Saturday, 26 April 2025

[BLOG] News on the March! Episode VII.

This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and setup is what happens), but it covers our ongoing games.

Infiltrating the Arct

22/03/2025 FOMALHAUT

News from ULTRAREALITY! After reconnaissance, the company embarked on its raid against the Doorless Arct at sundown. Approaching the towering complex from the unguarded east, Murat the Etunian scaled its walls and snuck across the rooftops, finding it inhabited by groups of lizard-apes, while other sections were empty but exposed from guards below. On the highest portion to the SE, he peered down a skylight into galleries below, with wandering witchlights and strange pulsing light blobs. On the lowest floor, perched on an enormous pile of treasure, perched The Resplendent Sky Lord, a vulture demon, one of the New Gods! Quietly, he lowered ropes for others to climb, but this alerted the lizard-apes, leading to a battle in the rooftop gardens, and the discovery of a crossbow of speed. They now moved quickly downstairs into the building, Murat taking point in stealth. To the north, another great gallery opened, from which came many noises. Murat snuck forward, looking down at an orgy of several cannibals in a despoiled interior garden. Just as he reported back, something came down the stairs from the roofs: a terrible snake-bodied woman with several arms – The Lady of Swords, who had heard the combat and decided to investigate! It immediately gated in another vulture demon, but was very fortunately dispatched with a very, very lucky laser shot and an acid bomb (1/2 damage, but juuust enough).

 

The Battle for the Arct

The demons slain, the orgiastic primitives had heard the fighting, and rushed up to the middle level in great numbers, while their women ran for reinforcements. The company advanced, taking positions on the balconies, and engaging first in ranged combat, then furious melee with Chief Yog-Yok, his powerful headmen, and a horde of cannibals. A fireball hurled from the gallery wiped out the reinforcements on the lower floor, but now more foes were arriving from another direction, and the Sky Lord also swept in from behind. A third direction, however, was blocked by the cloud of the acid bomb, and the foes from that direction were thwarted. Yog-Yok was slain in combat along with his men, and just as a group of bloodthirsty pirates came in along with three demonurgists, a lightning bolt from Bocephus sealed their fate. Someone unseen cast a powerful spell, creating a forest of razor-sharp crystal spikes, but could only envelop the front ranks of the party. The vulture demon was finally sent back to its Underworld, and the mysterious spellcaster was heard teleporting away. The intruders had won a decisive strike: their foes dead or scattered, and them the masters of this area of the Arct without casualties! Yet their resources were also low, and the third of the New Gods, The Indomitable Pillar, was still there somewhere, as were other dangers of the massive dimension-shifted palace...

The Prisoner of the Tower

 
24/03/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! After inquiring in town about a mysterious leprosarium connected to a map to the treasures of Giacinthe Albiate, a coastal noblewoman, a group of adventurers sailed out on board the Comely Lass. They sailed through the Isles of the Barking Moon, until they found their target, a mountainous island. On its southern side stood a keep and a watchtower, but they sailed to its eastern coast to find a secret trail, which climbed up to the oak forests of the plateaus. A cave along the trail was inhabited by Giganto, a giant, and his pet bear, Ursus. Giganto, who called himself the groundskeeper, was very unfriendly, so they retreated a bit to hatch a scheme. Pharcellus of Three walked back to the cave under an autoalteration spell, turned into an old leper, while also putting on a plague doctor mask they bought back in Thisium. He warned Giganto that the “poachers” were still in the woods, and the indignant giant immediately departed to seek them out. His cave only held common items, so they followed the trail to the mountains, where they found a hidden vale with a windowless tower in a nice garden. The entrance trap defeated, they entered, finding it inhabited by one Eriberto Barella, an old nobleman imprisoned by the rapacious Giacinthe after she had tired of him and took a new lover. They plundered the tower's treasures, and headed back to their ship on a different mountain route, avoiding Giganto.

The Aptly Named Isle of Horrors
Lives Up to its Reputation

The next day, they made for the large isle to their east, dominated by an active volcano and barren, rubble-strewn mountain slopes. There was a ruined little town here, but they circumnavigated the isle, finding a pleasant bay of corals and giant sharks, then another one with a ring of woods, and a long-sunken merchant ship overgrown with vegetation. Getting a bad feeling, they retreated and sailed on, to the NW bay. Cracked old stairs led up to a plateau, flanked with broken old columns, and this seemed interesting. They climbed, arriving at the foot of the volcano at a weird monument, a split altar, statues of conch-shell-headed, trident-wearing slender beings on pillars, and enormous stone amphorae – all very ancient and in bad shape. The amphoras held a large amount of molten gold, but just as they were about to loot it, they were ambushed by 4 giant horned chameleons. Demodocus the bowman, Parvulus the Halfling Thief, Otho the lantern-bearer and Dúngal the heavy footman were alternatively gored to death by the powerful beasts, or ripped to shreds in short order. Barely able to hit the beasts, the survivors ran, Anaxagoras Balonius and  Ikaros the light footman (who went down in a heroic last stand) covering the others' escape. Shaken, they returned to the ship, and departing The Isle of Horrorssailed back to Thisium. Here, Fortunata the heavy footwoman retired from the company. However, Eriberto Barella decided to join up to seek adventures, and Placidus the valet (1 Hp) was promoted to a secondary PC as well. They found Thisium garlanded in flowers with cheering crowds in port, about to hold a wondrous festival that night. At this time, the city had 34 days left...

(Pharcellus also decided to purchase real estate in Thisium, effectively turning himself into a citizen, and immediately falling under the gods’ curse! A novel way of removing yourself from the campaign.)

The Battle in the Village

27/03/2025 KASSADIA 

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! The Lion Pack prepared for the main force of the Malformed moving against their positions. They set up a chokepoint along a steep mountain trail with a barrier, boulders and hidden archers from above. The 40 barbarians arrived along with their leader, Publio Catapano the Beast, but did not walk into the trap: they retreated and blew a horn signal. The company decided this would be a good time to assault the now defenceless village, so they marched quickly – but soon saw what the horn brought. A chimera rose from the crater in the middle of the valley, and headed in their direction. They set up their defences in the cave mouth they had discovered, and slew the beast with concentrated firepower. They continued their march on the ominous village, its decrepit, weird stone houses older than the Empire. There were men on the walls, but only a skeletal force. Arden Oakbark sent his stone goat against the village walls, demolishing them along one section and sending the defenders fleeing.

