Digital Drifting Dungeons of Highfell: Play Report Sessions 1-6

Product Placement

The Game:
We've played six times since Quarantine, about 2 hours each time.  Everyone is super familiar with my home rules document so things are really smooth.  My only hangup has been needing to look up monster stats for special abilities across several books.  I'm running HighFell pretty straightforward with minimal prep.  It's fun and definitely more light hearted than the Barrowmaze. We play using a combination of google hangouts and Roll20 (which allows a nice fog o' war feature for slowly revealing the map.  Best reason for roll20).  Pretty basic.  No tokens on the maps. Some people use the online dice roller.
We have 3 players & six characters but no wizard.  Keshar the Elfish Monk & Hewlan the Hobbit Cleric, Warren the Warrior & Nellus the Cleric, Puddle the Gnome Thief & Clutcher the Butcher.

Campaign Map

Sessions 1-2
The party was dropped off by the wizard Zanzibar from his flying carpet, given potions of Feather Falling and charged with collecting rare books.
They cleared the Forgotten Citadel of Kalgummer, discovering a Canterbury Cap, a pendulum hammer and Gygag's Cobbling for Beginners among other things. Upon descending to Kalguumer’s Crumbling Collegium they decided they were low on torches and food so they quaffed their potions of Feather Falling and jumped through a moon door.

Traditional games of the future

Sessions 3-4
Arriving back on the drifting isle via a bridge of fog, the group decided to forgo returning to the dungeon of Kurgammer, instead walking right through the shattered Front doors of Psyruque’s tower. Many spell components yielded great riches, but the aerial guardians chased their second level butts out of the tower. After reconnoitering, the group snuck back in and descended to the dungeon.

Epic

Sessions 5-6
After some solid carousing, the High Fellers traded colored glass to the ravens for a ride to the Drifting Dungeon. Well armed and also 2nd level they thought they would do some aerial reconnaissance, but were driven back by the Wyvern of the Stormhold.  Gazakel's Dwimmerhold is a pale green, strangely shaped tower. They entered the Dwimmerhold through the second story, breaking in through a stained glass window. There were crystals and mysteries within, and foes without. Soon a small band of winged dragon-like men followed into the broken window, but found themselves in battle with the undead. The crew fell upon the dragon men and undead alike, hewing left and right. When the scales settled, the serpent fetishists faded back to their original forms, that of weakling men.This was the best tower yet. Short, weird, puzzles and interaction, roleplay and connections. The collapsing walls only on the bottom floor was a little weird, and the lesser stone statue was a bit too weak. Rolling lots of wandering monsters the second session really brought the place to life. Some of Highfell is a bit undercooked. I wish this tower map actually showed the second story windows mentioned in the outside description and shown in the illustration. I wish there was a bit more wizardly detritus in these tower chambers. But on the other hand, this time it was just enough to keep play moving and inspire crazy hi-jinks.  

Luft Baboon

The party snuck in through a second story window and delved downward. Winged wandering monsters kept following them in the window, dragonmen, winged baboons, a giant toad, but a color puzzle completed, much loot was found, baboons were parlayed with (through interpretive dance), and a talking mannikin discovered it's desire to see the world. Now the Head of Gaz is being carried around, still holding its "air of death", and who knows what's next?

Session #46: In the Valley of Beasts

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Barrowmaze #37: Death Ship of the Yellow King

As we began this session I was reminded that we had decided to play out the adventures of the lost party members.  I think the best way to describe this one is from the DM's perspective.
Grack the half-orc warrior had fallen into a magical pit along with a Blood Pudding.  They were teleported to another location in the dungeon.  Investigating, Erik the Red dangled a torch from a rope into the pit.  He and the rope all faded away. 

Discounting minor time discrepancies, Grack fought a round against the Pudding, stumbling into a corridor, his stone hammer ineffective against the pursuing blob.  Then Erik dropped out of the ceiling.  He attacked the thing with a magic sword while Grack ran away.  Erik followed and the bolted through a door and slammed it behind them.  They were in a large pillared chamber that had been previously explored, though not necessarily by these characters, and certainly the previous game year, so they did not recognize the place.  But they did choose the southwest door (although I wasn't giving them coordinates).  This decision more or less put them on a direct route to the original entrance in Room 1! 

