Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures - Barley, the monastery and the gods

 

The small monastery of St Vilberie* lies 2 miles south of the village of Barley. 

The monks of St Vilberie wear simple robes of green and deep red with hoods of white, they are not allowed to wear other colours. They must spend at least one hour per day in quiet (silent) contemplation and prayer.

Shunning all worldly goods and viewing money (beyond the bare minimum needed to live on) as a sin, the monks lead a simple , basic and sometimes harsh life, their main activities are growing crops and fruit, in particular cider apples from which they produce their renowned ciders.

Beyond the Wall and other Adventures, the village of Barley - NPC's

To go along with the village description I have added a list of the NPC's who live there.  This is not an exhaustive list nor is each NPC yet fully fleshed out and I will continue to expand upon them as I go along,

Beyond the Wall and other Adventures, the village of Barley - A list of the characters

I have created 5 characters for this new solo campaign, they have all been rolled up using playbooks published by Flatland Games, I think its says a lot about the design of the game that although they come from very different backgrounds it is easy to find a common bond between them all.

Character list

Beyond the Wall and other Adventures, the village of Barley

 Population - 120 souls

The Village

With its fairy tale castle and a church adorned with tall spires, its small cottages and outlying crofts, Barley is a picturesque little place being so named because of the large amount of barley grown in the farm land around the village. 

d100 random verb table for when you need a prompt.

This is a very simple table for generating verbs for use in solo or co-op games.  You simply roll d100 and use the corresponding verb as a prompt to get an idea as to what may be going on in the scene you are playing

Chivalry & Sorcery 5e Solo, Campaign Notes and Character Sheets

 Keep Track With Evernote.

I have been busy setting up a C&S 5e campaign which I hope to be able to dip in and out of eventually.  I am struggling a little with the games mechanics and found myself floundering trying to keep track of it all to the point where giving up seemed like the best option.  Then I found Evernotes and that energized me again.

Evernote has been around for a while but I had never used it, nor thought of using it to keep track of the campaign, I wish now I had found it sooner.  It is so easy to use and I even found templates for keeping track of Locations, Campaign Notes, DM notes, Characters and NPC's, whilst these templates are geared towards D&D 5e, all bar the Character and NPC templates are good for a whole host of RPGS, C&S being one.

Solo 'Through Sunken Lands RPG', a Tilly and Moonwane adventure, session 6

 

Prolegomenon

In the last session we learned that the Southern Lands have been invaded by men of chaos or children of chaos as they are called in the Through Sunken Lands rule book, it describes them as  degenerate and twisted individuals, often crippled by rampant mutation and madness.

Solo 'Through Sunken Lands RPG', a Tilly and Moonwane adventure, session 5

 

Prolegomenon

It shall be when ink rain falls, two friends witness the beginning and trigger the rise of doom.

Prepping for the next part of the adventure so as to give me the illusion that I am organized and know what I am doing has taken a little bit of time, also it will be useful to remind myself of where I am at with this adventure before I get lost with it all.

Lets start with my two PC's, 

• Tilly, a Licenced Thief from Jundarr, the impossible city, ran foul of the Merchants Guild in my first adventure and it turns out the Jundarr Thieves Guild are not happy with her either. 
• Moonwane, a Cosmic Champion aligned to the Balance, (Neutral),  was brought by an old Priest to Jundarr.  He was told to wait for Tilly at the Temple and then bring her to the Southern Lands. He now has been adopted by a black and white winged cat called whiskers (yes I pulled whiskers straight out of Michael Moorcock's  Corum books).

Tilly and Moonwane, (called Moon for short), are now in the city port of the Empire of Trackless Sands.

Now for the NPC introduced in this adventure, 

• Whiskers, the little black and white winged cat, (stats given in the last session report), has attached itself to Moonwane but we don't know why or where the cat came from.
• Jerhi Yarll, captain of the White Serpent Galley Ship.  He is for now out of the adventure so I will not need to detail him but I will keep a record of him for future adventures.
• Karloak, the mysterious old hermit whilst at the same time the mysterious old priest.  He seems to be different things to different people.  Moon was supposed to bring Tilly to the Southern Lands to meet up with him but so far that has not happened.  I need to find out not only where this mysterious NPC is but also who or what he is and his reason for wanting Tilly and Moon to come to the Southern Lands to meet him/
• Farhad, (meaning helper), a young first level mage apparently sent by Karloak to meet Tilly and Moon and guide them to him.  Although Farhad is an NPC I will roll up his stats as per the character generation rules.

            Name Farhad        Alignment Neutral  Class Mage      Level  1  Base Attack Bonus 0  Initiative 1

            Strength 9   Dexterity 11    Constitution 8    Intelligence 15    Wisdom 12    Charisma 14

 

            Armour Class 10    Fortune Points 3    Hit Points 6

            Sense Magic, Cantrips - Hand of Will, Mage Light,  Spells - From the Brink, Great Endurance,                 Ritual - Mage Armour

                Languages, Common Jundarr, local Empire language

                Weapons, Dagger
                Trait - Very Helpful

                Skills -Cooking, bargaining.

At the top of this section I have written a little prophecy which was generated randomly but seemed to be applicable to the game, I also have have a desire to introduce a threat pack, I have in mind one I will adapted from Beyond the Wall, I will come to that in a while but now lets get to the adventures.

Tools used in the session and other stuff.

We will be using the following toolkit for this session,

Through Sunken Lands and other adventures RPG

Zathrum 2.2 GM emulator

UNE for any NPS that may come up
Randomlists.com for a few verbs if I need a hint to work out what is going on.

In the last session Tilly and Moonwane were met by a lad with information about Karloak, we now know him to be Farhad a 1st level mage.  

East along the Empires Shores.

The end of the first day in the Empire of Trackless Sands

Farhad takes Tilly and Moonwane to a small hostel, there he tells them what he knows of Karloak which is very little except that he is to take them east along the shores of the Trackless Sands to the village of Nayzil, about four days ride away from the great port.  Once there they are to await Karloak.  He hands a small locked trinket box which Karloak gave him, it is locked and there is no key but he says Karloak told him Tilly did not need a key to open such a box.

I ask the oracle if Tilly is able to pick the lock, roll d20 = 15, so Yes (in order to).

Tilly studies the lock and the box for a while, in order to open it she needs to use her thieves tools but she quickly picks the lock inside is a large number of silvers (350 in fact) and a note from Karloak which simply says use the monies wisely, buy supplies, transport and weapons, it confirms Farhads story finally warns them of coming storm and a battle ahead.

Tilly pushes the note to Moon, "we could just take the money and head back to Jundar".

Moon reads the note, "you'd be dead within a week Tilly if you head back there, I for one would rather take my chances with the old Priest, or Karloak as you both call him"

Tilly pushes her chair back and stands up, reaching out to take the box and the money "oh well! dromedaries for each of us it is then, I have no doubt young Farhad there knows just where to get three, I am off to my room".

Moon snatches away the box before Tilly can get to it "I will look after the money Tilly, thank you, lets all retire and we can start the journey in the morning"

Tilly glares at Moon "nice to be trusted, fine, until the morning then", she storms of to her room.

The Second Day

I roll on the Theme table in Zathrum 2.2. to see if anything will happen today and rolling my d20 I get 12 = 'News', so at some point in the day the group will get some news related to whats going on.

I also want to see if they have an encounter in the City, I use Zathrum 2.2 again, this time the probability table, rolling d20 gets me 9 so 45% change of an encounter.  I roll my %dice and get 48, so there is no encounter whilst they are in the city.

Finally I roll a d6 to see how many hours they spend in the city before heading eastwards, roll = 6 so they will be leaving the city in around 6 hours or early afternoon.

The following morning the three are up and about early, Tilly seems to be in a much better mood than the previous evening, Moonwane is keen to get moving and Farhad says he knows where he can pick up three camels for the journey, he also suggests stocking up on water and provisions.

