Shadowdark Stonehell Session 4

In our last session, the party continued their exploration of the canyon. They discovered the actual entrance to Stonehell as well as exploring some of the caves in the canyon’s walls. We ended after they encountered an obviously crazed individual and explored where this nut had come from. Let’s just say that this session went a little sideways. I made the “mistake” of asking if the players would like anything interesting to happen with an otherwise empty room that they had started to explore. We ended up spending this entire session in that room. Will I learn my lesson and not ask that question again? Probably not…yeah, definitely not. We pick up with it below the break.

Todd was missing this session so Collem was also missing. There are, of course, potential spoilers for Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls below; however, I don’t think there are too many this time around. My GM comments, as usual, are in italics.

Continue reading →

Savage Korvosa Session 17

In our last session, the investigations into the Shiver Killings continued. The group met with a representative of the Cerulean Society, Ciro, and now have their assistance in these activities. They encountered the Green Lady again and learned quite a bit about her origins and possibly information about her creator. Later, with the aid of Ciro, they were able to meet with the leader of the Dark Shadows gang, Romo, and although he was not happy about it, Romo escorted the group through his territory and to the family of the last individual, Sanga, to disappear. They learned a good bit about her, including her fear of crocodiles. Her husband, Vel, was more than happy to do what he can to help and asked if the party could get him and his children set up in a home in Elvo’s territory…which is starting to become a theme. We will pick up with this after the break.

Everyone was in attendance. Adam had to duck out early for work. Although there are significant changes to it, there are potential spoilers for the Temple of Urgathoa adventure from Book 2, Seven Days to the Grave, of Curse of the Crimson Throne. As usual, my GM comments are in italics below.

Continue reading →

Shadowdark Stonehell Session 3

In Session 2, Jen and Todd joined and rolled up their characters…Clara and Collem. They joined with the other characters to continue their initial investigations of the canyon leading to Stonehell. After exploring some of the ruined buildings and some of the gatehouse, surviving a fight, avoiding some others, and finding some hidden treasure, they decided to explore some other areas of the canyon. We will pick up with these explorations after the break.

We had everyone in attendance for this session. There are, of course, potential spoilers for Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls below. My GM comments, as usual, are in italics.

Oh, just a quick note about our calendar. It is good to have something to track time and the passage of days. I created a relatively simple calendar for a prior game and we’re just using it. It just has four months which match the seasons. Each consists of thirteen weeks of seven days of twenty-four hours.

Continue reading →

Shadowdark Stonehell Session 2

In our prior session, only Rachel and RJ could play so they each rolled up two characters to play. We had everyone in attendance for this session so Jen and Todd both rolled up one character each. Jen is playing Clara, a human priest who had been previously working as a haberdasher. Todd is playing Collem, a human thief who was once a mariner. I will leave it up to Rachel and RJ if they want to continue playing both of their characters or to drop down to just one. Any of the players are also free to swap characters in and out each session as they feel is necessary. So just a quick recap, we have six characters at the moment (I’m sharing Clara and Collem’s motivations below; for the motivations of the others, see Session 1).

  • Brielle, dwarven fighter played by Rachel
  • Clara, human priest played by Jen; Clara has come to Stonehell in search of a friend who came here and was never heard from again.
  • Collem, human thief played by Todd; Collem is looking for treasure and to hide from a former boss who wants to find Collem after he slept with the daughter of the boss (not yet shared with the group).
  • Ivy, half-elf witch played by Rachel
  • Korgath, goliath fighter played by RJ
  • Torin the Beast, human pit fighter played by RJ

In our first session, Brielle, Ivy, Korgath, and Torin had come to Stonehell…each with their own reason for being here. They did a little initial exploration of the canyon beyond the curtain wall and had found one area that caught their attention. We will pick up with things there after the break.

There are, of course, spoilers for Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls below. My GM comments, as usual, are in italics.

Continue reading →

Savage Korvosa Session 16

Our last session ended after the party had tangled with the Green Lady for a second time. Like the first, she was driven off, but not killed, and one of the party was injured and drained. This time it was Aimar and he was unable to heal himself. Given the prior assessment of Pop’s injuries and the draining of his soul, the group had headed to the old Temple of Aroden again to seek aid. Aimar was just emerging from the temple as we ended. That is where we will pick up after the break.

RJ was missing this session and so Pop had run off. Jen was able to join us again after missing a few sessions.

Continue reading →

Savage Korvosa Session 15

We ended out last session on a rather scary cliffhanger…at least for Pop. The newest “Shiver Monster” had dropped down behind him and then apologized that he was about to be consumed in some fashion. This monster is the first of the Shiver Monsters that has been humanoid in form and the first that spoke in a humanlike manner. If there continue to be more and more Shiver Monsters, will they become more and more human in nature? Will they continue to be quite as easy to identify as they are now? Something to think about I suppose.

Jen had to miss again…Hurricane Helene aftermath…so Isabella was missing.

We’ll pick up with the attack on Pop after the break. As usual, my GM comments are in italics.

Continue reading →

Shadowdark Stonehell Session 1

It happened again. We had scheduling issues for a whole variety of reasons, including power outages after hurricane near misses. As all of my regular players know, I am significantly deficient in whatever ability it is to maintain an ongoing campaign when play is too sporadic, especially at the start of a campaign. And thus, we bid a sad farewell to the most recent attempt at a Borderlands campaign. We may come back to doing something like this again in the future. For now, we are going to be playing…

Stonehell!!!

More below the break…and obviously there may be spoilers for Stonehell below. GM comments in italics.

Continue reading →

Savage Korvosa Session 13 and 14

Lucky 13. Not really. The last few weeks have been a little crazy and so I am behind on posting recaps. Session 14 was last week (10/5) and I believe that Session 13 was three weeks prior (9/21). I’ll be combining both sessions in this single, somewhat abbreviated, recap…I may have some of the in-game dates and actions a bit jumbled. Thanks goodness for Rachel’s notes or I probably wouldn’t be able to do even this much. At the end of Session 12, the party had dealt with another one of the monsters resulting from the Shiver Killing victim. Darcy was tailing a group of Acadamae members and nobles from the Asylum back to where the party had faced off against the Mosquito people. As she got closer to the building, she could hear screams and smell smoke. That is where we will pick up after the break.

There should be no spoilers for any published module and my GM comments, as usual, will be in italics.

RJ was missing for Session 13 so Pop was out of play and Jen was missing for Session 14 so Isabella was out of play that session.

Continue reading →

Savage Korvosa Session 12

A dozen sessions already. Does it seem like it has been that long? Regardless, the crew continues to investigate a series of killings in Old Korvosa that have largely been centered on the Shingles of Bridgefront. Last session, they learned even more about the Shiver Killings, were unable to stop the tragic death of one of the witnesses, and began a stake-out of the Sanctuary. The players are pretty much convinced that the asylum has something to do with what is going on. During the stake-out, Pop was sent off to get some late night coffee. He received a message from Mac that some of the Sanctuary’s orderlies were heading his way and so he ducked down a dark alley. As the orderlies began to go by, a loud buzzing rose from deeper in the darkness of the alley. And that is where we will pick up after the break.

Adam rejoined us after missing a couple of sessions and Jen was unable to make it this session.

As always, my GM comments are in italics.

Continue reading →

Shadowdark 0-Level Session 2

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.

Continue reading →