We started a new “mini-campaign” for our Saturday night game following the end of the Korvosa game. We are playing Shadowdark and using Dave Bezio’s Phoenix Barony (published by his company, Grey Area games) as the basis for the setting. This game is an unabashed “dungeon crawl” also based on a product by Dave Bezio, Gatehouse on Cormac’s Crag. Numerous changes have been made to both publications for use in our game. We rolled up characters and jumped right into the game…more below the break.
Everyone was in attendance, although Adam had to depart early for work. There are, of course, potential spoilers for both of Mr. Bezio’s publications. As usual, my GM comments are in italics. This session was a couple of weeks ago…weeks that have been quite busy…so I’m sure that I’m going to have missed quite a bit of detail.
Let’s start off with learning the identities of the new player characters!
- Apollonia (Apple) Ringwald: A halfling fighter played by Rachel who was a scribe before taking up the adventuring life.
- Conkin Flinthcheeks: A halfling thief who was a previously a shaman and played by John.
- Hurisi Darisi: A dwarf fortune-teller turned priest played by Adam.
- Marie Greenfields: A human who left the green fields and family farm to be a wizard, played by Jen.
- Rolan Rogar: Another human farmer who took a fighter’s mantle and is played by RJ.
Everyone had come to, or was already in, the Phoenix Barony and, specifically, to the town of Tathor…the Adventurer’s Town. (In classic/stereotypical D&D fashion) everyone met at a tavern. Hurisi was on his way to Kalvenakh Cliff and the “dungeon” there (yes, I’ve renamed Cormac’s Crag…among a lot of other things from the published adventure). It just so happens that each of the other player characters know a rumor or two about the place as well. Viola! Party formed.
Here are the rumors that each character knew coming into the campaign.
- Apple: There is a vault beneath the tower with lots of gold and a magical sword, a sword that is very powerful and is used to kill vampires.
- Conkin: A troll lives at the tower and guards it. It comes out to eat people.
- Hurisi: The original builder of the tower was a knight of some kingdom somewhere and built it as a defense. The knight abandoned the keep, but no one knows why.
- Marie: A crypt beneath the tower holds an evil and chilling presence.
- Rolan: A mystical item buried beneath the tower summons chickens when you pray with it. If you pray too much and summon too many chickens, they turn on you.
Hurisi also knew a little more about the tower. At some point in the past, there was a dwarf who was a clumsy warrior and an embarrassment to his father and clan. This dwarf, Finn Copperbeard, even wanted to be a dancer…an ELVEN DANCER!!! Finn was banished with a sack of gold. He came to Kelvenakh Cliff and began construction of an underground city to attract other dwarves. This was unacceptable to his father and clan. A bounty hunter, Onele Renele, was sent to kill Finn. The fate of the bounty hunter, Finn, and his city is unknown.
After spending an uneventful night in Tathar, the group heads off for the village of Madar which is located less than a day’s walk from Kalvenakh Cliff. The campaign proper starts with the group arriving in Madar.
3rd of Fall 1999
- As the group arrives on the outskirts of the village, there are numerous farms scattered about. A child at one runs up to the path and suggests that they head to Pepsy’s Pub if they are looking for a place to stay.
- The group does just this.
- Pepsy is the halfling proprietor. His pet dire ferret, Wizzer, is scampering all about the place.
- Erik, a dwarven regular, is also at the pub when the party arrives.
- Learning that the group are adventurers, Pepsy lets them know that Lady Diana, the governess of the village, will want to speak with them. He heads off to find her while Erik and Wizzer keep an eye on things.
- Lady Diana is polite and gracious but is blunt in pointing out that adventurers can bring a good bit of trouble to her village.
- Madar is surrounded by dangerous wilderness but the farmland is quite good. Areas in the immediate vicinity include:
- The Troll Mountains, of course, hold a good number of dangers.
- The Barrow River often has undead, mainly skeletons and zombies, prowling its banks.
- The Mossmore Woods are said to hold fey and other creatures.
- The Midgefens are home to various pests and annoyances such as midge flies and mosquitoes along with much more serious and larger threats.
