Thank you Jonathan Henry Crystal Taylor Lloyd Gyan and Aaron Redican for playing in tonight’s impromptu Dungeon World one-shot!
Gralnar the Giant, halfling Barbarian with Herculean Appetites for Riches & Property and Fame & Glory, Aeris, halfling Druid with constant fur, Boromin the dwarf Artificer with a mechanical, steam-powered mobile suit and assortment of gadgets, and Gregor the Pious, human Cleric of the Azula, God of Suffering all began on the summit of a mountain where a set of steps led up to the Temple of Azula, where a magical artifact of healing was buried underneath the tomb of twelve monks.
Aeris led the way – the towering mountains being her homeland – and the party discovered a bloody trail leading up past six, lion statues made of a partially metallic-like stone. Two of the six were missing.
The other four sprang to life and attacked the PCs. Aeris summoned a pack of mountain lions that chased the last of the lion gargoyles into the round temple, devouring it.
Boromin used the steam-powered jetpack from his mobile suit to quickly fly into the temple and up through an oculus, abandoning the party.
(At this point, Lloyd Gyan needed to go to bed, so Boromin simply abandoned the adventure.)
From that point on, the PCs were left facing eight Draugr – two of which bit the Barbarian and Druid (their wounds freezing over like a sickness).
Several stories down a spiraling staircase, in a crypt lined with twelve sarcophagi, the PCs encountered a vampire devouring the last monk.
With the Cleric’s god repeatedly failing him, the Druid accidentally transforming into a huge, furry, purple worm at one point, the Barbarian having a good portion of his blood drained by the vampire, and the Artificer who simply flew away and vanished, this has turned into one of the best one-shot sessions I’ve ran yet!
Underneath the crypt, the PCs discovered a prison cell that housed the vampire. The twelve monks buried in the crypt were actually twelve warriors meant to protect the monk (adding this part in now so it makes more sense) who was there to watch over the vampire prisoner and draw samples of its blood.
The monk learned the vampire was quite abnormal in that its bite turned humans and halflings into Draugr; however, it’s blood reversed the effect and had extraordinary healing properties on top of that.
A shattered, glass bottle with dried blood featuring a blue tint reacted with the Barbarian: coagulating and entering his body, reversing his sickness and healing him entirely. The same happened to the Druid and Cleric when they encountered drops of blood, and the PCs drew a portion of the vampire’s blood (in addition to looting its stash of gold and magic items), and called it a successful adventure – with everyone leveling up!
So for everyone who played, what was your favorite moment (or moments)?
I think the best bit of the campaign was when Gralnar launched him self down the stairwell decimating the doors to the lower crypt and and completely crushing a Drauger. It was epic! Least favourite part… Azula abandoning Gregor because she prefers suffering over prayer haha, made for a very interesting game, lots of fun and over all a good challenge. Kudos to Misha for running a cool game.