Rhu's Sunday night Underworld playtest game

[Rhuvein]

Chronicles of Scandia . . as told by Gaston the Bard!

Book Two:

Descent into the Underworld

Peace and prosperity reigned o'er the realms after the Great Silver Dragon Lord Argenteus returned to recruit a mighty band of adventurers who were able to rid the lands of many evil creatures and then rescue a captive princess.

Argenteus is now King of the Silver Dragons in the world of Jorde. He resides in his lair high above Fountains Abbey, but is known to polymorph into a half-orc and spend most of his time in the Atheneum at the abbey surrounded by books. His persona is that of a half-orc who spends long hours reading and perusing the many tomes available there.

All know him as Nils.

New sages, scholars and wizards who come to the abbey library are sometimes startled to see a half-orc dressed in fine clothing, sitting on a couch - smoking a pipe, sipping a wine goblet and reading a large book and attended by many servants.

They wonder how can this be? Who is this half-orc prince who reads books?

One wizard actually had the temerity to be outraged when he entered the Atheneum and looked upon Nils . . only to be silenced and censured by Sir Regis himself to the wizard's embarrassment.

In the main library lounge, Nils would invite many of his friends for debate and intellectual discourse about a great many topics including magic, siege warfare, space travel, gem harvesting, animal husbandry, divination, surgical techniques, cowboy cooking accessories and gnome knitting challenges in addition to many others too numerous to list here.

Typically in attendance were the following luminaries from across the realms:

Penny-Whistle Scrubroot, cleric
Brigitte, Empress of Normandia
Gaston the Bard
Barduris, the half-orc warrior
Princess Olivija of Dania
Freylin, Queen of the Snow Elves
Sir Regis, abbot
Friar Tuck, warrior priest who wields a foil as a master
Gringnr the cleric
Count Rhuveinus
Amleth, acolyte of Fountains Abbey
Laroo Spugnar,
Hylde, the good witch of Jorde
Elderberry Scrubroot, gnome extraordinaire
Arlyss, elven forest princess
Hrothgar, captain of the dwarf guards
Norik, dwarf cleric
Maurice, acolyte of the abbey
Lucius T. Carbuncle hobbit brewmaster of Knobhill
Argentim, half-elf bard


The theft:

On a cold moonless night, the egg of Silvania was stolen from the lair of Lord Argenteus.
The king and queen were out feeding and they left the young silver dragon prince to guard the egg, along with Gaston and a company of dwarf warriors.

The aftermath:

Gaston left for dead.
The young silver burned badly and bleeding.
The egg is gone.
The dwarves fought against a large group of hobgoblins.
A large adult black dragon is maimed and his left wing is broken.
An evil sorcerer is blasted to bits.
Garl Glittergold appears to bring Gaston to life.

The audience:

Odin is summoned by the Lord Argenteus and comes in quick haste.

In attendance:

Vesuvius, King of the Cloud Giants
Sir Regis, of Fountains Abbey
Princess Olivija of Dania
Garl Glittergold
Laroo Spugnar



Intro thread placeholder.



XP grand totals per PC = 6,298 as of 10/14!

[Rhuvein]

Session I - Journey through the Yeti's gorge! ~ or . . Meet Eddie, Leti and Betty

The Players:

ssfsx17 as:

Norik, the faithful dwarf cleric
and
Barduris, the enigmatic but absolutely fearless half-orc fighter

Aergraith as:

Elderberry Scrubroot, the wildly bold and audacious gnome rogue

Penny as:

Penny-Whistle Scrubroot, the practical and wise gnome cleric who now has the bloodlust up for evil monsters threatening her beautiful planet Jorde!

Gringnr as:

Gringnr, the mighty dwarf cleric

Treebore as:

Aristobulous Falthor, the powerful elf mage

Verthak, the mysterious half-orc ranger

The action:

The adventurers set out from Fountains Abbey and head south along the main road. At noon, they stop at the Inn of the Dancing Goats where they are greeted warmly by Ladnar and Lucilla Greenleaf.