The village was theirs. They found two cages with a few captives, including Prince Izarthond from the 12 Kingdoms, and Kord Bluecap, a M-U who had lost both his spells and his cap. They plundered the chief's house, as well as a warehouse with expensive cloth and a large quantity of looted alcohol that looked highly flammable. By this time, Publio Catapano and his men were on their heels, and they set up defensive positions around the gate. In the all-out assault, the attacking force was driven back or slain with swords and magic, as well as 4000 gp worth of expensive distillate used as improvised molotovs. Here, the heroic Perceval met his end in the furious melee, and the freed shitfarmers were killed off by an attack from behind. Once it was over, they left the village, deciding to spare its remaining inhabitants, and hold a heroic burial for Perceval on a pyre. The next day, they returned to finish what they came for. In a cold mountain valley above the village, below the morain, rose the ancient shrine of Titus Malformatus. The defenders were waiting for them - the evil priest Spotless Sabatini and his underlings, as well as more of the barbarians. This was an easier victory, and the brazen idol of the shrine was pulled down and destroyed, the gemstones embedded in its body in the imitation of sores and pustules pried out. Their grim deed done, the Lion Pack left the Valley of the Malformed towards the lower hills, and the walls of Viaskar – a teeming city of sins and the rotten seat of the cult of Malformatus!

The Forest of Verrilli

31/03/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A group of five adventurers rode out of the city to seek one of the dooms in the Forest of Verrilli, related to the stolen calf and the Fairy King. Heeding the warning of a group of patrolling legionaries about orcs in the woods, they took some time skirting the edge, but eventually rode inside. In the afternoon hours, they found a clearing with a sundial, where the time stood still at exactly noon, but could make no sense of it. Riding on, the Fighting-Man Racha Cuca and his henchman Madruga were charmed by a group of dryads, but they were saved by a charm spell, as well as a cavalry charge. The last surviving dryad gave up her treasure for her life, and also told them she had seen the Fairy King and his retinue drive a white calf into the deeper forest, southwards. They rode back to the sundial clearing, but decided to camp a bit away, fearing its magic.

The next day, they found a mercury-coloured lake surrounded by 12 old statues of maidens watching the waters with empty eye sockets, and also spotted two large fish moving in the waters. Trying out something, they put two gemstones in the empty eyes of one statue, and a faint light beam pointed at the centre of the lake. Two more gems made for an intersection, but they found no way to exploit this knowledge. Riding on, they rode to the SE edge of the forest, and explored a glade that was autumnal in summertime, and inhabited by large moths. Distracting them with fire, they explored an empty gazebo, but did not find anything of note. Back in the forest, they came to a place with a circle of six thrones overgrown with vines. One induced a vision of a lake deep underground, while another, forming a human figure, was a doppelganger that almost strangled Captain Spezzaferro, but was finally dispatched. One more throne gave power in hand-to-hand combat, while another enthralled Giacomo the Fighting-Man to seek the love of a beautiful young lady in Thisium he had seen in a vision.

The forest path led to a roadside tavern, The Yellow Dragon Resthouse. Buying a round of resinous beer for all the travellers there, they made the acquaintance of Sir Drago, a knight errant who agreed to join them on a common venture, and Laktran the innkeeper, a sly and devious man who knew the way into the Faerie Garden. With some probing, he agreed to show them the magical way in, but only in exchange for a magic ring labelled “Quid Pro Quo” from the abandoned tower of the Genovella family, now known as the Tower of Stirges for very obvious reasons. 

A Novel Use of Flaming Sheep

Buying some sheep off of a bunch of shepherds, they rode out in the afternoon with Sir Drago at their side. The tower (a proper donjon) was a little way off the main path, the nearby trees laden with clumps of several stirges, maybe 40-80 of them. The sheep were doused in lamp oil and wounded before being driven forward, drawing in the buzzing beasts. However, the company was an attractive target also, and a large number of stirges came for them! Nencio Barbo sacrificed his horse to draw some of them away, but melee ensued, in which Tito the crossbowman was exsanguinated, and a stirge-killing match between Giacomo and Sir Drago ended with a score of 2:5. Slaying the first wave of stirges, the oil-doused sheep with the masses of stirges on them were lit up with flaming arrows, while an errant flask of flaming oil ended up starting a forest fire. The stirges were badly decimated, but it was too late to enter the tower: thus, the company returned to the Yellow Dragon to celebrate their victory, and prepare for the proper tower assault. At this time, the city had 34 day left...

Fear and Loathing in Viaskar

04/04/2025 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! After devastating the shrine of Titus Malformatus, the Lion Pack headed towards red-walled Viaskar,  seat of the cult of Titus Malformatus – not a place to brag about their recent deeds. Consulting with Kord Bluecap, the rescued M-U, they found lodgings at a friendly dwarf-run tavern. The next day, they visited the market nest to the pyramid of Pantaxus Superbus to sell off treasures and stock up on “equipment” (“How come we end up at the drug dealers first in every city we visit”, mused Publius Varro). While exiting a silversmith, they bumped into a band of miscreants led by Livius, a loud braggart. They soon met him again in a narrow alleyway, where he tried to rob them with his men, but Publius Varro killed him with a single well-aimed shot, sending the rest fleeing.

Meeting Lisa Bondimier

A surprised outcry in a familiar voice came from a nearby palace – it was none other than Leonio, a page boy in the service of Cornelia deMarco, whom they had met at the temple of Gladuor a while back. Leonio quickly called them in, helping to hide the body until it could be disposed, confirming his suspicion that these men were the lycanthropes who had been planning to abduct his mistress. They agreed to watch over Cornelia in the coming days, then set their sights on a nearby warehouse, also owned by the cult of Gladuor. The clerics of the God of Aqueducts had asked them to investigate a series of recent burglaries, and they surveyed the site, which had been hit two times recently, much to the chagrin of Peleo Mendicino, the dwarven foreman. Plans were developed to investigate if insurance fraud was involved, or to entrap the thieves with lucrative fake cargo. After this, they hired a boatman to tour Viaskar's canals and see the sights, and also visited Lisa Bondimier, a wealthy and aristocratic magic-user who agreed to teach Martus the Opiate a spell for saving her friend, Kord Bluecap, from the worshippers of Titus Malformatus.

Stay tuned for the next episode of what is hereby dubbed Fear and Loathing in Viaskar!

The Tower of Stirges

07/04/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! Reinforced with new recruits, the company returned to the Tower of Stirges. Beyond the heavy gates, an entrance section hid various deadly traps, which were eventually negotiated, and a way into the tower found through the bottom of a pit. The way led into a room of beautiful marble statues, as well as Brutto and Buono, two surly gargoyles demanding gemstones for passage. It almost came to blows, but the beasts were trapped in a web spell, upon which Brutto was slain, and Buono pressed into revealing their hidden treasure. In a room above, a magic mouth on a fountain spewing muddy water told its tale of woe. The other way from the statue room lead upwards, to another fountain, overflowing with water and surrounded by very impudent stone heads. A hidden valve allowed them to drain the overflow and fix the course of water.