Farhad takes them all to a animal market where he haggles over the price of three scruffy looking camels and tack, the seller wants 240 silvers for the three, Farhad tries to haggle to get the price down.

I allow Farhad to make a charisma roll, allowing him to also use his bargaining skill to give him a +2, meaning he needs to roll 16 or less on d 20 to get the price of the camels down. He rolls 10, so he haggles the price of the camels down to 200 silvers.

Having paid for the camels the trio set off to purchase further items to help them on their journey,

Large Tent (big enough for them all 40 silvers

Various pots and pans to cook with    5 silvers

Waterskins each holding 5 pints x 6   3 silvers  (cost 5 coppers each)

5 days rations each @ 2 coppers       3 silvers

2 days iron rations each                    3 silvers  (cost 5 coppers per day)

1 weeks feed for each camel              1 silver 

In addition they purchased 100 ft of rope, a large sack and a spare set of peasants clothing each for a total of 8 silvers , that totals up at 263 silvers adding an additional 7 silvers for their rooms and meals, that means out of the 350 silvers in the small box given by Karloak they have 80 left, not including the 24 silvers Tilly still has and the 16 silvers Moonwane now has. 

Having got themselves set up with camels and tent and food for a few days, Farhad leads them out of the city on the road east along the sea.  He tells the that they are five days from the place Karloak told him to lead them to, he assumes that is where they are to meet the old Priest but he is not sure, he just knows that Karloak will contact them when they arrive there.

My party are walking down the coast road and I roll to see if they have an encounter before they set up camp for the night.  I use the encounter table in Further Afield, encounter chance on roads id 2 in 6, I roll 2 on d6 so there is an encounter.  Rolling to see what that encounter is I get  a 3 on a d6, so Fellow Travellers.  To find out who the travellers are I keep it simple using the three suggested in Further Afield, roll d6, 1/2 = pedlars, 3/4 = refugees, 5/6 = fellow adventures, I roll a 5.

I make a charisma check, Farhad has a charisma of 14 so I roll against his and get 12, so they pass the charisma check and have a friendly encounter.

I ask the oracle if the adventures have any news for my party, roll d20 = 15, 'Yes (in order to).

To get an idea as to what news they have I get two random verbs, I get 'trap' and 'continue'.

Two hours out of the city, the party meet a group of dishevelled fellow adventures heading towards the city, they are on foot and look in need of water.  Farhad offers them some from his waterskin which they gladly accept and strike up a conversation.  They tell my group that they were looking for the tomb of Agellar on the desert planes of Aganderis, they found only creatures of chaos, indeed in order to get safely back to the city they have had to keep off the road, Men twisted and deformed by chaos roam the lands, that these foul creatures are moving west, heading toward the city itself.  they add that if my party continue along the road, they will be walking into a chaos beast trap.

Thanking the adventuring party for their advice, Tilly, Moonwane, Farhad and party decided to continue along the road, Farhad has heard nothing, neither news nor roumor about chaos men until this moment, he suggest the adventures are suffering from heat exhaustion and talking nonsense.  

As night draws close and the air begins to cool, my party set up camp just of the road.  I roll for an evening encounter, this time giving just a 1 in 6 chance, rolling a 1, another encounter then.

I decided to roll d6, 1/2 Children of Chaos (1d4_4 of them), 3.4 Soldiers (1d6_4), 5.6 Merchants

Rolling the dice I get a 4, so we encounter 7 soldiers.

I roll a further charisma check to see if the party get a friendly reaction from the soldiers, roll d 20 =3 so yes, the soldiers are friendly

The party find a good place to make camp, setting up their tent and feed their camels, Farhad then begins making a stew, no sooner has he got the fire going and the pot simmering away than a group of soldiers appear from the south.  They look tired, exhausted and some have wounds and injuries.  Farhad offers to add more vegetables to the stew and feed the soldiers, they readily accept, in return they are able to brew up a dark amber tea like brew and offer it to my party.  They say they are from a village 3 days south which has been attacked by foul deformed men of chaos, they overran the village and spared non, the soldiers only manged to escape and are now on their way to the city to get help from the Emperor.

They talk for most of the night, eventually Tilly, Moon and Farhad turn in, a little black and white winged cat keeps watch perched on top of the tent.  The night passes without further incident, in the morning, the soldiers are gone.

Moonwane wants to go south to investigate the village but Tilly and Farhad disagree and want to to continue east to find Karloak, they get their way, and the party set of east along the coast road.

And that where I will end this session, are our heros heading into danger, seems that way, we will find out soon,

Adventure on!

Solo 'Through Sunken Lands RPG', a Tilly and Moonwane adventure, session 4

 Prolegomenon

Session 4 of my Through Sunken Lands solo adventure with Tilly and Moonwane almost didn't happen.

In session three, Tilly and Moon found themselves in a basement, my initial idea was that the basement would be empty, they would exit the basement into the main part of a large Jundarr house and have to deal with a few cultists in various rooms.  Straight away the oracle changed that and I found myself in a situation where my two characters, surrounded by 8 cultists, would have been quickly overpowered.  I stopped, rewound and started again, 

This second attempt went very much the same way, I got to a point very quickly where Tilly and Moonwane, surrounded by a sorcerer and undead, looked trapped and finished, when I tried to get them out of their predicament, it all just seemed too improbable, even for swords and sorcery.  

In attempt number three, I just got them to bash a fairly week eldritch fellow until he was no more and then leg it with the dead NPC's sword to catch their boat south and move the adventure on.  It left me felling less than satisfied and I had an inclination to abandon Tilly, the Sunken Lands and Jundarr, get a different game going.

I have done a bit of work on the background for a Chivalry & Sorcery campaign I really want to play as well as a lot of work on Beyond the Wall RPG which I intend to go back to once I have finished adventuring with Tilly and Moonwane and I realised that I perceived those two games to be more interesting, more exciting, than the current Through Sunken Lands game, in my mind I had already moved on from this adventure which had only just got going, all my energy was being channeled into the next game(s) causing the current one to fail.

I could for sure, abandon Through Sunken Lands, move on to Beyond the Wall but it would happen that after a couple of sessions of that game Chivalry & Sorcery would be more interesting , then DnD would and so on and so on, there would be a strong chance I would never finish a solo adventure ever.

I mention this because I am sure I am not the only one who suffers from this strange affliction.  I have had to force myself to put Beyond the Wall and Chivalry & Sorcery to one side, to spend a bit of time prepping the current game because I do want to be fair to Tilly and Moon and I do want to see what happens to them.  At some point the game will come to a natural end and when that time comes I will get that satisfaction of having actually completed a game.

At some point I will do a more in-depth post on why the next game always seem more exciting than the one I am currently playing but now, lets get on with the adventure!

Tools used in the session and other stuff.

We will be using the following toolkit for the game,

Through Sunken Lands and other adventures RPG

Zathrum 2.2 GM emulator

UNE for any NPS that may come up
Randomlists.com for a few verbs if I need a hint to work out what is going on.

This is a slight change from the previous sessions, I am dropping MUNE and using Zathrum 2.2 for my GM emulator (you can find Zathrum 2.2 here), also Zathrum has some tables for NPC creation so I may use them in addition to UNE if needed.

The first part of this session in the sea journey from Jundarr to the great city port of the Empire of  Trackless Sands.  Through Sunken Lands has rules for sea travel which I will use to determine if anything happens during their voyage. 

I know from previous sessions that Tilly and Moon are heading to the Empire to meet or find the old Priest and at some point during this session I should find out what the reason for this is.

A journey across the Hundred Seas.

Moonwane opened his eyes. he could feel the ship moving, hear the oars and they propelled the boat out of the Jundarr docks.  Still tired he at least felt a little better for his nights rest.  Realising Tilly was not in the cabin he roused himself from his sleepiness and stepped out into the cool breezy morning air.

