Belswick 25: killing PCs during downtime

Last session in Belswick, the players vanquished Xiximanter the Lich and finally cleared the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Hoorah! Now they deal with the aftermath in a length downtime session, which ends with a double botch and sudden PC death. I already ran part of this haven turn for two players in a mini session for 2 players; this time, we pick up with almost the entire group - our wizard couldn't make it.

 
IN CROSSROADS AND BEYOND, war with Arrayne is in full swing. Soldiers pass through, taxes are raised and whispers talk of dangerous spies from the southern kingdom. Crossroads fares well: the town has grown since winter with new shops and inhabitants who are turning the town into a supply point for the war.

THE PARTY STARTS OUT in the lab of Xiximanter the Lich in the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. As the roof starts to crumble and collapse, Tilly races to rescue as many artifacts and books as he can. Helped by Shams, he saves a few books, but heavy rocks knock the talking alchemy set containing parts of Xiximanter's soul out of his hands. Choosing wisdom over valor, the pair exit the collapsing lab. The rest of the tomb seems stable enough.

INVESTIGATING THEIR HAUL, the party puts the following on the table as Tilly manages to wrench their secrets out of the ether with identify spells:

• Ring of Spell Storing, 5 levels max, requires attunement, 2500 gp
• Bag of Holding, weighs 2 inventory slots and can contain 20, 1200 gp
• Potions of Healing: 2x greater (100 gp each, 4d4+4) and 1x superior (500 gp, 8d4+8)
• Xiximanter's Alchemist's Stone: one use as level 14 Transmutor (heal & cure of inflictions, revive, give youth), 2000 gp
• 3 Tuning Forks for the rare and discouraged cleric spell Plane Shift (wizards don't get this spell, or any other of level 7 or higher; those simply don't exist), total value 750 gp

Xiximanter's Spellbook in Du'van, worth 3250 for the spells alone and at least double that to the right collector - Order of the Scroll, Order of Light or Lodge of Augurs & Diviners:

1. detect magic, shield, thunderwave
2. acid arrow, detect thoughts, invisibility
3. counterspell, dispel magic
4. dimension door, polymorph
5. cloudkill, scrying
6. contingency, programmed illusion
7. plane shift

LOMIN the Elf Rogue talks to lord Haine Kerjules about the lord's upcoming wedding to Olga of Culfield - Lomin's alter ego. Lomin confesses he has been playing Olga's role since she died 2-3 winters ago. Kerjules is distraught - if this comes out, his name is ruined! Without asking for huge bribes or favours, Lomin suggests that "Olga" can pass away soon after the wedding, making sure that the secret is safe.

There is a sickness in fief Culfield. Animals and serfs are winded and lightheaded - bad air from Witmarrow swamp? Manuel the steward, haggard and pale, gives Lomin a letter "for the priest". He explains he doesn't know what's inside or who gave it to him. He explains he was assaulted on Candle Night and given this missive for Tilbord. Lomin promises to take the letter to Tilly, as Manuel is working day and night to pay the war taxes and keep the estate running.

Lomin's brother Urael, roving bishop in the order of the scroll, visits Lomin with a proposal. Not only is Urael looking into Azrael--sorry, Lomin's claim that he was framed for murder by their own brother, he can help make the wedding go smoother. Urael is willing to use magic to make it seem that Lomin and Olga are both present at the wedding. No price is discussed.

SHAMS THE DWARF ELDRITCH KNIGHT gets her armor and shield repaired, is inducted into the Marble Library of the dwarves by her aunt Tole, and visits potionmaker Annabelle to stock up on healing potions. Weirdly enough, the potionmaker doesn't seem to recognize Shams or remember her being rescued from the bandits in the Serpent Tomb. (For that matter, where did that Annabelle go?)

TILLY THE BARD/CLERIC/WARLOCK is busy starting up his orphanage in fief Crossroads. He is happy to get help from the nun Moira the mouseling of the Order of the Scroll. Tilly's mentor Father Eustace has been having trouble taking care of the Sleeping Priest Hieronymus in the northern woods. Luckily, Mother Iranelle of the Order of St Kurelda is passing through to lend an hand. Always fun to talk with the inquisition when you're an arch-heretic!

Iranelle's titanic bodyguard is one of the dreaded Scarlet Guard of the Archbishop Hector himself. Its armor reminds Tilly of a deviant design powered by stolen souls he once saw, but when he tries to investigate, the guard cruelly grasps Tillys hand and shoves him back, hand on the hilt of his enormous greatsword.

MORTI THE GNOME ARTIFICER is busy investigating the resurrective sarcophagus left in the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. He wants to turn it into a walking tank with parts scavenged from his clockwork rhinoceros Uni. It turns out that there are control gems missing. "Crucial control rods missing", hiss the Du'van serpent folk runes; "continue anyway?"

By happy accident, Lomin has found a couple of the gems "in the dirt" and is willing to sell them to Morti. Together with the wizard Fergus the Augur - Guy's mentor, now happy that his tower can finally be built with stones from the Tomb - Morti manages to create enough copies of the control gem to repair the sarcophagus.

Gems in hand, the gnome returns to the Tomb of the Serpent Kings to finish his new invention. The dwarves quarrying there are eager to get the gnome and his foolish contraption out of the way! Which side of the crystals goes where though? Messing around, Morti rolls poorly and gets zapped with arcane energy. As he flips the gems around, I ask him for one last Arcana check - with advantage, because he's been very careful so far.

Morti's first Arcana roll is a 1. Red light begins to glow inside the sarcophagus, quickly shifting up via orange, yellow and green to blue-ish purple. From behind him, Morti's almost-intelligent Green Book of Inventation mutters "oh no, and this one was showing such promise..." Luckily, advantage means you get to roll twice and keep the higher!

Morti rolls...a second 1. The jagged light from the sarcophagus quickly dopplers beyond violet straight into a blinding flash of octarin...and as the light fades, the entire room is empty.

Morti's player had told me he was interested in trying out a new character. We weren't quite ready yet to make the switch, but a double botch like that with an ancient arcane device has to be rewarded somehow! Goodbye Morti, I would have loved to see more of you. And maybe we will? After all, they didn't find a body...

As we start to fade to black, a last scene. Everyone is in their respective bed sleeping or trancing, as a raspy whisper curls into their ears. "You bastard...you killed me! Not once, not twice, but thirty times!"

Standing at the foot of each bed, half transparent with hate-yellow eyes and bearing the wounds of all the executions his clones were put through, is Brent the Bandit, cloned and murdered and now back from the dead one last time to get his revenge!

PLAYER QUOTES

SHAMS

• Tilly thinking that knowledge is much more important than his life. Bit of a bother if you think about it.
• Morti and Tilly are exactly the same. That gnome - by the Authority, if I find him I'll hit him until his eyes are straight again...
• Good job by the dwarves setting up the trade house. Trade route already good for Witmarrow. But the war is showing the rotten parts of society.
• Oh yeah, and a wedding - little culture shock there, I've never seen so much hubbub about a simple contract.

TILLY

• Morti surviving a fight with a lich to then disappear himself with an experiment. Seriously, double 1 on a roll with advantage...it's a gift. 😂😭
• Tilly staying in the background during the lich fight only to risk his life to save a book as the ceiling caves in.
• Shams is the only hero in the group, and her imp the only paladin 😂 Thanks for saving me!
• Lomin scrambling to get control of his shady business and ending up richer once again.
• Big changes in Crossroads, interesting! And more big changes to come. Marriage. War. Bring it!

LOMIN

• Hilarity ensues. And shenanigans.
• Thank Shams for tagging along with Tilbørd, or else it would have been a double casualty today. Although of course there was also a succubus around to lend a manicured hand.
• Morti surviving Xiximanter the lich to die as he sticks his fingers into the wall plug...
• DM: you have advantage on this roll!
• Morti: great, only I rolled double ones...
• Lomin was in great form. Loved the little talks with Kerjules & Urael, but also with Morti & Baphomet / Annabelle.

MORTI

• Great session!
• Morti's double 1 - nuff said
• Tilly is going to retire.... No more soul training of deal making?
• Lomin plays a real rogue
• Shamms saves Tilly, well done!

