The Party
Longo Lightfoot, Halfling Thief, wears a sky-blue headscarf. Played by CaptainSabatini.
Corby the Joyful, Human Cleric of Sucellus, wears a short, conical hat. Played by diregrizzlybear.
Idred the Most Omniscient, Human MU, wears a full-visored greathelm. Played by David Perry.
Boroth Swinney the Joyous, Human Fighter, played by Justin Hamilton
Lisette the Lucky, Torchbearer who had been on a previous expedition to the castle, and saw most of her companions butchered.
Willemot the Wary, Light Footman.
Stanislas, Light Footman.
Francois, Light Footman, and his hunting dog Fideaux.
Aymeric, Heavy Footman, boasts about the bonuses the party will pay him once he saves their asses.
Ysabeau, Heavy Footman, wants to start his own adventuring company once he has the funds.
Loot
Gossip booklet
Hammer, stakes
3000 gold pieces, cash
(Identified) Potion of Raise Dead
(Identified) +1 arrow
The Game
- After escaping the Stygous birds and examining their loot in the ghost mirror, the party decided to clear out one of the rooms filled with wreckage which they identified earlier. Cleaning up piles of broken boxes, they uncovered a thin gap between the floor and a wall. They got some ideas about the layout of the castle, and left through the southern doors to examine the structure from the outside.
- One of the giant monster statues flanking the entrance bellowed with laughter, but didn't take any hostile action. The players observed a path leading east to the lake, and realized that the section of the castle immediately above their previous position was three stories tall.
- After messing with that gap, they encountered a secret door, leading up a long set of stairs to the next floor. Across from the top of the stairway, the party encountered the bust of a bearded crusader, labeled 'Medard Malevol the Mighty'.
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| Medard, in his faded glory. |
- On closer inspection, the bust animated, and began to speak with them.
Medard: Hail, young cleric! How would you like to go on a quest?
Corby: What kind of quest?
Medard: I would like you to kill some of my relatives. Just a few of them.
Corby: Which ones?
Medard: Anyone who's a dick.
Idred: Are you just a talking bust?
Medard: Of course not! My specter haunts these very halls!
Idred: Wait, so you're a ghost?
Medard: Well, you've got to do something for retirement.
- Tentatively accepting his offer of go on a crusade, the party proceeded to explore the rest of the new level, which they identified as the 'Gothic Wing' that James had mentioned. They passed a feasting hall piled high with dubious meats. They encountered the Lesser Library James had described, piled high with romances and musical scores.
- Passing through an unlit fireplace, they discovered another secret door, leading to a chamber full of scribes, chained to their desks, feverishly writing. They had cataloged every incautious statement made by the party members, as well as townspeople. Amid discussion in the group about how dangerous/potentially useful these scribes were, the party made off his a bound tome full of these statements, hoping to find some useful information.
- Not far away, they encountered a smartly decorated living room, with a black shag carpet with candelabras in the corners highlighting a tall table covered by a long cloth, and a chest lying closed on top.
- Sensing a trap, the party sent Boroth inside. He was immediately surrounded by a circle of glowing silver light, and a voice rang out, "What purpose is the source of thy affront?"After a moment's hesitation, Boroth replied, "Sorry, looking for the bathroom." The voice rang out in laughter, and faded along with the silvery circle.
- Thoroughly spooked, the party sent Longo inside to examine the room for traps, and he came back empty handed. After some experimentation, they determined that the chest was stuck to the table somehow. With the rest of the party outside the doorway in case something went horribly wrong, Longo opened the chest.
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| You fool! You fell for one of the classic blunders! |
- AHAHAHAHAHAHA- just kidding, it wasn't a mimic. The party sure as hell thought it was, though. The chest opened with a loud bang, and the candelabras winked out, one by one. Inside, there was nothing but stale air, and the party briefly panicked at the thought of Longo suffocating. However, Longo dug a bit deeper, and discovered a false bottom. The chest was built into the table, and a deep box contained a hammer, seven wooden stakes, and gigantic pile of gold coins. Longo filled up his entire sack, and still only took a tenth of the pile.
