Castle Mordengard Session 3
Start Date: 1/18/1025
End Date: 1/18/1025
Members of the expedition: Ronald Kronkle, acolyte; Altruism Johnston, conjurer; Lyra Falsehood, seer; Leslie Meow, conjurer, Oregano Stiltskin, veteran; Celery Stemetta, medium; Thorndike Stromulus, adept.
Summary:
Sometime in the past two months, Thorndike Stromulus & Oregano Stiltskin accepted an invitation to join the rest of the party at the Concavitan Coalition for Progress HQ.
On Jan. 18, 1025, centrist bandit leader She of the Celestial Firmament ordered the party to undertake a special mission: to capture Archibald the Grim’s butler, Calpurnia Barleycorn, apparently residing in a part of the dungeon called “The Ergastulum”.
Attempting to follow the crude map they were given, the party entered Castle Mordengard via the long corridor leading from the Centrist HQ and proceeded Northward at the second intersection. They encountered five other centrist bandits and unsuccessfully attempted to persuade them to join the party.
Celery, Lyra, and Thorndike wrenched open a hatch in the floor and proceeded down a cramped cobweb-filled tunnel, where they encountered five theocrat bandits from the Conclave for Concavitan Purity. They retreated to rejoin the rest of the party, who negotiated for safe passage with the theocrats after some initial confusion regarding the initials “CCP”.
Proceeding further north, they reached the Ergastulum but were stopped by a phalanx of five Morlocks. A creative use of the spell Find Centroid by Celery was able to establish that the Ergastulum was Morlock territory and to provide a glimpse into the market-centric values of Morlock society.
After negotiating with a Morlock captain, it was established that Barleycorn’s release would require a ransom of 3,000 rhodium besants. Lyra was allowed a one-on-one meeting with the former butler, in which it was learned that she had been imprisoned for almost two decades. The time allotted by the Morlock captors did not allow for additional questioning regarding treasure locations or the monarch’s last days.
After debating whether or not to fight, the party decided to withdraw and either attack with better spells or acquire ransom money. On their way out, they saw a pair of copper doors emblazoned with glyphs representing the congruency of angles in an isosceles triangle. By having henchmen open the doors simultaneously, they avoided electrocution. In the next room, 11 skeletons were watching another skeleton paint a self portrait, and were successfully turned by Ronald and Thorndike (two skeletons were electrocuted by passing through the doors incorrectly). This room was crammed full of worthless copies of Buster Oakshotte’s Big Book of Boorish Buffoonery.
The party returned to base with valuable intelligence but no treasure.
Deaths: None
Foes Encountered: 5 theocratic bandits, 13 morlocks, 12 skeletons (2 killed).
Treasure Recovered: None
Experience Points: Base 200 experience was awarded to each character, adjusted by level.
Notes
- The party was really unlucky with treasure, bypassing several rooms with potential rewards. On the one hand, that's just part of the game, but I may need to be more generous with stocking as none of the first three adventures have resulted in much experience being handed out.
- My players are very risk-averse, and I keep rolling large-ish random encounters. I guess I need to dial down "number appearing"?
- The mages started this session equipped only with the spells in a grimoire zine called "Sensible Spells for Centrist Sorcerors". This really nerfed the low-level mages and was a terrible idea.