POTIONS THAT ANNABELLE CAN BREW

Common recipes: 50 gp each
comprehension, false life, hate, healing 2d4+2, heroism, love, sovereign grease, ventriloquism

Uncommon recipes: 100 gp each
breathlessness, burrow, clairvoyance, darkvision, energy resistance (one element), fire breath, giant size, glibness, greater healing 4d4+4, hide from animals, hide from undead, levitation, magic weapon, purge poisons, shrink, speak with beasts, speak with birds, speak with crawling things, speak with fish, speak with plants, spider climb, tongues, transposition, water breathing

Rare recipes: 500 gp each
deep sleep, flight, gaseous form, haste, superior healing 8d4+8, invisibility, poison (DMG), sovereign glue, transformation: rat, transformation: salmon, water walk

Belswick 22: back where they started

After 22 sessions of Belswick, my group is roughly back where they left the Tomb of the Serpent Kings 18 sessions ago: mostly cleared out, but with all the interesting bits left for the next band of squatters to move in. Last session they attacked the front door, this session they dug deeper.

I've precious little time this week, so you're just getting my group's highlights over chat. Enjoy!

Shams the Dwarf fighter

1. Handling the nightly mischief by the Brents in my PJs. Sending the teargas back into their faces with a modified Thunderwave spell was nice.
2. If anyone can scare the Brents shitless, it's invisible imp Ricky with his House of Horrors whisper campaign :D
3. Almost forgot to mention the Brents! Lovely "bad guy" :) Too bad he's ded now.

Did they dig deeper? They sure did.

 
Tilly Oathbreaker*
* See Lomin's comments below and of course the loot from session 12.

Good fun! Freeing the world of the plague that was Brent was a good thing. Cool how a couple of potions and different strains of Brent caused problems 😆

1. Morti and his collection of murder axes. Saw them in three parts from a distance, or throw a greataxe into their back as they run away! Shams has gotten a bit more insight into the weirdness and wickedness she's been caught up in. 😅
2. That moment your suspicion is confirmed that Annabelle the herbalist is behind the whole plot - and you get extra layers of complication to boot. ...sister? Potion maker? Black tentacles?!

DM 
...Really, I mentioned black tentacles?

Tilly 
Yep, beyond the stone golem and beyond Annabelle's room. ...right? Or am I imagining things? lol 🤔

Morti 
 Purple tentacles, right?

DM
Oh, those!! Yep, you're right. Purple ones. I was so tired by then, forgot I mentioned 'em. But they're definitely there.

Morti the Gnome artificer

1. I love a good kill steal
2. Morti's concept is working: either you behead someone with a glancing hit or you can't chop your way out of a wet paper bag.
3. Liked the variation in Brent types and the clever use of potions
4. Password!**
5. My steampunk mini rhino Uni 🦄 did something useful 🤣

** "Tilly is a stinking bastard". Divulged by a Brent under interrogation, then promptly forgotten by the group. Came back to them in the last few minutes of the game, when they tried to bullshit their way into a safe room full of Brents. Was it smelly, ugly, nasty,...?

Lomin the Elf rogue noble son / Human noblelady

1. Interrogating a captured Brent. Lomin turning out to be more trustworthy than Tilbørd Oathbreaker. And Brent getting executed by axe fetishist Morti. With a living axe.
2. Infiltrating the great hall where the basilisk used to live. The big Brent battle. Morti turning out to have an even bigger axe fetish than I thought.
3. Tilly's wide smile as he helped Original Brent out of the cloning sarcophagus and into the grave. Chills to the bone.

I had a great time and I'll miss Brent ☠️ Well played, DM! 

Ready to enter the Basilisk Hall (basilisk had been set free long before, not that the current PCs new that. The mini was there just to freak people out :D

Morti
I won't miss him, I'm just afraid what the next thing will be that the DM throws at us... and well played indeed!
As to point 2: Morti is actually the axe, the Gnome is just a pet 😈

By the way, DM, what's that infernal cloning contraption worth anyway? I have inspiration, ahahaha!

DM
From session 4's (!) log:
Fungal resurrection chamber - 5000 gp, weighs a ton and a half - 40 points of inventory.

Lomin
For sale: Fungal copier. Serious bids only please😋

Belswick 21: a mess of their own making

Super quick recap, because I have a lot on my plate (such as running not 1 but maybe 2 more campaigns on the side!)

LAST SESSION IN BELSWICK

In the middle of winter, the party returned to clear out the last areas of the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, only to find that a bunch of bandits had taken up residence. The highwayman Brent, spared by the party before, had apparantly found the fungal cloning device in the dungeon and used it to make many, many moronic copies of himself...

(Yes, previous decisions by the party matter - and they can even fuel a restock of a mostly explored dungeon! Oh, the joy on my players' faces. Or was that deep resentment? Secure your sites kids, you don't want squatters moving in after you worked hard to clear a dungeon.)

THIS SESSION:

Shams the Dwarf fighter and Guy the Divinernow a Psion combine earthshaking magic and telekinetic might to collapse a secondary entrance tunnel to the Tomb. Good thinking, now the Brents can't sneak up on them from behind!

Too bad that I didn't get to collapse that trapped tunnel on the party myself, but so it goes.

Lomin the Elf rogue scouts ahead with Shams' imp familiar Ricky (who has been furiously taking notes and muttering "outsider! outsider!" at Guy's sudden psionic displays). It turns out the Dwarf/Man-made earth tremor knocked out the roof to a large underground chamber; a new exit to the tomb! (Area 11, if you have this excellent free module)

Taking the main entrance on top of the hill, the group is surprised by a viscous black ooze dropping from a slamming ceiling trap and a vicious skeleton with a dreadful axe. (Area 5, with the black pudding and from areas 13 and 14: they were accidentally freed by the Brents and set up an ambush here.)

Close call

Lomin's brilliant longsword, the Torch of Saint Kurelda, speaks in his head: it is eager to vanquish the undead menace! The elf immediately starts pounding the horror. Morti the artificer cleaves into the black pudding, but sadly it doesn't make a dent - in fact, it causes the pudding to split into four! Morti and Shams valliantly fight the oozing monstrosities, but the thing's acid seeps into their armor and brings Shams to the brink of death. Her shield is ruined, she sports horrifying acid burns and just resists being blinded.

I love me that Death & Dismemberment table.

Tilly the priest/bard/warlock is making himself useful by throwing bolts of divine radiance and spell-sounding death's bell for the skeleton, as Guy holes up in a side tunnel and takes pot shots. When both enemies are down, the party picks up the berserk skeleton's axe...to have it hum with pleasure at such carnage. Say high to Meatcleaver!

Meatcleaver: cruel semi-sentient greataxe +1, attunement necessary. On a crit, Meatcleaver inflicts a wound from the Death & Dismemberment table (use damage -10 to find the wound).

Counterattack

ll this noise has attracted the attention of the Brent bandit group. As the party tends to Shams' and Morti's wounds, Tilly sneaks out, magically disguises himself as a Brent and links up with a pair of the bandits that was outside hunting when the attack began.

Other Brents are climbing out of the new exit/entrance over area 11, and Tilly finds himself being interrogated by a smarter and stronger version of the baseline copies. He almost gives away the game when he gives an answer in perfect grammar, but his Deception skill holds. As the band sneaks to the main entrance, the leader-Brent instructs Tilly to go get reinforcements. No such thing happens of course.

Parlay?

The Brents try to parlay and ask what it would take the party to leave them alone, but Lomin claims first dibs on the entire site and wants them out. He follows up with killer arrow shots, as Tilly-disguised-as-Brent takes out hidden Brents with Toll the Dead-cantrips and superpowered Inflict Wounds spells. The leader-Brent takes a couple of hefty sneak attacks and overclocked spells to put down, but in the end all of the bandits lay in the snow,  reverting to their fungal origins.

The party makes camp in rooms 3 and 4 and sets a watch. Tilly sneaks back to the collapse over area 11. A couple of brents, a leader-type Brent and an even-huger BRENT watch on as the silvetongued asshole soothingly talks at them - and matter-of-factly pulls up the rope down into the room. Just then the moonlight hits him, his disguise spell fades, and a chorus of impotent rage sounds from the earth.