The pair scraped around, looking and doors and resisting the urge to peek into side doors (except for one incident with a spring loaded crossbow) until they came to an intersection full of graffiti and markings.  Slowly it dawned on them.  They were near the entrance.  Scuttling west, the two warriors considered backtracking with their map and trying to find their friends.  Instead they climbed the rope and fell in with a party of tomb robbers heading home for the day from a day poking about the Barrow Mounds.

Just like this but without the windows.

Meanwhile, back in the dungeon... The remaining Company were facing a tomb full of Ravenous Dead.  Clonin the Cleric of Light held the zombies at bay with his holiness and the group retreated, using a Web spell to hold the door shut.  Further explorations revealed a massive tomb at the end of the hall.  After a desperate battle on two fronts against the Ravenous and a trio of Ghouls who slew a dwarven torchbearer, the group was able to investigate the grand tomb.

Within the vaulted many pillared chamber rested nothing less than a viking longship of blackened timber and tattered sail, it's deck piled high with mounds of glittering gold and silver.  As the Company clambered aboard the treasure ship they saw the Captain, a still silent form slouched in a lordly chair on the sternward deck of the vessel.

Barrowmaze #36: Of Pits, Perils and Blood Pudding

TL;DR Still thrashing around in the Haunted Tombs of Barrowmaze, searching for the Pit of Chaos and missing friends.

Our 36th session saw the adventuring pick up at the edge of a mysterious pit revealed when the reformed orcish band Grak fell through a trap door while battling a bloody slime creature and disappeared.  A dropped torch winked out before falling far.  A torch lowered on a rope faded out of present existence, along with the rope and the warrior Erik as well!  Now to two brave warriors were  missing.  Careful inspection of the perimeter of the pit revealed runes of transposition and dimensional doors.
The pair had fallen through some sort of teleport trap!
"Perhaps they are yet alive and nearby," speculated the zealot Aliontus. "But where?"
So the surviving band explored, first through hidden doors to the east, down elder halls until they came to a room of statues and chicken guano.
Spooked, the retreated, exploring west now, avoiding 10 holes in the floor, gathering gold from burial alcoves until discovered by Coffer Corpses, hungry dead who defied the lightning bolt of the Wizard Resper to nearly choke the life out of cleric and wizard.
Shaken, but desperate to find their friends and close the Pit of Chaos, the tomb raiders were stymied by a northern door, then chased south by a (returned?) Blood Pudding.  A Hold Portal spell covered the retreat.  Treasures were found, bronzed skulls and a golden bust of Nergal the Death God.  And a secret door concealing stairs down to the west.
Descending the stair, Danger Dan was very careful, measuring each step and studying the stonework of the floor.  And so he did not fall into the pit at the foot of the stairs and instead poured boiling oil on the Ravenous Dead below until the corridor was thick with smoke and the evil hunger quenched.
Beyond, octagonal crypts were explored, a sea-faring tomb depicting long boats rowed by horn helmed warriors, the frescos were of an ancient barbaric style.
Another crypt opened beneath the grinning deaths head visage of Nergal.  A richly preserved cloak tempted Dan within, but 7 Ravenous Corpses rose from their deathless slumber, eager to consume the living!

Barrowmaze #33-35: Doom of a Death Knight, to Rescue a Barmaid, and the Search for the Pit of Chaos

Nearly lost in the mists of time, a bleary-eyed hobbit recounts the Raven Company's recent weeks of adventure.

#33:  Doom of a Death Knight
A second foray into the flooded tunnel beneath the mysterious black pool behind the bronze door of Nergal in the northern edge of the Barrowmounds saw the wet and bedraggled group exploring the crypts and burial alcoves of the Deserted Dormitory.
The light of the Fount of Law seemed to be dimmed somewhat, but focused more than ever, it's light turning always to the north and east, so they explored that direction, ransacking the bones and treasures as they went.
They were haunted by the echo of booted footsteps.  Whispers of the dead told of the Death Knight Dhekeon the Betrayer searched the halls to return the Fount of Law to it's hidden place.  After some hide and seek the company engaged the Death Knight and his skeletal minions in battle.  In desperation they fled through the chamber of the Water Weird, hoping to turn the two upon each other.  It worked!  Combined with an inspiring potion of heroism, Dhekeon the Betrayer was defeated!

