New fantasy novel: Wayward Magicians!

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Joe

After a mere 18 months of projects, procrastinations, and pandemics, I have finished a new fantasy novel! Heavily inspired by the Dying Earth stories by Jack Vance, as well as Moorcock’s Elric, Lieber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Howard’s Conan, Smith’s Zothique, and countless other fantasy works from the early-to-mid 20th century, I proudly present:

Wayward Magicians

The ancient world of Harth withers beneath a dying sun…but it’s not dead yet. Ravenous demons threaten the last cities, their streets choked with starving refugees. Desperate to save their homeland, a possessed cleric and a fugitive wizard delve into the lost lands buried beneath their feet. In the dark caverns, they discover dead cities and antique societies, travelers from distant lands and times, gleaming metal angels gone mad, cosmic horrors and the fanatics who worship them, undead pilgrims, dreaming aristocrats, and of course, giant flame-belching snails.

[ $0.99 | amazon ]

About the book

It’s a short book, a fast read. Many of the chapters are written as (nearly) standalone short stories. But it is still very much a novel. I wanted it to feel more like the classic fantasy novels of the 1950s-1970s, similar to the “fix-ups” that were basically short story collections.

The story picks up with two characters from Beneath the Dying Land, so it is a sequel in the general sense, but Wayward Magicians is its own story and you don’t need to read anything else to understand or enjoy it.

What’s it actually about? Well, it’s about two people who aren’t terribly heroic on a journey into strange places, and encountering strange people. And giant flame-belching snails. It’s about discovering things that are wondrous and awful, and then making a mess of things and running away. You know, real life. Plus magic wands.

I tried my best to follow Elmore Leonard’s advice to “leave out the parts that people skip”. Most of the editing I did was deleting. I’m sure with a little more time and thought, I could have deleted a lot more.

If you’re a fan of this blog (and statistically speaking, you’re probably not), then you may recognize a handful of these chapters as short stories I posted a while back.

Selfish demands

If you like Wayward Magicians, then please post a rating/review on Amazon, and tweet about it, and blog about it, and tell all your friends in real life. Especially rich, good-looking friends with lots of followers. You know, the ones who like weird, dark homages to mid-20th century fantasy stories.

And if you don’t like it, thanks anyway.

Future books?

If you like Wayward Magicians, then there is good news. I am planning to write at least two more books in the same style, each focusing on new characters and new mysterious corners of the world of Harth.

If you like Wayward Magicians AND table-top roleplaying games, then there is even more good news. I have been very busy publishing RPG adventures in the world of Harth, which you can find as Dungeon Age Adventures on DriveThruRPG.

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Fangs of Vulgoth: Session #7

Posted on February 13, 2021 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes befriended the were-bear / vampire hunter Rosette Vanator, met the young ranger Gavril, encountered a forest angel, found the lost Yakov Vanator, and entered the catacombs of Castle Dalca…

Play time: 5 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the Eldritch Knight – Level 5
  • Ward the Gloom Stalker – Level 5
  • Rainen the Beast Master – Level 5
  • Hugo the Knowledge Cleric/Time Wizard – Level 1/4
  • Tiodhloc (Asmund) the Divine Soul Sorcerer – Level 5

Zombie Time

Ward poked into the next chamber of the catacombs and found it defended by eight undead warriors. The team charged into the room, leapt onto the sarcophagi, and plunged into battle. They were assaulted by four zombie knights and their four zombie squires. The fast-undead did some heavy damage with their long swords and crossbows, and when they died, their corpses exploded to poison anyone nearby.

Ward unleashed his flaming arrows to great effect, and Drew speared away in mighty fashion. Hugo tanked in the middle of the room, drawing fire and protecting his friends. Tiodhloc and Rainen ran support, healing the team as needed. And Yakov Vanator had some really bad luck, throwing his wooden stakes all over the room and pounding on the armored zombies to little effect.

With the zombie warriors defeated, the team found the iron crown of Iron King Dorinel Dalca and a mighty dragon-slaying greatsword, the Dread Cleaver!

Yakov identified the zombie knights as the things that bit him, so the team took a short rest while Tiodhloc studied the zombie slime and created a medicinal treatment for the bite. It was intensely painful, but seemed effective!

Ghastly Faith

In the next room, Ward reported that there were two priests and a nun standing around an altar by a statue of the angel Virune. Tiodhloc was greatly concerned by this display of piety/blasphemy and charged in to investigate. He quickly discovered that the priests were decaying corpses, and flooded the room with daylight. The priests were only briefly confused, and then shambled forward to seize the faithful sorcerer and suck the life out of his blood.

The team ran into the room and quickly dispatched the ghastly priests and nun before they could do much damage. Hugo detected magic in the altar and the statue, while Tiodhloc discovered the horrific flesh and eyes of Shernavoth pressed up through the cracks in the floor. But the monster retreated before anyone could do anything.

This was all too much for poor Tiodhloc, and in a blast of radiant light he reverted to his other form of Asmund.

Hugo swept off the altar and found it was actually the sarcophagus of the Dark Queen Lerazia Dalca. Inside he found her corpse dressed in black, with two scrolls, a silver crown, a silver ring, and a silver rapier. Hugo took the scrolls, Yakov took the sword, and Ward and Drew took the jewels.

Meanwhile, Rainen and Asmund prayed on whether they should break open the statue of Virune to remove the item inside it. The angel signaled that the statue was unimportant, so they proceeded to carefully break the cracked plaster figure apart. Inside, they found a corpse bound in iron wires and bands. The magic item was in its chest. Asmund used telekinesis to rip the object out, and snatched a hard black lump from the air, the Heretic’s Heart.

Bed of Nails

Ward peeked into the next room and found it deserted. There was another altar and another statue, but only a few graves and no creatures. Hugo, Asmund, and Rainen were all struck by a powerful holy presence radiating from the altar.

The altar was topped with a bed of nails, and marked with runes reading Purity, Cleanse, and Sacrifice. Asmund felt compelled to use this holy site, and he reverted back to Tiodhloc to climb up and lie on the bed of nails. As his blood gushed out onto the altar and he plummeted to 1 HP, his spirit fled to a null space where he encountered a being of fire. The angel asked him if he would carry the purifying flame in his hand. He said yes, and took the flame.

Tiodhloc awoke in terrible pain. His hand was burning so intensely that it glowed like a beacon. Also, he was still on the bed of nails. The team lifted him off and healed his wounds, careful to avoid his glowing hand. They tried putting some pebbles in his hand, but nothing happened.

Meanwhile, Hugo found some healing potions at the feet of the statue.

Treasure Trap

The last chamber of the catacomb was smaller. The walls were earth and rough stone, supported by heavy timbers. But one timber had broken and the ceiling was collapsing. The only thing holding it up was a silver staff.

