[BLOG] News on the March! Episode IX.

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.

Slaying the Hydra

01/07/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! Four adventurers headed for the Temple of the Unknown God, with a detailed battle plan to slay an eight-headed hydra they had fled from previously. To clear up any danger, they first had to remove another obstacle: four alabaster gargoyles in the NE corner of the temple. The battle was successful, the gargoyles falling under the company’s magic weapons, although not before Sagittarius the crossbowman perished by their claws. The monsters’ room was decorated by bas-reliefs of polygons, one of which looked both 3- and 20-sided depending on the angle it was view for. This was the place of a secret door, with a slightly protruding stone, but it could not be pushed in, nor smashed with weapons, so they found now way to open it. It was time for the hydra, dwelling in the pool in the central chamber. One part of the party positioned themselves by the gargoyle room, while thieves drew forward to lure the beast from its lair. This went successfully as the hungry reptile came forward in pursuit. It followed through the passages, right into a trapped intersection. Four portcullises slammed down around it and the ceiling started to lower slowly. The adventurers sprang out, peppering it with missiles. Angered, the hydra charged a portcullis, and with a superhuman feat of strength, bent the bars! It was now coming for the party, and caught up with them. In the ensuing melee, they fought heroically; Toxotes the crossbowman and Grumio the porter were torn apart, but all eight heads were destroyed and the beast was slain.

They could now investigate the central hall. Its ceiling stretched up to infinity, and above blinked the uncaring stars of space. This was a place of cold and emptiness. By an empty altar rose a massive hoard of treasures, but only as a shadowy simulacrum. Figuring out a sacrifice at the altar might work, the hydra heads were brought, and their blood spilled on the stone. Improbably, something did happen: a Presence, barely there, yet bringing darkness with it. A hollow voice spoke, demanding to know who had awakened the Unknown God, and what did they seek here in his temple – for he has slumbered here since before Men, and the new gods, and shall still be there once their time will have passed. Seized by fear, the adventurers told the Presence that they would disturb it no longer, and decided to withdraw while they could. From corners of the hall, they could see faint shades watching them, and felt the scrutiny of the god, older than men. They left behind the temple, whose secrets they could not solve, and rode back to Villa Cardone. At this time, the city had 29 days left... 

Art courtesy of EscapeFromZardoz

Ugolino

03/07/2025 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! The Lion Pack delved once more into the Undercity of Viaskar, seeking the patrician tombs of the lower levels. They descended into the depths via two deep staircases, finding an old, abandoned storeroom. From even further down came sounds of human conversation, and lights were seen. Two scouts ventured down, but were surrounded by rough-looking men demanding to leave their turf. They returned to the storeroom, but from the spiral stairs, they heard the voices of another company. It was a group of men in yellow robes, and three iron-masked clerics of Titus Malformatus, Viaskar’s patron deity! The newcomers were eager to have found these „escapees” beneath the city, but were soundly trounced, only a few of them able to flee. Now the men from below came up in a more friendly way. They were proscribed outcasts led by Tarkoth the Panther, a young barbarian, and the priestess Claudia, who maintained the fire of Vedius as an aegis to protect them – for now. It was agreed that the adventurers would help them escape the city, but for now, they continued exploring. Above the hideout, they found a room of antique, magical statues, but could not solve its mystery. Further up, a frescoed room was the dwelling of Ugolino, a ragged hermit. Ugolino tried to adopt Jovial Faustulus as his son, but his insanity was soon revealed – he wished to do so to kill and devour him as he had done to the others. He was thus slain – “I acted for the weal of the Empire”, Faustulus noted.

The way onwards led to the deserted underground arena. As they were contemplating returning to the hideout, the company was beset by a pack of ghouls, who killed and dragged off Septima the light footwoman. After reorganising their ranks, the adventurers followed in pursuit through stairs and the lepers’ caverns. Finally, they emerged much higher, in a massive domed chamber from the imperial age, with mosaics of ancient patricians and a massive brazier of stone. The ghouls were put down and Septima’s body saved from a grisly fate. From here, a short flight of stairs led to a smaller chamber decorated with astrological motifs, with multiple stone doors for exits. In a side-chamber were five lookouts – they worked for the Imprisoners, one of Viaskar’s feared gangs, but once they learned the intruders weren’t affiliated with their hated rivals, the Drowners, they proved fairly agreeable, showing a spiral stairway leading to an exit from the Undercity. There was time for some more exploration. Returning to the great domed chamber, the company investigated a large rubble pile near a place where the walls have collapsed, revealing a cavern passage. While the others checked if the pile held anything of interest,  Publius Varro went forward to scout and was surrounded by eight ruffians who tried to rob him. In the resulting melee, the men proved to be wererats, and Publius caught the curse of lycanthropy! Things looked dire, until Trupo Gizmegas saved the day with an illusion, making the unstable cavern „collapse” on the wererats, killing the lot of them. Shaken by the experience, they returned to the chamber of astrological bas-reliefs, and emerged through a hidden exit into the daylight near the Upper Market and the Golden Hand tavern.

The Enchantment of Thuzar Yi

06/07/2025 FOMALHAUT

News from ULTRAREALITY! The Viridian Star sailed through the sargasso to find the mysterious island whose map they found in the belongings of the Sorcerer Opangi Ord – inhabited by men in their likeness! They put down on the anchor on the shores of a wooded island dominated by a large plateau. The woods here weren’t the foetid jungles of ULTRAREALITY, but similar to the gentler forests of Fomalhaut. They disembarked on a sandy beach, and climbed a butte to take a survey of the territory. To avoid being seen, Murat the Etunian alone climbed the summit. On the windswept plateau, he saw movement, a white-cloaked figure looking down into the forests. He reported to the others, and they climbed up together, but the vision was gone without a trace. Looking across the landscape, they saw a lake cradled by cliffs; and right below them, a small tent hidden in the forest. This looked like a good place to investigate, so they descended. On the shore, they encountered five warriors catching crabs, and found them to be the castaways of an expedition from the city-state of Thellas, who became shipwrecked here. They spoke of their saviour, the beautiful Thuzar Yi, who gave them food and drink, and let them dwell in an abandoned village. Choosing to accompany the men, they walked through the forests. A white cloak fluttered among the trees, and they were face-to-face with a beautiful young girl –Thuzar Yi herself! The island’s mistress spoke to them in friendship, graciously offering them to resupply in her domain, as long as they didn’t exhaust what the island had to give – the castaways were already stretching things to the limits. In exchange, she only asked for a small token, and declining gold and jewellery, accepted Ion’s blue cap. With a side-step, Thuzar Yi disappeared, leaving behind their awestruck guides. They continued on along a trail to the plateau, eventually arriving in a village of archaic stone huts, now inhabited by the lost men of Thellas.

They were led to a longhouse, where they were received by Lyostratos Andromakhos, once the tyrant of Thellas, but  now only the master of this village. As the grey-bearded fighting-man explained, trouble was afoot on the island: renegades had broken away from their camp, followed by Lyostratos’ own son, Meurios. These men acted out of jealousy, seeking to seize the fair Thuzar Yi by force, a terrible act against her hospitality! Lilith, as Ishtar’s champion, declared that she would see to it, and Lyostratos suggested to capture or kill the renegades. But Lilith saw that they seemed obsessed, or perhaps ensorcelled, by Thuzar Yi’s beauty; so much so that they paid no heed even to her 18 CHA! Saying farewell to the villagers, they returned to the lower woods, heading for the small camp, but finding the single tent abandoned. Leaving a note, they returned to the ship to rest. The following day, they took a skiff to circumnavigate the island. On its southern side, they discovered two beached war galleys, stripped of valuables; and further on, another butte inhabited by enormous pteranodons. From the shore, they also saw a mound rising from the forest – a place to investigate. It was an artificial brick structure, but crumbling and overgrown. A group of villagers were placing five helmets on a makeshift memorial, each to commemorate a fallen comrade – this was a barrow, and a memorial for the dead. They returned to the skiff, fighting off a hungry pteranodon. Sailing further north along lush forests, they saw no further signs of habitation, only a cliff where 4 more pteranodons seemed to circle around something – this, they avoided. Making landfall at the bottom of a gorge leading up to the plateau, they contemplated their next step. Ion froze and stumbled. He spun around in whirlwind-like fashion, and disappeared from view – all gone! They were one man less on this mysterious island, and from this point, time was ticking away, hour by hour. The hunt was on!

