Dwellers in Dark Dungeons

From RPGnet
Jump to: navigation, search

Threads: Recruitment | IC | OOC

Adventuring.jpg

A Campaign Run by thirdkingdom to Playtest New Rules[edit]

Player Characters[edit]

  • Name, Class, Level, HP, AC, Initiative, Main Weapon Attack Bonus and Damage
  • Jacques, Thief 4, 22/22 HP, AC 12, Init 0, MW Longsword +6 for 1d8+3, Longbow +2 for 1d8+2
  • Mishka, Fighter 3, 20/20 HP, AC 14, Init -1, Two-handed sword +5 for 1d10+3, Spear +4 for 1d6+4, Sugarra +5 for 1d8+4, Shortbow +0 for 1d6+1
  • Everiat Grim, Thief 4, 16/16 HP, AC 12, Init +0, Handaxe +4 to hit for 1d6 melee and thrown
    • San Earoy, Fighter 2, 7/7 HP, AC 14, Init +2, Longbow +5 for 1d8+1, shortsword +2 for 1d6+1
  • Malgrim, Cleric 4, 10/10 HP, AC 16, Init 0, Longsword +2, 1d8+1, Light Crossbow +2 1d6
    • Sary the Red, Human HP 10/10, AC, Init -1, Spear + for 1d6+ , Longsword + 1d8+ , Longbow + 1d8+
  • Nyssa the Enchantress Magic-user 3, 15/15 HP, AC 11, Init +1, Dagger +1, 1d4, Dagger (thrown) +2, 1d4
    • Brugar, Halfling, / HP, AC , Init , weapon
  • Dwellers Blank Character Sheet

Left for the Wilderness[edit]

  • Konrad, Fighter 3, 21/21 HP, AC 19, Init +2, Flaming Sword +5, 1d8+4, Shortbow +4 for 1d6+1
  • Cyr, Fighter 3 | 16/16 HP | AC 18 | Init +2 | Longbow +4, 1d8+2 damage | Long sword +3, 1d8+2 damage

Marching Order[edit]

Sary the Red | Mishka

Malgrim | Jacques

Nyssa | Burger

Everiat | San Earoy

Maps[edit]

Encumbrance and Movement / Treasure[edit]

  • three barrels stamped with the horsehead of Sorrel Vintners Port, a *very* pricey libation (250 gp each)
  • three crates containing tanned beaver hides, worth perhaps 75 gold each

Party Treasury Funds[edit]

  • one 5000 gp gem + two 500 gp gems, for distribution when we are able to split them
  • 500 gp in Charter funds


Character Readied
Items
Limits Packed
Items
Limits Movement Treasure
Jacques 5 4 / 8 / 11 / 14 10 8 / 16 / 22 / 28 90'
Mishka 11 4 / 8 / 11 / 14 18+2 8 / 17 / 23 / 29 60'
Everiat 5 2 / 5 / 8 / 11 11+4 6 / 11 / 17 / 23 90' a small vial of iron, stoppered and unlabeled.
Malgrim 6 2 / 5 / 8 / 11 8+2 5 / 10 / 16 / 22 60' a small book, bound in greenish leather. The writing inside is in Common, and at a quick glance looks to be a prayer book or something similar.
a set of pan pipes, fashioned from bone. A scroll case containing a scroll of CLW


When assigning treasure to be carried by a hero, add the treasure's encumbrance after the base encumbrance with a + sign.

But What About the Horses[edit]

Animal Tack & Harness Limits Packed
Items
Limits Movement Inventory
Pack Mule #1 ? ? / ? / ? / ? ? ? / ? / ? / ? ?
Malgrim's Horse Saddle, Bridle, 2 x saddle bags ? / ? / ? / ? ? ? / ? / ? / ? ?
Everiat's Horse ? ? / ? / ? / ? ? ? / ? / ? / ? ?
??? ? ? / ? / ? / ? ? ? / ? / ? / ? ?

