The Side Quest Session 8

After a week’s hiatus due to too many missing players, we picked up our 5th Edition D&D Side Quest campaign again. In our last session, the party had returned from their harrowing and deadly misadventures beyond the Moon Door. They returned successfully and completed their task for Rowena Greyraven, turning over the recovered topaz to her. Prior to that, they obtained a new patron for their adventures…the drow elf Chakos of House Cadryenne. Their new job was to pass through one of the valley’s portals to the home of an ancient wizard, Castanamir, and recover six books for the drow. The six books include (author in parens):

• Oculum Percussum (no author listed). This translates from Draconic as The Piercing Eye
• Portal Magicks (Castanamir)
• One Thousand and One Planes Parallel (Bulukiya Scheher)
• The Blazing Eye (Caven Mardish)
• His Dark Materia (Trahere)
• The Parallax Veil (Gerro Zelaz)

None of these books are familiar to the characters.

So after a bath, some shopping, a night’s rest, and a couple of excellent meals, the party headed out to meet Chakos. Escorted by some of the drow’s hobgoblin allies, the party entered a new cave where Chakos led them to The Archway. The Archway is the name of this particular portal and was little more than a stone archway filled with flat black nothingness. Passing through, they were assaulted by a strong storm and immediately set off to see shelter. A shaft, with a spiral stairway leading down, was soon discovered and investigated. At the bottom was a short hallway that led to another archway that was pretty much identical in look and design to The Archway.

The party stepped through and that is where we pick up with this session below the break. Muse was missing and so Grim and Callie were also missing. RJ and Theo were back and so Lavinia, Ruri, and Aelwulf were back along with Theo’s new character, Vondal (a mountain dwarf wizard). My GM comments, as usual, are in [italics and brackets]. Spoilers: There are spoilers for the old AD&D module, C3: The Lost Island of Castanamir, below the break.

Riordan and Morgraen stepped through the archway and entered a large and relatively lavish room. Expecting Callie and Grim to follow right behind them, they were surprised to see Lavinia and Rurik come through instead. They were soon followed by Aelwulf and then a beardless, actually hairless, dwarf that none of the five had ever seen before. While the others were starting to become accustomed to the appearances and disappearances of their companions as a result of the portal magics, they did not expect a new person to arrive. Introductions were quickly completed and attention was turned to the room.

The walls of the room were painted a dark green and gold tapestries hung in numerous spots. A roaring fire crackled in a large fireplace in one wall. Two sofas and two chairs were arranged around the fireplace. A table was next to the opening that the group had just emerged from. Next to it was some sort of metal cupboard. A very large mirror with a gold frame dominated the wall opposite the entry. A hallway across the room led off in deeper into what was presumably Castanamir’s abode.  Another archway, identical to the last two, was located in the wall just before the hallway. Light emanated from various locations on the walls around the room but gave off no heat.

A strange contraption was shuffling across the room’s floor as well. It was shaped much like half a watermelon but was silver in color. Small legs could be seen just under the creature’s “carapace.” It approached the newcomers and a tentacle snaked out from underneath the creature. A pale blue light emanated from the tentacle and scanned back and forth on the floor, leaving it clean. It followed the sopping wet and muddy Riordan and Morgraen, cleaning the mud and water they tracked in. [The others, perhaps not surprisingly, were not wet and muddy as they had not traveled through the same storm as Morgraen and Riordan.] The contraption seemed completely harmless to the party.

Vondal made himself comfortable and began to cast a ritual spell to discern if there were magics about. As he did this, the others looked about a little more carefully. The hallway led a short distance and ended in another dark archway. A normal wooden door was also in the hallway. Lavinia snuck to the wooden door and took a listen but heard no noises from beyond it. She also found that the mirror was flush to the wall. Although sorely tempted to try and chip away some of the mirror’s golden frame, she was able to suppress her greedy nature…for now. The table in the main room held no valuables, items of interest, or anything at all for that matter. The metal cupboard was opened with a rush of cold air. It held crystal plates, goblets, and trophies which the party speculated might actually be ice but they left untouched and unexamined. No point in vandalizing the wizard’s home…especially if he might still be around.

Vondal’s spell showed that pretty much everything in the room was magical. The dark portals and “watermelon” were, of course, magical. The cupboard, mirror, fireplace, lights, and even the sofas and chairs detected as magical. Rurik decided to determine the nature of the magic of the chairs but planting himself in one. The chair shifted and conformed to be the most comfortable chair in which the wizard had ever sat. He simply did not want to get up and so Aelwulf gave him a “helping hand” up when the party was ready to move on.

Heading down the hallway, the party decided to go through the wooden door before risking one of the magical portals. It was unlocked and Aelwulf opened the door to find a room dominated by a large–very large–table with a number of chairs surrounding it. Bookshelves, filled with books, lined nearly half of the wall space in the room. Another black portal was in the opposite wall. There was also a body lying on the floor not too far from the portal. Before Aelwulf could do much of anything, a person popped up from the other side of the table and shot Aelwulf with a crossbow bolt before running through the portal. The body on the floor leaped up and followed his presumed companion through the portal.

