Nightwick Birthday Bash

Yesterday was my birthday and I had the time so I ran a session of Nightwick Abbey for some of the online regulars. Here's what happened:

On the first day of Primus, the new year in the World of Nightwick and also the feast day of St. Gax himself, members of the leadership of the Howling Kommandos including the Zenopolitan fanatic Stavros, the frogling guard Fredrick Bull, the misshapen hunchback Abraham Nermal, and the enigmatic frogling wizard Gold Tiger decided to make their way to Nightwick Abbey.  After participating in the traditional rites of St. Gax's day - receiving floral necklaces and floral print shirts - they made their way into the edge of the Fog-bound Forest and up to the infamous abbey.

Stavros had taken over the role of mapper, since neither Uein nor L'Earl de Camembert were present. He decided that the party should make their way to level three by passing through the first two levels by a route he indicated to them.  This worked until they arrived on the second level.  As soon as they opened the first door they found themselves confronted with a creature consisting of a number of bodies rotting together in a gibbet.  They knew that these creatures could be very troublesome, even deadly, if not taken out quickly and so they sought to destroy it as fast as possible.  Stavros rushed forward wielding his magic sword and lopped off a few extruded limbs in the hopes that it would give Fredrick a chance to move up and strike as its attention was turned.  The creature, in a rage, turned its remaining limbs to stavros and began to squeeze him against the cage.  Fredrick was unable to get his sword through the gibbet's iron bars, but a shot from Abraham ended the caged one's unnatural existence.

Nearer the site of the "Orange Julius" which one took up part of level 2 - until the party killed the "new management," a powerful Knight of Armadeus - they encountered a group of cultists of the Elder Eye.  These cultist were performing sadomasochistic tortures on themselves and their fellows. Stavros, horrified, announced "they are seeking the devil's yogurt!"  Gold Tiger placed many of them in a magical slumber.  Stavros then ran in and declared "This is the pleasure of the Lord!" as disemboweled one of the cultists.  The other cultists seemed disturbingly encouraged by seeing their comrade die, shouting things too terrible for even the dungeon master to repeat.  The combined efforts of all in the party made short work of these degenerates.

All save one of the sleeping ones, who Stavros had the others to leave alive in the hopes that he might be questioned.  From him they learned many things. First, that the cult on the lower level was attempting to expand up now that the Bleeding Baroness and her followers were slain. Second, the name of the three chief lieutenants of Armadeus: Eligos the Master of Things Seen, Orobas the Master of Things Unseen, and Valax the Master of Things Hidden. Also from him they learned that he had been called to the abbey from the Realm by "the Master," but that others had been recruited in the shanty town outside of Lychgate.  He indicated where their barracks was on level 3. Finally, he indicated that the two remaining seals needed to unlock a strange door on level 2 were found "in a crypt unlike the one where you found the first" and "near a statue of Valax." This information learned, Abraham pithed him with a stiletto, hoping it would be a quick, painless death for one who sought so much pain.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs to the third level, the party remembered that each time they had stepped off the steps they had heard eerie laughter echo from the ossuary at their foot.  Before stepping off Stavros announced he would "test their humor," and asked "Knock knock."  A ghostly whisper of "who's there?" was heard.  "Vengeance of the Lord."  "Vengeance of the lord who?" "I am the Vengeance of the Lord!" he announced as he stepped onto the floor.  Laughter echoed followed by a whispered "you wish..."  Abraham attempted a similar joke, weaving in a threat based on their destruction of a shrine to the Horned One called the Horned Shrine.  Unfortunately, the ghostly voice was just confused because it knew little of the happenings in the outside world.

After this, a debate about where to explore on this level began.  The party ultimately decided to look immediately east as they had all forgotten what was in that room, and saw a door leading away from it on the map.  Opening the door they found 22 mites engaged in a bowling game. They continued the game with only the score keeper looking up to interact with the intruders. Stavros asked if the devil-men they now remembered were in the room to the north were still placing bets on the game.  The score keeper gave hand gestures that confirmed this, and the party decided to leave rather than confront the devil-men and potentially have 22 mites at their back.

Exploring a set of chambers to the east of where the cultists' barracks was indicated to be, they found an area where the abbey seemed even more alive than usual.  The halls were fleshy and inflamed, and the very air seemed humid and active as though it were breathing laboriously. In these chambers the party found a set of enochian letters written on the ground.  They produced a dim, yellow light and seemed to cut the abbey as though they were binds or chains.

