Cringe Ye Be Lest Cringe Ye Become: A Nightwick Miscelany

 

Here's some random stuff from the long running Nightwick campaigns that doesn't really fit in the book and doesn't really have a coherent enough theme to be sorted into another kind of post.

Mumbletypeg
Of all the stupid amusements shared by both Bogdani and Realmishman there is none so stupid but also none more beloved as mumblteypeg. In the Dark Country variety the aim of this game is to throw a knife down at your own boot and the closest "without going over" (and suffering grievous injury) wins!

The mechanical representation of this is rather simple. Both players make an attack role against their unarmored* AC (10 + their dex bonus). The winner is the player who scores highest *without* meeting or beating their AC. Naturally this give an advantage to those with a high dex bonus, but games are never fair.

Usually a wager is involved, but some drunkards have been known to do it purely for the thrill of the thing.

Some say this was an import from some other realm, though the most likely candidate for its origins is the Kingdom of Vulgary to the north. Vulgarian rules may be different from those described above.

Songs of the Dark Country 
Over the years of the campaign both Nightwick Regulars/Howling Kommandos and the Weeknight Nightwick groups have been subjected to my butcherings of traditional songs to fit the Dark Country. Some are likely lost with G+ but a selection of those I can find are replicated below with some of their context.

The first is variously known as "the Brown Lady," "The Eunuch's Lament" and "Mab and the Madman" and tells the tale of a Zenopolitan Witch Hunter who heads into the 'Wood of Witches' to kill a fairy-witch queen. The parts in brackets noted are in a poorly formed, dog-bogdani.

The snippet opens with a part sung by the fairy-witch queen:

I can make thou feelest well,
[Walking in the wood],
And thou shalt never go to Hell,
[Where it's always autumn],

The Zenopolitan did say,
[Walking in the wood],
That his dick was made of clay,
[Where it's always autumn],

And he struck her right upon the head,
[Walking in the wood],
And the Elven Witch she fell straight dead,
[Where it's no longer autumn],

There is said to be an older version, written before the news of the victory at the Battle of the Witchfort, where the fairy-witch queen successfully tempts him. It is now lost to time.

This second one is commonly used as a marching song by the men known as the Howling Kommandos:

Well they were cast out of eaven when their bag became a burden,
So instead they made their garden where the banks of burdocks grow,
And there were was no gold or silver on the banks of the Dark River,
In the land of the Bogdani where the banks of burdocks grow,

Chorus:
Where old panes are broken and a thousand tongues are spoken,
And new saints awaken where the banks of burdocks grow,
So farewell cold winter we shall all go out together,
In the land of the Bogdani where the banks of burdocks grow,

There is no peace or plenty in the land of the Bogdani,
And the rain falls down so swiftly where the banks of burdocks grow,
And a pretty young maiden is a candle in the darkness,
But it’s a bright and blazing furnace where the banks of burdocks grow,

Chorus

Well the pope sent out his army to the land of the Bogdani,
And the soldiers they were weary where the banks of burdocks grow,
So they stormed the temple quarter and the glass fell down like water,
In the land of the Bogdani where the banks of burdocks grow,

Chorus

Third we have one that I didn't deploy at the time but was at least mentioned as being sung by knockers in mines outside the town of Blackleg:

It's dark and dank down in the mine,
And demons come out by surprise,
And none o' ye shall leave alive,
Ye dirty little miners,

Dunnae gang down in the mine,
Across the top we stretched a line,
To catch you throat and break your spine,
Ye dirty little miners,

Down here is a terrible place,
We'll rub wet clay on yer dying face,
And in the dark we'll run a race,
To catch ye little miners,

We'll grab yer duds, yer picks as well,
And hoy ye down the pit o' hell,
So down ye go and fare ye well,
Ye dirty little miners

Most recently the Weeknights in Nightwick group faced a trio of groans who sang a little song about themselves:

Oak of the clay saw many a day,
Fore e'er Acheron be damned,
Ash of the loam was a lady at home,
Before there was nary a man,
Thorn of the down so a little town,
From which was Lychgate born...

However upon hearing the approach of the PCs the groans ceased their songs and switched to lobbing rocks. 

Updates to the World of Nightwick Calendar
A combination of my inability to remember my own day names and a recent diet in the city of Koenigsburg means I have revised the days of the week thusly:

Sunday
Moonday
Swordsday
Wandsday
Cupsday
Coinsday
Devilsday

The Zodiac of the World of Nightwick
Warren had asked me to work up a list of astrological signs and so I did. They are in roughly the same order as those of our world - so the Undine being analogus to Pisces roughly overlaps with beginning of the month of Primes, being the start of the year in the World of Nightwick but representing March.

The Scitalis - the monster of the same name
Queen [sic] Moloch - A minotaur
Bophades - depicts a pair of twins whom Acherontic texts claims are... well now we say they're wrestling and it's Fine.
The [sic] Al Miraj - the monster of the same name
Aslan - A lion
The Uke - a beautiful male youth playing a stringed instrument
Ligma - two... weights
The Basilisk - the monster of the same name
The Measurer - a woman with a measuring tool in front of a 10x10 square
The Hippocampus - the mythical creature of the same name
The Torcherbearer - a youth carrying a torch
The Undine - in Acherontic texts it is said to depict a fish but all modern texts say it depicts a woman

* It is considered gauche to play while still in armor, though the specifics may be negotiated by the participants.

 

Into the Megadungeon

I am the latest guest on Ben L's podcast, Into the Megadungeon, where I talk about Nightwick Abbey. I always wanted to be a Hallowe'en episode!

 You can find the episode here and Ben's post about the episode here.

