Our HEROES! fought off the beast, only to get showered with follow-up quests. And that was before the unlucky swanling merchant Dinadan hauled his broken cart into town. He too was attacked by the goblins. But why was he traveling from cursed Mt. Gale?
It's time to solve mysteries and hunt for owlbear! Our heroes will find the beast laired in the antechamber of the TOMB OF THE SERPENT KINGS. They will bring back treasure worth almost 700 gold pieces, enough to live in comfort for weeks without working!
See the bottom of the post for a list of loot found and experience points earned. (TotSK afficionados: I've upped the value of items and added treasures.) Much still awaits to be salvaged, and this is just in the upper parts of this tomb...
Update: part two of the TotSK delve is up!
OUR HEROES*
* heroic attitude assumed until proven otherwise.- Aju - Fishling barbarian, kind of a loner. Shark face. Awesome mini found and being painted as I write this. Player: GJ.
Squeek - Mouseling rogue, earns his keep as a ratcatcherreplaced by:- Mike - human fighter (folk hero background). Mike's player B is our patron saint of randomness and chaos. He originally random rolled a human fighter, rerolled to a mouseling rogue, then recanted. Mike has the folk hero background and is well liked by the common people. Has a cart and mule. Likes animals.
- Lomin Mor - Elf rogue. Not his real name. Dealmaker, hustler, thief. Mr. Mor to you. Has an awesome background and absolutely secret second identity as Lady Olga, the lady of the neighbouring fief Cullfield. No-one knows. Read only if you're not one of my players, or if you can keep secrets well. Player: PH
- Guy - human wizard (diviner) of the Lodge. Employed by baron Kerjules as sign-finder and smuggler-spotter. Sent with the group to monitor proceedings. Haunted by a past encounter with the supernatural and loaded with precautionary silver shavings, holy symbol, stakes and garlic. Penniless otherwise. Player: L.
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| I like my paper minis, but this guy is something else! |
Sir not present for this session:
- Tilbørd Bjornsson - Human cleric and deacon priest of the Olmadician Order. Player: R, who tends to dig into and ask for more background
THEIR QUESTS, TASKS AND MISSIONS
- bring back the head of the owlbear to squire Silas Kerjules, and bring back Dinadan's servant Guy (no relation to the party wizard) and stolen merchandise for a 100 gp TAX FREE reward by the lord Kerjules.
blackmailinformation on Annabelle's dealings. Dinadan the merchant was attacked near the herb garden of Annabelle the deerling potion maker. Has she stirred up trouble? Inn keeper Orbat the hawkling wants to know what riled up the goblins to burn down his inn. He offers a 100 gp reward for Also TAX FREE, in that the entire deal was made in secret.- Aju already solved this one: Annabelle confided she had a deal with the goblins to give them gifts in return for access to the area. She is too sick and shaken to go with, but gives Aju a healing potion and a pig to take to the goblins. That should calm them down.
- actually, there was one more thing stolen from the cart, confides Dinadan: a triple-locked box that he was delivering to...parties unknown. Retrieve the chest and receive 50 gp, the entire contents of Dinadan's purse.
AND NOW, THE LOG
- the group heads south from Crossroads, using Mike's mule and cart to haul supplies. Finding the spot where Dinadan was attacked, they follow owlbear tracks (and faraway hooting) west into the foresty hills. Further south broods Mt. Gale with dread Sir Ulric the undying knight. The owlbear makes a lot of noise hunting at night, but doesn't approach their camp.
- next morning, the group presses on through the forest to a bare hilltop with a rocky outcrop. Lomin and Guy know the terrain well and think this might be right on the border between fiefs Kerjules (where they belong to) and Cullfield, where widowed Lady Olga rules.
- Who has a claim here? Could Lady Olga try the group for poaching?
- The smell of owlbear is strong near the entrance to a cave. Lomin peers inside and sees the rock and soil give way to a stone corridor with siderooms. More smell of owlbear. And pained snoring. The beast is still hurt after being axed by Aju!
- A typical player discussion follows on options: head in, smoke out the beast, lure it out? In the end, they lure the owlbear out of its cave with Aju's pig tied to a tree, then ambush it.
- Aju jumpt from a tree, gets mauled by the owlbear and staggers back with cracked ribs!
- Lomin hammers the owlbear with arrows from atop the rocky outcrop.