They continued on, entering a library of disintegrating books, and Mortillaro, the ancient and senile librarian obsessively talking to and waxing the furniture while the books were falling apart. Mortillaro also proved forgetful and chaotic, protecting himself with a shield spell, and also sending two surprisingly rubbery chairs into combat. He was eventually calmed down, forgetting the ongoing battle, and occupied while they got the hiding place of his spellbooks and treasure out of him. However, careless words were spoken, and in the ensuing battle, the librarian was slain, to crumble into dust, while his chairs reverted to doppelgangers once slain.

Further up, a nook held old textiles and baskets. Madoc the Fighting-Man checked them out, upsetting a nest of spitting cobras, whose poison killed the valiant hero despite his magical armour, which was claimed by Captain Spezzaferro. A quantity of golden string was also looted. The way up led to a corridor (with a shaft up to a stirge-filled belfry, left for later), and the throne room, from which Nencio Barbo climbed up through a chimney to investigate the rooftops, disturbing but not getting attacked by a quartet of sunning geckoes. Back down, they explored a bath, with a gelatinous cube in a tub carrying a precious amulet. With this much, they climbed down towards the exit. Checking out the sad fountain, it had been fixed, its once muddy water now clear and tasty. A few pieces of jewellery had been disgorged from the pipes, and with these, they left the tower to consider their plans for the afternoon. At this time, the city had 33 days left...

Boat Chase in Viaskar

11/04/2025 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! Reinforced by two characters arriving in the city, the Lion Pack set out to secure the small deMarco palace to prevent the lycanthrope abduction of Lady Cornelia. They watched the rooftops and lit up the street with torches. On their night watch, they saw hooded men in yellow robes place candles in niches and on ledges around the place, and overheard discussion of some sacrifice, but nothing more happened: the men departed, and an investigation showed they had done the same elsewhere nearby, although with fewer candles. The next day, they visited the market and did some sightseeing near the ruined gardens in the NW part of town, as well as a field of ruins behind the baths. An old sculptor living in a hut spoke of elegant men digging in the ruins repeatedly, but investigating the sites where they had done so yielded little information except strange markings.

With that done, they set out to unmask the thieves plundering the warehouse of Gladuor with a bait: Aristeo Guarini was placed in a large chest, and transported by Cornelia's page boy, Leonio, to the warehouse with a very high one-day deposit. In the evening, night watch was set up on the rooftops overlooking the street. Trouble came indeed: four hooded men emerged from the alleyways, and set about opening up the front door with lockpicks, but made a lot of noise in the process. The guards inside rushed out to apprehend them with Aristeo behind them, and the company joined the brawl, while Publius Varro traded missiles with another thief on the rooftops, sending her fleeing. The thieves were subdued and one was killed, but the precious items in the warehouse were gone! They spotted a rowed skiff disappearing in the dark canal, and while a shot hit him, he got away. But Publius and Larth Ulthes Velznach were on their feet: they were already rounding the corner, and while Publius fell into the canal trying to jump the fleeing thief, Larth pursued him on another vessel, and captured him – none else but Peleo Mendicino, the dwarven warehouse foreman! Peleo begged Larth not to send him to Gladuor's quarries, and betrayed the location of a treasure he had heard of in the Underworld. Larth, however, swore no oath to free him, and didn't release the thief, who cursed bitterly about the treacherous and dishonest conduct of his captors. The next day, Peleo and the thieves were given over to Gladuor's priests at their small local shrine, while the Lion Pack was given a handsome reward for their assistance in stopping the row of burglaries plaguing the cult's interests.

 

Slaying the Mummy

14/04/2025 THISIUM 

News from the doomed city of Thisium! Continuing the explorations of the Tower of Stirges with two new recruits, the company climbed up to the level of the throne room. Beyond a door with a magic mouth, they descended towards a suite, when they were beset by the mummy of Morena Genovella, paralysing half of them with mortal terror. In the fight, the dwarf Narvi distinguished himself by fending her off while his companions dragged the others to safety, whereupon Morena could be burned by fire. Sir Drago, a bit chastised by his own cowardice, knighted Narvi as Ser Narvi in honour of his valour. The suite held a few potions, and from here, Nencio Barbo climbed up to a tower room, where lay the chained skeleton of Gioberto Genovella with a magic ring labelled “Quid Pro Quo”, and some gems sewn on his clothing. With these, they returned to the Yellow Dragon Resthouse.

The Mysterious Garden

Laktran the innkeeper was now ready to reveal the secret way into the Faerie Garden. A cenotaph was commissioned for Madoc, and the next day, they set out with the gems to the lake with the sightless statues around it. The 11 gems they had was insufficient for the 12 maidens, so they turned back to explore more of the Forest of Verrilli. In an overgrown, hexagonal rose garden with six statues, they fought a stone statue with six gemstone eyes (immobilised with a pot of glue and smashed up), and received advice from others, including a hint about helping strangers, as well as something about the Sword of Roses. In the middle of the garden grew the most precious roses on top of a pedestal lined with carved mouths, and mossy skeletons lying under abundant ivy. Nencio the thief climbed up, removing the roses very carefully: not only a value of 8000 gp, but a single, perfect rose that could bring the dead back to life – the rose of resurrection! Thus satisfied, they returned to the Yellow Dragon to rest up and consider their next adventure. At this time, the city had 32 days left...

Prospero's Garden

24/04/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! Returning from the high seas, the other half of the company found the city bedecked in flowers and banners, ready for a nighttime festival. But instead of joining the fun, they headed for the graveyard to descend into the Undercity. They passed through known terrain, and continued exploration beyond the Lower Crypts. Down a set of stairs, they discovered the entrance to the crypts of the mighty Tamburello family with several side-tombs. However, the crypt was guarded by four suits of armour, one of which animated when hit with missiles – they decided to slam the door and get away.

Deeper down on spiral stairs, the way led to a strange place: a moonlit underground garden owned by the Magic-User Prospero. Slaying two giant lizards, they checked out the stone circle in the centre. Aufidia Corvina stepped inside, falling through a trapdoor spider trap into a deep spiked pit, getting incapacitated. Her companions rappelled down quickly to save her from the spider, killing it. While Aufidia fixed herself up – almost dying in the process – the others looted the spider lair, finding dead spiders, six dead dwarves, and the dwarves' treasure – a good haul! A secret door was also found in the cavern, but it was wizard-locked, and essentially impregnable to them.

Pierluigi Piscitello

Thus, they went back up the stairs and checked out a long eastward passage. The way led to a hall of columns serving as a campsite for the brigand leader Pierluigi Piscitello and his men. They demanded a toll in the name of Mornalt Tamburello, but got a sack of stirges instead, sending them cursing and fleeing while some were killed. The hall also hid an old, abandoned shrine, and a secret door to upwards spiral stairs: checking this long-forgotten way, they found it led to the cellars of the wine merchant Flandevole. Waiting for him to leave, they emerged, robbing his cabinet of rare and expensive vintages, and then retreating through the Underworld to the surface, where the festivities were over, and news of a murder spread through Thisium. At this time, the city had 34 days left...