Nightwick Abbey: Secret Origins - Rose Red

We say haunted, but what we mean is the house has gone insane.

I somehow have written for this blog for 13 years and not mentioned what is maybe the most influential text on Nightwick Abbey. Honestly, it's probably because I was embarrassed to admit how big of an influence it was, or maybe because I myself forgot what all I stole from in the eight years between when I saw it and when I started the blog and the dungeon. Who knows?

Before I begin further discussion, I should note that I am pretty sure the miniseries' treatment of Autism is godawful. I don't think I'm really in a position to say, but King's general representation of neurodiversity is notoriously "yikes" and this is again an instance of his imbuing such a character with powerful psychic powers. I'm not going to comment on it further in this post because, as I said, I'm not really in a position to comment on it and it was not one of the things that contributed to Nightwick Abbey.

I have often compared Nightwick's shifting, growing, and possession of consciousness to Rose Red in conversations with players, but apparently have never stated that on this blog. Earlier this month one of those players pointed out to me that the show is currently on Hulu. I responded that I was doomed to watch it. In response he made this image he made:

It's 2002. It's 2023.

I had only seen it when it originally aired in 2002 and thought that it would likely have aged poorly and that my decision, conscious or otherwise, to ignore it on this blog would be the correct one. When I rewatched it with my wife I found that it was a melodrama in a style rarely seen on television anymore that is indeed dated and corny, but the practical effects at least were charming and some of the ideas still echoed with me the way they did when I was 14.

Rose Red, you see, is a miniseries about a house with a consciousness of it's own. As they say near the climax, "the house is the vampire." Based loosely on the Winchester house, the fictional house of the movie was constantly under construction due to the belief by the lady of the house that her daughter would not die so long as the house continued to be built upon. Even after she disappears the house persists under construction, at first with mortal workers and then only with spectral ones.

A college professor who has moved from regular psychology to parapsychology plans on bringing a bunch of psychics to the house to wake it up. It goes poorly. Practical effects are used along with the worst CGI you've ever seen. It's cheesy but I still liked it.

More important there are several lines that are definitive in how I view Nightwick Abbey as a Nightmare Realm. ""You can count [the rooms] one day and it's 74 and another day it's 87 or 96." In Rose Red, space is psychological. Rooms with their own obvious histories appear that are on no official plans and which no present inhabitant has ever been inside. Visions appear to lead you into traps - either to die or to be absorbed by the house, depending on what it thinks of you.* The psychic powers of the team bring the garden in the solarium back to life. It's neat!

In the years since 2002 I've been very into stories about evil places. Netflix once said my most watched subgenres were "Strong Female Character" and "This Place is Evil." I have to think some of that is watching this show at a formative age. It seems to have cemented the idea in my brain of a place that actively hates you. A place with more rooms than you can ever count. A place haunted by the spirits of the dead. I wonder if there's a term for that.

* It's stated that its opinion of you is largely gendered - it likes (and therefore absorbs) women and hates (and therefore kills) men. In the intervening years this haunted me for reasons, but upon rewatching it the statement in the dialog is not supported by what actually happens to any characters on the show. At least three men seem to be absorbed by the house. Weird!

Magic in the World of Nightwick

I realize with the writing of this post that I am putting myself, and perhaps the world, at great personal risk, but wedding my desire for Vancian magic and my desire for magicians to be manipulating the threads of reality against the will of God. Hopefully this schema will quiet the Voices.

 

In time out of time before there was time, there was Nothing, and in Nothing there could have been anything. There could have been, but there never was. Endless potential but with nothing having to face the shame of having to be. Then the God of Law sounded like a great bell, and the tone spread throughout Nothing and made it a myriad of Somethings: land and see and rivers and trees and stars and demons and fires and angels. All these somethings were, it is said, from the mind of God, but since the God of Law had only the Nothing to make them out of they are imperfect.  The rest of this story is told elsewhere.

For us it suffices to know that everything that is something is two things: that which exists in the World and that which exists in the Law. Magic, then, is the manipulating of one of these two things. The Church of Law and its clerics wield magic by asking for the God of Law, one of His saints, or His angels, to intercede on their behalf. Typically this involves changing the thing in the World by realigning it with the Law. A man is healed by remembering who they are in the Law. A stick is made a snake by changing whether it references the Law for sticks to the Law for snakes. And so through piety are miracles worked.

The magic of the magician is different. Magicians learn as much about the forms which exist in the Law as they can, absorbing arcane formulae which bring parts of their brain in line with the strange thoughts of a thrumming sphere at the top of space. The human mind is fragile and can only contain a small number of these forms and as soon as they are utilized they are expelled until study again realigns their synapses to the thrum. However, they do not align the thing in the World with the Law. Instead, they change the thing in the World to the idea within their own head, changing its accident in the World to mirror their thought in an arrogant act of self-creation. In this way it is a reverse of the eucharist of Earth's Catholicism. A magician could not make the bread into the body of Christ, but they could make it smell and taste and feel like human flesh.

Demons are of particular use to the magician, for they remember the Nothing and the pang of the Law and how all things were rendered into existence. They have a unique perspective on the Law for they alone remember the world without it. As such demons commonly know a wide variety of spells and may teach them to mortals who agree to join them in their attempts to dethrone the God of Law and pitch him into the pit in a final act of suicide.

Some magicians crave this final act of self-destruction, for they too burn against the World and against the God of Law for making it, but most merely see this path as a way to enjoy riches and knowledge in life. And why wouldn't they? Even the most minor of familiars can instruct a magician in a variety of spells that normally only the most advanced scholars may learn. And besides, is not being really that different from returning to the mind of the Sphere?