Mercenaries[edit]

  • One Mounted Crossbowman
  • One Mounted Bowman (15 gp)
  • One Light Mounted (10 gp)
  • One Medium Mounted (15 gp)

House Rules[edit]

  • A backpack can hold 12 stowed items, a large sack 6 and a small sack 2.
  • Skills System, Skills & Background, Revision?, Levels of Proficiency
  • Magic Item Creation: I've been noodling around with magical item creation rules, and the crux of the matter is that any item to be enchanted has to be "masterwork". Like, you can't just go to the village blacksmith, or even just a normal weaponsmith, and commission a sword to be enchanted. Creating an item worthy of being enchanted (and this refers just to the skill required) is done at a one step difficulty. So, someone who is Proficient at blacksmithing needs to roll a 20+, someone who is Skilled needs to roll a 15+, and someone who is an Expert needs to roll a 10+. So, if you want to commission a magical item you go to a dude like Berle, or one of the other two weaponsmiths I named.

Spellbooks in Absalom[edit]

XP Awards[edit]

Rumours[edit]

  • Post #1 IC
    • The Fane of of Vidmar is rumored to hold the burial treasures of a long-forgotten bandit chieftain, to the north of Junction in hex 43.23.
    • The Shrine of Sabeth has been abandoned since the middle of the last Cycle, on the road east to Rhea's Ford, and held several holy relics before all contact with it was lost. It lies in hex 39.25.
    • To the south of Junction, on the banks of the River Sarn, a group of fishermen spied a curious round door set into the western bank, exposed from erosion caused by snowmelt. It is found in hex 42.28
    • The few travelers who've made their way west from Rhea's Ford have reported attacks by a band of goblins, preying on those foolhardy individuals who make the trip through the thick woods. From the tales, it sounds like most of the attacks have occured in hexes 46.27 and 47.27.
    • A small village to the west, Cyndun, is reported to have been taken over by bandits. If true, surely it is but a matter of time before the bandits venture east to raid the larger and wealthier village of Junction. Cyndun is a day's walk west, across the Sarn.
  • Post 767 IC
    • The previous day a spring caravan from the larger city of Rhea's Ford, to the east, was attacked by goblins and several merchants and a number of guards slain. The surviving merchant is offering a 500 gold reward for the return of her trade goods and the extermination of the goblins.
    • Fishermen on the Sarn have seen suspicious looking individuals eyeing them from the undergrowth on the wester shores of the river. Thus far nothing has happened.
    • An adventuring party found a wondrous circlet of thorns in a shrine to the east, hidden in a pool of water that fronted the abandoned temple. The adventurers are selling them as Sabeth's Crown, an artifact from the olden days.
    • Several boats from the village of Hob, a mining community to the south, have made their way upstream bearing iron ore. They are seeking adventurers willing to head south to aid them in fighting off a tribe of gnolls that has been harassing their community the past month or so.
  • Sabeth's holy book - [1]
  • Post 1227 IC
    • There a few of those burial mounds leftover from the Olden Days south of here, a few miles away. Folks say they're haunted and don't go down there much, but as far as I know they're all sealed and such. About a day to the southwest there's an old ring of standing stones atop a hill, where the trees don't grow, and the rumor is that demons and witches consort there on full moons.
    • There's a wizard's tower that some adventurers left town to investigate and never returned. About a day to the north, the woods turn all hinky; trees sway in a breeze you can't feel, and the animals is all wrong. We don't go near there, not least because folks tend to disappear if they get to close. Plus, it's spooky as fuck. In the middle of the weird woods there's a clearing with a tower in the middle of it. It wasn't too tall -- not as tall as the tree-line, that's for sure -- and made all of some greenish stone never seen before.
  • Post 1310 IC
    • There is mounting tension between the Scarlet and Violet Principalities due to expansion northwards to try and claim resource rich territory. The northlands have remained untouched since the founding of the Variegated Kingdoms five Cycles previous, inhabited only by barbarians and beastmen. The rulers of both are actively sponsoring adventuring bands to explore, map and conquer these lands for their respective Princedoms.
    • The city of Zizdul, situated at the mouth of the River Sarn, has apparently finally fallen. It had been in decline for decades prior to the last downswing into Chaos, and though a small core of the city survived, merchants who ply the route south report that with the opening of trade routes this spring that the city has been sacked and razed by unknown forces.
    • There have been troubles with brigands and bandits to the south of Rhea's Ford, roaming the broad swathe of hills and grasslands and making sorties north into civilized lands. There are some overland trade routes, chiefly to the kingdoms of Kesig and Zared, and merchants are grumbling that they're losing an inordinate amount of gold and goods to the bandits.
  • Post 1556 IC
    • Jack hears tell that several vagrants and vagabonds have disappeared during the night from the back alleys where they sleep. There are whispers in Junction's underbelly of a red-eyed killer that stalks the street, claiming the poor and addled as its victims.
    • The village of Hob, to the south, is still seeking champions to aid them in their fight against the gnolls. A scion of their noble family, one Lemond de Chelles, has come north to Junction seeking aid.
    • The Lord Mayor of Junction is seeking adventurers willing to explore the northern regions of the Sarn, to see what might lie to the north of value.