- Guy looses one of his spells: magic missile! 5e rules mean that the spell does not d4+1, but a whopping 3d4+3 damage.
- An arrow to the chest by Lomin can finish off the monster. It's head is taken. But not tied to Mike's cart, who as an animal lover is not too happy about the poor pig being sacrificed for tactical advantage.
Owlbear - like this? (4e manual) 
Or like this bad boy?
Used over/under initative: those who can beat a preset difficulty on a dex check go before the owlbear, others go later. Reroll every round for added feel of danger!
People who know Tomb of the Serpent Kings (and if you don't and aren't one of my players, how did you find this blog??) might want to follow along. This group is very careful to avoid any danger. Perceived or otherwise. "This rung feels loose, let's all avoid it."- Aju's player GJ takes mapping duty (using an entire page of my notebook per room ;)
- Lomin and Mike's players PH and B have been taking notes about loot and NPCs.
My own annotated map of the group's exploration. - After patching up their wounds, the group agrees to investigate the cave/tunnel. Mildewy, with rootlets piercing the ceiling. Torches reveal side rooms on either side of the corridors. The script on the walls is cursed Du'van, the necromancer tongue. Weirder still are the hollow snakefolk statues lying in open sarcophagi. Weren't those a fairytale to scare little kids with? Guy carefully explores and sniffs out an acrid taste near the terracotta warriors.
- All statues remain unbroken, including one of a sorceror with a golden ring (not taken).
- Inside a huge owl pellet, the group finds a purse with a total of 7 gold pieces.
- The stonework is excellent. Stone worked this well is valuable.
- It's going to be a pain to find out which noble has claim to this place. It is right on the border between two fiefs. Guy advocates taking all findings back to Sir Haine Kerjules, but Lomin argues to curry favor with Lady Olga.
- At the end of the hallway is a stone door barred with a stone beam. Lifting it from the metal hooks in the wall causes the hooks to rise...the group thinks about building a pulley from a spear but in the end lets Mike use his maul to shatter the hooks.
- A section of ceiling swings down with murderous force, but Mike manages to dodge!
- The trap slowly resets as the hammer recedes back into the ceiling.
- The stone bar is not replaced, so the trap, for now, remains unarmed.
- Behind the door: a large chamber with three more sarcophagi on a dais. "Here lies the King of Du'van", says the mural, but Guy isn't buying it. The Du'van were supposedly some enormous empire of heretics - they wouldn't bury their king with a couple of trinkets! This must be a fake tomb...
- These sarcophagi go unexplored as well.
- ...to hide the deeper tomb that the group finds after exploring a shrine off the main chaimber with another snake statue, this one hiding a narrow climb down. The group heads down carefully, avoiding a loose rung on the way.
- The climb opens up into a wide hallway with more snakemen statues, warriors holding sharp glaives. Expecting a trap, the team is careful - and finds a secret doorway behind a slightly misaligned statue. Behind is a guard station with decayed wooden furniture, but two very servicable glaives (worth 20 gp each). And a silver snake god statuette worth 5 gp.
- Onwards? The hallway ends in an octogonal room with a basin of blackish water in the middle. Aju leans in when he sees something shiny, even sticking his fish face into the water...
- to get surprised by two lightning fast mummified hands! They crawl all over him, looking for a soft spot. He rips one off and throws it back in the water. The other latches on, but Mike "helps" with his maul.
- first natural fumble of the game: Mike's player chooses to damage Aju (the pig thing still isn't sitting right with our animal lover) rather than chipping his maul. MORE cracked ribs for Aju!
- hammer and axe make short work of the claws after this initial fuck-up.
- dredging the pool yields:
- a crazy babbling mummified head of a snake person. Keep for your study or wreck it? It gets wrecked rather than sold as a collector's item.
- a heavy gold chain worth 35 gp
- bracelets worth 11 gp
- a magical silver ring with an eye symbol worth 70 gp
- The doors off the octogonal chamber are carefully explored. Most have writings in Du'van above them. The northern doors seem to be tombs and yield, left to right, the following information: sounds of crackling lightning and the smell of ozone ("this stays closed"), a cave-in leading to a room with a crazed, animated snakeman skeleton with a beautiful axe ("this guy can just sit there for a while"), and a door with the smell of acid and sound of bubbling ("keep it closed, closed, CLOSED").