Some Announcements

 

First there is a new preview up at the IPD Patreon if you want to see what one of our geomorphs looks like.

I also have a new game on Start Playing for anyone who is interested in doing some Swords & Sorcery gaming nonsense. It takes place in Yavana. From the copy I wrote for Start Playing:

Beyond the world we know lies a land of high adventure: Yavana! A realm of steaming jungles, barren deserts, and ancient mountains! Yavana! Where primordial beasts from the dawn of our world still roam! Yavana! Where men pray to gods thought long dead and treat with the demons of outer space! Yavana! Where a cool head and a strong arm could win a king’s ransom in treasure! Be the first to see the strange Temple of Abzu where sharks swim through the air! Plunder the tomb of the First Man, a saurian monstrocity from ancient days! Defy the nefarious necromancer whose curse threatens a city with death! This is a sandbox campaign inspired by Sword & Sorcery fiction and adventure films of the mid 20th century. Players will take the role of warriors, freebooters, and sorcerers attempting to win fame, fortune, and glory. Game rules are Old School Essentials but only human characters are available. Challenge the savage world of swords & sorcery!

Finally, if you've been missing I Cast Light's Nightwick play reports Mycelium Mischef has taken up chronicling the adventures until Warren returns from hiatus. If you're interested in joining the adventures and perhaps dying in a hole, you can sign up here.

Nightwick: The Continuing Adventures

Map by the man himself

If you haven't yet, head over to I Cast Light! and check out the adventures of the Thursday night Nightwick group. Warren's been summarizing them and even includes an info graphic illustrating how many characters have died!

It's been real good to run it with OSE.

Running Nightwick on Start Playing

Art by Chris Huth 

Starting next Thursday, I'm going to be running my world famous megadungeon Nightwick Abbey on Start Playing. If you want to try OSE or do an old school dungeon delve into a Doom Metal Mega Dungeon, consider signing up!

The Saints will Eat You

  

The Sphere in Judgement, a common motif in the art of the Western Church, by Chris Huth

James at Grognardia recently made a post about his use of saints instead of gods in his Urheim project. I have, to some degree, done this in the World of Nightwick as well. Originally this was just a set of oddball references I used to fill out the doctrine of the Western Church, and in the form of St Santa Claus it became a running NPC/faction in the game. However, since I have switched to 5e for the two games I'm currently running, saints have taken increasing importance since they are a vector for mechanics: they provide clerics access to divine domains. Below is a list of the divine domains and their associated saints now that new ones have been provided in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything:

Forge - St Joel the Witty
Grave - St Ingels the Ghastly

Knowledge - St Simon the Wise
Life - the Lady*
Light - St Richard the Prior
Nature - St Simian the Fool
Order - St Toad
Peace - St Henrich Kiss Monger
Tempest - St Santa Claus
Trickery - St Ralph the Liar
Twilight - St Roderic the Sterling
War - St Gax Lawgiver

*The role the Lady plays in the Church is of paramount importance and for more information you should check out this patreon post.

Kommando Kronikles: The Sword

...kinda.

Characters Present

Sir Istvan the Vulgar Knight (Foul Changeling Fighter)
Sir Uein of the World (Human Fighter)
Abraham, Lord of the Prison (Human Rogue/Ranger)
Father Kozel of the Wood (Fair Changeling Cleric)
Mother Johanna of the Church of St Santa Claus (Human Cleric)
Frederick van Bull (Frogling Fighter)

November 27th, 1396

• Uein had concocted a plan to defeat the last Hochmeister and gain the seals needed to open a door on the Baroness Level. They believed this door concealed either a relic cross or a powerful magic sword.
• Entering through the graveyard entrance, the party soon found that the geomorph they normally enter through had changed orientation, meaning the way in was no longer the way out and led instead into a series of catacombs.
• Heading into those catacombs, Istvan was able to see with his special eyes that there were a number of odd, hunched figures down one of the passages. 
• The party planned to attack them, but the lighting conditions of the dungeon proved difficult to overcome, and in setting up they soon attracted the attention not only of the foes they expected (which turned out to be a group of ghouls) but also a formation of Blind Bruders.
• This led to a combat on two fronts, with the clerics and Istvan heading to face the blind brothers and the two fighters engaging the ghouls. Uein was fairly significantly wounded but both battles went easily in favor of the Kommandos.
• There was then some debate about which way to go, and as it was decided that north was the  proper way, the party was ambushed by a pair of broken dead. These too were fairly easily overcome, but there was a brief moment of panic as the creatures are often a great annoyance to delvers.
• Making the way north they found an altar covered in offal and depicting dead beings dancing around a great sphere, rusted and pitted and covered in eyes. This they remembered from a  previous delve, but were at first convinced that it lay near the lair of Great King Death. Luckily Abraham was eventually able to remember that it actually lay near the Hochmeister they sought.
• Their previous encounter with the Hochmeister had ended with them retreating for at the time they lacked clerics, area of effect spells, and blunt weapons.
• This time, however, the creatures were easily dispatched due to the magic of saint Santa Claus and the potent sling bullets of Abraham.
• The monster's lair was in a great catacomb, which the party spent some time exploring to find some treasure. This they did, though perhaps not as much as would normally befit such a potent adversary.
• However, most importantly they found the fourth and final sword brother seal.
• Uein realized that a simple walk west would lead outside the dungeon and that their best bet was to reenter through the East Tower in order to make their way to the Baroness level. Their current position on level 3 had no established root to that level, though previous outings showed it was possible to get there.
• So they did indeed exit and return by the East Tower, soon finding themselves on the second level.
• They passed through a portal of darkness and into strangely regular square rooms they knew to be associated with the God of Law, and to house the item they sought.
• There was some confusion as to where everyone needed to stand to put in the seals simultaneously, but eventually this was sorted out and the seals placed and the door opened.
• It revealed a two handed sword composed entirely of right angles - with a flat top, cubic hit, rectangular handle and guard, and a razor thin blade. Kozel was able to recognize this as a fabled "shard" of the God of Law, struck off him during the War in Heaven. He also determined the area they stood in was consecrated, though the sword itself seemed neutral in aspect.
• Johanna and Uein then each toyed with it while it was still shoved in the dais. Uein ultimately pulled it out causing a thrum to emit through the room as though he had struck a tuning fork.
• They then decided to make their way back to Nightwick village, to study the sword in greater detail.

