Day 37-45: Haferan Cruise

Various things occur in the lead-up to the next adventure. Taniya meets with Gloomwing, who confirms that Aidan Mome is the Guild's Cup & Mirror and that he never seems to leave the Count's Keep. She also meets up with the half-orc girl Chumsalt tried to recruit as a spy, takes an interest in her life, and sets up a 600 GP trust fund for her by auctioning off grave goods they looted from the Mastaba of Aptor. The party attends a public speech given by the Count of Guffin to address fears about the situation in the south with Xalco the beholder warlord. The speech is interrupted by the couatls Chac and Yopat, who confront the count about the theft of the Yellow Disc and its subsequent destruction. Blyneth apologizes on behalf of the Guild. The couatls leave, warning of dire consequences for the breaking of the Disc, but Blyneth and the Count seem dismissive of their fears.

The party is called to a secret meeting with the master psionicist Collin Filchard, who shares their concerns about the Guild leadership. He knows of a ship en route to the southern coast of Hafer and suggests the party take it, as it will keep them away from the Guild while tensions and suspicions are running high, and afford them an opportunity to meet one of Blyneth and Aidan Mome's old companions, who retired to a fishing village down there and is the only survivor of their original adventuring company. The party agrees.

The next day, Gloomwing is found dead on the grounds of the Count's Keep, apparently of a broken neck from a fall.

While Gnaurm and Kylwin depart, two new members join the party, elf magic-user/thief Leif Lasstiwhyle and halfling fighter/thief Otto Fairweather. Otto makes arrangements for Baella and Rooth to stay with his cousin at a convent of Yondalla in halfling country while the party is away.

The party boards their transport, a Haferan diplomatic vessel returning from Tar-Eng. The journey is not terribly eventful, except for the very last day, when the rowers turn mutinous against the Haferan nobles and fighting breaks out on the ship. The party steals a canoe and makes for shore...

Accounting:
The party divides the shared loot, taking 1,080 GP each.

Again, the party receives mysterious gifts in the night: a bridle with fine detailing for Taniya, a deluxe sewing kit for Baella, a quiver with a rabbit design for Hinonk, a set of prayer beads for Gnaurm, sticks of high quality incense for Cymerick, a detailed scabbard for Kylwin, a bag of dog treats for Otto, and an engraved scroll case for Leif.

Cymerick sells his scale armor +1 for 1,600 GP, buys chainmail +1, a hooden lantern, flint & steel, a flask of oil, a backpack, and resoled boots for 3,310 GP, 3 SP.

Hinonk spends 4 GP to have a banquet delivered to Taniya's house to apologize for his behavior while he was charmed by the lamia, and buys a ward vs charms (+2 to save vs charm spells) and 1 pound of sausage for 800 GP, 4 SP.

Taniya tips Ben 1 GP for the delivery, buys 1 week of rations and 2 flasks of oil for 7 GP, covers the auction fees for Aptor's grave goods for 60 GP, buys a 10 GP gift for the Oldfords to look after her cat, and pays Ben 10 GP to escort Baella and Rooth to halfling country.

Day 36: The Murmuring Cave

Again, each party member receives mysterious gifts in the night. Grabathor retires from the party.

They head down to Mez, launching at the port village of Mochly and leaving Ben there with the wagon and horses. They sail down without incident, meeting a boat full of halfling heroes on their way to wipe out the gnome cult that has taken hold in the Barrowlands.

Upon arrival near the hills surrounding the mastaba, they hear sounds of combat and find an elf fighting a manticore. They help him and learn that he is Kylwin the Bold, a Guild scout down here investigating the Xalco situation. He joins the party.

Afterwards, the party meets a shedu named Sulpa-Uddu who warns them to stay out of the Valley of the Wise and not disturb the Yellow Disc. They disregard his advice and proceed down to the valley, where they find a copper dragon napping on top of the Mastaba of Aptor. The dragon wakes, and while the party tries to talk him into letting them pass, he explains that he has been given license to eat any who intrude in the valley. The party tries to subdue him at first, his strength is such that they quickly change to an all-out battle and slay the dragon.

Inside the mastaba, the party encounters a few traps, including a mimic chest and a stone head that shoots magic missiles, and they loot some gold and jewels, some of Aptor's childhood toys, and three cursed pieces of jewelry. But the sarcophagus has been smashed in, and a strange tunnel has been bored into it, miles long with faint octagonal patterns in the dirt. The party hikes to the end of the tunnel, coming out on a hillside on the other end of the valley. There they are confronted by two couatl, Yopat and Chac, and Sulpa-Uddu. The party explains that the Disc is missing, and they suspect a trio of lamias who were seen on this hillside a few days ago. As the guardians of the valley cannot act outside their jurisidiction, they ask the party to venture to the Murmuring Cave where the lamias make their lair and retrieve the Disc. The party agrees to turn the Disc over to them instead of the Guild, and Yopat removes their cursed items. They are flown near the cave.

Inside, the party encounters the three lamias, Abit, Illan, and Tamar, resting near an underground pool. Abit holds the Yellow Disc. They see Hinonk first when he accidentally makes some noise laying caltrops for an ambush, and ask if he is the messenger they've been waiting for. He tries to bluff them, but fails, and Illan casts a Charm Person spell on him. Tamar looses an earth elemental (who they've nicknamed Dirt) from an iron flask, controlled by a magic stone, and the rest of the party reveals themselves. Illan entices Hinonk to stand next to her, effectively taking him hostage. Stuck in a standoff, the party and the lamias talk for a bit, and when Hinonk reveals that the party is from the Adventurer's Guild in Guffin, the lamias are taken by surprise, as the messenger they are waiting for was sent by one Aidan Mome from the Guild.

Eventually, the lamias' quasit familiar, Pheltch, returns with news that the messenger will be arriving soon. While waiting for him, Hinonk and Tamar play a board game with a set they looted from Aptor's grave goods.

The messenger arrives via flying carpet, and it turns out to be none other than Adrumel, the Sword & Rod, third highest ranking member of the Guild. He takes the Disc, explains to the party that a contingency plan to recover it has been made, and that he's impressed they managed to track it all the way here. He escorts them out of the cave and leaves.

The party returns to Sulpa-Uddu to explain what happened. He is horrified by the loss of the Disc, believing that if the wards on it are broken, something terrible will happen, having previously alluded to some doom that befell Parz, was avoided by Mez, but might now be repeated in Engol, which seems to be related to the Disc in some way. He leaves to confer with the couatl brothers.

The party hikes back to their ship and finds it gone. They pay a passing trader to take them back to Mochly.

Accounting:
Mysterious gifts are given: a bundle of wolfsbane for Gnaurm, a spyglass for Eryn, a book (A History of the Land and Peoples of the Suprora Forest, by Aelgeth Thrifelwine) for Taniya, a silk dress for Baella (Taniya's NPC partner), a felt pouch for Cymerick's oracular knucklebones, a leather pipeweed pouch with an embroidered rabbit for Hinonk, a fighting net for Grabathor.

Taniya pays ben 5 GP to wait at Mochly, drinks her potion of healing,
Hinonk claims Drimmo's short sword +1.

The party loots amethyst-and-jade grapes and golden stalks of wheat worth 5,500 GP.
The party pays 100 GP worth of the golden wheat for passage back home and loses its ship, the Mermaid.

Each party member receives 1,767 XP.
Hinonk is awarded 1,000 XP for excellent roleplaying while under the effects of Illan's Charm spell.

Day 34-35: No Longer Drimmo's Company

Lady Blyneth and several other notable Guild members and officials host a banquet for the returning adventurers at the Huntsman's Den, an old and reputable establishment in between the Old City and the garden district of Guffin. After discussing Drimmo's fate and their experiences in the island temple, the conversation at the table turns to the subject of Xalco, the beholder warlord conquering the fractured city-states of Mez. The Guild is concerned that he is destroying ruins that hold valuable relics, and Blyneth reveals that the mysterious (and absent) Guild officer known as the Cup and Mirror has furnished a list of the most important sites to explore before Xalco destroys them. Lissanth, a high-ranking Guild member and priestess of Isis present at the banquet, is concerned that a place known as the Tabernacle of Utu is not on the list.

Sir Bartheon and Lissanth both offer to sponsor the party now that Drimmo is gone. Bartheon asks them to tackle the first item on the Cup and Mirror's list, the Mastaba of Aptor. Lissanth asks them to seek out the Tabernacle of Utu for her. The party decides to go with Bartheon.

The next day, two priests from the Temple of Balder visit Taniya's house. They explain that they have heard the sword Daemonrazor, known in their records, was recovered by her and used to slay a bone devil. They ask her to bring it to the temple, where the Archbishop of Tar-Eng is visiting, so he can bless the sword. Accompanied by her partner Baella, she does so, and learns some of Daemonrazor's history in the process.

