Sequence 2 : Traveling to South Rim



Tika, her monks, Thorgrim and Leon exit the portal into a square stone room. Two Vesfold guards, taken aback at first, quickly regain their composure. They guide the adventurers to the first floor where they meet with Gordanz, the castle head stewart. 

« I've been told you are negotiators for merchants of Blackmoor and ordered to help you reach the Great Muddy River quickly. I’ve readied horses for you. Take the main road to reach the port. A caravel bearing the flag of Vesfold is waiting for you. My friend Captain Brenor will bring you to the delta were the Lake of the Mist and the Great Muddy river meet. You will receive further instructions from a local guide named Braden. »



The adventurers take their leave of the stewart taking him for making their journey easier. They ride to the port and board the caravel. Captain Brenor greets them politely but seems preoccupied. He tells his passengers the journey usually takes two days. The mist on the lake is very thick this time of year. They will have to navigate at half speed and use the horn to avoid collisions with other ships. They should reach the delta in three days at best. Resigned to the fact they can’t do anything about that, the adventurers make the best of their three days on board. At first Leon is sea sick but he quickly recovers after praying to Henrin for strength against this humiliating sickness. The caravel arrives at the delta at dusk of the third day. The following morning a large swamp barge arrives at the delta. Using colored flags the captain of the barge signals the caravel. After a moment the captain is satisfied it is Braden and tells his passengers their transportation has arrived. Using a launch the adventurers sail to the barge waving good bye to the caravel and her crew.

« Welcome a board » says Braden. With a large grin he continues « this is my first mate Svir. » Svir salutes them with a series of exaggerated flourishes. «Welcome aboard our spacious vessel. Please put your belongings in the middle of the boat under the small roof. We should reach South Rim in about one week. »



Thorgrim decided he likes the man. He seems franc and has a good sense of humor. Soon Thorgrim learns Braden is a fisherman that also uses his boat to transport goods to and from Vestfold caravel that dome to the delta every month. Fisherman live in small communities of floating houses in the bayou along the Big Muddy River. The barge sails slowly on the river. Svir, at the front of the ship, uses a twenty foot pole to steer the front of the boat while Braden controls the rudder with his left foot and also handles a wooden pole with his arms. Tika is a bit alarmed by this at first but soon discovers the smooth and calm lazy sailing on the swamp has meditative properties. The three monks adopt a lotus position and meditate. Thorgrim and Leon keep watch on the river banks and waters adjacent to the boat.



After an hour of sailing the ship is suddenly under attack. A rain of arrows falls from the sky on the starboard side. Tika almost takes an arrow to the shoulder but catches the missile and throws it back to her assailant and hits. The two monk acolytes are not so lucky and take an arrow in the shoulder and chest. Svir and Braden hit the deck. Throgrim take his bow and shoots. Leon casts spell and makes one of the enemies easier to hit. The adventurers prevail after two rounds of combat. All the archers are dead except their leader who flees from the scene on a horse after shooting two arrows into Leon’s left shoulder. Braden is alarmed by this attack. He has never seen men dressed like that in the region. This part of the river is usually very tranquil. After hearing this the adventurers double their vigilance. No more meditation.


The water troll fight

At mid-day the barge reaches a portion of the river covered almost entirely in reeds. Braden takes his sword out. Svir prefers the short sword. « This region of the river is infested by seaweed pygmees. Living plants who crave human flesh. Prepare yourselves! » The adventurers start scanning the waters weapon in hand. Soon enough the seaweed pygmees launch an attack against the barge. The creatures assault the boat from one side only. The inexperienced adventurers rush to attack and almost capsize the boat because of their weight. Luckily no one falls over board since Braden and Svir rushed to the other side of the boat to help shift the balance. Taking turns the adventurers shift sides and attack the seaweed creatures. Soon seven of the ten creatures have been dispatched. But the activity has attracted the attention of far more dangerous creatures.. two water trolls emerge from the river and attack the boat from both sides ! They launch ferocious claw and bite attacks against the adventurers. Svir and Braden are stricken with fear and cannot move. Mikaella and Kellyann, the two acolyte monks with Tika, are almost killed during the fight. They have to retreat in the center of the boat. Pushed to their limits the adventurers tap into a desperate reservoir of energy and fight heroically until the two creatures are in pieces and can’t regenerate anymore.



« Something is very wrong. We have never seen water trolls East of South Rim! First strange men attack us, now water trolls… » says Braden. Looking at the adventurers one by one Braden seems to be making his mind about something. In a low controlled voice he says « I’m an agent of the Fetch. After seeing you fight its obvious you are not negotiators looking for contracts. Did the Fetch send you to find the Baroness? »

- End of session one -

Getting ready for next week's session #2. I decided to create a side quest to the main adventure of DA2 :

Once the adventurers are in South Rim there will be a night attack against the fishermen village. The heroes will learn that a strange and beautiful woman passed by the village a few months back. Not long after one family left during the night with their belonging and disappeared into the swamp lands. But on this night they returned to attack the village and captured four villagers. If the heroes accept to help they can follow the tracks of the villains to their hide-out. Its an ancient ziggurat half buried in the swamp lands. The strange women is an evil priestess in league with a greater demon who wants to enter the material plane. The hostages will be sacrificed to open a portal for the demon.

