House of Pestilence Playtest 1: An Unexpected Speedrun

Starting in May, I began designing an entry for No Artpunk III, which I finally submitted a month ago. It got a good review from Prince, so now I'm revising and playtesting it in the hopes it will be included in the NAPIII anthology later this year. This is the first playtest, a rather abridged one which I did online last night via the OSR Pickup Games server. Lots to learn from it, so here we go!

SPOILERS for House of Pestilence below!

The Party

Valeria, Sovereign of Sighs, Paladin 11, played by Luke

    Soo Meri, Elder of the Moonstone Sect, Monk 9

    Thryn the Sun-Blessed, Cleric 10

Haught Taupik the Blood Sword Emperor, Elven Fighter 7/M-U 11, played by Malcolm

    Kore, the Vision of Temperance, Illusionist 11

    Helefres, Magician of the Far Shore, M-U 11

Stribor, the Devil of Bukosevac, Fighter 7/Thief 9/Bard 15, played by Shea

    Ko, the Stone of Kushiel, Fighter 9

    Aodhan the Reborn, Druid 12

Liphindor, Hierophant of the Cathedral Severe, Cleric 12, played by Rune

    Vindictus the Hand-Chopping Judge, Dwarven Fighter 9/Thief 11

    Saumur, Hangman of Orscea, Fighter 9

Casualties

None

Loot

Larvae and unholy symbols (purchased)

Gem of Seeing (stolen)

The Game

• Deep in the Underdark, a dozen masters of the surface world met. They were not united by creed or country, but by a common enemy: the dark wizard Vas Arghul, whose ambitions to lichdom would soon come to fruition, and would become a great threat to all their domains. 
• They knew that the would-be lich was down in the Underdark, and had a mission of his own: kill the high priest of a drow noble house dedicated to the daemon lord Anthraxus, the House of Pestilence, and take her still-beating heart to the court of Orcus. This would be their best, and last, chance to catch him outside his stronghold and put an end to him. 
• So they journeyed through the underworld, convened at the drow citadel of Erelhei-Cinlu, and set out on their journey. Through many miles of tunnels and subterrene wilderness did they travel, and soon they arrived at the threshold of House Umil-Da, the House of Pestilence. 

Doc Savage - Land of Always Night

• This is where the game properly began. Past a miles-long, winding tunnel, their lizard mounts splashing through pools of fungal secretion, they came to the foot of a wide chimney, leading up out of view, filled with crumbling stone shelves. Kore conjured an illusion of the same chimney, but quiet and empty of intruders, and the group made their careful way up the shelves. 
• As they crested the top of the chimney, they heard the sound of falling rocks below, and their lizard mounts stood to attention; the party was on guard, but no more came of this. 
• Before them now was a cave mouth, dark and bore-smooth. Stribor palmed a stone of continual light and scouted ahead alone; past a nexus point, and noting several instances of mossy fungi on the cavern floor, he heard a loud scraping upon stone from the caverns beyond, and caught sight of something large turning the corner and fleeing back through the tunnels. 
• He returned to the party with this information, and the whole group followed his trail. Tossing a lit torch over the suspect fungi, they illuminated the silhouette of a great beetle-like creature, the size of an ogre, that clung to the wall. The creature fled their show of force, and shortly afterwards, they felt another consciousness touch upon their own.
• "Who goes there? State your business in the name of House Umil-Da."
• Stribor opened negotiations with the telepathic being, whom they soon learned was Eastler, formerly a wicked mage of great renown upon the surface, who disappeared many years prior. The bard suggested to Eastler that a mage of his renown could benefit from a 'change of leadership' down here, and offered to help him return to the surface in exchange for his aid. Struck by such an audacious offer (and Stribor's natural 00 reaction roll), the mage invited them to his nearby sanctum. 

Source

• Another of the great beetle-creatures, which they now identified as an umber hulk, and which had been behind them the entire time undetected, escorted them. They found a dank cavern with a dozen hulks, and the ghoulish mage welcomed them with half-rotted meat, which Valeria politely sampled without fear of disease. 
• With a great deal of flattery and innuendo, the party won the wicked mage over to their side, and learned a great deal about the drow house and its procedures. Though they had little intention of actually helping Eastler, they led him on and put him to good use. They also traded gems for demon larvae and unholy symbols, preferred barter items within the House. 
• In short order they left the sanctum and were escorted to the very threshold of the drow stronghold, a great door embossed with daemonic imagery and topped with plastered skulls. They knocked in the advised pattern, Soo Meri determined that the party just got pinged with clairvoyance, and they were met on the other side by armed drow guards who demanded to know their business.  
• Well-advised by Eastler, a quick bribe of larvae and a request for audience with the drow nobles got them through the door. Beyond was a cavern, a mile long and a third of a mile wide, lit by a sphere of radioactive ore in psychedelic reds and golds. At the back of the cavern was a high-walled fortress, and a path of shining moonstone pebbles led to the gate. Some further bribes got the party information on recent guests: a human mage and his apprentices, a demon from the court of Pazunia, and a pair of mind flayers. 
• The party also knew that their enemy would recognize them even if they did not recognize him, and likewise resolved to disguise themselves. The drow did not find it objectionable or uncommon to take on a temporary identity within their domain, and so they took on new personas: Haught Taupik became Caald, Valeria became Hysperia, Liphindor became Rodni, and Stribor became Fennic the Clean (who was distinctly dirty). 
• After a short wait, a cloud of mist sprung up on the path and resolved into a rider upon a demonic steed, flanked by drow and bugbears. The guards sprang to attention and saluted 'Warden Triel'. Stribor did the same, while the rest of the party stood stoically. 