Monsters Slain
19 Blind Bruders, 6 Ghouls, 1 Hochmeister, 2 Broken Dead

Treasure Gained
5,000sp, a suit of strangely spotless half plate of  great antiquity, a shard of the God of  Law

XP Per Player
875

Kommando Kronikles: Hunting the Hundprest

 

Yahahahahahaha!

Characters Present

Sir Istvan the Vulgar Knight (Foul Changeling Fighter) (only first session)
Sir Uein of the World (Human Fighter)
Abraham, Lord of the Prison (Human Rogue/Ranger)
Father Kozel of the Wood (Fair Changeling Cleric)
Mother Johanna of the Church of St Santa Claus (Human Cleric) (only second session)

 

November 13th - 16th, 1396

•  As discussed in the previous write up, the countryside has been harried for the past several weeks by a creature unleashed by the Kommandos themselves.  
• Now armed with a mace which could banish his spirit back to hell and two clerics capable of casting banishment, the party believed they had what they needed to end his reign of terror.
• Since they did not know his precise location, they decided the best thing would be to make their way to Knightpath and ask there for more specific directions to his new camp.
• En route they were first stopped by an encounter with some of the Hundprest's own hunting hounds - unfortunates who had been transformed by his terrible curse. Abraham used his rod of rulership to cow some of them, while Kozel removed the curse from as many as possible. Some were unfortunately slain before they could be helped.
• Heading further down the long road, the party encountered a large set of bandits (somewhere between 30 and 300) whose ambush Sir Istvan was unable to spot in time. Kozel summoned a thunderhead and used call lightning to destroy a small set of the bandits, causing their leader to flee. Upon seeing their leader flee, the rest of the bandits followed suit. 
• Istvan decided to chase down the leader and engage him in single combat, and seeing how fast the barbarian could move, the leader indeed turned to face his opponent. Istvan was ultimately able to defeat him (with some aid from a well placed bolt shot by Abraham).
• Abraham and Kozel then set about killing who they could of the remaining bandits with bolts both crossbow and lightning.
• Realizing that the commoners and dogs they had in tow were a burden and could be endangered by further such encounters, the party decided to alter their route and head to the Rumpelfort. This is a small fortified manor that once served as the home of a being called the Little Magic Man, but the Wild Daggers (i.e. the gamestore group) had cleared it to be occupied by the Order of the Elk.
• They found the guards of the Rumpelfort quite ornery and suspicious, but they quickly realized that this was because the plague in Lychgate was having a resurgence and many who traveled from that city to the various villages along the Long Road were now infected.
• A cleric was summoned to inspect them for disease, and finding none they were allowed in - and apologized too on account of their fame in the bishopric.
• The next day Kozel and the chaplain of the fort removed the curse from the remaining dogs.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• On the third day, the party left the Rumpelfort to head into the Little Heath, an area lying between the Great Swamp and the Mire of Princes. This is where they had been directed by the knights of the Elk and was also familiar to them from an earlier adventure which had led to the destruction of a pagan settlement at the edge of the swamp.
• Abraham, now having been trained in the arts of the woodsmen of Nightwick in return for his earlier acts of "heroism" on their behalf, followed the mixture of dog tracks and hand and feet prints along the southern edge of the heath. 
• The trail became muddled, but finding more tracks led them to a burned out building as well as a pile of burnt bodies. Near the building was a large cauldron and the skeletons of small fairy creatures, unidentifiable to those present. Some speculation on the purpose of the bones and the cauldron was made, but it was agreed by all that the house had been burnt by the Hundprest himself.
• They then made their way to the village they remembered from their earlier escapade. They arrived at dusk to find that it showed some evidence of having been rebuilt only to have been recently destroyed again - likely by the Hundprest. The party decided this would be a fair place to camp as the ruined buildings would provide a place to hide as well as some safety from the pouring rain that had begun only a short time ago.
• During the night, Abraham caught sight of a groan. When previously encountered, the village had worshiped these creatures, and Abraham observed it approach, see no signs of life, and then slink off back into the swamp as though greatly saddened.

Pecz

• The next morning, still in the rain, they decided to cross through the middle of the heath in hope of picking up the trail.
• After only a short trek, Istvan spotted a herd of reindeer ahead, tended to by an old man. Kozel recognized this immediately as a druid dedicated to "St Santa Claus." He had earlier researched reindeer, asking around informants in the Woodsmen's Lodge, and they had told him of such a herd and such a druid.
• From this druid, whose name was Pecz, they learned that the Hundprest was once a chaplain of the Sword Brothers, and descendants of his flock were bound to serve him as hounds due to the sins of their ancestors. 
• They also learned that though the Hundprest was bound in death to hunt the Bogdani,* he was not very picky in his choice of victim. These two facts together answered a question that had long bedeviled the party - how does this racist ghost operate? It turns out that while he could not accurately pinpoint his foeman, he did know his compatriots. Thus was his curse endlessly maintained.
  