Gods, next session is going to be cathartic. Whether for the Brents or for the players I don't know, but I expect people to cathartic their guts all over the place :D

Belswick 20 - echoes

LAST SESSION IN BELSWICK

The group successfully won court cases brought against them and secured holdings for themselves and their allies in the barony of Walden. Still grieving the loss of their druid friend Mike tot the Devil's Ring tournament, they take on a crosseyed gnomish Inventator to try and replace him.

They left their home barony of Walden once as a group; the entire campaign might take place in this one duchy. Such a change of pace from the continent roaming campaign I last ran in Eberron.

...which makes me think back to this awesome campaign concept I'd like to try out:
A RACE ACROSS EBERRON IN 80 DAYS
...get in line though, because I also have Bronze and Sand, Star Wars, Dark Sun, Call of Cthulhu and a Piratecrawl prepped.

THE BAND

Still nameless, although spectators at the Devil's Ring now know and recognize them as the Winter's Children.

• TILBØRD MIVEN BJORNSSON, deal making, silvertongued cleric/bard of the Authority from the Vaeringjar Isles, warlock of the Radiant Maiden ("this cleric does NOT heal"; port to 5e Warlock patron coming up!), boss of two spined devils, chatter-up of nature spirits peaceful and bloodhungry, and friend to ghouls everywhere.
• SHAMS METALGROG, dwarf knight from the Principality of Wild Stone, blazer of a new trade route to the Belswick and sometimes spellcaster. Proud and sometimes confused master of an imp called Ricky, who seems quite unlike other devils.
• GUY, diviner wizard from southern Arrayne, survivor of childhood drama at the hands of a Cult that called him the Messenger.
• LOMIN MOR, rogue and glorious bastard, formerly a noble son of Arrayne, now sometimes posing as Lady Olga of Culfield. Getting married in that disguise come Spring. Also pestered by his contacts in the Violet Cloud.
• MORTI FIZLELOT, gnome Artificer with seriously wonky stats (d18 down the line; his wisdom 4 is a glory to behold). Traveled from neighbouring duchy Thynne via the highest, cruelest mountain he could find. Rides a steampunk pony-sized rhino called Unicorn.

THE DEPARTED

• AJU, shark cursed to walk the land as a fishling barbarian. (Player stepped out of the game.)
• MIKE, druid and fast friend to all animals however ravenous, survivor of a childhood attack on his home village by freaky cultists to The Messenger. (Mike died in session 18.)

THIS GAME

• Shams and Lomin pay Lionel the Raven to finish their cool magical stat-boosting tattoos. It hurts like hell, but now they have arcane circuits out of gem dust and dubious ink adorning their chakras.
• Guy can't cast spells anymore. He can, however, talk without opening his mouth and moves things with his mind. He tells Tilbord that Last time this happened, people tried to restrain him and his ancestral castle of Loupe Pierre did not survive the resulting fire.
• The players really take the time to talk to Guy about this sudden change; great roleplaying.
• Ricky FREAKS THE FUCK OUT when he sees Guy practising mental powers and turns invisible. "OUTSIDER! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Ricky's nightly inspection of Guy's bedroom ends with wet, tentacly sounds and a bedraggled, beslimed imp sneaking back to Shams. Guy sleeps the sweet dreams of the innocents.
• Shams has decided to site her trade house in the neighbouring estate of Witmarrow, which will be ruled by the group's patron Lady Liselle and her husband Peter, the son of baron Walden.
• The group owes a debt to Sir Haine Kerjules of Crossroads to finish clearing a snake-themed dungeon on the southern road to the mine at Copperfield. Also there's the matter of the missing novice; Brent, a former bandit has run away months ago. Has he taken up a life of crime again?
• The party regroups, restock and head down there. On the way they spot a big oak on a hill, about a mile off and unmoving in the wind.
• Heading for the entrance of the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, bandits try to ambush the party! Guy is still out of spells but that doesn't really matter. He reaches out with his mind, bandits float up into the air or step off tree branches, mesmerized. Morti unleashes a gear-winged axe as Shams shoots blasts of fire and Lomin downs six in a row with five arrows. (Rogues and places to hide, man.)
• The bandits are all Brent. The ones in the trees; the ones sneaking up with shortswords and axes, the ones with the longbows. All look and sound like Brent - or at least a slightly unfinished version of him.
• As Tilly interrogates the last survivor ("Brent, hold up! It's me, Brent!") I get scorching glares from the group. But hey, it's not MY fault they left a fully operational cloning machine down there last time they explored the Tomb!

Can't wait for next game. Maybe finally, after 20 sessions, they'll meet the sentient inhabitants of the TOMB OF THE SERPENT KINGS. The party cleared out the goblins and stopped the cloning machine from making more, but that doesn't mean the dungeon goes into stasis. Oh no my pretties, I've had time to restock!

PLAYERS' HIGHLIGHTS

After each session, I ask the players for their highlights from the game. Makes for good feedback and cool summary!


MORTI:

• Lomin shooting straight from all possible angles, nice killshots 🤘🏻
• Tilly: try to spare a Brent and they still get shot down. Points for imitating one of these guys 👏🏻
• Guy, just everything. Brutal and nasty powers, but the opportunities! And the debuffs he's handing out! 😱
• Shamms/Ricky, for that well-placed imp stinger in the kidneys ☠️
• DM, loved how you played the Brents and kept a nice tempo

TILBORD

• Guy:
  - oh cool, his psychic powers are expanding
  - oh, hmm, something seems off
  - OH, we better treat him nicely for now
  (and OF COURSE Tilly asks 'but did you try talking with it?')
• Morti:
  - of course the Gnome has a mechanical mount
  - of course it's a pimped out rhinoceros...on roller blades
  - of course the rhino is sad it can't sleep indoors
  - wait, his axe does /what/?!
   
• Shams the silent dwarf, seemingly the one hardest hit by Mike's demise
• A hidden Lomin is the perfect anti-Brent artillery. Deliciously heartless. 
• Ricky is a great single target hunter. Being attacked right back = big nope
• Brent and the Brentshrooms...oh man.
  "I'm Brent", "No I'm Brent", "I'm Brent too!" *facepalm*
  (oh the pain I wish on him...👿)

(DM: I had such different plans for Brent! Dark and tormented...then this happened 😂
Tilly: Oh, no worries. Darkness and tormentation shall be his lot.)


SHAMS

• Guy: wtf, the most disturbing part is that he doesn't seem to notice the changes himself. Interesting to see him fluently using those new powers in combat. Painful that it seems to have be caused by Mike dying.
• Morti: fucken awesome mount, weapon and distracting sound system
• Brent and Brent and Brent? What the hell am I getting myself into, what did this group do before I joined them...
• Kick-ass move by Ricky, but I'll save him for invisible scouting in the future.
  Ricky killed a Brent with one poisonous sting, then almost died on the riposte from another Brent. Damage resistance only takes you so far with 10 hp...
• Good to see my dwarves again.

GUY

• Morti with rhine. A weird team became a lot weirder :-)
• Brentlings as far as the eye can see. Handy if you want to start a cult :-)
• Tilly with a plan for Brent, Lomin with another plan :-)
• There I am quietly testing out my powers, when people suddenly feel the urge to start kill stealing. I'm taking notes!

LOMIN:

In random order

1. "We're all Brent" The realization that Litvar’s tomb had a new occupant...
2. Guy spuugt zuur!? Holy Authority!
3. Morty’s bijl does what!?
4. One shot, one kill. The entire evening. Except for NPCs that had been spared by Tilly, that guy took two shots😋
5. In general; How, surrounded by bandits, there’s never a moment we consider surrender. Mindset: Bring it on if you really want to, we’ll totally slay. And then doing just that. Awed by our awesomeness.

Belswick session 4: the goblin prince

Last session of Belswick, the group decided to head back for the Tomb of the Serpent Kings, on orders from the manor knight Haine Kerjules to end the goblin raids on his farms.

