Session 3 Recap – October 3rd, 973 (Continued)
The party gathered around a five-foot opening in the sewer floor. Below came the familiar sounds they’d grown to hate: the wet rustle, the eager chitter, the scrape of claws on stone.
Shamus lit a torch and dropped it through the hole. The flame wobbled down the shaft, revealing a rusted ladder leading to a cistern perhaps twenty feet across.
At the bottom—an inch of brown water, and three giant rats.
From their perch, the adventurers opened fire. Arrows, eldritch blasts, and insults rained down. One rat made a valiant, absurd attempt to climb the ladder, slipping on every rung, before giving up and bolting with its kin into the dark.
Three rats fled, one small victory earned, and the stench already worse from the green black blood the rats left behind.
A single tunnel led south to a corridor branching left and right with a shallow-looking stream of sewage running down the middle. Three more rats waited, one across the stream. The two on the party’s side died quickly; the third leapt into the current to attack—and was swept instantly away to the right. The “shallow stream” proved deep, swift, and hungry.
From the room to the right came a splash, a crunch, and an agonized squeal that ended far too suddenly.
No one wanted to see what had done it. They went left.
Vren led. She didn’t get far.
A huge shadow uncoiled from the murky pool in the middle of the room—a constrictor snake, pale and glistening. Its jaws flashed, struck, and dragged her under before anyone could react. There was a ripple, a scream, and silence.
One bite, one breath, gone.
The group recovered quickly. Wolfgang proposed baiting the creature back with a rat tied to a rope; as the group did this, Cassyndra conjured a floating campfire over the pool. The snake rose for its bait, the firelight painted it hellish orange, and the party unleashed everything they had. Arrows, bolts, flame—the serpent’s head struck the ceiling and came down with a wet slap. The walls ran slick with filth and blood.
Ironbark was nominated by the rest of the party to go in after what remained of Vren. He returned pale, carrying a longsword, a shield, and what might charitably be called “pieces.” He went back down once more and surfaced with eighteen gold pieces, which—given the odds—felt like a small miracle. As he worked, the rest of the part chopped off the giant snake tail and tucked it away in a small room for later retrieval and attention by Wolfgang.
Further on, they found rats in blind hallways and trapped them there with conjured fire then methodically cut them down with ranged attacks.
Once the adults were dead, the party turned their attention to the helpless baby giant rats; the adventurers stomped them out with gusto. Several were drop-kicked through imaginary goalposts, and every tail—adult and infant—was bagged for Quill’s bounty.
Scattered among the carnage were relics of the prior adventuring party sent into these same tunnels: gear, charms, and grim remains. The group gathered what might help identify the fallen, while quietly pocketing the valuables that wouldn’t.
Two caverns later, the ground rose and the air thickened with chittering. Swarms of smaller rats poured from fissures, crawling over each other in blind frenzy.
Blades flashed, fire roared. Cassyndra barely escaped beneath a tide of squealing fur until the Druid of the Sewers filled the air with hallucinogenic spores. The rats scattered; Hunkle briefly joined them in spirit, hallucinating in “ecological themes,” as the Druid later put it. When he returned to himself, he crushed the next rat he met into paste with vindictive precision.
Then came the heart of the nest.
Six of the largest rats waited at the command of something worse: the Broodfather. Its bulk steamed in the sewer air, fur patchy, eyes burning with red intelligence. Its voice was wrong—half rasp, half whisper—echoing not just from its throat but from every tunnel at once.
The battle was savage. The Broodfather’s psychic cries directed the rats into battle, heedless of flame or pain. Shamus fell and rose more than once, saved each time by desperate magic and duty. Cassyndra’s conjured campfire blazed above the fight; the Druid’s spike growth filled the ground with cruel iron roots. Fire, arrows, and steel finally brought the beast down. Its carcass hissed where blood met water; silence followed, thick and grateful.
More baby rats were found—and ended—without hesitation. None wanted to meet what they’d grow into.
Amid the carnage lay cracked barrels, leaking viscous, rainbow-black sludge. The sigil of The Phlogiston Works gleamed on their sides. So here was the truth—the waste that made the monsters.
The Druid regarded it gravely. “These ones,” he said, motioning to the party, “must set this right, for the Flow.”
The adventurers, filthy and tired, agreed to add it to their ever-growing list of injustices to correct.
Their trip back to the surface, escorted by the Druid, was unremarkable. A few creatures made as if to attack them but were stilled by gentle gestures from the Druid. It seemed that other than the aberrant giant rats, the denizens of the sewers respected their protector.