Having bought several of the D&D board/tiles games I decided to create the ziggurat using only tiles from the boxes. All the tiles, except two, are from the Drizzt game. They have a cool Underdark cavern design with wavy walls, mushrooms and crystals illustrations. The small triangular pieces (cavern cul-de-sac) are a really good idea because they offer the option of using regular tiles in more orientations on the edges of the map. The models are from the board games and the D&D 3.5 miniatures. The furniture and accessories are from an old set of Mage Knight Dungeons Clix by Wizkids (2002).



The idea behind this side quest is to create a bond between the players and the villagers because I have an ulterior motive and I want to maximize the effect. When the heroes come back from the ziggurat with the rescued hostages they will discover that Braden and the villagers have disappeared. The village is empty. I single child come outs of hiding and tells a horrible tale. A dark ship arrived not long ago. Skadarians pirates and strange men with rays of light captured the whole village and took them prisoner. They sailed down the river the same way they came, silent as death.

I can't wait to see the player's face when they learn this ! I believe it will make their desire to find the Temple of the Frog more personal.

That is a thing of beauty.

SESSION #2

Picture of last night game. The crawl went very well. I'll be using the tiles again. The characters were able to stop Dranika the evil sorceress (conjurer) before she could finish the incantation to bring forth a Glabrezu demon but not before three of the four abducted South Rim women were sacrificed during the ritual. The demon was 75% in the material world when the attempt to bring him forth failed. Its a good thing that Thorgrim, the fighter/bard, had a Horn of Valhalla (silver) and remembered to use it when things were really desperate for the heroes. A very memorable evening. The players are now in full control of their character's abilities. I feel confident I can move the narrative towards the actual Temple of the Frog.



I reconfigured the left-side part of the crawl the evening before the game. I made a large chamber with the summoning tile.

I love those dungeon tiles!

Also, is the guitar a prop for the bard? :mrgreen:

-Havard

Session #3 :

A slavers camp the heroes attacked one day before arriving to the Frog Temple. The fisherman that were captured by slavers the previous session were held captive in the small raised huts. They were released and send back home using the barge. The heroes travelled on foot to the temple after they extracted travel instructions from the surviving slavers. Slavers will be hanged by the fishermen.




The characters managed to make an alliance with the disgruntled portion of the cult that doesn't like the control of the «false» Frog God. The friendly cultist created a diversion allowing the heroes to bypass the check point on the road to climb the mountain were the God resided. On the way up they had to contend with two humanoid battlebot guards with lasers. The players were fair sport. They really role-played liked the had never seen this type of technology. Later, they wisely decided to walk around the detection zone of a spider-drone with twin-barrel lasers.

Once at the crashed spaceship they didn't want to enter such a strange looking building at first. When they did entered, it appeared empty, at first. After failed attempts to open the interior doors with the keypads the cleric was able to batter a few doors with his mass of disruption. This of course triggered warning system. A first Mind Flayer (female) attack them by coming out of her laboratory. Sadly, all my rolls were extremely low and the creature was killed in 2 rounds of combat. Exploring further they were attack by a second Mind Flyer (male) which managed to do far more damage with his brain blast cone. The Mind Flyer won the initiative of the second round and recharged his Brain blast for a second consecutive attack on the heroes. Saving throws were failed and the party was in bad shape. They rallied and surrounded the Mind Flyer. Killing him after two other rounds. I never managed to do a head grapple with the tentacles.

Thinking they had won the day the characters entered the main laboratory were the mind flyer birth pods were located. They were horrified to see how the humans were being drained by the mind flyer embryos. Before they could destroy the birth pods three adolescent mind flyers came out of a back room. Their brain blast attacks was less powerful and could only target one person. The two novice monks almost died. They had to retreat. Two adolescents died by the hand of Tike the monk and Sir Leon the cleric. Thorgrim the fighter/bard, at 4 HPs, managed to kill the third and last adolescent. The birthing pods were destroyed. But a problem remained. Were was Risa the Baroness?

They found the baroness in the laboratory of the female Mind Flyer unconscious on a strange looking chair. Her head was in a cone shaped apparatus with 50 pieces of rope coming out of it. The ropes were connected to a metal desk with flashing lights and a strange looking lantern that displayed moving images. The characters removed the cone and the baroness slowly woke up.

At this point the session had to end because it was getting very late. I opted to do a quick description of the following events and the return trip to Vestfold were the characters were treated as real heroes. They leveled up to 9th. And so ended our mini-campaign in Blackmoor. I managed to get three 4-hour sessions out of the DA2 module and some ideas from DA3. The players were happy with their experience hoping they cold come back to this setting later on. I'll certainly oblige. We are now switching to another mini-campaign by another GM - a Shadowrun adventure.

Thanks for reading this thread.

Well done!

Glad everybody had a (brain) blast!

Uther! Once and Always!

I love how these photos make the session come alive. I need to get some buildings for my minis....