By now the group will have advanced in the world and can travel with pages and grooms who will take care of their horses and then take their lunch out back of the Inn.

The party enjoys a nice hot meal and they catch up on any news from around Scandia. They then head west to spend the night in the Shire of Knobhill before heading north west to find the mountain trail that will take them through the Yeti's Gorge.

As they enter the shire, they are hailed and met by many children along the road who remember the nice gnome lady who game them candy last time she was here. As the party dismounts at The Silver Dragon Inn, the children gather round the adventurers chattering away at them.

They seem a bit shy towards the half-orcs, but still greet them respectfully. Some of the rowdy boy hobbits, sneak up on Norik and Gringnr and pull on their beards before running away.

Penny admonishes the rowdy boys and asks them to behave or she won't hand out any candy. The rowdy boys, beg pardon of the dwarves and then get in line for candy. Penny asks each of them, their name as she dispenses the treats:

Farley marm!
Lydia marm!
Fenwick marm!
Amaryllis marm!
Saxbee marm!
Dilbo marm!
Ferghus marm!
Lucy marm!
Giles marm!
Millicent marm!
Elbieta marm!
Lucius marm!

Penny then looks towards the back at the line of hobbit children and is shocked to see about 40 more children queued up!

The other adventurers give a laugh and head into the Inn for an early supper as Penny continues to hand out candy . . .

Niall marm!
Lucilla marm!
Barlow marm!
Rigollo marm!

. . .

The proprietors, Harlene and Maxwell Brockhouse welcome them and sit them at - table number 1!

After a delicious supper and night's rest, the party sets out at dawn riding west into the Norse lands. They find the track that leads up into the mountains and they begin their ascent.

They don't know much about the Yeti's Gorge except one thing ~ Yetis!
Thought they suspect other manners of evil creatures that most likely inhabit this part of the mountains ranges.

The party carefully make their way up the tract and get most of the way through the gorge. At one point, as the trail turns they see a yeti come out of a cave and begin to move towards the adventurers.

Then he stops and the group notices a slight vibration in the snow drifts.

Suddenly, a huge frost wyrm explodes out of the snow drifts and grabs the yeti in its mandibles. The yeti screams while the wyrm drags him under the drift and disappears. The vibrations stop and all is quiet.

The party stays away from the outer trail by the yeti caves and moves close to the inner walls led by Elderberry as they continue the ascent. They are able to get past the gorge and follow the tract up the mountain.

As the make another switchback turn, they notice there is a canyon on their right and several creatures are watching them. The group stops briefly and cautiously watches them.
They are frost men holding clubs and each has an eyepatch over one of their eyes.They begin yelling and waving their clubs and fists.

The group turn away from them and continue up the trail to their left and as they do so, the frost men are quiet again and just watch from their canyon entrance.

Around the bend, the trail widens and the party notices some boulders on the trail and to their left they see a large alcove open to the side of the hills above them. Inside the alcove are many large and medium sized boulders.

One of the large boulders, moves slightly and begins to talk to another boulder in a strange low voice. He then turns and speaks to the party in a gravely common tongue and shouts a greeting. You can see some of the other boulders looking at each member of the group.

Penny cautiously approaches the boulder who hailed them. They begin a conversation with the boulder asking many questions about all of them, where they came from, what's their society like . . etc. She patiently answers him and he then stops and asks if they have any berries.

She produces a bag and the gravelor takes it and eats some and then passes it to the next boulder.

He tells you that the fortress you seek in just up the trail a bit further and offers his alcove for sanctuary should the party need it.

The adventurers thank them and take their leave and resume their trekking up the trail to see an slight opening in the rock. This is the entrance to the fortress.

Just then several frost ogres come from the west and attack the party. A battle ensues with a couple more ogres joining in. But the party use wise tactics and easily kill the ogres.

