Tag: Eld Nathr

Session 2:  “Journal of Wizard B’hob”

(my thanks to Mark Tygart’s The Gibbering Tower Conversion (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7cav44145d9UTlxSmQ3NU41VUk/view?usp=sharing);  I converted this conversion to fit our campaign ;-}

The heroes enjoyed a few days off while the Arch-Wizard of the R’hus Order did some research and life went on as usual in Helga’s Glenn.  Bartleby spent his time eating and drinking.  Illiastre spent her time at the tower studying.  Carmine attempted to go back to the ruins perform proper Last Rites for the undead destroyed while they were there.  He found a small tent village outside the ruins and was met by representatives of the R’hus Order who were there to do a more detailed study of the place per the Arch-Wizard’s orders.

Carmine inquired if he could perform Last Rites for the poor undead they destroyed.  He was pointed towards the remains of a funeral pyre set up outside of their camp.  He then asked, being a cleric from far across the sea to the north, if he could set up a shrine to R’ah.

“Sure,” he was told, “just not in our camp or the ruins, thanks.”

Meanwhile, Illiastre was invited to tea in the Arch-Wizard’s sitting room.  He expressed concerns that the Sealed Doorway was showing far more signs of activity than it should have been as well as the way in which it had protected itself.  He was unsure if this had anything to do with Ole One Eye’s obvious intrusion into the previously sealed sanctum or if it had to do with why it was sealed in the first place.  Unfortunately, the founder of their order was a bit reticent on that point.  The Arch-Wizard Harry asked Illiastre to investigate the old tower of one of the founder’s companions known as Wizard B’hob.  He was reported to be intimately involved in sealing the doorway and, hopefully, some of his research or journals would have survived to this day.

Before dismissing her, Harry mentioned that he had taken Linda under his wing in a final attempt to turn her wizard schooling around.  Unfortunately, he was afraid that she over heard him speaking of Wizard B’hob’s tower as she left the tower unexpectedly before dawn.  If Linda could be saved from any dangers, and especially from herself, that would be great.

In any case, he offered her and her companions 10 coin each for the trouble as well as allowing them to keep anything they find that was not pertinent to the research into the Sealed Doorway.

This adventure being based on someone else’s work with only a few changes, I want to focus on what I changed and on something the players’ had some trouble with.

The heroes were clever in looking for Linda’s foot prints to figure out where she went.  They basically decided to follow her path, more or less, as they figured she was most likely dead.  On the way up the tower they discovered the library which contained a slime mold.  They emulated Linda’s Discerned actions by quickly slamming the door shut once they discovered it.

Their troubles began on the levels above.  The spell casters somehow decided that the 7-9 costs for Spell Casting were not of equal value.  The “You draw unwanted attention.” was chosen after the wizard cast Detect Magic.  I decided the brick work around the door jamb of the library had been sufficiently loosened after having the door slammed shut twice to allow the slime mold to escape and seek its prey that got away.

At the top of the tower they discovered a magic ‘circle’ that had entrapped some sort of non-euclidian life form made of a dark mist that constantly changed shaped in a way that brought on a mild headache to observers.  They decided to leave not to free it and headed back down to check the below ground levels.

The slime met them on the stairs between level three and two (it was slow).  The players decided (and I went with it) that regular weapons were just not going to do much if anything to this mobile fungi.  The best they had was one vial of lamp oil which they used to set the thing on fire.  If they had had more than one (or had thought to use their Adventuring Gear to produce more) they could easily have destroyed the thing.  As it was, after damaging it with the fire, they decided to use the remains of the Flesh Golem they fought to distract it.

Despite my description of the slime ignoring them and the golem being slowly dragged down the stairs, Bartleby decided to skewer their bait with his spear and chuck the enveloped golem out the window.  He succeeded, however, the slime oozed down his spear and covered both of his arms before he managed to play ‘Toss the Golem’.  During the subsequent healing performed by the cleric, “You attract unwanted attention” was chosen again and three ghouls showed up from the dungeon below to investigate the ruckus (and hopefully find an easy meal).  While healing the group again, the cleric almost picked the fateful choice again before the group decided he should just let the spell go and they would camp in B’hob’s bedroom using Alarm spells to awaken them if something else tried to eat them.