Saturday, 22 March 2025

[BLOG] News on the March! Episode VI.

This post continues the series of brief play reports I have been posting on Discord. This does not cover every single session (sometimes, recon and setup is what happens), but it covers our ongoing games. 

Beyond the Great Mausoleum

11/02/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! While her companions were adventuring in the wilderness, Aufidia Corvina recruited a secondary group of adventurers to explore more of the Thisian Underworld. From the crypt of Vercato, they descended to the great mausoleum, and turned their attentions on the tomb of FRUGILLO. The magic stone mouths were sated with food, but they could neither open the lead casket, nor drag it out of the tomb, so they let it be for now. In the tomb of GENOVELLA, they found the well-preserved bodies of two young lovers in a glass-covered sarcophagus. It was determined that they were preserved with deadly arsenic, so their jewellery was retrieved very carefully. The tomb of TARSICIUS was the resting place of a severe judge of the guild. With a makeshift disguise made of black drapes and a skull, the thief Nencio Barbo called to him, and the terrible corpse rose, ordering them to leave, but not before answering Nencio’s question about the most terrible crime (betrayal of the innocent), and mentioning the Judge of the Underworld, who holds court deep below. Now turning to the doors out of the mausoleum, the first one they unlocked led to stairs up, and a passage guarded by a living suit of armour serving the noble Tamburello family. They retreated, and checked the other stairs, which led down, guarded by subterranean halfling-like creatures, who recognised the pygmies in the party as their own. Proceeding along a dungeon passage, they found the door to the underground warehouse of one Cristaldo Poma, filled with crates, sacks, and several taxidermied animals. Stirges were hiding behind the weird menagerie, slept and captured in a sack by Aufidia. However, in a large basket were three spitting cobras. Eudokia Infamia died to their poison, and the warehouse was turned into a blazing inferno by carelessly used flaming oil.

They continued on, finding a talking door with a devil face who claimed to be guarding the underground tower of Yldegonda Gremullo, mistress of magic. After some negotiation with the door, it agreed it would let them in for an audience, but only in exchange for a bottle of the finest essences from the cellars of Flandevole, the best in Thisium. It also let it slip that Yldegonda was the owner of the crown of Pandolfo Barbani, Thisium’s exiled podesta. With that knowledge, they went further. The passage ended in a door opening to the side of a mossy well. A green slime was dislodged from its ceiling, and killed with flaming oil. Upwards, the well led to an upper cistern, buzzing with the sounds of more stirges. From down came the sounds of churning water and distant music. This direction led to a deep cistern, fed by enormous spouts bearing the likenesses of bearded men. Observing that a giant fish was swimming down there, they dropped down Eudokia’s body (still poisoned), but the giant catfish of the cistern made its saving throw, and was unharmed. Descending to a ledge, Nencio Barbo found a passage going further into the Underworld, but this was enough. With their treasures, they retreated to the surface. Returning through the dark streets of the sleeping city, they were surrounded by armed men intent on robbery: but threatening that they were carrying “rabid bats in a sack” and showing the sack with the angry, buzzing stirges, the men drew back, muttering darkly about the Bat Plague. Thus they returned to the Pickled Carp. At this time, the city had 42 days left...

Isle of the Ascended Ones

15/02/2025 FOMALHAUT

News from the seas of Fomalhaut! Five adventurers embarked on a venture to save Prince Zulthan from the Isle of the Ascended Ones. The young heir to the elderly King Demophilos was attacked by Northman raiders on his pleasure-ship just as he was transporting the royal treasures; and while Driope, his fair bride was slain, he was taken captive along with his ship and crew. Arriving by ship, the rescuers found an isle of pleasant manmade landscapes, dominated by a domed city soaring 1000’ above land on top of an enormous metal pillar – the seat of the mysterious Ascended Ones. They laid anchor in Thidonia, an orderly little port town, to gather information, finding the empty pleasure-ship anchored with no guards of crew. Another ship, run by an oily merchant from the City of Vultures, was also present, transporting luxuries and five virgins meant for the inhabitants of the city. After a mixture of intimidation and promises, the man agreed to help smuggle them in. At night, they also snuck on board the stolen ship: its valuables were looted, and there were signs of a massacre that had taken place among the oarsmen, but no bodies were found. The next morning, they hid away in the cargo: three within stuffed bear-lizards, and two in a large shipment of indigo. The goods passed inspection, and were loaded on a monorail, climbing to the base of the pillar below the city. But in an underground warehouse, the cargo was inspected with detect magic, and the intruders were found, resulting in a fight with the Executors, the city’s tough and organised police force, equipped with futuristic weaponry. While the alarms were raised, the defendants were killed, letting the company put on their uniforms and ascend via an elevator. They emerged underneath the force-dome high above the isle, in an idyllic, landscaped environment with multiple pleasant estates arranged around the central pillar.

They first visited a gazebo, the meditation spot of Yuthagon, a philosopher kept here as a source of amusement, and eager to depart the city with the strangers. He also noted the nearby estate had new inhabitants, which immediately drew interest. Sneaking in, they found the feasting Northmen in a central hall, and on the side of their chief, none else but Prince Zulthan, making merry among his captors! Deciding to do more recon and contact one of the Ascended Ones, they made through a wooded area, discovering an ancient stone cube. Ardeth the Thief read the glyphs on its surface, and was contacted by an imprisoned entity promising riches and power for its freedom. Ardeth broke apart the cube, and got what he bargained for and more as he became possessed by an ancient serpent-man while the rest made a quick escape to the palace. The Prince was now enjoying chilled drinks in the palace garden in the company of some 10/10 beauties, and was captured despite his protests. However, the Northmen also became alerted, and a great melee broke out. The Prince slipped his bonds in the commotion, throwing a fire bomb into the melee to tie loose ends; in the end, his treachery was rewarded with death by the Northman co-conspirators with whom he had faked his abduction, and bought his place among the Ascended Ones with the stolen treasures of his people. Sought by the Executors and with an awakened serpent-man on the loose, the rescuers headed for the antigrav bay suggested by Yuthagon, but ran into another double-cross: the wily philosopher had brought the Executors along with their leader, Commander Gleistes. Finally prevailing, they boarded the antigravs, departing from the domed city with Prince Zulthan’s body. Back in Thyra, King Demophilos was crestfallen after hearing of his dead son’s dishonour, but saw that he was an unworthy heir: and thus, adopting Ramon, one of the adventurers, as his new son, a new Prince was announced in the small kingdom!