• Asking for some aid, Kozel and Abraham were each provided with both a large stag reindeer and a smaller female reindeer (one for fighting and one for light riding) to serve as mounts.
• They headed south over land they had already covered, for Pecz had directed them thus, and soon were able to pick up the trail again and find the monster's camp.
• Currently he was gone, but the camp was attended by a lone figure in Sword Brother robes. Seeing this for one of the Blind Dead, Abraham struck swiftly with a sling bullet and destroyed the creature.
• The party then set about searching the camp, finding a rack of "sausage" that seemed to be just human entrails, and a spot of frozen ground which Abraham identified as the area where the Hundprest would manifest at night.
• They set a plan - create a roaring fire on top of his "spawn," cast banishment when he appeared, and if he stayed then wail on him and make sure the last hit was with the mace.
• The creature appeared as soon as the sun had dipped below the horizon, and at the same time so did a pack of fierce wolfhounds. Abraham subdued these with his rod of rulership - the dogs so charmed fighting with those that made their save. Kozel and Johanna both attempted to banish the creature, but it laughed in the face of their prayers.
• The combat which occurred thereafter was not terribly difficult, though the cackling of the Hundprest even as his own body burned was greatly unnerving, but ultimately when it slipped out of its body to find a new host, Johanna struck it with the mace casting it back into the Pit.
• Then they camped and the next day headed back to Nightwick, making a brief stop to inform Pecz of the success of their mission.

Monsters Slain

40 bandits, 1 bandit captain, 1 blind dead, 25 wolf hounds, the Hundprest

Treasure Gained

2400cp, 1000sp, 30gp, 15 crossbows, 45 bolts, 150gp in women's jewelry

XP Per Player
305 per session

* The natives of the Dark Country.

Kommando Kronikles: The Bowling Alley Job

Characters Present

Sir Istvan the Vulgar Knight (Foul Changeling Fighter)
Sir Uein of the World (Human Fighter)
Abraham, Lord of the Prison (Human Rogue)
Father Kozel of the Wood (Fair Changeling Cleric)
Mother Johanna of the Church of St Santa Claus (Human Cleric)

Shocktober 30th, 1396

• A few weeks ago, the Kommandos had encountered a revenant known to locals as the Hundprest.
• This first encounter with him proved that he could not be slain by the party at the time - they lacked powerful enough magic to do so. 
• Kozel spent some weeks researching the creature, and his efforts will be discussed in a future kronikle. For now, suffice it to say that he felt he knew how the monster could be dismissed but that Mother Johanna would possibly need to advance in level to ensure success.
• With this in mind, the party decided to return to the fetid hole known as Nightwick Abbey!
• Their plan was to enter the third floor and clear out a bowling alley of dregs and gambling den of devil-men that was associated with it. This, they hoped, would yield a fair amount of treasure while requiring little exertion.
• They entered the dungeon by the east tower - for they knew not the relation of the graveyard entrance to the bowling alley but did know that it lay at the base of the stairs down from level 2.
• On their way, they encountered a group of cultists in garbs they had not seen before - all black. Abraham was able to charm some using a rod of rulership the party had wrested from a pagan tomb shortly before the events in Vollage. The rest were quickly slain.
• From those enthralled, they learned they served in the cult of a being they called only The Master. Unfortunately, it is quite common for cults to refer to their idols by this moniker, but Kozel was able to ascertain they venerated a vampire.
• They also discussed how they (and the Master) were at war with a demonic being they called Plutus, and they had come to break open the seals to level 4 to aid in this war.
• Abraham then explained that they should present themselves to the guards at his prison and begin "infiltrating" by submitting themselves as prisoners there.
• They found that Uein's remembering of the Baroness's level was apparently incorrect, and while trying to locate the stairs to level 3 they encountered a caged one. 
• They slew it, but doing so required the clerics to anger the Abbey, causing a shift. Still, the encounter occurred right next to the stairs so while leaving may have been an issue, they could head to their quarry without incident.
• Heading down the stairs they arrived at the bowling alley, and only remembered that even when bowling dregs make no noise.
• There was a short attempt to parley, but Istvan's inopportune question of "so are we killing these guys?" ensured its failure.
• Battle was joined, though many of the dregs retreated to fetch devil-men alleys from the gambling den and even a chamber beyond (that happened to be connected at the time of the battle).
• Both Kozel and Johanna used effects that automatically caused the abbey to shift, but it seemed not to impede their current aim.
• These spells, and their companion's blades, proved sovereign against the assembled devil-men and dregs.
• They did, indeed, find a great deal of treasure, but decided to continue on in order to map out the current geomorph configuration.
  
• They found that the chambers they next investigated now housed a warlock and members of the Cult of the Ever Watchful Eye. The warlock they recognized by reputation to be Nymandus, a man who had previously been responsible for the stoppage of Blackleg's mine (their forces encountered him after the incident with the two ghosts.)
  
• Again, battle was joined. Though warlocks of Armadeus are known to be fearful opponents, quick thinking, spells, and decisive blows all focused on him defeated him in only a few rounds. The cultists were much more easily killed.
• With some of Nymandus's goods as treasure, and with the haul from the bowling alley, the party decided now would be a good time to escape to the surface.
• On the second level, they found they didn't know the way back, but since the party was high enough level that they would all automatically survive being lost on the 2nd level the session ended there.
  

Monsters Killed
13 Cultists, 19 Devil-men, 22 Mites, and Nymandus

Treasure Gained
5300sp, 1300gp, 6 black pearls (100gp each), 2 peridots (250gp each), and two scrolls

XP Per Player
1171

Kommando Kronikles: Song of the Shape

The Bishopric of Lychgate

Or Hallowe'en Defeated!

