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In Search of New Armour (Part 5)

A long time it has been since I have put fingers to keyboard to update this blog. Suffice to say that, over the last five weeks, I have managed to play three sessions of this campaign. My only problem, however, is that I have been very busy playing Lord Of The Rings Online (LOTRO) that I have had little time to spend writing, save creating the continuing notes for this campaign.

LOTRO is an absolutely gorgeous game; it is a low-fantasy setting and so magic is not as abundant as in games like World of Warcraft (WoW) where demons, shamans etc. are as common an occurrence as alliance or horde characters (well, almost anyway). The latest graphics technologies have been used in LOTRO to create a truly awesome graphical experience. The colours are much more subdued and realistic, while the textures are not overstretched on surfaces. WoW suffers from colour graphics that are just a little too peachy and the buildings are chunky looking because of stretched textures. This is not to say WoW is not a good game, nothing could be further from the truth, however, LOTRO, at least to me, is a much more relaxed game and it also has a feel of being a mature gamer’s game, where I wouldn’t be surprised (I have done no surveys) if most of the players are adult aged, compared to that of WoW where many (not most) give the impression of little immature kids running around causing a ruckus. These sort of players do appear in LOTRO but they stick out like a sore thumb – very obvious, in WoW they are not so obvious because there are so many of them! But I digress.

[I wrote the above two weeks ago and since then I decided to include the latest session we played. The only problem is that I have been sick for six days (so far) and did not finish the write up prior to getting sick. Oh, well. The game was fun nonetheless and this blog is still going strong!]

So, without any further ado, I present you with the update of my Destiny Awaits campaign - at least it is accurate to the best of my memory. Hopefully Knight Errant Cavell Lazatar will correct me if I am wrong. Remember that you can click to enlarge the images and use the back button to return.

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The PCs have come across another ghoul burrow where the marks in the old cobblestones clearly indicate the coffin being dragged along the ground did not enter. The group decide to head underground anyway, continuing their search for treasure. The burrow is found to be empty of both ghouls and treasure.

Another ghoul burrow is found NNW of their current position and inside is found an open crypt with a large sarcophagus. The sarcophagus has a gold shield lying of top (later found to be gold plated) with symbols indicating worship of Eissa. The PCs feel they have hit the jackpot but as they open the tomb a chill cold creeps into their bodies and Xera removes herself from the presence of the Skeleton Lord, hurt not wanting to lose any Constitution points from being drained (it is one of the abilities of this particular monster).

The armour found on this skeleton is power perceived to be of evil channelling and so Cavell refuses to try it on, in fact, if he had donned this armour, he would only be able to remove it with a Remove Curse spell. An item also found with this creature was a Flail of Heavy Blows (+10 OB, Hits delivered x2, inflicts an additional Impact critical of severity one less than any normally occurring critical) – needless to say, Hanu took possession of this item since she is the only one trained to wield flails.

Following the trail to another mausoleum reveals a further two coffins with even more magical items suitable for use by party members but first they must fight the unlife.

This time a Corrosive Longbow (+10 OB, shoots arrows that inflict Acid Crits of severity one less than any normally occurring critical in addition to the arrows abilities.) and a Quarterstaff of Sorcery (+10 OB acts a x2 PP Multiplier (keyed to work only Sorcerers) and adds a special bonus of +15 to its wielder’s RRs against spells). Kodos takes the longbow greedily and Asmodeus automatically takes the quarterstaff.

The fight with the spectre left Xera and a few others injured. Not wanting to stay in the area while they heal the party head back to their camp of (relative) safety. Here it is that Cavell falls into a coma after trying to cast one too many healing spells on Xera. Their only avenue of saving Cavell is to take him to a nearby farming village located on a detailed map of the area Hanu happened to be carrying. They find an herbalist who just so happens to have a plant remedy that removes Cavell’s coma. They offer the woman a mere one gold piece as a donation (it was all she expected them to do) for the herb (which costs well over two hundred gold pieces, if bought in Sel-kai). That was certainly a lucky break for the PCs, otherwise they would have had to return to Sel-kai.