- Knowing a lucky break when they saw one, the party filled up their sacks, their hirelings' sacks, and everything else they had on them filled to bursting with heavy gold coins. They planned out their exfiltration path, and despite their slow movement and loud clinking, attracted no obstacle. Just as Xyntillan's bell tolled twice, they were on the road back to Tours-en-Savoy, flush with cash and experience.
Ranucci: You all realized I was fucking with you about the frog, right?
- Back in town, the rest of the session became about shopping, logistics and carousing. They bought some new equipment, hired two new light footmen, and examined their hard won loot. Nothing from this session was magical, but the arrow that Corby almost got shot with turned out to be a +1 piece of ammunition.
- They returned to Jacques Valt at the Chimera Apothecary, and once again found that he wasn't interested in buying their potions. He did, however, identify the aquavit they discovered last session; this Nordic whiskey was, in fact, a potion for the restoration of the dead to life! (brewed with magical potatoes, according to Jacques)
Longo: So if this is what we can brew with magical potatoes, what can we get out of magic turnips?
Jacques: Are you pulling my leg?
- The party dealt with their hirelings, expending extra funds on personalized gifts for them. Stanislas mysteriously fell ill, and declared himself unfit for adventuring for the time being.
- With the responsible finances out of the way, the party got down to the good stuff: carousing. Longo partied the hardest out of all of them, and ended up using up all of his funds, in the end needing a 100gp bailout by the party to remain solvent. On the bright side, both he and Corby leveled up! The party now boasts a more skillful thief and a cleric with actual spellcasting abilities!
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| "And that's when he said, 'Sorry, looking for the bathroom!'" |
- The party ended this session in town, and after taking a week to party and rest up, they're ready to take on the dungeon next session.
Takeaways
The party got very lucky with avoiding random and keyed encounters this session. They explored fewer rooms by number than in the last session, though last session was prolific, so I can't say it's a good expectation for progress. They also spent a lot more time looking at the structure of the castle and using their map to figure out where there ought to be rooms. They're convinced there's an area of the Gothic Wing to the west which they haven't found an entrance to yet.
Boroth's player was away this session, and so his character's actions were controlled by the party. Without a combat this session, this ended up being little issue for the functioning of the game. When he got stuck in the circle of light, I left it up to the party to decide what their compatriot would have said if he was there, and had a bit of fun with it.
So far, the NPC in town who's gotten the most engagement is Jaques Valt. I gave him a flamboyant French accent and a bit of an ego, but so far his shop is a bit lackluster. In the book, he's got a chance to have the one potion of healing, and a small likelihood of having another potion in stock. I figure this is intentional to keep the focus on finding items in the dungeon rather than buying them, but in the absence of his role as a shopkeeper, I'm thinking of giving Jacques some more concrete hooks for the players.
Next Chapter: Groomsmen and Grim Reapers
It looks like they are playing it safe, but proceeding smartly and leveraging their opportunities. That's quite nice! (My regulars were a bit more murderhobo-ish.)
ReplyDeleteYour guess on Jacques Valt - and the rest of the townspeople - is essentially correct. They are meant to provide some assistance, but not take over the campaign. They can still be very useful in plans like "could we place an order for an enormous dose of pigeon poison? ...Yeah. Very large pigeons!"
In general, the adventure is focused inwards; it is already large as it is, and I felt that extending it too much would turn it enormous and unwieldy. Similarly, a few things were lost with the never realised wilderness section, including some connections between the town and the castle... but you have to take those losses.
There's still plenty of time for interaction in town, especially since this was only their third time. Now that the players have spent a good while being proactive and exploring the castle, I think it's time for the castle's inhabitants to start reacting...
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