Characters Present
Sir Istvan the Vulgar Knight (Foul Changeling Fighter)
Sir Uein of the World (Human Fighter)
Abraham, Lord of the Prison (Human Rogue)
Father Kozel of the Wood (Fair Changeling Cleric)
Mother Johanna of the Church of St Santa Claus (Human Cleric)

Shocktober 16th

• With Sir Frederick van Bull away at his trading post in Frogguts, and Stavros Chrysophylax Balsamon taken by some strange and debilitating mood, the leadership of the Howling Kommandos did not wish to again enter the bowels of Nightwick Abbey perchance to face Great King Death.
• Instead, Kozel suggested that they help open the road between Lychgate and Nightwick by destroying a monster that had been rumored for some time to be attacking those passing through the ruins of Vollage - a being known as the Shape.
• Thanks to the "rescue" of his "daughter" in the last session, Halfdan the Black was predisposed to helping them and allowed Kozel to use his library to ascertain the nature of the Shape. Research showed that it was a fiend of some nature and likely would be immune to normal weapons.
• This in mind, the assembled members of the Howling Kommandos set off on foot without companions on the morning of Shocktober 16th.

The Alchemist in Life?

• Early on their journey was halted when Istvan, scouting ahead of the rest of the party, noticed that one of the burned-out peasant houses in the shadow of Nightwick village had recently had some repairs.
• Exploring further, he and Abraham (armed with Abraham's medical paraphernalia and Istvan's inhuman constitution) found that the house had recently belonged to an alchemist. 
• A goopy pile of "rot" was found within the lab, and Abraham's supernumeracy allowed him to quickly ascertain that the "pile" contained roughly the same mass as an adult human. The party decided this must have been the alchemist himself, killed by his own experimentations. 
• They looted what they could from the lab and then set the house aflame, hoping that no miasma would drift towards Nightwick Village.
• A sudden, freezing rain beset the party and this setback meant that they would arrive in the ruins of Vollage well into the night and exhausted. Kozel, the party's guide, decided the best way to avoid this would be to ride instead for the Witchfort (now retaken).
• However, when they left the road where they thought the path to the Witchfort should lay, they saw no such path and soon found themselves inside the Witchwood. Greatly alarmed, Kozel decided to redirect the party west, hoping this would land them around the outskirts of the Witchfort.

The Church of St Toad as it Appears... Today...

• They exited the forest, but much to their surprise it was not at the Witchfort. Instead they found themselves looking on the Hamlet of Vollage - not it's ruins, mind you, but the hamlet as it once was. Alive!*
• Disturbed by this turn of events, and the lights burning in the windows at such a late hour, the party decided to first visit the Church of St Toad, which lay closest to where they entered the hamlet. 
• There they saw a number of priests gathered around a man in armor. This man was blessing his weapon before going forth to fight some evil. As soon as he left the candles in the church blew out.
• Withdrawing their light sources the party could see the temple was now in a great ruined state. A great secret door had swung open revealing a tomb bearing the visage of the man  they saw in armor in the earlier vision.
• Kozel and Johana discussed using augury and speak with dead to assess certain facts about the village and the corpse. Speak with dead revealed that the man had indeed gone to fight a great enemy, but it was the White Lady, not the Shape. 
• This led to some discussion of the ability of Armadeus to create "false pasts" which affect the world as though they happened, though it was admittedy by the scholars within the party that none of them quite understood the concept (or had a postive INT bonus).
• The corpse did know of the Shape, stating that it was an assassin in the service of Armadeus - "one of many but the only one which wears a mask."
• Augury was then used to determine if the mace he had with him in the tomb could be taken to fight the shape, and soon it was in the hand of Sir Istvan.

The Wanton Wench full of... "life?"

• Their next target was the inn of the Wanton Wench. They found this full of patrons, including a whole adventuring party!**
• One of the Howling Kommandos (I don't remember which) noticed that none of the patrons had any glint of life to their eyes. Istvan observed they were "like the dead eyes of a shark."
• From the barkeep, the party learned that the shape murdered those who passed through the village and took them to the ruined tower that once protected the village. The party knew that this tower had been the scene of horrible starvation - where even the priest in the tomb found earlier that night had perished after participating in cannibalism.
• At the end of the story about the shape, the lights went out in the Welcome Wench. Lightsources were taken out anew and revealed that all that was left of each patron was their shadow.
• These struck in rapid succession, but the combined holy might of Kozel and Johanna destroyed nearly all of them. The more martial members of the party took care of the few remaining with their magic weapons, Istvan's new mace proving particularly efficacious.

Showdown with the Shape!***

• Armed with the information about the tower, the party made the laborious climb up the artificial mound of the old motte. At the top they found the ruined tower - partly collapsed and lacking the recent signs of life found elsewhere in the village.
• Inside Abraham was able to see a pale mask move within the shadows of the cracks in the stone, and after directing the party towards it he jumped off the stairs to avoid tangling phyiscally with the fiend itself.
• The Shape was a thing of living shadow, crowned by a great white mask of a face; however, the battle was fairly short, especially due to Istvan's new mace.
• Upon defeating the Shape, seemingly forever, they rested in the tower and waited until the morning to gather their loot.

Monsters Slain

23 Shadows, The Shape

Treasure Gained

2500cp, 2000sp, 3000gp, glass windows (25gp total), 2 peridots (250gp each), 3 sets of gold vestments (25gp each), 1 copper chalice (25gp), 1 silk handkerchief (25gp), 1 silver ewer (25gp), 1 unidentified mace.

XP Per Player

1505

Patreon Update: Level 1 Playable!

