Tomb of the Serpent Kings Play Report 05
Continued from here, where the party tangoed with a stone-cold reptile.
The Party:
GoodEye, a treasure-hunting Barber-Surgeon with body-modifications.
Talon, an Outrider blade for hire, seeking alternate streams of income.
Iwan, a Pale-folk haunted Half-witch, with a feathered companion.
Vex, A Half-witch with a budding interest in anthropology and an interesting buddy.
Session 5
A gravely injured Vex was led to the Green Dragon Inn atop Talon's war-horse Buckwheat. Vex needed a week to heal, so the party decided what to do with their downtime.
Vex and Iwan asked around and found that the church of the Five-Pointed Star trains it's priests in varying degrees of medical knowledge, and they offered it as a service. In place of a tithe, Vex returned the Star-Metal Mace he had found in the dungeon to Seer Marius, and took up the quest to return the bones of it's wielder for a proper burial.
Iwan, not happy with the prognosis that it would take at least a month to fully heal his broken leg, sought out the source of rumors among the towns farmers that a man was performing miracles. He found Oxbow, Brother of the Tideborn, preaching near an ancient statue of a river spirit. After a swim across the river, and an offering at the statue, Iwan's leg began healing at an unnatural rate.
Good-Eye spent his week in study with the Scholar Rolan, who lived on a manse on the hill. He was able to determine that BALTOPLAT was legible to them because it contained a True Name. Pouring over books and scrolls, they found many oblique references to Baltoplat. Often of fiends searching for Baltoplat, or boasting to be related or descended from them. None of the historical records indicated a primary interaction with the entity. Whatever the name belonged to, they were sure that it originated from the Roots, a realm of mystery and horror underground.
Three days after their retreat, the 20th of Sunrise, the full moon rose. Darkness coalesced in Vex. He had been feeling better, but the coldness was closer to death than he had ever felt. As he passed out that night, he felt a rasping voice from within his chest, "You'll not be rid of me that easily."
On the 23rd of Sunrise, 6 days after their retreat, they felt well enough to make the trek back to the Tomb. They stocked up on torches, rations, and new weapons.
There did not appear to be any major disturbances to the first floor, so Vex made sure to pile the bones of Beatrix at the entrance. That task done, the party delved back through the False Tomb, and down into the Upper Tomb Atrium. As they arrived they beheld a trail of dirt and debris leading from the northern tomb to the central pool. A skeletal snake-man was using a battle-axe to fish something out of the pool.
Iwan flew at it with the confidence of his newfound faith, and a ball-and-chain flail he purchased from some Rill Runners in town. He managed to topple the undead, but his allies weren't able to take advantage before it got back up using the battle-axe as a support, and swinging it at Iwan. It's recovery was short-lived, though, as Iwan used the momentum of dodging to lob another swing directly at the sternum, cracking open it's ribcage and letting it fall to pieces.
The party sat for a second, eating a quick lunch and catching their breath. Good-Eye then peaked into the ornamental stone door to the east to see if the stair trap was still triggered. When it appeared as a normal set of stairs, he came back to the party with a plan. The basilisk already sent them home once, he argued, so perhaps they should check to see what was down the trapped stairs. Not excited to face the lizard once again, the party assented. Talon wanted to sharpen his swords, so he let the party know he would catch up with them shortly.
They descended into a vast arena decorated with ornate shields around the perimeter. Most of the shields were rotted through and all had unrecognizable crests. In the center of the arena, the torch flickered against a 10 foot tall statue of a heavily armored knight with a cobra snake head. The statue made a horrible grinding noise when Vex stepped foot onto the sand of the arena, and then took a step towards the players. Pointing a huge dented sword, it uttered a single word:
"Interlopers!"
The party sprung into action to defend themselves against the Stone Cobra Guardian. When it pointed it's empty hand towards Iwan, he was expecting some attack. Instead, he narrowly dodged a shield flying at the back of his head from the wall. The colossus could summon the shields to him. Seeing this, Good-Eye dashed towards the south wall to grab one of the few intact shields just in time. The Guardian bent it's granite legs and leapt twenty feet to slam Good-Eye, sundering the shield and knocking him prone.