Soldiers of the Empire

07/07/2025 THISIUM 

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A group of adventurers rode out from Villa Cardone on an invitation from Valentino La Cava, the commander of the seaside garrison of Locassum. Not far from the villa, they found an old stone throne decorated with carvings of skeletons, and lifting some flagstones out of place, discovered a buried hoard of 30,000 sp. With this bounty, they quickly returned to the villa to place it in safety, then continued on. Along the way, they met a gang of bandits lurking in the bushes, but the men, seeing a superior force, just greeted them awkwardly and let them pass. Further on, the road led through a gorge, its walls carved with enormous, weird faces. The next group of bandits were here, calling down from the cliffs to demand the price of passage. 1000 sp was left here from the hoard, and they were allowed to ride on. They passed under the arch of a ruined aqueduct, and finally arrived in Locassum, a tiny legionaries’ garrison on the borderlands. Valentino received the liberators of Villa Cardone well, and while his forces were small, offered what help he could: rare suits of plate mail, the garrison’s warship, and his men if needed be. He spoke of the growing orcish threat along the coast, and Falumfano, an eccentric musical exile reputedly living in the archipelago, and working on an enormous water organ. The next day, they headed back to Villa Cardone. A spot by the aqueduct has been freshly dug up, and a rectangular object removed – but they did not pursue its trail into the hills. Bypassing the greedy bandits by mentioning Valentino’s friendship, they continued, just as deftly evading a group of riders carrying the banner of a six-legged, fire-breathing poodle. Eriberto Barrella quickly concealed himself and hid among the others: this was the standard of his former captor, Lady Giacinthe Albiate, whose tower the company had looted. The furious Giacinthe was headed for Locassum, while they quickly went the other way.

Picking up their companions, they parted from Ottilio Cardone, still mourning her dead love, who died so young – „If only Adonis Gratianus were still alive, things would be so much easier!” They rode to the Wailwind, and hitched Locassum’s galley to Thisium, where the Sacrificial Calf had just been offered to the gods. Burt their destination was not in the city: the next dawn, they set sail for the Isle of Mortuaries, which they had visited previously. There was a third group of family tombs they had missed then, and this is where they were headed. These four were smaller and less imposing mausoleums. In the crypt of the ALBERGATO family, they fought two carrion crawlers, and found some precious flowers growing from the roots of great cypress trees. The crypt of ACARDOLO was open and looted. Down in the tomb chamber, a grandiose fresco showed a vast cavern, with a black stone bridge spanning a bottomless abyss of fire – a mystery now unsolved. The third mausoleum, of the GAVRILOTTI, was broken into as well, but the bodies were still there, frozen in reddish wax filling their sarcophagi. The wax was quickly melted with Dorvo’s sword of fire, yielding minor jewellery. The final tomb was of the DE ACCORA: it held the statues of a noble family showing them planting trees in Thisium, a mysterious poem, and a precious golden mask in the main sarcophagus.

As they emerged from the crypts, they were accosted by a group of soldiers – legionaries by their equipment. Aufidia Corvina, flanked by her bodyguards wearing legionaries’ plate mail from Locassum, bluffed her way through the jam, and the soldiers escorted them to the villa of the island’s master, Bragan Braxus, a soldier calling himself The Imperator. Among his legionaries, the Imperator exalted imperial glory, outlining his plans to conquer Thisium, the Coastlands, and eventually the Empire in whole! For this, he needed a symbol of power to solidify his reign: the crown of Pandolfo Barbani, Thisium’s last podesta! This was a familiar relic: the company had won it in service of Yldegonda Gremullo, and promptly sold it off in port to shady merchants, where it was gone. Nevertheless, they quickly promised to seek it for the glory and resurrection of the Empire, earning the Imperator’s goodwill. Thus they returned to their ship, and sailed back to Thisium. At this time, the city had 26 days left...

Shadowing the Wolves

09/07/2025 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! The Lion Pack decided to do some shopping on the market by the Pyramid of Pantaxus Superbus. While looking around the merchants, they spotted an old acquaintance – Colmazio, who had sold them fake tear salts, now peddling his wares to a group of Northmen. They surrounded the swindler, but a crossbow bolt aimed at him missed, and he disappeared behind a door. Another stray shot hit one of the Northmen, who attacked the „assassins” at once until half of them were trapped with a hypnotic pattern. They chased down Colmazio, and dragged him into the back streets before the open altercation would bring the law down on them. “You have not harmed us, but the good reputation of Mur!”, growled Jovial Faustulus. The petty cheat crumbled, parting with his meagre coins, and offering the location of a hidden entrance in exchange for his freedom. After making sure the place he described existed on the Plaza of Faceless Statues, he was ultimately let go with a stern warning. The entrance opened to a downwards stairway, trapped with a pendulum trap, dutifully triggered. The way lead to a secret shrine of Rualgar, God of Secrets, one of the three Imperial cults. A hiden niche hid a cryptic message and a crystal-tipped arrow filled with gas which broke while handling it. Worse, Trupo Gizmegas stood on the altar, and was struck by Rualgar’s punishment, losing all his belongings, including spellbooks! In a less good mood, they departed, heading for Viaskar’s western walls, where they hoped to help the outcasts in the Underworld flee the city. In a crumbling tenement, Publius Varro met two youths, members of the Drowners, and strongarmed them into showing him around the rooftops to survey the surroundings. They didn’t dare knife him, but the party was soon attacked from the rooftops by archers brought by the lads. The ambushers were killed or fled across the rooftops, and they returned back to the de Marco palace for the night.

Their rest was interrupted by the barking and howling of dogs in the alleyway. Peering outside, they saw a ragged man with a dog pack, and chased them off with a crossbow bolt and magic. However, this was a good time to get a lead on the werewolves hunting for Cornelia de Marco, and they set out in pursuit after the mysterious figure, leaving Leonio, Lazio and Asinus as bodyguards for the noble maiden. They followed the tramp and his dogs across dark streets through the sleeping city, into the port area, listening to him talk to his hounds, and learning his name, Zanothio the Enchanter. The trail led to a crumbling waterfront palace, where Zanothio started fumbling with his keys. They attacked him and the dog pack. Zanothio turned and growled as he transformed into a hulking wolf-man! Trupo Gizmegas used his spectral force to „summon” an ape demon, distracting some dogs, but failing to fool Zanothio, who retaliated with his magic wand, shooting several magic missiles at the party. A desperate melee ensued, where the dogs were eventually dispatched. Just as Zanothio was about to tear Publius Varro apart, he was caught by a last-ditch colour spray, and executed while unconscious. Throwing the bodies into the dark water, they plundered the madman’s palace, finding it an abandoned wreck. The bedchamber contained several bunches of wolfsbane, some coinage, a crystal ball with a miniature figure trapped within, and an old, ugly toga. They packed them up and returned to the de Marco palace as they came, but too late. The servants who opened the door were weeping. Mistress Cornelia had been kidnapped while they were out, and Roma was laid out dead on the dining table, having given his life to defend her safety. Leonio recounted what transpired: a purple-robed werewolf entered from the rooftop terrace, and put the guards to sleep while carrying off poor Cornelia. There were now two nights before new moon – and the hunt was on!

The Blood-Drinking Horror of Thuzar Yi

20/07/2025 FOMALHAUT

News from ULTRAREALITY! As Ion the Fighting-Man disappeared from before his companions, a grim foreboding filled the adventurers’ hearts, and they knew deep inside time was now of the essence. Bocephus produced his new crystal ball, and peered inside to find the warrior. He saw a dark, splendid palace room; Thuzar Yi, the mistress of the island was sitting in a throne on one side of a table, and the smitten Ion on the other, both drinking from the same cup. Noting the lack of windows, they surmised the palace might be underground - after all, they saw no such structure on the surface. They set out to find a way to their companion. The search took them to the wooded island plateau, but they could find no entrance, although they saw many odd things: a small amphitheatre probably frequented by the island’s castaways; a circle of small stones around a large stone bowl filled with purple liquid, with shambling fungal zombies around it; and a cliff where a struggle had taken place, where they found the bones of a warrior, broken weapons, and a broken conch-shell horn on the rocks below. It was getting closer to night. Bocephus did another look into the crystal ball: he saw Thuzar Yi’s bedchamber, the beautiful girl dancing seductively before Ion next to a poster bed. At sunset, they arrived in a small garden of fountains and songbirds in the NE of the island, when Nycterphila the Thief recalled something – a reference to Thuzar Yi dwelling in a spring cave, and a stream cascading down from a plateau to their east. Could this be her lair, and so close to them? It was night, so Nycterphila and Murat the Etunian bravely set out in the dark night to do some recon. They evaded a mountain lion ambush in the last possible moment, and climbed down the cliffs to the source of the stream, a small cave mouth. A woman’s song came from inside, and they saw Thuzar Yi singing in a simple, but pleasant cavern of vine-covered walls, although no sign of Ion.