Despite the attack and injury to Aelwulf, the others were quite happy at having found, they hoped, Castanamir’s library so easily. However, as they began searching through the numerous books, they found that hope to be dashed. They books were laregly “coffee table” type books about history and folklore with no serious treatises on magic and the plane or the six books they sought. The books were in various langagues including elven, dwarven, draconic, and even some that no one in the party could read.

They had also noticed that the mirror in the other room was one-way and could be seen through from this side.  As the more learned members  in the group were perusing the books, all were startled by a knocking on the mirror. The two humans who had been in this room before were now out there and made obscene gestures at the mirror (presumably intended for the party) before running back towards the portal that the party had originally entered. The group did not rise to the bait, however. They reasoned that these two probably knew the layout of the wizard’s home and were trying to get the party to follow them…most likely into a trap.

So, instead, the party finished their search in this library and elected to go through the portal at the end of the hallway outside of the library. Aelwulf took the lead and found that this portal lead to a kitchen with a large butcher block table, a big oven, a couple of stoves, and a sink. There were pots, pans, dishes, and silverware scattered about the floor as well. Aelwulf began to sweep the kitchen debris aside with his feet to clear a path as he moved into the room. There were also three portals, in addition to the one the party was emerging from, one on each wall. Two wooden doors graced the opposite wall from the party as well.

After about half the party had entered, one of the wooden doors opened and a rather large human emerged. He was adorned in furs and hides and, wielding a battle axe, let loose a warcry as bits of foam and spittle oozed from his mouth. Aelwulf recognized that this was a beserker from one of Faerun’s northern tribes and let loose a war cry of his own. The berserker made no attempts to defend himself as the battle was joined. Instead, he focused all of his efforts on killing his opponents. Although he did grievously wound Aelwulf, he was downed by a well placed shot by Lavinia.

As the party saw to their downed companion, Lavinia searched the barbarian. A bejewled hilt of a dagger stuck out of his belt and the little halfling rogue, of course, removed it from the corpse for a closer look. It turned out, however, that the berserker wasn’t quite as much a corpse as Lavinia would have liked. He threw a punch at her as she stumbled back. He grabbed her and savagely head butt her and eventually battered the consciousness out of the halfling. The party quickly came to her aid. In the end, the berserker was grievously wounded with body parts nearly hacked off before he finally stopped moving. To make sure he didn’t come back for yet another encore of violence, the party chopped his head off [I think Rurik did the honors with the berskerer’s own axe…which the dwarf kept. Oh yeah, I hadn’t realized this but apparently Rurik had dropped his staff when RJ last played as the party was fleeing the wolves and vampire on the beach. He had dropped it to help carry one of the party’s unconscious companions. Even worse…it was his arcane focus! I suppose I should reward RJ somehow for his honesty and taking such a hit to his character as now Rurik can cast very few of his spells.

So, I’m pretty much running the module and converting it on the fly. In the original, the berserker could keep on fighting past 0 hit points and I had forgotten this when he fell the first time but noticed it as I checked his stat block for what he had on him. It made for a much better scene this way…although Lavinia might disagree with me.]

One of the wooden doors led to a very well-stocked pantry. There were also three sets of rather mangy looking bedrolls in the pantry. The party assumed that one of them belonged to the berserker and hoped that they other two were no longer being used by anyone. A search of the bedrolls turned up nothing of value but various individuals did stock up on food from the pantry. The other wooden door led to a rather chilly room that had what appeared to be various carcasses of animals, freshly killed and dressed.

Passing through one of the portals in the kitchen, the party found themselves in a large round room. A sign hung from the ceiling in the center of the room and read, in Draconic and Goblin, “Zim Exhibit. Do not cross the lines.” In each quadrant of the room were large glass cabinets, behind an orange semi-circle on the floor. One cabinet contained a plant, an amulet, and a floating blue sphere about five feet in diameter. There were two hobgoblins lying face down on the floor in front of this cabinet, their bodies crossing the orange lines. Another cabinet had a staff and a green sphere floating inside it. Another green sphere was floating outside this cabinet but still behind the orange semi-circle on the floor. A third cabinet held a short sword and a gray floating sphere with another short sword lying on the floor outside the cabinet. The last glass cabinet was broken and had nothing in it nor was there a sphere floating behind the orange line.

The hobgoblins were pulled into the middle of the room and examined. Riordan and Morgraen thought that they were dressed pretty similarly to those that had accompanied them to Chakos earlier that day. It was speculated that perhaps the drow had sent some hobgoblins to find the books previously. Although intrigued by the room, the party wanted to find the library and books they were sent to find as soon as possible. So they exited through one of the four portals in the round room.

