Green Pass Campaign II, Session 2: Looking For Trouble

Still a full group of 11 players. This one ended in one of the largest battles I've ever tried to run. Bonus props to Peter for bringing his flute in order to play a bardic wake-up call, and to Andrew for a typing out horrible-pun backstory ("Finkle Bagnozzle the Winceworthy", indeed).

May 25-26, Caudex Annales, 70 AUP
The party woke the next day, made breakfast, and sent a group back up through the spooky forest to inspect the southeastern barrows. The brush placed over the entrances was undisturbed, but the message written in dust outside had been altered... in two ways. First, it had been swept and rearranged to form the name "Renata". More disturbingly, some kind of red ichor had seeped up from below to spell the name "Varghoulis".

The party members present petitioned Helga Omega the wonderworker to use the gift of prophecy to divine the nature of these answers. Meditating deeply on three questions selected by group consensus, Helga entered a hypnagogic state halfway between the world of dreams and reality. The first question, "What will come of opening the tomb?", was answered by a vision of the possible future: The barrows viewed from far above, as a vast legion swarmed forth like ants from a damaged hill. The second question, "Who is buried in this tomb?", produced a vision of the past, in the era of its construction: There were six names of the dead interred in the tomb, and the final name was that of Lord Varghoulis. The final question, "Who is in the tomb right now?", produced a sensation of passing directly into the dark confines and experiencing the frustration and rage of a captive mind longing for release, fueled by centuries of hatred that flowed forth into the ground like a tainted flood of pollution.

The party elected to leave the barrow sealed.

After returning to camp, the party resolved to split into three teams, with the third guarding the base camp. The first (Helga and Piper) returned to Balewood Keep in order to confer with the castellan. The castellan knew nothing of the two names reported, but exhorted them to visit the chapel before leaving and speak to its supervising priest. In the chapel, they discovered a state of moderate alarm and intense discussion. The curate felt sufficiently reassured by the silver-tongued bard to entrust both of them with his secrets. As caravan traffic had declined, the various bandit gangs appeared to be diversifying their activities and trying a little tomb-raiding on the side. The cause of immediate concern is that they would open a tomb with something too deadly for them to handle, maybe even enough to threaten the keep, or the strategic mountain gate at Footman's Notch. The curate volunteered to join them as they returned to the moor to inspect additional barrow mounds.

A cloaked figure (Art:Tritonic)

The second group (both barbarians, the mage Malcom Hawk, one of the nightblades, and Reed Stormcliff in lion form) tracked the path of an apparent warband leading away from the tomb, seeking the probable cause of the less sinister name written in dust. After about half an hour they stumbled onto some sentries, who sent out an alarm. Malcolm was elected spokesperson by virtue of everyone else immediately running or hiding. A cloaked figure emerged in front of him and beckoned him over. She revealed herself as the leader of a force of brigands, and demanded immediate surrender. At the convergence of multiple crossbow bolt trajectories, Malcolm had little choice but to comply. Everyone else hurried back to camp to report on his abduction.

The barrow opened (Art: Zhu)

With daylight dwindling, the group elected to leave Malcolm to his fate while they ascended again to inspect the barrows. The first mound was full of soft, squirming centipedes, discovered when one of Finkle's mechanical toys was released down the passage and unceremoniously devoured in an orgy of scuttling and chittering. The saurian gladiator Zegzinu volunteered to go down first, and initially found it empty... until a half-dozen centipedes dropped from the ceiling. The first four were dispatched with swift blows, but the fifth buried its poisonous jaws deep beneath his scales before the rest of the party could arrive to provide assistance. The curate regrettably had insufficient piety to completely neutralize the poison, but volunteered to suppress its effects long enough for one battle. The treasures of the mound were minor, and offered few clues. A nearby standing obelisk, however, showed a powerful figure being illuminated by fiery light from beneath the earth.

The next mound had an enormous mural of mosaic glass and stones, large and fragile. Extracting it into the light, the scene was found to depict a village observing the procession of an armed company of grim knights under the banner of the ancient death god Nergal.

The final barrow had been thoroughly looted. Inside, the party found a gaping chasm into the earth flanked by massive pillars, with a tripod supporting a block-and-tackle above it. Dozens of footprints led to and from the chasm. A rope dangled down into the darkness. Using a helmet illuminated by a continual light spell, the party could discern a much larger chamber below-- part of the ancient catacombs, the curate suggested. No one seemed interested in descending that evening, but they did remove the rope, in the interest of making it as difficult as possible for anything in the catacombs to utilize this particular exit.

After sending the saurian gladiator back with the curate to recuperate from lingering poison, everyone else laid plans for the rescue of Malcolm from the bandits. Finkle, riding on the back of Helga's familiar (a baby roc!), located the camp and elected to practice his illusions and ventriloquism to distract the sentries while he ruined their campfires and provisions with an invisible servant. [Note: I decided it was good for a -2 morale check penalty.] Meanwhile the rest of the company enjoyed a good night's sleep, and departed the next day.

The final confrontation was furious and violent. The guards went down quickly, but when Finkle rode the lion-shaped Reed (with the wardog Mort on their heels), a dozen bandits all converged of them and began hacking them apart. Reed tore apart several of them before he was seriously wounded by the blades of Renata, and the party had to rush to relieve them. Despite the best efforts of Mort and Helga's pet roc, the fleeing Renata managed to dash off into the undergrowth... but not before Finkle had stolen her broadsword with his whip.

Meanwhile, the nightblades pushed into camp and cleared a path to recover Malcolm, who emerged from a barrel to find a major battle just winding down. The captain of the guards, being clad in plate mail, was less able to flee than Renata and ended up a prisoner. A full sweep of the camp recovered a massive stockpile of accumulated treasures, presumably from multiple raids on caravans and tombs. Several items suspected of bearing enchantments were set aside for further study.

Casualties
Reed Stormcliff, blinded in one eye (-2 ranged attacks, pirate-esque eyepatch)

Treasure and Experience
Coins: 4000 electrum pieces (2000 gp)
Gems/Jewelry: 5 jewelry (24, 130, 200, 180), barrow trinkets (40, 30, 40, 25, 25, 30, 15) = 659 total
Artworks: vial of perfume (25), large tile mosaic (35) = 60 total
Trade Goods: 6 centipede venom glands (300)
Items of special interest: Renata's sword, an antique censer with 3 sticks of incense, a staff, a potion, a scroll, and... a treasure map

Mysterious ancient censer

Total nonmagical treasure value: 3019 gp, with -132 gp (20% fee) to appraise jewelry
Gold per share: 262 gp

Explored: 3 barrow mounds, a bandit camp

Kills: 17 bandits (170 xp), 6 centipedes (36 xp), 1 skeleton (13 xp)
Captives: 1 bandit captain (20 xp)
Put to flight: Renata (320 xp), 2 bandits (20 xp)

Total experience from treasure: 3019 xp
Total experience from kills: 579 xp
Total experience from exploration: 400 xp
Total experience from feeding a wind-up monkey to centipedes: 100 xp
Total experience: 4098
Total experience per member: 356 xp

(Note: Mort the Wardog is taking an  experience half-share but not a treasure share.)