As thieves, they snuck forward and struck. „Thuzar Yi” folded apart into a mass of tentacles and gibbering mouths; Nycterphila was presently torn apart and devoured by the blood-drinking horror, while the horrified Murat fled, relating the terrible events to the others. They had walked right into Thuzar Yi’s trap – but now, to find Ion! The next morning, they headed for the island’s tall northern peaks. Here, in a barren stone waste, they found another cavern, with the statues of youths and a misty pool, which looked suspect, and was avoided. Even higher they went, finding a small, semi-completed rock garden on the tallest peak, and two playful kittens, who devoured the meat thrown to them with suspiciously ravenous appetite. Still no way in. A new crystal ball scan showed Ion sleeping contentedly in the bed, while Thuzar Yi was not to be seen. There was an enormous cave on the isle’s western side, a promising target. They made their way through the wilds, looking through a massive opening into a lit garden of fruit trees, a small spring, and walls covered with abundant moss. Remembering an item in her possession, Lilith tossed her wand of true direction in the air, which pointed right inside the cavern. After an embarrassing detour due to misreading the portent and superfluous rock-climbing, and having to use the wand again, they returned to investigate the cavern with more attention, finally finding a secret door under a thick layer of moss. A dark cavern passage led deep into the island. After a while, they emerged in a cavern filled with a pleasant garden of red flowers, lit by artificial lights. The way led on, through more long cave passages, and another large (now unlit) cavern filled with a dark lake, fed by the mouth of a great stone face, the magnetic ores in the walls drawing in their weapons. On they went, through another garden cave, and even further. And as they went, the hours passed.

Following the Swimming Crate

22/07/2025 THISIUM 

News from the doomed city of Thisium! Resting at the Pickled Carp, the company awoke to the clamour of fighting in the harbour, and rushing outside, saw that the Swimming Crate, an ugly trading vessel, was exchanging missile fire with the city guards while rapidly pulling out of port. Under disguise, the notorious pirate Burlagon the Halfway-Orc had audaciously infiltrated the city once again, striking its warehouses and patricians! The company quickly boarded the Comely Lass to pursue from a safe distance. Out on the edge of the archipelago, they were spotted, and the Swimming Crate disappeared behind an islet, probably to lure them close. They approached from the other side, hiding the small Comely Lass under a phantasmal force spell to mask it as a protruding rock. The pirates gave up and headed deeper into the archipelago, the small ship pursuing at distance, still appearing as a rock. In the afternoon, they were spotted again – the pirates turning back to investigate the strange vision – but they made their getaway. Thus they sailed to the Wailwind to rest up, and returned to Thisium the following day. Things in the city had taken an even darker turn. Attacks by black dogs had grown more frequent in the last days, who had mauled and even devoured citizens, and nobody knew where they came from. News came that an army of orcs had descended from the northern mountains, and besieged the fortified manor of Egmont Mouseburg – unsuccessfully, but at a great loss of life and property, and a blow to the city’s food supply. Meanwhile, the Measurers, the city’s august wine tasters, held a session in Flandevole’s cellars. Someone had unknowingly mixed poison into the noble vintages, and most of the Measurers were now dead.

Hestia Tamburello

Giacomo, who had been smitten in the Forest of Verrilli by a vision of Hestia Tamburello, the daughter of Thisium’s richest nobleman, Mornalt Tamburello, decided to pay her loved one a visit. He paid a hefty fee to Puccio Malatesta, a minor nobleman and known rake, to introduce him, and after receiving tips and advice on wooing pretty girls, they walked to Villa Tamburello, a rambling, eccentric palace of cupolas, galleries and colonnades. Let in by the guards after Giacomo declared that he was bringing Hestia an important omen from the forests, they met the beautiful girl on a high gallery overlooking the city. Throwing caution to the wind, Giacomo declared his undying love to Hestia, and his intent to wed her. Her response was filled with sorrow and sadness: alas, she was doomed along with the city, and would soon be dead along with everyone else. Her father, Mornalt Tamburello, was lost in grief after the city mob murdered his sister, Lucia Tamburello, who was accused of witchery by vile rumours. Lucia’s only love, the poet Chiaffredo, has just been found dead a few days before, after starving himself to death in his house. All was lost. Giacomo reassured Hestia that they would help, and, gifting her his glove, asked her to let them into the small outbuilding in the palace gardens to visit Lucia’s crypt. They came to the conclusion this dark tale might be directly related to the dooms in some fashion. Thus they parted, Hestia throwing her arms around Giacomo. On the way back out, they met another lady, older, but with a hint of familiarity. This was Iacynthe Tamburello, Mornalt’s wife and Hestia’s mother. She was inquisitive while the company was evasive, and they departed – Puccio Malatesta all the more hastily because his tryst with the lady of the house had gone sour once, and he feared for his hide. However, the way lay open to the passages below the garden.

Beneath Villa Tamburello

Descending from the vintner’s cottage, they encountered guards demanding their purpose. Saying they were sent by Hestia, they were even given directions to the crypts. Lower down, they found a room inhabited by four scantily dressed women in a love den. Once again, name-dropping Hestia worked, and they got a key for the lower passages. Going through a large domed chamber with a steaming pool, lit from the gardens above through an oculus, they opened an old iron door, and descended further. A passage led east, while peering through a door to the south, they saw an artificially lit garden filled by all manner of expensive birds. Proceeding east, they found themselves in a long hall of columns – a familiar place. A large group of brigands came forth, along with their leader, the cocky Pierluigi Piscitello. Alas, Heraclitus was recognised as one of the adventurers who had met and fought the robber captain before, and a vicious melee ensued, where Stephanus Fry and Madruga, heavy footmen, were both killed. The brigands were all slain, netting them their food (noble fare, quite fresh), a key, and a treasure map. Wounded, they decided to do some prep work. They descended one level below to the large underground garden, using Heraclitus’ knockspell to open a wizard locked secret door for later use. This done, they retraced their steps to the aviary. Entering, the birds scattered, except for a talking peacock, and a motionless owlbear in a glass display case with a golden jewel around its neck. The peacock was hostile towards the intruders, until Racha Ducka showed him his enchanted ducks’ feet. The peacock spilled the beans on Mornalt Tamburello, who had brought „pretty hens” down here, and promised a secret in exchange for bringing him a new she-peacock. They returned to the surface, disturbing a decadent orgy in the steam pool chamber, but defusing the alarms quickly. Thus they left Villa Tamburello. At this time, the city had 23 days left...

Finding the Trail

24/07/2025 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! With Cornelia abducted by werewolves, it the de Marco palace fell under a dark spell. The next morning, silver weapons were delivered, but where the cultists of Lykophron took the girl was a mystery. The only clues they had was the palace of the werewolf they had fought the night before, and a sealed tomb in the Undercity belonging to Vidibius Memor, the lycanthrope god’s champion. Out of other options, the Lion Pack ventured out, followed by the page boy Leonio, who could not bear to wait until her mistress was sacrificed. First, they visited the hidden shrine of Rualgar where Trupo Gizmegas sacrificed two unknown magic items to the god of secrets, and regained his lost spellbooks. Finding nothing to help them in Zanothio the Enchanted’s ruined palace, except an old sailor’s confirmation that he had been visited by a purple-robed old man – the same one who had been seen abducting Cornalia – they headed for the Undercity to seek the tomb of Vidibius Memor. The gate had no keyhole or other known way of opening it, and two ominous-looking griffin statues to the two sides with traces of dried blood on their beaks and talons served as a warning. Finally, a reduce spell was used to gain entrance. Looking at the sarcophagus and five more griffins, the place seemed like a trap, but an inscription praising the fallen champion for building the drinking hall next to the temple of Lykophron seemed like a clue worth following. The hall, known for its mineral springs, was located just a bit north of the de Marco palace, and it was a building left over from the old empire. This is where they sought next – a place of charlatans peddling miracle cures, and washing-women using the healing waters for their laundry. But behind the main hall, in a pump room, they met an old gnome repairman, who complained of the incessant foot traffic going through the place, especially recently: and the purple-robed old man who had kidnapped Cornelia!