When they finally climbed into daylight, reeking of death and sewage, they found Quill waiting in his office. He counted the rat tails, paid as promised, and raised a politely incredulous brow at talk of a “rat prophet.”
“A Broodfather? You mean like the Godfather from the play?”
He did, however, confirm that the Phlogiston Works—a large supplier of potions and salves for the public and the Archean army—had the means, motive, and arrogance for something as foul as illegal dumping. He didn’t seem surprised. Bureaucrats rarely are.
The party didn’t linger on his disbelief in the Broodfather. They were too busy laughing all the way to the moneychanger.
Reputation and Return
Back at the Hero’s Respite, the group’s reputation climbed. They’d already earned notice for uncovering the hobgoblin–goblin alliance plaguing the trade roads. Now they brought back proof of the last crew’s fate—enough for the Adventurers’ Guild to notify next of kin.
Veteran adventurers raised their mugs in silent respect. Two even volunteered to handle the letters home via the Adventurer’s Guild.
Session 3 Recap – October 7th, 973
With their pay, the party re-equipped and bought scrolls of Feign Death and Speak With Dead.
Wolfgang, inspired (and half drunk), forged a letter bearing Governor Kanwal Gill’s seal authorizing “sanctioned magical inquiry” into Captain Nelson’s remains. The party brough the letter to the caravan office just prior to Nelson’s departure only to be greeted with skepticism.
The clerk on duty adjusted her spectacles. “Madams and Sirs. This is very unusual, very unusual indeed. You must understand that we need to confirm this dispatch with the governor’s palace before proceeding.” A runner was dispatched and the party relaxed and took a seat on the benches… all except for Pfinder who slipped out the door a few moments later.
He caught up with the runner halfway down the street and, with his usual mixture of charm, wit, and a discreet ten-gold donation, persuaded the young man that the palace could wait — but a good tavern could not.
An hour later, the runner returned, flushed and cheerful, to report that the authorization had been confirmed. The party was brought to the loaded caravan and Nelson’s body was unwrapped, and the party left alone with him.
It worked.
The caravan quartermaster led them to the wagon. Nelson’s body was unwrapped, pale and rigid, laid out in its shroud. There were no wounds save the great self-inflicted slash across the throat — no symbols, no sigils, no trace of foul magic upon the flesh.
The quartermaster left them to their business and Cassyndra spoke the words of the spell and breath came to the dead.
Nelson’s voice rose hollow and calm, a man speaking from under deep water. To the party’s amazement, he confirmed that he had, indeed, killed himself… and had done it for duty.
“It was in me,” he whispered. “Something… wrong. It wanted my hands, my voice. I could not allow it. Better silence than treason.”
When asked what he feared most, Nelson’s words echoed those in his final letters to Captain Monpierre,
“The dead rise. The Withers spreads. The Blades conspire. The Governor… sleeps.”
Then the glow behind his eyes faded, and the corpse sagged once more into stillness.
The party looked at one another, the weight of what they’d heard settling heavier than any grave earth.
The dead captain had given them the truth—and a new question.
If the darkness could possess men of discipline and faith, how many others might already serve it anyone knowing?
Homework and Announcements
1. B#1’s Health and Session 4 Hosting Plans
Initially the reason that B#1 couldn’t attend Session 3 was because he was going to in Hawaii with K. Plans, however, were quickly re-written when he suffered an NSTEMI and instead of traveling to Hawaii, he traveled to Mercy Hospital – for a CABG. Fortunately, he’s bounced back very well from it and is now recovering at home.
Depending on how he feels in the next few days, Session 4 may be held at his home. If he’s not quite ready, B#2 has kindly volunteered to host again. Stand by for details.
2. Session Summaries
All of the posted session summaries are drawn from your GM’s increasingly fallible memory. If you spot any errors—or see a chance to make your character look better in posterity—send suggestions for revisions!
3. Transition to the New Rules (D&D Core / 5.5 E)
The group has voted to switch from classic 5E to the new D&D Core (a.k.a. 5.5 E). The new rules make for cooler, more flexible characters, which is exactly what this hedonistic band deserves.
Now when looking up rules or buying rule books, please select the new rules with the publication date of 2024 rather than the old rules which will have publication dates of 2014.
The decision introduces a few complications but I’m confident that this group will be able to take them in stride,
- The new rules are an evolution of the prior ones rather than a complete rewrite so learning them shouldn’t be too difficult. That being said, there are differences and it will take time for your GM to learn them all. If you see an area where the GM is drifting away from the new Vision of the Wizards of the Coast, continue to prompt him gently.