Near one of these letters, they found a warlock and his servant dressed in the same attire as the cultists they had fought previously (though the warlock wore a silver mask). They attempted to surprise these men, and did so, but the warlock was able to notice the attackers after they had killed his subordinate.* The party quickly gained the advantage, but before being slain the warlock subjected Abraham to the Finger of Death spell he was granted by Armadeus.**  If not for the favor of the God of Law, Abraham would have died and become a foul servant of the damned!

After killing the warlock, the party quickly made sure the adjoining chambers looked as they expected - a set of four rooms with enochian glyphs - and then returned home.  Before coming to the exit, they heard the distant wailing of a child of stone, but decided it was best to run out rather than face it.

Monsters Defeated: 1 Caged One, 13 Cultists, 1 Warlock

Treasure Gained: Silver Mask (250gp), scrolls in crowleyan describing the wales seals may be broken

XP Per Player: 581 (from monsters and treasure)

* I think I am interpreting the 5e rules right to say that once you say "I'm going to attack" that initiates a combat round and causes an initiative roll to see when the surprised creatures lose their surprise condition.  Abraham's low initiative score meant that the plan to snipe them with his assassination ability was foiled.  I may houserule this, but I'm not sure what other rules this interacts with or if I'm interpreting it right in the first place.

** I did not describe it at the time, and have forgotten to all previous times, but the warlocks they fight on the first level each have their left eye removed under the mask.

Drink to the Dead

The following rules were created by Cole for his Swords of the Inner Sea campaign but are apparently derived from work done by Chris and Robert. They work well for Old School D&D games and I wanted to preserve them.

Normally the successor of a fallen adventurer may inherit 25% of the XP of the dead character.

However, 50% will be inherited if the body can be recovered and given a heroic funeral, with a value of at least 100 GP per level spent on of the deceased sacrifices, grave goods, professional mourners, orators, venal holy men, impressive incence, free food and drinks for hangers-on, et. al.

Donors will receive half the GP value contributed in XP, up to twice the minimum value.

Partial remains are considered by a case-by-case basis; burying the half of the body undevoured by the monster is acceptable, but there has to be at least enough to mock up a body with creative funeral garbing. The adventurer who unsentimentally severs the head of a corpse, prizing encumbrance slots over reverence will find no satisfaction in the rites.

Needless to say, attempting to recover donated goods after the funeral is likely to incur a terrible curse.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Huth has written a version for 5e based on my criteria and I plan to use it in my Wilderlands game.  It is reproduced below:
Normally the successor of a fallen adventurer may inherit only one-quarter of the XP of the dead character. However, the successor will inherit half of the predecessor’s XP if the body can be recovered and given a heroic funeral.
To provide such a funeral, contributors must contribute gp (or the gp value of appropriate goods) towards the funeral. This gold is put toward funerary monuments, beautifying the final resting place, preparing the body, sacrifices, grave goods, professional mourners, orators, venal holy men, impressive incense, food, drinks, and drugs for hangers-on, et cetera.
If the total gp spent on the funeral matches or exceeds the heroic funeral threshold, then the deceased character’s successor gains 50% of the deceased character’s XP (instead of the standard 25%). This threshold is equal to 100 gp x (dead character’s level).
If the threshold is met, then each contributor may spend a a downtime action on the funeral rites (to plan and assemble the above funeral goods and services and perform the rites). Every contributor who does so gains bonus XP based on the amount of their individual contribution. This bonus XP is equal to an amount based on the contributor’s current level (see chart below), per every (5 gp x (dead character’s level)) share contributed, to a maximum of 20 shares. (GP in excess of this may be provided to the funeral total, but will provide no XP bonus to the contributor.)
Example: Anne (level 2) is contributing to Bob’s (level 4) funeral. For every 20gp Anne pays into the funeral, she receives 6 XP. Anne pays a total of 240gp into the fund, netting her 72 XP. (((240/(5x4))x6)=72)

XP per Share by Contributor Level			GP of Share by Deceased’s Level			GP Threshold of Heroic Funeral by Deceased’s Level
Level	XP		Level	GP		Level	GP
1	3		1	5		1	100
2	6		2	10		2	200
3	18		3	15		3	300
4	38		4	20		4	400
5	75		5	25		5	500
6	90		6	30		6	600
7	110		7	35		7	700
8	140		8	40		8	800
9	160		9	45		9	900
10	210		10	50		10	1000

Tales from the Cutthroat Tavern: Ambling Shadows

The party that had previously stayed in Adderwood met up with Onephrio and decided together to make their way to the Halls of the Black Spider. The party wished to avoid the ruined village they had discovered last time and so set out in a slightly different direction they hoped would lead them to their destination. Unfortunately, their way was blocked by a large number of orcs of the Purple Claw waiting in ambush. Howeverr Khurshid was able to spot the ambuscade in time and lead the party away.