These closed doors seem dangerous. Open them if you're up for a challenge - and rich reward.
The stairs to the east lead down into darkness and emit a cold wind. Not explored yet. The central southern door leads to a cave-in where the roof gave way. Nothing to find here. - The rightmost door to the south of the chamber is half ajar. Inside is a decayed library of the Du'vanku priests.
- A mural, reads Guy, describes how they lost all contact with the Empire after a disastrous event in the skies. Their mage lord Xiximanter decided to have his Du'vanku contingent dig in. And release all the slaves and experimental subjects into the surrounding area.
- A golden statuette of yet another blasphemous serpent deity. Good for 20 gp.
- Below a pile of scrolls (still being decyphered by Guy) is a surprise: the foot and corpse of a human nun of the Authority's Silent Order of St. Gustav! Sarah Venner, according to her diary, was exploring this Du'vanku pit of blasphemy. Then a falling roof block caved in the book shelf and her head.
- Sarah's belongings: a cyphered diary (25 gp if returned to the church), a prayerbook with her spells (100 gp), gem-encrusted bones to cast auguries (25 gp), and four packets of powders in waxed paper, labeled midnight wine and blood of glory. Value, if identified, 110 gp.
- Sarah's prayers to the Authority: 1st level - bless, cure wounds, detect magic, detect poison and disease, guiding bolt, sanctuary. 2nd level - augury, enhance ability.
- The last room explored is full of statues of individual snakefolk warriors. Someone put in a lot of work here to fuel the snakefolk myth. Behind a crooked-looking statue is a secret corridor. It leads to a sliding door, easily found on this side but probably hidden on the other. Two peep holes show darkness on the other side.
- Something big and musty, lizard-smelling is moving in there with big heavy steps and the clanking of a chain. Sometimes it sniffs and honks, alone and hungry.
- The group WISELY does not open the door. Except for Mike, who sneaks back, slides open the door (which plows through fallen mosaic tiles) and throws in a torch before closing the door again.
- Through the peep holes, Mike sees the torch's wood petrify before even the flames turn to glass, then shatter. But not before they show the biggest, hugest basilisk ever heard of, a titan 15 feet long where its cousins measure a foot. On its neck is a black iron collar and visor which can maybe be lowered. Mike RUNS and is happy to find that his petrified cheek slowly turns to flesh again.
- Had enough? The group has. They head back outside for fresh air. And think to seek out Annabelle's herb garden for more clues.
- Mike spots Goblin tracks here, and marks where heavy chests were hauled.
- Guy the diviner doesn't think much of the garden - these plants aren't enough to source the magic potions that Annabelle is selling. Where is she getting those?
- Lomin discovers a nearby tree, twisted and gnarly and hiding a narrow path down into darkness. It stinks of Goblin and sounds like their chittering, deep down.
- Aju breaks into Annabelle's garden shack. He finds potions of healing (downed immediately, worth 50 gp), and two unidentified ones that look like asphalt and make you speak In Ye Olden Ways (100 gp, speak with dead?) and one that makes him shrink an inch after taking a sip (shrink? If so, 100 gp).
Next session, the players will probably head back for Crossroads, because their loot bags are full and their rations and torches gone. Will they actually follow this plan? Gods only know.
LOOT FOUND
golden ring on hollow statue of a snakeman sorceror (not taken)coin purse (7 gp)
two glaives (20 gp each)
silver snake god statuette (5 gp)
heavy gold chain (35 gp)
bracelets worth (11 gp)
magical silver ring with an eye symbol (70 gp)
golden snake god statuette (20 gp)
Sarah Venner's cyphered diary (25 gp)
Sarah Venner's prayerbook of spells (100 gp)
gem-encrusted bones to cast auguries (25 gp)
four waxed paper packets of midnight wine (100 gp) and blood of glory (10 gp)
potion of healing (50 gp)
potion of speak with dead? (100 gp)
potion of shrink? (100 gp)
Total: 698 gp = 698 xp
Outstanding tasks: 250 gp = 250 xp
Owlbear's head, both Guy and merchandise found: 100 gp
Annabelle's secret: 100 gp
triple locked chest returned: 50 gp
Valuebles not found/taken in the explored area:
20+50+20+500+500+500 gp = 1590 xp
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