Similarities between the adventure premise and The Long Goodbye, and between Prince Zulhan and Terry Lennox, are purely coincidental!

A Meeting With the Wizardess

19/02/2025 THISIUM 

News from the doomed city of Thisium! To start, the company took a nice afternoon stroll in town. After examining the ruins of the Lyceum, they visited the sacred grove to learn what magical writing was inscribed on the hall where the Wise Owl slept. A read magic revealed a message not to disturb the slumbering oracle, and to descend into the Underworld to ask questions long forgot. Returning towards town, they were confronted by a group of brigands, who gave chase as they fled, but were shaken off with a clever trick. Back in town, another bandit encounter with a human bait was avoided. Back in port, the adventurers purchased a bottle of the finest vintage from the wine merchant Flandevole, and headed for the Underworld. Making their way through known territory, they headed for the talking door guarding the subterranean tower of Yldegonda Gremullo. The door drank the wine greedily, and let them in. Stairs descended further, to a reception room with expensive oil paintings, talking pillows (“We only bite thieves”, they said, reassuringly), and an impeccably-mannered genie serving sparkling wine. The wizardess of the tower soon appeared. She too was bound by Thisium’s curse, but offered to tell what she knew of the doom coming from the forests, and gift them with three of her treasures in exchange for stealing a magic mirror possessed by the powerful nobleman, Adrius Doriano. With that, they parted, and explored some more of the level. This led to a lower burial complex. From the tomb of TOGNETTI came a resonant sound, produced by a pool of water in an acoustic chamber. A large plug was on the bottom, but they figured there would be a very loud noise if it was removed. The plug was thus pulled with a rope from a distance, producing a terrible cacophony that would have killed a man down there. But with these precautions, the water was drained, and a lower tomb looted. Thus they returned to the Pickled Carp. At this time, the city had 41 days left...

The Wilderness Beyond

21/02/2025 KASSADIA 

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! The Lion Pack continued its explorations of the strange forests of Pasquino Babilonio. At sunset, they spotted a very large, glittering shell at the base of a plateau, and approaching, saw it was a house surrounded by a well-tended little garden. Approaching, their way was blocked by three menacing giant storks, which defended the place ferociously, breathed fire, and drove off the adventurers. Licking their wounds, they spent a night in the woods, but their sleep was disturbed by several blinking lights and a chorus of rasping sounds, so they found no rest. The next day, they climbed up to the W plateau to survey the surroundings. An enormous, rusted cage stood nearby, and after the stork encounter, was studiously avoided. Instead, they travelled northeast, towards large open fields. Here stood a domed marble building, marked with the name "PASQVINO BABILONIO". The gates were protected by magic, so the place was avoided, and the chasm beyond the building investigated. A small graveyard stood on the bottom, along with fields of purple poppies, a narcotic sought by magic-users; one of the materials needed to exit this realm. The mausoleum, investigated very carefully, yielded no treasure. The next target was the eastern plateau. Approached from the east, a cavern was found, with a mottled, acid-spitting giant salamander guarding a pool with gold coins. They climbed the plateau next to the enormous garden dome, but decided not to disturb it. A survey from the high vantage point allowed them to see another entrance far to their east, S of the central dome. They approached, but again, chose not to investigate on low Hp; spending their night in the hall of the cornucopia. The next day, they headed west. From below the marble bridge spanning the chasm came 21 bandits in ragged finery, demanding their clothes. The battle was on, and the men were driven off with 8 casualties. Thus they continued their trek across the woods...

Reconnaissance

 26/02/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! The company decided to embark on a heist to steal the magic mirror of Adrius Doriano, one of the city’s powerful nobles, and a powerful magic-user. They cased his palace in the daylight, even wandering into the ominous woods behind it (but retreating from this place of perpetual twilight). They spotted Doriano himself on his tower balcony, an elegantly dressed young man of perfect features and great refinement. Finally, eavesdropping on the kitchen staff provided an idea: Bartolo the major-domo was heading to the market to pick up fresh artichokes for his master with a servant-boy. The company quickly raced to the market square, buying up all the best specimens, which Aufidia Corvina quickly laid out on her cloak, enticing the young lad to buy them at an advantageous price – but alas, he made his saving throw vs. charm person, and got cold feet due to a poor reaction check. However, Bartolo himself was more pliable once indulged with the city’s most expensive wines. He spilled multiple valuable secrets about his master’s tower, enough for the nighttime break-in. Returning to the site, a band of hired sailors distracted the guards with drunken rowdiness while the party’s three thieves tried to unlock the front door, failing miserably. As plan B, they climbed in through the windows, sneaking through the palace while evading the patrolling guards and distracting a serving girl. On a rope, the other characters were hoisted up, and climbing across the rooftops, they finally scaled Doriano’s tower. A window led to an antechamber, with a door flanked by glass display cases holding taxidermied cavemen. The door was found to be a false door connected to a gas trap, but a secret door lead to Doriano’s deserted bedchamber – the master was out tonight! The burglars set themselves to collecting various pricy items, including the magic mirror, multiple potions, a closed box, and a large painting – an original Micalvinlo!

Doriano's Palace

However, Doriano’s chambers were not unguarded: concealed among the rich wooden carvings of the large poster bed, a terrible horned chameleon leapt at the intruders, almost goring the thief Nencio Barbo to death, and fighting with savage fury until it was felled with two lucky critical hits, and a good use of a pot of slippery oil to flip it over. With the mirror in their possession, the thieves fled before the noise would draw the guards. That very night, after committing Nencio to surgery (which he luckily survived), the company descended into the Thisian Underworld to bring their find to the underground tower of Yldegonda Gremullo. The wizardess received the mirror with terrible mirth, and showed the image therein: Adrius Doriano, not as the beautiful rake, but as a man aged before his time, bearing the mark of a hundred sins on his face. Smashing the mirror with obvious delight, she thus had her revenge on the man he had studied with under the tutelage of the great Daphne di Leonti. Yldegonda made good on her promise to share what she knew of the doom coming from the forests: it must be connected to the disappearance of a special sacrificial calf before its annual sacrifice to the city’s gods. She has learned through channels only known to her that the calf was stolen by the Fairy King, who took a liking to the splendid animal, and took it to his hidden garden deep within the Forest of Verrilli. She also let the company take three items of their choosing from her treasury: the picks were a set of plate mail +1, the priceless crown of Pandolfo Barbani, Thisium’s former podesta, and a pair of bejewelled slippers. For half a share of what was in it, she also agreed to knockspell a small box stolen from Doriano’s tower, presumed to be trapped for half its contents – a collection of gemstones! Thus, the company made off with a princely 27,900 gp, to be spent on lavish entertainment! At this time, the city had 40 days left...