Towns[edit]

The Principalities

Junction[edit]

Class 4 Market
Little more than a hamlet, really, with a population of nearly 400 souls -- notable chiefly for providing the ferry across the River Sarn from those traveling from the eastern Variegated Kingdoms to the vast and sprawling Basilisk Kingdom to the west. Or, more accurately, the decaying remnants of the Basilisk Kingdom. Ever since the last true king, Zaphisdreal the Magnificent, died at the beginning of the Fourteenth Cycle the Kingdom has crumbled as his many children scrabbled and fought for control, until at last it was no more than a half dozen or so petty Baronies. Up until fifty or sixty years previous, Junction had still paid tribute to the nearest Baron, one Naldruth the Mad, but eventually his tax collectors stopped visiting. Junction is now an independent village, subsiding on the little traffic that passed from east to west, a small amount of ore mined to the north, and what the inhabitants can take from the river and surrounding forests.

The River Sarn, shallow and slow, flows to the south and the city of Zizdul, the once great port on the banks of the Silver Sea, but the bulk of the river traffic south goes through Rhea's Ford, a small city at the very western edge of the Scarlet Principality, a day's hard ride to the east of Junction. The adventurers have come to Junction from all over; some were perhaps even born in this small settlement at the edge of the civilized world.

Goods in Demand[edit]

  • Armor and weapons (finished goods)
  • Ore (raw materials)
  • Luxury Items (finished goods)
  • Pottery (finished goods)
  • Glasswares (finished goods)

Goods in Surplus[edit]

  • Timber (raw material)
  • Wooden items (finished product)
  • Furs and hides (common)
  • Meat, dried

Rhea's Ford[edit]

Class 8 Market
A sprawling city straddling the Bel River; ancient where Junction is young, with streets paved in cobbles instead of mud and logs and buildings of stone and slate and age-blackened timbers. The mighty river -- deep and slow-moving -- is crossed by dozens of bridges connecting the two sides, many of which have buildings -- shops, temples and dwellings-- perched upon or even dangling from them. Flat bottomed barges, packet boats and small, shallow draft sailboats ply the waters.

The streets are teeming with hundreds -- thousands -- of people. Northern barbarians with braided beards clad in furs, envoys from the Alabaster Principality wearing white porcelain masks, and scores more than the companions can recognize.

Goods[edit]

As with most large, old cities, Rhea's Ford specializes in producing finished goods. Raw materials, therefore, are in high demand, specifically ores, grain, meat and fish. Additionally, there are substantial markets for rare and exotic alchemical and magical components. On the other hand, the artisans of the city excel at producing high quality glasswares, pottery and textiles. The Scarlet Principality controls a large deposit of a metal called cavorite that is used to produce a specific type of pottery glaze. Ceramics using this glaze are in high demand throughout the known world, and a substantial amount are shipped down the Bel, to the Silver Sea, and beyond. Several companies also produce a fabric dye of a vibrant scarlet color, using secret techniques. The dye cannot be bought, but fabrics treated with it command an enormous price in the outside world.

Inns[edit]

Of decent quality and relatively low prices, the kind of places that cater to moderately well-to-do farmers, traders and craftsmen. There's a fourth inn, the Pier, that serves many of the sailors and boat-folk on the river, but it sounds more sketchy.

  • The Owlbear's Head
  • The Traveler's Rest
  • The Quiet Respite

There are two fancy inns in town:

  • The Velvet Curtain
  • The Red Dragon Inn
    • Situated on a low bluff overlooking the river, the Red Dragon Inn is a tall building of stone and stucco, with a fresco of a sinuous red dragon worked into the wall above the entrance. There's a short wall surrounding the place, creating a large courtyard of paved stones, with a tinkling fountain in the center and a carefully tended garden of herbs and flowers. A number of individuals wearing red jackets are busying about. They appear to be staff, as there are others relaxing outside that look to be paying guests. Well dressed, and well mannered, paying guests. The adventurers inquire within and are told that meals and lodging are twenty gold a night, which includes a four course prix fixe meal with wine pairings and access to the inn's sauna and masseuse.

