We began our 0-level play last week with four deaths. The Woodcutter became a “snackrifice” to a pair of hungry wolves, allowing the others to get away. Then, as they neared their destination of Grimhaven, a small flock of stingbats approached from the nearby marshes and were able to feast on the Astrologer, the Blacksmith, and the Butcher. The Beggar ran as they others were swamped by the stingbats and I wasn’t wearing my stingbat shirt! Yes, shameless marketing for the Arcane Library.
This week, the Beggar’s player was unable to attend so three other players played two characters each. We had a Glovemaker and Weaver (Rachel), Sage and Wainwright (RJ), Squire and Candlemaker (Jen) all make their way closer to Grimhaven as the Beggar ran off into the approaching night.
With the extra week to do a little preparation, I started to flesh out the Borderlands…largely borrowing from various published sources. Frandor’s Keep by Kenzer & Co is serving as the basis for our Grimhaven and, of course, a Borderlands source. Instead of the original, I’m using the Goodman Games “reincarnated” version, Into the Borderlands. No particular reason for picking this version over the original outside of I have it and I wanted to read it anyways. Lastly, I took the day off of work and spent most of the morning prepping an adventure for this session based on Sersa Victory’s Tomb of the Dusk Queen. I modified a number of bits to fit our game and to make it a little less harsh on 0-level characters. Some inspiration and background information for the adventure was provided by Clarshh’s Sepulchre by Willie Walsh in Dungeon Magazine #53…only a handful of issues before my pre-4e Dungeon collection is complete! There may be potential spoilers for any of these products below the break…especially Tomb of the Dusk Queen.
We pick up with the characters running for Grimhaven, leaving the stingbats and their fallen companions behind. As always, my GM comments are in italics.
Fleeing the last gasps of their fallen companions and the buzzing of the excited stingbats, the other would-be adventurers ran up the road to the gates of Grimhaven…or so they thought. Dusk had come and after a brief challenge (and explanation of what they were running from), the guards granted entry into The Palisade. Beyond the gate was a large courtyard, a single two-story building, an attached corral for horses, and a semi-pemanent tent encampment of some masons here to expand Grimhaven’s defenses. The guard continued to explain, in a practiced manner, that Grimhaven consists of the town proper atop Hell’s Hill (where the merchants, skilled craftsfolk, and other well-to-do types reside), Quarry Town at the base of the north side of the hill (where common laborers and others of less reputable dispositions reside…the market there is called the Thieves’ Market after all), and The Palisade.
The gates of Grimhaven would be closed and not open again until dawn the next morning. Those not able to reach the gates before closing were welcome to camp here in the Palisade. Wood for a fire and water from drinking would be provided if desired…just don’t camp on the road (which continues through the palisade and then circles around the hill to reach Grimhaven’s gates) or too close to the blacksmith/barracks or mason’s camp.
The ruler of Grimhaven is Constable Brygmin. She is relatively new having come to replace the prior Constable, Constable Harles. Harles had decided to clear out the Caves of Chaos, hired a number of mercenaries, and attacked the Caves. He never returned. Nor did most of the mercenaries. Those that did quickly left the area and no one ever explained what had happened. It is rumored that Constable Harles is still at the Caves of Chaos and has become the leader of a group of monsters residing within.
The party chose a spot and settled down for the night.
The group decided to have one person on guard throughout the night even though it was clear that the guards on the palisade’s catwalks were keeping on eye on things inside the courtyard as much as they were on the outside. During the Sage’s watch, he is approached and greeted by a rather large and talking owl. Standing some three feet tall with snowy plumage, the owl introduced himself as Toowhoo, an emissary of Serene. Serene would like to speak with the Sage and his group about a job opportunity. A trio of the characters (one for each player) follow Toowho to a nearby wagon and enter.
The inside of the wagon is bigger than the outside (only one TARDIS comment was allowed from the players). Inside was a fairly large room, lavishly furnished. A quartet of very large panthers were lounging in various locales. A tall, nearly nine feet tall, and very slender individual greeted the group and introduced themselves as Serene. Serene’s gender was not identifiable to the group and they had light blue skin.