 

Geomorph 1-1 of Nightwick Abbey. Key available as a free sample.

I'm proud to announce that over at the In Places Deep Patreon we have created a combined document for level 1 and for the player additions to the OSE rules! Now contributors have enough to begin playing their own version of Nightwick. Next month we'll begin with the second level!

I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed so far for their support! 

In other news I have begun work on the deeper levels of Nightwick, which will soon tear both parties to pieces...

Patreon Update: Six Months In

A preview image by Chris Huth

We're starting our sixth month over at the Nightwick Patreon and I thought I'd discuss what's happened so far. Either this month or the next will see the completion of Level 1, after which we (due to a vote by significant patrons) will move right into level 2a and the horrors that work in the Sunless Gardens!

The first month is available for free as well as several preview monsters including this week's entry: the infamous Devil-men! For those of you who have read about them on the blog before there's a faction write up to go with it that discusses the specifics of them in Nightwick Abbey!

I'd like to thank those of you who have supported us so far for doing so and encourage others to join them in bringing Nightwick Abbey to hideous unlife!

Kommando Kronikles: Two Knights and Two Ghosts

Sir Sander of Lychgate

Characters Present

Stavros, Fanatical fighting-man and devotee of St Deodat [only in the first session]
Abraham Nermal, graverobber turned landowner
Kozel, Novgovite cleric and devotee of St Santa Claus (Eastern)
Johanna d'Ligne, Averois cleric and devotee of St Santa Claus (Western)
Uein of "Nordovulgaria" (actually just a part of Vulgary), folk hero and fighter

Istvan Melles, pagan barbarian and foul changeling (also from Vulgary)

Leftember 26th - Quintember 1st 1396

• Long has the party planned on traveling to Blackleg and dealing with the following hook, which they heard about last Duodecember:

  Perhaps in anticipation of needing to pay for this, or perhaps just knowing that with a war on he is likely to need the Iron, the Bishop has also let it be known that he is offering a knighthood (or 200gp if the person is already a knight) for any who can restore the mine in Blackleg to its proper activity. What precisely stopped the workflow is up to debate, but most agree that knockers are involved and some dimly whisper of a creature called "the Old Man of the Mountain."

• In the meantime, Bishop Notker had appointed a knight named Sander of Lychgate to take over the wardship of Anne of Waldheim, thus making him the de facto Count of Blackleg.
• He had arrived some time ago in Nightwick and had discussed making the journey to Blackleg with Abraham and Stavros in order to "meet the neighbors." A member of his entourage, Witchsmeller Hertel, made friends with Kozel during a drinking bout Kozel had with Osperant of Prattle. He had assured Sander that rumors of Stavros and Kozel's heresy were untrue.
• Johanna had spent the past month deep in prayer attempting to dedicated a ruined church near Frogguts to St Santa Claus and the God of Law. Upon finish her prayers she was able to change Uein back to flesh after he had been poisoned by a basilisk in the Great Swamp. They arrived a few days before the party was set to leave.
• Fingers, the lieutenant of the Howling Kommandos, had informed Stavros that the leader of the Corbies had become good friends with Sir Sander. Not yet sure what to make of Sander, Stavros decided he should leave the Corbies behind in Nightwick while the Kommandos traveled with Sander's small army.
• Fingers also informed him that Sir Sander had met with a strange group of men and women under mysterious circumstances, though he did not know the content of the meeting.
• Abraham elected to take the Loyal Toads (a group of frogling infantry) and the Company of Devil's with him on the journey, planning to leave the Toads in Frogguts where they could bolster the new trading house Fredrick Bull was running there.

The Journey from Nightwick to Blackleg normally takes about 3 days

• They left on an overcast morn with thunder threatening the oncoming deluge that marked most of their journey. 
• By the evening they had made it to the outskirts of Knightpath, where they found a man who claimed to be "the Knight of Knightpath" and demanded that those wishing to pass into the village must joust him before doing so. 
• Kozel, in one of his characteristic acts of zealotry, conjured part of the storm to bring down lightning in order to invite the God of Law and Saint Santa Claus to view any such joust.
• Stavros was able to goad Sander into doing three tilts against the knight noting that "it seems like your sort of thing."
• Sander bested the knight in the joust but took several hard hits in doing so. Kozel healed Sander and Johanna offered to heal the Knight of Knightpath. The knight took some persuading but ultimately was convinced by the logic that if the God of Law had not meant him to be healed then he would not have sent two clerics.
• Curious as to why the knight felt that only those who were good at jousting should enter Knightpath, Stavros queried him on this topic. The Knight of Knightpath responded that he meant to keep out frogling caravans, which he felt came too often to the village. This soured everyone's mood greatly, as the Howling Kommandos are known friends of Froglings.
• In Knightpath they discovered the lord of the village - a member of the Order of the Elk - was embarrassed by the storybook antics of the Knight of Knightpath, noting that he was a new recruit into the order.
• That night the leadership of the Howling Kommandos, along with Sir Sander, ate in the manor of the lord of Knightpath.
• During the dinner, Abraham attempted to recount the time he and others of the Howling Kommandos had saved Knightpath from a group of dreaded varkolaks. His storytelling was of poor quality, and soon their host and Sir Sander began to nod off.
• However, when he mentioned the name of Martha the Black, who had been the acting lord of Knightpath at the time, they heard screaming erupt from where the Howling Kommandos were sleeping.
• They rushed out to find that Martha's shade was attacking them, her head lolling around the gaping neck wound she had been allegedly delt by the mercenary Badder some years ago.
• Abraham had prepared for this eventuality, and removed from a sack the porcine head of Badder, who had been captured and turned into a pig-man after the Battle of Vollage. The Howling Kommandos had slain him during their retaking of the Witchfort.
• Upon seeing the black fur and white streaks atop the disembodied pig head, Martha's shade knew who it was and that his fate was far worse than hers. She let out a wheezing laugh as her head rolled back (again exposing the wound) and the spectre descended down into the earth - no more to ever trouble men.
• During the next day Sander proposed hunting in the Fog-bound Forest, but the torrential downpour and the fear that he might need silver weapons for such an endeavor put him off the idea.
• The party then made their way to Frogguts with little issue, left the Loyal Toad's there and found that one of the froglings in the service of Fredrick Bull had been convinced to worship St Santa Claus.
• The next day they passed an elf corpse that has lain unmolested on the road for many months now - seemingly incorruptible save for the mortal wound dealt to it by a bear trap.
• Outside the town of Blackleg they found a number of men they believed to be from Anne's garrison (many clothed in the livery of Waldheim) attempting to desert. 
• Abraham instructed the Company of Devil's to round up these men and they were subdued quickly. 
• Kozel, Johanna, and Witchsmeller Hertel discussed how to properly interrogate these men once they arrived in Blackleg. Kozel was able to determine from Sir Sander's demeanor that, despite employing him, Sander may be skeptical of Hertel's powers.