Following damaged tombs to the last mausoleum in this part of the graveyard, the party easily opens the stone doors and finds stairs with scrape marks leading down into darkness. Above the stairs is a coffin out of which an enormous Ghoul guard rises to protect the sanctuary of his master. A warning is given to them by the ghoul who then attacks viciously. The musculature on this foe clearly indicates a “supernatural” strength – this is definitely the thing that has been dragging the stone coffin around the graveyard of which they had been tracking. He is easily dealt with in a few rounds, especially since there are some new, high powered weaponry available to them.

Moving into the underground lair, their olfactory senses are assailed by a stench of rotting blood, so strong is it that three PCs are left nauseated for several rounds while they become desensitised to the smell. Sinks/bowls of the stuff sit attached to the walls.

Continuing to follow the scrape marks in the stone floor, the group head towards several coffins which they open and are attacked by a number of undead. These members of the Unlife are dealt with easily enough while themselves receiving only minor wounds in return.

Around the corner, another treasure finding opportunity turns out to be more slugfest!

Heading northwest, the PCs open a coffin …

Which triggers a collapse of the floor – Cavell finds that his feet are no longer on the floor and tumbles in, on top of the debris, taking little, if no damage. Investigation indicates that the tunnel beyond leads to the outside. This is confirmed as they detect a breeze moving through the now aptly named Crypt Of Blood.

Asmodeus checks out the centre column and notices a lever.

Pulling on the lever raises the centre column so that a large pool/bath of rotting blood is revealed. The stench once again becomes overwhelming and the PCs are asked to make another RR versus the stench or otherwise become nauseous. A couple of them fail and it takes a minute or so for them to become accustomed to the strong smell.

The adventuring group see the steps leading to the NW and clear the area.

They then decide to completely search this main chamber before heading down what appears to be the danger zone.

Six coffins guard the passageway leading into a chamber where there is another, but larger pool of blood that is thick and gooey. As the PC search the coffin room, Unlife burst forth intent on bringing them into their fold. They easily handle this encounter with the deftness they have developed as a team over the past several weeks.

Coming into the final chamber of blood the PCs see their goal – an ornate coffin with religious symbols of Eissa covering the lid. Their way is barred, however, by the semi-liquid pool of blood. Asmodeus decides to freeze the blood so that the party can simply walk across the ice and get to the coffin. Once the blood is frozen solid, the party notices a bump in the level of the ice across the middle of the pool. Hanu and Cavell choose to ignore it for now, more intent on opening the coffin they have been tracking all this time.

After having crossed the ice-blood a loud thud is heard coming from under the ice itself. Everyone stops what they were doing and listens intently. A second thud is heard and the ice cracks. Then a third and final thud is heard as the 4 foot thick ice shatters into the air revealing a rather deteriorated vampire. Clearly (but not to the frightened PCs) this vampire has not “eaten” for a very long time and is dying.

The vampire immediately attacks Asmodeus and bites him on the neck achieving a critical hit – now ready to start drawing blood. Hanu strikes the vampire and does some heavy damage but does not detach it from Asmodeus’ neck. Kodos shoots an arrow at the creature and the force of impact throws the vampire off its victim. It immediately pounces on Kodos who is on a higher level of the room so the vampire is forced to bite him on the lower leg. It is unsuccessful in achieving the critical it needed to start feeding, however, it again takes heavy damage from the other PCs for which its revenge is to cast Demonic Possession I on Rikku who fails his RR.

Possession is nine tenths of the law and “Rikku” immediately starts attacking Kodos, killing him, breaking a number of ribs. Kodos death, however, is not really due to Rikku’s one attack, but it is rather an accumulation of negative penalties (–100% in total) over a number of combat rounds. The vampire is quickly taken care of but Cavell and Hanu who then turn their aggressive tendencies towards the maniacal and homicidal Rikku. Asmodeus is the one who deals effectively with Rukku, putting him to sleep.

The currently active PCs deal with Asmodeus’ obvious bleeding wounds and then take outside the three unconscious bodies of Rikku, Kodos and the Vampire. The vampire does not last long in the sunlight and its ashes are collected later by one of the PCs – I don’t remember who. The PCs return to the vampire's sanctuary to open the stone coffin with the symbols of Eissa. In it they find what they have been looking for - Armour of Lesser Channeling - this armour is AT19 and has bonuses for casting spells while wearing armour as well as for transferring channeling power to another PC.