Serene explained that they are from a far, far, far away land known as Sihar (no, none of the characters have ever heard of it). They are a traveling purveyor of fine luxury goods and was looking for some individuals to assist him in acquiring some specific goods. Serene had recently come into possession of a mithral compass that, if the legends are true, will unerringly point to the Tomb of Carlyn Clar, the Dusk Queen.
The Dusk Queen ruled a small elven kingdom in the area many, many centuries ago. She carved it from those who opposed and shunned her and was loved by her own people. She was entombed with various treasures, including her Crown and her Scepter, along with various undying guardians and devious tricks and traps. Serene was only interested in the Crown and the Scepter and all other treasures could be kept by the adventurers.
Unwilling to make such an agreement without ALL of their companions, their entire “company” was awakened and brought to Serene’s wagon. Only one, the Weaver, sat anywhere near the panthers and so had the pleasure of getting to scritch the big cat and have it rest his head in her lap.
Fully gathered, the group agreed to Serene’s deal. Serene then shared a few more bits of information that he had come across in his travels.
- Those who harvest sacred wheat keep a secret.
- The ghost of an Elvish warrior buried in the tomb haunts those who steal her secret door-detecting sword.
- The subjects of the Dusk Queen cannot harm someone carrying the Dusk Queen’s scepter or symbol.
- A false scepter lures thieves to an agonizing death.
- The Dusk Queen’s warrior-maidens would ride into battle atop basilisks.
Serene cannot attest to the veracity of these rumors.
With the agreement made, the compass was given to the Sage and all returned to camp. (Just to be clear, the agreement is that the party will return the Crown and Scepter to Serene and they can keep all other treasure. He would also like the compass back as well.)
The following morning, the group heads out. The compass directs them north, through the Whispering Woods. No trail or road is apparent. About mid-way through their travels, snapping trees are heard up ahead followed by deep chuckle. The Sage sneaks up and spies a tall, some 12-feet, and muscular, green-skinned humanoid. The creature is swinging around a small tree with the branches ripped off, smacking other nearby trees. The strikes appear to please the thing a great deal as it chuckles to itself with each strike.
Unfortunately, as the Sage starts to move away, he snaps a branch underfoot. The creature hears this and starts crashing through the woods, chuckling even more. The Sage runs back to the party and whispers that an ogre is coming. The others quickly come high up into the trees. The Sage runs off in a different direction, hoping to lead the ogre away. (Apparently forgetting that he is the one currently carrying the guiding compass.)
Fortunately, the ogre follows the path that the party had already taken through the woods and the group is able to regroup and continue on their way. (As is so often the case, I asked the players if they’d like something interesting to happen and the answer was yes.)
Just before dusk, the compass lead the group to a small clearing that was dominated by a massive oak tree with silver leaves. Gnarled and tangled roots surrounded the tree with one exception, a hole leading down into the earth. After satisfying some curiosity about the tree itself and avoiding plucking any leaves, the group heads down into this hole. The leads down to a passageway with walls of tangled roots and a set of double doors with a large silver tree with a crescent move above etched into them. The symbol of the Dusk Queen.
Beyond the double doors is a larger chamber with the smell of earth quite prevalent. Moving in cautiously, the group can see the source of the smell, a very large mound of earth. It dominates the back half of the room and nearly reaches the ceiling as it gets closer to the back wall. As the group spreads out to investigate, the Sage pokes a pole into the mound of earth. He gets a near immediate reaction.
Near the top of the mound, three pairs of skeletal arms thrust up from the earth and begin to pull the rest of their “body” out. The first is quickly dispatched before it can fully disinter itself. The others are able to engage the party. Each is a skeleton wearing ancient ring mail and carrying a crescent moon sickle. Silvery pollen drifts off of the skeletons. A couple of the characters breath deeply of this pollen and feel perhaps a bit more suggestible. The skeletons are defeated. Hoping to loot them of their armor, the party finds that the ring mail is in too poor a condition to be salvageable. The sickles, however, seem serviceable and a couple are taken.