#34: Rescue the Barmaid!
Back in the village of Helix, there was much activity.  Word had gone far and wide that the dead were walking beyond the mounds, leaving treasures unguarded within.  The Duke's son and marshall at arms were organizing the construction of a wooden palisade around the village.  Loggers struggled to pull felled trees from the fringes of the Dolmenwood.
The barmaid Merde had in recent weeks confessed to her involvement in the Cult of Orcus, due to the secret machinations of the false priest Gamdar.  Gamdar had some sort of hold over her soul and compelled her to travel to a glade within the Dolmenwood each month to participate in a ritual of bloodletting.  The Company resolved to accompany her on her journey.  There they laid in ambush, assaulting the Acolyte of Orcus and his goatheaded minions, rescuing the barmaid and taking Gamdar prisoner.
Gamdar told tales of the Acolytes of Orcus searching the Barrowmaze for the lost spark of Nergal, challenging the competing interests of the Necromancers of Set, who he suspected of having their own secret entrance into the maze.
Further, it was rumored that a great and powerful evil lurked in the eastern reaches of the maze, far beyond what had so far been explored.  An evil said to guard the Tablets of Chaos, the hidden word of Nergal Himself.


#35: Search for the Pit of Chaos
Returning to the dungeon, driven by the fading light of the Fount of Law, the Company chose to enter via the mound of the Forgotten King.  Below they encountered a Necromancer of Set with his retinue, who spoke of the power of his superiors but warily backed away from conflict. 
Surging north, the Company edged around a few previously discovered pits, battled blood thirsty spiders and carnivorous flies, and discovered a secret door into a long hall going north.  Torchlight revealed a red blob quivering and smelling of a butcher shop.  Grack ran forward to attack and fell into a bottomless pit... or is it?

Barrowmaze #29: To Raise the Hue and Cry

Dark things stirred within the Barrowmaze, no longer content to lurk, the dead were restless, venturing forth.  All the lands were in danger.  The Pits of Chaos are real.  The discovery of the Font of Law proves it so.  Of these truths Clonin the Red had never been more confident.  He gathered his companions, and accompanied by the foolhardy Dukeling Korthos Ironwood and his squire Bradley, set off to the seat of power, Ironwood Motte, to raise the hue and cry.  Bring an army into these barrows, roust the evil out!
But evil was rousted already! Fell creatures lay in ambuscade along the muddy cart track.  Crossing a flooded stream, the group was accosted by a fearsome swineataur, half man half hog sewn together from disparate parts.  It pawed the ground and threatened violence, but the wizard Resper caught it with a spell of Charm and the thing swept him in its arms, to carry him away.  Just then a fusillade of arrows rained down on the travelers.  Skeletal crossbowmen lay in wait.  Hulking, colossal undead lumbered forward, moaning their sorrowful existence, hurling cow skulls full of nightmares.  The company bravely stepped forward to battle, even Korthos, but it was the fanaticism of Aliontus who turned the abominations away.  They forded the swollen creek and were swept away.  Likewise, the company fled to the safety of the Motte, leaving a furious necromancer shaking his fist. 
"Swiney" turned out to be a simple creature, covered in scars and the Brand of Orcus.  It claimed the Acolytes of Orcus resided in the barrows, and had an agent called "Gamdar".  Gamdar, well known to the company as the assistant of Friar Puck at the Shrine of St. Ygg in Helix.  Resper sent the swineataur to Helix with a message.*
At town, Friar Fergus was concerned.  So was the Duke.  Both were deeply horrified by the thought of a Pit of Chaos lurking in their own demesnes, but were heartened by the sight of the Font, proof that Chaos could be ordered into Law.  The Duke sent the party back to Helix with an escort of his finest guard, commandeered by Sir Dangar and his Iron Men.  They would guard the town and oversee the construction of a palisade while Clonin and his men delved into the maze in search of the deepest darkest pits of CHAOS.