The group went around the room and inspected each sarcophagus, noting the names and contents of each one. They also found a lot of magic items:

  • The “Bitter End” longsword, which freezes everything it touches
  • A unicorn helmet, which communicates with plants and animals
  • A feathered cloak, which summons ravenwolves
  • A holy shield of strange metal
  • An amulet that can mimic voices
  • A grimoire of cosmic madness
  • Spiked gloves, which punch real good
  • And also a non-magical prosthetic leg with a secret compartment containing a ruby ring

The Getaway

Last but not least, they really wanted that silver staff. But how to yank it out and escape the inevitable collapse of the entire tomb? Several dangerous plans were suggested. Then Drew (the eldritch knight) suggested that he bond with the staff. Then they could simply leave the tomb and he could summon the staff to his hand when they were safely away.

And that’s exactly what they did.

On the walk back to the surface, Hugo noticed that the corpse of Dark Queen Lerazia was no longer in her tomb. Where could she be???

Back outside, the team crossed to the west end of the bridge, far from the ruins of Castle Dalca. There they took some time to divvy up their new magical loot. During this process, Tiodhloc considered taking the grimoire, but when he held it in his holy hand, the magic book was incinerated into tiny incandescent moths. He then tried holding Hugo’s holy chain-whip, which remained undamaged in his grip. Then Drew reached out and summoned the silver staff to his hand.

And that’s where we ended!

DM Notes

This was a great session. It ran long because I (and everyone else) wanted to wrap up this dungeon. The zombie fight was exciting but not too long. High stakes and interesting. I felt really good about the monster design in that room. My only note to self might be to remove one or two zombies to speed things up.

In the next room, I cut down the number of ghast priests and nuns to save time. But because the team lured the baddies to the door and then bum-rushed them, they didn’t get to do a lot of their cool stuff.

The discoveries in Lerazia’s tomb were great. There was some tension about desecrating a holy site, and confusion about what to do with the Heretic’s Heart (it’s immune to cleric and paladin magic).

In the next room, I removed all of the baddies because it felt like fighting would just be time-consuming, and the altar was way more interesting. So we went straight to the altar business, and Tiodhloc got his holy hand. But what does it do? And what is it doing to him???

In the last room, the team did a great job examining everything in detail and grabbing all the loot. Again I removed the fight from this location because I knew I could do that same fight elsewhere and I wanted the session to wrap up nicely. I was impressed with how quickly Drew produced a perfect solution to the silver staff puzzle that I had never considered. Genius!

Everyone seemed really happy with the session, even though it went long, it had a big payoff with all the loot, plus some new mysteries. What is Tiodhloc’s hand? Where is the Dark Queen Lerazia? I don’t think the night needed a climactic boss battle. But fear not, players, there are tons of battles waiting all around you now!

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Fangs of Vulgoth: Session #6

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes rescued the people of Cherat from a vampire festival, hid in a cottage in the woods, discovered the missing vampire hunter Rosette Vanator, and defeated the Viers family of were-boars. But there is still one Vanator missing…

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the Eldritch Knight – Level 5
  • Ward the Gloom Stalker – Level 5
  • Rainen the Beast Master – Level 5
  • Hugo the Knowledge Cleric/Time Wizard – Level 1/4
  • Tiodhloc (Asmund) the Divine Soul Sorcerer – Level 5

Deadpool Baby Leg

With the were-boars defeated, the party tried to convince Rosette to let them rescue her. They started to annoy her, and she pushed herself up one her one leg to threaten them with her sword. Her blankets fell away, revealing that her severed leg was severed no longer! She was growing a new leg, which currently looked like a chubby toddler limb dangling from her thigh.

Rosette and Bianca made it clear that Rosette needed a little more time to heal, and then come to terms with her new life as a were-bear. But then she would go back home to see her father. Eventually.

Rosette was more concerned about her “idiot” brother Yakov, who had gone off to the ruins of Castle Dalca. He was obsessed with finding cool magic weapons. And while a great fighter, he tended to get himself into trouble and need rescuing. So go rescue him!

Playing Bridge

The party headed east to Castle Dalca and found the bridge over the River Moroz. But there were strange bodies lying on the bridge, each killed by an arrow. As they crept up to investigate, a shuffling humanoid began crossing the bridge toward them. An arrow flew from the trees and killed the stranger, taking its head clean off!

Ward called out to the unseen archer, who quickly climbed down to meet them. He was a polite young man named Gavril from Cherat. Handy with a bow, he liked to come here and shoot fungus zombies to keep them from getting close to his home. He walked them out onto the bridge to show them some of the re-animated corpses covered in bright orange fungal growths.

Yes, Deer

With the sun setting, Gavril headed down to his hammock under the bridge to hide from vampires, and the party proceeded toward the ruined castle. But then Ward spotted a large golden deer in the woods. He ran off to investigate, and followed the deer to the ruins of a cottage away from the castle. There, he saw the deer was actually a buzzing collection of bronze discs, whirling through the air in the shape of a deer. This being stomped its hoof to reveal a hole in the ground, and then flew away into the woods.

In the hole, Ward found an Amulet of the angel Kasimah, a being of the wild, who was worshipped in ancient times by woodsmen and hunters.

Inside the Ruins

With the sun setting, the party headed into the ruins of Castle Dalca. They found one tower intact, but the stairs were blocked by debris. They could also smell a heavy weasel-like musk nearby.

Then a new young man arrived, telling them to put out their lights and stop being so loud. It was Yakov Vanator, looking cold and shaky and manic. He led the group into the ruined keep where there was a safe room. Yakov was excited to have some backup, but worried the party might try to take all the magic loot for themselves. Earlier today, he had successfully found and blown up the entrance to the Dalca catacombs. Surely there was cool stuff in there!

The party was extremely suspicious of Yakov’s behavior. Drew tricked him into smoking Pyotr’s Pacifying Pipe, which put him to sleep. Tiodhloc and Rainen then examined him, and found Yakov had been bitten. The wound looked infected, with black veins around it. Vampire bite?

Ward slipped outside to look around and found a smoking crater on the side of the keep, revealing the entrance to the catacombs. A couple of unhealthy humanoids crawled nearby, sniffing. There was a quick debate about whether to wake Yakov and demand more answers, or to go into the tombs looking for a cure right now. They decided to wait for morning.

Long Rest

Hugo took first watch, but was totally engrossed in his reading. Still, he looked up just in time to swat a bird out of the air just before it dive-bombed him. It appeared to be a giant hummingbird, or a thrush with a needle-beak. Hugo healed the poor thing, and it promptly flew away.