Two passages lead from this chamber, to the left and right, and the party elects to head to the left. It turns 90-degrees and an obvious pressure plate is spotted on the floor just before another chamber. It is about ten feet across and fills the corridor side-to-side. Given that some of the party probably could not leap that distance, a short (ha!) discussion occurs before the Glovemaker suggest that they can pound spikes into the walls to provide hand-holds to climb across without touching the pressure plate. Given that the walls continue to be made of the gnarled and tangled roots, the embedded spikes make the short climb rather easy (once they figure out how to handle getting the torches across without having to climb with just one hand).
This next chamber has a toppled statue of the Dusk Queen in the middle of the room. Small insects scurry amongst its ruin, preying upon even smaller insects. There are no apparent opponents in the room.
Three exits exist. One is a door to the right. The second is a break in the wall to the north. The last is a passage to the left that is blocked by a portcullis a short distance in. The portcullis is covered in a silvery mold. The party peers down the passage beyond this gate and see a chamber with a central, semi-translucent obelisk in the center. A figure appears to be within the obelisk. After a short search for some mechanism to raise the portcullis reveals nothing, the party elects to head to the northern passage.
Part of a chamber of earthen walls can be seen beyond. An open chest with coins, gems, and other trinkets is against the room’s back wall, directly across from this opening. Bones and feathers are scattered about the floor that is visible. The Squire creeps in and spots a very large, dead-looking bear lying in a next off to one side. She sneaks back out after spotting another exit from that cave.
The whole party decides to sneak past the bear just in case it is one of the undying guardians said to protect the tomb. The first are successful and do not attract the attention of what is assumed to be an undead bear. They come to another chamber with roots for walls. Murals depict an elven woman riding a basilisk into battle. A polished sarcophagus sits atop a dais at the far end of this room. Arrowheads are embedded into the floor throughout the room and the ceiling is too high to see.
The last to sneak past the bear, the Sage, decides to grab a handful of treasure from the open chest as he goes by. A faint noise, a little jangle of the treasures, is heard and the bear immediately rises and roars. It is clearly undead, with bones visible beyond some open wounds, and has a massive bird beak and feathers about its head…an undead owlbear. The sage flees down the passage where the rest of the party had made their way.
The owlbear comes to the narrow passage that leads to this next chamber and simply starts to claw and rip at the walls. Various missile attacks, primarily thrown weapons, are sent its way. Shortly, the owlbear stops tearing at the walls and just waits. The Squire steps down the passage to stab the creature with her longsword. The owlbear instantly reacts just before she is able to get it within reach of her blade. In a fountain of gore, the Squire is ripped in half by the creature. (Jen wins for the goriest death and was quite happy to have the Squire gone…she had lousy stats.)
With a few more attacks from afar, the owlbear is defeated and the Squire’s body is looted.
Looking about the chamber beyond the owlbear’s den, the party is quite concerned about all of the arrowheads scattered about. They quickly conclude that it must be a trap and elect to leave this chamber for later.
Heading back to the chamber with the downed idol, they open the door to the right. There is a narrow hallway that soon turns to the north. The Candlemaker moves up to the turn and takes a peek. A long corridor, past her torchlight, heads to the north. There is a skeleton floating, lying horizontal, in the middle of the passage at about chest height. The Candlemaker came back to report and then the Glovemaker went to take a look. She saw the “same” thing, not realizing that the skeleton was actually closer at this point. The Glovemaker could also see that the skeleton had on a pair of very fine gloves. Given how close it was and its orientation, she could see that they were nearly paper thin.
She went back to the group to mention the gloves. Then both the Candlemaker and Glovemaker went to head down the passage and both, of course, realized that the skeleton was even closer than each had seen it before. They went back, closed the door to this passageway, and then were ready to start discussing what to do with the group.
That’s where we ended the session. I hadn’t even realized that we had already gone ten minutes past our normal stopping time. A good time with some clever play, a delightfully gruesome death, and nice teamwork. I may have gotten some of the ordering events slightly off or the actors a bit off, but I don’t think I got anything so wrong that it impacts what happened during the session.
And that’s all I got for now.