This portal led back to the first room with the fireplace and comfy sofas and chairs. Suspecting that the portals were not quite as simple as they might appear, they went back through the one that they had just come through. Instead of leading back to the circular room, this portal led to a different room. Although it seemed like they were simply walking through a doorway, it was now clear that the portals were somehow transporting them magically. This next room was very large with weapon racks flanking each of the four portals but only two had any weapons on them. The center of the room had a stone pillar. As the party considered what to do, two of the walls of this pillar began to rise, revealing that it was hollow within.

A relatively small creature, about three feet tall, was within. It was mammalian with large, strong jaws filled with sharp teeth and serious claws. It snarled and, in a flash, was attacking. The creature’s speed was incredible. Although it mauled Aelwulf pretty badly, the party quickly defeated it. As the party fought the creature, the walls that had risen lowered again. After the fight, the party split up to check out the racks holding weapons. Nothing looked to be of significant value but a couple of weapons were taken to enhance or restock their supplies. Then the walls of the “pillar” began to rise again.

This time, however, all members of the party could not see into the pillar as they were standing on the sides with the non-risen walls. Nothing immediately came out so Morgraen took a peek around the corner. Two ogres were inside, speaking to each other in their brutish language, banging on the remaining walls, and looking rather confused. The party made a run for it. Despite being on opposite sides of a large room, the party all headed for the same portal knowing that they’d be separated if they went through different ones.

Unfortunately, the ogres caught sight of those fleeing. Vondal didn’t make it far before the ogres caught up to him and crushed him with one blow. Lavinia was the last of the party to flee. Rather than making for a quick and safe exit, she decided to see if she could recover some of Vondal’s goods. Sneaking around the center walls, she snuck into the central room with the ogres chasing after her. Fortunately for her, they didn’t spot her and passed around to the other side of the partial pillar. This gave her enough time to grab Vondal’s pack and his arcane focus, a crystal on a necklace. She then slipped out the exit, following the others, before the ogres caught her. The brutes did, however, see her as she went through the portal.

[Okay, some may be thinking, “Ogres! Isn’t the party only 1st and 2nd level?!? Isn’t just one ogre going to be very challenging for them?!?” Yes, they are and yes, it would be. I’ve been pretty upfront that this campaign is a bit more “sandboxy” and that not everything the party encounters will be a “level appropriate encounter.” Running may often be the best option…that or some out-of-the-box thinking. This was one of those situations. I think, with just a bit of creative thinking, the whole party could have easily escaped the ogres. Oh well. At least Lavinia salvaged something out of the situation by recovering Vondal’s arcane focus and spellbook (in his pack) for Rurik.]

Rejoining the party, Lavinia found the others waiting for her in a hallway with four of the portals and two normal wooden doors. Both of the wooden doors looked like they’d been broken into in. Concerned about being followed by the ogres, the party quickly headed through another of the portals. They then quickly passed through a number of portals and began to get the idea of a pattern.

One led to large dining room dominated by a massive table in the middle of the room, flanked by two large fireplaces. Tapestries, that presumably once hung on the walls, were piled in one corner of the room. A couple of large rats, very large rats, were perched at the edge of the table but quickly scurried under the pile (or nest) of tapestries. Given their relatively recent encounter with rats, most of the party were very relieved to see the rats run and hide. They left the room through another of the room’s four portals before the rats came back with reinforcements.

Another portal they passed through led to another large room where all of the furniture and been gathered and carefully and effectively stacked as a barricade at one end of the room. Lavinia snuck up to the barrier and could hear the sound of heavy breathing from beyond. When the party called out a greeting, it was returned with a challenge to drop their weapons and surrender to the 617th Unit of the Glorious Hobgoblin Army [or something like that, I don’t remember the specifics]. The party quickly retreated through another portal rather than possibly face an unknown number of hobbies.

At this point, the party [players] identified that if they passed through the “southern” door in the room, they would enter the next room via the “eastern” door. They had not, however, identified which portal led to which room or the pattern of exit and entry of any of the other portals. Nor had they found another library yet. They eventually arrived back in the kitchen. They then passed through the “southern” portal of the kitchen, which they had not gone through yet, and… that’s where we ended the session.

[One of the things that I’m doing with this campaign is to try out some different types of play with 5e. We had a little horror in the last demiplane and this time it is a bit of a dungeon crawl. But it isn’t just any dungeon crawl…it isn’t just about going in and killing things and taking their stuff. Instead, it has various challenges; largely challenges to the players. One of the obvious, of course, is the magic portals. The players have to figure out how they work and their pattern. To me, D&D has always been as much about challenging the players as anything else (outside of having some fun). The Lost Island of Castanamir presents certain styles of challenges to the players. It was a tournament or competition module back when characters didn’t have skills and powers and the like and it was expected that the players would come up with creative and clever solutions to the challenges they faced. This module is probably a bit longer than what I typically prefer in a single “dungeon crawl” type adventure but it is a good exercise for my players and I…even if it doesn’t make for the most enjoyable session write-ups to read. 😉 ]