The adventurers take a brief rest and drink from their waterskins watching the trail and the entrance to the fortress.

End session.

[Rhuvein]

Session II - The Fortress in the High Reaches!

The Players:

Treebore as:

Aristobulous Falthor, the powerful elf mage

Verthak, the mysterious half-orc ranger

ssfsx17 as:

Norik, the faithful dwarf cleric
and
Barduris, the enigmatic but absolutely fearless half-orc fighter

Aergraith as:

Elderberry Scrubroot, the wildly bold and audacious gnome rogue

Penny as:

Penny-Whistle Scrubroot, the practical and wise gnome cleric who now has the bloodlust up for evil monsters threatening her beautiful planet Jorde!

Gringnr as:

Gringnr, the mighty dwarf cleric

The action:

After their rest and looting of the ogres, the group search around the walls of the entrance to see if there is any other way up or in. There doesn't seem to be so they cautiously approach.

They look in to see a large room where there are several tables and chairs - empty. The tables have some mugs of beer on them and there is a small barrel in the corner.

Elderberry steps in hugging the wall next to him as he searches for traps and finds none.

Gringnr steps into the room and gets bonked with boulder from somewhere above and takes damage. He then runs and dives under one of the tables. As he peeks out to scan the room, he sees two high window type openings and a snow goblin watching him and then moving back. He hears some goblin chatter from above.

He also notices two sets of stairs on each side of the entrance way that go up. He relates that information to the party. Elderberry hugs the wall and moves quickly to the stairs, as he climbs up about half way, they flip and become a slide. The nimble gnome rogue was suddenly sliding back down to the bottom.

Eventually, he finds the hidden switch to return the slide to stairs and he starts to climb them again. The rest of the party get up the stairs, but not before Aristobulus is attacked by a worg. The another comes around to attack the others.

Ultimately, the group defeats the worgs and snow goblins.

End session.

[Rhuvein]

XP totals for session I = 217 per PC!

[Rhuvein]

Session II XP = 162

[Rhuvein]

Game in 20 minutes or so.

Server should be up in a few minutes.

See ya then!

[Rhuvein]

Great game tonight!!

"Debuting some new monsters" . . .

So, I didn't tail whip y'all - but I think next time for sure!

Volt

[Rhuvein]

Session III - Battle with the snow goblins

The Players:

Gringnr as:

Gringnr, the mighty dwarf cleric

Treebore as:

Aristobulous Falthor, the powerful elf mage

Verthak, the mysterious half-orc ranger

ssfsx17 as:

Norik, the faithful dwarf cleric
and
Barduris, the enigmatic but absolutely fearless half-orc fighter

Aergraith as:

Elderberry Scrubroot, the wildly bold and audacious gnome rogue

Penny as:

Penny-Whistle Scrubroot, the practical and wise gnome cleric who now has the bloodlust up for evil monsters threatening her beautiful planet Jorde!


The action:

After dispatching the snow goblins and their worgs, the adventurers find the trap for the second set of stairs and climb those with no issues. The continue north to locate a long corridor and check several rooms that belonged to the worgs and goblins. Finding nothing they move down the hall to the west.

At this point, they are attacked by several creatures ~ pythons, more snow goblins and some weird looking flying balls with huge teeth and a whip tail. A wild and crazy battle happens and the party is challenged, but they use great tactics and defeat all the monsters.

Quite exhausted and weary, the adventurers decide to rest for the night in one of the larger rooms.

End session.

[Rhuvein]

Session III XP = 266 per PC!

[Rhuvein]

Good evening, intrepid adventurers and welcome to another episode of "My monsters can't seem to kill you!" Grrggh!

But, after tonight you won't be intrepid anymore!

Game in 15 minutes or so, see ya there!

[Rhuvein]

Excellent game tonight!!!

I really enjoyed it ~ fab role playing and game play!!