BRIEFLY

The accusing nun; smoke and slaughter at dawn; crawling like snakes; the fiery ambush of the Goblin king; the skellyton that wouldn't die; a last push into the dark; hauling fungus; a chew toy for the basilisk; and a murdered prince in a silver coffin.

Closeup map of Barony Walden. The players are mucking about around the crossroads (and village of Crossroads) near Mt Gale where Dread Lord Ulric lairs in Castle Gale. (Gotta sow those epic opponents early on!)

THE BAND

• Aju - Fishling with a short temper and dislike for large crowds. Carries a keg of water to stay hydrated. Stupidly muscled, so that swords and clubs bounce off his magnificent chest. Strangely fascinated by setting things on fire. Not born as Fishling.
• Mike - human warrior and nature expert from the northern parts of kingdom Pembroke. Moved south to Belswick after his clan was killed to the last by tentacle summoning cultists. He still hears them calling for the arrival of The Messenger.
• Tilbørd - human cleric of the Authority and the Order of the Scroll with a devious mind. Apprenticed to the village priest Eustace. Originally from the northern Væring isles; resettled with his criminal mastermind parents and younger sister, but lost them in a tragic attack by parties unknown. Escaped with his life and a mysterious amulet that burnt a third eye into his soul.

NOT PRESENT THIS SESSION

• Guy - human diviner of the Lodge under a hefty debt for his wizard training. A former noble from the southern kingdom of Arrayne. Magical incidents laid waste to his House. Working off his debt to the Lodge with support from his master Haine Kerjules and his mentor Fergus the Augur. Dogged by cultists hailing him as The Messenger.
• Lomin Mor - Elf, gambler, thief and rogue. Also from Arrayne, but has settled in Belswick as a confindant of Lady Olga Culfield, the ruler of the neighbouring fief. Traces of noble upbringing but no claim to a seat of power.

Sites and plot hooks in the surrounding area. So far, the players have explored the two connected hexes of Fief Kerjules. Lomin Mor the Elf is the only one to have visited Fief Culfield.

SESSION LOG

The accusing nun
Catching their breath after weathering a lightning trap in a wizard's tomb, the group is surprised by a glowing apparition rising from a pool of foul black water. It's the ghost of Sarah Vennis, exploratory nun of the Silent Order of St Gustav and dead in the Tomb of the Serpent Kings since weeks after a cave-in.

Sarah accuses Tilbørd of being her murderer, because her soulsight shows him with the same third eye as the church prelate Pythia who sent her to this place. At first she wants to drag him to his death, but her curiosity gets the better of her. There's a back and forth between Tilbørd (sworn to unearth what was hidden) and Sarah (sworn to keep such things buried).

S - I've seen many Du'van vaults but this is the biggest ever. Don't go to these places.
T - you're only making me more curious! Why keep them hidden?
S - they hold forbidden lore...
T - that's what they all say. I'm not some yokel - spill it, Sister.
S - the Du'van tampered with time and dimensions. They traveled to other planes of existence and the Authority cursed them for it.
T - very interesting...

So that's a hint of explanation as to why time seems to move slower in this dungeon than outside. The group offers to give Sarah a proper burial and does so in the surrounding hills. Mike doesn't want her buried too deep - the budding druid wouldn't mind if the local animals took a bite out of the nun. Aju is skeptical and piles stones on the grave to make it more secure. Sarah goes to rest and the three make camp.


Smoke and slaughter at dawn
Camping in the dark, Tilbørd hears a hooting, jeering band of 10-20 goblins set out from under the tree near Annabelle the potion maker's herb garden. Brief discussion makes the group decide to ambush the goblins when they return to their lair. The raiding party returns at dawn, dejected and blaming each other.

G - you coward, you woke everyone with that scream!
G - of course I screamed, that chicken surprised me!
G - thanks to you we still have no king!
G - who knew that pigs could run so fast?

...and so on. The group decides to ambush the goblins near the entrance to their lair and just makes it to Annabelle's herb garden. Time enough to put on an armor, but not enough for Tilbørd to pray for new spells.

Mike camps out on top of Annabelle's shack and rains arrows on the first goblins, but then he drops as their archers return fire. Aju isn't so careful, goes into one of his famous rages and starts hacking goblins apart. Tilbørd is hanging back - he's far less sturdy then Aju and helps out by tripping goblins and blocking the crawl into their lair.

Then the second band of goblins comes out of the trees and it becomes very dicey...but morale checks after Mike unleashes a blast of thundering sound make a lot of goblins break ranks. It's a desparate ploy - he's lost the use of his left arm after a nasty cutlass strike and a roll on my Death and Dismemberment table!

At the edge of the battle, Tilbørd has another chat with the ghoul Jacques Cousteau, named for a famous cook and interested in some new meat. For some reason I'm running Jacques with a mock-Flemish accent. He's jovial, a gourmet, full of black humor - taking a page from Lovecraft's ghouls.

J - is the lady you guys buried up for grabs?
T - if you want, but I wouldn't touch her. Her spirit has risen and guards her body.
J - ugh, that's such a bother. All the whining and moaning from inside your stomach...
T - might I recommend the Goblins out there?
J - fine, fine...I'll help out. But the next one of you to fall is mine to eat!

Jacques does pick off a couple of goblins, but thinks better of it after getting caught in Mike's Thunderwave spell. One goblin in hand, he heads back for his hidden tomb.

Tilbørd finally finds the time to pray for spells, and Mike uses that time to catch his second wind. With a quick bite and short 15min rest, they recover some hit points; Aju helps out with healing herbs from Annabelle's garden (he's been studying with her) and helps the group recover a bit more than usual.

Fungal Goblins slaughtered: 13
Wounds taken: Mike, arm disabled for 2 days (or until repaired by magical healing)


The fiery ambush of the Goblin king
Tilbørd has been raising a Goblin sprout back home and knows that these hybrids respawn quickly from their fungal lair deep in the tombs. Where it's dark and full of hidey holes, so the group's torches will just make them into targets...

Looking over their map, the group select the fiery sacrifice chamber as the place to make a stand (30 on the map, where a permanent gas fire rages in a spike pit). Good use of the surrounding terrain! They'll lure in a pack of goblins and Aju will hide in the treasure vault (29) that Lomin Mor managed to open earlier, so he can sneak up on the goblins and box the little shits in.

In a small detour, Mike and Tilbørd try to make friends with the huge chained basilisk. In the dark, it cannot see or petrify them. When Mike tells it to HEEL and HIDE in Du'van (Tilbørd has to think about the grammar a bit, and a bit more to make it seem like he doesn't speak fluent Necromancer Snakeperson), the basilisk is OVERJOYED and rustles off behind a huge pillar. It doesn't close it's own visor to become safe for its handler though - apparently the thing is locked and must be operated by someone else.

Stones bounced into the hall are pounced on and accepted as (bland) gifts. Seriously this is one bored basilisk, but it's a big puppy at heart and it just wants to play.

Tilbørd offers to be bait. He bravely walks up to the goblin barricade (52): "I have taken your old king - now I am your king! Come get me if you dare!" The two goblins on guard duty can't believe their luck and run off to gather Yellow Clan. Surely this grab will bring them much respect so they don't have to do chores all the time!

The ambush works as expected, excited goblins miss Aju hidden behind the iron vault door and stream in to capture their new king. (Kings get sacrificed near the full moon, in 5 days, so they're anxious to find one before one of their own is chosen.) Not one but two humans await them in the room of the fire pit: Tilbørd as well as Mike stand ready.

G - awesome, a King and a Queen! We'll never have to do chores again!

...but then it goes south for them as Mike rains arrows again, Tilbørd unleashes dark power and sucks the life out of a would be courtier with Inflict Wounds, and Aju smashes goblins to pulp with the vault door.

Goblins arrows and sling stones start to pepper Mike and Aju from afar, the two shove goblins into the fiery pit, and Aju is almost tripped into it himself...but manages to catch the edge of the ledge and just gets singed. Tilbørd burns the last of his magic to robe Aju in a sanctuary spell so he can clamber back up and finish off the last goblins. The door to the goblin caves is closed, barred and barricaded so the group can take a rest.