Eryn buys a mysterious puzzle box found by a gnome adventurer in the Barrowlands, opens it, and finds an enchanted axe inside. She sells it, deciding to remain in Guffin and continue her resesarch for now, instead of continuing to adventure with the rest of the party.

That evening, Bartheon visits the party in the Guild House to show them the location of the mastaba on a map and explain that their purpose is to recover a relic known as the Yellow Disc. The party does some library research afterwards, learning that Aptor was once the Archon of Kyros and that the Yellow Disc was a magical item he crafted with assistance from powers from the plane of Concordant Opposition to banish false gods from Kyros.

Accounting:
Daemonrazor is blessed by the Archbishop of Tar-Eng, becoming a longsword +2/+3 vs creatures from the lower planes.
The party sells all non-magical loot, distributing 1,625 GP to Taniya (who claimed the coral jewelry already) and 2,705 GP to all other party members.
Eryn buys a puzzle box for 2,000 GP, finds an axe +2 inside, and sells it for 2,600 GP. She buys a sling and 12 bullets for 1 GP, 5 SP, and returns the Bag of Holding to the party's custody before withdrawing.
Hinonk buys a box of caltrops, 6 silver arrows, and a quiver for 7 GP, 3 SP.
Taniya buys a hand crossbow, 20 quarrels, 2 vials of holy water, 1 small sack, and 2 days' rations for 451 GP, 5 SP.

The Guild Banquet

A lot of new characters, world events, and Guild politics got brought up at the debriefing banquet, so I made a Storify out of it.

Day 32-33: The Temple of Geryon

The party docks at North Porttown. The harbor guard allows them to sleep in their boat until morning. Upon awakening, the party meets a group of five adventurers preparing to sail their ship, the Dauntless, to Bload on behalf of the High King of Tar-Eng, to slay a vampire lord. They do not hold the Adventurer's Guild of Guffin in high esteem, but one of them mentions seeing a halfling matching Drimmo's description coming out of the Mermaid's Tail inn earlier.

But as it turns out, the part has no need to go searching for Drimmo, he comes to the marina and finds them. He explains their purpose: a tiny island thirty miles from North Porttown used to be home to a temple of Poseidon, but it has been long abandoned, and a band of devil-worshippers have claimed it for their own dark purposes, funding their cult activities through piracy. The Guild has a policy of stamping out devil-worship as a community service, so the party is to sail to the island, wipe out the cult, and destroy the idol of Geryon, the archdevil believed to be venerated there. Drimmo wants to leave immediately, but Taniya insists on renting a room at the nearby Squid & Quadrant inn for a few hours to freshen up.

They leave around midday, and Drimmo and Gnaurm are soon seasick. However, they endure no random encounters at sea, and reach the island, scouting it in advance with Eryn's owl familiar, Talon.

Upon landing, the party is attacked by four giant crabs. They are easily slain, but tear apart Grabathor's net in the melee. After that, the party explores a shipwreck nearby. On the partially-flooded lower deck, a giant sea spider emerges from the cargo hold and attacks the party, but it too quickly falls. Donning the Necklace of Adaptation, Hinonk salvages various treasures from the sea spider's lair

Talon does further reconaissance of the temple, and with Drimmo's help, the party hatches a plan to burn the wooden shacks built alongside the temple platform as a distraction, and get inside while the cultists are dealing with the fire. Hidden in magical darkness, Drimmo enthusiastically starts three fires, and the party makes for the main temple entrance.

 

Despite the fire, the entrance remains well guarded. The party fights numerous koalinths and other cultists, and two polearm-wielding ogres tasked with guarding the temple doors. Once inside, they are confronted by the High Priest of Geryon, Snarkhos the Elder, and his kuo-toa assistant. Taniya beheads the priest with Daemonrazor, and his followers soon fall as well.

 

Searching the main hall of the temple, the party finds an altar on a metal grate. Laid upon the altar, cut open, is a dead mermaid. Taniya removes her from the altar, intending to bury her at sea later. They barricade the main temple doors, and although some tentative knocking his heard, the cultists outside do not make any heroic effort to enter the temple. The party searches the inner sanctum, finds it empty, then rests for a while.

 

Hinonk picks the storeroom lock, and the party enters. Drimmo is asked to check a treasure chest for traps, and when his searching acumen is challenged, he opens the chest, which was, of course, still trapped. A cloud of magical gas polymorphs him into a large ocean fish. Filling a barrel with their Decanter of Endless Water, the party places him inside for the time being, so he can breathe. Taniya is struck by a second gas trap, weakening her for a time.

 

Searching the other rooms, the party finds keys in the high priest's quarters and a copper tub in the kuo-toa's room, into which they move Drimmo. In another room they find potions and stairs going down. They descend, and behind one of the doors downstairs they hear rattling and tapping sounds. Inside they find a captive, Cymerick Blavask, a cleric and fellow Guild member, who has been imprisoned there for a long time, waiting to be sacrificed. He carries with him the bones he believes to be those of his friend Tomran.
 

 

The party proceeds through a tunnel, fighting a huge black snake, then enters the room under the drainage grate under the idol, the floor caked and soaked with blood, some of which runs through parallel channels under the wall of an adjoining room. The party opens the door to this room to find the channels draining into a small pool, in the middle of which stands the idol of Geryon. They cautiously put a rope around the idol and pull it over. While doing so, the room grows noticeably colder. Unbeknownst to them, a bone devil was summoned when the idol's guardian, the snake, was killed. Invisibly, the devil casts Wall of Ice on the tunnel, sealing off the party's only exit. He then casts an illusion of a red abishai devil, which the party attempts to fight. When they dispel the illusion, the bone devil reveals himself and casts Fear, causing fully half the party to flee in terror: Eryn, Grabathor, and Cymerick. After a long fight, in which Taniya is nearly killed and the bone devil tries and fails to Gate in another of his kind, Cymerick lands a killing blow and the devil's corporeal body is destroyed.

 

An earthquake follows, which the party speculates may be a response from Poseidon himself, revealing a hidden door to a treasure chamber. The party finds the original idol of Poseidon among the riches inside, and after resting and melting the wall of ice, restores it to its proper place.

 

Though columns have collapsed upstairs, crushing the bloody altar, the mermaid's body is unharmed. The party goes outside and finds four kobolds huddled in the courtyard, abandoned by the rest of their cult, who fled in the longboats tied up under the north cliffs. The party explores the outbuildings, finding electrum coins and buried horse and dolphin skulls, but nothing of real value.

 

The party sets sail, burying the mermaid and Tomran at sea. Grabathor makes an executive decision to release Drimmo into the water as well, and he swims away, most likely never to be seen again.
After sailing for a few hours the party encounters the Dauntless, floating empty in the sea. There is blood in the water sloshing around the bottom of the boat, but no other clues as to what may have happened to its owners. The party sails it back to Fyneport, sells their own, smaller boat, and returns home to Guffin.

 

Accounting:

All party members (excluding Cymerick) gain 3,774 XP.

All party members (including Cymerick) also gain 3,853 XP.

Taniya spends 2 GP on a room and gains a 25 XP bonus.

Grabathor pickpockets Drimmo's money pouch while he's seasick, gaining 36 GP, 8 SP, and 50 XP.

 

Eryn and Grabathor each receive 50 GP for the sale of Not Drimmo's Slavers.

Hinonk gains 100 XP for exercising his thieving skills.

 
The party loots 1,331 GP, 589 SP, a beryl ring worth 150 GP, 5 large pearls worth 100 GP each, a gold chalice worth 400 GP, a golden fish-shaped platter worth 200 GP, 3 gold chains worth 300 GP each,  a spearhead +1, a scroll of Lightning Bolt, a scroll of Fly, some quills, ink, and vellum, a potion of water breathing, a potion of gaseous form, a Trident +1 of Fish Command, 8 Haferan electrum coins, and the sailboat Dauntless.

Taniya loots a turtleshell buckler shield +1, Gauntlets of Swimming and Climbing, a coral necklace worth 200 GP (which she places on the mermaid before burying her at sea), a potion of healing, 2 coral bracelets worth 150 GP each, and a coral diadem worth 400 GP.

Cymerick loots a bronze footman's mace +2 with a trilobite-shaped head, and a suit of scale mail armor +1.

Hinonk loots a cypress-wood Wand of Illusion with 45 charges, a sawtoothed coral dagger +2, and sealskin leather armor +2.

 

Eryn loots a Bag of Holding, a potion of healing, and a Cloak of the Manta Ray (also of Protection +1).