[Rhuvein]

Session IV - Into the bowels of the fortress or ~ don't be shocked if you get shocked!

The Players:

Penny as:

Penny-Whistle Scrubroot, the practical and wise gnome cleric who now has the bloodlust up for evil monsters threatening her beautiful planet Jorde!

Gringnr as:

Gringnr, the mighty dwarf cleric

Treebore as:

Aristobulous Falthor, the powerful elf mage

Verthak, the mysterious half-orc ranger

ssfsx17 as:

Norik, the faithful dwarf cleric
and
Barduris, the enigmatic but absolutely fearless half-orc fighter

Aergraith as:

Elderberry Scrubroot, the wildly bold and audacious gnome rogue


The action:

After resting and healing overnight, the adventurers arise the next morning and have a quick meal of dry rations and water. They pack their gear and move to the door to listen and look through the keyhole.

They see nothing and hear something like small creatures skittering and scurrying. The party also detects a rather horrible stench, just outside the door. When they open the door they spot several large and many other small rats that he been feasting on the bodies scattered in the hall.

When they exit the room, it was decided by the group to complete the circuit of the upper level before descending down the spiral staircase.

They follow the south corridor down to the end and turn to go east. As they begin to move, two very strange beings about 20 feet from them. The creatures are amorphous, consisting of little more than an undulating sheet like form of energy. The party sees small arcs of electricity charging the air in front of them. Occasionally a gaping maw is seen in the middle of these beings with floating orbs of light moving inside them.

Suddenly, they shoot bolts of electricity at the party with some members sustaining damage. The party engages the beings and they see that when they strike with metal weapons, they take damage.

Finally, the adventurers kill the beings, but as they die - they explode and send their final energies to several of the group.

They then continue east and past the entrance stairways and back north to the main hallway. There they have a meet, greet and beat session with two stray worgs who are quickly dispatched.

The group decides to descend via the circular stairway in the alcove of the main corridor. Elderberry listens, hears nothing and tells the party that he will go quietly go down to have a look and listen and then come back up. If he doesn't return in 10 minutes the party will come down.

The gnome rogue quietly and carefully moves down the stairway. He doesn't see any traps or hear anything else as slowly continues down. At the bottom he sees the corridor go north and south. He returns to the group to report.

It's decided that they will all go down as quietly as they can. Most of the party makes it down until the last few, when arrows shoot out of the stairway walls. The rest of the group moves quickly down the stairs avoiding a few more arrows.

Everyone stops and listens and then they decide to move south until they reach an east/west hall. They go east and the rogue spots a pendulum axe trap which he triggers as he steps back. The group continues east and the hall goes southeast and then east again to a junction.
They can go north, east or south which they do. As the turn west into an open room, they encounter 4 volts which attack.

A fierce battle begins as the volts bite and lash out with their whip tails. One is able to bite and hold fast on Elderberry and attack him with his whip tail which sends charges of electricity into him for heavy damage. The party members are fighting the other volts and much damage is traded. Elderberry struggles but the volt continues to bite and whip him . . finally bringing him unconscious and seemingly near death. The volt lets go of the rogue, and the others continue their attacks and kill all the volts.

The party surrounds Elderberry and it looks hopeless. Penny can't find a pulse. She puts a small mirror in front of his large, yet handsome nose but no condensation from his breath is had upon the mirror. She holds him.

The group prays to their gods and even Barduris invokes the name of Lord Argenteus in anguished wails of grief.

It then seems as if time stops . . .

Elderberry dreams ~ he remembers the attack of the volt and the pain, and then the
closing of his eyes, while his life flashes before him. Everything he can remembers flies across his closed eyelids . . and then blackness.

But then - he awakes, but only in his dream and sees Amber drinking beer with Nils in a castle room. And there's Alissa sitting nearby knitting booties for a baby silver dragon. Lathander and other deities are there as well.

