Amberpeak campaign. Episodes 11-15 - Actual Play.

As I mentioned, we’re switching to English-only posts on my Amberpeak campaign. Details of the setting and houserules I adopted can be found in the previous post.

We’re playing the game weekly, so it’s time to summarize last five episodes (more or less last, we are already after game session 16). As a reminder - APs from previous episodes were published as appendices to Polish posts, you can find a complete list here.

Since this is the first post of the series, some comment on the format. First, I’ll list all of the characters who took part in the adventures. It’ll be a bit of a spoiler, since I’ll indicate which ones didn’t make it. Then goes the proper AP with description of events in more or less chronological order, peppered with my meta-comments (in italics). And finally, a broader comment on the course of the game in last five episodes. Let me know, if that’s legible. Of course, it’s good to know what happened previously and what is the setting premise - without such knowledge the AP will be quite cryptic. If you haven’t read it yet - go see the summary of previous episodes (for the third time: here).

The maps will be in Polish, however I don’t think it’ll be difficult to figure out what is where. If it is - let me know.

Since we play every week, you can expect the next AP to arrive in a month or so.

Enjoy!

Starring:
(player names in parenthesis)

Philip 
(SB), F-M 1, STR 12, INT 12, WIS 6, DEX 14, CON 11, CHA 13, HP 2, AC 2, 
RETIRED

Hieronymus 
(SB), F-M 1, STR 11, INT 16, WIS 13, DEX 11, CON 12, CHA 6, HP 6, AC 2, 
RETIRED

Haggai 
(KK), C 1, STR 13, INT 9, WIS 11, DEX 5, CON 11, CHA 14, HP 2, AC 2. 
DECEASED

Micah 
(KK), F-M 1, STR 13, INT 16, WIS 7, DEX 7, CON 17, CHA 11, HP 5, AC 2

Homer 
(KJ), M-U 2, STR 9, INT 15, WIS 7, DEX 14, CON 9, CHA 13, AC 9, HP 4, SP 3

Zeno 
(KS), M-U 3, STR 10, INT 15, WIS 12, DEX 12, CON 8, CHA 7, AC 9, HP 6, SP 5, 
DECEASED

Pluto 
(KS), F-M 2/M-U 2, STR 17, INT 12, WIS 12, DEX 8, CON 13, CHA 7, AC 9, HP 5, SP 2

Ares 
(Maks), F-M 1, STR 11, INT 8, WIS 6, DEX 15, CON 11, CHA 8, AC 2, HP 5, 
DECEASED

Kai 
(Maks), C 1, STR 8, INT 12, WIS 9, DEX 7, CON 4, CHA 13, AC 2, HP 1

PCs witness an execution performed by Hipostas the Green (an Enchanter): he throws some poor fella into the pit with some tentacled monster. People of Kepoi are shocked.

PCs decide to travel to the Barrow Forest in the south. They get lost and wander around for several days, finding only a bearded face carved in a tree. Eventually they leave the woods and travel the steppe to the Teeth of Tethys - twin towers guarding the river. They collect some flowers, which results in mass hallucinations and Haggai is accidently killed by one of the retainers. Near the towers they meet a mad young man in manacles, badly burned and mumbling about some ghosts and a flash of light. Eventually he runs away to the south.

Back in Castle Kepoi the retainers form some kind of a trade union and start demanding improvement of work conditions.

I roll for “other adventures” with story cubes which are a great inspiration. I also add a d6 to decide whether such adventure will be detrimental or beneficial for the party. There are no neutral adventures - nobody would give a damn. Journey to the forest proved to be uneventful despite three dozens of dice rolled.

Wilderness adventure proved to be not so rewarding, so the party decided to stay in the castle for a while. They investigated some old rumors, but nothing interested was discovered. They also started a series of experiments and technical improvements, like rat-lamps made from living vermin doused with water of glare (found on the first level of the dungeon). During one of the nights a black fog crawls around the city, they collect some of it to glass jars and later experiment on. Later they learned that such fogs origin from the Misty Vale in the west.

PCs talk to Hipostas, he reveals that the execution was just a hoax to ward off people from the pit, which contains loads of treasure. PCs hire themselves to collect the treasure and delve into the pit. They find that probably someone is experimenting on parasitic centipedes using human hosts. They fight some giant centipedes and collect platinum slabs with biological schematics. They hand them over to Hipostas (after making a copy...).

The next day they delve once more, but this time they battle a massive group of centipedes and retreat, finding nothing of use.