Grabathor loses his net and loots a potion of healing and a bronze harpoon +2.

Day 31: Downriver

Hitching their boat to a trailer pulled by Spike and Moldy, the party heads to the town of Fyneport to set sail. Leaving the horses with Ben, they head down the river towards Whalefish Bay.

While sailing, Grabathor attempts to pan for gold (not really understanding how panning works) but only manages to catch a giant leech. It lands in the boat and attaches itself to Eryn's leg before Taniya manages to squish it.

Further ahead, they are hailed by a boy fishing from a tied-up skiff, who is promptly attacked and dragged under by a giant pike. Taniya swims after the pike and manages to kill it, with help from Eryn. They pull the boy up, heal and resuscitate him, and take him back to shore, along with the pike, which will feed his tiny fishing village for quite some time. The boy's father invites them to stay and feast, but they press on.

The party crosses Whalefish Bay without incident, arriving at the North Porttown marina very late at night.

Accounting:
Taniya gives Ben 5 GP advance pay.
Hinonk loses 2 arrows in the river.
Each party member gains 31 XP.
Taniya, Hinonk, and Eryn each gain 94 XP for participating in the rescue.

 

Day 30: Side Questing

Chumsalt sets up shop as Chumsalt Wilderness Investigations in his office in the Inn of the Reclining Gynosphinx, and soon receives word that one of the patrons of the inn's other business has a problem with an owlbear eating the sheep from his parents' farm. He goes into the city to look for bulette urine (a known owlbear repellent) at various alchemical establishments, but finds none. He goes on ahead to the farm, with Hinonk accompanying him, talks to one of the farmers, and goes north to the owlbear's cave. They set up an ambush outside the cave mouth, and Hinonk hypnotizes the owlbear and tells it to leave. It obeys, but comes back, angry, when the spell wears off five minutes later.

Chumsalt and Hinonk attempt to subdue the owlbear with fist, staff, and lasso attacks, and Chumsalt succeeds in roping the owlbear and mounting its back. Hinonk, on Chumsalt's orders, runs away. He fails at convincing the owlbear to leave of its own volition, and realizes that this is a female owlbear, likely with eggs in its cave. Unable to bring himself to kill the creature, he dismounts, and they back away slowly from each other.

Back at the farm, Chumsalt tries to convince the farmers to grow vegetables instead of sheep and tries to buy the flock from them at double the price. They refuse, Chumsalt throws money on the ground in front of them, and the situation escalates to the point where one of the farmers starts taking shots at him with a crossbow. Chumsalt leaves, and in a state of considerable frustration with the difficulties of succeeding at a small business venture, opens up the sheep and chicken pens and knocks over scarecrows and wind chimes as he departs.

Meanwhile, Grabathor makes inquiries at the Guild House for an internal spy. He is put in contact with a halfling woman who calls herself Gloomwing, who meets him at the Tipsy Behir tavern in the demihuman quarter. She offers up some of the information Grabathor was looking for: the statue under the sheet in the initiation room is an old Mezian god known as "The Architect," and Lady Blyneth's second-in-command is not, in fact, Adrumel, but a mysterious individual who holds the rank of Cup and Mirror in the Guild. She also shares a bit of the Guild's history, explaining that the Guild was little more than a drinking club for old men until the Count of Guffin granted control of it to his daughter. Grabathor gives her an advance payment to find out more information about the Cup and Mirror.


Accounting:
Chumsalt gives away 301 GP in tips to Gunch and reparations to the sheep farmers.
Taniya buys a whistle for 5 SP
Grabathor pays Gloomwing 70 GP for her information and continued spying.
Hinonk pays 50 GP, 1 SP for studded leather armor, 12 arrows, a short sword and scabbard, 4 oil flasks, 1 small silver mirror, 1 tinderbox, 1 bag of caltrops, and 10 bandages.

Chumsalt and Hinonk each gain 100 XP for their owlbear experience.

Accounting policy update

Going forward, CP and rations will no longer be tracked. Loot/expenses will be rounded to the nearest SP and players will be assumed to be packing sufficient waybread/jerky/trail mix/etc to survive their adventures.

Day 21+: Departures

After they arrive back in Guffin, Sir Bartheon informs the party that Lady Blyneth would like to have the artifact found in the Hold personally delivered to her, and he escorts them to a brunch she is holding in the courtyard of an expensive garden district house. Drimmo, having waylaid the party in the Guild House to ask how the expedition went, goes along with them and tries to take credit for the party's success during the brunch, much to Taniya's irritation.

Blyneth inspects the artifact, praises the party's competence, and laments that after studying it, they will have to have it destroyed, as she believes it to be dangerous. She makes remarks suggesting that she hears the same voices Hinonk heard when he handled it, but they don't seem to faze her.

Afterward, the party liquidates the non-magical valuables they found in the Hold, including eight suits of elven chainmail, and does some shopping.

Eryn and Grabathor take their boat on the river to try it out. They take it to the town of Eel Fork, leaving the horses with Ben, and drift west with the current for a while, dragging a fishing net behind them. They encounter a nixie, who tries to entice Grabathor into the water, but Eryn recognizes the creature and kills it with a Magic Missile. They pull up their net and grill up the eel and three prawns they caught on their way back. They pass a raft with two children on board: Wes and Zoey, who are running away to start their own village where children make the rules. Intending to bring them back home, Eryn shoots their raft with a Magic Missile, destroying it. She swims over to rescue them, but they cling to her arms and they start going under. Grabathor turns around to save them. Meanwhile, a nearby fisherman rows over and jumps in to pull them up. It's the same fisherman who ferried them to the Barrowlands weeks ago. He pulls Eryn and the children into his boat and accuses Grabathor of being a river pirate and a slaver. He jumps onto the party's boat and fights Grabathor, who manages to disable him with his net and knocks him out cold. They put him back in his boat and sail back to Eel Fork with the children, who they deliver to the city watch in Guffin.

Meanwhile, Chumsalt buys some adornments for his hat, including an old Guffin Rangers Association patch. Intrigued, he asks around and finds out that the GRA, which disbanded many years ago, used to operate out of a lodge just outside the King's Gate that is currently occupied by the Inn of the Reclining Gynosphinx, a worker-owned co-op brothel. He investigates, and meets the bouncer, a half-orc named Gunch, and the general manager, Shawna. He asks if he can rent out a vacant room to restart the GRA, and after bringing the matter up in a staff meeting, Shawna agrees. Chumsalt sets up shop in a first-floor room and brands himself as Chumsalt Wilderness Investigations.

A few days later, a letter is delivered to Grabathor's room, addressed to "Foreman, Drimmo's Company." It's a letter from Lady Blyneth, informing them that she would like them to take their new boat to North Porttown to investigate a situation there. She has sent Drimmo on ahead to meet them there, believing that he is feeling underutilized and that for him to accompany the party on their next adventure would be beneficial for everybody. She tells them to get there in two days and that Drimmo will fill them in on the details of their assignment.

However, three members of the party will not be going. Winnpernickel, freed of her obligations to babysit the party, turns her attention back to her own Guild affairs. Utter returns to Treebrane, determined to find a resistance movement there to cast off the influence of the drow. Gwindle heads down to Favor to help the plains villages rebuild.

Accounting:
The party trades 8 suits of elven chainmail to the Guild for 10,000 GP and a waiver of their assignment fee and sells all other non-magical loot (GP values already itemized in previous updates).

The party divides 11,700 GP from the communal fund, each taking a share of 1,300 GP.

The party identifies the myconid king's staff as a Staff of Curing with 10 charges. Hinonk takes custody of it.

Eryn casts Find Familiar and receives a screech owl familiar, Talon (3 HP).

Taniya buys a light warhorse named Starburst, and riding gear, for 167 GP.

Grabathor buys chainmail, a spiked buckler, a harpoon, and a spyglass for 190 GP; and pays Ben 6 SP for wages and a meal of baked eel.

Grabathor and Eryn purchase a longboat with a sail together, contributing 75 GP each. They name the boat "Not Drimmo's Slavers."

Chumsalt buys a Guffin Rangers Association patch, a Ward Against Hat Loss, an axebeak feather, a leather strap for his hat, 3 chairs, 1 table, 1 bowl, 1 engraved plaque, stationery, 1 year of office rent, and 1 year of prepaid labor from Gunch for 14 GP, 5 SP.

One night, a mysterious gift-giver (later revealed to be Gwindle) leaves the following items for the party: 1 banded drinking/blowing horn for Grabathor, a fine longsword scabbard for Taniya and Daemonrazor, an elven belt, wineskin, and backpack for Utter, a silver symbol of Bastion for Gnaurm, an ivory pipe carved to resemble a rabbit for Hinonk, a new fiddle for Gwindle, a jar of 3 dead mice pickled in healing potion for Eryn and Talon, 2 sets of quality gaming dice for Winnpernickel, 11 silver arrows and a set of phosphorescent chalk for Chumsalt.