After the Siege of Mouseburg Manor

28/07/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! As their companions were delving into an Underworld, a different company of adventurers chose to check out a ruined tower on the southern edge of the city. While walking the streets, a lightning bolt struck through the roof of a nearby house, causing fire and commotion. Boldly, Captain Spezzaferro rushed upstairs, finding the charred body of a young man in a poor garret, amidst scattered documents. The man destroyed by the gods was Palladio, a young astronomer, and his studies focused on trying to figure out the exact date the four dooms would destroy Thisium. References returned again and again to the name Raniero Galasso, one the company was familiar with – they discovered his villa on the Coastlands a while back. Continuing to the ruined tower after deciding the villa would be next, they investigated the ruins. This was once the domicile of Harpang the Wizard, but it had long been a ruin. A sundial amidst the rubble fluctuated oddly, the shadow jumping rapidly from numeral to numeral on a 26-unit scale. While examining the oddity, Maglor the Elf noticed something out of the corner of his eye; a group of tiny humans, the size of mice, trying to filch their valuables. A spell put them to sleep before they could return to the rubble pile, and the minikins were gathered while their companions watched in terror from the gaps. The little things were eventually freed, and in gratitude, dragged a gift from beneath the stones – a splendid, gold-headed warhammer +2! With this find, the company mounted their horses, riding out of Thisium into the Coastlands.

Bypassing a group of bandits roasting a stolen sheep, who were too cowardly to attack them, they first visited Mouseburg Manor, where Sir Egmont Mouseburg had just withstood an orcish siege. The orcs were driven off, but Sir Egmont’s forces were decimated, and the lands around the estate, supplying Thisium’s food market, had been burned. More worryingly, the orc attack was better coordinated than previous raids. The pig-faces used a pincer attack, some arriving from the coast by boat, and had superior weaponry – the captured specimens came from two sources, one stamped with the symbol of a hand grasping a sheaf of wheat, and one of unknown non-human make. Contemplating the scouring of Mouseshire and the help they might recruit in the task, they parted with the old knight, and headed for the Villa of Raniero Galasso. The abandoned estate stood in the middle of a hedge maze decorated with abstract geometric statues, but Illyrio the Magic-User navigated the twisting maze expertly. They arrived at the entrance, an inscription asking visitors to pay respects before the master of the house. Spezzaferro bowed while entering, avoiding a neck-level blade trap in the doorframe. From the dusty atrium, they went west, finding a small locked prison cell. A captive inside introduced himself as „the real Raniero”, imprisoned by a gang of hobbits. He turned out to be a ghoul trying to get close to someone, and was put down.

Death Hobbit Doom

However, the noise also drew the attention of the hobbits themselves – little killers in servants’ liveries, raining slingstones on the party. The attackers were eventually killed, and one survivor, Otho Pikefoot, captured. The squirming little chap was asked to identify a part of the manor known from a treasure map, and pointed out the western part of the manor. They made their way into an abandoned sculptors’ studio filled with partially completed statues and the statue of the sculptor himself, surprising and killing a gang of orcs while Otho tried to flee. To the east, they found a door with the image of the grim reaper they could not open, but they knew a secret door was also nearby. While searching, one of the half-finished statues attacked in hysterical laughter, a doppelganger! Secundinus Faustulus the Fighting-Man was strangled, and the wily Otho slipped away. The treasure room was nearby. They pressed on into the servants’ quarters, where Ser Narvi detected the treasure under the floorboards with his magic sword. Just as they set out to pry open the wood, screaming hobbits ambushed them from the other rooms, wounding Illyrio grievously and knocking out Maglor. However, the attackers were massacred. The space under the floorboards contained a few blackened corpses, and several large burlap sacks. A wealth of 14,000 gp and 30,000 sp was buried here, so the company filled their sacks to capacity as they could. It was time to get out before Otho Pikefoot would return with more of his kin. A group of squat, ugly humanoids came from the east, but they were repelled with flaming oil suppressing fire for enough time to slip out. They returned to their mounts, leaving Villa Raniero and heading back to Thisium. At this time, the city had 23 days left...

Entering the Temple of Lykophron

01/08/2025 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! On the trail of the lycanthropes, the Lion Pack descended into the passages beneath the drinking hall. The way led through ancient passages left over from the age of the Empire. Some way down, they found a secret door to a vantage point above a large hall where rough men were eating and drinking around a campfire, but surmised they might not be the followers of Lykophron. They went the other way, under a cascading waterfall from the drinking hall’s warm mineral springs, and eventually, up again into a large, empty hall built from enormous stone blocks. From up the spiral staircase, they heard conversation and saw torchlight, and Publius went to investigate, bumping into two werewolves wearing monks’ habits, who chased him back down. One was pinned and killed, but the other ran back up. This was the place they were looking for. The stairs led upwards, above street level – to dark, dusty, windowless corridors of great antiquity, decorated with friezes depicting running dogs and bunches of wolvesbane. In a side-room, they encountered a group of wererats engaged in prayer. In the melee, most were slain, but a few could once again make a run for it deeper into the unlit complex. In the other direction, a recon party ran into three werewolves in a corridor lined with bronze doors, wearing the antique helmets, cloaks, and axes of imperial lictors. In this fight, Lazio the crossbowman was torn apart by one of the werewolves, and others were bitten. The passages echoed with distant cries of penitence and perverse joy as the followers of Lykophron confessed their terrible crimes against men in the hidden sanctum of their god.

Sanctum of the Lycanthropes

The company withdrew a little to heal and get themselves in order, but were soon interrupted. Flanked by three werewolf temple acolytes wearing dark robes, a regal werewolf wearing imperial finery and a purple cape announced himself as Aulus Naevius Litumaris, a patrician of the Imperial Capital, come to avenge the slayers of his kin. Behind him, in purple robes and human form, was an old man, the Cornelia de Marco’s kidnapper, Zalomort the Werewolf-Mage! This fight was relentlessly brutal, and consumed a lot of the company’s resources. Publius Varro, sneaking behind (and seeing more wererats in the passages debating whether to close in or let the werewolves handle things) ran into the retreating, wounded Zalomort, and finished him off with a backstab. Finally, the lycanthropes were put down, Asinus the heavy footman delivering the killer blow, and naming himself Wolf-Slayer. The Lion Pack once again stopped a little to heal, and were once again interrupted, as two more werewolf monks came to fight. Asinus the Wolf-Slayer stepped forth to fight them, and was killed, dying as Asinus the Wolf-Slain. Nine more wererats came in a new wave, but seeing the carnage, turned and fled back into the temple to raise the alarm. Pressing on, the company went forward, seeking the cell where Cornelia might be kept. They emerged in a vast, empty and dark hall with a fathomless pit in the middle, surrounded by crumbling stone balustrades. More to the east were six more wererats, whom they fought. More could be heard through a door, but Publius Varro quickly jammed the lock to slow them down, and they could not batter it open. The rats brought a crowbar, but a shocking grasp cast at the door dissuaded them from their plans. Wererats were killed and one, knocked out with colour spray, captured for interrogation. It turned out the cell was right in the entrance corridor guarded by the lictors.

Voices were rising deep in the temple, the angry chorus of a congregation which has now learned of the blasphemers in their sanctum and the death of their high priest and Imperial guest. Rushing back, wounded and exhausted, they found four more wererats, and unleashed a monster summoning spell from a scroll to keep them busy while they sprang the locks. Cornelia de Marco was in one of the rooms, hiding under an old wooden bed, while the other was occupied by scared commoners, handsome young men and women kidnapped for Lykophron’s rites. A wolf-woman, a matron, raised a hue and cry, spotting the intruders. They fled the temple down the spiral stairs, and through the passages, the howling of the mob echoing behind them. They came to the waterfall room, hastening across. Quintus the heavy footman, Trupo’s faithful companion in many ventures, slipped and fell, disappearing down an angled water chute into the darkness of the Underworld, his fate unknown. They thought of lowering a rope, but the lycanthrope-cultists were drawing close. Entrusting Quintus to the will of the gods, they ran, leaving behind the Undercity. Back in the fortified palace of the de Marcos, a discussion was held. Cornelia de Marco and the page boy Leonio decided to leave the city for a good while, travelling to Leonio’s modest manor in the provinces, now united by love rather than fealty. The Lion Pack would still have to decide where to go from here. They had won magic and treasure from their defeated enemies, but Cornelia was too poor to reward them with anything but a written letter of recommendation to the city’s high nobility, and the Temple of Gladuor. And they now had enemies hiding in Viaskar’s shadows. „The wolves are among us”, Cornelia said darkly. Two of the survivors –Jovial Faustulus and Arden Oakbark – had been bitten in the temple of Lykophron, and yet another, Publius Varro, bore the lycanthropic curse in his blood from an early encounter.