The party decides to rest a day before heading back to Sel-kai. Unsure of the state of Rikku’s mental faculties, they decide to tie him up to the trunk of at tree. His player is allowed to roll another resistance roll (RR) a day later, as detailed in the spell cast upon him by the vampire – he succeeds this time and rids himself of the demon that has been controlling his every action these last 25 hours or so.

Hours are spent collecting the bodies of the undead, many of which show indications of repairing themselves as their injuries have obviously healed somewhat. A huge bonfire is created using the bodies – this will stop them from coming back to “life”! More time is spent searching the vampire's coffin that is found to be full of thick, gooey blood - too bad they didn't check it out before the blood thawed - what a messy job that was, one I am unwilling to repeat. All I will say is YUCK!

Another day is taken to rest and complete their task before the group spend a day heading west to the road that leads north to Sel-kai. After a day’s travelling north along the road they rest at a clearing for the night. The session ends here with two days more travelling to be done to reach Sel-kai.

Till next time ...

In Search of New Armour (Part 4)

Life is just too busy!

We last left our intrepid adventurers following the scrape marks of a stone coffin left behind in the aging cobblestones.

“Scrape marks?”, I hear you say.

Yes, scrape marks!

The who, what, why and how is not currently evident to the PCs; they are as befuddled as you. What I can tell you now, without having to threaten your life, is that the PCs believe the coffin of the Paladin of Eissa has been removed for some devious purpose. Poor young Cavell has no hope in finding his promised armour if he doesn’t first find the entombed Paladin of Eissa. The High Priestess of Eissa told him the armour is in the paladin’s tomb, but when they had found the mausoleum of the interned paladin, the coffin was missing. What they did find was a hole in the ground with very obvious drag marks in the soil. Mind you, Rikku isn’t complaining because he has the opportunity to find more treasure and it is anybody’s guess as to the dark thoughts of the Sorcerer, Asmodeus, but I bet your bottom dollar, that he too is looking forward to finding a nice hoard of treasures along the way.

On with the game…

Kodos continues using his tracking skills, following the scrape marks to a large tomb. Examining the tomb reveals a large hole in its side with a tunnel extending into the subsurface. The drag marks lead into the hole and the soil has a deep groove carved into it. This is the place!

Before going into the tunnel a Minor Skeleton reveals his/her/its presence when Hanu pokes her polearm (it’s a glaive) into the hole to see if there is anything inside. The abomination is deftly taken care of via the administrations of violence, first by Kodos, then Hanu, who destroyed what was left.

The tunnel is steep but manageable and the PCs quickly move inside, being lead by the now-very-useful Kodos. Inside the tunnel they come up to a fork in their path. Scanning the soil, Kodos noticed the drag marks lead in both directions but that the most recent path leads to the right.

Following the path, they are lead in a circle returning back to the intersection in the tunnel. Damn! The tunnels look more like rabbit burrows than tunnels. The coffin has come and gone. The only good thing they found is a large pile of coffin debris, which, after a thorough search, was found to be empty of treasure. No luck there Rikku!

Leaving the burrows, Kodos and Hanu relocate the marks of the moving coffin, first in the side of a tree as a very old scar and then further south as more scratches in the cobblestones. The party is lead to a rusty iron fence surrounding a section of the graveyard. The marks they are following lead along the fence, turning south at the corner and into a great big hole in the ground.

The feeling of déjà vu ripples through the party members as they enter the burrow and once again come up to an intersection with the groove marks left behind by the coffin forking left and right. Again, to the right is the direction of the most recent marks. As the PCs head deeper into the burrow they use their sources of light. Xera bringing up the rear position with her lantern; Kodos leading the group with his Projected Light spell (essentially a torchlight effect from the palm of his hand); Cavell, producing a soft light from the aura he has cast about himself.

Kodos, Hanu, Cavell, and Rikku head around the bend in the tunnel while Xera and Asmodeus stay closer to the burrow entrance. Shuffling sounds can be heard coming from the darkness ahead of them. Shining his light into the large opening Kodos spots movement in the darkness. He does a thorough scan of the cave and identifies several unlife approaching his position. Fear grips the hearts of the four PCs who can see these abominations. As GM I ask the four players to roll their dice for a Resistance Roll (RR) against Fear. Kodos is the only one to fail, not by very much; a Minor Fail as they call it in Rolemaster and so he suffers –25 to all his actions for eight rounds (240 seconds).