Drew took the second watch. Soon he heard a vampire wretch creeping up the stairs. He hurled a flask of alchemist fire, setting the monster alight. The wretch leapt onto Drew’s chest and bite his neck, drinking his blood and healing while still on fire! Then Ward woke up and shot the wretch, incinerating it right in Drew’s face. Tiodhloc inspected the wound and declared it clean. Drew was not a vampire!

Ward took the third watch. Sitting on the roof, he watched the sun come up.

Shrine Time

In the morning, the team told Yakov that the bite on the back of his shoulder looked bad. He was majorly bummed. But he convinced the team to let him come with them into the catacombs. Hopefully they could find the source of his infection, and maybe a cure.

Outside in the courtyard, Tiodhloc spied an old forgotten shrine of Saint Eravo the Blessed. The stone statue held an offering bowl and a stone likeness of an Amulet of Virune. Tiodhloc placed his real amulet on the stone one, and made an offering of herbs to the bowl. The herbs incinerated themselves and his amulet glowed with the saint’s blessing. But what was the blessing???

Level One… Fight!

The team could already detect the undead moving about in the catacomb ahead. They entered the dark chamber, seeing dozens of dusty sarcophagi. And eighteen vampire wretches!

The battle was fast and furious. Hugo summoned clones and warped time. Ward shredded the air with burning arrows. Drew blasted the wretches with spear and fist. Rained exploded the undead with her hammer. Tiodhloc tore them apart with his spells. And Yakov Vanator leapt onto the sarcophagi in dramatic fashion, flinging his wooden stakes with (mostly) deadly accuracy.

They searched the chamber, finding it to be the 900-year-old resting place of Wise Queen Aurelia Dalca, and her family and retinue. There was little in the broken graves except a lone golden figurine of an owl.

The chamber sloped downward to another door, shattered and gaping, leading to another, deeper chamber.

And that’s where we ended!

DM Notes

Another solid session. We wrapped up the Rosette business pretty quickly, and I think everyone was satisfied with that part. Meeting Gavril at the bridge was fun, and Ward and Rainen seem keen to recruit him into their new ranger lodge. Ward also really liked his first encounter with the angel Kasimah, so I’m looking forward to developing that.

Meeting Yakov Vanator was also fun. It quickly raised a lot of questions about what had bitten him and whether they could save him. Tiodhloc waffled hard between trying to heal him and threatening to tie him up in the sunlight and leaving him to die.

The first battle in the catacomb went exactly as expected. The team cake-walked the wretches, which were basically minions. But they also took some damage and burned some spell slots. One keen-eyed player noted that he could see my thumbnails of the other four levels of the catacomb. I guess this made him nervous? Good!

Next session will be the rest of the catacomb, so a lot of dungeon delving and combat. My goal is to make the combats very intense without being very long. That usually means enemies who can do serious damage but don’t survive very long. We will see if that is the case next time!

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Fangs of Vulgoth: Session #5

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes went back to Rukesti to tell master vampire hunter Armand Vanator that they destroyed a village of vampires, gathered up some new clothes and armor, and then tried to spend the night in an old wind mill full of rose briars and vampire bones. But now they’re about to arrive in the village of Cherat…

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the Eldritch Knight – Level 5
  • Ward the Gloom Stalker – Level 5
  • Rainen the Beast Master – Level 5
  • Hugo the Knowledge Cleric/Time Wizard – Level 1/4
  • Asmund the Divine Soul Sorcerer – Level 5

Party Time? Excellent?

As the sun rose, Asmund saw not a disc of light but a compass ring and needle, with shafts of light pointing to the houses of Cherat. Hoping that this was a good sign from Virune, he led the party into the village. They saw hundreds of goats, and some festive ribbons, and signs of activity, but no people.

Drew tried to kick in a door, failed, and then turned the handle in a manly fashion. Inside, they found a young couple bound and gagged at their dinner table, with flower crowns on their heads and banners strung up that said, “All hail Dragoslava!” and “Nicoletta is the best!”

Once freed, the captives explained that two vampire women had come into town last night, tied everyone up, and decorated everything to stage a party to cheer up their mistress, the vampire knight Nicoletta. They would return tonight!

Everyone in town quickly gathered whatever they could carry and rushed off on the road, heading back north to Rukesti. Hopefully they could make the journey before the sun set, and before the vampires returned to Cherat.

The party briefly discussed the idea of staying in the village and trying to ambush, or at least observe, the vampire knight. But they decided caution was the better part of staying alive, and they bravely ran away to the south.

Night in the Woods

The party spent most of the day walking south toward Brishta, and then turned off the road to find a safe place to spent the night. Following Armand’s notes, they found a small stone cottage in the woods that seemed solid and isolated.

Here, Asmund seemed to get into an argument with himself. Then, while praying, an angelic form ripped free of his body. The man was now scarred and plain-looking, and introduced himself as Tiodhloc, or “Tee”. Apparently their new companion was two people in one body!

During first watch, Rainen saw a huge winged creature fly overhead. It raced north in a peal of thunder and lightning. During second watch, Tee and Drew heard a strange noise out in the woods, but decided not to investigate. During third watch, Ward saw a huge winged creature fly overhead. It raced south in a peal of thunder and lightning.

In the morning, the team compared notes. Rainen and Ward agreed that the dread wyvern they saw was tremendous and terrifying. They seemed all-the-more eager to capture one for themselves.

Tee and Drew went to investigate the noise they heard in the night. They found a strange scene. A deer had been killed, its skin removed and spread out on the frozen ground. The bones had been separated and laid out on the skin and ground. The meat and organs were gone, and little blood marked the area. Was this a vampire kill? A shamanic ritual? They decided to leave it untouched.

Monster Training

Before heading out, Rainen led the group in some animal training exercises. She taught her dire wolf Sasha to Rescue, Fetch, and Seek her teammates by sniffing them out and dragging them around the woods for a while.

Tee also had a little success teaching the ravenwolf puppy Bud to Hush on command.

Hooray for fun (and useful) shenanigans!

Ill Met in Brishta

The village of Brishta was destroyed by vampires 20 years ago, and the party discovered overgrown fields and broken stone walls. No surprises there. But the lanes between the ruins were full of fresh vampire ash piles. And also a severed human leg.

Rainen and Sasha followed the blood trail to a house where two women hid in the shadows. One one was lying down, covered in blankets. The other woman knelt beside her.

The party quickly learned that the woman on the ground was Rosette Vanator, and she had cut off her own leg last night after being bitten by a vampire. If only the party had arrived earlier to help! Her companion was named Bianca, and it was fairly obvious they were more than friends. Rosette insisted she was fine and the party should leave before they attract any attention. The party thought that was crazy talk and tried to insist on taking Rosette back to her father in Rukesti.