The Charioteer's Shrine

27/02/2025 KASSADIA 

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! The Lion Pack continued exploring the wooded realm of Pasquino Babilonio. Their search took them to a stairway, leading down to the cavern of the Twilight Mystery, where Those Who Walk in Beauty would come to die once they had become weary of life. They did not bother the funerary urns and the ominous statue they found, and instead, after exploring the woods fruitlessly, made for the enormous dome on the central plateau. An overgrown garden lie beyond the entrances, and here, they found valuable narcotics, as well as various herbs with other uses – but also a form of pollen, the third item they needed to leave behind this domain! The next day, they made their way back to their starting point in the centre of the spiral path. As expected, the renegades of the forest were there with their leader Faustus, who was eager to leave as well to seek adventures in the world on the other side. Although mutual hostilities were feared, they did not break out: and on the other side, in the crumbling pavilion with the bust of Pasquino Babilonio, they parted as amicably as can be among mutually suspicious armed men. However, back at their camp, they found their horses gone, and the guard, Agrippa, departed. Thus they returned on foot to Borontium to see if he was still waiting for their arrival.

Agrippa was not to be found in this city of legionaries and horse races, but at the city’s stables, a horse merchant gave a good lead: Agrippa, suspecting his companions dead, sold off the horses, including Jovial Faustulus’ talking steed, splendid Bucephalos! The buyer was Blind Damiano, a former charioteer, named not for an affliction but recklessly trampling men in the races. He lived in an old shrine dedicated to the Horse-God in the bad part of town, apparently with a band of toughs. Before venturing for this task, the Lion Pack sold off the treasures of the faraway garden (including a large quantity of narcotics!), exchanging some for a magic sword, and spent a night with hard revelry. The next day, they made for the Street of Headless Statues and Damiano’s hideout through a warren of narrow alleys populated with all sorts of sin. On top of worn stairs stood the bronze grates of the shrine, decorated with rearing stallions. Jovial Faustulus called out, demanding an audience with Damiano, and the company was escorted inside by rough-looking men, to a room where their band was feasting under the inscription “VALETE, EQUI!” Blind Damiano emerged, but refused to return Bucephalos, and the fight was on. In the ensuing melee, Damiano was (very appropriately) struck with the blindness spell and mercilessly executed, and half of his men massacred; the rest fleeing from the shrine of the Horse-God through dim alleys. Thus, Damiano’s slight treasurers were theirs, and Bucephalos was also found tethered and bound in a back yard. Returning to the city centre near the arena, they also found Agrippa at last, who had squandered the horse-price in his grief, and was entirely penniless (although he had gained a level in the process!). A just decision was declared to make him the company’s debt-slave until he would work off the amount in their service – and since the ground became a bit too hot under their feet, they departed the city at once for a new adventure!

Isle of the Anomaly

02/03/2025 FOMALHAUT 

News from ULTRAREALITY! Having found the Doorless Arct, shifted from Fomalhaut to this plane, the Viridian Star circumnavigated half of the swamp-covered island under a light storm. Multiple waterways led into mangrove swamps, none of them fit for sea-going vessels. They halted at the edge of the sargasso on the eastern side, and the next day, the company embarked on foot to reconnoitre the island interior. From a cliffside engraved with an enormous inscription praising the kings of Linquar and one Princess Aldelay, they saw two more points of interest in the jungle. The first was a deserted colonnade in a long-disappeared garden, and the second a pavilion with the statues of sword-wielding dancing girls next to musical instruments. Sensing a trap, they avoided the place, only harvesting the expensive white lotus pods growing on the walls. Further inland, they observed the Arct on the other side of a lake, a three-level palace with elegant rooftop gardens. A swift ship was anchored on the shore, and sailors were seen going back and forth between it and the building. Under the cover of invisibility, Murat the Etunian scouted the building, finding the main entrance well guarded by pirates, and the northern one by savage cannibals. He snuck on board the ship, and into the captain’s locked cabin. Furniture and items have been removed from the place, probably to the palace, but he found some lighter valuables. Eavesdropping on the sailors, he learned of “three gods” ruling the Arct, in a bargain of sorts with their leader, the sorcerer Opangi Ord. With this information, he returned to the others.

They spent the night in the jungle, getting assaulted by two waves of weird, slimy pod-creatures and finding no rest. On the trek back home, they were also attacked by cannibals in canoes, who were defeated and interrogated. These wretches served the New Gods fanatically, abandoning their village for the "temple" which had appeared on their isle. It was determined that the three gods were probably a type I demon, a type V demon, and an ape-like demon. The cannibals also mentioned one Thuzar-Yi, an enemy of the New Gods, believing the party to be her servants. After putting the cannibals to death, they continued. A swarm of enormous wasps descended on them from among the treetops, but they were fireballed, allowing a return to the Viridian Star. The ship now pulled up anchor, and sailed to the mouth of the small river connected to the lake where the Arct stood to block off the pirates’ escape with the palace’s valuables. Another short expedition was organised to the pavilion with the dancing girl statues, which were attacked and destroyed, allowing the characters to seize gongs and bells of old silver.

The Thisian Plateau

04/03/2025 THISIUM 

News from the doomed city of Thisium! On day 51, the company rode from the city to find the tree of snakes on the Thisian Plateau. They rode SE through barren hills, to the ruins of a small lighthouse. The tree nearby was old and weird, but no snakes were present, so they surmised this was not the one. Inside the lighthouse, three giant spiders were dispatched. Behind a fireplace built from an antique carved stone was the hidden mouth of a pit filled with charred bones and old Imperial coins. From here, they rode W deeper into the wilderness. A group of halflings were encountered as they were setting up the beginnings of a future village on this unclaimed land. After having joint lunch, they rode on, to an old collapsed well with a lone saddled horse grazing peacefully – its saddlebags holding some silver. Approaching the well, three carrion crawlers emerged, and were slain or driven off. The well held the bodies of dead adventurers, slain with arrows. From here, they turned SW. The trail lead to the tree they sought: an old, evil-looking oak, its branches crawling with thick serpents. Heraclitus Pyrros cast speak with animals, and threatened the snakes into giving him their venom in exchange for no harm befalling them; and for a mule, the tree’s sap. With these finds, they rode across the hills to an encampment by the bay, where the travelling potion merchant Trigulano Goi set up his tent. Trigulano was happy with the sap and venom, parting with his potion of human control. Spending the night, they continued S and SW. A cypress grove on a hill with large boulders seemed interesting, but suspicious: an advance party was formed to scout around, and indeed, the boulders hid ragged sentries, while sounds and plumes of smoke came from the centre of the grove. The sentries spotted the stationary party left behind, and soon, the sounds of horses were heard coming from the grove.