- And, of course, Kelvenakh Cliff and all that it holds.
- Three young women–Lenna, Lina, and Laina–went missing recently. They were picking bilberries in the Bilberry Hills and never returned. There was a bad storm the night they did not return and it appears to have washed away any sign of the women…per the guard that were sent to investigate.
- Lady Diana would be grateful if either the girls or news of their fate can be brought back.
- Madar is surrounded by dangerous wilderness but the farmland is quite good. Areas in the immediate vicinity include:
- Lady Diana is polite and gracious but is blunt in pointing out that adventurers can bring a good bit of trouble to her village.
- Various bits of rumor and information is gained throughout their stay at the pub. These include (and I’m sure I’m missing some):
- The area of Kelvenakh Cliff and the tower there are haunted. No one knows why the tower was built, but it has had various residents over time.
- Multiple levels exist under the tower.
- Lady Diana has spread rumors of the area being haunted to protect a gem mine under the tower.
- A beached pirate ship guarded by a crew of the dead is in the Midgefens.
- The missing girls were bitten by a vampire that flies over Madar at night.
- A bunch of Biters (i.e., goblins) are skulking around the ruins of the tower.
- Changelings live in the Mossmere and will occasionally take a villager and replace them.
- Dwarves who hear of the tower will often spit and say, “Curse Copperbeard!”
- One of the last residents of the tower was a shifty man who smelled like fresh dirt…at least according to this person’s great grandmother.
- Boats of undead sail down the Barrow River.
- A group of adventurer’s headed out just recently. They said they were going to go look for the missing girls, but they are most likely looking for treasure in and under the tower. They were a wizard, a dwarf warrior, and a halfling with a strange little dog.
- The group stayed the night at Pepsy’s.
4th of Fall 1999
- In the morning, the group headed out. They had three options…a path through the Bilberry Hills, one through the Mossmore Woods, and one through the Midgefens. They choose the hill path in hopes of finding some sign of the missing trio.
- They did not. They did, however, come across a flock of carrion birds off of the path after a few hours of travel.
- Investigating, they found a dead mule. It still had some saddle bags.
- After scattering the birds, they find a dagger sheath in one of the bags. It is embossed with the emblem of Frunder’s Riders (one group of the Baron’s Border Guard) with the name “Nix” on it. (Ugh…at the time I knew exactly what this was all about; now I don’t remember. The joys of impromptu gaming and not taking notes.)
- Soon the ground starts to rumble and shake from approaching…and very large…footsteps. Knowing that giants and trolls inhabit the area, the group quickly continues on their way to Kelvenakh’s Cliff.
- They did not. They did, however, come across a flock of carrion birds off of the path after a few hours of travel.
- The group makes it to their destination. The tower sits a bit back from the drop overlooking the Barrow River. A waterfall coming out of the cliff drowns out much of the ambient sound even here at the top.
- Only the first floor of the tower and part of the second are still intact. Debris, possibly from the other floors, circles around the tower. A path leads up to the tower.
- Conkin sneaks forward to scout. Hidden behind some of the debris, he spots two sleeping goblins. In a different location, he spots another sleeping goblin which is cuddling a strange frog-like creature that is about a foot tall with no forelimbs.
- With the noise of the waterfall masking their movement, the group catches up and Conkin proceeds to continue to scout around the tower.
- As the halfling thief sneaks forward, he steps on something that he didn’t realize was alive! A massive pill bug (aka roly-poly or sow bug) stirs and rises up from the ground where it had been sleeping.
And that is where we ended the session.
Not much too add this time. As part of character creation, each player picked person, place, or thing for a rumor they know about the adventure site. I then had another player provide that rumor. I always like to let the players foretell their own doom…DOOM!
We’ll be playing this campaign exploring a mini-megadungeon to help minimize my week-to-week prep for at least the next month as Rachel and I spend it focused on moving to a new home. My intent is also to make this a little less “heavy” than our Korvosa campaign. I think it is also good to enjoy a good old-fashioned style adventure from time to time anyways.
Hopefully, the players will all remind me when we play again on anything significant that I missed and I’ll add it in.
