Stonehell Session 20

  

~ New Recruits~

~ Berserker Strikes ~

~ New Rivals ~

Excavator's Alliance, Tower Dungeon, Chapter 4

13th of Cold Frost, Imperial Year 525

Blizzards

Vesper the young necromancer

Solstice the foundling bandit

Esau Emof the kettlewright

Klang Fletchwind

First, some updates to the rules. I'm switching over to Cairn 2E. Rules are pretty much the same, but the players get some background options that allow for a little more customization. I'm still letting them pick to ignore that and just go with stats and items, but it seems like everyone was excited about backgrounds. 2E also has some more fleshed out rules for exploration, so I'm switching to those just to avoid having to carry another book around. I'm still going to take ideas from Errant when I need them.

Second, changes have happened to Stonehell and the surrounding environs during the break. The campaign progresses in real time outside of sessions, so it has been ~3 months. In that time a few things have happened.

- William Irons, a former PC (now confiscated by me, mwahhaha) has taken control of the Hellseeker Guild. Through a series of bad investments, he has squandered a lot of the formerly acquired fortune (I gave them too much money last season, I want them to start from scratch so I can rebalance).

- The Excavator's Alliance, a rival adventuring guild, has moved in. These are taken directly from Tower Dungeon (a new manga by Tsutomu Nihei). They are intent on completely stripping the first level of Stonehell, breaking down walls, carving artifacts from the walls, etc. (I want the party to venture deeper. They're going to find much of the first level no longer holds loot). There is an added bonus that all of the regular haunts from last season have been completely destroyed, and this inspires STRONG feelings in the players.

- Tensions with the Orcs have risen again. There is a small war going on between them and the EA. They are going to lose, and will be forced down deeper into the dungeon. I'm going to work on some more faction play this season, to give the dungeon a bit more life.

Alright, with all that out of the way, lets go into the recap!

William Irons recruited these 4 new adventurers to restart the dungeon delving operations that had previously made the Guild so much cash. Tasking them with bringing back anything of value, he promised them a prominent spot in the echoing chambers of the empty guildhall.

The party took the gear on their backs and set off for Stonehell.

Through inclement weather, they gained some fatigue passing over frozen marshes and drifting snow dunes, and decided to rest in the gatehouse. A safe but chilly respite.

Traveling deeper into the valley, they spotted some goblin tracks leading into their former forward operating base. Saving that for another time, they ventured down.

To immediately be greeted by the grand foyer, completely strip mined to its support beams. Disgusted, they headed toward the crypts, where Irons said their best bet at riches lay.

Along the way Klang spotted multiple sets of footprints, which split off in different directions. Following the hooves, they nearly walked into an orc ambush. Klang's ranger training kicked in, and they were able to safely retreat.

On their way to follow the human footprints, they stopped by the old Stone Oracle they had visited nearly every session last season, only to find it completely destroyed. They did some tests to see if it could be reassembled, and the fragments still held some magic, but something was missing. Vesper performed burial ceremonies for the oracle and they moved on.

Thinking they were meeting some fellow humans, they attempted to enter the room the footprints led to, only to be greeted by 5 berserkers and an orc roasting over a fire. They were terrified, especially after their encounters with berserkers last season, but decided to try to fight. With some flame tar from Esau and a few well placed arrows from Klang, they got extremely lucky and killed off the berserkers in two rounds. They found some gold, and the remains of the orc's ceremonial jewelry, and decided to use this as a bargaining chip with the orcs. Solstice took the heads off the berserkers, and Esau mounted them on his sword. They returned to the orc ambush.

Between the berserker heads and the jewelry, the party managed to communicate their willingness to parley with the orc ambushers. One of the orcs recognized the jewelry of her mate, and took the orc party with her to gather up the remains. Vesper wished to learn more about orc burial rights, but the party had to push on into the crypts.

The famous double doors carved with a Danse Macabre had been broken off their hinges and carried out of the dungeon, once again leaving the party furious.

They traveled towards some crypts and were ambushed by 9 skeletons. The skeletons downed Solstice immediately with their rusty sword blows. Klang thought quick and took a chance rushing into another crypt. Luckily the residents were truly dead, and the party quickly followed suit into the crypt. With Esau's strength and a stake from Vesper, they managed to wedge the door shut, to give them time for Solstice to recover.

Stuck in a dead end, and with the session running out of time, the party's only plan was to try to let one skeleton in at a time to deal with. This surprisingly worked, with Esau passing a bunch of STR saves, and Vesper using her censer, which had been established to be a steel sphere on a chain, as an effective bone-bludgeon. The party eliminated all of the skeletons, the only true damage being Solstice riddled with arrows yet barely alive. 

They grabbed some jewelry from the crypt and fled the dungeon. At least, they tried. 

At the foot of the spiral staircase, they were greeted by 7 members of the Excavator's Alliance, and they wanted a tax. Solstice deftly hid the jewelry in their clothes, and instead presented the 7 gold they had looted off the berserker loincloths. The EA huffily took the gold, and demanded some more the next time they met. 

The trip back to Stonehome was uneventful.

Great, tense first session back! Really excited for the next year of Stonehell!!