*Greetings Friar Puck!

Alas, I have been gone but a day, but much is changed.
May Ygg's grace shine on you and all of the flock.
Do His work, and the days will pass easy
Allow me to introduce a new
Recruit to the fold
I met him on the road to Ironwood Mott
Swiney is his name
Allow him to use his
Nose around trees in the woods
Only there we can
Reap the
Crop given by the Gods
Unto us
Surely I mean the
Pure and tasty truffle.
Round and delicious
I know of no finer food,
Even the
Shrimp of the sea
Tasty as it may be
Will be not
A match for the
True king of foods, of
Course, a
Handsome profit could be made
Handily enough to spread the word
I intend to write soon
My good friend.
Be well
Ygg be with us now and in the
Ever after.

Aliontus
x

Barrowmaze #28: Feed the Ghastly Gourmand and Escape with Your Life

The company escaped from the Barrowmaze via a dark deed and desperate gifts to various nefarious creatures.  Mighty were the rewards.

A quick and furious battle ended with the Company of Aliontus chasing a ghoul through a kingly vault and into the lair of the Mistress of the Maze, Grizelda the Ghastly Gourmand and her gaggle of ghouls, a kitchen of sorts, stuffed with beakers, books, and man eaters.  A large black cauldron bubbled over a fire, smelling pungent.  Dan the Fighter vomited violently and the undead cannibals laughed and pointed.

More than a dozen nefarious foes faced the fatigued foursome, so they negotiated with her, back tracking to bring a pair of recently killed adventurers to be boiled in the witch's pot.  With that, they crept through the cannibal crowd and hurried on to more familiar tunnels, stopping only to push in a hastily bricked up door.  Within was a musty library staffed by two sinister deathless librarians and their anti-paladin protectors.  Aliontus quickly offered a sheaf of Nergalian Writs and the heroes fled quickly.

Returning to the surface lands, shaken and stirred, they celebrated the riches they had gained.  Great piles of gold were spent on wine women and song.  Clovin the Cleric was feted for his discovery of the Font of Law.  Surely it would be used to solve the problem of the Barrowmaze and its restless dead.  Eric the Fighter made a poor business investment and earned the ire of the Youn Duke Korthos Ironguard.   Aliontus drank to much and awake naked in the center of town, having spent the night preaching to cats and rats.

Barrowmaze #27: Driven Deeper into the Chaos Sepulcher

TL DR  Tired, tense, driven by hunger.  Unable to escape the dungeon, with running low on food and torches, the explorers found a secret door into an ancient elemental crypt and hurried down forgotten halls, desperate for an exit.

DM Notes: In Too Deep and the Public Doom Die
Tuesday's session was a pretty great one.  The tension was thick.  Resources dwindled.  Lost and short on spells, the their exit route cut off, they delved ever deeper into the dungeon, hyper aware of the mounting danger.  I have no idea what will happen next.

We have been playing this Barrowmaze campaign for about a year now.  It's usually me as DM and two players with two or three characters and a few henchmen.  We play using roll20 video chat (the fog of war feature makes dungeon exploring very easy).  After quite a few early deaths the guys have gotten their characters up to 4th level.  I was starting to think they were getting a little big for their britches.  Not any more.

With the exception of the Skull Mountain excursion, most of the campaign has taken place in and above the Barrowmaze, and most sessions have involved walking from town, exploring a bit, sometimes just a mound or two and returning for some carousing.   The last few sessions have been different.  Each time we ended in the dungeon.  Characters had no rest.  At first it was because they really wanted to explore deeper to find the fabled Fount of Law.  The second time it was because I rolled a random encounter as they tried to leave and we did not have time to play it out.

I've run games before where characters got in over their heads and bit off more than they could chew in the past.  Usually I would feel a bit guilty and responsible.  I would conveniently forget about some things like torches and food, exhaustion etc.  This time was different.  With the Doom Die being rolled by the players after nearly every action, the ticking of time became very clear.  Through a series rolls of 2 and 4 (hunger/exhaustion and torches) resources became taxed.  It was a lot of stress eating apparently.  By the end of the session they were down to their last couple of rations.  They had even chosen to take the 1hp a couple times.