And then some baddies showed up.

Ward dashed out to chat with the strangers, but the strangers turned out to be a family of Shifters, fully transformed were-boars who were in no mood to chat.

Hack and Slash

The team ran out of the ruins to fend off the eight-foot-tall boar people. Tee quickly incapacitated three of them with a holy illusion. Ward fired silver arrows and slashed with the Eldritch Dagger (with the necrotic eye). Drew blasted the boars with the Eldritch Spear (with the force eye). Hugo created three duplicates, manipulated time and fate, blessed the fighters, and occasionally bumped people with his shield.

Meanwhile, Rainen unleashed a healing spirit, her Eldritch Hammer (with the psychic eye), and her dire wolf Sasha. Bianca also waded into the fray, transforming into a massive were-bear and tearing the face off one of the boars.

The were-boars did some terrific damage, but with half of them incapacitated for most of the battle, and with Hugo changing so many rolls to favor the party, they managed to kill all of the monsters without any losses.

And that’s where we ended!

DM Notes

This session was just about perfect. The team resolved the situation in Cherat very quickly, but they did talk about a few interesting options before running away (which was the smart play!). The overnight stay in the cottage was also quick and smooth, with lots of fun moments. Everyone liked seeing the dread wyvern, and the mystery of the dead deer, and playing training games with Sasha and Bud.

The discovery of Rosette Vanator was a little bumpy. After learning that she had been bitten by a vampire and cut off her own leg, the team was not very sympathetic to her tough-girl attitude and seemed pretty keen to forcibly take her home. I’m not sure what might have happened if the combat had not interrupted.

But the combat did interrupt! This was the first battle at Level 5, and I had high hopes that I had prepared a suitably challenging setup. Unfortunately, my players are too clever and well-prepared, and managed to nerf my were-boars at almost every turn. If the die rolls had gone in my favor, however, I think they would have been in serious trouble, even with help from Bianca and Rosette.

My sense from this fight was that I probably got the difficulty level right… I just happened to lose hard. I think the other dangers that are nearby are also appropriate, and hopefully the dice will make things a little scarier for the team next time.

Speaking of next time: Rosette, and then… the ruins of Castle Dalca?

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The Stygian Library: One-Shot

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Joe

Last night we played D&D! More specifically, I ran a one-shot using The Stygian Library by Emmy Allen, and we had a fantastic time exploring a bizarre space full of strange characters in search of a mysterious book!

Play time: 4 hours

Adventurers – Level 3:

  • Alumur the Shadow Sorcerer
  • Lavender the Bladesinger
  • Pick Snap the Arcane Trickster
  • Yawgoo the Monk of the Astral Self

The Setup:

The wealthy Lady Witherfell asked the team to venture inside the Stygian Library and retrieve the Grimoire of Unnatural Philosophy for her. The reward? 1,000 GP!

Larger on the Inside

The party found the library on an unassuming street of crooked old rowhouses, and entered the Foyer to discover an aging but luxurious space of mahogany panels, brass fittings, and strangely glowing spheres of etheric vapor. The Gray Librarian at the front desk was not very helpful, as he was just covering for a fellow librarian and wanted to get back to his work downstairs. But he waved the party inside, assuring them they would (probably) find what they were looking for.

Down a narrow wooden corridor, the party found the Lounge where a number of university students, lost tourists, giggling cultists, and one dead gentleman perused the shelves. The tourists ran away and the students ignored the adventurers, so the party struck up a conversation with the dead man, an Archivist Lich who lived in the library, pursuing various projects. He claimed to have seen the Grimoire, so Pick Snap traded him a severed human hand in exchange for directions.

Violent Displays

A short stone passageway ended at a closed portcullis. Through the bars they saw a Lectern in a small dusty auditorium. A book rattled on the lectern. A rapier sparked on the floor. Yawgoo levered the portcullis up just enough for Alumur to slide under. Alumur took the rapier and tried prodding the rattling book. He also stared into the book’s pages and became enthralled with the idea of setting it free. But when he broke open two locks on the book, it flew into the air and bashed him in the skull, which slightly lowered his Intelligence. Lavender shot the book with fire, and Pick Snap shot it with an arrow, and the book died as books are wont to do. Alumur helped his friends remove the portcullis and move on.

They turned the corner into a Gallery of fish skeletons displayed in glass cases behind velvet ropes, all covered in spiderwebs. A pair of skeleton janitors were working to clean them off. But as the party asked for directions, three Ogre Spiders fell through the rotted ceiling and attacked! Some falling debris crushed one poor skeleton (Tommy!). The heroes quickly dispatched the spiders with a few firebolts and approached the next door, when they heard crossbows fire!

Ex-Filers

Entering the elegant Tea Room, they found two very serious people in black standing over two dead Yellow Librarians. Agents Moldy and Skuller were investigating various high crimes in the library, and revealed they had been trapped inside for three years (so far). Lavender distracted the agents for a moment so Pick Snap could search the bodies. He found a note indicating that something dangerous was in the basement. Alumur also discovered that the books in this room were arranged by height…so he jumbled a few.

The next room was a large Auditorium with thousands of books displayed around many tiers of seats descending to a lecture stage. A lone Yellow Librarian was reshelving books according to color. The party confronted the older fellow, Mister Spine, and demanded help in their quest. Mister Spine explained that the library tended to shift about and there was no way to know exactly what book was where, but as a Yellow Librarian (book keeper) he could instantly tell what books were in a room when he walked in. 

Mister Spine explained many things, including the fact that no old books are ever called “grimoires”, only modern edgelords title their books this way to sound ancient and deadly. A true old book might be called an enchiridion! Mister Spine was most dismayed by the heroes’ general disinterest in reading, and in word play. But the heroes were very interested in a person who could magically detect books, so they promptly abducted him.

Down and Downer

A straight staircase descended four or five stories to a cold stone chamber with a vaulted ceiling. Here they found a Mausoleum housing a black sarcophagus. Atop it sat four Educated Rats debating the nature of reality and perception. When the heroes approached to talk to them, the rats baffled them with their various arguments, and then attacked! Sadly, being rats, they were unable to do much damage to Yawgoo, though they did nullify his gravity and leave him tumbling through the air. But using many Astral and Mage hands, the team grabbed and squished the poor rats. 

Inside the sarcophagus, they found a pair of Gloves that allowed the wearer to grasp ethereal beings. Yawgoo pretended to hurl etheric energy at poor Mister Spine, who was so startled by the excellent miming that he slipped and bashed his head on a bookcase. Yawgoo tended to the librarian’s wounds, and then swaddled him in old clothes across his chest. With his “papoosified librarian” in place, they moved on.