[Aside: The Unlife in the Shadow World campaign system is a pervading evil “force of will”. If a character heads down the dark path essentially it will control their destiny (yes it does sound a bit like it comes from Star Wars). A character may be “evil” and still not be controlled by the Unlife, however, if left unchecked, a player’s character who chooses to follow the principles of the Unlife will eventually be controlled by the GM, representing the total abandonment of “self” in place of Unlife mentality. The GM will make the character perform actions inline with Unlife “philosophy”.]

007 Kodos, shaken, not stirred, tarries not, drawing his broadsword and charging into the mass of undead, while Hanu follows closely and positions herself beside him. Due to space restrictions, Cavell is unable to get into melee with the undead now recognised as Ghouls (Lesser Ghouls in fact). Five such horrors show their ugly faces (what’s left of their faces anyway) in this cave; they are quickly dispatched but not before a few rounds of slashing into air by Kodos.

Predictably, Cavell was getting antsy until he managed to get into contact with the Ghouls when room became available. Rikku eventually gets around behind the enemy while Kodos backs off and heads to the southern passage to reveal another two Greater Ghouls coming towards the party’s position. Kodos backs off a second time to allow Cavell to take on these new arrivals. Another Fear RR is made by Hanu and Cavell who are within the 10 foot radius of effect, each player rolls successfully.

Meanwhile Asmodeus, who is in the middle of preparing a spell, decides to follow the left fork in the tunnel (slowly, because he can only move 10% = 5 feet per round while preparing) and haplessly moves into two more Ghouls. Jokes quickly sprout that this is the only way Asmodeus’ can get a Ghoul-friend (sic) - two as it so happens! Deciding not to embrace these new opportunities, Asmodeus releases his spell and suffers a Spell Failure that stuns him for 3 rounds. Another Ghoul appears behind the first two so he moves back to allow Xera access to the Ghouls. As she passes him, she casts a stun removal spell, then she opens up her attack with a thrust of her rapier. She does little damage but eventually the Ghouls are defeated as Rikku comes around behind them.

Cavell moves into the five foot wide tunnel so that he can fight the two Greater Ghouls one at a time. He easily dispatches them and the party members sigh in relief. Treasure springs to Rikku’s mind and after a search by a number of players except Hanu, items are found along with some coin. The paladin’s coffin Cavell is seeking is not present, nor is the armour.

Before proceeding I inform Kodos and Xera that they will need to do a disease RR roll because they were hit by the Ghouls’ hands. Both of them fail and so now they suffer the disease known as Ghoul Rot. Ghoul Rot essentially causes the loss of 1D5 hits per day and prevents healing, either magical or otherwise. The only way to heal a character of Ghoul Rot is through the use of a Remove Disease or Remove Curse spell. Cavell has neither of these and so decides to cast a spell that will halt the effects of the disease without actually removing it from them.

Leaving the Ghoul burrow, as these tunnels are now recognised, the party search the ground looking for clues as to where the coffin has been moved. Nothing is found at first but it is noticed that the barbs of the old iron fence are bent as if a heavy weight was on top. More searching reveals deep scratches in the rusted iron and the barbs all bend in a southerly direction. Following the clues the PCs find a large indentation in the ground at the southern end of the fence. More searching indicated the coffin was dragged into the mausoleum to the south west. Suspicious that it is another waste of time the PCs enter the mausoleum.

Six sarcophagi are found inside the structure and each one is opened by the party. Cavell dispenses with returning the tombs back to their original condition they were found due to the fact that the entire graveyard appears to be tainted by evil. One lone Rotting Corpse is found in one of the tombs along with some treasure. Nine scrolls were found; three each of Remove Curse and Cure Disease as well as three full healing scrolls. Again, no armour is found.

A small intermission is held and players are given the ExP they have been gaining over the last few fights.