Tony DiTerlizzi

• This high-ranking drow inspected their auras, and found only Stribor's to be pleasing. She instructed the guards to hand the new guests visitor passes and cloaks (which glowed lime-green under ultravision) and recommended that they visit her bazaar... and mind their business otherwise. 
• The steed and rider dissolved to mist once more, but left behind a drow servant, Malrux, who answered their questions and provided all the hospitality the drow had to offer. The party deduced that their quarry was likely disguised as one of the guests, and wanted to make for the bazaar, where they would mostly likely be found. However, there was another stop first. 
• Past the gardens of violet grasses and exotic flowers, past fungal trees and vineyards fed by the blood of mangled slaves, through the great steel doors of the compound embossed with scenes of wealth and luxury, they found an open-air shrine. A huge bust in verdant marble bore the visage of the daemon lord Anthraxus, and slaves and bugbears knelt before the shrine at varying distances, offering their prayers and slop upon the ground. Malrux requested that the party pay obeisance to the House's patron and make a small offering. 
• Stribor alone knelt enthusiastically, the rest only reluctantly. While the others made offerings of larvae or gems, Liphindor alone neglected to make any offering, shamed enough by this profanity. 

Bugbears: Look that one isn't making an offering. 

No, don't you see, he's offering his dignity!

What a delicious offering!

• Near to bursting with humiliation, the party continued into the compound, past the cave-homes reserved for guests, and straight toward the bazaar, covered in patchwork fabrics like the wings of innumerable bats. Underworld creatures hawked wares from dozens of stalls, but they spied none of the guests. However, Malrux directed them to a tent at the center of the bazaar, woven from coins. A further bribe to the guards there, who just wanted to make sure the party was wealthy enough to partake of the goods within, won them entry. 
• Within were two mages, a huge, inebriated demon with a vestigial arm sticking out of its abdomen, and a pair of mind flayers, engaged in a bidding war over a glowing violet gem. Only the auctioneer, a night hag, was happy to see new bidders enter the tent. 

Sold! To the tentacled gentleman

• The party held back from entering the bidding, through the gem, a violet ioun stone, was quite tempting to several party members. Instead, they set about examining the bidders. The two mages, Snake-Eye and Orbix, were apprentices of the great mage Neroe, who was back in his guest chambers. They wanted to pick up a nice gift for their master, but the mind flayers kept bidding up the price and egging on the demon: the bid had swelled past 13000gp. 
• Valeria's fine-tuned sense for evil confirmed that both the night hag and the demon radiated supernatural fear, as would be expected, while the mind flayers, mages, and items did not. This ruled out the demon as a suspect. Stribor became quick friends with the mages, and offhandedly badmouthed Vas Arghul in their conversation. 

Stribor: he doesn't take apprentices, he doesn't keep up the traditional of evil wizardry, it's a disgrace.

Snake-Eye: Absolutely, so gauche. 

Orbix: Not that we'd say that to his face. 

Snake-Eye: We would never say such a thing to the World-Scourge's face.

Orbix: But still, very gauche.