Messy Machines

Pick Snap identified a series of trap devices in the descending corridor, so the party continued without incident. They arrived in a lower hallway echoing with mechanical sounds. In the first room, they saw a Red Librarian repairing a giant Printing Press. Mister Axle was unable to direct them to the Grimoire. But Pick Snap did assist him in clearing a paper jam from the machine. Unfortunately the giant wad of inky paper crashed into the control panel and caught on fire. Yawgoo put out the flames, and the soaked paper rose up on elephantine legs and advanced on him. As the monk bravely smacked the mushy Origami Golem, the casters incinerated it with firebolts.

Wary of everything now, the team skipped the room full of Ink Vats and the storage area with the Paper Bee hive and arrived at the Steam Vents where they saw a metal spiral stair going down. One by one, they ran through the room, dodging the blasts of scalding steam and the fragile Rust Moths. Alumur took a blast of steam to the arm, and several moths settled on his dagger, reducing it to a rusty ruin. The team then rested in the steamy room and managed to revive the Yellow Librarian, Mister Spine. Alumur discovered that there were in fact books in this room, encased in wax with metal pages, but he merely found a diary describing a mother’s arguments with her daughter.

New Fangled Nonsense

Down the spiral stair, they emerged in the center of a vast white room full of glass spheres glimmering with phantom lights. Mister Spine explained that this was the Research and Development area where they were trying to replace good old fashioned paper books with new-fangled soul-spheres. He did not approve! 

With no Grimoire in sight, the heroes proceeded through a giant arched doorway into a vast, complex laboratory where a Gray Librarian, Mister Shepherd, was experimenting on the phantom-spheres. Mister Shepherd immediately tried to usher the intruders back upstairs. Mister Spine began railing about the waste of library funds on this R&D nonsense, reducing the upstairs catering budget so they had to settle for finger-sandwiches instead of hand-sandwiches. 

Still not seeing the Grimoire, the party headed for the massive circular vault door in the wall. But as they approached, a creature descended from above. It was massive, long and spindly, having hidden its slender limbs among the pipes in the ceiling (I had just rewatched all of the ALIEN movies). Lavender was the only one to see the enormous hands descending to grab them. Yawgoo was lifted and bashed on the floor. Mister Shepherd was also lifted, and smashed to death. Mister Spine ran away screaming. As the Bandersnatch unfolded itself and climbed down, the team attacked. Pick Snap hurled an orb of acid that tore the monster in half, and Yawgoo body-slammed its neck into pulp.

Pick Your Brain

With that done, Pick Snap unlocked the vault door. Instantly, they heard shattering glass from inside the vault and a loud klaxon began to blare. Running into the vault, they saw human brains and spinal cords suspended in fluid, and a dark figure hiding in the back corner. The Floating Brains burst free of their jars and began hovering about, teleporting in and out of sight, and hurling the adventurers back with telekinesis. 

Battered by astral arms and magic missiles, the brains were soon dead and the figure emerged from the shadows… a tentacled Neurovore! The bizarre being lashed out with powerful psychic attacks, and healed itself by eating the dead brains on the floor. But Lavender caught the monster in a stone hand and then Yawgoo crushed it until it burst apart.

Among its possessions, the heroes discovered the Grimoire of Unnatural History. It proved to be a crudely scribbled journal written by the son of Lady Witherfell, full of embarrassing family secrets. And the lady was most pleased to have it returned to her… thirteen days later, when the party finally escaped from the Stygian Library!

DM Notes

Everyone had a great time playing, and I really enjoyed running. I only spent about 2 hours prepping the night before, rolling up the rooms and their contents, and trying to get the ideas all straight in my head. The content was wonderful, lots of great imagery and creatures. And it ran pretty smoothly, converting to 5E was quick and easy. I prepped 15 rooms and we explored 12 of them. 

It was definitely a little challenging for me to run content that I didn’t write myself, just because I’m so used to knowing a world inside and out. And I don’t know if I could run the Library as written, rolling up the rooms on the fly during the game. I need a little time to absorb things before I can run them well. Also, I personally like having a clear idea of a plot or connections between people and places. There are limits to my improvisational skills!

My group is already asking when we might run the Library again! I suggested that maybe different people should DM the Library each time, so we can experience it through different points of view. And when I mentioned that the author had also written Gardens of Ynn, they were all very excited to try that too. So thank you, Emmy Allen for your outstanding work!

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Fangs of Vulgoth: Session #4

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes arrived at Grashta, met a vampire hunter, saw a vampire knight on a dragon, and then burned down a village full of vampire vintners! Which means now they need to figure out how much danger they are in…

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the Eldritch Knight – Level 5
  • Ward the Gloom Stalker – Level 5
  • Rainen the Beast Master – Level 5
  • Hugo the Knowledge Cleric/Time Wizard – Level 1/4
  • Asmund the Divine Soul Sorcerer – Level 5

Where to Go?

We’re going to Brishta to find another missing vampire hunter! No, we’re going to the haunted crossroads to find a holy artifact! No, we’re going back to Rukesti to report on the whole burning-the-vampire-village business.

With that settled, the team (including Amelia Vanator) headed north to stay the night in Dinesti again and then proceed back to Rukesti to talk to Armand Vanator.

Pack Tactics

On the road, Ward noticed a pile of shiny, sparkly items in the woods. Coins, buttons, and beads! He led the group over, but did not approach. Asmund approached for him and started to pick up the loot. And he was immediately attacked by six strange creatures with the heads and wings of ravens and the bodies and legs of wolves. Ravenwolves!

A vicious battle broke out. Hugo froze some of the monstrosities in time. Sasha tore one to pieces. Rainen hurled hatchets. Drew spear-stabbed. Ward unleashed way too many arrows. And Asmund teleported to safety in a tree. Seconds later, the ravenwolves were dead!

But then Sasha heard something nearby. The huge direwolf led Rainen over to a small den under a dead tree, where she found a (now-orphaned) ravenwolf pup. The adorable little scamp mimicked her words and wagged his tail, and soon was eating out of her hand. She named him Bud and added him to her furry squad.

To Kill or Not to Kill?

Arriving in the one-family village of Dinesti, Amelia went off to chat with the locals while Asmund threatened the starving vampires sequestered in a nearby house. They passed the night peacefully enough, although Ward did hear the vampires scratching inside their house like before.

In the morning, Asmund again interrogated the dying vampires to learn more about the vampire knights Adrien, Nicoletta, and Lucien. It seems Adrien is the most ambitious one, trying to set up a vampire kingdom. And very few people have seen the queen Dragoslava lately.

