Log of Adventures & House Rules in S'mon's Tabletop 'Eastmark' Game
2012 Sessions (YY 96)
12th February - s1 Black Fang's Dungeon (12/2/96)
11th March - s2 Crypt of the Everflame I (11/3/96)
25th March - s3 Crypt of the Everflame II
29th April - s4 Asad's Keep (29/4/96)
27th May - s5 The Green Friends (YY 6/6/96 to 11/6/96)
24th June - s6 The Dark Chateau I (13/6/96)
15th July - s7 The Dark Chateau II (13-14/6/96)
7th August - s8 (27/8/96) - The Return of Black Fang
12th August - s9 (11-20/9/96) - The River Pirates
15th August - s10 (20-21/9/96) - Clearing of Castle Caldwell 1
17th September - s11 (22/9/96) - Clearing of Castle Caldwell 2
The default scenario for this campaign is that the PCs are members of the Swordsmen's Brotherhood, Yggsburgh's guild of mercenaries and adventurers, hired by patrons for various dangerous missions.
The game takes place at the London D&D Meetup, roughly every 2-4 weeks, and sessions are open to anyone who would like to drop in! I use the very simple Pathfinder Beginner Box rules. The game discussion thread is here.
For this campaign, game time between adventures passes at the same rate as real-world time, with YY 96 = AD 2012.
Brotherhood 'Grogs'
These NPCs are junior mercenaries, typically men kicked out of the City Guard for drunken-ness and insubordination. They may also have left the service of a Knight or other noble. They usually come with little equipment, having sold it for ale & whores, but are battle-trained and can be persuaded to join a mission if fully equipped and promised an equal share of the loot and pay. While physically tough, their morale tends to be shaky unless well-led.
LOG
Adventure One: Black Fang's Lair 12/2/96
12/2/96: On the 12th M2 in the Yggs Year 96, as old snow lies hard on the frosted ground, Alicia Hawkes hires four adventurers at the Swordsmen's Brotherhood to deal with a 'large lizard', nicknamed Black Fang, that has been stealing livestock from the frightened peasants of the Hawkes estates south of Serpent Ridge. Next day (13/2) the four track the beast down to a dungeon complex just south of the ridgeline; drive it from its lair, and seize its treasure. But the beast, a black dragon, escapes. The group finish clearing the dungeon (14/2), then rest in a nearby hamlet. The following day (15/2) the group track down the monster to a cold cave on the icy southern banks of Cold Springs Run...
Only one adventurer, the Elfin maid Alikara, returns to Yggsburgh, with news that her three comrades have fallen in battle against the beast.
Adventure Two: Crypt of the Everflame I, 11/3/96
11/3/96: Early Spring in the Eastmark. A time for celebration, for the wakening of new life and the festival of Son's Rebirth. But some dark power has seized the Crypt of the Everflame, sacred to the memory of the hero Ekat Kassen who two centuries before had saved the young town of Yggsburgh from his former comrade, the warlord Asar Vergas, at cost of his own life. Both men were interred in an ancient crypt that dated back to the time of the Cnobrii savages; an ever-burning flame placed above Kassen's tomb, so that all who visited might find warmth in the wilderness. For decades the dungeon-chambers of the Crypt have been used to train novitiate Clerics of the Great Church in battle and spellcraft.
But now something is wrong - since the turn of the new year, pilgrims and travellers have fled in fear, reporting that terror lurks in the tomb, or have not returned at all. And now the two Temple priests Gerol and Vark sent to conduct an exorcism there have not returned - neither have their four companions - two lay brethren torchbearers (Roldare & Dimira) and two temple guards. So the priests of the Great Church turn to the unorthodox personnel of the Swordsmen's Brotherhood...
Kyra of Neria, a crusading Cleric of St Saranrae, was sent by the Venerable Reginald Viner of the Outland Temple. At the Swordsmen's Brotherhood she recruited the Elf adventurers Cam the Fighter & Alikara the Rogue; together they left Yggsburgh riding on their asses, and travelled east along the River High Road to the Two Pikes Tavern (prop. Kevin Glenward) - on approach at dusk they were ambushed by 3 orcs; but Cam held them off until travellers from the Tavern intervened; the last orc fled into the night.