The situation was ripe for an ambush and a fight to the death, but Adonis Gratianus held up his hand to stop: the rider at the head of the company was a fine-looking swordswoman! Announcing themselves, the situation was defused, and they joined this small group of fortune-seekers in their camp. The rider was one Ottilia Cardone, a noblewoman who had returned to these lands to find her estate occupied by Bazascus the Brigand, an infamous mercenary. She was so smitten with Adonis (reaction 12!) that she gave him a treasure map to a sea island, for which Adonis promised to raise an army once the valuables were in their hands. Meanwhile, examining the boulders, they deciphered old inscriptions: some holding spells, some strange enigmas, and one opening a shadowy stairway down into the darkness... Leaving behind Ottilia’s gang, they descended, to emerge in an indistinct shadow-land shrouded in gloom. Going forward, shades of warriors rose, and the combat was on. Here, Daphnis, hired as a lantern-bearer, distinguished herself as a capable fighting-woman, revealed as an elven princess who had joined their company incognito! The shades were driven away or defeated, and they walked to a circular grove. An old grave of a warrior held no body, but some treasure and a fine-looking mace. With this, they returned to the surface, and, parting from Ottilia, rode back towards Thisium. As a ship, the Cyclade, had pulled into port since their departure, the road traffic was higher than previously: first came a group of riders, a nobleman’s retinue on a quest of revenge; and then more halflings, heading for their new village. But the company rode on, and by the evening, rode through the gates of doomed Thisium. At this time, the city had 38 days left...

Isle of the Demon

10/03/2025 THISIUM 

News from the doomed city of Thisium! An expedition sailed out from port to seek adventure on the high seas. They first approached the isle they had seen once from a distance. The ruins of a fantastic, pastel-coloured palace rose on a plateau above sheer cliffs. As they approached, two enormous birds of prey took flight from the plateau, but did not approach: the Comely Lass sailed on until it put a distance between them and the island. Two more islands were bypassed, but one looked quite interesting. Plateaus rose above flat lands, and an enormous white marble dome topped the highest point. Nearing a small coastal village, things were discovered to be in disarray: abandoned fields, a few unattended stray animals, and the locals ambling about. Greeting them drew their attention, and they attacked – clearly out of their wits, ragged, and regressed to an animal state. They were driven off with missile fire, with one slain. The village, consisting of archaic, seashell-shaped buildings, was abandoned, the simple interiors in disorder.

Exploring more of the isle uncovered more buildings with the same; as well as old, but solidly built stairways climbing the plateaus. The next day, they made for the dome, and in a small wooded area, discovered a grisly site where some of the inhabitants had been killed with blows to the head. The dome on the high plateau had an open entrance, leading to a lush garden with meandering paths and marble statues. In the centre, an enormous mound of silver coins was to be seen, but the master of the dome soon made its appearance as well: a mighty, winged demon with a halo of fire, a whip and a sword! Anaxagoras Balonius (CHA 18!) made a case that they were just seeking a worthy master, and with an excellent reaction check, the demoniac horror relented, demanding the defeat of two small black dragons lairing on a northern island, in exchange for a reward. With this agreed, the company withdrew, and quickly left the isle. They sailed SW, to the Bay of Pearls. Submerged garden terraces and buildings lay beneath the waves, the remnants of ancient villas. Diving down, a giant clam was found, and a smaller pearl obtained. A villa drew the divers into it: and here, in an underwater atrium, they were attacked by two giant mottled lampreys! They tried to escape to safety, but Gildor the Elf, with a terrible DEX, was too slow to avoid being attacked and torn apart... leaving behind the glittering pearl they had found. Boarding the ship, they sailed back to Thisium, none the richer in gold, but more so in experience – around the same time another expedition rode back from the Thisian Plateau, bearing news of new discoveries. At this time, the city had 38 days left...

Watchtower Siege

13/03/2025 KASSADIA 

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! The Lion Pack travelled south to overthrow the cult of Titus Malformatus in the mountains near Viaskar. In the foothills along the old imperial road, they found a hamlet of cottagers on the brink of three enormous pits. The humble gourd farmers who were growing their produce on the fertile soil of an enormous imperial-era cesspool were tenants of the priests of Gladuor, God of Aqueducts, but also told the company of the weird kidnappers in a northern mountains, as well as bandits and a madman in the foothills. They decided to visit the temple, a gigantic columned hall dedicated to the Empire’s ideology. With a group of pilgrims, they marvelled at the massive gates (once steam-operated, now impossible to open), entered through a small, newly excavated side-entrance into a vast hall – parts of its vaulted ceiling fallen to reveal the sky above. The few priests provided more information on the cultists in the mountain valley, and sold various trinkets and holy items. After the visit, they travelled south to Zorzi’s Inn, a poor roadside tavern. The next day, they found valuables missing, and the slippery Zorzi was cornered until he produced the money pouches, "probably left behind by the bandit Achille Giovino". They now ventured into a mountain gorge leading to a high valley. A squat, dilapidated watchtower clung to one side, and they snuck by, striking through an old forest with petrified trees to make a surprise attack. On a narrow trail, they heard an approaching party, and waited – but the foes retreated, and horns sounded in the tower! They decided to risk a frontal attack nevertheless over the tumbledown walls while archers from both sides exchanged fire. In the siege, the barbaric, malformed inhabitants were all slain, and the tower set aflame, but Agrippa the heavy footman also fell with a poisoned arrow through his heart. Heavily wounded, they retreated from the valley to consider their next course of action...


15/03/2025 ULTRAREALITY (METAGAME CLUB RPG OPEN DAY)

News from ULTRAREALITY! Following a treasure map, six adventurers, two henchmen, and a war dog embarked on an adventure to plunder the treasures of Linquar the Eternal, now known as the City of the Ape-Men. Climbing up to the jungle-covered plateau under constant rain, they followed an ancient road along multiple waterfalls. Arriving on the city outskirts, they proceeded with careful reconnaissance, exploring a building inhabited by warrior spirits, and climbing up to a high belltower to gain a survey of the ruins. Smoke was seen above a domed building to the SE, which became their next target for investigation. Xiix the gnome snuck forward to discover a band of savage ape-men loitering around the site. Meanwhile, the others were observed by several colourful, one-eyed giant parrots, which then used magnetic beams to snatch various shiny metallic items, including the precious shield of Gromug the half-orc, enchanted with a light spell. They pressed forward to the domed building, eavesdropping on the apes, who were seeking a magic crown at the behest of someone named GODDESS, in rivalry with other ape-man factions. Fildor the elf threw a fireball into the hall, killing several, and drawing out the rest, along with their leader, Lon-Tarr the Champion. A savage melee ensued in the jungle, where Fildor was surrounded and slain, but avenged by his vicious guard dog, Cútal. Lon-Tarr and his apes were defeated, his remaining tribe driven off with the chief’s severed head, and the hall looted for treasure. Nearby, a small tranquil hall with statues of kenku monks was established as a camp site, where they rested until the night. (And Xiix almost killed himself reading a paper with explosive runes left behind by Fildor.) Under cover of the darkness, they continued their expedition.