Tilly is stood alone looking back towards Jundarr as the White Serpent, (as the ship is namrd),  slowly makes its way towards the open sea.  She feels partly relived that she is leaving but a part of her wonders if she will ever see the impossible city again.  She feels the presence of someone standing at her side, "morning" says Moonwane.

Looking at the map of the Sunken Lands I find that there is a scale of about 450 miles per inch, from Jundarr to where I put the port city of the Empire of Trackless Sands is about 2.5 inches, so something like 1100 to 1200 miles, a fair distance by Galley.

Beyond the Wall, Further Afield says that ships on open water can travel 8 hexes per day or about 80 miles, which means that it will take the White Serpent about 14 days to make the voyage.

Through Sunken Lands gives rules for sea journeys.  I am going to use the rules for montage travel so the captain of the White Serpent will need to make a wisdom check to see if the ship gets to its destination without incident .  A two week voyage is classed as a 'medium' or 'moderate' journey.  I am going to give the ships captain a name, Jerhi Yarll, (add that to my NPC list), and a  Wisdom of 14.  I will give him the skill of sailing and assume this is a regular trip for him and his crew so he knows the route very well, so +4 to his wisdom check, meaning he need to roll 18 or less on ad20 to pass.

He rolls a 2, so its all been plain sailing and rowing, they arrive at the port 14 days later without any problems.

As the city port of the Empire of Trackless Sands comes into view a commotion breaks out on the ships upper deck.

I roll on Zathrums theme table to see if I can find out what the issue is, I roll 17 which gives me Animal.

I decided to roll 1d4 to see what the animal is 1=bird, 2=cat, 3= serpent or snake, 4= dog.  I roll 2, cat. I shamelessly pinch 'Whiskers' the winged cat from the Corum novels as the creature causing the commotion. 

The Black & White winged cat.

This cat is highly intelligent, I have given it ability scores as it will be played as an NPC and ally to either Tilly or Moonwane.

STR: 3  DEX: 18  CON: 10   INT: 17  WIS: 14  CHA:15

AC:  12  HP 6

Attack - +1 to hit, claws x 2 1d4 -1
Skills Dodge, Fly, Move Quietly, Track.

can understand most languages but can only speak cat.

Tilly and Moonwane rush out of their cabin to see what the problem is, the little winged cat is flying at each of the crew members straight at their face, stopping for a fleeting moment, if anyone tries to hit the strange feline it seems to momentarily disappear only to reappear above the head of someone else, it seems to be making a nuisance of itself rather that trying to harm anyone.  As soon as it spots Tilly and Moon it heads straight for them both.

I use the Probability table in Zathrum to see which of the two the winged cat goes to, rolling d 20 I get 9, So a 45% chance its Tilly, rolling d 100 I get 58, so the cat flies straight to Moonwane.

The little cat heads straight for Moonwane, stopping just in front of the fighters face.  it seems to give Moon a look of recognition, Moon tries to shoo the creature away but it refuses to leave him and settles on Moons back, rubbing it head against his whilst purring, a few of the crew move menacingly towards Moon, Tilly and the cat.

Tilly draws her dagger, "looks like you have a new friend Moon, I do hope your friendship lasts more than the next 5 minutes".  Moon stands his ground against the oncoming crew.

"Before I work out how many crew are heading towards Moon and Tilly, I ask the oracle if they attack my duo and the cat, roll d20 = 1, so "No (on the contrary).

Moon puts his hand on his sword pommel, before he can draw his sword, the advancing crew begin to back away from him.  Jerhi Yarll steps between them and Moon and Tilly, "we will have no trouble on this ship, back to your posts the lot of you", the captain turns to Moon, "I suggest you take yourself and your pet to your cabin and keep the little critter in there, we will be in port in 3 hours, I want no more trouble from that creature or you, hear me?"

"Its not my Pe...", Tilly grabs Moonwane before he can finish his sentence and pulls him towards their cabin.  The little winged cat purrs even louder.  "looks like your stuck with the cat Moon" Tilly laughs, Moonwane grunts in response but he realises its the first time he has seen Tilly laugh is many a moon.

Arriving at the port city of the Empire of Trackless Sand.

Having sat in their cabin for what seemed like an eternity, in actual fact it was no more than four hours, the White Serpent finally docks.  Both Tilly and Moonwane are blown away by the beauty of this city, its walls, ramparts and towers bleached white by the burning sun stand formidable in their splendour, the mighty stepped pyramid, palace of the god-king and his greatest temple, rises above all the other buildings, dominating the city.  The port is a hive of activity, merchant ships loading and unloading, mighty war ships and their warrior crews preparing to patrol the southern seas.  Nearby markets and bazaars selling every thing imaginable, the air heady with the smell of spices and incense,  the noise of traders and their customers drowns out all other sounds.  To Tilly this is a dream, as she steps ashore she is intoxicated by the splendour of this almost alien place. 

Moon, with his new friend wrapped tightly around his neck and shoulders, brings Tilly back to earth "Its getting late in the day, we should find someplace to spend the night and work out what to do next".

Tilly looks at her companion, "What do you mean 'what to do next' I though we were to meet up with the old priest, I though you knew what comes next".

"No" Moonwane answers "I was just told to bring you here, I have no idea what we do. in fact I rather hoped you did".

Tilly turns her head away from Moonwane, "Great!", she mutters to herself.

I roll on Zathrums Theme again to get an idea for what will happen next, initially I roll 17 again, animal, but I decided I have already done that, so I roll again, 12 this time which is News.  So I reason that there will be some news about or from the old Priest.  I ask the oracle if someone has news for them, rolling 18, yes (surprisingly).  I roll on Zathrums NPC table , rolling 20 which is special.  I decided that they are approached by someone who has news for them.

As the pair walk away from the port towards the centre of the city, they are approached by a young lad dressed in local clothing, "Excuse me, excuse me, your are from Jundarr", he speaks in the common Jundarr language, "I was told to look for the man with the winged cat and his friend, I have news for you".

I ask the oracle if the NPC knows the name of  Tilly or Moon, roll d20 = 6, No (in order to)

I ask the oracle if he knows the name of the priest, roll d20  = 13, Yes (but).

Tilly tells the boy to go away, she does not trust him, she can spot a street urchin when she sees one, the lad persists, "please, I have information, news, the man told me to tell you his name if you did not believe me (in order to), he said you would know him as Karloak" (but).

Tilly stops in her tracks, grabs the lad by his arms, "Karloak, you were sent by Karloak?".

"Yes, by the way, you are hurting my arms", Tilly loosens her grip.

"Who is Karloak?", Moonwane asks Tilly, but its the young lad that replies, "he said you would know him just as the old priest".

Tilly, a little shocked, asks the lad what news he has for them, "first let me take you to a hostel I know", he replies, "I can get you food, rooms and then I will tell you what I was told to do".

Next time, session 5.

I will leave my adventures there for now while I plan the next session.  I now have my two adventures, a flying cat and a young lad both of whome will stick around as I think Tilly and Moon will need a little assistance in the coming adventures.  In session 5 I will describe the new addition to the group and find out what Karloak has told him to tell Tilly and Moon.  I suspect they will find themselves wandering through the Empire of Trackless Sands but we will fine out for sure soon.

Adventure on!

Solo 'Through Sunken Lands RPG', a Tilly and Moonwane adventure, session 3

 

Before I get on with the adventure.

As with the session two (read that episode here), I have no idea where this is going to lead Tilly and Moonwane, but they still need to get some silvers together before morning so they can pay for a passage on a ship leaving for the Southern Continent.

We will be using the following toolkit for the game,

Through Sunken Lands and other adventures RPG

MUNE GM emulator

UNE for any NPS that may come up
Randomlists.com for a few verbs if I need a hint to work out what is going on.