[BEYONDE] The Domes of Calrathia

The Domes of Calrathia

The word “stagnation” describes much of fantastic fiction today, stemming from a larger cultural exhaustion in modern society. Sturgeon’s law has always held true, but at least the bad stuff was often colourful, lovable junk; something that could be bad in interesting ways. Today’s junk is a different kind. The institutions of genre publishing have turned their output into a morass of safe mediocrity. Critics highlight the role of the theatre kid invasion and their political manias, but that is only a part of it: it is more that the final result is an extreme case of design-by-committee through social pressures and institutional takeover. Nothing of interest comes out of those cursed ruins anymore, and it can be safely abandoned to the wild beasts and mutants which populate it. If something interesting is happening at all, it takes place in the wilderness far from these structures, where the huddled survivors gather to build their new thing. Outfits like DMR Books, Cirsova Magazine, and a few similar venues is where you can go to for strong heroic fantasy. The results are still mixed, but again, colourful, lovable junk beats dull pap, and sometimes you catch something genuinely great – two or three stories in your average DMR collection, or Mark Mellon’s outstanding Melkart Unchained in an otherwise fairly ho-hum volume of peplum stories. Most of these stories work inside older genres, mainly mid-century pulp, but something puzzling and new is still rarely seen. The following book is something puzzling and new.

The Domes of Calrathia by Isaac Young is a self-published fantasy novel (the first of a two-part story) which comes even from outside these outposts, straight out of the wilderness. I came across it pretty much at random on a political interview podcast. The author had interesting things to say about the state of fantasy, and the kind of fiction he liked. I found my interest piqued. He had an Indiegogo for his first print book, and based on the excerpts, it seemed like a bet worth taking. It turns out the bet was a good one, and the 106 backers (of whom 72 went for the physical book) got something well worth their money.

"Of the men who inhabit the strange lands south of the Great Ice Plain, I was told there are three varieties: the maddened cannibals whose heads are cut in the shape of their hallowed obelisk, the wandering ghost men who eat nothing and yet still live, and the men of Calrathia, sat huddled in their great domes which are vast enough to encompass cities.

I, the Astronomer Sirius, had only heard tall-tales and faded stories of such things. And not long into my journey, it seemed I would die before encountering any of them."

This is a book set at the world’s end, both in the physical and spiritual sense. We are at the end of the great ages, in the winter of civilisation. Mankind, which had once reached across the stars, has become exhausted, living among the ruins of inconceivably grand megastructures it possesses no means or will to replicate, or even maintain. Long-operating infrastructures built aeons ago are starting to fail, and are replaced with stop-gap solutions on a much more minor scale, accompanied by growing dysfunction. This was not by means of war or disaster, just mankind’s slow, long retreat from the heights of its greatness. As things are grinding to a halt, the fringes of the world are claimed by the creeping cold; oceans frozen into the endless Great Ice Plain, and the most distant outpost of civilisation, Terminus, gradually being abandoned as the machines that provide its heat giving out. Strange tribes and mythical beasts reclaim what has been left behind, and things that have been taken for granted – long-distance travel, security, serving automatons, or an ordered civilisation – fade away:

“Up ahead, I saw the walls of Terminus. And until then, I did not realise there were, in fact, two sets of walls. The first was made of wood and stone and seemingly whatever the denizens of Terminus found as construction material from the ruins. It was jagged and piled up in an ill manner. The only part of this wall that seemed to be tended was the gate, which sat squarely in the distance. The divide appeared to serve one purpose, to keep the unwanted firmly outside the boundaries of Terminus proper.

The second wall was on the other side of the city, and it was the one I had spotted from far off. It ran from east to west, disappearing in the long distance. This wall was ancient, and it was so large that it devoured much of the sky, a steel horizon of rust and faded metal. But even more impressively, shooting up from the wall was a spire that towered firmly into the Firmament. Though having seen it from a distance, I never had a vantage point to properly appreciate its immense size. It hung over the city like the fin of a giant fish.

‘I’ve never seen such a structure,’ I spoke to Gereon.

‘That is the Border Wall and Castle Padua. They were built when the Great Ice Plain was an open sea.’

‘But why were they built? I recall no histories of war here, and this must’ve been long before the cannibals took root.’

‘It was against the winter,’ Gereon said. ‘When men realized this land was growing colder, they built the Border Wall to keep the cold at bay. And it did, for a thousand generations, but that was an age ago. Now, the ashen furnaces can barely heat the city.’”

The book’s narrator-protagonist, Sirius, is an Astronomer, the trainee of what might be described an order of scholarly paladins, as versed in the knowledge of the heavenly bodies as hand-to-hand combat and religious philosophy. His voyage across the frozen lands is part pilgrimage and part exile: he has been entrusted with delivering a priceless illuminated manuscript containing his order’s history to Calrathia, the city of all knowledge far beyond the last outposts of men. No attempt has been made to undertake the journey in over 300 years, and it is understood that it is bound to be a death sentence for a murder that would otherwise call for his expulsion and execution. This is also the last such journey that will ever take place before things fall apart for good, and the Astronomers’ knowledge also becomes lost.

Calrathia’s inspirations are plain to see. This is a “dying Earth” book inspired by Gene Wolfe (mainly), Jack Vance, Lovecraft’s Dreamlands, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. It bears similarities to Leigh Brackett’s Book of Skaith in some of its themes (a frozen, dying world; corrupted and failing civilisation; pockets of strange survivors who have adapted to the spreading cold), although it seems the author was unfamiliar with this book. As an example of the subgenre, it succeeds admirably: it creates a compelling setting filled with strangeness and fine detail without being pedantic about it. Mid-range fantasy explains everything; great fantasy leaves room for interpretation and preserves an air of distance and mystery. The Domes of Calrathia is first and foremost mysterious – we gain glimpses into the world’s workings from the narrator’s point of view, but we do not get a precise picture, and a lot of the context is gained through the resonance of association and careful word choice (these are also devices Wolfe and Vance use in their work). For example, the Astronomers can command anemoi, winged beings who might be angels, elementals, or something in between – but they are not described in detail. Neither are the precise technologies and grand projects alluded to in the book explained. It is fairly clear that humanity was (and might still be) capable of interstellar travel, or that Terminus had a massive port. In the book, these are described from the narrator’s viewpoint, such as:

“It was on the fourth morning that I thought I had spotted the tips of the mountains in the distance, but Odoacer informed me that they were merely the cairns that marked the last leg of our journey. I was confused, but as I saw, these shapes resolved into spires far too thin to be called mountains, though still indisputably large. The tribesmen knew them as markers of a sort, but I immediately recognised them for what they were. Great ancient ships sat in their berths; their bows pointed aimlessly at the sky. They were older than the ones at Terminus, and their hermetically sealed hulls were clearly meant for the empty sea. The vessels were all held in place by titanic scaffolds long rusted over. (…) There have been few times in my life when silence was painful on my ears, and it was not the first instance I had encountered such graveyards. And yet, this place opened a hole in my heart, much more so than the ones at the Border Wall. These ships belonged to my vocation, to men not much different than I.”

There is great wonder and fascination in ruins, and the book is written from the perspective of a scholar standing in the shadow of his forebearers, looking up on works he partially understands, but cannot fully fathom. It is this combination of grief, faith and wonder which gives the novel its own tone. The novel has a distinct late Roman, maybe even early Byzantine vibe in its mythological and spiritual references, along with strong Biblical parallels (sometimes vague, sometimes quite literal). This is also an era where much of the earlier world-spanning civilisation is already lost, or falling into disrepair and ruin in a much smaller age. It is a fascinating setting for adventure, and the book explores its physical and spiritual landscapes in full.

Sirius himself is a compelling character. He is competent in scholarship and swordplay, but naïve in the ways of the world, which gets him in deep trouble more so than other miscalculations. He is also an example of someone laden with grave doubts, and preoccupied with deep moral concerns. The crucial conflict of the book is how to act as a righteous man in this degraded and cold world, balancing the needs of survival with one’s moral principles, and avoiding missteps which would invite spiritual ruin. Epic fantasy often ends up heralding a sort of milquetoast morality that feels easy and tawdry (and its deconstruction simply revels in cynicism and misanthropy), but The Domes of Calrathia treats the subject with a good deal of serious thought. Sirius can see nobility in the conduct of an old guard dog, a dutiful automation serving a patrician family, or the birds he encounters across the vastness of the Great Ice Plain, and he struggles to make the right decisions under the pressures of his quest.

“The dog whimpered and licked her fingers weakly.

‘You do this beast dishonour.’ Gereon kept his gaze away from the animal. ‘If you do not have the heart to kill it, at least remove this creature from the sight of others. It is a foul thing to be decrepit in the full light of day. Cover its shame.

‘Is it so much better to die in a sequestered corner than at your post’ I asked, coming to the aid of Berenice. ‘There is no shame in a well-spent life, and this dog is wise for remaining here. For he knows the day is coming when he shall rejoin his master, and he shall receive his just reward for remaining faithful unto death.’”