Well, tell me that OD&D is not about fighting monsters. A battle with 18 centipedes resulted in gaining 5400 xp, more than ever. Obviously, when a 10 HD monster is guarding a 30k gp treasure, it’s not worth fighting, but rather getting the treasure without a fight. But for low-level characters mortal combat is the main source of experience (100xp per HD, that’s a massive amount).

Pit of Several Dozen Centipedes, level 1 (explored so far)

Since no retainers are available in Kepoi, PCs travel to Fort Abila and recruit a group of Amazons. On their way back they encounter a group of Obbols (large humanoids with thick skin) under command of Aimar, but they con their way out.

At night, Homer is visited by some mysterious people and handed a rusty helmet marked with a rune corresponding to one of the signs on his magic chest.

In the morning  they delve to the first level of main dungeon and collect 10 barrels of water of glare. Then, they visit Berenice and apologize for trying to Charm her. As a token of friendship they give her a wand found some time ago in the dungeon. They reconciled, but the old cordial friendship was no more.

Pluto and Zeno decide that they want to visit their former tutor - Aristotle, residing on the Glass Hills. They venture and visit Fort Abila on the way. There, Pluto’s falcon was eaten, trail leading to a local herbalist. She was magically put to sleep by Zeno, the PCs searched the house and found a Bag of Holding and a scroll of Telekinesis/Detect Evil. They took the loot and left the fort, heading to the steppe in the north to lose the chase (as the case may have been). They encounter a group of Steppe People riders, but PCs manage to bribe them. At night they are ambushed by soldiers from Abila, but a well placed Charm settles the matter (“we are not the thieves you are looking for”).

Another example of other adventures which lead to quite interesting outcomes. I rolled 1 in 6 in order to check whether the herbalist has any magic items.

Finally, they head for the hills. They encounter a red robed rider on a Manticore and force them to retreat. At night they are ambushed by 24 swine-men. Retainers have morale crisis, but eventually the battle was won, unfortunately,  Ares dies in the process.

They arrive at the Temple of Aristotle. They are allowed inside and talk to the great stone statue of the Wizard. Zeno is trying to by cocky, so the statue burns him to a pile of ash with red death rays. A Geas is placed upon the rest of the party - they are ordered to find “three hearts and three lions” within three months.

Well, that was unexpected. The players visited Aristotle before, so they should have known that he is not the man to be messed with. In addition, I rolled badly on reaction, and the result was an instant disintegration. Zeno was the last PC from the original party from game session 1. It’s a pity, he was not so far from getting to level 4.

The party travels back to Kepoi, trying to avoid getting near Fort Abila. They encountered and charmed a trader (Eumenes), who gave them a lift to Kepoi and promised to help in their businesses. In Kepoi they try to figure out the riddle of three hearts and three lions, but to no avail. They also start organizing a boxing tournament. It draws attention of local thugs and their leader Ione, but they are pacified by a well placed Charm. Eventually, the wanna-be racketeers are employed as bouncers for the tournament.

Land of Koban explored so far. Aristotles temple in the NE.

Charm Person spell is a powerful boost to all social interactions. Our M-Us employ it whenever they can, soon most of the land will be under their influence. I allow a re-roll of the Saving Throw vs Spells after a month (full moon cycle) lapses.

Our team decides to delve into the dungeon. They go down to level 3 and then climb to level 2. They find some ethereal statues, burial sites and secret doors and dispatch a Black Pudding. They decide to turn back and leave when they reach a large hall covered in thick cobweb. They are assisted by winged red eyes which float about and point at seemingly random sections of the wall, but eventually indicate a secret wall. PCs try to bring it down, but are attacked by two Medusas and retreat after defeating the monsters. When they leave the dungeon, on level 3 they are attacked by a Spectre of a lizard-man warrior. They flee in panic, leaving one retainer sucked dry of life energy.

Castle Kepoi dungeon, level 2 (explored so far)

As a summary: we have some recurring tropes, I believe that the players will try to explore the whole dungeon under Castle Kepoi and only then advance to new adventures elsewhere. Wilderness adventures were not very successful, they rather led to loss of resources. One of the PCs rolled to have a treasure map during the character creation phase - maybe they’ll try to find the hoard when their purses will become empty (soon, very soon...).

The players are very active. They come up with new ideas and new businesses to make in the game every session. Sometimes it looks more like they are coming to the table with a ready adventure to be played, instead of expecting to be served with an adventure.

We had some reconstruction in the group, two players left, one was introduced. Two of three characters now in play reached levels beyond first, Pluto even multiclassed and advanced in both M-U and F-M classes. I’m really looking forward to a higher level play, the more the characters have to offer to the setting, the more fun.