Amber and Nils turn to look at Elderberry and both say, "return to the living - it's not your time! Wake up Elderberry Scrubroot, your granny is waiting!"


Time starts and the group notices that Elderberry is holding a dragon charm in one hand and his other hand is on a necklace of Amber. He takes a breath, starts and then blinks and . . . lives!

The gnome rogue looks up at his granny and says, "What happened? Did I fall asleep?" And then looks at the dead volt nearby and shivers slightly and says, "Oh . . yeah!"

At this point everyone starts talking, except granny who pours some fire amber down his gullet, with Elderberry sputtering a bit. "I think I'm OK now!" the rogue takes another wee draught to be sure.

Penny then quickly staunches his wounds and administers a potion of healing. The magical liquid has in instant effect on the injured rogue. He breaths deep and feels his strength and health renewed.

Elderberry gets up and moves with the group to find the large storage room. There the party will rest and heal for the night.

End session

[Rhuvein]

There is one more bit of XP reward forthcoming from the other game and the catch up session.

So, I will calculate and post up tomorrow.

Looking forward to the next game, y'all.

[Rhuvein]

XP forthcoming.

FYI, Treebore is no longer in this game - sorry!

Anywho, see y'all Sunday night!

Game on!

[Treebore]

XP forthcoming.

FYI, Treebore is no longer in this game - sorry!

Anywho, see y'all Sunday night!

Game on!

Really? Wow.

[Rhuvein]

Session IV XP = 136 per PC!

[Gringnr]

Sorry all I apologize for the short notice. I will not be able to make tonight's sesh. Appliances is cracking. Next week doesn't look good either (extended labor day stuff), but after that I should be back. And if I can do next week, I will. Please accept my apologies. I should have notified you sooner.

[Rhuvein]

Sorry all I apologize for the short notice. I will not be able to make tonight's sesh. Appliances is cracking. Next week doesn't look good either (extended labor day stuff), but after that I should be back. And if I can do next week, I will. Please accept my apologies. I should have notified you sooner.

No problemo, J. Thanks for posting!

[Rhuvein]

Game on in 15 minutes or so, see ya then!!

[Rhuvein]

Awesome session!!

2 words . .

Elf Bane!!

Astoundingly BAD ASS monster!!

Thanks to SX and Penny for a great game!

[Penny-Whistle]

And a giant centipede! When I first moved to Texas I saw the most amazing creature and had to wonder what other monsters might be out there.

Put one of those on steroids and it is not hard to see why Elderberry started crawling up the walls.

image from http://www.uark.edu/ua/arthmuse/sheros

[ssfsx17]

Arrrgghgghhhh! Why did you have to make that image visible on the message board!

If you post a picture of a spider, I will seriously have to think about taking a break from the campaign.

[Rhuvein]

It's lovely and creepy at the same time!

[I better not post a picture of the goliath birdeater!]

[Penny-Whistle]

Oh, I am so sorry to startle you. I looked but didn't see a way to remove the image. I promise to never show another scary arthropod.

[Rhuvein]

Oh, I am so sorry to startle you. I looked but didn't see a way to remove the image. I promise to never show another scary arthropod.

Penny, you should be able to edit your post and then delete the line of code which contains the image.

[Rhuvein]

Session IV (last week's) journal complete.

This week's action journal forthcoming!

[Penny-Whistle]

Whew. Found the right button. Again, I am sorry about that. You can imagine how surprised I was to see the thing in real life. hahaha

[Rhuvein]

Session V - The lower level of the fortress ~ or The Bane of Elves!

The Players:

ssfsx17 as:

Norik, the faithful dwarf cleric
and
Barduris, the enigmatic but absolutely fearless half-orc fighter

Penny as:

Penny-Whistle Scrubroot, the practical and wise gnome cleric who now has the bloodlust up for evil monsters threatening her beautiful planet Jorde!