Singing, in a voice that Aju finds very familiar, echoes down the corridors. Like in previous sessions, the group DOES NOT engage. They're brave - up to a point.

Fungal Goblins slaughtered: 6, then 9

The skellyton that wouldn't die
While Mike and Aju are smashing goblins, Tilbørd has issues with the room next door. In the pit trap is a clumsy skeleton trying to climb out again. It lacks the doomy eye-fires of undead skeletons and seems to be animated by a purple goop. Shoving it back into the pit with his shield is not a big problem, but the thing seems impervious to harm. In the end he barricades the door and sits down for a breather. Skellyton and goblins pound on their respective doors, but these hold for now. It becomes quiet again as the monsters look for other routes to ambush the enemy.

A last push into the dark
Surely we're almost running out of goblins by now? Yes, but the spawning pit (48) is still intact, so wait a few days and all this fighting will have been for nothing. (Well, Mike will be out of arrows. Fighting doesn't get XP, as Aju points out; so even though he's halfway through his hit points and out of rages for the day, he wants to push forward.

Torches in hand, the explorers head out into the dark goblin caves. Sling stones fly from the dark, goblins grin and I grin even wider - this, not the cramped hallways and rooms of the tomb, is where the fuckers shine. Shoot, move, hide and repeat - even though it's just a few of them, the goblins are making their shots count.

It helps that I don't roll under 15 on a d20 to hit. Mike grasps the situation and races forward, two torches in hand. That flushes out the last goblins, Aju makes quick work of them and Tilbørd pokes one with his own torch until it falls down from the ceiling. Victory at last!

Fungal Goblins slaughtered: 7, for a total of 35

(Aju guy sports an amazing 32 hit points for a level 2 barbarian: two max hit point rolls for a Con18 barbarian is sick. On top of it, the barbarian halves damage by ordinary weapons while in rage and can use his Con to boost his armor class. Truly a beast, and rolled fair and square. But he has a tendency to mouth off at the cleric and druid, who are slowly getting fed up with it...)

Hauling fungus
And then the real work starts. The goblin spawning pit is full of disgusting fungus. Chopping away sprouting goblins is easy enough, but the mass will just regrow. Then the group hits on a brilliant plan: use chests from the raided treasure room to haul fungus to the fiery pit so it can dry and burn! This takes hours and hours of work, and many torches. But it works. Well played.

Infestation of fungal goblins: 6, then 9
Exhaustion: 2 levels of exhaustion (disadvantage on ability checks, movement halved)

• moved a body, dug a grave and raised a cairn
• fought three hard battles
• cut and hauled many cubic yards of fungus
  

A chew toy for the basilisk
Of course all this work is attracting attention. First the sounds of clacking ivory off to the unexplored west of the basilisk hall, then another -or the same?- skellyton.

It's impervious to weapons, but is it impervious to basilisk? Mike kites the wobbling abomination up a sloping hallway and to the basilisk room. All in the dark, because light = sight = explore life at a geological pace. A big push, a cry of "for you!" in Du'van ("take this gift of obligation, slave", if you're wondering) and the basilisk now has a chew toy that Can. Not. Die. Amazing! When Tilbørd arranges a torch so that the basilisk can actually see it's new toy, the wagon sized beast is over the moon.

Oh gods, they're going to tame it and unleash it on the surface and I'll get to seriously shake up my campaign 😂

Glaurung - Eric Velhagen

A murdered prince in a silver coffin
While the last bits of fungus are being cleared away, a dull *CLUNK* echoes around the room. Metal on metal - scraping uncovers a silvery metal chest, some 4-5 feet long, with access ports where fungus enters (or leaves?) and a misted glass slit. The thing radiates magic, has inscriptions in Du'van, and was at the heart of a goblin spawning pit - OF COURSE it needs to be opened!

Tilbørd invokes the aid of the Authority and in a dream state manages to open the device. In it is a perfectly formed goblin with curling, twisting silver jewelry. Not the misshapen fungal variety they've been fighting, this princely figure is named Litvars - or that's what his signet ring says. He sleeps a magical sleep, needles enter his arm and allow the Du'van device to copy him endlessly.

At this point I want to end the session; it's getting late, we've been very active, and Tilbørd's player needs to catch his train. Uncovering the Prince will give the players a lot to think about!

OF COURSE this is when Aju takes charge.

A - we were tasked to clear out these goblins and this one is at the heart of it all - TASTE MY AXE!

And so passed Prince Litvars, elder son and heir to King Tamoren of the Dark Fey. He's only mostly dead though, and in a life-preserving device, so who knows what dodgy deals the group may make to bring back this one? At the very least, they can try to haul the ton of arcane device out of the dungeon and be branded dangerous heretics when they try to sell it to the wrong person.

...but first, they will have to climb back to the light, because they are still stuck in the TOMB OF THE SERPENT KINGS!

VALUABLES FOUND

• raided farmer's equipment off the goblin party - 5 gp, 1 inventory slot.
• prince Litvars's silver jewelry - 200 gp for artwork&material alone, 1 inventory slot
• prince Litvars' signet ring - 150 gpfor artwork&material alone, 0 inventory slots
• fungal resurrection chamber - 5000 gp*, weighs a ton and a half - 13 22 40 inventory slots

* but who will dare buy it?

Belswick session 3: tomb work and tortured pasts

Last Friday's game started out chaotic! No strong start à la Sly Flourish, because I wanted to give the PCs freedom to decide where to go. I've a lot of backstories to weave into the campaign, so used the time in town to flesh out relations with mentors and contacts.

We spend the first half of the session on housekeeping [1], negotiating taxes [2], crashing the economy [3], negotiating with a spirit-ridden swanling [4], mentor-apprentice-relations [5] and raising an impressionable young goblin [6]. That all done, the group decided to have a look at the harder areas in Tomb of the Serpent Kings [7].

Be a Swanling, they said. Wonderful voice, elegant demeanor. Cursed to the last feather. From.

A thought: being family to an adventurer is dangerous business - Mike, Lomin, Guy and Tilbørd lose parents, loved ones, siblings or even their entire clan to their (self written) backstories. I can only hope that Aju's family will remain hale and hearty. Perhaps the group read too much into this post on the dangers of people knowing your truename?

PREVIOUSLY

The village of Crossroads, Barony Walden, Duchy Belswick, Kingdom of Pembroke was attacked by goblins and an owlbear; tracking these down, the PCs found the entrance to the Tomb of the Serpent Kings near the curiously sparse herb garden of Annabelle the potion maker. A dungeon, right on the border between two fiefs? Loot first, worry about taxes later! All that here.

If you know TotSK: the players have discovered the deeper tombs and explored most of it. But by random choices, they haven't yet discovered the two NPCs lurking on the lower level. Or, to be more honest, the sounds of eery singing in the dark and clacking from a hallway filled with alchemical smells and weird lights wasn't too appealing to them.

And I seriously don't get why they wouldn't want to meet the friendly old potion maker down there!

Maybe it's a cute and friendly Moleling! Mole folk? Mole person. HOLY HELL THESE DRAWINGS ROCK.

Then again, my players know me better than hoping for a Mole. Topplegeist by Seb McKinnon, via Coins & Scrolls.

OUR HEROES

I started out the campaign by asking for people's quick responses to a raid, not the usual "what's your character look like?" - so we do that now, outside a goblin-infested Du'van stronghold.

Let me include VERY brief summaries (highlight to read as usual) of the 4-5 page backgrounds my players sent me. I could run the campaign on those backstories alone and I just might.