Gwindle spends 174 GP on presents.

Gwindle gets 100 XP for gift-giving.
Eryn and Grabathor gain 93 XP each for their side adventure on the river.

Utter, Winnpernickel, and Gwindle leave the party.

Larger map of Engol and Mez

I sketched out this map which includes most of Engol and a little bit of Mez. The border of Jerma is basically the top of the sheet. It's still a little rough, does not include every city or village and should be considered open to future revisions. Each square represents about ten miles.

 

Dungeon Maps

We have some very talented mappers in this group. Two of them rendered my chicken-scratch-on-graph-paper maps into slick professional-looking versions.

First we have the Hold of the Gray Elves, mapped by player @KimaOkoye:

And next we have the Tumulus of Chalmaber, mapped by player @HinonkO:

 

(I don't have the heart to tell them about the secret rooms they missed...)

Day 20: The Artifact

After resting, the party returns to the sealed stone door and finds it standing open. After some hesitation, they venture inside to find a large natural cavern sloping down to a shallow pit filled with a black pudding the begins to crawl out and threaten them. Weapons are useless in this fight; they defeat it with torches and burning oil and the remaining fireball beads from Eryn's Necklace of Missiles. After the pudding is destroyed, they find a Y-shaped nickel plate embedded in the ground where it was resting. They pry up the plate and find a hole with a box underneath. Wrapped in hide inside the box is a small gray wooden figurine of an antlered man with tentacles. Touching the figurine causes Hinonk to suffer a terrible headache and hear voices. The party puts the figurine back in the box, realizing this must surely be the artifact the Guild sent them to retrieve.

On the way out of the Hold, Taniya attempts to free the rust monster in the kitchen by luring him out with some of the spare daggers the party found in the armory.

The party exists the Hold to find themselves ambushed by eleven drow, members of the Ebon Fang syndicate that effectively rules Treebrane: warriors, archers, and mages, and a captain who wields a magic cutlass and a dirk. He orders the party to hand over the artifact, but seems uncertain as to what exactly they found. Grabathor tosses them the Amulet of the Planes they found Vytor wearing. The drow captain orders one of the mages to examine it. She picks it up, activates it with a word of power, and is sucked up into the Para-Elemental Plane of Mist. The drow captain orders his followers to kill the party.

After rendering several drow unconscious and killing the captain and all but two others, one drow archer recognizes the hopelessness of her situation, stabs her remaining ally in the back, and surrenders to the party. Under interrogation, she reveals that one of the rangers sold information about the Hold to the Ebon Fang. The other drow are hostile and belligerent, and the party executes them. The archer pleads for her life, promising to leave Treebrane and reunite with her kin in the land of Bload, and swears she will help the party if they ever find themselves there. They agree to set her free and she gives them her name, Drusha Da'Aszhne.

Fearing that the rangers' lodge is compromised, the party hikes to within a safe distance from Treebrane and sends Eryn and Hinonk, disguised by illusion, to retrieve Ben and the animals. They return to Guffin without incident, paying Ben 2 GP for his four days of work. Hinonk tips him an additional 5 SP.

Accounting:
Gwindle loses 4 arrows in the black pudding. uses up 2 bandages, and loots a Cutlass +2 from the drow captain.
Utter loses 1 sling bullet in the black pudding
The party pours out 2 flasks of oil from the shared reserves
Eryn uses up 1 torch and the remaining 2 beads on her Necklace of Missiles
Hinonk loots 1 drow shortbow.

The party loots 36 arrows and 39 GP from the drow, and loses their Amulet of the Planes.
The party divides the arrows they've collected, giving 20 each to Gwindle, Grabathor, Chumsalt, and Hinonk.

Grabathor is awarded 100 XP for his ruse with the Amulet of the Planes.

Each party member gains 950 XP.

Day 19: The Pit and the Door

After resting, the party searches the huts and the side rooms and find four more mummified elves. One of them wears a necklace with three beads that emanate warmth (Necklace of Missiles); Eryn takes this. They find two secret rooms as well. One contains a chest sent as a gift by Klif, an ancient dwarven king of the Strifelands, containing various valuables and a warhammer +1, +2 vs undead, which Gnaurm takes. The other room contains a trapped chest that flash-blinds Hinonk when he opens it.

They go back to the stairs and take the west corridor. Eryn walks confidently through a patch of green slime and it begins to consume her. She burns it off with a torch.

The corridor leads to a large two-part workroom. There's an old forge with a chimney over it; as the party searches the room, a giant bloodworm descends through the chimney. It latches on to Taniya and drains a goodly amount of blood before the party manages to kill it. Searching the room reveals a large vat of oil, that the party uses to refill their flasks, and a hidden message etched into the wall: "FORGIVE OUR GREAT ERROR / I WORSHIP CORELLON / LET THE ONE WHO READS THIS KNOW THAT NATHELLAR REPENTED."

Next exploring east of the stairs, the party finds a room with a cave-in caused by a massive tree root. They try for a while to dig it out, but make no significant progress. They give up and explore the south passage.

The south passage has six branching corridors that lead to oubliette pits. Only one of them contains anything: orc bones. Gwindle descends to examine them, but finds nothing of note.

The party goes back to the first floor to try the stairs behind the stuffed stag. They find a cavern with a deep pit in the middle. Winnpernickel casts Light on a stick and they lower it with a rope, revealing the pit to be one hundred feet deep. Gwindle climbs down and finds a cavern full of spongy black dirt and three ochre jellies clinging to the walls. He climbs back up. The party tosses rations down as bait, then shoves one of the stone blocks in the upper cavern down the pit. Then they descend, each party member joining the fight with the jellies as they make it down. Around this time, Hinonk's blindness wears off. The party rests for a while.

The party follows a tunnel out of the lower cavern and reenters the hold, finding boring beetle remains in the room the tunnel leads to. Most of the doors on this level are open. They go north, passing an unmarked slab with hundreds of nickel spikes with Y-shaped heads driven into the wall around it. They find another Gray Elf resting place containing two more bodies. The slab sealing this large diamond-shaped chamber had fallen over and one of the elves is not mummified, but in a state of natural decay. Hinonk loots a glass bead anklet (conferring DEX +1) from the preserved one.

They explore the star-shaped south chamber next, finding two more elves, both perfectly mummified. Taniya loots a silver hairpin from one of them (functions as a Brooch of Shielding) and Hinonk loots a moonstone pendant (Necklace of Adaptation) from the other.

Next they go through the unmarked slab, finding a passage to a cavern that faces a natural stone wall with a door set high up in it, and a carved block in front of it. The block has twelve small depressions on the top and a relief of twelve robed figures standing with their left arms outstretched on the front. Unable to open the door, the party goes back and takes the east passage to a set of ascending spiral stairs.

Upstairs, they are on the other side of the cave-in on the second floor. Here they encounter seven myconids, one of whom holds a staff and sits on a throne made of white fungus and beetle parts. Preparing for a potential fight, Grabathor starts pouring oil on the ground. This alarms the myconid king, who emits a cloud of spores that cause all of the party to hallucinate except for Grabathor, Gnaurm, Hinonk, and Eryn. The rest of the party has a vivid, colorful, synesthesiatic vision in which a happy, thriving myconid colony lives in peace for many years before a red-eyed devil arrives, searching for something, and kills many of them in anger when he cannot retrieve it. Meanwhile, Grabathor throws one of the beads from Eryn's necklace at the myconids, causing an explosion that kills all but the king. After a brief fight, the king is killed, and the party waits for the effect of the spores to wear off. They find nothing of value in this place except for the myconid king's staff, which has an as-yet undiscovered magical function.

Returning to the stone door, Utter and Eryn examine the carvings on the block and theorize that placing the dead elves' left hands in the depressions might unlock the door. Eryn casts Levitate and returns to the upper levels to sever and bring back their hands. It's the dead of night now, and the party decides to rest until morning before continuing.

 

Accounting:
The party refills all oil flasks and loots 1 silver carpenter's square (100 GPV), 1 silver mallet (120 GPV), 16 golden spikes (65 GPV each), and a magical myconid king's staff of uncertain function.

