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!