As Good-Eye scrambled out of sword-range, Vex tried preparing his mind for a spell. Iwan attempted an attack, but the flail bounced off. He was able to use the momentum to dodge a surprisingly fast cleave, but seconds later he was hit hard by another summoned shield. Rattled, he took a step back to refocus.
Next, Good-Eye and Vex tried to combo attack the monstrosity with a cudgel and Bone Saw. This was ineffective, and the tide was turning against the party. They were both attacked by the colossal sword. At the first smell of danger for his host, the Living Nightmare slipped out of Vex's eyes, nose, and throat like a puff of pipeweed.
As if on cue, Talon flew down the stairs with his longsword gleaming. A streak of steel and fury sundered the Guardian's shield. The Guardian tried turning away to hunt down a weakened Iwan, but the party were able to surround it. It finally began to show cracks and strains as the Nightmare jumped onto it's chest and sliced at weak-spots around it's thin neck, causing the head to topple off. The statue stood still.
To the east of the arena, the wall was open to a natural cavern with a sudden drop to a vast abyss full of darkness.
Warden Commentary
Since I knew the party was bound to return to Blackcrossing, I did a little bit of worldbuilding. Typically in Cairn downtime happens between sessions, but I don't think there is any harm in roleplaying first interactions. I quickly generated a few NPC's with the Kettlewright Tools and got this list:
Owner of the Green Dragon:
Name: Neria
Background: General, left the Marchguard.
Virtue: Suave
Vice: Sarcastic
Quirk: Limps
Goal: Freedom
Town Speaker:
Name: Lysander
Background: Lord, was representative of the city nobles before elected to town speaker.
Virtue: Cautious
Vice: Naive
Quirk: Heavy Brow
Goal: Defense
Tideborn Brother:
Name: Oxbow
Background: Laborer
Virtue: Discreet
Vice: Pedantic
Quirk: Grimy
Goal: Justice
Five-Pointed Star Seer:
Name: Marius
Background: Monk
Virtue: Pragmatic
Vice: Deceptive
Quirk: Young
Goal: Expansion
Scholar:
Name: Rolan
Background: Academic
Virtue: Cautious
Vice: Stubborn
Quirk: Gaunt
Goal: Integration
Blacksmith:
Name: Alder
Background: Blacksmith
Virtue: Cautious
Vice: Naive
Quirk: Strong
Goal: Unity
I edited a bit for more interesting potential engagement. For example, since I rolled up a former general that limps for Neria, I thought it would be dramatic to make her a former Marchguard. Their oath is bound in blood and is not supposed to be broken. Likewise, I figured Oxbow and Marius would be at odds with each other. I am trying to inform the setting and central tension of the world a little bit with those two and Lysander.
Lysander was basically a tax collector, but whatever "imperial" power he served has receded from the river valley for most of his lifetime. He was well liked and he could read, so they elected him Town Speaker.
Taking some inspiration from The Valley of Flowers, my church of the Five-Pointed Star is hierarchical and thus beholden to empire. As such, Oxbow represents the return of folk/pagan religions in the region. Whether he actually remembers the rituals of Rivulus, rediscovered them, or is making them up is immaterial. The Tideborn are a newer and rising force in the region.
I don't know if it's quite anti-canon, but I want to leave most of my setting unknown to the players and I. For example, I am not going to flesh out the distant imperial empire. Their tentative influence in the region is preceded by their refilling of frontier posts with young and educated priests like Marius.
I created a local map based off of the Setting Seed rules for Cairn 2e, but I might get into that on a forthcoming blog post this week.
The player for Talon was late to the session, but logged in at the perfect time. The Stone Cobra Guardian is meant to teach players to "pick where you fight carefully." The party did not try to run, and could have easily been defeated, but Talon used a Wyrmbone Whetstone on his longsword, which made it do enhanced (1d12) damage.
One piece of self-critique for me: I didn't describe the chasm until near the end of the fight. I was thinking too literally about the torch radius, and not about how more informed players can do more interesting maneuvers. Near the end of the fight they did briefly consider throwing him off of the edge, though.
Though they fought through, it wasn't without cost. I believe several players took strength damage, and Talon actually took critical damage near the end of the fight. The players stocked up on bandages and leeches this time, so we will be delving deeper into the...
Tomb of the Serpent Kings!