The party tosses 1 day of rations from the undistributed loot down a hole as ochre jelly bait.
All party members consume 1 day of rations.
Gnaurm loots a Warhammer +1, +2 vs undead.
Eryn uses up 2 torches and loots a Necklace of Missiles (2 3d6, 1 5d6) from one of the mummified elves, but uses up the largest bead in the myconid fight.
Hinonk loots a Anklet of Dexterity +1 from one of the mummified elves.
Taniya drinks the potion of healing from the undistributed loot, uses up 1 oil flask, and loots a Hairpin of Shielding from one of the mummified elves.
Chumsalt uses up 1 bandage.
Gwindle uses up 1 bandage.
Grabathor uses up 2 oil flasks and loses 2 arrows.

Grabathor is awarded 100 XP for a nice callback to the pickpocketing of his tinderbox.

Gwindle is awarded 100 XP for making good ability checks on a harrowing rope climb.

Utter and Eryn are awarded 250 XP each for their insights into the sealed door puzzle.

 

All party members receive 1,527 XP each.

Day 18: Monsters in the Hold

After waking, the party explores the south corridor from the cistern room and encounters a gelatinous cube. They slay it, and find it was blocking the way to an armory full of weapons in sets of twelve: halberds, longswords, short swords, shields, daggers. One of the short swords is +1 enchanted; Utter takes it. Searching the room, the party finds a trapdoor containing a large cabinet resting on a pressure plate. They hold down the plate with the halberd poles, lift out the cabinet, and pile weapons on top of the plate to keep it down. Inside the cabinet they find a priceless treasure: twelve sets of elven chainmail. Only Utter and Taniya can fit into them, however.

The party explores the north corridor from the cistern room and finds an animated stuffed stag with silver antlers and glowing blue eyes. It attacks them, and they defeat it. Past the stag they find stairs going down, and decide to backtrack and explore those later.

Winnpernickel goes up to check in on Sora, who offers to bury supplies and a map for the party if they aren't ready to leave with her by nightfall.

North of the entry room, the party finds spiral stairs that descend 50' to a lower level. They go down and head north to a room that has been burrowed into by two giant boring beetles. After a harrowing fight with the beetles, the party continues north to a huge chamber containing a pair of sword-wielding statues, a long pool of water, and two dome-shaped stone huts. Three gray oozes emerge from the pool and attack the party. Inspecting the pool afterwards, the party finds a magical vase that pours water and never runs dry.

Opening the left hut, the statues come to life and attack. After destroying them, the party finds another mummified elf in the hut, with a silver sword on his chest. The party decides to rest, and debates going back to town and returning to the hold later. They go back outside and talk to Sora, who is worried that if the party takes too long to finish their business here, others may find out about the hold. The party decides to camp out near the hold entrance. Sora goes back to town with Thrim.


Accounting:
Taniya uses up 1 oil flask and acquires 1 rusty dagger and a suit of elven chainmail.
Utter acquires a short sword +1 and a suit of elven chainmail and gives Taniya's longsword +1, which he was using, to Chumsalt.
Chumsalt takes Taniya's longsword +1 from Utter and gives his Ring of Protection +1 to Grabathor.
Grabathor takes Chumsalt's Ring of Protection +1.
Eryn uses up 1 torch and takes the Ring of Protection +1 found on one of the mummified elves.
Hinonk loses 5 darts to gray ooze corrosion.
Grabathor loses 3 arrows to gray ooze corrosion.
Gwindle loses his scimitar to gray ooze corrosion.
Grabathor uses up 2 bandages.

Gwindle, Gnaurm, and Hinonk each get 67 XP for fighting a reanimated stag.

All party members consume 1 day of rations.

All party members gain 1,762 XP.

The party loots 11 GP, 9 SP, 5 CP, an ivory bracelet worth 25 GP, a silver short sword worth 150 GP, a potion of healing, a Decanter of Endless Water, and 12 suits of elven chainmail (2 of which are claimed by Taniya and Utter as noted above).

Another way to follow

If you don't want to follow the DM or individual players (we can tend to overwhelm Twitter feeds when combat or other major events are happening), subscribe to this list. I keep it updated with all current and former players and NPCs.

Quick Recap Link

In a hurry to get caught up in the goings-on in the world of Werld? This link searches Twitter for "@1steddm #recap."

Day 17: In the Secret Hold of the Gray Elves

With Sora leading the way, the party walks into the Great Forest of Suprora to find the mysterious stump. Sora points out stirges nesting in the canopy. While walking, the group cannot shake the sense that somebody is following them. It turns out to be Taniya Dawnstorm, a fellow Adventurer's Guild member who was in Treebrane hunting down a rogue Guild member. She overheard the party talking to Old Licheneye, realized they were on to something big, and followed them here to ask to accompany the expedition. Winnpernickel points out that Taniya has some rank in the Guild and they can't really say no, so Taniya joins the party.

The party finds the stump and digs out the tunnel under it. Underground, they find a stone slab carved with archaic Elvish runes that read: "WE ARE THE LAST." They pull down the slab and enter the hold.

Exploring, the party finds a hallway with four more stone slabs and eight ghouls scratching and clawing to get through them. The ghouls attack, and after a lengthy battle that sees half the party paralyzed, the party slays them and enters the slab-sealed rooms. In each room, they find a mummified elf corpse laying shrouded on a bed. Hinonk takes a wooden ring from one of the decedents.

The party investigates another room, which appears to be a kitchen, and finds a rust monster that must have eaten its way down there through the stove chimney. They retreat, leaving the rust monster unmolested.

Down another passage, the party finds a room with a mass of tree roots protruding through the ceiling and a stone cistern embedded in the floor. Stirges fly out of the tree roots and attack. After defeating them, the party examines the cistern, finding it full of clean, clear water. The water reacts strangely to their touch, and they soon realize the cistern contains a water weird. After defeating it, Taniya dives into the water to retrieve several objects, including a magical sword. When Utter takes the sword in his hand it speaks: its name is Daemonrazor, and it belonged to a paladin who entered the hold through the stirge tree a century ago and was drowned by the water weird. The sword is disdainful of the party and only agrees to be wielded by Taniya, as she is the closest thing (in terms of race, class, and alignment) the party has to a paladin.

Wanting to rest, the party checks in with Sora outside, who agrees to return for them the following day. They sleep in the cistern room and are attacked by more stirges during the night. After killing them, the party rests peacefully.

Accounting:
Hinonk loots a wooden ring with magical properties from a mummified elf.

Utter uses up his potion of healing.

Eryn burns up 1 torch.
Taniya burns up 1 oil flask.
All party members consume 1 day of rations.

The party loots 19 GP, 3 SP, 2 CP, a pearl necklace worth 300 GP, and a Longsword +1, +2 vs creatures from the lower planes (Daemonrazor, INT 15) from the cistern.

All party members gain 191 XP each.
Grabathor, Gnaurm, Chumsalt, Hinonk, and Taniya each gain 89 XP from the water weird.
Grabathor, Chumsalt, Gwindle, and Hinonk each gain 66 XP from the nighttime stirge attack.

Taniya Dawnstorm

The party has added another member, as you'll learn more about in the next recap.

Day 16: The Road to Treebrane

The party goes shopping in the morning and sets off for Treebrane. The trip is uneventful until the halfway point, when they find a saddled horse running off riderless. Grabathor dispatches Talwart the teamster to ride Margrit and recover the horse. Talwart never returns.

Proceeding to the Inn of the Crossroads, the party finds it smashed to pieces and all its staff and patrons dead. An investigation reveals a hill giant in the throes of some deranged melancholia to be responsible. The party attacks him with darts and arrows, fatally injuring him before he can land a blow on any of them. Despondent, the giant throws himself "into" an illusory pit created by Hinonk. As he lays dying, he utters some foreboding words in Ogrish about "little races" always "tampering," and that "it will come for you." A passer-by takes in the scene and promises to bring word to Guffin.

The party stops at the Lusty Owlbear tavern down the road for a meal and to gather some information about Treebrane. They reach the city not long afterwards. A pair of bandits tries to shake them down for money, but Eryn levitates one off his horse and they surrender to the party. The party takes one of their horses and names him Ant.

A few small items are stolen from the party's wagon as they circle the wooden palisade surrounding the city to reach the lodge of the Ranger's Guild. There they meet their contact, Sora Fauthnal, who tells them what she knows: some local druids found a large treestump in the forest, and began praying to it. Those druids, about twelve of them, went mad and started raving about rot and fungus and turned against other forms of nature. Rangers went out to investigate the stump and found a hidden cave entrance under its roots, and some Gray Elvish runes. There are rumors that a small group of Gray Elves stayed behind in Suprora after all the other left, to guard some mysterious artifact of great power. That is what the Adventurer's Guild has sent the party to look for, and Sora offers to take them to the stump in the morning.