At the end of the last session, Tilly and Moonwane (also known as Moon) had made their way through part of Jundarrs sewer system and are currently heading up some stairs which lead into an empty basement.  What happens next we shall now find out.

Leaving the sewers.

First thing I do is ask the oracle if everything is as is expected as the Tilly and Moonwane ascend the stairs and enter the basement, roll on d6 = 3, 'No but', in this case I ignore the but part.

I use randomlist.com to get two random verbs to try and work out what is different, I get "colour" and "invite".

Moonwane leads the way up the stairs battle axe in one hand, torch in the other, Tilly is just just behind she has loaded both her hand crossbows and is moving as silently as she can.  The basement is in darkness and seems empty.  As they move cautiously across the room it lights up in a cacophony of flickering colours caused by a fire that sparks in to flame.

A hooded figures steps out of the centre of the fire, he says to Moon & Tilly "Welcome friends, I am so glad you could make it, please, I invite you to follow me, it will be to your advantage to do as I ask"

Tilly looks directly at the hooded figure and notices that his face is of an ancient eldritch male, she turns to Moon "do we do as he asks?".  Moons reply comes back "I think not"

The Eldritch Noble
Hit Points 27
Armour Class 17

Attack +6, Damage 1d8 + 2 (valuable eldritch blade)

Cantrips - Hexing, Mage Light

Spells - Brave the Flames

Can summon 1d4 Chaos Hounds HP 9, Attack +2 to hit, 1d6 damage (bite) AC 14, he cannot summon them whilst being attacked.

Tilly fires her crossbows, she rolls 17, +1 to hit for one, causing 3pts of damage, she misses the Eldritch with the second.

Moon decided to rush the Eldritch, and attacks with battle axe, needing 18 to hit, rolls 13 +3 bonuses, a miss

The eldritch attacks Moon, needs 17 to hit Moon, rolls 10 +6 a miss.

Tilly draws her Rune sword and rushes to help Moon in hand to hand against the Eldritch, she rolls 18 +1 to hit, a good strike with her sword is needed, rolls 8 on d8 +2 bonus = 10hp, Eldritch down to 16hp

The Eldritch attacks Moon rolls 6+6, 12, again he misses, Moon only rolls 10 so he fails to inflict any damage on the Eldritch.

Tilly rolls 17 +1, so a hit , only inflicting 6hp this time. (Eldritch has 10 left)

This time the Eldritch rolls 11 +6, so 17, he inflicts 6+2, 8 hp against Moon.

Moon rolls 2, again he fails to hit the Eldritch.

Tilly rolls 20, she is rolling well to hit, and inflicts a further 4 + 2, 6 points of damage on the Eldrich.

The Eldritch rolls 10 +6 = 16, he lands a blow on Moon but this time Moons armour protects him.

Moon rolls 17 + 2 = 19 a hit, 5 points of damage, the Eldritch male falls, the flames go out and the room is sunk into darkness.

Tilly fumbles around in the dark, searching the ancient eldritch male, she picks up his sword 

I ask the oracle if she finds anything else of value on him, roll 3, no but.  

Tilly finds nothing else of value but she can see the sword she has picked up is of great value.

Moonwane spots some stairs leading to an exit in a corner of the basement, "Tilly, come, we need to get away from here"

The two head for the stairs and run up them, a door bars their exit,

I ask the oracle if the door is locked, roll 2, no.  

They burst through the door into a crumbling and rotting hallway, the entire house looks like it is about to collapse around them.  Without wasting time they exit the building and, keeping to the shadows, they make their way towards the docks of  Jundarr, Moon leads them to a galley ship which he knows is setting sail for the south continent in the morning, after getting aboard, they negotiate a passage  and a room, the captain happily accepting the Eldritch sword as full payment.

Moonwane sinks into his bunk, exhausted and in some pain, he falls into a deep sleep, Tilly is unable to rest, she keeps a close eye on the door to their small cabin in case someone tries to get in, hand on her runesword, she anxiously awaits dawn and their departure from Jundarr.

In Session 4

For now I am going to leave this adventure there, I need to put a little bit of work into the ships journey south and also a bit of thought as to why they need to go south to meet up with the old priest. indeed, how they are to find him in a vast continent.

I suspect Tilly's relief at leaving Jundarr many miles behind may well be short lived.

Till next time.

Solo 'Through Sunken Lands RPG', a Tilly and Moonwane adventure, session 2

Before I get on with the adventure.

As with the first part, I have no idea where this is going to lead Tilly and Moonwane, just that they need to get some silvers together before morning so they can pay for a passage on a ship leaving for the Southern Continent.

I happened upon 'Into the Sewers Environment Cheat Sheet on themudworldblog.com which has some cool random tables for delving into underground sewers and I think it will be a big help with this part of the adventure, at the moment I am not sure how I will use it exactly, I suspect it will be a case of seeing what comes up when rolling on MUNE GM emulator.  I also found a great sewer map on Dyson's Dodecahedron blog which I will use bits of for my sewer map.

As with the first session, we will be using the following toolkit for the game,

Through Sunken Lands and other adventures RPG

MUNE GM emulator

UNE for any NPS that may come up
Randomlists.com for a few verbs if I need a hint to work out what's going on.
Into the Sewers Environment Cheat Sheet as mentioned above.

I left my two characters, Tilly and Moonwane, descending a flight of stairs leading to the underground sewers, I know from when I rolled on the tables to create Tilly that she had been to forgotten underground crypts in the sewers, although I guess if there had been anything of worth in said crypts, Tilly or some other person would have cleared them out but never say never and so,

Let the adventure begin.

we start this scene with 0 intervention points brought over from the last scene as we ended with an intervention, 'advance plot', which we did by sending the duo down to the sewers.

 

 I ask the oracle if there is anything unusual about the sewers here, roll on d6 = 1 'No and'

As they descend the stairs the alter from the temple above closes over the entrance and what little light there was is extinguished.

"Do you have a torch of any description" Tilly asks in a rather curt manner "otherwise we are not going to find our way".

Moonwane being use to the Thief, replies, "just wait a couple of minutes, your eyes will adjust to the darkness, trust me, you will see enough to get to the next exit",  he takes Tilly's hand and leads her down the stairs.  From above there is a sound of doors being broken open, "I think we made it out of there in the nick of time, don't worry Tilly, that alter will only move for two people, one is in the South, I am the other".

"I would rather take my chances up there than walk through this rat infested warren in the dark", Tilly replies, sounding less than happy about her situation.

At the bottom of the steps, they pause allowing their eyes to adjust to the darkness, Tilly makes out a door directly in front of her and to the left a second door.  Tilly asks Moonwane what is behind the doors.  Moon says that the door directly in front of them is a store room for the temple, he has never been allowed to enter it, to the left the door opens into a long passageway leading to the sewer itself.

Tilly decided there may be something useful in the store room but Moonwane says the door is magically sealed.

I ask the oracle if the door is magically sealed, roll d6=1, 'No and'

Tilly tries the door with her lockpick set from her thieves tools, the door is not magically locked and, rolling 5 against her intelligence, is easily opened.

Both Tilly and Moonwane walk into the room, both search the room for anything that may be useful to them.

I ask the oracle if  they find anything useful roll d6 = 3, 'No but'

I generate two random words and get Suffer' & 'Guard'.

Tilly and Moonwane search the room in the gloomy darkness they find nothing of use they are about to give up their search when out of the corner of the room a Ghoul appears.

HP 9

AC14

Attack +3 to hit, 1d4 damage (claw)

Notes, Deadly Touch, anyone touched by a ghoul must make a roll vrs paralysis or remain frozen for 1d4 combat rounds.

I need to know if either Tilly or Moonwane (or both) are surprised by the ghoul.  To do this I ask the oracle , first Tilly who has an alertness skill so I roll 2 dice and take the lowest score to reflect this, d6 = 3 & 4, 3 is the lowest so 'No but'.