That night they made camp near a hot spring. During Khurshid and Waq Awaqa’s watch, a group of large bushes was seen moving at the perimeter. The watchmen woke the rest of the party and they prepared for battle. This turned out to be a fatal decision. The creatures proved too powerful for the party, who lost two members – new friend Onephrio and long time companion The Pact is Sealed. Onephrio made his last stand amongst the camp fire they had set, only to find the creatures were resistant to fire. His last thought as he died was “I suppose men are more flammable than trees.”

Green Sonya

The rest of the party escaped on their wagon and decided to push towards the dungeon despite exhaustion. Wickerbobbile acted as guide and wagon master. Luckily they went through the next day with only a herd of elk encountered. “Fucking majestic,” Khurshid noted. Outside the dungeon they found Father Thorne a wizard,Green Sonya a barbarian who is the reason that other Sonya’s need a descriptor, and Anex the Amazon. They had apparently come to explore the dungeon too and so they elected to do so together.

I'm baaaaaack!

The combined party tried to remember what features of the dungeon they had encountered last time, which made some slow going. Their adventure was stopped when they encountered another flame skull in the large chapel that had previously been part of their running battle with the moonrakers. Most in the party attempted some skirmishing tactics, retreating into the hallway to avoid retaliation from the monster, but Red Sonya charged out to meet it. Unfortunately for those who weren’t Red Sonya, the clustered group in the hallway proved perfect for the flame skulls fireball spell, which blew Khurshid apart. Everyone else was injured except Sonya and Waq Awaqa, who had retreated down the hallway to watch their backs.

Father Thorne found that his magic was ineffective against the creature and thus retreated himself to make sure he did not meet Khurshid’s fate. Anex decided to rush the creature and attempted to grapple it. While she was not successful, the creature was thrown off balance and it’s powerful heat beams were unable to land. Annapurna’s use of her magical abilities to enhance her bow attacks finally managed to bring the creature down.

The party returned to the City State with what remained of Khurshid’s body. Annapurna, hoping to save him, rubbed the lamp they received from Salassim the Magician. Who should be inside but Salassim himself, changed into an Efreet! Salassim offered the use of his powers for three tasks, but admitted that saving Khurshid was outside of his ability. Waq Awaqa, who was Khurshid’s brother in religion, prepared his body for sea burial and dedication to Armadad Bog with the normal method of whipping and applying icthoid appendages to accompany the man into the afterlife. The rituals thus completed, he was rolled into the Estuary of the Roglaroon.

Nightwick Abbey Player Doc

A looking for players poster made by longtime online player Cole

Here is a player doc I did for the 5e version of Nightwick.

Let me know what y'all think.

Into the Wild... erlands

This is the system I'm using for hex crawling in the Wilderlands.  It is primarily based on this Unearthed Arcana article, but it also draws inspiration from Adventures in Middle Earth and the Pathfinder Kingmaker CRPG.

A party venturing through the wilderness will have characters serving in the following roles:

Guide (survival):* Makes a survival check to direct the party to their destination.  Failure indicates the party becomes lost, travelling in a random direction (1d6 roll for hex side) for their full day of movement.  Success means they are on the proper course.  A natural 20 means a shortcut is found and they are able to move an additional days worth of hexes.  Rangers may automatically succeed on this roll in their home terrain, but must take this role in order to do so.

Scout (investigation and stealth): Uses investigation to see what's ahead of the group.  If a random encounter has been rolled or a ruin, relic, or lair, is within the hex then a successful investigation roll reveals the encounter and the Scout may make a stealth roll to continue investigating.  If they don't want to stealth, they may return to the party and inform them of what's ahead for proper planning.

Forager (survival): Uses a survival roll to gather food for up to 4 people.  Additional characters must either have another forager or use rations.  A failure on this roll provides no food.  A natural 20 automatically feeds the whole party.

Guard (perception):  Uses perception to avoid being ambushed by encountered creatures.  If the Scout has failed their investigation roll, then the Guard must make a perception check.  If that check is successful then the encounter is spotted while it is between the Scout in the party.  If it is a failure the encounter is able to gain an attack on the party where everyone has the surprise condition.

*Guide is the only role that is required.