The party wants to talk to some of the unaffected druids, so Sora's ranger friend Eragor takes the party into the city. They find the druid known as Old Licheneye resting at the Shrine of Pan. He doesn't have much information for the party, but he is very angry that the druids' problem hasn't been taken seriously by the government, such as it is, in Treebrane.

Eragor takes the party back to the rangers' lodge to rest for the night.

Accounting:
Grabathor buys 20 caltrops, 1 crowbar, 1 fishing net, 1 grappling hook, 1 pair of kidskin gloves, 1 machete, and 8 scarves for 17 GP, 1 SP, pickpockets a traveling merchant for 15 GP, 9 SP, and loses 4 arrows in combat. He distributes a scarf to each member of the party.

Gwindle buys 2 barrels and 3 bone dice for 2 GP, 1 SP, and loses 3 arrows in combat.
Utter buys wine for 5 SP and loses 2 sling bullets in combat.
Hinonk pickpockets Grabathor's tinderbox.
Eryn loots 17 GP, 9 SP, and 5 CP for herself in the wreckage of the inn.

The party loots 99 GP, 6 SP, 5 CP, 10 bottles of wine, a large number of potatoes, 1 silver dagger, 2 50' ropes, 4 filled wineskins, and some dragon skull fragments from the wreckage of the inn.

Gwindle gives 1 bottle of wine to Ben. Grugach children outside Treebrane steal 3 bottles of wine, 18 GP, 3 SP, 40 CP, and several potatoes from the wagon.

The party spends 1 GP, 6 SP at the Lusty Owlbear.

All party members gain 12 XP for looted treasure.
Gwindle, Hinonk, Grabathor, Eryn, and Utter gain 357 XP for defeating a hill giant.
Eryn gains 17 XP for personal looting.
Grabathor gains 159 XP for pickpocketing.
Hinonk gains 25 XP for pickpocketing.

Character Spreadsheet

I made a Google Docs spreadsheet for the active party members' character sheets. Bonuses/stat adjustments have been checked, but players, feel free to look it over and let me know if you notice any inaccuracies.

One Month Anniversary

I left this comment on the MetaFilter Projects post today:

*Poke* Do Projects threads not close after 30 days?

Cool. Well then! This is the one month anniversary of the First Edition AD&D Game On Twitter That I Should Have Thought Of A Pithier Name For. Some statistics:

Tweets from DM: 4,061
Total players: 10, 8 currently in game
Followers: 110
Special guest NPCs: 7
Dungeons crawled: 2, on their way to third
Blog posts: 22
Additional play-by-Twitter D&D games inspired: 1

This has gone quite a bit better than I expected! I will be sticking with this for as long as there are players interested in continuing with the campaign, it's been tons of fun and a perfect receptacle for my creative impulses and phone-fidgeting compulsions. I've got a big-picture story arc shaping up and if the party levels high enough they'll be running through some of my favorite adventures from Dungeon Magazine and maybe a few classic modules too. Thank you, everybody, who has been playing, contributing, following, commenting, etc. I don't think this would have gone anywhere without MetaFilter.

On Character Death

As the party levels up, encounters stronger monsters, and vies for more exotic loot, so increases the risk of death. While I am not a believer in killing off characters on an unlucky roll or two, characters are not invulnerable. My position is that players of deceased characters should reroll and rejoin the game as soon as possible. To ease death's bitter sting, the following benefits are offered to replacement characters:

• They start at the same level as the character that died
• They get the standard new-character magical item allotment (currently one +1 item)
• They also get 100 GP, 1 potion, and 1 additional magical item of the DM's choosing

And remember, it doesn't take very long to roll up a 1st edition character, so go ahead and charge that ancient black dragon when she flies in! #YOLO

Days 12-15: Downtime

The party has a few days to kill while they wait for an assignment from the Guild. Chumsalt and Hinonk go out to patrol the Imperial Road and keep it safe from highwaymen. They encounter four goblins hiding behind a boulder with slings. They discuss various options for dealing with them until one of the goblins kills a rabbit and Hinonk, enraged, charges them. Chumsalt slays one and Hinonk incapacitates the rest with a Color Spray spell. They leave the goblins tied up.

Later on, the party meets Winnpernickel McGee, a Guild member who has been assigned to accompany them. Chumsalt is handed a letter informing him that the party (identified by the Guild as "Drimmo Woolfoot's Company") is to go to Treebrane to investigate a situation there. They will also be joined by another Guild member, Eryn Hebrook, who had petitioned to be included in any upcoming missions to Treebrane after she heard rumors that Gray Elf ruins had recently been discovered in the area.

The party meets its new members at the Guild House, and whiles away the night hearing stories and engaging in conversation with other members in the common rooms.

Accounting:
Chumsalt donates 30 GP, Grabathor donates 20 GP, and Hinonk donates 20 GP into shared party funds. Another 19 CP of goblin loot is added as well.

Gwindle buys 1 large cheese wheel for 4 GP.
Chumsalt buys 1 potion of healing and 1 suit of umber hulk hide armor (banded mail stats), and some small miscellaneous cheeses for 373 GP. He trades in his leather armor and uses up 1 rope.
Hinonk buys 1 waterskin, 30 darts, 50' rope, and some personal grooming items for 6 GP.
Utter buys 1 potion of healing and 1 grappling hook for 275 GP.

Chumsalt and Hinonk gain 29 XP each.

Character sheet updates & new players

Gnome illusionist Winnpernickel McGee and human magic-user Eryn Hebrook have joined the party! Here are everybody's up-to-date character sheets.

 

Days 8, 9, 10, and 11: Joining the Guild

The party goes back to the Golden Trestle Antiquities Exchange and meets with Drimmo. He assumes they killed Geen for him, and he's pleased. The party does not correct him. They talk him down to a 4,500 GP sponsorship fee and he gives them a time and place to meet for their official induction into the Guild. They have three days to kill.

Gwindle disappears for a while.

Grabathor buys a new wagon and hires a driver and a guard (Ben the elderly half-orc pit brawler) for it. He also pays a witch to identify the amulet (she's pretty sure it's an Amulet of the Planes) and tell the party's fortune (they're going to embark on a profitable venture and make new friends).

Chumsalt attends Geen's funeral dressed in a black robe and Vytor's scarab mask to observe the priest he has suspicions about.

All the while, everyone has a sense that somebody is watching or following them.

On the third day, party gathers at a nice house in the garden district, where they meet Adrumel, the half-elf Sword and Rod of the Guild, and Lady Blyneth, the human Veil and Star. They participate in an initiation ceremony before a shrouded idol and pledge to serve their brothers and sisters in the Guild.

Afterwards, the party meets at the Wormy Dregs tavern in the Old City district, near the Guild House they'll be staying at from now on. They go to the Guild House and turn in for the night.

Accounting:
The party sells all scrolls, Vytor's spellbook, and all non-magical loot for 6,544 GP. They spend 21 GP from shared funds for lodging, food, and magic item identification. They also pay 4,500 GP to Drimmo to sponsor their Guild membership, then divide 2,400 GP among themselves. Each party member receives a share of 400 GP.

Gwindle spends his entire 400 GP share on a mysterious personal errand.

Grabathor spends 123 GP, 1 SP, and 7 CP to buy 1 10' pole, 5 silver arrows, 8 arrows, 1 50' rope, 1 small silver mirror, 4 iron spikes, 1 silver cloak, 7 days' iron rations, to have his fortune read, and for identification of the Amulet of the Planes. He also covers Gwindle's share of the wagon purchase and gives 1 Balder flower token to Lady Blyneth.

All other party members, except for Gwindle, pay 25 GP for their share of the wagon purchase.

The party hires a human teamster named Talwart and an old half-orc pit brawler named Ben to drive and guard their wagon, respectively. They each work for 5 SP per day.

All party members receive 17 XP each (corrected loot XP).

The Adventurer's Guild

The players have completed their first two dungeon crawls and have been accepted into the Adventurer's Guild! While they may have some suspicions about the Guild and the people running it, the meta-deal is that the Guild is going to be used for narrative structure so we don't have to spend a lot of tweets setting up and justifying adventures. In addition, all new players that join the game from here on out will be Guild members, to streamline the roleplaying necessary to integrate them into the party.

An in-game benefit of Guild membership is that all players now have access to the Guild House in the Old City district. They can sleep and eat there for free.

Bonus feature: here's a Storify of the Guild initiation ceremony.

Day 7, Part 2: Vytor the Gasser

The party fights their way to the east tower of the fortress, but the hobgoblins start an oil fire and smoke them out. They ascend to the roof and see Vytor standing on the roof of the central keep, not far away. He is full of nonsense about the divinatory power of mists or something, but he casts a deadly Cloudkill spell, and the party has to climb quickly down the tower on ropes to evade it.