- Please rebuild your characters using the new rules.
- You may fully retcon your character—species, class, spells, the lot—if something in the new rules inspires you. Still no orcs, however, for reasons that should now be apparent.
- Keep your existing stats or roll new ones.
- If you like, re-equip using new starting gear and gold. Don’t bother tracking the torches, rations, etc, you previously consumed. We’ll retcon those away and just keep track of future consumption.
- To facilitate the tracking of these future expenditures, if you buy a pack (e.g. Dungeoneer’s Pack), record the individual items and their individual weights.
- Keep the 270 XP that you’ve earned so far.
- The party should keep the gold it’s earned so far along with the stuff it bought with that gold such as those three healing potions.
- If your character acquired something along the way such as a goblin shortbow with arrows, Vren’s longsword, or whatever else, keep it.
- If your character class or species isn’t defined in the new rules, add in published 5E rules to fill in the gap – e.g. Artificer, half-elf, etc. Consult the GM for rulings if you encounter contradictions.
- The GM will rebuild Ironbark and create a replacement for Vren as part of his own rule-learning journey.
- Although 5.5 E drops encumbrance and my custom wound/short and long-rest tweaks, we’ll continue using them unless they stop being fun.
- Consider using the suggested character sheet which reminds you of the encumbrance limits, minuses to being badly wounded, and has a section to record what you’re carrying with you and another section to record what you left back at the inn (or at the Adventurer’s Guild or in a cave somewhere).
4. Character Deaths
If your PC dies, you’ll create a new character at the same level as your previous one—no dropping back to 1st level. Write a short explanation of how your newcomer joins the group and, if you wish, a brief backstory.
5. NPC Roles
Our current NPC’s will continue to serve as redshirts, balancing of tanks vs squishies, and a quick way for occasionally participating friends to jump in without the overhead of making up a new character.
6. The Internet/Kardan Maze
We talked about how the rewards of participating in the Maze seem very distant – if you solve this long-term and not fully constructed puzzle you’ll get an ill-defined reward of future information.
For this reason, we changed things up to provide XP for solving parts of the Maze. From here on out, please assign your character XP based on the puzzles you solve. Each section of the Maze is worth 50 XP and so far we have two sections,
- Six rooms, each themed after a D&D class.
- One room which contains five scrolls.
Assign yourself XP based on the fraction of a section that you’re able to solve – dividing the XP amongst the subsections. So, if you solve three of six subsections of the first section on your own but need a hint to solve two more but had to have a fellow player tell you the answer for the last one, assign your XP as follows,
- 50 XP divided by six subsections is 8.33 XP per subsection.
- You solved three subsections on your own – 8.33 x 3 = 25 XP.
- You needed help for two subsections – 8.33 x 2 x 0.5 = 8.33 XP.
- You couldn’t solve the last subsection and someone told you the answer – 0 XP.
- Take a total of 33.33 XP, round according to the rules taught by your fourth-grade teacher à 33 XP.
No treasure for now in the Maze; we’ll change that later if needed to make it more fun.
7. Clarification on Leveling Up
When you level up, you get all of your character improvements right away. The Adventurers’ Guild, however, will not make jobs appropriate for your new level available to you until you pay for the Advenurer’s License at your new level. And other Adventurers probably won’t respect you as much either.
8. GM Turning in Late Homework
The GM continues to owe you some maps of the region and a narration of what you discovered when you researched warlocks at the Edicaria Grand Library way, way back when. Also, he needs to build more Maze.
9. Please Use the Forums
Please take some time to use the forums to record notes about what you’ve seen and what you’re thinking. There are more than ten storylines in play (and growing, because “Ooo, shiny new plot idea!”), and your notes – even if fragmentary – will be priceless once we reach Session 27 and you’re debating how much of everything was secretly the BBEG’s fault.
Also take time to plan things out. When I design sessions where pre-planning is possible, I’m designing them to be more deadly than what the characters can handle and am counting on your planning to ratchet that down to the point where the characters are only at death’s door once or twice during the session. Out of such adversity are heroes made…
Things don’t work so well, however, if the planning doesn’t take place! Planning for Kenning’s jailbreak is already in progress online – why not jump in?
10. Rain!
You may notice in this session’s Royal Standard that five days of rain were forecast. That rainfall begins now—during your attempt to free Kenning. Whether it hides your movements or serves as a trap remains to be seen… You’ll never know unless you attend Session 4!