to the lower level.

A = Assassin Fight
B = Lieutenant Chambers
C = Giant Frogs

At the bottom of the stairs, the party encountered a labyrinth of natural caves and passages. At Valerius' instruction, they kept left, heading west.

They soon explored a small empty room only to be attacked by a giant spider!

Gwen: "Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!"

Sausage became pinned, impaled by the spear-like pedipalp of the humongous arachnid. Luckily, the spider's poison had little to no effect and the spider was soon killed. Gwen, whose player is apparently upset by spiders, stayed far far out of the room, repeating "Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!". One of the prayers of Set soon returned Sausage to health and vigor.

Continuing to explore, the passage turned north. After finding an empty room, the party continued north until they encountered a huge chamber lit by dim torchlight. The chamber was thirty feet wide but over a hundred feet long and curved to the east at the far north end.

A large creepy cavern!

Within the chamber were several large masses of what appeared to be amniotic sacs. Within each was the silhouette of a human being transformed into more of the snake-human hybrids the party encountered in the guard post upstairs.

Trust me, each pile of skulls was an amniotic sac.

Before they could act, they were set upon by eight hybrids who had camouflaged themselves and were blending in with the muddy walls of the cavern!

The party is beset by snake-human hybrids!

Two threw small cages containing venomous snakes, one at Sausage and one at Valerius, which burst open on impact. Sausage was bitten and fell! Each of the others bore spears and scimitars upon the rest. Babu fell, then Jilana, then Wheezy. Absalom moved to Jilana and restored her to health using the remaining prayer to Set, but Absalom was soon cut down himself, quickly followed once more by Jilana, and then Knott! Gwen and Sausage took down a serpent but were themselves removed from the fight, leaving only Valerius! And wait? What about Cake? Yes! Cake too!

Valerius and Cake the Rat have left the serpent-hybrids bereft of names!

Valerius was surrounded by seven serpent-hybrids. He became a cyclone of flashing steel, with Cake nipping at their heels like a rabid dog! After a gory melee of serpentine death, Valerius and Cake had defeated all of the hybrid abominations! Valerius checked on his companions. All had survived, even Knott who survived by sheer luck alone!

Valerius was so impressed with Cake's fighting ability, he declared Cake his own familiar, ordering Gwen to find a new one! Cake pointedly reminded Gwen that he had yet to receive his cheese!

Cake sitting on Valerius' shoulder after the battle.

After a short rest and some restorative prayers to Justica and Amun Tor, the party was ready to continue. They continued to take the far left passages, which now led east.

The party then entered a small cave containing a carnivorous theropod the size of a large bear chained to the north wall, the jawbones of its victims jammed into the mud walls like prizes. Noticing that the chain only allowed the beast to within five feet of the south wall, the party's ranged fighters moved forward, only to comically retreat as they realized that being within five feet of the beast put them within reach of its snapping jaws!

"Look, it can't come near the wa... OH DEAR GOD! RETREAT!"

Instead, they pelted the poor beast with arrows and sling stones from a safer distance until the monster was dead.

With that, the party moved into a very large cavern containing an underground lake. The cavern ceiling was supported by eight glowing pillars of natural stone, giving the chamber an unearthly green cast. A flat-bottomed skiff rested on the shore near them.

D = Giant Spider
E = Snake-Human Hybrids
F = Bonesnapper

TO BE CONTINUED!

Afterthoughts
I got to use my Dwarven Forge cavern pieces a lot that night, which was a lot of fun. I don't get them out very often. They're pretty but they're kind of a pain. The walls are too high and block visibility. I'd much rather have shorter cavern wall pieces like my dungeon walls.

Speaking of the dungeon walls, I can't recommend them enough: War Torn Worlds Fat Dungeon Walls.

Almost all my pictures feature them. They are fantastic! I own two packs. My players agree that they're the best investment I've ever made on gaming. They're way more flexible and visible than tiles, and easier to arrange. They're shorter than minis so they don't block visibility or hide the action. They're also made of rubber so they won't break or shatter if you drop them, they're light weight, and won't chip.

What I WISH I had were cavern walls like those dungeon walls: rubber, short, and just walls. I don't need the floor, I have a game mat (several, in fact), or tiles. Cast dungeon floors are a waste of poly-resin, or rubber.

So, given that, I took a stab at making what I want. I made them out of clay, so they're not EXACTLY what I want, but they're short and will get the job done.

Next week: Against the Cult of the Reptile God, Part Three! "The Lair of the Serpent Lord"