Despite the vampires being very helpful, some heroes still wanted to kill them. The team then rehashed whether they would murderhobo these vampires, or whether there were moral shades of gray to be considered. Vampires are victims, they used to be people! Aren’t they technically undead monsters now? These vampires aren’t hurting anyone! Won’t they turn feral eventually?

While this was happening, professional vampire slaughterhouse and notetaking-enthusiast Amelia Vanator overheard them and came over. Learning that there were vampires here, she immediately wanted to kill them too. Eventually, compassion prevailed and the team headed out for Rukesti.

But somewhere on the road, Amelia slipped away from the party. When they noticed that Amelia was gone, they all looked back to see smoke rising from Dinesti. It appeared that Amelia circled back and burned the house sheltering the Vampire Liberation Front.

Town Time

Amelia rejoined the group just as they arrived in Rukesti. Ward, Drew, Hugo, and Rainen made a quick circuit of the local businesses to pick up their armor, clothing, and healing potions. Amelia headed back home to report to Armand. She described the great success of her plan to kill the vampires and earned the coveted “Armand’s shoulder pat of approval.”

Armand agreed that there was a danger of vampire retaliation. So he and Amelia made preparations to double the town watch and fortify against a coming assault.

On the Road Again

The team decided to get moving. They had a lot of places they wanted to visit! So they struck out eastward at mid-afternoon. Armand marked a few locations on their map where they might rest safely between towns.

As the sun set, a freezing rainstorm began. The team found one of Armand’s boltholes, an abandoned windmill. The stone tower seemed safe and normal, except for all the rose brambles inside.

Bloomin’ Corpses

During the night, the storm gradually abated. Drew had nightmares of being stabbed in the back by Baba Kruska. Then the clouds parted and the moonlight illuminated the old mill, and the rose blossoms began to open. Tiny spore-like motes floated up from the flowers, and the heroes began to choke and gasp.

With a little light, they quickly discovered a skeleton with fangs lying in the center of the brambles. The roses had grown out of the stake in the dead vampire’s chest. Drew approached, spear raised to strike. The corpse begged him to remove the stake. But when Drew pulled it out, the corpse began to rise up and reconstitute itself, so Drew re-staked it!

The corpse exhaled a cloud of toxic spores! So everyone coughed and clawed their way to the exit. Ward fired a flaming arrow into the corpse and ignited the remains. Minutes later, the tower was smoking, dark, and still.

Deprived of their Long Rest, the team continued down the road in the small hours of the morning. Just as the sun began to rise, they spotted the village of Cherat ahead.

And that’s where we ended!

DM Notes

So, lots of good stuff here. The ambush of ravenwolves was fast and interesting. Plus the discovery of the the puppy “Bud” was perfectly calculated adorableness. Everyone seemed glad to revisit town and get some supplies after the Grashta battle. The corpse in the mill worked really well as a creepy mini-puzzle, and as a way to disrupt their sleep and cause a little damage to keep them on their toes.

I was a little disappointed that the team changed their plan at the last minute to go back to Rukesti instead of the crossroads/Brishta, mostly because I had prepped a bunch of things for it. Obviously, none of that is wasted and it will be used later. I just was personally looking forward to those events because I had spent several days getting excited about them.

A few players made comments that they were having some struggles with their characters. It sounded like there was a disconnect between what they personally would do, or wanted to do, and what they thought their character would do, or should do. So I think I will check in with each of them individually this week to chat about this.

Next time: Cherat and beyond!

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TTRPG Poll: What should an adventure cost?

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Joe

So I have a couple quick questions for you. Obviously, we all love free stuff. But if you had to assign a fair price to a (good) adventure module (PDF download, not in print), what would it be?

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[yop_poll id=”2″]

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Dungeon Age Adventures: Year in review 2020

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Joe

Rumor has it that 2020 is ending. Assuming that to be true, here is a little navel-gazing about this past year of Dungeon Age adventures and stories. Don’t worry, I’ll try to keep it short, useful, and interesting. Or at least short.

Stuff That Happened

This was a busy year for DA publishing. I wrote and released the following adventures:

And they all turned out pretty great. They earned solid (sometimes effusive) praise from reviewers and saw solid sales across the board. The best feedback of all came from DMs and players who posted comments and sent notes about how much fun you were having at your tables with these adventures. Thank you so much for that!

In addition to playtesting all of these adventures, I also started running a 5E campaign (Nemesis Queens), which is currently 16 sessions in and going strong. I’ve tried hard to continue learning new tricks and incorporating new ideas, which will eventually show up in published products.

Stuff I Learned

You like bullet lists, right?

  • In writing, I’ve definitely learned (again and again) that less is more. Every word takes up space so it needs to carry its own weight. 
  • Running the game is work, and a good published adventure should always make that work easier, never harder, for the DM.
  • RPGs are old. Fantasy is old. Tropes and stereotypes are everywhere, especially in our heads. It takes effort to be original, or at least to seem original. Make that effort!
  • No filler! No dead space! We came to play a game and have fun, not to simulate the dullest parts of reality. Everything should be interesting, or interactive, or “alive” in some way.
  • DM, know thyself. What is fun for you? What are you good at? Do those things!
  • DM, know thy players. What is fun for them? What are they good at? Do those things!

Plans for the Future (ha ha ha)

There will be fiction! 

In the coming weeks I will publish a new Dungeon Age novel titled Wayward Magicians. It’s an homage to Jack Vance’s Dying Earth (but not a pastiche). It’s short and punchy. A lot of it reads like a collection of short stories. The characters are weird, selfish, and tragic. The magic and creatures are weird, disturbing, and tragic. Plus, it explores the world of Harth (the world of Dungeon Age).

Later in the year (hopefully), I will write and publish a second DA book in the same style. Stay tuned for news on that.

There will be adventures!

I am currently writing a mini-campaign called “To Hunt the Stars“. It includes a quaint starting village with NPCs and mini-quests… and also includes a giant subterranean city packed full of monsters, mutants, machines, wizards, warriors, tombs, towers, undead, and dragons. Some of the elements of the design and tone were inspired by the game Hollow Knight. Which is an excellent Metroidvania and you might like it.

I am currently writing a campaign book of my ongoing campaign Nemesis Queens. I have no idea when it will come out. Probably after I finish running the campaign.

One-shots? Probably. I don’t have any planned right now, but I never “plan” to write one-shots. I just get an idea and scribble out the entire thing in one go. So. There will probably be a couple one-shots.

A crazy Twitch idea

Two years ago, I ran a Twitch stream where you guys voted on ideas for a fantasy novella, and I wrote that novella: “Beyond the Metal River“. You designed the hero, and the quest, and the monsters and villains. And it turned out pretty good!