Alikara and Kyra were badly wounded, it took 3 days' rest (12-14/3/96) before they were restored to health. On 15/3/96 the trio took the ferry over South Eel River and headed east 2 miles or so to where a track led south into the rough wooded hills. Two miles or so on, the group descended a scree slope into a ravine, and reached the Crypt of the Everflame, finding the horses of the prior expedition slaughtered. They entered the crypt, battled undead guardians and rescued Roldare, a Lay Brother of the Great Church who said his sister had also been with the prior expedition, and might still live. After facing traps and crypt guardians, including a terrible wood golem, the group retreated to rest in the wooded ravine, but were attacked that night by wolves, a bloody fight ensued.
On morning of 16/3/96, the group entered the Crypt once more, facing more challenges. After a battle with Bloody Bones undead, they stood victorious, and before them lay steps down to the second level of the Crypt, where Kassen's bones were said to be interred...
Adventure Three: Crypt of the Everflame II
16/3/96: Leaving the Crypt a little after noon, outside the adventurers met two more Swordsmen sent from the Swordsmen's Brotherhood to find out what had happened to them: the big Northman barbarian Kriis and the rather androgynous elf wizard, Quen. Alikara the Elf Rogue departed, while Cam the Elf Fighter and Kyra the Cleric camped outside the Crypt. That night a giant beetle wandered out, but was soon dispatched.
17/3/96: The group re-entered the Crypt, finding that they had to fight through arrow-trap and re-constituted Bloody Bones skeletons to reach the lower level, where they found a healing font, battled giant frogs, avoided azure fungus, and defeated a skeleton horde to raise a portcullis. They rested overnight by the font of Kassen, before continuing on.
18/3/96: Having fought through necrotic water-trap, hordes of bats, and a rushing-statue trap, at last the group reached the Tomb of Kasen, where Kasen's ancient enemy, the warlord Asar, awaited them as a Skeletal Champion with his remaining minions. A fierce battle ensued, but the heroes at last triumphed, and the power of Saranrae destroyed Asar and the Everflame blew away his dust. The ghost of Kassen appeared, thanked and rewarded the heroes with gifts from his tomb.
With the Crypt of the Everflame cleansed of evil once more, the weary heroes could return victorious to Yggsburgh.
Adventure Four: Asad's Keep: 29/4/96
95 years ago, the combined armies of Redfort and Easmoor besieged Yggsburgh. Commanding the forces of Easmoor was a mercenary warlord, the brilliant Easterling General Asad. Asad based himself in an old keep in the Deerwood east of Yggsburgh, from where he directed the siege. When destruction rained down upon the besiegers in YY 1, a terrible earthquake struck the keep. It collapsed into rubble, burying Asad and all his best men. In time, trees grew over the rubble, and it passed from memory.
Recently, a group of four Brotherhood Swordsmen found a way into the tunnels beneath the fallen Keep. But shortly after entering they were attacked by a hideous undead beast, which overwhelmed the war-maid Maria Zergo. Her comrades fled in terror.
The Zergo family offer 50gp if Maria's body can be recovered for burial. In addition, General Asad's war-chest was never recovered; a fortune in Easmoor gold may still lie somewhere under the Keep. Asad is also rumoured to have possessed a very valuable treasure, a gift from the Count of Easmoor called the Jade Katana.
A group of six Swordsmen enter the Keep dungeon in the Deerwood, encounter Maria Zergo now turned into a ghoul, defeat her and her progenitor ghoul, monsters and goblins, led by a strange creature, a Skulk. Pursuing the Skulk into caves beneath the dungeons, they defeat a terrible Manticore and eventually catch and slay the Skulk, recovering the Jade Katana. The Guild rewards them with 2,000gp.
Adventure Five: The Green Friends 6/6/96
The Green Friends gnome clan of the Lonely Valley has not been heard from in over a year, and the merchants of Yggsburgh are growing desperate for the rare minerals the gnomes trade. A local scout (Vansley Adams) sent to check up on them has not returned, either. Now the Merchants' Guild is asking the Swordsmen's Brotherhood to definitively find out what has happened to the Green Friends. If they have been vanquished, the Swordsmen are to clean out any evil forces from the gnome mines, and restore them to use. A reward of up to 1,000gp will be paid for success in this endeavour.