The Doom Die was really great here.  It gave me a sense of when to have the pursuing necromancer appear, and the rolls of 4 and 6 made me think hard about what clues or boons I could offer the desperate party.  I think one clue unfortunately compelled them away from a safer choice, but oh well.

We used the Battle Die as well.  This was again interesting.  It made it clear when spells ended, when it was time to introduce a complication, or when to offer an extra action to a player.

This was a session were a combination of the familiarity with the context of the Barrowmaze and the procedures in place made for a really cool experience.  I can't wait for the next game, though it could easily end in a TPK.

The Saga
The session started with the four grave robbers at the door of a large room through which they needed to pass to get to their exit stair.  They were weary but triumphant with their newly acquired orb.  They heard chanting in the "Dark Speech" and the groans of many voices.  Peering under the door they could see orange light and smell brimstone.

They decided to find another way around, but searching unexplored passages yielded no secret passages.  Worried now, they tried to backtrack, exploring side passages they had passed on the way to the Fount of Law.  These passages were a maze of narrow, natural tunnels.  After a few dead ends they discovered a crumbled wall of masonry.  In the chamber beyond their dim light fell upon a livestock sized insectoid creature, it's tentacled head buried in the corpse of a goat-headed beastman, which itself reclined upon a pile of jewels and coins.  Striking from ambush, the group quickly slew the thing and gathered the treasure, a kings hoard!  They also found a concealed stone door.  An escape.

The door opened to the space behind a massive stone statue depicted a four armed demon holding skulls of various provenance: a bird, a reptile, a fish and a badger.  The room was huge, with a vaulted roof.  Doors to the north and south were locked and elaborately designed, so they were ignored and the party fled east.

Immediately the floor fell out from beneath the fighter.  Luck was on his side.  A Dexterity Saving roll of 1 saw him leap to safety as the trap door spun beneath him.  There was a bricked up door at the end of the corridor beyond.

As the group began to work on it with sledge and crowbar, light appeared in the demon chamber behind.  It was a Necromancer of Set with his retinue of skeletal minions and the zombified corpses of the band of goat-headed beastmen with whom the party had recently parlayed.  There ensued a strange stand off.  The players were somewhat protected by the pit, into which two skeletons immediately fell.  The trap door was doused in oil and set afire.  The cleric used the final charge of his Wand of Wonder to create a globe of darkness for a time.  The Necromancer called out, demanding the Font for the glory of Set, but with his Stinking Cloud ineffective and unable to send his clumsy minions across the trapped pit, eventually resorting to skeleton rock throwing.

 Meanwhile, three tomb robbers attacked the bricked up wall relentlessly, finally breaking through a small hole and tumbling through.  A long, silent passage stretched into the darkness.  Hurrying, the group passed doors and side passages, finally exploring north, turning back with a bad feeling from a northern door and exploring a few alcoves, discovering yet more wealth (cleverly avoiding a collapsing floor to do so).  They had discovered more ancient coinage and gemstones than ever before but were no nearer to any known exit.

Again footfalls could be heard in the darkness beyond the light...

Barrowmaze #24: Crypt of the Grey Ooze

A short session in barrow mound 5.

It turned out the antifa tomb robbers were actually in the employ/thrall of the newly created Church of Aliontus, who showed up with his entourage to dig into the crypt while the dwarves did some drinking.

Aliontus had been reading some old scrolls reference an expedition by paladins long ago, corroborating the story of the ghost of Sir Guy.  It is suggested that the blackguard apostate Sir Dhekeon is entombed in one of these mounds.

Skeletons came alive while the delvers rifled through old bones.  The power of St. Ygg held them back and they were destroyed while cowering.  A sarcophagus was looted only after splattering an acidic grey ooze, at the loss of a suit of chain armor.

Back in town, the carousing ending in many hangovers, and a goblin disease.  The afflicted has begun to turn green, his nose elongating and sprouting warts, eyes be-yellowed.