House of Pestilence Playtest 2 Session 1: The Road to Immortality

Last time I playtested House of Pestilence, we found that killing a pseudo-lich was not as hard as expected and that it was possible to speedrun the module. Now I have returned, running my regular party through the module from the beginning, with a new premise, which I shall replicate below. 

The world you know is an arena for powers that lie beyond mortal understanding. Each of you: hermit masters, archdruids, sorcerer-kings, and witch-queens, stand close to the peak of human power. But the more powerful you become, the clearer it is that there is an unbridgeable gulf between mortals and immortals. Between powers and principalities and your meager flesh and blood. 

Until now. 

One of the most powerful evil gods, triumvir of Hades, lord of the pestilent land of Oinos, the daemon lord Anthraxus, has a secret. Hundreds of years ago, he cut out a shard of his divine power and hid it in the material plane. There it has taken root and flowered. Anthraxus plans to consume it to bolster his own divine power once it has fully ripened, but if you were to take it for yourselves, it would pave a royal road. Deities of every plane would burst down your door offering gifts and boons in exchange for it. And if you were to consume it, you could become gods in your own right. 

Here is what you know: the prize is hidden deep underground, in the domains of the drow. It is protected by House Umil-Da, drow aristocrats who turned away from the worship of Lloth the spider-queen, were banished from the drow capital, and found new offices under Anthraxus’ wings. Their headquarters, the House of Pestilence, attracts the wealthy and powerful from the material world and the lower planes alike, bartering for the rarest and most valuable treasures the infernal realms have to offer. It is very secure, and very dangerous, but if you can infiltrate it and gain entry to the deepest part of their palace, you can steal the prize from under their noses. 

 

Are you a bad enough dude?

Thus you five, sharing neither creed, country, nor alignment, each bringing only two of your most powerful and trusted lieutenants, have allied. Whether to take it for yourselves, offer it to your patrons, or simply deny it to your enemies, this grand prize calls to all of you. How long this alliance will last is another question. You have one shot at immortality. Don’t waste it. 

The Party

Liu Feng, The Fool Drifting on the East Wind, human monk 12 played by Jackson

    Kore, the Vision of Temperance, human illusionist 11

    Vindictus, the Hand-Chopping Judge, beetlefolk fighter/thief 9/11

Stribor, the Devil of Bukosevač, human bard 11 played by Cao Linh

    Helefres, Magician of the Far Shore, human mage 11

    Tork, the Tower and Key, ratling thief 12

Shirin the Wastrel Empress, human mage 12 played by Finn

    Sisiphre, Who Has Tempted Death, elven mage/thief 10/11

    Skour, Night's Justice, human assassin 11

Celine, le Sphinx du Averoigne, elven druid 13 played by Anne

    Carter, the Hermit Underhill, ratling thief/illusionist

    Saumur, the Hangman of Orscea, goblin fighter 11

Haught Taupik the Blood Sword Emperor, elven fighter/mage 7/11 played by Ali

    Aodhan the Reborn, human druid 12

    Soo Meri, Elder of the Moonstone Sect, human monk 10

Casualties

None

Loot

Information

A treacherous ally

The Game

On the First Day...

• The party, all of them lords upon the surface world, convened in the underground citadel of Erelhei-Cinlu, the capital of the drow, city of diabolism and debauchery. In the Greencloak Boarding House, an institution catering to surface-dwellers traveling through the underworld, they acquired information: rumors about the House of Pestilence, and secret maps showing the way. 

By Tomas Giorello

• Several of their number indulged in moondrops, small colored pastries baked with amphetamines, and in various alcoholic concoctions with spider venom. Liu Feng established that he did not own a shirt. 
• After purchasing supplies through the Greencloak's factor, they set out on their riding lizards under the radioactive moonlight, across the velvety purple river and out of the Vault of the Drow. 
• They made good time down the Slaveway and then turned at a little-used intersection, crawling through caves and tunnels until they reached a great cavern, the outline of haphazard buildings and fungal farms backlit by the ghostly glow of a geothermal vent. This was Seeker's Shanty. 
• A patrol of raggedy soldiers, drow and duergar and various other underworld species, met them and established they were only here to trade and then pass through. They learned that the House of Pestilence lay in the tunnels beyond, and that the shanty was populated by three groups: first, the myconids led by the Great Decomposer; second, the cultists seeking transcendence through their mind-melding spores; third, exiles, criminals, and assorted riff-raff claiming asylum and working under the auspices of the myconids. 
• Liu Feng and Haught Taupik visited a myconid leader, High Lecturer Weoga, as it delivered awe-inspiring metaphysical lectures to an enraptured crowd. Awe-inspiring... but totally without philosophical substance, in the Blood Sword Emperor's estimation. 

Shirin: I don't care to learn what mushrooms know about life. 

• Meanwhile, the rest of the party searched for information about the House of Pestilence, and landed at the oversized, barricaded door of Grismolt, a colossal cave troll. He was a former war-slave to House Eilserv, and fought against House Umil-Da prior to his escape. Their battle tactics followed from the drow noble playbook, but the party learned a good deal more about the path to the House, especially about great monsters with fearsome glowing eyes that still struck fear into the colossal troll. 
• After a short delay to top up their supplies, the party pressed on, and soon reached the Singing Caves. Their maps and notes had warned them to wait until the singing had begun and ended: otherwise they might be stuck traversing the caverns when it began, and they would surely die. 

On the Second Day...