MIKE - a human fighter and midwife (and trainee druid) hailing from the north of the kingdom of Pembroke. Belswick is in the south and all they know is that up north, there's lots of kilts and angry men in woad. They're not wrong, although Mike is a relaxed specimen. Cares a lot about animals, less about people.
Tortured past: entire clan drugged and sacrificed to cult that summoned a ghostly, life sucking tentacle from the clan's sacred pool with a chant to THE MESSENGER. Only survivor - the tentacle shivered and broke, killing cultists and clan alike and leaving part of itself in Mike's head. Which is why I gave him minor psionic powers.GUY - human wizard from Arrayne, member of the Lodge of Augurs and Diviners. Works for local lord Sir Haine Kerjules as a thief finder and smuggling inspector. We roll for Guy's college debt to the Lodge: max damage for a 50.000 gp debt, of which 1500 gp already paid. Monthly payment of 100 gp taken care of 50-50 by Sir Kerjules and his mentor Fergus the Augur.
Tortured past: formerly a baron's son in Arrayne who suffered terrible nightmares and freak accidents of magic. Such as accidentally burning down half the castle. Parents killed, sent to the Lodge for training, relocated to Belswick, met and helped roll up a warlock cult who kept referring to him as THE MESSENGER. Gave him minor psionic powers just like Mike.

TILBØRD - human priest and cleric of the Authority and part of the order of knowledge. Hails from the frozen Væring isles in the far north, moved to Belswick with his parents when he was young.
Tortured past: Tilbørd saw his parents - a pack of career criminals - killed by very professional people hunting for an amulet of an eye they stole. Wearing it caused him to learn all languages and stopped his sister's heart. Now a charlatan and blackmailer in a habit. NOT the healer.

LOMIN "Mr. Mor to you" MOR - elf gambler and rogue. Famously (well, around here) helped the neighbouring Lady Olga with a problem and got in her good graces - to get kicked out over a misunderstanding.
Tortured past: formerly a noble son in an Arraynian Duke's family of seven, saw his love murdered by his elder brother because Lomin overheard his brother stealing taxes. Fled, joined thieves' guild, met Lady Olga and helped her get rid of annoying suitors, assumed her identity after she passed away.

AJU - a fishling and barbarian who's not overly fond of large groups of people, but warms to individuals. Has taken a liking to local potion brewer Annabelle and even became her apprentice. Maybe if he works real hard she'll tell him where her most potent potions ACTUALLY come from. For now, she's warned him not to dig too deep into the Tomb of the Serpent Kings.
Tortured past: nothing yet, although Aju's player is dropping hints of not having been a fishling at birth!

Tortured past pending. From.

THIS SESSION

[1] housekeeping: the group leaves the Tomb of the Serpent Kings around noon. Lomin Mor heads for the nearby fief of Culfield, the rest go back to Crossroads. From the balmy weather, later dusk and flowering plants they find that weeks have past in the three days they spent exploring the tomb.

Tilbørd takes minor confessions because Father Eustace is tired and unwell. The old priest on his one leg has been traveling to an old friend - Tilbørd offers to help out, but is told that this is a duty to the Church that cannot be delegated.

Not wanting to waste an opportunity, Tilbørd hears and absolves -for a price- the confession of Millicent the store keeper, who has been sleeping around on her husband with Orbat the innkeeper. Information filed away for future use.

[2] Taxes. Because you owe everything to your Lord. Lady Olga is indisposed - sick these past weeks - explains her manservant Manual to Lomin Mor. The two arrange a 40% tax on the very interesting baubles that Lomin has taken from the Tomb.

Meanwhile, Sir Kerjules rewards the group for slaying that pesky Owlbear and recovering both Little Guy (the servant of swanling merchant Dinadan) and Dinadan's wares from the goblins.

Kerjules is prepared to go to 25% taxation IF the group is willing to clear the goblins once and for all so that the excellent stonework can be quarried. Kerjules is smelling a stronger castle and guard towers! The huge basilisk in the tomb is considered, boggles the mind (normally the beasties are the size of a dog, this one's body is as big as a wagon). Kerjules is only beginning to see the military applications. A barony or even higher for him if he tames this beast for Duke Belswick?

+100 gp reward for bringing back Little Guy, Dinadan's merchandise and the owlbear's head. Will not be taxed. Brought back home, so worth XP.

[3] Crashing the economy: Mike gives his neighbours a princely sum of 15 gp (retirement!) for taking care of his animals while he was gone. The group spends a couple of days shopping and recovering, and talks to the people of Crossroads. Lomin Mor and Manuel discuss the unpleasant surprise of a possible rival to the fief popping up: a Sir Drake, lodging with Sir Kerjules and waiting for Sherrif Corrick to make his case for fief Culfield.

[4] The merchant's chest. Dinadan is drenched in cold sweat. He looks terrified when Tilbørd corners him in his room at the inn to talk about recovering the mysterious triple-locked chest that the swanling was smuggling. Is it still down in the tomb?! Even at night, the merchant is ready to storm out - he's badly scared and needs that chest. Tilbørd notices that the swanling acts like someone dangerous is watching and asks to speak to his master directly.

Down in the common room, Mike and Guy perk up as they sense something bad upstairs. Where a ghostly voice comes from Dinadan's mouth to explain that "this one is just a carrier". The apparition riding the swanling explains how it serves someone called Harkness, who transports high-value information and goods. Cleric of the Authority Tilbørd immediately strikes a bargain: he'll give back the chest in return for future collaboration. A ghostly arm detaches from Dinadan's and etches a stylized H on Tilbørd's left arm. No pigment or hair will ever grow again where the specter touched him.

Mike and Guy burst in too late to see the spectacle, but are informed by Tilbørd that all is under control. And I put back the beautifully prepared contents of the locked chest for later use.

+50 gp for recovering the merchant's chest. Not taxed (and advisable to keep the source a secret). Brought back home, so worth XP.
100 gp not earned (yet?) - the group decides not to leak Annabelle's secret link to the Tomb of the Serpent Kings to Orbat the innkeeper. I'm sure they just forgot...

[5] Mentor-apprentice relations take some time to resolve. Tilbørd's superior Father Eustace looks exhausted; he's going out on his donkey 2-3 times a week to visit a sick member of the order nearby. A secret for a later time. Tilbørd asks his master to be careful and to take care of himself - surprising me, I thought he was going to be all hardass, all the time.

Guy's mentor Fergus stops by - he is escorting Young Lady Liselle to her fiancee Peter, the son of Baron Walden. Bandits harrassed them in Witmarrow marsh to the east, but Fergus' magic provided ample warning and deterrent.

In an aside, Mike is able to heal the horses' wounds from the bandit ambush with remembered druid magic - he took a druid level after leveling up. The group finally has a healer!

After escorting Liselle to Walden, Fergus will settle nearby. Both Eustace and Fergus are very pleased with the find of a tomb full of Du'van relics nearby. The Order and Lodge are looking forward to learning everything they can!

[6] What do young goblins eat, especially ones that grow from a fungus bed in a dark crypt? Pretty much anything, discovers Tilbørd. He's raising the thing to be a knowledgeable manservant and aide. Gustav, as the unfortunate thing is named, soon learns to walk and speak both Dark Fey and Du'van. He is convinced he is a superior goblin to "those at home", and starts thinking he might even be High Fae. (He's not and that's a stupidly dangerous claim to make, hence very Goblin.)

[7] Tomb-ward! All the housekeeping and gossiping done with, I ask the group what their plans are. Bandit hunting in Witmarrow Marsh? Look into the claimant Sir Drake to the fief of Culfield? Track down Goblin raiders pestering nearby farms?

We could do that, says the group. Or, now that all players are together for the first time, we could turn that firepower onto the dangerous rooms in the Tomb that we've avoided so far!

Perfectly fine by me, and the group ends up breaking off a silver ring from a terracotta statue (poison gas incapacitates Guy's otherworldly raven familiar), fighting skeletons in the fake burial chamber of the Du'van King, and triggering a lightning trap when they lift a spellbook from the skeletal hands of the mage Sparamuntar in the Lower Tomb. Everyone survives, because Tilbørd uses an inspiration token to boost Mike's saving throw.