So Tilly is not surprised but, maybe she cannot attack the ghoul because she is too far away, ask the oracle d6 =6 'Yes and' (also 1 intervention point)

Tilly is too far away to attack the ghoul and, can she warn Moonwane, ask the oracle, d6=6, yes (I drop the and part also a second intervention point)

So Tilly has warned Moonwane, he is not surprised, I ask the oracle if he is able to attack the ghoul, roll d6 = 4, 'yes but', so he attacks but only with his sword not his enchanted battle axe.

Moonwane spins round drawing his sword and thrust it at the oncoming ghould, roll d20= 16, +2bab bonus +1 strength bonus = 19, a simple hit, rolls d8 for damage, 2 +2 str bonus = 4 damage to the ghoul not enough to stop it.

The ghoul lashes out at Moon, roll d20 to hit = 20, slashing him across his face, roll for damage d4 =3, so Moon takes 3 hits and must make a poison saving roll to avoid being paralyzed.  Moon needs 14 or more on d 20, rolls 17 so he is not paralyzed.

Tilly is able to attack this round.

Tilly draws her runesword, it glows with a blue aura as she rushes to Moon's aid, rolling d20 to hit = 9, she fails to land a blow on the ghoul.

Moon slashes with his sword, roll d20= 17, 20 with his bonuses, rolling d8 for damage =2, this time he has made sure the ghoul can do no more harm.

Moon turns to Tilly, "well, I wasn't expecting that, what in the name of the balance was the old priest keeping a ghoul in here for, there isn't anything worth protecting'.

'Maybe we just didn't spot it as we are in such dim light', Tilly scours the room, 'maybe we should look again'.

I ask the oracle if they find anything of use this time, roll d6 = 2, 'No'.

Moon shrugs his shoulders. 'There is nothing here Tilly, just junk and stuff for the temple, if there is anything of value, I can't see it, we need to move on'.

Tilly agrees and they leave the room.  As they do so the door locks itself, inside a ghoul stands up and moves to hide in the darkest corner.

They go to the second door, it is stiff to open but Moon manages to force it, he has been here before.

They enter a room with 4 cells, each cell has old iron bars as doors, although it is dark they can see the room and cells are empty, Moon leads them towards a portcullis which bars their progress.

Tilly takes a hold of the portcullis bars but they wont budge, "looks like we have gone as far as we can go Moon, what now?".

Moonwane moves to the wall on his left hand side, "I have been here many times, there is a lever right...".

As Moonwane pulls a lever in the wall, the portcullis rises, the two pass through into a long straight corridor, as they walk down the corridor a few rats dash past them but otherwise nothing, they pass through an opening at the end and are at a  path running alongside the open sewer.

Moonwane leads Tilly to the right, they quickly reach a bridge made by a few planks of wood over the sewer water.

Moonwane tells Tilly to wait by the planks, there is an entrance to a tavern nearby, he knows it well, he will go and see if they can get out of the sewers that way, he will shout if it is safe to do so.

I ask the oracle if there are any signs of the thugs who are after Tilly in the tavern, roll d6 = 6, 'Yes and' (+1 intervention point,), thats the third intervention point, so I roll on the intervention table, roll d6 = 3, Entity Negative.

I roll d12 on Into the Sewers NPC table and roll a 12 resulting in Thugs. (roll 1d6 to see how many = 2)

Moonwane disappears down a little offshoot of the main sewer, Tilly waits by the little makeshift bridge, before long Tilly hears a splashing noise and Moonwane reappears holding a torch aloft, running as quickly as he can, followed fairly closely by two thugs.

Thugs -

HP 4 each

AC14

Attack +0 to hit, 1d8 damage (longswords)

Tilly rushes to Moons aid, drawing her runesword, she rushes the two thugs as they climb out of the water onto the patch

Tilly rolls d20 to hit = 5, she fails to strike a blow on either thug.  I ask the oracle if they can strike back as they are both getting out of the running water, roll d6 = 3 'No but'

The thugs cannot strike back at Tilly this combat turn but Moon cannot attack either, although he does draw his battle axe.

Tilly gets to attack first again, roll d20=3, her rune sword seems to be working against her.
Moonwane strikes next, roll d20 = 17 an easy hit doing 4 points of damage, just enough to put one thug out of action.

Tilly is spared any damage this round as the thug she attacked fails to land a blow on her.

Tilly tries to hit the thug a third time, again he fails rolling only 8 this time, lucky for her Moon fairs better, rolling 16, an easy hit again with his enchanted battle axe, causing 7+2 damages.  The second thug is brought down.

Moon searches the two thugs and finds 14sp on their persons, a small help towards theit passage to the south should they get out of the sewer alive.  He pushes the two bodies into the water and they start to float away from.

"Best we get out of this place quickly" Moon tells Tilly "that noise could bring us goodness knows what unwanted attention, we can't get out through the tavern, quick, over those planks to the other side, we need to find a different exit".

The two of them make it over to the other side of the sewer stream, Tilly pushes the planks into the water, it would not stop them being followed from that direction but it would slow anyone down.

They notice an open entrance into a passageway to their left, it is quite a short passage, the end of which they find a locked wooden door barring their way.  Tilly attempts to pick the lock, she needs to make an intelligence test with a +1 for having a lock pick, she rolls 3.  The lock is easily picked and the door opens.  

They continue walking down the corridor, a long u shaped corridor, this sees them double back on themselves, There is an opening to their left which they enter in the hope that it may lead to an exit, they find themselves in a room with a door on the furthest side from the way they entered.

I as the oracle if there is anything in the room, roll d6 = 6, 'Yes and' (also +1 intervention point)

I roll d 12 on the into the sewers 'features' table, rolling 8, sacrifice alter.

In the centre of the room there is an alter and it seems a sacrificial ritual has been performed recently down here.  The door behind the alter is locked.

Tilly tries to open it, rolls 20 on d20, she fails to pick the lock, this door has been made to stay shut.  They decide to leave the way they came in and continue down the corridor. This leads them to a third locked door.

Tilly tries her luck with this one, rolling 2 against her intelligence ability, she easily passes and the door is unlocked, it swings open leading to a straight corridor which seems lead to a dead end.  Tilly's rune sword begins to glow blue again.

"I think there must be something magical here Moon, thats got to be why the sword glows"

Moonwane agrees and they search for a secret door. 

 I give them a roll against Tillys Int ability again, with a bonus of +1 for her alertness skill and +2 because Moonwane is helping.  She rolls d20 = 16, they just spot a secret door.

I ask the oracle if they can open the door, roll d6 = 5 'Yes'

With some effort they both force the door open, ahead of them stairs lead up and out of the sewers, they decide to go up them, though they have no idea what awaits them at the top.

We will find out what happens in session three, the cultists.

If you missed Session 1, it can be read here

Solo 'Through Sunken Lands RPG', a Tilly and Moonwane adventure, session 1

Preamble.

Sometimes with my solo games I get stuck, the game just seems to either hit a dead end or I just cannot find the right path to take the players along, the whole adventure fizzles out.  This past week I have spent evenings trying to put together a game using Beyond the Wall RPG, Bay of Spirits campaign setting and Mythic GM emulator to guide the 5 characters I created for the Blood in the snow adventure.

Three times I started the game, each time I found myself instantly at a dead end, each time I did a little more planning, rolling on random tables for ideas, making new NPC's for inspiration, trying to push the game along in the hope it would work out, in the end it fizzled out.

I am not sure what the problem was, I had may favourite rules, a great campaign setting , five characters I really wanted to play again and whist I had never used Mythic, it is a tried and tested GM emulator, it seemed to be when I mixed them all together they didn't combine for me.  Possibly I was overthinking the games plot, possibly I was struggling using mythic, possibly running 5 characters myself was a little to much, I suspect the biggest issue was I had already built up illogical prejudices and barriers, deciding a while ago that the Bay of Sprits would work better with a different set of rules, deciding that I wanted to run a Beyond the Wall game the way the rules were written, that is to say, building the village and the surroundings from scratch.  The best thing for me to do was something different so for now I have put those books to one side, it was just a matter of still needing a game to play.