27th May 2012 - Adventure 5 The Green Friends (YY 6/6/96 to 11/6/96)
XP
Fight/Bargain with Dirty George's brigands at Garham - 1200
Kill Ogre on the Greenridge - 800
Defeat 4 Wererat Guards - 800
Defeat 5 Goblins in the Green Friends tunnels - 635
Quest XP - report Fate of the Green Friends - 200
Destroy Wight near Hawfair Green - 800
Total: 4435/3 PC = 1478 XP each to Cam, Alan & Kyra.
24th June 2012 - Adventure 6 The Dark Chateau I (13/6/96)
XP
2 gnolls in forest - 400
6 rats in stable - 480
12 rats in kitchen - 960
6 goblins in kitchen - 600
Encounter with ghost in library - 400
Exploration/looting - 600
Total: 3440/3 = 1146 XP each to Cam, Alan, & Kyra.
15th July 2012 - Adventure 7 The Dark Chateau II (13-14/6/96)
XP
3 PCs (Cam, Kyra, Alan)
Magic Owlbear Statue CR 5 1600 XP
Exploring Upper Level CR 1 400 XP
Phase Spider CR 3 800 XP
Bodiless Head CR 4 1200 XP
Trapped Chest CR 5 1600 XP
Total: 5600/3 = 1866
Alan the Elf killed by poison gas chest trap.
2 PCs
Escaping Mansion CR 1 400 XP
2 Goblin Archers in forest CR 1 400 XP
Total: 800/2 = +400 XP
Kyra the Cleric killed by goblin arrow in the back.
Total XP to Cam: 2266 XP.
M8 YY 96 - Norsemen from the River Jarldoms under Jarl Vungard Bloodhand attempt a raid on the Westfields, but are soon driven off by Yggsburgh milita. They do manage to sack a riverside brewery, and several dozen drunken vikings are left behind by the retreating longships.
27/8/96 - Adventure 8 'Return of Black Fang' - hired by Alicia Hawkes to kill the returned Black Fang, the Swordsmen end up arranging a weekly sheep tribute to Fang and his new Medusa friend.
11-20/9/96 - Adventure 9 - 'The River Pirates' - on way to clear 'Castle Caldwell' of vermin, the Swordsmen encounter Gold Hal and his River Pirates attacking a metal barge at the Glittering Knobs loading wharfs. They sneakily free Lady Octavia Redfort and when Bloody Rosie leads a pursuit they capture her and take her to Yggsburgh Gaol (12/9); then return Octavia to Castle Redfort where they are feasted for a week (to ca 20/9). Heading back east they defeat a gang of highwaymen attempting to rob an inn, then meet a strange old woman at the Bowbridge toll cottage, washing blood from the walls - she tells them that the family was killed by two trolls from the Great Leech Marsh.
The Lady Octavia de Redfort, sister of the Baron Lyle Redfort, rescued by the hero Andarc from the clutches of Gold Hal and the River Pirates.
21/9/96 Adventure 10 - Castle Caldwell - The Swordsmen are joined by Cam and spend the night at the cottage of the old woman, after midnight her sleeping form appears warty, blue and black-taloned - a shapeshifter? They leave next morning and head to the bluffs two miles east, whereon sits Castle Caldwell. There they adventure, fighting goblins, killing Norsemen, stirges and other foes, and gathering much wealth.
22/9/96 Adventure 11 - Clearing of Castle Caldwell 2 - Cam reports back to Yggsburgh; Andarc and Tymir are joined by the Swordsmen Hagan the Pagan (Norseman) and Zamurai the Elf warrior. They camp overnight in the old dining room, then finish clearing the castle of serpent, fire beetles, a giant shrew, and a skeleton warrior. One door cannot be opened, being magically sealed, but the party manage to get in through the roof and find stairs leading down. In the grim catacombs below they are ambushed by a Grey Ooze, which eats Zamurai and Tymir while Andarc flees; Hagan manages to destroy it. The two survivors return towards Yggsburgh; at the Toll Cottage by the river bridge they overhear the 'old woman', a blue-skinned Hag, conversing with her sons, two Trolls who want her to return with her to the swamp. She refuses and they depart, annoyed. When Hagan and Andarc approach openly, she has resumed her human guise, and offers them cookies. They return to Yggsburgh to report to Clifton Caldwell and get paid.
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