So now I’m toying about doing another stream like this. Not to write a novella. But to talk about D&D, and writing or designing adventures, and maybe to write a one-shot together. Maybe. I’m thinking about it. Your thoughts?

Feedback

I love hearing from you guys. What are you playing? What do you want to see more of from Dungeon Age? Or less of? What could I be doing to better help you run your games?

That’s it from me. In the immortal words of Bill and Ted: Be excellent to each other!

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Fangs of Vulgoth: Session #3

Posted on December 19, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes left the town of Rukesti, crossed a perilous stream, fought some Shifters, interrogated some pacifist vampires, and made a sandwich for a strange witch! Which brought them to the outskirts of the village of Grashta…

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the Eldritch Knight – Level 4 (absent)
  • Ward the Gloom Stalker – Level 4
  • Rainen the Beast Master – Level 4
  • Hugo the Knowledge Cleric/Time Wizard – Level 4
  • Asmund the Divine Soul Sorcerer – Level 4

Type A is for Amelia

As the team approached Grashta, they were intercepted by a young woman. She wore glasses, braids, tailored clothes, and a take-charge attitude. This was Amelia Vanator, one of the vampire hunters they were looking for.

Since the sun was about to set, Amelia brought the team back to her hideout, an old collapsing cottage in the woods. It was covered in sharp briars and the stink of a rotting pig carcass. In the cramped cellar, Amelia displayed the serial-killer-style notes she had tacked to the walls, detailing everything about the village of Grashta. Key takeaway: the people are all vampires!

Other key takeaway: Amelia has a kicksass plan! She would use pig fat to set fire to the village in the middle of the day to wipe out all 23 vampire thralls there.

The team was a little hesitant. Killing vampires was good, but what if these were nice vampires? Also, 23 sounded like a lot. Also, Sasha the direwolf couldn’t fit down in the hideout. So at least one person was going to stay exposed in the forest that night. Amelia was not pleased.

Down in the hideout, Asmund noticed a note on the wall about the “Hand of Virune”. Amelia explained this was a bit of local folklore. The angel Virune supposedly blessed the gallows at the crossroads so that no innocent person could be executed there. Legend said the angel buried their hand under the gallows. Asmund was intrigued and eager to investigate.

A Quick Tasting

After sunset, the village came alive with vampires hard at work to care for their many pigs and to maintain the village itself. Ward decided to investigate. He disguised himself as a vampire and walked into Grashta.

There he met the de facto leader Vasile, who believed Ward’s claims of coming from Frostwell after failing to kidnap a priest. Vasile offered Ward a taste of the various flavors, seasonals, and varietals of pig blood they were producing for the vampire queen Dragoslava. Ward choked on the blood, but passed it off as personal distaste.

Then Ward circled around the village and rejoined the group. These vampires aren’t just pig farmers, yall. It’s a blood winery!

Hugo’s Dream

During the first watch, Hugo dreamed of his stolen time pendant again. This time, the yellow lens showed two overlapping images of a masked woman meditating and a golden woman studying the floating shards of a mirror. The red lens showed a blurry view of a living mountain crawling across a desert. And the blue lens showed a black-and-white view of a little girl playing in the woods, discovering a stump full of alien flesh and eyes.

Winged Doom

During the night, the team heard a monster roaring and flying into the village. They dashed to the edge of the woods and saw a wyvern landing on a house. Distantly, they could see and hear a rider on the wyvern giving orders. The pig herders loaded the blood barrels onto the wyvern’s saddle-harness.

Amelia was stunned. This was one of the three vampire knights! Knowing that it would be almost certain suicide, she asked the group to help her attack the village, right now, in the hopes of killing the knight. Asmund was on board! But the rest of the team wanted to survive, so they convinced Amelia to let the knight go and proceed with the fire attack tomorrow as planned.

Asmund fixated on the silouette of the knight. Was this the vampire that killed his family?

Rainen fixated on the wyvern. Could she ride this terrifying dragon?

Into the Danger Zone

At noon the next day, Amelia led the team into Grashta. Hugo and Asmund began smearing pig fat on the walls of the houses. Rainen and Drew patrolled outside the village to stop anyone from escaping. Ward and Amelia took positions on the roofs to shoot flaming arrows.

Just as it was time to attack, Asmund banged on a door and challenged the vampires to come out. A frustrated Amelia started shooting flaming arrows at the houses. Ward was distracted by Asmund, so his flaming arrows missed. The houses. He missed the houses, dear reader.

Two vampires ran out into the sunlight, burst into flames, and nearly mauled Asmund to death. Meanwhile, Rainen rode her dire wolf into the village. She used a lantern and a makeshift torch to ignite several houses. Ward started shooting flaming arrows and hitting things. Hugo froze time to save Asmund.

And Drew heroically slaughtered countless vampires, unseen, just off stage.

During the chaos, several vampires fled from burning houses to non-burning houses. Several others tried to flee the village entirely. Ward fell off his perch, picked himself up, and started shooting the fleeing vamps. Asmund incinerated one of them right in front of Rainen, covering her in glowing cinders of vampire ash.

One vampire ran from a burning house and dove down the village well. But as he tried to climb back out, Hugo illuminated him and Asmund incinerated him.

Soon, all the houses were burning and collapsing. Sunlight and common fire reduced the vampires to ashes, one by one. By the end of the battle, Grashta had been reduced to a flaming pyre. And the only sound above the roaring inferno were the squealing pigs.

Victory

Amelia triumphantly led the team out of Grashta. There was a brief debate about what to do next. Tell Armand about Grashta? Look for Rosette and Yakov?

Eventually they decided to stay together. They would head (through the crossroads) to the ruins of the village Brishta to look for Rosette. Amelia suspected that her husband Yakov was at the ruins of Castle Dalca looking for kickass magical weapons.

And that’s where we ended!

DM Notes

This was another great session full of mishaps, philosophical debates, intense planning, magical mysteries, and wild battles. The team really got invested in the dilemmas about these vampires. Are they really evil? How can we know for sure? Are we putting innocents in danger? All great questions!

The battle was very dynamic and fun. Hopefully the team appreciated the value of a good plan. Because they definitely could not have straight-up fought 23 vampire thralls. But using sunlight and fire was super effective (thanks Amelia!). My only regret is that after the first round, I had the vampires try to flee instead of fight. Maybe a couple more of them should have thrown their lives away trying to kill the party?

Next time: the crossroads and Brishta!

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Fangs of Vulgoth: Session #2

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Joe

The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes explored the town of Rukesti, regrew a nose, commissioned some clothing, and punched an old man. Now they set out on a new adventure to save a family of lost vampire hunters!