The world of Sirius is one ordered by moral principles, and the cosmic plan of the Potentate who had created it, but also contradictions and self-doubt concerning his deeds and mission (a de facto death sentence for a crime he either did not commit, or committed for a very good reason – this is not clarified in the text). Some of the book’s voice recalls St. Augustine more than anything, and some of its plot hints at the deeper spiritual struggle behind the sojourn to Calrathia, whose significance Sirius only begins to realise in the later segments of the book. Again, it is as much pilgrimage as adventure, and this is a novel written from a deeply held Catholic faith.

As this is a first novel (at least as a printed work), it is not without flaws. About two thirds of the novel deals with intrigue in the city of Terminus, while the trek across the Great Ice Plain, which leans more strongly into the setting’s mythic dimensions, is comparatively shorter. The second volume, which promises to complete the story, may correct this imbalance, but presently, this arc feels underdeveloped. Thus, the pacing feels off sometimes, while some of the middle portion lags a little. But these are minor criticisms. The Domes of Calrathia stands up to scrutiny, and as a first, it is a very strong entry. It is also something that feels new in today’s heroic fantasy – it owes a debt to the works it is inspired by, but it continues the tradition in a new and interesting direction.

The Domes of Calrathia is currently available on Amazon as a paperback, a free version is available in full on Royal Road, and an audiobook is available in full on Youtube. There is even a trailer.

Across the Icy Wastes

[BLOG] News on the March! Episode IX.

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. The current post covers games until the end of June – I didn’t post due to my July sale and setting up my business taking up my full attention, so reports have been piling up, and this post is long enough as it is. 

The Battle of Villa Cardone

28/05/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A party of 5 characters and 7 henchmen rode out of Thisium towards the Cyclopean Hills. Leading them was Adonis Gratianus carrying a newly made battle-flag, to fulfil his promise to the noblewoman Ottilia Cardone, who was forced to banditry once returning to her homeland, and finding Villa Cardone occupied by the men of Bazascus the Brigand. They met Ottilia at the bandits’ campsite, and decided on a plan to scout the fortified villa in the evening, and raid it afterwards. They travelled through the foreboding Cyclopean Hills; and at one point, found an ominous-looking, ancient statue watching them that wasn’t there the last time they travelled here, despite its weathered appearance. At sunset, they approached the villa, and the company’s three thieves made recon around the building. The entrances were well-guarded, while the main force was in the interior courtyard, some were out at the stables, and the villa’s masters were having dinner in the master’s quarters. An impromptu three-prong attack plan was made and executed. A force of adventurers drew closer to the front gate guards, the bandits approached from the back with Adonis and Ottilia in the lead, and the thieves waited on the sides for their opportunity.

Flaming oil on the stables set the thatched roof on fire, raising a commotion among the brigands, but drawing them out into a lit backyard to be met with arrow fire. The darkness made for difficult archery on both sides, so casualties were initially low, but started to mount as opposed groups traded shots, and especially when the forces rushed each other along the line of contact. Ethel the heavy footman, a cowardly and weak retainer, died from arrow fire; and his master, Maglor the Elf was badly wounded. While the brigands streamed outside, the thieves could drop into the central courtyard, and assassinate Lundolf, the brigands’ Magic-User. Adonis called on Bazascus the Brigand to come out, and he did, clad in his plate mail that made him nigh invincible. He shrugged off magic and blade, fighting with ferocity. The frontal assault group decimated the brigands, but came under fire from Tiny, a halfling thief sniping at them from the darkness. At last, Bazascus was surrounded, and steadfastly refusing quarter after his remaining men already surrendered, eventually slain by Adonis. Tiny was pursued by Dorvo with his sword of fire, but melted away into the night. Theirs was Villa Cardone, and the brigands’ treasure, including Lundolf’s potions and spellbooks, and a mysterious treasure map. Ottilia Cardone was once again the owner of her family nest, although of her bandits, a mere third survived. As for Adonis, he was quite happy to have helped a noble lady, and found that good deeds are often rewarded. At this time, the city had 32 days left...

Temple of the Unknown God

04/06/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! After their victory over the brigands, three adventurers and their henchmen rode to explore the mysterious Temple of the Unknown God in the middle of the Cyclopean Hills. After shaking off a group of orcs who proclaimed the Coastlands to be the new domain of their god, Porculus, they rode through a desolate and silent landscape, finding the massive, ancient structure in  the centre of a valley, as old as time, and built from massive cyclopean blocks in an unrecognisable style. The entrance was guarded by weird, spindly statues holding tridents, with conch-shell shaped heads. All of this was unfathomably old. Through an open gate meant for giants, they could see the gloomy antechamber with a massive, empty basalt throne, flanked by two human-sized stone braziers. Walking forward, pit traps opened underfoot; Dorvo fell into a pit, landing on top of a deep layer of accumulated bones, fossils, and ancient debris. Saved with a rope, they proceeded with more caution. Poucas Trancas and Eriberto Barrella reconnoitred the entrance area. Growling sounds came from an eastern room, so they went west, finding a dark hall with heavy dark drapes, two enormous brass statues resembling those at the entrance, and a stone spiral in the floor. Returning back, a corridor behind the throne room was decorated by hieroglyphs, being deciphered by a group of four adventurers. Poucas warned them of the monsters to the east. The adventurers thanked them, and getting closer, one remarked, „Perhaps the monsters are just us...” as the four attacked as doppelgangers! The monsters were slain and sacks of coins hauled back to the horses. The NW chamber held broken statuary and a gargoyle which demanded gold for passage, but attacked from surprise even after it was paid. The beast was invulnerable to non-magical weapons, but not sleep (a SVoZ peculiarity!), so it was wrapped up in a net and tossed in an entrance pit, which was then wedged shut.

Investigating the room, the gargoyle’s treasure was collected, while an odd recess hid a secret door, but one that was also trapped: the door would slide up, but the threshold would bring it down on the careless explorer. Opening it carefully, a room with metal floor was found, with the frozen body of a dead warrior carrying a sack, a splendid magic spear, and wearing a gem-studded helmet. They dragged the corpse into their room with a grappling hook, triggering the threshold trap, and crushing the gemstone and the warrior’s head under the trap. However, an identical second helmet was also found, along with a magic spear and coinage. The next thing to be checked was the source of the noises to the east. The room was inhabited by 4 wrestling white apes, which charged out; and the party, weak from previous fights, fled the temple to return to rest at Villa Cardone. The next day, they returned more prepared, raining spells and missiles on the monsters, slaying them all. The prize was a valuable crystal skull. Calling it a day (as the end of the session approached), they returned again to Villa Cardone, the first playtesters to have no casualties on their first foray to the Temple of the Unknown God! At this time, the city had 30 days left...

Dwellers of the Undercity

05/06/2025 KASSADIA

News from the fallen empire of Kassadia! The Lion Pack continued their forays into the Undercity beneath Viaskar. Crossing a cistern with ropes, they found a stairway to a plundered crypt, where four ogres were squabbling over their loot. They retreated to plan an attack, but a secret door opened, and out came the ogre leader in heavy armour, wielding a two-handed sword. The ogres were slain, but the damage was considerable. Their gold, a ring, and a small semi-precious stone figure were recovered. From the lower level of the ogre lair, a secret door opened to the bottom of an old staircase. Climbing it all the way up led to an enormous, dark hall, where the bones of ancient legionaries slumbered in burial niches. Recognising the place as the resting place of the Legion of Iron, the Empire’s last-resort undead defenders, they withdrew. To the east, a long stairway led up to a domed chamber inhabited by a dishevelled, sickly hermit, Gomberto. He was confused and lost, trying to remember what underground place he had escaped from, but told them of people living further on. Following this clue, they left him be, and investigated the natural caverns opening from a collapsed wall of the stairway. Old columns held up the cavern ceiling, and lights flickered in side-caverns. Investigating, they found dens of lepers, dwelling down here in the darkness. Suspecting they were somehow getting near the cult of Titus Malformatus, they withdrew, and checked out the upper caverns, filled with fungi growing around old columns. The way led to a room with a weird man-bat idol spewing water into a stone bowl, which Jovial Faustulus detected as poisonous. Following a charnel stench, they found the body of a lost explorer behind the statue. Aristeo Guarini checked the cadaver’s belongings, and was infested with several rot grubs, which were burned out with a torch – but some coins were at least recovered.