And then in front of me was the character sheet for Tilly, the thief from my Through Sunken Lands adventure and I though, lets see what happened to Tilly next, lets give her a new sidekick, Moonwane, a barbarian, no, a sellsword, no no, a cosmic champion, yeh, maybe Tilly has a greater purpose and she just doesn't know it yet and Moonwane, the cosmic champion, is there to help her find her true self, that'll do.

The two characters.

I have already created Tilly, her basic stats are here 

Tilly, a level 3 Rogue.
Base Attack Bonus 1,  Initiative 6
Strength 11, Dexterity 14, Constitution 9 Intelligence 13, Wisdom 12, Charisma 13.
Armour Class 13 (leather armour), Hit Points 18, Fortune Points 5
Skills - Trapping, Deceit, Alertness, Gossip, Stealth
Class Attributes, Fortune Favour, Highly Skilled
Trait - Gifted Climber
Weapons, 2 hand crossbows, dagger, rune sword
A local Aristocrat owes Tilly a big favour.

Moonwane, a level 2 Warrior (cosmic champion)

Using the Cosmic Champion playbook, I got the following for Moonwane.

He starts with a Strength and Wisdom at 10, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence and Charisma at 8.
Rolling for the various table in the playbook I get the following

From what land do you hail - roll d12 = 9, so 'you come from a city state proud of its arms, its wisdom and its lasting alliances.  +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, +1 Charisma

where the city state is, and it may not be the sunken lands, is not indicated. 

How did you distinguish yourself as a child - roll d8 = 6, you never met someone who didn't like you. +2 Charisma, +1 Strength,

When you first entered the war between Law and Chaos, on which side did you fight. = roll 1d6 = 2, An alien and incomprehensible warband descended on your homeland.  Determined to save your home, you were unwittingly drawn into a larger conflict.  You strive for balance, that human world might survive the cosmic struggle. You are a champion of the balance.  +2 Strength, +1 Constitution.  Weapon specialization, Battle Axe.

This worked out well, Tilly is Neutral alignment, of the 6 possible outcomes only one is for the balance, (Neutral alignment), the one I rolled.

What brought you to the great city - roll d6 = 3, A priest aligned with you in the cosmic struggle summoned you here and now houses you in the temple.  +2 Intelligence, Skill Cosmic Law.

Besides the other characters, who is your most valued contact or friend in the great city - roll d8 = 6, you are often found in a seedy in near the temple and are friends with the proprietor.  +2 Charisma, +1 Constitution.

How were you most recently embroiled in the cosmic struggle - roll d6=3, you travelled to a distant island and slew an ancient and powerful sorceress. +2 Constitution.  Knack= Fleet.

normally the player (or character) to the right would get an ability bonus here, but as Tilly was rolled up in the last adventure, I ignore that.  Also Moonwane would normally get a bonus from Tilly when her caracter is generated, so that Moonwane does not miss out I roll 1 d6 = 5 so give him +1 to his Wisdom, (1 would = strenght, 6 would = Charisma).

What sign of the struggle do you bear -  roll d6= 2 an enchanted weapon of alien origin. +2 dexterity, a magical battle axe. (1d8damage, +1 to hit by day, +1 damage by night.  When the bearer of this weapon rolls hit die, they can choose to reroll and take the highest result).

Moonwane, a level 2 warrior and champion of the Balance.
Base Attack Bonus 2,  Initiative 3
Strength 15, Dexterity 10, Constitution 12 Intelligence 12, Wisdom 11, Charisma 13.
Armour Class 16 (Chain armour, breast plate), Hit Points 18, Fortune Points 3
Skills - Fleet
Class Attributes, Knack, Weapon Specialization (Battle Axe, +1 to hit, +2 damage)
Trait - Defender of the Balance
Weapons, dagger, sword, enchanted battle axe.
Owns - a token of the balance.

Money - non for now.

Toolkit for this adventure.

Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures RPG
MUNE GM emulator (its simple and works for me, so for now I will stick with it)
UNE for NPC's
randomlists.com for when I need a random verb or three.

With the exception of having Tilly meet up with Moonwane, I have no idea where this adventure will takes me let just see what happens.

Let the adventure begin

Date - 22nd March

Time of Day - 7.22pm (already dusk)

Weather - windy, dry and a little cold for the time of year

I ask the oracle if we start the adventure in Jundarr, deciding that its likely I roll 2 d6 getting a 4 and a 6, I take the highest roll so that is a 'Yes and' as well as 1 intervention point straight away.

Tilly makes it back to Jundarr on foot, having decided to leave her horse and cart at the 'Tanners Wife Tavern'.  By the time she gets back to her old home, well, its not exactly hers but no one else wants it, its getting dark and there is a rather brutish looking welcoming committee standing watch by the front door. Tilly decides to try the back and see if there is anyone there, maybe she can climb in through the first floor window/

I ask the oracle if there is anyone guarding the rear, roll d6 = 6 'Yes and', a second intervention point, this early on.

I ask the oracle if the brute guarding the back spots Tilly, roll d6 = 3 'No but' 

I ask the oracle if anyone else is there, roll d6 = 2 'No'

I get two random words to see if I can work out what the guard is up to. Festive and Fish, interesting, I guess he is eating and supping ale.

There is just one guard at the back of the house, he has a flagon of ale and a bag of sprats with him, he is on his feet but seems a little drunk and very preoccupied with stuffing his face,

I decide Tilly will try to sneak past the guard and climb up the wall to the first floor window.

Tilly has a dex of  14 and stealth ability, she needs a roll of 16 or less on a d20 to get past the guard, she rolls 19.

As Tilly tries to sneak past the brute at the back, he turns to pick up another flagon of ale, as he does so the spot Tilly and attempts to reach out to stop her and call out for help.

Brute HD 1d8 (5hp)
AC 14
ATTACK +0 to hit, 1d8 damage (longsword)

xp20

I ask the oracle it he grabs Tilly, roll d6 = 4 'Yes but'

I ask the oracle if Tilly can strike him first, roll d6 = 5 'Yes'

The brute tries to grab Tilly, before he can Tilly attacks him with her rune sword, needing 14 or more to hit, she rolls 14 +1 bonus, a hit causing 1d8+2 damage, she rolls 7, killing the guard outright,

Tilly puts her sword away, takes out the ancient documents that she stole from the merchant to whome these guards belonged and stuffed them in the unfortunate brute mouth.

"they proved of no value to me, your master can have them back" she whispers in the dead mans ear, turning she heads off towards the docks of Jundarr.  

Tilly makes her way to the temple of the cosmic balance near the docks.

I ask the oracle if the temple is as it should be, roll d6 = 1 'No and'.

When Tilly gets there the temple is in total darkness and the doors are wide open.

Tilly looks cautiously inside, she realises something is amiss, the temple doors are always kept closed, there is always candles and incense burning, to enter you would need to have the doors opened for you by either the old priest or Moonwane the young warrior and one of her few close friends.

As she cautiously walks in to the temple, sword in hand, the doors mysteriously close behind her, spinning around she sees a figure emerge from the shadows.

"Tilly, its me, Moonwane".

I ask the oracle if Moonwane is alone, roll d6 = 6 'Yes and', thats a third intervention point.

Moonwane steps up to Tilly, he is alone and looks tired and hungry, Tilly asks him where the old priest is.

Moonwane tells her that the priest went to the southern lands, he told Moon to wait at the temple for Tilly, he expected her back 2 days ago, he has no money and not eaten in two days, the priest told him she would return with riches beyond imagination and that they should go to the southern land and find the priest, a ship sails in the morning, they can get a passage on that.