Getting tired of this the PCs once again look for clues on the ground - none. But the fence barbs are again bent, pointing in a westerly direction. Another depression in the ground and the group follow the tracks to another tomb that has a large opening in its side. Not wanting to waste their time again, a thorough search of the ground is made just to make sure the scrape marks are not leading somewhere else, none are found on the ground… Into the breach once more dear friends!

Kodos leads the single line formation down into the Ghoul burrow. This is getting ridiculous! This is another identical Ghoul burrow. At the intersection Kodos notices that the grooves that were left behind in the soil from the dragging of the coffin continue only in one direction. This looks promising.

Heading deeper into the burrow, the darkness grows. Using his own light source, Kodos follows the trail and is lead to a stone door - more good news. The tunnel turns left, going north and so before they open the stone door, the PCs investigate. Two Greater Ghouls are found in the cave ahead and so Kodos, who passes his fear RR, moves back so they can ambush the closing enemy. As the Ghouls come in range, Cavell and Hanu pass their own fear RRs and easily remove the threat. Now to opening the stone door…

Not locked, but simply heavy, the party open the door and find a large stone coffin at the end of the scrape marks. A partially destroyed relief in the coffin lid is identified to be that of Eissa. This is definitely what the group have been trying to find!

Concentrating their efforts on lifting the lid the PCs put the stone slab off to the side. Looking inside they see the ghastly visage of a dark, shadowy human wearing raiment of plate armour. An image on the shield is burnt black but the PCs identify it to be the same as the relief on the coffin lid.

This is not the armour that Cavell has been looking for, not unless he wants to be seen dead wearing it!

Xera examines the form lying in front of her and identifies it; she informs the party that it is a Wight. Cavell quickly panics and goes to put the lid back on the coffin, but before he moves the eyes open revealing faint lights. Should they run for it now while they have a chance? The PCs back off slightly as the Wight arises. A low mumbling sound can be heard – it is a spell – too late!

Casting a fear spell at the PCs, the Wight hopes to remove most of his enemies in front of him. Everyone within 60 feet have to roll a fear RR – they all pass the test except Asmodeus. Choosing to stay and fight, Xera, Cavell, Rikku and Hanu surround the evil creature. Doing a minimal 4 hit points of damage to the Wight, it replies in kind. Xera is in its sights and it swings a mighty broadsword.

Wham! Xera takes heavy damage; a shock of cold grips her body as the sword bites into her flesh. She takes an ‘E’ Slash critical in the process, however, this attack is different; it also has a Cold critical of the same severity applying. Badly hurt, Xera backs away out of the door, bleeding at 5 hits per round - she is presently only on 25 hits. That is not long to live.

Determined not to let their friend Xera die, first Rikku, then Hanu and finally the usually slow Cavell, hurl attack after attack on the undead creature. It is quickly brought down in two rounds (20 seconds) of combat. Luckily for them it was too slow to attack in the second round and it was defeated before it could retaliate

Cavell moves to Xera’s side to get the healing process underway. The bleeding is stopped via the use of herbs and Cavell casts a number of healing spells to stabilise her condition while they took effect. Every one is then checked and healed of any major injuries/depleted hit points.

Not happy to see Rikku pick up the magical sword used by the Wight, Cavell continues to heal Xera. (Rikku always gets the magical items.) Rikku tries to attune to the sword and fails. He decides to pass it on to Cavell who attunes to it, finding out that it is a Blade Of Warning. This broadsword gives +15 OB when attacking Orcs, Trolls and other creatures of darkness. It also allows the user to cast Detect Enemies I, a Paladin-base spell once per day.

Rikku searches the coffin and finds another magical, +20 broadsword with no other bonuses. Other treasure was found, but I can’t remember what it was and by the way, the armour was not found either.

Even more frustrated, but happy that they have picked up some nice treasure, the indications of the coffin’s passage through this area are slowly uncovered 20 feet away. Once again the PCs are lead to a large gash in the side of a tomb and a burrow is evident. This time, however, the trackers determine that the scrape marks do not go into the tunnel and that they keep going northwest. The map so far...

Do the party members risk further confrontation with the unlife or do they continue northwest? Come back another time for the next instalment of Destiny Awaits.

Don't forget to visit SkeletonKey Games for the fantastic gaming tiles I use in the pictures above. I have used the Graveyard and Ghoul Burrow products here.