The night foray brought them to the SW part of the city. In an intact palace, they met a succubus  who drained Gromug, but neither side risked a potentially costly fight. The demoness spoke of a monastery on the hilltop whose inhabitants had walled themselves off from the sinful city, and showed her disdain for GODDESS, whom the ape-men dared to worship instead of her magnificence! Retreating, they investigated a flooded cistern with an underwater ziggurat, but chose not to dive down. Another palace hid the den of two-headed lions, who were slain an the palace’s treasures taken. Next to the palace rose a tall, dilapidated tower whose stairs had rotted away, but whose top floor was intact. Gromug climbed up, and found himself in a lair of telepathic spider-creatures who spoke in his head: “The Ur-Quan rule. Animals obey.” The half-orc called on the genie Al-Arimani, who had owed him one, and the noble spirit destroyed both the tower and the spider-beings with his mighty whirlwinds while Gromug escaped to safety. It was time to investigate the desolate monastery. The walled-up entrance was broken down, and the undead monks therein partly turned, partly fought and killed. Here, faithful Cútal, Fildor’s hound, was slain. The monastery’s libraries were in dire shape, but spellbooks and mystical works were captured. The complex held more secrets, but the party was sorely weakened, undead and giant spiders were about, and the time was late. Encumbered with treasures captured from the ruined city, the adventurers returned to the old road by the waterfalls, and began their journey back to the lowlands, and their ship...

(This was a one-shot game on the Metagame Club RPG Open Day, so the party was a mishmash of races and dimension-hoppers. There are still no gnomes on Fomalhaut or its adjacent dimensions!)

Vanquishers of the Ape-Men!

The Isle of Mortuaries

18/03/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! Following sailors’ tales, an expedition sailed north towards the Isle of Mortuaries, the burial place for many of Thisium’s notable families. Approaching a small, poor village on the coast, the inhabitants panicked, retreating into their hovels in fear of pirates. However, they could be calmed with some diplomacy. It turned out the island was ruled by a retired legionary calling himself The Imperator along with his men, and held three groups of mausoleums. They hired Averardo, an enterprising young lad, as their guide, and headed for the southernmost of the three noted clusters of mausoleums. This site had several graves and monuments, and three mausoleums. The most ominous one, belonging to UBERTO DE VALIER, was decorated with images of snarling black dogs, and inside, the adventurers fought two vicious hell hounds in a fight where two characters were badly wounded, and the cowardly Averardo fled back to his mother’s skirt, never to become a proper adventurer. In a lower crypt, a wrought iron cage held a standing iron coffin with lots of gold, a cadaver, as well as a mighty sword of fire! The next mausoleum to be investigated was of the FIAMOLIN family. Its crypt was inhabited by a group of shrouded thouls, who were massacred, and a good amount of silver coins plundered.

The third mausoleum, belonging to Thisium’s exiled podesta, PANDOLFO BARBANI, had been opened up but fitted with a new lock. They broke in, toppled two statues, and found the lower tomb well cared for, with a fresh wreath of laurels – someone, maybe the Imperator, visiting regularly? Frescoes on the wall showed three 3rd level spells, too powerful to be held now in the company’s meagre spellbooks. They returned to the ship to rest a night, then headed for the second group of mausoleums, two larger ones. The resting place of the FIESI had been disturbed. Halfway downstairs, a gelatinous cube was encountered, and it engulfed Hortensio the Frabotian as well as his trusty servant, Truffa, turning them into aspic before being dissolved with flaming oil. The tomb was found looted, so they laid the dead to rest with some treasure as a heroic burial. The final mausoleum they checked was that of the MALATESTA. The suspiciously nondescript hall led down to a natural grotto with a well of ancient bones, as well as an old brazier on a pedestal. Stratagems to discover the crypt’s secrets met with no success, and not even a sacrifice of a living bird was of use. Thus they returned to their ship, and sailed back towards Thisium. At this time, the city had 36 days left...

Valley of the Malformed

20/03/2025 KASSADIA 

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! Having retreated from the Valley of the Malformed, the Lion Pack reinforced is ranks with Jovial Faustulus and his henchman, and, in a truly unexpected feint, immediately returned to the valley under rainfall. They set an ambush along the forest path leading to the now ruined watchtower. A recon group of malformed, shaggy barbarians soon came to investigate, and they were ambushed and massacred, their last refusing to divulge anything useful under threat, only the name Immaculate Sabatino. With this, they left the valley again, to rest in the small hamlet near the collapsed cistern. The next day, they saw a plume of dark smoke to the south: Zorzi’s inn, a smouldering ruin by the time they reached it. The greasy innkeeper was left there with a rope from the intact master beam around the neck, precariously balanced on a tiny stool. He was cut down, revealing that the valley’s inhabitants had sought the company there at night, with their leader Publio Catapano the Beast. Maximus the half-orc donated a little gold to restart his business, after which the grateful cheat promised to name it The Orc’s Head, then, on Maximus’ suggestion, The Lion’s Den. With that, they parted, but not before saving his slatternly wife from beneath the ruin, much to Zorzi’s regret.

Returning to the valley in the fog and drizzle, they decided to avoid a frontal assault, and instead climbed up into the mountain to ambush the malformed from behind. In the northern part of the valley, they found a sinkhole to a cavern, and an overgrown hall in the forest, avoiding both. But here, tragedy struck: dozens of skeletons rattled out of a mountainside cavern with swords, and in the ensuing melee, Maximus, half-orc Fighter-Cleric of Keora was struck down and killed after he failed to turn the living dead. The cavern passage led up to a limestone cavern, where an evil-looking oak grew under an open sinkhole, oozing sap from several wounds – the poison used on the malformeds’ arrows! The tree was alive, and as Arden Oakbark called to it as a brother, it announced itself as the servant of Titus Malformatus and an enemy of the druidic order. The fight was on, but eventually, Jovial Faustulus struck down the abomination with a fiery blade, and cleansed it with flames in the name of nature. Modest treasure was captured, and a good quantity of poison in a silver chalice. They rested nearby on the plateau, and the next day, in clearer weather, surveyed the valley. An evil-looking ruined village rose on a plateau to their SE, older than the Empire and now partly abandoned. A dirty flock of sheep grazed nearby on meagre grass. A plan was hatched to lure out the village’s forces. Having heard the winding cry of the malformeds’ mountain horns, they blew an imitation of the alarm calling for help. A response came, as if questioning. The horn was blown again, then cut off. Shortly afterwards, a force of some 40 men marched out of the village, heading for the company’s position. The lines of battle were drawn in the mountains, and only one side would emerge alive!