Tilly tells him of her failed adventure and that she has but 16 silvers to her name, not enough for a passage to the southern lands, suddenly there is loud banging on the doors, someone or thing is trying to break in.

"The merchants guild are after you Tilly, and the thieves guild are non to pleased with you, we need to go, NOW!"

He pulls Tilly along with him and heads to the temple alter, it moves to one side revealing some stairs, the pair rush down them and the alter closes over the stairs again, a dim light illuminates the way.

"This leads to the underground sewers, we are safe for now", Moonwane says leading the way, "we just need to work out how to get some money by the morning", 

Part 2 - a journey through the sewers of Jundarr.

Through Sunken Lands - a few thoughts and what next.

 My first Through Sunken Lands RPG adventure has come to a close, I thought it wasn't going to happen, just trying to find the time to fit the last part of the adventure, the mini dungeon crawl, in  proved difficult but today I stole some time and completed it.

Did I enjoy the game, yes I did, I really like the rules but I already knew that as they are the same as Beyond the Wall, for me the adventure worked, having a reason to head off adventuring, having an end point to get to, in this case the mini dungeon, certainly helped and the oracle threw up some interesting encounters along the way, including a side adventure which kept my interest going.  

I felt engaged with the four characters I had created and want to see them progress with further adventures.  I also enjoyed the part played by Tilly the thief, although she was an NPC, there was no reason she could not  have been my PC and the other four allies, that would have worked just as well, so maybe I will revisit Tilly at some point, I am curious to see how her relationship with Karloak develops, he is certainly more than just an old hermit, and I don't know why he keeps a watchful eye over Tilly.

The four characters, Alrik, Doranus, Marianne and Sana left heading to see if they could find Gedyel Moodlum, the warden at Karmble Hold having seen the ship that sails through land, that should lead to an interesting adventure itself and I feel Gedyel Moodlum has an important part to play in future games.  The whole thing seems to be moving in a very Michael Moorcock direction, which is not surprising really as I am a big fan of his books and loved Stormbring RPG, I still have the GW 3rd edition.

Sadly, the adventures did not find the treasure Tilly hoped to get, indeed we never found out what the treasure was.  Should I have allowed the characters to simply find the secret door that would have opened the way to the final showdown, it was an option but the characters failed to find the secret door and so be it, even in solo play there has to be a chance of failure.  Maybe Tilly will try again, maybe Karloak will offer more help, or maybe not.

So what's next?  For now I intend to leave Jundarr and the Sunken lands, I really want to go back to Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures, back to my first five Characters, Corvus, Hugo, Strawberrie, Rhian and Karina the Bard, after much debate with myself I came to the conclusion that they were still my best bet when it came to exploring the fantastic 'Bay of Spirits' by roan Studios, so my next adventure will be based around Winterton, those five characters and Beyond the Wall.  In addition, look out for a new world building series for my Chivalry and Sorcery 5e games, that will begin in my next post, also got a lot of minis to paint, so more details photos and some 'how I paint things; on those as well.

Finally, I think I will drop my Zanthum 2.2 and MUNE hybrid oracle for now, I have never used Mythic so I am going to try it out, if it works for me great, if not, back to the hybrid.

So there is lots going on in my solo chainmail and sword head, maybe no as much time to devote to it as I would like, but that's just the way life is.

Cheers!

Solo 'Through Sunken Lands' RPG, Part 7 - the final chapter of this adventure

The final journey.

Time 9am 

Date 16th March
Weather - Overcast.

It is around 9am by the time the party are ready to set off on their journey.  Tilly makes sure her horse and cart are secure at the High Mountain Inn, they are treated to a hearty breakfast by Cooragh and Martisha makes sure that they have enough provisions to see them through their journey.  
Tilly leads the party over the mountains, the journey is difficult and slow but eventually the begin the decent to the grasslands on the other side.  Thankfully for the adventures this part of the journey is very uneventful, as evening approaches Tilly leads them to a cluster of ruins from ages long past.  The ruins are deserted like most of the land around here and the party set up camp for the evening, taking it in turns to keep watch although non of the group are able to get much sleep.

Time very early

Date 17th March
Weather - Very overcast.

Its early in the morning when the group of adventures prepare for the last leg of their journey, I ask the oracle if everything is as it should be, roll d20=13, d6=1, so a straight 'Yes'.

GM - Tilly tells the group that they are nearly at the place she believes the treasure she is seeking will be found.  There is a further two to three hours walk.  She explains that somewhere at the location she is heading to there is some kind of subterranean passage into which they need to go.
As Tilly leads you further east, the land becomes inhospitable, nothing seems to live in this remote part, you pass forests of dead trees, grass is brown and decaying and streams full of foul putrid water. 

I roll d6 to see if there is an encounter (1 in 6 chance) roll =3 

Your walk for 3 hours, although the journey is extremely unpleasant, you encounter nothing.  Eventually you come to a place with three barren hills, each just black bare stone.  Tilly stops and tells you that somewhere in the middle hill there should be a secret entrance to the underground cavern.  

Question to oracle, do we find the entrance, roll of d20=12, roll on d6=6, so a 'Yes' and +1 intervention point (now 2 intervention points)

GM - as you approach the hills, Tilly's rune sword suddenly begins to glow, surrounded with an aura of electric blue light and a doorway begins to appear in the front of the middle mountain.  Tilly holds up the sword and the entrance to the cavern becomes more solid.

ALRIK - is the entrance open?.

ask the oracle the question, roll on d20 = 3, d6 =1, so a straight 'No'

GM - no the entrance has a door barring its way.

DORANICUS - can we open the door?

ask question to the oracle, roll on d20 = 2, d 6 = 4, so a 'No (in order to')

GM - the door cannot be opened, in order to open it you seem to need a code word or a key of some kind. the door remains firmly shut.

MARIANNE - I will ask Tilly if she can use the rune sword to open the cave door.

ask the question to the oracle, roll on d20 = 10, d6 =4, so its 'No (apparently). 

GM - whilst the rune sword has something to do with the way in, it is not a key to open the entrance.

SANA - we have come this far, we cannot give up now, is there any lettering around the door.

roll on oracle d20 = 8, d6 = 5, so 'No (but).

GM - no, nothing that you can make out but there are ancient runes and symbols carved into the shimmering stone near the door.

ALRIK - I can read the ancient language, can I make out any words.

DORANICUS - so can Tilly and I, we can help.

I roll against Alriks Intelligence, with the help of Doranicus and Tilly he needs 17 or less to work out the letters, he rolls 16 of d20, so just makes it.

GM - You are able to work out that what you are reading is indeed from the ancient eldrich language but what you read makes little sense to you, it speaks vaguely of vanishing and another world.  Tilly gets out the old documents from which she discovered the caverns location in the hope it may help.

SANA - does it?

roll on oracle d20=17, d6 = 6, so 'Yes and another +1 intervention point, making 3 intervention points.

roll d6 on MUNE intervention table = 2, so we get an 'entity positive'.

Suddenly Alrik understands, he is able to work out from Tilly's ancient documents how to get into the cavern system.

ALRIK - the  symbols, they speak to me, if I can speak them correctly, I think the door will open for us.

roll against Alriks intelligence on d20 = 8 so.

GM - Alrik seems to go into a bit of a trance and utters words in an ancient long forgotten tongue, the door barring your way, shimmers even more brightly and opens up before you, allowing you all to step inside into a short corridor. Once you are all inside the entrance closes fast and you are plunged into complete darkness.

MARIANNE - do we still have the torches from the High Mountain Inn, if so we can light them to see our way.

Roll on oracle d20= 20, d6 =6, so 'Yes' and +1 intervention point (1 intervention point).

GM - yes, you still have the two torches and are able to light them, they give out just enough light to illuminate your way.  You are walking down a 10' wide corridor, it is about 60' long and carved, roughly, out of black granite.  