+10 gp magical silver ring (taxes pending)
+40 gp silver and gold grave goods in the upper, false tomb
+500 gp spellbook (taxes pending; can for instance be copied, then sent to the Lodge)

SPELLBOOKS

The group now has two spellbooks:

Sarah Vennis, nun of the Silent Order of St. Gustav

Level 1

bless (for instance to clean unholy items)

cure wounds

detect magic (ritual)

detect poison and disease (ritual)

guiding bolt

sanctuary

Level 2

augury (ritual)

enhance ability

Sparamuntar, snakeman wizard of the Du'van

Cantrip

Blade Ward

Poison Spray

Prestidigitation

Shocking Grasp

Level 1

Fog Cloud

Charm Person

Thunderwave

Witchbolt

Level 2

Bloodlink

Mind Spike 

Level 3

Lightning Bolt

TOTAL REWARD

+100 gp reward for bringing back Little Guy, Dinadan's merchandise and the owlbear's head. Will not be taxed.
+50 gp for recovering the merchant's chest. Not taxed (and advisable to keep the source a secret ;)

--> Both received at the characters' home base, so worth 150 XP = 30 XP per player.
(We decide to divide XP equally so that no players are left behind when schedules conflict; even if the loot that earns the XP may be divided unequally.)

+10 gp magical silver ring (taxes pending)
+40 gp silver and gold grave goods in the upper, false tomb
+500 gp spellbook (taxes pending; can for instance be copied, then sent to the Lodge)

--> All to be taxed and not worth XP yet; need to bring it back home safe!

What I learned running Tomb of the Serpent Kings

My group has been exploring the TOMB OF THE SERPENT KINGS, Skerples' trainer dungeon for OSR-type play. Zero casualties so far and lots more interesting places and people to find. It's been great, but exhausting!

With 38 of 52 rooms explored by my players, I feel confident in writing up not a review, but some lessons learned. Some details of the dungeon slightly changed because my players do read this as well.

TotSK play reports: 1 and 2.

ACTUAL LESSONS LEARNED WHILE RUNNING TOTSK

1. My players are careful and frightened little mice. They'll avoid any loose step in the hallway, heroically spray a pile of sleeping goblins with burning oil, but one mention of a wagon-sized basilisk that turns torch flames to stained glass and they cower around the corner. Almost no traps triggered, no skeletons awakened, no golems fought. Am I describing them too tough?
2. I need a bigger working memory. Keeping the environment in my working memory as the group moves through the complex takes quite a bit of juggling of paper and attention. 
3. The overview map is almost perfect to run the dungeon from. But some of the abbreviated room descriptions gloss over pretty useful details, such as the de-petrification fungus growing in one of the goblin caves. I had completely switched to the overview map by that point. Which means my players now have no way to bring Basilisk victims back to life. (They haven't met Xixi yet, so easiest thing in the world to have him whip something up.)
4. Parts of the dungeon are barren. By which I mean little interactivity with NPCs, and all dangers come from what the PCs do to themselves, such as reaching into burning pits or running across pressure trigger hallways. Not really the module's fault, I think. My players selected a path through quiet areas and lucked out so they didn't encounter roving monsters. I did add scenic sounds of inhabitants to the encounter table (Xixi's clacking when he moves around; Annabelle's singing), but see point (1) my players are frightened mice and took these sounds as something to move away from, not toward.
5. There's quite some conflict-free rooms. This comes in handy when I want to add details from my home campaign ("you find a dead nun under a collapsed bookshelf"), or extra connections. Of course improvising without thinking ahead ("seems like the goblins circled behind you"), may sometimes lead to inconsistencies ("so there must be another way forward besides the golem and the basilisk!") that take quick thinking to resolve ("...you're right! You guys find a crawlspace into the darkness"). Fun to do, and TotSK provides you with useful overview maps where you can note these kinds of changes. 
6. I want to expand this dungeon now. Where's the living quarters? Doomful libraries? And so on. One more level and I'll quit, I promise.

"Who you calling frightened, mister?"
(From)

TOUGH BUT REWARDING

We take a break, when one of the players comments that running this module looks like hard work for me. He's right, but I'm enjoying TotSK a lot: it's giving me a decent structure to riff off of and make it fit into my home game. I'm improvising and adding to the module during play and there's space for that.

I should start by saying that although I've been DMing for 22 years, I have little experience running published modules or large dungeon complexes. Which is why this post is impressions, not a proper review.

So what do I know?

Bigger than I'm used to
Why do I want a module to be concise? Because I would've drowned in a wordier dungeon.

Most of my games run off of brief notes, scribbled monster stats and 3-7 room maps that I mostly draw and always stock myself. I do have writing experience as a science communicator, and when I read TenFootPole's module reviews I agree that a module should be both flavorful and to the point. But only after running TotSK do I appreciate why it is so important to keep a module focused on what's usable at the table.

Compared to my usual haunts, TotSK's 53 points of interest were a real step up in difficulty to run. Not just because there are more locations to serve up. When I run my own dungeons, 75% of the details are in my head instead of on the page. Of course a module needs to write out all of the stuff I'd normally keep in short term memory or improvise - and then it needs the DM to absorb all that written info for play.

Running TotSK was a good learning experience, which is the module's stated intention. During the delve I was constantly moving my focus between the chatter of the group discussing their options, checking the map so I could describe the local environment, reading detailed room descriptions for when they dug into an area. Having, of course, to speed read it all because I didn't want to break the flow of the session. Luckily, TotSK didn't try to cram a novel down my optic nerve when I was looking up the contents of a room, so we had no trouble making it to the end.

(I'd have liked to have more info at my fingertips without having to flip pages, but then I am lazy. See Mappery, below.)


Brief, but with everything you need
TotSK's writing is compact, text blocks short enough to scan in a couple of seconds. Descriptions are brief - highlights only, so you both can and should improvise additional descriptions for areas. As a Dutchie playing with Dutchies I translate and change English descriptions anyway (rules terms are used as-is), so I much prefer these brief prompts to extensive read-aloud blocks.

Where the text has no space for an extensive description, page numbers are provided; I'll add that I would have liked internal links in the PDF as well (for instance between the Basilik descriptor and every room it can see you from).


Mappery
I'm ambivalent about the use of mini maps throughout the module. When I was reading the module I thought these maplets would help me visualize the surrounding area, but during play I thought they showed too small a section.

Distances between rooms are very short, so that players can move from room to room quickly. I wanted to have a few-room overview to keep ahead of them and detail what exits and sensory info they picked up in a new area. That's why during the game I preferred the module's big overview map with callouts to abbreviated room descriptions - less flipping back and forth required to get (most) of the info required to run a room.

If I can write down one suggestion, it is to provide slightly more room information on the overview map so you can really run the dungeon off that map. Perhaps win space by cutting up the map of the full dungeon into the different areas of the complex. Or, approaching this from the other direction, have larger overview maps on one page and the descriptors on the page opposite.

Whatever you do, don't turn this mini map into a holy cow for next edition. It tells me...there's a hallway somewhere? [TotSK 4.0 edition, p12]

Same page, much more useful mini map - this gives me local geography. Although I wish I could zoom out slightly and see even more of the area. [TotSK 4.0 edition, p12]

Belswick session 2 - more tomb raiding

Last Friday, we played session 2 in my Belswick campaign, a delve into the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Clever questions about the map and smart tool use by the players. Also, the Cleric stole a fungal goblin sprout.

PREVIOUSLY

Our heroes live in the hamlet of Crossroads. After an attack by goblins and an owlbear:

• the local hedgehogling lord Haine Kerjules offers a bounty of 100 gp for the owlbear's head, and the return of the swanling Dinadan's servant Guy.
• the goblins seems to come from an unexpected direction: the out of town herb garden of Annabelle the potion maker. The innkeeper Orbat the hawkling is very interested in learning why and Orbat offers 100 gp for Annabelle's secret. Those goblins burned down his inn and he wants to know why.
• Dinadan confesses he was carrying a triple-locked chest as a secret package on his way from Mount Gale (the direction of both a small mine and the legendary cursed castle of Dread Sir Ulric). Dinadan offers 50 gp for the chest returned safe and unopened.

In their first outing, the group manages to kill the owlbear and almost themselves, and find a tomb complex under the hill that sits right on the border between domains Kerjules and Cullfield. They investigate Annabelle's herb garden and shed and liberate some potions, one of which makes you shrink.

OUR HEROES

• Aju - a fishling herbalist and barbarian. Carries a keg of fresh water so he doesn't dry out.
• Tilbørd - a human cleric of the Authority's Order of the Scroll. Careful; out here for info not healing.
• Lomin "Call me Mr. Mor" Mor - an elf gambler and rogue affiliated with the neighbouring Lady Olga Cullfield.