• Haught Taupik noticed that one of the mind flayers was simply standing, making only small movements, while the other was involved in the bidding, and its tentacles twitched every time Vas Arghul was mentioned. 
• They had their prime suspect. The ioun stone went to Snake-Eye, at a final, eye-watering price of 20000gp, and the auction took a break. However, the party noticed one of the other items available was a gem of seeing, and they swiftly hatched a plan. 
• Stribor made a show of desiring the gem while Valeria exited the tent and dropped her disguise. With the gem next on the auction block (starting at a dreadfully high 25000gp!) she came back in with great fanfare, and declared she absolutely must have this gem, for with it she could unveil the imposter among them, the dark wizard Vas Arghul!
• Stribor, still disguised as Fennic the Clean, played along. The suspect mind flayer entered the bidding, but with all the party's spending money behind her, Valeria kept bidding up. That mind flayer left the bazaar, muttering about how we wouldn't be party to such a farce, but the other one, which until now had been almost entirely still, took over the bidding seamlessly. The party decided that this one was an illusion, but changed their minds when it won the bidding at 40000gp, and physically took the gem. 
• By this time, the party split; several party members tailed the suspect mind flayer, while several others stayed in the bazaar. In this latter group, Liphindor bumped into the mind flayer, and the gem of seeing went skittering on the floor. The mind flayer picked it up and left, but it was one of Kore's illusions! The real gem had been pickpocketed by Vindictus, who had taken a potion of invisibility.
• Now possessing the gem, the party sped after the other mind flayer, and through the gem Vindictus saw that it was actually a human silhouette under a hat of disguise. This was Vas Arghul, without a doubt! 
• He was out in the open, still believing himself disguised, on the path to the guest caves. They wondered how to negate his disguise and show his true nature to others, but Helefres realized it was a very simple process. She just got close enough, and knocked the hat off his head with an unseen servant. 
• The would-be lich turned on the party in a fury, knowing his cover was blown. Initiative was rolled... and he rolled dead last. 
• Everything went poorly for Vas Arghul after that. Kore's color spray and a bungled save knocked his first effective action back to segment 10 (!), Aodhan's fire seeds blew him away, and the party's warriors closed in. With Haught Taupik, Soo, Ko, Saumur, and a still-invisible Vindictus all crowding around him, the best he could do was unleash a cloud of smoke and begin fiddling with his magic bracer. But another nasty initiative roll pushed him back, and Liphindor's scroll of holy word defeaned him (as well as Stribor, and vaporized some nearby drow), drastically damaging his ability to cast spells. 
• The final word was Stribor's animal summoning II, which summoned a group of boring beetles that tore the would-be lich to shreds.

He never even got to cast a spell!

• Alas, not all was well: a beeping emanated from Vas Arghul's robes as he died, and several of the characters, plus the beetles, were caught in a blast of light. When they came back to their senses, they, along with Vas Arghul's corpse, found themselves on a salt flat under a crimson sky, punctuated by dessicated blue trees with fleshy, purple fruit. A huge castle, rolling toward them on wheel over the salt flat, was preceded by the cackling of hyenas and gnoll outriders: they were on the 422nd layer of the Abyss, the domain of the Gnoll Prince Yeenoghu, and nobody heard of them after that. 
• Though the rest of the party, still on the material plane, was doubtless in great danger since they had just killed several drow as collateral damage, we ended the session there. 

Takeaways

Hoo boy, where to begin. 

House of Pestilence includes both the drow noble house itself, as well as several underworld wilderness areas a la D1 and D2 prior to it. For this playtest, I elected to skip past those and start the players right at the threshold to the House proper. Since Christmas is coming fast and I'm busy as soon as January starts, I didn't expect to have another playtest with this group afterwards. That said, I didn't expect them to find and defeat the wizard!

While the adventure has been in development for quite some time, the hook with the wizard is much more recent. I think I added it a week before submission. My intent with it was that an effective party could accomplish this goal with much less risk by infiltrating and treating this as a social/investigative adventure, rather than spamming fireball and getting subsequently dogpiled by a few dozen drow. That turned out to be the case, but not quite how I expected. This party managed to accomplish the main objective within a single session, without engaging with most of the location! At the same, time they got quite little in the way of loot, especially since the wizard's body got shunted to another plane. 

Is that a bad thing? I'm not sure. If you strip out this objective, the rest of the location remains, and there's still lots to do, lots of intrigues and plots and treasure and exploration; but players ought to have some inkling that it is there in order to decide whether they want to go after it. 

I expect I'll revamp the hook; maybe taking out the wizard is just one part of the goal, and non-evil parties still have some reason to take assassinate the matriarch (other than the usual reason one would have to fight against the drow as a neutral/good party). Not sure, will have to give this more thought. 

The actual fight with the wizard was also much easier than expected; none of them took a single point of damage! I don't think this is the fault of the adventure, but a combination of luck, strategy, and the way I ran it. Vas Arghul was loaded down with powerful items and spells, but it takes time to activate them, and spells can be interrupted. Had he rolled better on initiative, they would have been fighting him, plus a half dozen umber hulks, in the dark, with a wand of force. But he got unlucky, and got overwhelmed. Should I update his items to add something which can open up some breathing room in situations like these? Maybe. This too will take more thought. 

All said and done, I felt the session went quite smooth, and the playtesters had a good time of it. Out of all of us, only one had prior experience with high-level AD&D. My CX game only really went to around 6th level, and the other playtesters have managed to get to 4th in the course of their current campaign. A fair amount of play, especially in that combat at the end, was spent looking up the details on spell effects; luckily, CTRL-F speeds that up a good deal, and I already had my improved spell descriptions at hand. 

Still, picking up new characters at high level, especially when you haven't gotten characters to that level organically before, definitely feels stilted. In the absence of a group of veteran players it's unavoidable, though it's a good reason to not design for higher levels in the absence of a high-level group. 

Since most of the session was exploration and social interaction, the much-vaunted issues with high-level play didn't get a chance to pop up. 

Alright, I think that's all I have to say about the playtest now. I hope to do another round in the coming months with my in-person group, and that playtest will hopefully be longer and more complete. Until next time, have an excellent week!