ALRIK - I will take on of the torches and draw my Eldrich Sword, I will take the lead with Tilly if she will walk next to me.

GM - Indeed, Tilly draws he Runesword and walks next to you.

SANA - I will walk just behind them, my spear at the ready, if need be I will us it to back them both up, I am sure it is long enough to do that.

DORANUS - I will draw my short sword and if Marianne will take the other torch we can both be rear guards.

MARIANNE- for sure, I will hold the torch in one hand and my dagger in the other and keep a lookout behind as best I can.

GM - you walk down the corridor for about 60' then it opens up into a large uneven cavern some 150'wide, 90'deep (location 1 on map).  Tilly suddenly disappears into the recesses of the crudely hewn cavern walls   

ALRIK - I will move cautiously forward, can I spot anything untoward in the cavern.

SANA -  I will move up beside Alrik, ready with my spear should there be an attack.

roll on oracle d20 =8, d6 = 2, so ;No(but)'. 

GM - you hear a 'fizz; then a faint grunt, closely followed by Tillys rune sword glowing blue as she wields it through the air and hits a vile looking humanoid creature, smiting it to the ground.  You just notice in time a group of 5 foul creatures running from the shadows towards you.

5 Chaos Children (lower)

Hit Dice 1d6 (4hp)
AC 12

Attack  +0 to hit, 1d6 damage (club)

Alignment Chaotic

XP 15

GM - Tilly rushes towards the 5 Chaos Children, lashing out at the nearest to her, her runesword still glowing electric blue in the dim light, rolling d20 = 6, she misses the Chaos creature, it rolls 11 to hit, not enough to touch Tilly.

MARIANNE - I will run ito the fray too, attacking one of the Chaos Children with my dagger, roll d20 = 6, I miss to.

SANA - I follow Marianne, using my spear to attack a Chaos Child, I roll d20 = 9, I have +4 to hit with my spear so that makes 13, a hit, roll d6 +2 for damage, I get a 3 +2 =5, one chaos creature down.

ALRIK - me likewise, I only roll 5 on d20 so a miss with my eldrich blade.

DORANUS - I attack one with my short sword, roll d20 = 2, terrible roll.

GM - They strike back, one hits Marianne for 4 hits, Sana is unhurt, Alrik is hit for 6 hits and Doranus hit for 3.
Tilly rolls 3 on d 20 missing again, her adversary also misses.

MARIANNE - I roll 16, a hit, roll for damage with dagger d4 =4, I fell my adversary, thankfully.

SANA - can I help Doranus?

roll on oracle d20=14, d6 =5 so 'Yes(if)'.

GM - if you use your spear, yes.

SANA -  I roll 13 +4 bonus = 17, a hit, d6 =5 for damage, another one hits the cavern floor.

DORANUS - Thanks Sana.

ALRIK - I roll 15 to hit this time, my eldrich sword does, roll d8, 6 points of damage, just the one Tilly is struggling to hit left.

GM - This time Tilly makes no mistakes and hit the last Chaos Child, it falls to the floor.

ALRIK - that was a little tougher than I would like, we will regroup, Tilly and I can lead the way, Sana behind us again, Doranus and Marianne last.

GM -  you are a little bruised from that action but all of you are able to carry on, there is another corridor leading further in to the cavern complex, it twists and turns but before long you enter a second cavern (location 2 on map).

I decide to ask the oracle if the room is empty. roll d20=12, d6=5, so a 'Yes(While).

GM - The room is empty, in the dim light of your two torches you spot the exit on the far wall, you will need to cross the room to get further in to the cavern system.

I decide it would be reasonable for the characters to cautiously cross the room, which they do, keeping close together, Tilly and Alrik leading, Sana just behind, spear in hand and Doranus along with Marianne last.

GM - while crossing the room, a stone object, shaped like a pyramid rises out of the ground, whilst an the same time a circle of flame surrounds you and the pyramid, the circle keeps slowly getting smaller, forcing you towards the centre of the room and the pyramid.

DORANUS - is there any way through the circle of fire, 

roll on oracle d20=3, d6=6 so a straight 'No' and another intervention point (now 2 intervention points),

ALRIK - I will head towards the pyramid rising out of the ground, it must have something to do with the circle of fire.

GM - the circle of flames gives you no choice but to move quickly towards the pyramid.  you can see that it is covered in ancient runes, Tilly tries to read them.

DORANUS - I will try to help her, that should give her a +2 to her Int.

GM - it does and Tilly rolls 10, so she is able to read the runes with Doranus' help.  She reads the following riddle

What breaths, consumes and grows but was and never will be alive.

You will need to roll against Int to see if you work it out before the flames engulf you all.

DORANUS - I have the highest Int, 18, so I roll d20 = 3, I easily work out that the answer to the riddle is 'Fire'.

GM - as you speak the word fire, the circle of flame vanishes and the pyramid, slowly sinks back into the ground.  Tilly says that she is certain from what she read in her stolen ancient documents, that tis is the place, she says that the runes told of passing a test of fire and just beyond lies riches untold.

SANA - we should quickly move on.

MARIANNE -  I will load my crossbow, I have a feeling I may need to be ready for a surprise attack.

I ask the oracle if the next room is empty, roll d 20 =13, d6=4, so a 'Yes(but)'.

GM - you walk down a winding corridor into the next rook, this one has been neatly and perfectly carved into a triangular shape, it certainly looks like the work of someone or some thing, the walls are black but very shiny, they almost seem polished.  The room though is completely empty but for some coins on the floor at the point of the triangle.

Tillys sword is glowing electric blue again.

ALRIK - is there another exit from the room.

GM - no, the only way out is the way you came in.  

MARIANNE - I am goint to see what the coins are.

GM - you find 20 coppers there and the remnants of a pouch, it looks like they have been dropped.  Tilly is upset, she thinks someone has found their way here already and the treasure she expected has been taken, she now believes the journey has been for nothing and that they may as well go back to the impossible city.

DORANUS - we can do a search to see if we can find a hidden exit, again I roll against my Int, d20 = 19, fail.

GM - if there was another way out you do not find it, it does indeed seem as if you have all travelled 5 days for 20 coppers.

I ask the oracle if they find anything else in the room, roll d20 =7, d6 =2, so 'No(if)

if there was anything else here Tilly is sure it is now long gone.

Actually, there is a secret door in this room, had they found it they would have been led to

Nebroz, Lesser Demon of Chaos

Nebroz, Lesser Demon of Chaos

Lesser Spirit.

Hit Dice 5d8 (23 hp)
AC 17
Attack  +5 to hit, 1d6 damage (claw or shove)
Alignment  Chaos
XP  480
Notes:  Although Nebroz can take any form, he choses to appear as a large, grotesque large purple humanoid with three odd shaped eyes, large drooping mouth, sharp teeth and many horns at the top of his head.

As a Demon of Chaos, any ordinary creature not prepared to see a demon must immediatly make a saving throw versus polymorph or be stunned for 1d4 rounds.

Any cantrip or ritual cast in his presence has a +3 bonus to succeed, any spell or other magical ability which causes or heals damage will do an additional 1d4 points of damage or healing when cast in his presence.

Demonic Powers, Furious Attack, can attack twice each combat round.  Immunity, can only be harmed by magical or eldritch weapons.

and to have defeated him would have given them a greater prize, I could for sure have just had them find the secret door but that seemed like cheating, so my band of adventures come away with nothing but a few coppers each.

Maybe Tilly will return one day but for now they return to the High Mountain Inn, Tilly get her horse and cart and decided to return to Jundarr, the part decide to go back with her but on their way they spot a strange oared galley ship moving through land.  The party decided to head to Karmble Hold and seek out Gedyel Moodlum and do part ways with Tilly the thief.

From a distance an old hermit watches them depart.