Inside the keep, the party fights their way to Vytor's inner sanctum. Gwindle rushes ahead and is knocked out with a Sleep spell. The rest of the party kills Vytor after a long and difficult battle.

Chumsalt puts on Vytor's robe and wizard hat and dismisses the hobgoblins remaining in the keep with a clever ruse. The party loots Vytor's room and sets off a poison gas trap. Attempting to heal the victims, Grabathor feeds them unidentified potions. Chumsalt is temporarily transmuted to gaseous form. An inventive application of the Create Water spell saves the other victim, Gwindle.

Meanwhile, the hobgoblins who were out raiding return to the fortress.

The party goes downstairs and fights more hobgoblins, briefly explores the basement (a giant arachnid motivates them to leave), then finally makes their escape by casting Light as a distraction and running like hell.

Outside, the party finds their horses, but discover that Geen has died from wounds sustained from combat with hobgoblins. They transport her body back to Guffin.

Accounting:
Utter uses up 2 bandages, 3 sling bullets. 
Gwindle loots an old book (A Sojourn Through The Outer Planes, by Aelfmathar the Younger), uses up 2 arrows.
Grabathor uses up 1 oil flask, 8 arrows, 1 rope, 3 iron spikes.
Hinonk loots a shortbox and 6 arrows, uses up 6 arrows.
Chumsalt uses up 1 rope.
Gnaurm uses up 1 rope, 1 bandage.

All party members consume 1 day of rations.

The party loses their wagon but acquires a rusty key, 1 pack, 1 blanket, 1 shovel, 1 lantern, 2 oil flasks, 1 waterskin, 4 standard rations, 1 portable Balder shrine, 557 GP, 134 SP, 15 CP, 20 arrows, 8 assorted gems worth 1500 GP, 2 diamonds worth 1000 GP, a pearl necklace worth 300 GP, a ruby brooch worth 475 GP, 2 gold goblets worth 300 GP (as a set), a silver case worth 10 GP, a fine carpet worth 100 GP, a brass telescope worth 100 GP, some fine clothes worth 80 GP, a mildewy book protected by a heavily-trapped strongbox, 4 scrolls (Cloudkill, Conjure Elemental, 2 Stinking Cloud), Vytor's golden crook-ended staff, Vytor's Parzian scarab headdress that functions as a Helm of Comprehending Languages and Reading Magic, Vytor's quilted embroidered robe, Vytor's silver ring, Vytor's silver and jade amulet, an inscribed ceramic dagger, 4 glass vials, an ashwood wand, a yew wood shortbow, an iron mace with a ram's head, and a chamber pot holding Vytor's severed head.

All party members gain 4,847 XP each.

All party members except Gwindle gain 50 XP.

Day 7, Part 1: Geen Vangiarda

The party awakens to find themselves confronted by four teenagers from Favor, the village they camped near. They ask what the party is doing there and explain that several of their family members were recently lost while traveling to Clover, a village on the Plain on the way to Oracle Rock. After the last group of searchers disappeared they sent a messenger to Guffin to ask for help, and were promised that somebody from the Guild would investigate. The party assures them that they are there to help. The villagers send them off with breakfast.

On the Plain, the party finds several fresh graves with wildflowers laid on them. They dig one up and find a hobgoblin who died from a deep slash to the chest.

From a distance, the party sees a burning building in Clover. They arrive and investigate to find the village devoid of life. Livestock lie dead in their fields. The burning building is full of the bodies of villagers who died violently. Inside some of the houses, other villagers lie dead with no obvious wounds upon them. They loot spare change from the houses and find a diary that speaks of hobgoblin raids, and a last stand from the villagers capable of fighting them.

Moving on to Oracle Rock, the party finds the doors to the Temple of Apollo bashed in, and all the human and elf temple staff dead in a heap inside. The idol and altar have been desecrated, the temple valuables plundered, and a message has been painted on the wall: "YOUR GOD IS VAPOR." The party tries to explore the cavern where oracles are spoken, but a cloudy, foul-smelling gas prevents them from going more than a short ways inside.

Proceeding to the fortress, they run into Geen Vangiarda resting behind some trees, and she informs them that their wagon is loud and noticeable and hobgoblin riders are on their way to investigate. She charges ahead and beheads one of the riders before they can engage the party. The hobgobglins are defeated, with one taken prisoner. Grabathor impulsively maces his head in, to Geen's dismay.

Geen has a plan to attack the fortress while the bulk of the hobgoblin force is out raiding. She intends to distract the remaining hobgoblins while the party enters the fortress. The party goes along with this plan, fighting off five hobgoblins on their way in. Chumsalt is seriously hurt, but Gnaurm heals him. The party attempts to enter the east tower, but a hobgoblin blacksmith and his two assistants burst out of the door. The party defeats them, and they go inside...

Accounting:
The party loots (converted) 50 GP, 9 SP, and 3 CP from the houses of the dead in Clover. They also find a book of devotional woodcuts about Balder and a diary in Clover, and loot 6 oil flasks and 10 days of standard rations in Oracle Rock.
Chumsalt receives 6 arrows from Hinonk, who found them in Clover, and fires 4 arrows off fighting hobgoblins.
Grabathor uses up 1 flask of oil trying unsuccessfully to burn off the gas in the oracular cavern, fires off 4 arrows, and donates 2 tokens of Balder to a hobgoblin grave.
Utter expends 2 sling bullets.
The party loots 29 arrows from dead hobgoblins.
All party members gain 68 XP each.

Campaign World History

I've dropped a lot of passing references to the world this campaign takes place in, and I thought maybe it'd be a good idea to summarize it here. This world is based on, in rough order of influence, Europe in the Dark Ages, a half-baked fantasy world I sketched out for a novel I never ended up writing 10+ years ago, the D&D setting some guy who dungeon mastered for me on a camping trip (when I was, like, eleven) dreamed up, and contributed ideas from the player characters' backstories. It's generically dungeons-and-dragonsy by design. This post will outline the history of the world, abnd I'll follow it up with a post about the geography.

A History of the Werld

This world, known as Werld to astral travelers and spelljammers, is a temperate planet a little smaller than Earth but with the same physics and climate etc because Magic. It orbits a yellow sun known as The Sun and has one satellite known as The Moon. The Moon is speculated to contain labyrinths, demons, eldritch temples, and so forth, but nobody from Werld has been there yet.

Civilization arose in the land of Parz about 10,000 years ago. Parzian culture spread to Saien to the north and Hafer to the west but was mostly ignored by the cave-dwelling barbarians living elsewhere. Eventually Parz did what all great ancient world cultures do, they delved into forbidden magic they could not control and, failing to check themselves, wrecked themselves.

About 5,000 years ago, Parzian culture and philosophy was rediscovered by the city-state of Mez on the north shore of the Mezzoterranian Sea. They proceeded to form a great and prosperous republic with their neighboring city-states, and maintained friendly relations with the elves of Suprora to the west, and eventually Mez did what all great ancient republics do, they turned into a conquering empire. They siezed holdings in Hafer, retook the coastal cities of Parz, established a thriving presence on the wild and primordial island of Bload, and pushed against the borders of the great nation of Saien, but they could never gain a foothold to the northern countries of Engol and Jerma, where dwarves and orcs and savage men fought off their incursions.

However, about 1,000 years ago, the emperor Panseres succeeded in bringing Engol and Jerma to heel. His triumphs and popularity earned him many enemies in Mez, and he spent his final years ruling from the ancient castle of Engolan kings at Tar-Eng. When he died, a succession of incompetent rulers left the Mezan Empire weakened, and eventually they did what all aging empires do, they got overrun by raiding tribes of horsemen and orcs and goblin hordes, and over the next few hundred years local rule was restored to all of their colonies.

Currently, Engol is ruled by the High King at Tar-Eng. The great elven forest of Suprora on the southwest peninsula is technically part of Engol, but self-governs. Jerma's government is a confederacy of orcish tribes led by a Supreme Overlord, dwarven nations ruled by a Grand Council, and a High King of the human holdings. There are elves in Jerma but they have opted out of this arrangement. What once was the original Mezian Republic consists of a large number of small, warring city-states ruled by warlords and princelings. The original city-state of Mez is mostly ruins and is currently the stronghold of an archmage. Bload has been under the rule of a demented lich since shortly after the death of Panseres.

The kingdoms of Hafer are prosperous and engage in trade with the northern countries, but significant cultural exchanges have been few and far between since the fall of Mez. Saien is a vast and technologically advanced empire in its own right at this point, but keeps itself largely isolated. It it believed to have established colonies in Parz, which has not been visited by the western countries in many years, and of which little is presently known.

Update: here's a rough map of the world.