Religion[edit]

There are a number of temples, churches and shrines spread out throughout the town. The two primary deities that Malgrim hears about are the Lady of the Corn and Belphasaria, the spirit that dwells within the might River Bel. There is no particular temple district.

Lady of the Corn[edit]

"The lady Edhelra has dominion over plantings and the harvest. She is the bountiful lady, that sings the deer into the hunters' snares, that brings gentle rain and the warm breezes. She is also the protector of the hearth and home. If you have not heard of her you are likely from the west, as she is known mostly in the east, in the Principalities."

The Temple of the Field and Hearth in Rhea's Ford is a large structure, of red brick, located on the outskirts of town. It's big and stout, but not ostentatious. There's a large, well-tended garden out front, and a half-dozen or so men in women in brown robes tending to it. Off to one side is a chicken coop, and a number of red hens are pecking in the dirt, overseen by an enormous rooster with irridescent feathers.

Belphasaria[edit]

Brugar finds that worship of the river goddess Bel is widespread. Many of the businesses and households in Rhea's Ford have some sort of small container by their entrance, containing water from the river itself. The basins are refilled on a daily basis, and believers annoint their foreheads with the liquid before leaving the house for work every morning. Otherwise, they seem pretty normal. The temple to Bel is by the river, upstream of the docks.

Stables[edit]

A number of stables are located on eastern side of the river, just outside the town walls. The stables occupy a large swath of land outside of town, and consist of nearly a dozen large paddocks, each with attached barns. It seems the stables are owned by three different mercantile concerns, who in turn act as brokers for ranchers and trainers. After a day of searching he finds the following for sale: four light riding horses (75 gp apiece), seven medium riding horses (40 gp apiece), two light warhorses (150 gp), three medium warhorses (250 gold), and a magnificent chestnut charger bred to carry fully armorered knights into battle, costing a full 700 gold alcedes.

Mercenaries[edit]

Just south of the stables are several barracks maintained by the larger mercenary companies that work out of the Scarlet Principalities. Here can be hired large quantities of warriors, typically in platoons or larger. Other, unattached mercenaries are best found by frequenting the taverns and alehouses that dot the city.

Sages[edit]

Magical[edit]

There are several sages that can help identify magical items. Two of them are mentioned by name:

  • Rosan Ule lives in a tower of brick overlooking the river, from where she hires out her services as a magician and learned sage
  • Orrdoc the Obese can usually be found in the steamhouses along the river's edge

Artisans[edit]

Weaponsmiths[edit]

There are three weaponsmiths in town that forge custom blades; typically normal weapons -- such as those used by the militia, or novice adventurers -- are produced by blacksmiths.

  • Sundoc Faslca
  • Fledegel the Fiery, a great big northman with a mane of fire-red hair
  • and (this is said in whispers), one Berles, a dwarf who has taken up residency in the city, having been banished from his kinfolk in Faery for undisclosed reasons. Berles is, by far, regarded as the greatest weaponsmith in the Scarlet Principalities. Berle works in a simple smithy adjacent to the dock district. He's short, maybe only five feet tall, but seems to be about as wide and thick as he is tall, with an enormous black beard he's braided and tossed over one shoulder to keep it off his anvil. As the adventurers approach he's working with a small hammer, shaping a delicate spiral shaped piece of glowing blue metal on the horn. Three assistants busy themselves nearby, and another six or seven young apprentices sweep, polish and otherwise perform menial tasks.
Leatherworker[edit]

Cyn Nanto, who has her shop just outside of the tanneries along the river at the downstream edge of town

Windglade[edit]

Hex 41.23
The village is small, containing two dozen or so wooden buildings built in and around the trees. The adventurers notice that many of the structures are multi-level, climbing up the tree trunks in much the same way as an ambitious child's tree fort might. Several of the upper levels seem to be connected by rope bridges spanning some twenty or thirty feet above the ground. There are also a number of hammocks strung between trees or buildings -- about a dozen -- half of which seem occupied by owl-folk of both genders, all seemingly in some sort of semi-conscious state. Large-eyed, owl-like faces peer down at the adventurers from windows and walkways.

  • Thalion, warrior
  • Disril, the head of our Council
  • Daglia the Far-seer, the eldest and wisest among us

Misc[edit]

Threads[edit]