Not there for the session:

• Guy - a human diviner wizard of the Lodge. Finds thieves and smugglers for his lord Haine Kerjules.
• Mike - a midwifeman*, human* fighter* and local hero* (we assume for heroic midwifery). Animal lover.

* all rolled randomly: midwife profession, race, class and background.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Just when I wanted to write a session log, whatsapp came alive with one of the absentee players asking how the session went, and there the log was! I translated the discussion from Dutch to English and added my comments in between.


MIKE: So what did Mike have to miss out on yesterday? He had to feed his animals. And yeah, that's more important than helping the party :')

AJU: A lot happened.

For instance 10 mins discussion on which local lord to ply with the taxes on the loot they found, then deciding to just stash the finds in their hut, and 10 mins more discussion on who goes first in the marching order.

Then a quick look at the terracotta statues in rooms 2-4. Lomin opened one from a distance and got just a whiff of poison gas. Didn't look inside, didn't pry off the tempting magic golden ring from the sorcerer statue in room 4. At least they have enough torches and ration.

AJU: We went back into the dungeon. Remember the last chamber with the water? Where you almost chopped off all my limbs. It had a hallway down that we followed to a big room with a big living stone statue. When we were in the doorway it held up its hand and said STOP.

"THIS WAY IS SHUT", in the necromancer language Du'van. Which Tilbørd speakscould somehow puzzle out because he's a cleric of the Order of the Scroll, praise the Authority, move along now. Tilbørd also tried to hack the golem's instructions but didn't get far. Even the name of the complex's lord Xiximanter, found on a scroll in room (15), didn't help. At least the thing can't get out of the room it's in.

The party then reasons that if the goblins can't pass here either, and they can't cross the basilisk room, how did the little assholes circle round? Good thinking!

AJU: Went back up, found a secret corridor that the goblins use to get from the collapsed room back to their lair. Followed it, got chopped by an axe trap from the ceiling, ...

I had previously narrated how the goblins came out of both exits to TotSK, and added a narrow squeeze between (16) and (34) for extra gobbo mobility in the dungeon. Party followed, found and left behind weird carved stone eggs in the meditation room 34, with Du'van script again that said "Comfort, Protect". I've changed these things from the hot water bottles they were in canon TotSK, but no-one read the inscription out loud..

AJU: ...chopped up goblins, then set a whole bunch of them on fire and smoked out their lair. Found a heap of treasure and saved little Guy!

Including picking the difficult lock to the treasure room (29), then having to improvise with unwieldy barrels and chests to move the 500 gp of treasure. The shrinking potion came in handy when they had to move the barrel of treasure through a narrow crawl to the surface.

Encountering 20 sleepy goblins could've turned deadly really fast, but Aju improvised with lamp oil and a torch to make a huge smoking fire that drove out the goblins. Then set everyone coughing. Little Guy they found trussed up on a throne with a woven crown: king of the goblins, at least until full moon. Then he'd have been dinner.

MIKE: Nice job! Aju needs to learn to leave trapfinding to fighters :')

AJU: Tried to, and I have great perception, only there was a basilisk on a chain that I wanted to get away from.

So weird. You describe the thing as wagon-sized, with a gaze that turns torches to stone and their flames to stained glass, and suddenly the party is afraid to go near! Smart. Also hinted that the basilisk is lonely, curious and quite willing to get scratched and fed. Tilbørd was trying to get it to heel in Du'van, which seemed to work.

AJU: Oh yeah, and at the end there was a revolving door [leading up from the gobbo lair to rooms 43-46, not explored yet...] with nasty spear traps.

MIKE: Bwahaha

TILBORD: The fighter wasn't there so we used the barbarian as trapfinder and doorstopper.

After 15 more minutes of debating who would go through the door first... Behind the door they found a staircase, at the top was the basilisk room again and a series of rooms with bubbling noises, weird lights and the sound of lots of bones clacking on the tiles. They did not explore.

MIKE: You didn't send the cleric?

AJU: Our cleric is a bit of a pussy.

I don't blame the cleric. My random encounter table (bottom of post) dished up no monsters, but lots of signs: a woman's singing from unexplored rooms to the east, the clacking of bones, goblin chittering, weird gusts of lifeless air or fungal stench..

TILBORD: Cleric received 0 damage, as it should be. Also dealt out 0 damage and 0 healing, of course. I'm not the Order of the Lead Mask ;)

But did find out that the basilisk is focused on smells (it knows Tilbørd now) and can't petrify you in the dark.

LOMIN: While one of these two was shopping for a new pet and the other was juggling torches and axes, yours truly was looting everything he could get his mitts on. It was a beautiful evening...

MIKE: Right you are. (y)

Every gp brought home safe is 1 xp, is the rule. We decided to share all XP evenly, so even people who can't make it don't get left behind. Ditto for the actual loot, except for stuff explicitly stolen by one PC such as the GOLDEN CROWN OF THE SERPENT KINGS. Right, Lomin?

Also, Tilbørd finds a room filled with filth and fungus...that is slowly shaping itself into Even More Goblins. Rather than hauling in oil and flame as I expected, he plucks a juvenile fungus goblin and packs it away carefully with some crumbs and wet soil. The cleric wants a pet.

TILBORD: The barbarian got frustrated and took it out on the environment, the rogue kept back and took care of looting in and out of combat, the cleric amused himself reading a book, chatting with goblins, a ghoul and a basilisk. Typical.

At the start of the session, the group chose to spend the night and got visitors. Tilbørd chatted with goblins who promised to bring out Guy, their new king. (Too bad: the "Guy" that showed up was just two goblins on each others' shoulders, wrapped in a cloak.)

A bit later, there was the smell of rotting meat and grave dust when a local Ghoul popped by to ask what all the fuss was about. If you ever want to get in contact, track down the nearby gravestone of famous cook Jacques Corbieres.

TREASURE AND EXPERIENCE

The party recovered valuables worth 897 gp and xp.
Previous session: 698 gp and xp.
Total: 1595 xp = 319 xp each --> enough to gain level 2!



Rooms 2-4
Cursory glance. Lomin breaks one statue, gets whiff of poison gas. Does not inspect other statues. Golden ring on sorceror statue's finger still sitting there.

Room 11 -> 12-14
Party looks at and shies away from: soft electrical crackling behind door 12, raging skeleton with greataxe behind half-collapsed passage to room 13, and acid bubbling noise behind door 14.

Room 34
Lomin finds three carved stone eggs with Du'van inscriptions. Leaves behind.

Room 33
Not entered

Room 30
Blazing fire of marsh gas in central pit, skeletons on spikes show that it was sacrificial. There are gems down there. Left them to stew until someone learns Mage Hand.

Room 29
Treasure hoard, total value: 500 gp. Gems, jewelry, statuettes. Prize piece is a great silver drinking basin with ornamental cups hung on the rim. Gems and fine craftmanship make this a precious piece of art.

Room 49/47
Found Guy, the merchant's boy, and the merchant's wares! 100 gp in reward waiting at Crossroads.

Room 48
Tilbørd recovers a juvenile fungal goblin. Value 50 gp to a collector of eldritch oddities.

Room 50
Another treasure trove - the goblin garden, full of discarded golden cups, coins, silverware and even a crown. Total value recovered: 347 gp.

Belswick session 1 - hey, it's the Tomb of the Serpent Kings!

Last session of Belswick, the barony of Walden was celebrating the engagement of the baron's son . The players joined the feast in the little village of Crossroads, when an owlbear with skiing goblins in tow crashed through the market fair.

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 ratcatcher replaced 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.

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

1. 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.
2. 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?
3. 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!
4. 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.

5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. ...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.
9. 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.
10. 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
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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).
  
  

Session ends! Four hours in, the group has explored a decent part of the Tomb of the Serpent Kings. It's a fun dungeon to run, with lots of sensory clues and good layout that helps you quick-grok a room so you can describe it. The big downside is the lack of NPCs in the upper areas to interact with. Should've thought to include the optional Goblin exile Smee in an upper room.

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