Day 6: Imperial Road

In the morning, the party members split up to shop for new gear. Chumsalt finds the half-orc girl he hired to spy for him. She reports that the priest of Balder is engaged in many strange, nefarious, and not entirely plausible activities.

Meanwhile, Darren comes to realize that despoiling sites of cultural heritage and murdering members of the goblinoid races is not where his true path lies. He leaves the party for now to seek out his ogre heart.

The party meets at the Golden Trestle Antiquities Exchange. Inside, they meet Drimmo Woolfoot, who turns out to be the halfling they captured and interrogated in the marsh on their previous adventure. He blackmails them into either assassinating a rival Guild member sent to root out an evil ex-Guild wizard who has taken up residence in the Fortress of Narzod to the southeast, or completing the task out from under her, thereby humiliating and discrediting her. He also demands a large sum of GP as their buy-in to the Guild, stating that it will have to be considerably larger if they take the non-assassination option.

Gwindle asks around about the wizard and learns that hobgoblins have been spotted around the vicinity of Oracle Rock, a small but notable religious center near the fortress.

On the way out, the party meets Hinonk, a gnome illusionist and thief who asks to travel with them to Oracle Rock.

The party travels south along the Imperial Road, and stops at a roadside inn where they meet a half-orc mercenary headed back to Guffin after plying his trade for the warring city-states of what remains of Mez. He declines an offer to join them, but buys them a round of drinks.

Further down the road, the party finds a small village and sets up camp for the night nearby.

Accounting:
Chumsalt pays 21 GP, 1 SP, and 9 CP for a stylish ranger's hat, 5 standard rations, 5 iron rations, 60' rope, metal foreceps, chainmail gloves, 10 bandages, 5 small cloth sacks, a hand mirror, sausages for the half-orc girl, and roasted potatoes.
Grabathor cashes in his 300 GPV sapphire and from the proceeds, buys one wagon and two outfitted horses (named Spike and Moldy) for 236 GP. He also pays 11 GP and SP out of his personal funds to buy a cap, 12 arrows, a larger quiver, 2 flasks of oil, 10 iron spikes, a tinder box, 7 days iron rations, and a round of drinks.
Gwindle pays 12 GP and 7 SP for 7 days standard rations, 1 barrel, 1 fiddle of decent quality, 1 weeks' supply of pipeweed, and bribes to city guards.
Utter pays 6 SP for 10 bandages and a spare cloak.
Gnaurm pays 6 GP, 8 SP, and 5 CP for 100' of rope, 5 bandages, 3 flasks of oil, and 7 days standard rations.
Utter pays 9 SP for 10 bandages, a spare cloak, and a roast chicken.

Another new character

The party has acquired a new member. Here's his character sheet.

Day 5: Return to Guffin

The people of Thantry ferry the party across the river, and they walk back to the hut of the Jermal eel fisherman to retrieve Thrim the mule. Heading south through the marsh, the party encounters a pair of axebeaks, who rush in to attack and nearly kill Gwindle. Darren neutralizes the threat with a sleeping spell.

On the road to Guffin, the party meets a bard and artist who calls himself The Snail. Gwindle buys a sketch of the party from him.

Outside of the city, the gnomish Juiblex cult is having a tent revival and potluck. Attempting to persuade them to follow the dwarvish goddess Bastion instead, Gnaurm informs the gnomes that chaos and destruction is the way of Juiblex, and the gnomes respond by rioting and letting the tent burn down. Chumsalt persuades Fnib, the de facto cult leader, to take his followers north to the barrows and clear out the Tumulus of Chalmaber to be used as a shelter for the homeless. Fnib agrees, with the caveat that they also convert it to a temple of Juiblex.

Back in Guffin, the party revisits the Many-Legged Flagon. Torvir is gone for the day, but a drunkard sells them his home address for 3 GP.

Torvir is saddened and disturbed by the state of his friend's remains, but he writes the party a letter of introduction to the Guild, as promised, and tells them to bring it to a fellow named Drimmo Woolfoot at the Golden Trestle Antiquities Exchange, a well-known establishment in the mercantile quarter. He also gives them 20 GP each as a token of his gratitude. The party returns to the Flagon to spend the night.

During the night, each party member receives a mysterious gift: a cloak for Utter, a sapphire worth 300 GP and a silver foreman's whistle for Grabathor, a silver arrow for Chumsalt, a cone of musky incense for Gnaurm, and a new staff for Darren.

 

Accounting:
Utter loses 1 sling bullet and receives a new blue cloak.
Gwindle pays 1 GP for a sketch of the party.
Grabathor receives a 300 GPV sapphire and a silver whistle.
Gnaurm receives a cone of incense.
Darren receives a staff.
Chumsalt receives a silver arrow.
The party pays 5 GP from its shared coffer for Torvir's address and food and lodging.
All party members gain 18 XP and 20 GP each.

Day 4: Chalmaber's Crypt

Gnaurm finds the party sleeping in the sarcophagus room, wakes them up, and after some discussion, agrees to join and help them, for the time being.

In the morning, the party explores a room containing a basin full of water and four altars. Six larvae are sleeping in the basin. They awaken and attack the party. Injured, Gwindle drinks the potion they found in the furniture room, and it heals him.

The party opens a set of iron double doors and finds a tall, hairy, skeletal creature with a horned serpentine head inside, sealed within a triangle drawn on the ground in powder. He implores Utter and Gwindle to release him, but his manner of mental speech confuses them and they fail to strike a bargain. They close the doors on the demon and leave him there.

Searching the sarcophagus, the party finds four linen bundles and a jar. They open the jar and pour out a small octopus preserved in embalming fluid.

Unsure where to go next, the party searches the burnt-out furniture room again, and finds needle hidden by illusion that opens a secret door when Grabathor pricks his finger on it. Beyond the door is a hallway covered, floor and walls, with a thick, toxic carpet of black mold. Utter pokes at the mold with Darren's staff, and the mold swiftly destroys it, but not before they discover a halfling skull and some of the purloined goods from the furniture room hidden beneath the mold. Eventually, the party decides to wrap their boots in pieces of their cloaks and run across the mold as fast as they can.

Past the moldy hallway, the party descends more stairs and comes to a circular chamber with a labyrinth pattern on the floor, surrounding a small pit containing a skeleton. There is a man with a strange head injury next to the pit, and a wraith tracing the path of the labyrinth. Chumsalt soon discovers that trying to walk across the room without staying on the labyrinth path results in a violent blow from an invisible force. Strangely, the wraith approaches Chumsalt and casts Cure Light Wounds on him.

Identifying the wounded, incoherent man as Torvir's friend, the party has Darren cast Unseen Servant to snare him in a lasso. They try to drag him to the door, but the invisible force strikes him several times. The wraith heals him, but he's no longer conscious. When they leave the room with the body, the wraith screams and pursues them. Grabathor tries to fight the wraith with the dagger they found (now understood to be enchanted), but the wraith flies directly for Chumsalt, carrying the body. Utter races back to the pit to smash the skeleton, in the hopes that will stop the wraith, but it doesn't. Chumsalt throws the body into the mold, where its flesh is quickly consumed. Once the body is dead the wraith loses interest in it and floats back to its labyrinth.

Gwindle fetches an urn from the furniture room to keep the moldy bones in. Despite some mishaps, the party makes it to the hallway with the cursed ledge and the spike pit. Gnaurm falls into the pit when he attempts to cross, and Grabathor falls in after him in a botched rescue attempt, grievously injuring himself. The party waits until Gnaurm can heal him.

When Chumsalt tries to cross with the urn tied to his back, he slips, and the urn falls into the spike pit, shattering. Utter descends into the pit, avoiding the pressure plate gas trap, and collects as many of the bones as he can, along with the identifying necklace and bracers.

At long last, the party emerges from beneath the Tumulus of Chalmaber and follows Gnaurm back to Thantry, where they receive food and shelter, along with clothes, packs and boots to replace what was destroyed by mold, by Gnaurm's missionary friends. Darren identifies the necklace and bracers as magical items.

Accounting:
The party recovers most of the bones of Torvir's friend, along with his engraved bracers and silver necklace, and carries them in a large urn of negligible value.
The party identifies the bronze dagger they found as a dagger +1, and the liquid in the vial as a potion of healing, which Gwindle consumes.
Gwindle gains 1,369 XP.
Utter gains 1,069 XP and uses 1 bandage.
Grabathor gains 969 XP and loses 1 arrow and 1 token of Balder experimenting in the labyrinth room.
Gnaurm gains 869 XP and gives 5 of his torches to Darren, who uses them up.
Darren gains 869 XP.
Chumsalt gains 869 XP.
The party leaves one rope behind in the tomb.