Play time: 4 hours

Heroes:

  • Drew the Eldritch Knight – Level 4
  • Ward the Gloom Stalker – Level 4
  • Rainen the Beast Master – Level 4
  • Hugo the Knowledge Cleric/Time Wizard – Level 4
  • Asmund the Divine Soul Sorcerer – Level 4

Evening chats

Hugo continued reading the Black Book of Undeath and discovered information about creatures called Revenants. Powered by intense feelings of honor or revenge, these souls can resurrect bodies forever until their goals are achieved. Sounds like Irina the Inescapable! But there was no mention of a way to beat one.

Meanwhile, Rainen told Asmund the story of the group’s adventures up until their meeting with him.

Vampire shooting gallery

As everyone settled in for bed, Armand Vanator came upstairs to summon Ward for his first vampire-slaying lesson. They stepped through a hatch to a roof-top blind and spent the night together shooting vampire wretches. The wretches leapt and dashed across the roofs of Rukesti, but Ward learned to anticipate their movements and make killshots with heartwood arrows.

When morning came, Ward was exhausted but he had learned a new skill: Slayer’s Shot! (a one-hit kill ability against low-level vampires)

Breakfast briefing

Carlos served up delicious crepes while Armand explained that his family had been gone for a worryingly long time. His daughter Rosette had gone vampire hunting in the abandoned town of Brishta. His daughter-in-law Amelia had gone to investigate the village of Grashta, where the people gave pigs to the vampires in tribute. And his son Yakov, the reckless goofball, didn’t say where he was going, so he was probably going to the old mining camp Narat, very close to Castle Torescu!

Carlos packed a delicious picnic basket for the team, and they headed out to find the missing hunters.

Shenanigans

As they headed out of Rukesti, Drew was bumped by some kids playing with a dusty vampire skull. He immediately noticed that his purse had been stolen! The kids scattered in three directions. Drew took one, Rainen took the second, and Sasha bounded after the third.

Drew ran down a little boy and carried him back by the ankle, but he did not have the purse. Rainen heroically chased down a little blonde girl in very nice clothes, and recovered the purse! Sasha came back empty handed, having been out-maneuvered by a wily child.

Current events

South of town, our heroes followed the road into the forest. After a few hours, they found a creek. Some small bits of ice flowed by at high speed. Carefully, Rainen and Sasha waded out into the creek holding a rope, but they were swept away! Asmund tried to swim after them, but he was swept away too!

What followed was a wild series of misadventures as the heroes tried to save each other from the perils of a chilly creek. Rainen saved her dire wolf, and with a few clever rope tricks, everyone made it to the southern shore alive and well.

Yakkity yak (and sheep)

As they recovered from the dangers of a small amount of cold water, the team was approached by two raggedy men. The strangers soon transformed into a were-yak and a were-sheep, and attacked! Fortunately, the team blitzed the two Shifters and slaughtered them with little issue.

Vampire neighbors

As evening fell, our heroes arrived at the dying village of Dinesti, where only one family of yak herders still survived. But they had neighbors! The herder Virgil pointed out an old house where several vampires were living.

Asmund flew into a rage! Vampires??? Alive??? Here??? He stormed over to the house and demanded entrance. From inside, they met the vampires Octavian and Georgiana who claimed to be pacifist vampires who escaped from the service of the blood queen Dragoslava. Asmund was baffled, but decided to wait until morning to interrogate-slash-murder the vampires.

Long rest

Virgil invited the team to spend the night in his deceased parents’ house, which they did. During the night, Rainen and Asmund kept watch, and noted some violent storms to the south over the mountains. They also heard strange scratching noises from the vampire house.

During Hugo’s watch, a vampire wretch leapt onto the roof of their shelter. Hugo woke Drew, and the two of them punched and book-slapped the vampire silly. Then the dire wolf Sasha rushed up and tore the stunned creature to pieces.

Vampire secrets

In the morning, Asmund returned to the vampire house and demanded answers. The vampires Octavian and Georgiana explained that they were the Vampire Liberation Front. They didn’t want to be vampires, and they didn’t want to hurt people. So they escaped from Castle Torescu and came to live in Dinesti, locked inside a house where they can’t hurt anyone.

Asmund demanded useful intel! The vampires revealed that there is a secret entrance to Castle Torescu through the Naduum Forge, which can be accessed through a stone door down the mountain side below the castle. And this Forge is a place where “small folk” make weapons. They also revealed that there were three powerful vampire knights named Adrian, Nicoletta, and Lucien.

Lastly, and most tragically, Octavian and Georgiana explained that there used to be eight vampires in the VLF, but the other six had starved from lack of blood and devolved into feral wretches. Octavian and Georgiana knew they were soon doomed to the same fate, but accepted that as the cost of their freedom and pacifism.

Asmund clearly still wanted to kill these vampires, and demanded they open the door. Rainen intervened and insisted they they leave the VLF in peace.

Drew ate a sandwich. This would prove important very soon.

Weird witch

Back on the road, the team headed south, looking for the first missing vampire hunter. Along the way, they found a strange tiny hut of sticks balancing impossibly on a single pole in the middle of the road. The witch Wyoma One-Eye sat in the hut, hidden in shadows, reeking of garlic.

In a wonderfully creepy voice, she offered to buy their magic items for diamonds. She also offered to heal them. She also offered news of the world brought to her by her pet bat, Bartholomew.

After a brief negotiation, Drew stepped up to create the finest sandwich in all of Torescu to earn a diamond. Succeeding massively at Charisma to sell this idea, Intelligence to find good ingredients, Wisdom to arrange the ingredients, and Dexterity to assemble the final product, Drew crafted the Master Sandwich. Wyoma rewarded him with a diamond!

They also gave Wyoma an Instrument of Illusion to heal Rainen’s nerve damage from a battle many days ago. Wyoma provided a rotten plum, which Rainen ate, and she quickly recovered. After confirming that Amelia Vanator was indeed in the nearby village of Grashta, Wyoma’s strange hut toppled over and she vanished!

A few hours later, as the sun began to set, the heroes emerged from the forest and saw their destination: Grashta.

And that’s where we ended!

DM Notes

This session included a lot of fun shenanigans, but also some heavy character and plot moments. Ward got special training. Asmund and Rainen had deep debates on ethics. Hugo got in some physical combat. And Drew made not one but TWO sandwiches.

Here at Level 4, I’ve found that “random encounters” like the two Shifters are less interesting and valuable than they were at Level 1. However, a simple event like “crossing a creek” or “getting robbed” are absolutely wonderful fun for everyone.

I think we’re at a point now where the actual combats will be entirely plot-based or character-based. Probably. There are so many serious enemies in my campaign setting now, I think we will all enjoy it more to have every combat do double-duty as a plot point with serious consequences.

Until next time!

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