The Discovery of the Great Underground Cess Pit

Following the stairs further down, they found an enormous dark space: an old circular arena with rows of seats, and evidence of recent human presence – torch stubs, crates, basic wooden furniture, and so on. A place for secret gladiatorial games? For now, they pressed on. A stairway up was a dead end with abundant moss and the bones of another dead explorer. Faustulus once again checked for poison, and discovered the moss to be poisonous as suspected. Returning without touching it, they went further, entering an old, ornate halls that stretched on an on in the darkness, with mosaics on the side walls. Two stone griffins stood before a double stone gate, and an inscription read: „VIDIBIVS MEMOR, CHAMPION OF LYKOPHRON”. The text and the bas-relief of a bare-chested, wolf-headed man indicated a presence of the werewolf-cult – for now, best avoided. Further on, sets of stairs and less ornate undercellars were discovered. The way led up to a cesspool, and while there were iron rungs leading up, this was not something they wished to investigate for fear of catching some disease. From the direction of a wooden door, they overheard men conversing, but with resources and torches low, they chose to retreat through the passages. On the way back, they saw approaching lanterns, and concealed themselves, letting a group of 15 rough-looking men pass by. The further way was uneventful: they emerged from the Undercity on the plaza of the Hound-Birds, and went for the nearest drinking and dining establishment, the Two Charioteers, a pleasant sports bar and bordello near the great amphitheatre.

A Visit to the Fairy King

10/06/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A large company entered the Fairy Garden to steal the Sacrificial Calf from the Fairy King. Following known routes, they headed for the plateau shrouded in eternal night. Walking through the dark forest, they were ambushed by giant killer bees, who immediately killed Serafina Malpractis and Pontiki, the party’s two magic-users, and the lynchpins for their rescue plan. Nevertheless, they pressed on, eventually finding their way to the centre of the forest. Song, music and laughter drifted from a marble hall surrounded with lush forests, and overgrown with ivy and splendid wildflowers. Gata spied on the hall in weasel form, finding it inhabited by the lords and ladies of the fairies. The Fairy King, a pudgy figure in dirty finery was engaged in idle chitchat with his courtiers, and watched over by his bodyguards, the stern fighting-man Primrose and the halfling hunter Barberry. An enormous pile of silver and gold lie nearby. But it was the third sight that was most important: a splendid white calf of outstanding beauty, pampered and groomed by the courtiers on a bed of flower petals! Now, Bambino the rider went forward openly, imitating drunkenness and carrying three bottles of wine, two tampered with deadly nightshade. The „lost traveller” was well received by the bemused fairies, and escorted to the King’s presence. With some fast talk, he fooled the assembled fairies to try his novel vintage while the party took up positions around the hall. The courtiers and the king drank, but all but one lady made their saving throws; thinking her drunk, she was carried to her bed. Alert to treachery, Primrose urged his king to be alert, and the King was just about to turn Bambino into some small forest animal when Gata jumped him from the rafters, seizing him by the throat and holding him fast. The party rushed the hall and took the assembled nobles hostage.

Tense negotiations ensued, but at last the talking Sacrificial Calf, Bouillon, offered to accompany the adventurers on his own free will. „I trust you”, he said with full conviction. The King was taken as a hostage, and his gold put in sacks and loaded on patient Bouillon. Returning through the forest to the site of the killer bee attack, Gata demanded that Pontiki be raised. The King promised to do so for his freedom, and Pontiki walked again, albeit silently. He tried to slip away, but was tackled, and „Pontiki” disappeared – only an illusion, the original still lying there dead! Gata tried to kill the king there and then, but was herself restrained from bloody murder. They retreated from a plateau to the outside garden. Four owlbears came towards them in an open field. The King was pushed forward, and he fell among the ravenous owlbears, who tore him to pieces while the company legged it, fleeing the Fairy Garden with Bouillon in tow. Exiting the enchanted realm, Ser Narvi decided to split and carry the news to the Yellow Dragon while the remaining group took the Calf to Thisium. Sir Drago also said his farewell, having fought along the company, but now heading for new adventures. They thus travelled back towards the city. An enormous green dragon swooped down from overhead. The party scattered into the woods while, alone, Giacomo heroically lured the beast ahead, riding just below it to avoid its breath weapon. At last, he jumped from his horse, which then took a cloud of chlorine gas, and was devoured. They waited out the dragon in concealment, and continued.

Orcs on the Coastlands

Beyond the Forest of Verrilli, they rode through the nocturnal Coastlands, towards Thisium. Approaching the campsite of the merchant Trigulano Goi by the Bay of Pearls, they spotted a curious sight: a palisade with guards and watchfires. Giacomo investigated again, and spotted orc guards and the banners of the orc demi-god Porculus – the symbol of a great black swine suckling two human infants! The head of Trigulano Goi was also there, impaled on a wooden spike as a grim warning. The quick-witted thane pretended to be an ally of the orc cause, „reporting” that his team was engaged in talks with the green dragon to enlist him as an ally against Thisium. With this stratagem, he not only secured passage through the barrier, but learned something of the orcs’ war plans to cut off Thisium and prepare for the orc conquest of the Coastlands, starting with the manor house of Sir Egmont Mouseburg, a local knight and landowner. Riding on towards Thisium, another company of riders approached – none other than Sir Egmont himself with a patrol of 20 men! (The odds of this happening were 1:120 on the wilderness encounter table, clearly the intervention of fate!) Hearing of the orcish presence, they assaulted the orcs jointly, destroying their forces with a decisive ambush. Sir Egmont lost 10 men, and Giacomo was badly wounded, but the battle was won. Dead tired, they returned to Thisium, which now looked even shabbier and more dilapidated. They went for the Temple of the City on the city above Thisium, leading poor naïve Bouillon, still deluded he was about to return to graze and play. But it was not to be. Paphogenus the priest came forward, binding him to the altar with golden chains, and with his sacrificial knife, slit his throat and spilled his innocent blood so that the city might be saved. Thus was the Doom From the Forests averted. At this time, the city had 27 day left...

A Small Detour

18/06/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! Adventurers at the Yellow Dragon Alehouse rode out of the forest inn to return to Thisium. Avoiding confrontation with suspicious men who turned out to be werewolves, they made for a bridge they had thought to be guarded by orcs. On the way, they encountered two owlbears, one of which tore apart Kosmas the light footman. Arriving near the bridge, they approached carefully, and found that the orcs were out in force, with a military encampment. Instead of a confrontation, they decided to take a small detour through the forest to find a ford to the NW. This was not a good idea. The road led out of the Forest of Verrilli, into abandoned and increasingly swampy moorlands, but no ford was present. The trail reached the desolate seacoast, and ended at the uncaring waves. They made camp on a low mound, and the next day, sought a crossing through the swamp. A ford was found, but shortly afterwards, a black dragon the size of a horse discovered their presence. The battle, while terrible, unexpectantly turned in their favour with critical and head hits slaying the beast. However, Belinda Marchello the Thief received mortal wounds and died, while Tripa Seca the Thief was severely wounded in a way requiring medical attention. They continued east through trackless wilderness. Below a lone and forlorn mountain peak, they passed a mysterious statue, depicting the Philanthropus, Thisium’s mysterious and oft-reviled benefactor. Further on, they rediscovered the road, and a small camp where a bandit, Rodolfo Rampoldi, warned them of the orcs in the northern mountains, whom he was hunting for profit. They parted ways and rode in the night, bypassing a mysterious villa in the middle of a hedge maze, and eventually finding hospitality in a small village at the foot of a decrepit manor house. This was the land of Sir Egmont Mouseburg, out on an adventure. The next day, they mounted their horses, and rode into Thisium.

The adventure in Thisium started off inauspicious. A helpful guard at the gates helped them out with information, and was quickly incinerated by the gods for daring to help the city’s saviours. The other guards didn’t like this at all, so they left quickly. In the streets, they met Gordisio Pamfile, one of the city’s influential noblemen, who was happy for a conversation. Things had gotten worse in the last few days as black dogs started attacking the townspeople, while mysterious disappearances, including that of the Magic-User Adrius Doriano, plagued the city. After arranging healing for Tripa Seca, they descended through the graveyard into the Thisian Underworld, seeking an underground well beyond the tower of Yldegonda Gremullo. They had been there before, but this time, the plan was to find a hypothetical city exit above the shaft, to secure it for further expeditions depicted on their treasure map. The empty cistern above the well was inhabited by a swarm of stirges, however, and plans were devised to trap them. Finally, a net was prepared with glue, drawn taut across the passage, and the stirges drawn into it. Half of their numbers thus got stuck, while they made short work of the rest. Climbing up the well with ropes, they crossed the mossy overflow cistern, and found another well, leading outside into the sunlight. Climbing out, they found themselves in a small garden wedged among the houses of Thisium. The body of a young man lay dead on a bench, evidently dead of starvation – the poet Chiaffredo, who had walled himself in to find death by hunger to mourn the death of his love. In his hand, he still grasped a last scribbled note reading „LUCIA...” The company liberated his valuables, and, through a balcony in his small but tidy house, they descended back into the alleyways, and returned to the Pickled Carp. At this time, the city had 25 days left...