The Town of Blackleg

• The party arrived in blackleg during the worst part of a days-long storm. The town seemed to lack a garrison, and Sander was able to quickly get his men to occupy the military buildings both inside and outside the walls.
• As evening turned into night the thunder and rain continued, but a group of soldiers in the livery of Blackleg came down from the castle in the south and announced to Sander that Anne of Waldheim wished to dine with him tonight.
• The group opted to follow Sander, taking the Kommandos with them up the switchback trail into the foothills of the Nameless Mountains. The going was rough as the way was slick from the constant rain and the only illumination were the frequent bolts of lightning.

Castle Blackleg

• Arriving at the castle around midnight, the party found that both themselves and the castle's guards were dead tired. Still, both groups remained awake in order to perform the courtesy of having Anne feast the new lord.
• Their horses stabled and their soldiers quartered, the party was led to a dining hall of some size to meet with Anne of Waldheim. There they found her dressed not in the red livery of that city but in the yellow of Blackleg, and noted with some interest that she introduced herself as Anne of Blackleg.
• Kozel, who had cast a spell on himself as they were led to this large chamber, was able to see an immolated corpse seated next to her - the ghost of her husband Arn of Waldheim. The party had known for some time that his ghost was rumored to haunt the towers, warning that previous appointees of the bishop were responsible for his slaying. It was the general consensus of those living in the town that the ghost would be heeded more if his pronouncements had been vaguer.*
• During the dinner, Abraham and Kozel attempted to suss out the character of Sir Sander, as he had thus far been something of an enigma. Istvan, however, took opportunities to make Sander look like a city fop and to promote his own barbaric virtues.
• Stavros made a comment about Kozel's ability to see "between worlds" and Kozel noticed that Anne gave a very subtle hand gesture that the invisible (to all but Kozel) shade of Arn took as a command to leave.
• Anne shortly exited the dinner but offered to have more food brought up. It was clear to Kozel that this had to do with her husband but unclear if that meant she was a witch controlling him or merely a concerned wife unable to let go.
• After convincing Sander he should go to bed in the quarters appointed for them, the rest of the group debated the nature of Anne and the ghost. Kozel and Abraham said they should wait outside the sleeping quarters and then rush in to save Sander when the ghost "inevitably" attacked him.
• Johanna and Istvan had a different idea. They decided to sneak out into the courtyard of the castle and use the same magic Kozel had used to reveal the ghost in the first place to search for him. They found security to be quite tight, despite everyone in the castle being quite tired.
• While Johanna and Istvan were trying to find an exit through the latrine, they saw the ghost was above them - in the very room where Sander slept!
• Hearing Sander seemingly in the grips of a night terror, Kozel burst into the room. Seeing nothing, he placed Sir Sander under a hold person spell and then attempted to turn undead.
• The ghost, now visible to all, appeared in its burned hideousness and flew through the walls away from the Novgovite cleric... right into the stairway Johanna and Istvan were making there way up!
• A battle ensued with mostly Johanna, Istvan, and Uein battling the ghost.
• Uein, seemingly terminally unlucky, was aged 30 years by the ghost's terrifying scream.
• Abraham gave Sir Sander a silver dagger as Kozel announced that the "hunt [was] on," seemingly hoping to make Sander feel like an ally of the party.
• Sander, still in his bedclothes and armed only with his knife, arrived just in time to see Johanna destroy Arn's spirit for good, shattering it with the bells of St Santa Claus and watching it destroyed in the spectral fire of the Pit.

Anne of Blackleg

• The next morning, the absolutely exhausted party met with Anne once again, announcing to her the release of Arn's ghost from the World. She seemed saddened and relieved in a way that some of the kommandos compared to the reaction of someone who had been in an abusive relationship.
• Sir Sander took some of the credit for the deed, irritating some of the party and seemingly all according to plan for others.
• Some discussion of the ghost's attempt to possess Sander led many of the assembled to realize that the infamous fall that Baltzer the Bold had taken from the high tower of the castle to be an act of Arn from the grave.
• With all these adventures now behind them, the party made ready to talk to Anne about Blackleg Mine...

Monsters Killed

Martha's Shade and Arn's Ghost

Treasure Gained

10 suits of splint armor

XP Per Player for both sessions

950

XP for Stavros

750

* Famously he screamed "Baltzer murdered me, you fools!" before an assembly brought before Baltzer the Bold when he was lord of Blackleg.