The order of operations is as follows: at the beginning of the day the guide makes a roll to see if the party is on course.  For each hex they pass through, the DM determines if there is a thing in the hex or if a random encounter occurs.  If there is an encounter of some sort, the DM asks the Scout to make an investigation check.  If the Scout succeeds the DM describes the encounter.  If the Scout fails the Guard must make a perception check.  If the Guard succeeds the monsters are spotted between the Scout and the party.  If the Guard fails then the monsters attack with surprise (assuming they're hostile).

Camping requires a survival roll to make camp (any role can do this) and the decision of whether or not to have a fire.  Failing this roll adds a level of exhaustion to all characters.  During colder months, no fire means that the characters accrue another level of exhaustion.  The night is divided into three watches.  Only those who take the first or last watch gain the benefit of a full long rest.  If a fire is set there are three chances for an encounter (one for each watch) and if there is no fire then there is only one chance of an encounter (the watch it occurs during being randomly determined).

Burgell's Journal: Pteranodons!

A short session because I was Extremely Tired.  Same Writer as last time.

16th Day of The Howling Winds Erstwhile our heroes (that's us! We're heroes. Heroes who watch dogs eat innocent people.) make ready to return to the Warren. A cluster of guards and townsfolk outside the tavern! But lo, Namira is approached by some creepy dwarf with an intensely old amulet with diamonds in it, seeking to sell it to her, because he heard her discussing in the tavern that she wanted to procure some for a spell. But his grift was too expensive and Namira didn't have the money so she, and by extension we, passed on it. But enough about that, there are flying creatures attacking, big and leather-y winged and squawky! Pteranodons, or something like that. Seven of them! !!Fight it out!! We ended their butts!! Well one got away but we did it! Velor decided to make a codpiece out of one of the large heads. We decided that was enough of an adventure for one day, head back inside the tavern, take a nap, and try again another day.

Even More Tales from the Cutthroat Inn

Annapurna, sorrowful over the death of Sweetleaf, asked around the City State to find an elven temple or perhaps a nearby elven settlement. She discovered that in the northern section of the Dearthwood there is a village of wood elves that owes fealty to the Overlord. She discussed the situation with the rest of the Cutthroat Inn regulars and they agreed to head to the village to give Sweetleaf a proper funeral. Einnar, despite never knowing Sweetleaf, was especially enthusiastic because he hoped his new companions would do similar for him if he should die.

Annapurna took the body to the Temple of Odin to be preserved for the journey. They asked her for 200gp for the service, which she balked at but payed anyway. When the rest of the party came to join her, she was shocked to find that in their company was Waq Awaqa, a warlock who had adventured with them in the City State of the World Emperor.

While retrieving the body from the Temple, the party noticed that priests of Hamarkhis were trying to undo the spell with counter signs. Einnar and Annapurna threatened violence, while Wickerbobbile attempted to distract the priests to keep the situation from escalating. However, a proper end to the hostilities occurred when a great golem in the shape of Thoth the Terriblearrived to disperse the priests. The party loaded Sweetleaf’s body in their wagon and made their way out of the City State.

The party's previous encounter with the lions

Khurshid acted as their scout in the Dearthwood while Einnar guided them to where he believed the elf village to be. They realized the Halls of the Black Spider, which they had previously partially explored, lay midway between the City State and the elf village, so they made their way to that landmark. On the first night of their journey, Annapurna observed that they were being watched by a group of lions, one of which had an obviously disfigured face. Using torches, she broadened the perimeter of the cap which forced the lions to retreat without incident. However, the party was forced to decamp early to avoid a sizable war party of Orcs of the Purple Claw.

Once they had arrived at the Halls of the Black Spider, the again saw the dragon turtle skeleton which seemed to act as a lion’s den.The Pact is Sealed suggested that maybe they should kill the lions now rather than wait until later, but the rest of the party did not want to risk death at that moment. Wickerbobbible used his ability to talk to animals to discuss the layout of the wood with a songbird. It informed him of the location of two villages (one of which they believed to be the elf village) and a large, black pyramid. This peaked the interest of Ion Skamos, who wondered what set-related secrets the pyramid could hide.

Scouting ahead of the party on the third day of their trek, Khurshid found a burned out village that had not been mentioned by the bird. Inside were a number of elven corpses as well as a unwholesomly large, foul-smell plant. They agreed not to investigate further and instead turned north. Einnar was able to find a shortcut that led them to the village of Adderwood that very night.

In Adderwood they ate in the hall of Glofynan Elf-friend, who informed him of their woes with orcs and also agreed to lay Sweetleaf up in the temple of Cilborith before she could be properly prepared for a sky burial. The party elected to stay the rest of the week in Adderwood, hopefully to head out to the Halls of the Black Spider soon.