Long story short, the two casters continued their love affair with “Unwanted Attention” the next day.  This lead to a horde of Skeletons that kept reconstituting themselves and/or new ones arriving from the room of piled bones down the hall.  I was able to get them to understand at this point that each choice (immediate or delayed) could be very problematic (especially when chosen again, and again, and again).  The cleric finally remembered he could Turn Undead before their choice of doom killed any of them.

They finally got to the last area and found B’hob’s journal, a book Illiastre has not had a chance to examine thoroughly (probably going to go my own way with this one rather than Mark’s written one), a charm that opens locks (much needed without a Thief), and a sword the cleric took (it identified itself as Wyrm Slayer to his mind and an interesting conversation that promises interesting play ensued).

In the last room, they found an enormous glass sphere that imprisons any whom touch it within itself.  They figured this out due to Discerning Linda’s tracks ending in front of the sphere and the cleric Spouting Lore of such items described in his order’s great library back home.

They decided that Linda could just rot within as who knew what else was inside it.  They also decided to leave the thing at the top of the tower alone.  They went back to Helga’s Glenn wiser and richer heroes.

They also left me with several Hard Moves worth of Behind the Scenes and While You Were Away actions ;-}

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7cav44145d9UTlxSmQ3NU41VUk/view?usp=sharing

The ‘First Session’:

We were introduced to three heroes.

The Elven Wizard Illiastre, the Halfling Fighter Bartleby, and the Human Cleric Carmine.  Each had their own reasons for currently residing in Helga’s Glenn.  In any case, a recent flood had exposed a long lost ruin within the side of a bluff up stream from the Glenn.  Nadia, the village wise woman and the true power behind the council of elders, asked for volunteers to explore the ruin and alleviate or deal with what many of the villagers feared would be there.

The villagers feared that it was a hide out of Ole One Eye, an ogre bandit extraordinaire whose crew terrorized the area in days past.  The nearby tower of the Wizards R’hus Order, the same place that trained Illiastre, new it to be home to a doorway sealed for unknown reasons by their founder long ago.

The heroes found themselves facing the ragged openings of the complex from across the still raging creek that had carved it’s way through the scree of the land slide.  Crossing proved… problematic.  The waters moved far swifter than they appeared and the scree below was still loose and very unstable.  Needless to say, the three were thoroughly soaked by the time they reached the secondary opening thirty feet down the way.

As Illiastre assisted in dragging Carmine to the shore with her staff, Bartleby noticed two skeletons come down a set of stairs with bows at the ready.  They stood at the top of a set of rough earthen tiers the party would need to climb to reach the stairway.  Bartleby ready his trusty spear he found years ago in the LeanBriar Forest that stretches the length of the south side of the creek.  He manged to deflect one of the arrows, while the other grazed the wizard’s thigh as she finally got the cleric into the shallows.  Illiastre turned and destroyed one of the undead bowmen with her magic missiles.  Carmine got his feet set under him and called upon his deity, Rah (“Rah, Rah, he’s our god, he’s the sun god, he’s the fun god!  Hurrah!!”), to turn the last skeleton which promptly fled back up the stairs.

In short order, the heroes found the entire complex was over run with undead:  Skeletons, ghouls, and a morgh that had been a one eyed ogre in life.  The morgh and its skeleton guardians stood before a large arched door made of unknown stone.  The door and each stone of the arch surrounding it were covered in magical glyphs and runes that glowed a steady azure hue.

The ensuing fight was short and bloody.  Illiastre hung back taking out the skeleton bowman with her own magic missiles while the Carmine and Bartleby faced off with Ole One Eye the Now Undead.  Carmine spent much of the fight getting in the way of both the fighter and the morgh, managing to do little but annoy both.  Ole One Eye managed to land a few blows on both its adversaries before Bartleby managed to skewer its guts from the front, roll between its legs, and eviscerate the thing with a powerful dancing spin that ended by splitting the back of Ole One Eye’s skull in two.

As Carmine began healing himself and his fellows, he drew Unwanted Attention from the Sealed Doorway.  The group soon found out that it was quite active as the glow of its glyphs and runes flared and the cleric’s skin began to itch and crawl.  The wizard realized that it was the door, in an effort to prevent it being opened, that had turned Ole One Eye and his crew into undead minions that it could command.

The heroes wisely fled the room.  After clearing the last few rooms of undead, they returned to Helga’s Glenn triumphant!

And a good time was had by all ;-}