What Ho, Frog Demons!

22/06/2025 FOMALHAUT

(Covering three interconnected sessions of mop-up through a three-dimensional palace.)

News from ULTRAREALITY! Having slain the great ape demon, the third of the New Gods ruling the Doorless Arct, the company set about securing their newly conquered palace. Guards arrived from the Viridian Star to guard the exits and watch the rooftops – they also brought news that the pirates’ ship was attacked and taken, with a good quantity of treasures seized. The methodical looting  operation could commence. Breaking into Philetor Grentor’s library was rewarded with a set of spellbooks holding powerful spells; a secret compartment with a light-gem, a compass, and 4 gas arrows, and occult books of general interest. A ground floor chamber – once the lair of the sorcerer Opangi Ord – was emptied of treasure, but held a map to a nearby island, marked with signs indicating the presence of Outworlders – the „demons of Thuzar-Yi” they had heard about? A mystery for another time. They turned their attention to the multi-level gallery above the enormous pile of treasure on the bottom. Attacking the weird ectoplasmic entities populating it drew them out, and the giant amoeboid blobs were defeated, although not easily. This allowed them to go about the central floor more easily, bypassing the obelisk creature guarding it from the north. A few rooms held a room of mists with phantasmal warriors, and a hallways of expensive floor tiles and ominous black sphinxes, judiciously avoided. In a gallery guarded by a phase spider, they found ominous relics from Fomalhaut’s first post-technological eras, including an ugly golden idol in an obviously trapped display case. But the real prize was found on a random detect magic sweep: a flying, invisible crystal ball in the gallery, netted and retrieved for later use.

Next came the topmost floor. There was another small library here, holding a tome sewn in human skin, with a screaming human face on it. This was, in fact, a mimic which almost caught and ate Bocephus, but was then chopped up. A room held a broken brass sphere with planetary rings hovering around it – as it later turned out, an orrery depicting the Planet Algol system, known for its demons. A secret door was discovered, and without an opening mechanism, knockspell used to throw it open – also opening a second one on the other side of the secret chamber. Here stood a weird metal pillar of intricate patterns, many inert glass eyes, and a console – something ancient, and now a mystery. The room beyond was an armoury of many swords, deathly cold. This was left for later as well. They now investigated the NW basement. One chamber held obvious treasures around an idol of the great frog-god Tsathoggus, gazing at them from a stone throne. Trying to nab the loot was not a great idea, as the god smiled slightly, and a grotesque, three-eyed frog demon appeared to protect the prizes, soon gating in a second companion. In this battle, luck left the company, and multiple PCs were almost killed – but finally, with great difficulty, they prevailed. The next day, their sponsor’s daughter, Hela al-Tyraxus sailed upriver to join them for a survey of the palace. The weird machine on the top floor was identified: an Abacus Pillar, a thinking device of the ancients. They inputted a set of instructions to advise whether the Arct could be returned to Fomalhaut with the aid of the rooftop Anomaly Device. After much deliberation, a roll of paper emerged, reading: „ERROR MARGIN MULTIPLIED 6XX /// PARM OVERLOAD POSSIBLE”. The plan no longer looked all that attractive. In the neighbouring room, they fought six animated weapons, and found a magical mace. Another room held a glyph-covered obelisk with powerful planar spells and arcane secrets, copied by rubbing parchments on it.

The Mysterious Brass Tablet

There was only one thing left to do: the enormous treasure pile on the bottom of the interconnected galleries, surrounded by weird, abstract statues and torn apart human remains. They descended vary carefully to the lower gallery, and swept the place with detection spells. No invisibles were found, but multiple items were pinned down as magical, and two traps found: one in a weird dimensional anomaly on the hall’s northern side, and the other on a display pedestal holding an ancient brass tablet under a crystal hemisphere. Expecting something horrible, they descended carefully, and started looting the pile. The vast quantity of coinage (in AD&D terms, 150,000 gp) was such that even a third of it  filled their portable hole to capacity. Trips had to be made to the ship to place the hoard in the hold, until finally, only the pedestal remained. There were no discernible physical traps, but it was obviously magically defended. Finally, a knockspell was used to unlock it, and monster summoning III to summon 2 ruffians and make them lift the hemisphere. Somehow, this worked: the trap didn’t activate. Underneath lie the Doorless Arct’s ultimate treasure: a tablet with a set of connected circles and old writing, displaying the secrets of the Techno-Hellenic age’s transportation gateway network. What they have come to ULTRAREALITY for was now theirs - but further adventures still beckoned!

Also announcing the special Floor Tile Merchant Awards! This adventure featured three instances of valuable construction materials to select the truly skilled ACKS players: silver roof cladding on a pavilion, precious stone floor tiles in a ransacked suite, and very pricy floor tiles in the sphinx hallway. Regrettably, the score for the awards was a round 0/3, as none of these were found. “I take this as a compliment”, noted Bocephus.

Deeper into the Temple of the Unknown God

23/06/2025 THISIUM

News from the doomed city of Thisium! A large company left Villa Cardone towards the ominous Temple of the Unknown God, emboldened by the previous, successful expedition. They approached the imposing, ancient structure carefully. Before the enormous entryway, Dorvo had himself lowered into one of the two cyclopean pits, filled with the bones and debris of the ages. Looking for treasure, he found what he sought, but also got attacked by a buried wight: however, his flaming sword made short work of the undead monster. They entered the interior, going East to a room shrouded in deep gloom, the source of incessant quarrelling. Two shadowy philosophers were debating whether Wisdom or Will was the supreme principle. Entering, Adonis Gratianus offered Love as the true principle as a compromise, but could not convince the irate wraiths. Finally, he chose Will, and the triumphant philosopher advised him to enter the southern door, and use the magic scroll there to gain new powers. Adonis did so, and was immediately turned into a wraith (new powers included), who proceeded to attack his companions. In this combat, Sigismondo Fiesi, distant kin to an extinct Thisian lineage, was drained and turned into yet another wraith; but they were both dispatched with the flaming sword and Aufidia Corvina’s cure light wounds spell. They drank to Adonis’ memory, and continued the expedition. The chamber to the north held an upright, locked metal cabinet surrounded by four pillars. Sensing trouble, they tied a coil of rope around the thing, and knocked it – from inside came growls and the sound of shifting coinage. An ambush was set, and the doors opened. Out came a royal mummy, throwing down it ornate mace, and spilling the pile of gold it was trodding on into the room. It was put down by Eriberto Barrella, who snatched up the mace, finding it a +2 weapon. To the west was a short corridor, where a secret door was discovered.

Beyond stretched a dusty and long-forgotten passage, leading to a massive chamber. Great columns rose to infinity and the starry gulfs of space. The centre was occupied by a dark pool, and Matrona Ladrona chucked in a silver coin to see if it hid any danger. That came all right, in the form of a massive 8-headed hydra. They fled quickly, slamming the secret door, which the beast could not break down. They chose to explore eastwards. A passage led to an intersection with a dark smear on the floor and old, rusty scrap here and there. Investigating carefully, they spotted 4 raised portcullises around the centre – a trap by the looks of it. Now checking the nearby room, they found it decorated with vivid frescoes of old kings and sages. Dorvo, sensing trickery, struck one of the figures with his fire sword, which shrieked and shifted – a doppelganger, flattening itself into a 2D plane. The four monsters were handily dispatched, but the empty room had no treasure. North, beyond the intersection, a recess to the West held three old brass levers. A slingstone was shot at them to make sure there was nothing tricky here, but there was: the „levers” animated as 3 metal snakes, slithering towards the party with incredible quickness. In this battle, Placidus, Adonis’ elderly servant, died to the serpents’ deadly poison, following his young master to the Netherworld. Other followers failed their morale checks and fled in panic. Weakened and wary of worse to come, they checked out one more room to the north, finding 4 alabaster gargoyles, and turning back instantly. They returned to their horses, and rode back to Villa Cardone to bring the bad news to Ottilia Cardone of the death of the man who had loved her and helped win back her inheritance. Two followers, Ancilla Ladruncola (who spoke the tongues of animals) and Daphnis (4th level Elf, travelling incognito) chose to retire from the party, adding to the dark mood. At this time, the city had 30 days left...

(Very appropriately, the full monster experience for the session came out at a round 666 XP. Perhaps the Unknown God’s hand was involved, or perhaps it was blind cosmic chance. Who knows what is true!)