Gringnr, the mighty dwarf cleric

Aristobulous Falthor, the powerful elf mage

Verthak, the mysterious half-orc ranger

Elderberry Scrubroot, the wildly bold and audacious gnome rogue


The action:

The next morning after rations, the party sets out to continue their exploration of the snow goblin fortress. Upon leaving their room they go east past the north corridor to begin south.

Just then from the north corridor comes charging a ferocious and horrifying large four legged creature. Aristobulus turns and fires a magic missile. It does nothing and he barely has time to hold up his staff as the creature is upon him.

The monster's large horn impales the wizard as he cries out in pain. It tosses Aristobulus up into the air and he hits the ceiling of the dungeon hall and then crashes to the ground. The creature tramples and stomps him unconscious.

It then grabs the wizard by it's teeth, turns and runs quickly back the way it came.

The party could only watch in horror at the attack as it happened so quickly. The also knew that their efforts would have been in vain and very likely would have been the death of all present.

Verthak pulls out a flask of Calvados and gulps a shot and then passes it around and exclaims, "That was the mightiest creature I have ever seen and certainly the ugliest! Whence came such a monster?"

The adventurers recover from the shock of the attack and recite silent prayers for their departed friend.

They move south and then east starting from the room where they encountered the volts the previous day. Some rats are spotted, but they quickly run away. The east corridor heads slightly northeast and then back southeast, where the group is met by a giant centipede moving very fast towards them.

With their weapons at the ready, the adventurers clash with the creature and surround it. The centipede is quick, but has many soft spots and the group is able to hack it to bits while avoiding any bites. Everyone in the party moves out of there fast, as the creature leaves an awful stench.

They stop before entering an intersection and carefully peak around the corner looking north. Nothing is seen or heard and the group continues east into a curve hallway then goes north west. Another junction is found and the party decides to continue east.

Elderberry finds and triggers a ceiling block trap and the stones crashes down to the dungeon floor. The party steps around it and continues when Verthak steps on another floor plate. Another large stone block drops, but he is barely able to avoid it.

Cautiously, the group continues east into a cavernous natural rock room with stalactites and stalagmites.

Suddenly, from behind a large stalagmite a frost naga attacks the party. A hideous snake like creature with the head of a female having long fangs. The battle begins with the group surrounding the naga who moves very fast. It attacks Verthak with a bite and tail strike and then is able to begin constricting.

The adventurers fight valiantly but the creature is able to kill Verthak, before the group cuts the naga to pieces. The party then take turns watching and guarding the passageways and then bury Verthak in soft area of the cavern room and cover the grave with heavy stones.

The group takes a quick break to drink water and eat some dry rations when they notice a large pile of treasure behind one of the big stalagmites. This was most likely what the naga was guarding. Gems, coins, rings, necklaces, other jewels and open chests of loot lay on the floor in heaps.

Water is thrown towards and upon the treasure. As it falls onto the treasure, everything disappears! Twas an illusion. But, the group is suspicious and examines the cavern wall carefully. Lo and behold, a secret rock door is found. The door is checked and opened into a small cavern.

And there, instead of treasure and perhaps more valuable are magic items, beverages, food and potions are discovered in a chest. Everything is packed up and the group moves east to follow the cavern trail. It dead ends, so they turn back and realize that this area would be the best place to spend the night in the secret room.

The door is shut and the party take turns watching and listening through the cracks. The night passes uneventfully.

End session.

[Rhuvein]

Teaser:



Saw this in the Cairo Museum after delving Tut's tomb in the Valley of Kings and Queens.

Senet game.

Will be used in session via Gary's Necropolis ~ in my version of the Underworld!

[Rhuvein]

Oh, I am so sorry to startle you. I looked but didn't see a way to remove the image. I promise to never show another scary arthropod.

Bah, what a big baby!

Just wait until I present HUGE MILLEPEDES that should get him to start projectile vomiting!!!