• So they waited, making camp amid the stones. After a time, they heard the singing: more like a colossal whistle, joined by another voice, and then another. It continued for hours, but always just slightly off-key, maddeningly incomplete. At the climax, the singing itself sounded as frustrated as they all were, and suddenly ended. 
• They then picked their way through the caverns, many dozens of limestone pockets from the size of a cottage to a goose egg: some of the passages between the caves bore pick-marks, and all those were just wide enough for them and their riding lizards to pass through. 
• They rushed through to the exit without delay, and continued following their notes. Along the way, they discovered a gap in the rock, apparently created by a recent earthquake, from which a gentle, soothing scent emanated. A small handful of party members squeezed through, and found a strange scene: the scent blew from a pool of water, gently glowing. Above the pool hung a stalactite, with a charred human corpse nailed to it by 22 silver spikes. 

Haught Taupik: I want them to do that to me when I die. 

• Feeling wigged out, they left the cavern untouched, but when Vindictus (who was holding up the rear) emerged, he screamed 'Ghost!' and started running. Hearing phantasmal moans nearby, the party joined him in flight. 
• Putting distance between themselves and the ghost, the party soon reached the entrance to a network of swiss-cheese caves riddled with fungal forests: the Undernesse. All their maps ended here: they would have to search around and find the way to the House of Pestilence by themselves. 
• Liu Feng and Soo Meri interrogated the surrounding fungi, and learned that several kinds of two-legs wander the area: one of those are furry and stink, and come from the southeast. The party determined that these are likely bugbears, servants of the House of Pestilence. 
• In searching them out, the party encountered a clan of pech living in an upside-down pyramid, who warned them about the rulers of the Undernesse: the Lady Tempestuous and Lord Tectonic. They also came across a camp of sycophantic deep gnomes, clearly terrified, who advised the party to follow the path and take the next cave on the right.

Source

• Finding such a cave, Liu Feng and Vindictus sneak in, and find it scattered with offal and the bones of both rothe and humanoids. Within is a six-legged monster, somewhere between a cat and a bear, slumbering. They turn back, but find another one, even larger than the first, entering the cave behind them, but the pair are able to escape and are not pursued for long. 
• Though distrusting the advice of the gnomes, the party pressed on, and among crumbling slate shelves did in fact find a tunnel leading away from the Undernesse. Their lizards waded through the dank secretions of luminescent algae, until they reached a steep, uneven chimney. They picked their way up slowly but surely, and reached a flat landing with a tunnel stretching forking before them. Their lizards acted strangely, yet still further they pressed. 
• Before they knew it, they were surrounded by hulking beetle-like figures with glowing golden eyes, blocking off several tunnels! A cackling voice spoke directly into their minds 'Surrender to House Umil-Da!'
• The party did not do this. 
• They swung into action, meeting the monsters in melee. Several took injuries, and Haught Taupik in particular suffered a pair of nasty bites, but numbers and magic were in their favor: with one tunnel webbed up to block entry and the monks throwing stunning fists, the party eased the pressure. The hulking beasts focused their baleful gazes on several members of the party, but all managed to avert their eyes and keep fighting. The battle turned when Haught Taupik scored a critical hit on one opponent, draining its lifeforce with a single thrust.

The Bloodsword: Blood for my master! Blood and souls for my master Haught Taupik!

• With the battle turning against them, the remaining monsters attempted to flee, but they could not outrun Liu Feng and Soo Meri, who swiftly cut them off and pounded the survivors into the dirt. Aodhan and Celine healed the most seriously wounded, and the party heard the sound of a tunnel collapse from the right fork. They searched the tunnels and found a blocked-off passage, which Vindictus, even further empowered by a spell of strength, began to clear by hand. 
• Then the party heard a voice speak into their minds once more. "Cease! House Umil-Da will strike you down if you continue!" 
• Vindictus did not stop. 

Wait, let's talk about this

• The telepathic voice began pleading, and the party opened parley. It just so happened that these were not the forces of House Umil-Da proper, but a wizard, Eastler, and his umber hulk minions contracted to guard the entrance from those who trespassed without properly declaring themselves. Just then, he had sent a telepathic message to his superiors requesting reinforcements against the party, but had been refused and left to his fate. 
• They cleared the rubble and the two groups came face to face. Eastler offered information on the House of Pestilence, and asked the party to help him fake his death in order to escape his contract; by pretending that Eastler had exceeded his duties and attempted to extort the party, they might still be able to enter the House diplomatically. However, the drow were already preparing their defenses, and little time remained to put this scheme into action before their scouts made their way into the tunnels...

The session ended there, with the party hatching a plan with the treacherous wizard. Will they be able to deceive the drow and infiltrate the House of Pestilence, or will it go down in a storm of violence? Find out in the next session!

Takeaways

This party was pretty focused on reaching the House, and as a result missed a bunch of stuff along the way, especially in the Undernesse. Indeed, there is no loot for this session! I wonder if that will continue: the promise of immortality might be enough to get them to give up on treasure. 

I screwed up the combat a little bit: not only were all the players supposed to be mounted, part of the battlefield was a layer of sticky moss which... I totally forgot to apply. Speaking of, the combat was considerably slower than usual, with each round taking around 15 minutes: mind you, there were 15 characters on the player side and several umber hulks opposing them, but I was surprised by how much time was taken up just rolling attacks and damage. Maybe I was feeling the time more keenly than the players were. I expect combat will speed up a lot more once the players get more familiar with their characters and all the options at their fingertips. 

Alas, nobody in this group has read Elric, so everything about Haught Taupik outside of his silly name is going over their heads!

All in all, I feel that the session went well, though I wonder if I was rushing the scene in the Greencloak too much and didn't give enough description or space to act. Though maybe the party wanted to get on with the adventure. It's really striking me how different a game can be depending on the players and the overall attitude of a table: this one is generally jokey and goal driven, not prone to distraction and not too driven to roleplay. I want to run this module again for other groups and see how they interact with it differently.