Dwimmermount Session 22 - Frost Giant Ate The Donkey

(It's been awhile since I posted - work meant I had little time to write up sessions, then holidays meant we didn't play, so the session diary is behind)

After defeating the evil mage Varazes and his minotaur bodyguard Bok last session, the party started searching the rest of the area. A hermetically sealed chamber nearby was too tempting for Calphis the mage who used a precious charge from Rod Of Opening to gain access to what lay beyond. The party were disappointed, as all that was behind the door were stasis chambers, two of which were occupied by a man and woman wearing unusual but non-descript clothes. A debate formed around trying to release them, with Bittersalt suggesting it was too dangerous to the inhabitants and Grigor feeling it was too dangerous to the party. Brother Spenzar, was overcome by knowledge-lust, started pressing buttons on the devices and quickly hit the right combination to drain and release the woman.

After a few moments of confusion, the woman named Arethusa, who appeared to be in her late thirties starting speaking in archaic High Thulian. The party were wary, they knew that she might be a Termaxian and so tried to ascertain when she had been frozen, which turned out to be about 300 years ago, around the time Turms Termax was coming into power. She claimed that she maintained the machines within the fortress-dungeon and that she was something called a technomage. Lots of questioning ensued, and eventually her assistant Colluthus was also released.

The pool of life, as she called the room Varazes had been hold up in, wasn’t initially intended to be used to create beastmen, and that in her time the device that did so wasn’t there but she had heard some of the biomancers talk about it. She said she could turn the beastman maker off if she could get something called an environment suit, and that such a suit might still be in one of the panic rooms north of the party, since they were well hidden.

The party decide they needed to rest, but not before retrieving some supplies from their pack donkey, left outside the dungeon. So they return to the surface, quite a horrific trip for the two maintenance mages due to the damage and changes that have happen in the last 300 years. Finally the reach the the surface only to find the donkey has been attacked and the camp destroyed. Huge foot prints in bloody mud suggest the frost giant found and destroyed their belongings.
Reluctant to go back to Muntberg with a still working beastman machine, the party holed up in one of the rooms they’d rested in before and then went and retrieve a pair of environment suits. Also in the panic room were some healing potions and a dirk designed to fend off the hobgoblins, should they ever rebel, which at the time was a concern according to Arethusa.

The machine is switched off, and the party start pushing on through unexplored areas. They reach a chamber that still has a working glowglobe to find it full of thorny bush, which immediately animate and attack the party. They dispose of these blood sucking plants quickly, thanks to several natural 20’s and move to the next room which is filled with cactus that shoot off large spines in their direction. The liberal use of burning oil puts pay to these floral menances. At this point Mags, our friendly barlady at Bethnal Green Working Men’s club called time, so we finished it there.

It was fantastic to get back into the regular game, and I’m almost sorry I have to skip a week due to my Snowboarding holiday that coming up. Can’t wait for the next session, and I have a pile of models that need painting as the party start thinking about going down to the 3rd level, known as The House Of Portals.    

Dwimmermount 5e D&D Session 15 - Reach out and touch faith

After a brief discussion on the merits of using the stairs the Orcs guarded, returning to civilisation and using the stairs where they stood, the party felt there would be more treasure somewhere the Orcs had not been and that they weren’t yet ready to return to Muntberg. So they took the dark stairs down, noting the carved sign saying ‘Reliquary’ above the entrance way. The most immediate change they found was that the walls and floor were fair smoother and uniform than the rock carved passages of The Path Of Mavors. Errol the dwarf remember a legend that spoke of mixing alchemicals together with stone dust to make something called concrete, and suggested that this might be that material.

The chamber at the bottom of the stairs presented four exits, and so they took the nearest one which appeared to be a corridor in parallel to the stairs. It ended in a door that had a faded green wooden panel nailed onto the sturdy oak with brass studs. Since no sound came from beyond, Bittersalt pushed the door open and entered. The chamber beyond was very dark, and apart from a door, and a carved triangle symbol in the centre of the room it was empty. The party filled in to examine things a little more closely. Out of the four corners of the chamber coalesced cloaked beings made from the shadows. Brother Spenzar recognised these fell things as Shadows, creatures from the plane of shadows and very closely related to undead. Thankfully the party weren’t surprised, but still the Shadows were fast and resistant to normal weapons. Worse still their touch not only rotted the flesh but drained the strength and energy of it’s victim, and party felt this chill touch almost immediately. Zoilus’ magical sword did cut through things, as did the combined magics of Brother Spenzar, Calphis and Flandar. Bittersalt’s parrying saved her withering damage, and her blade did still chop away at the Shadow that attacked her. Paulo, in tremendous fear at being surrounded by these creatures of undeath shot through the door and ran off down the corridor. Once Zoilus had defeated his foe, he moved to help the others, which combined with well aimed magical attacks defeated the Shadows, that dissipated back into shadows of the empty chamber. Bittersalt went running after Paulo, following vague dusty tracks, only to come to large chamber where they ran out with no sign of the boy. Calling out to no avail, Bittersalt feared the worst and went to fetch the rest of the party.

Shadows appear

The chamber where the tracks ended was unusual in itself, having several columns and a bizarre statue, but the party were more concerned with Paulo’s safety than exploring and decided to press on. Flandar’s invisible familiar was sent off to the east along wide 20 ft passage. It passed a door and then the corridor turn at angle, at which point the familiar returned.  

Deciding to investigate this first door, the party walked in on a group of five tall goblinmen, all of whom carried themselves in a militaristic, and clearly well trained fashion. They formed a line immediately, with the halberdiers protecting the their bow men but held off attacking. They demanded the party reveal what they were doing here, who in return demand to know if they’ve seen Paulo. The hobgoblins confirm they’ve taken the boy captive, for questioning and that he won’t be hurt if he is cooperative. The party are at boiling point, and tell the hobgoblins to go a get him but the hobgoblin’s refuse and want to know what the party are doing on this level. A standoff develops, but on the insistence the party one hobgoblin leaves by a second door. A few moments later the a larger unit of hobgoblins run into the room, lead by a red robed goblinman. The party were massively outnumbered, but the hawks in the party were itchy to try their mettle against these foes. Fortunately calmer heads prevailed. The robed hobgoblin ask the party what year it was, once again asked them what they were doing here and why they’d come. The party were evasive and talked about exploring, which for the moment seemed enough for the leader. He told them that Paulo was with their captain, and confirmed he was unharmed. He said they surrender him to the party if the party rid the western areas of the Reliquary of the undead menace that had sprang up. Without much choice, they party agreed. They learnt that the black metal coated Eldritch Dead that had so plague them on the first level were tomb guards, and not considered a threat or enemy by the hobgoblins, but all other undead were and to be destroyed on sight. Without any other obvious options the party agree and left, heading back to the chamber that Paulo had be snatched from.

A cohort of hobgoblins

Here they investigated the chamber more thoroughly. Seven columns lined the room, while statue of geometric shapes stood against a far wall. The columns had an Old Thulian letter carved into each one of them, and Bittersalt quickly released they spelt out the Old Thulian for truth. Once she said it aloud, she had a vision of a strange featureless figure, who tells her she is not worthy. On hearing this from her, Calphis also speaks the word ‘truth’. His vision is of a silvery egg and he is told he is worthy. Upon coming around, he releases he can channel the power of gods and use it to detect poisons and disease.

Fearing this strange magic, the rest of the party fell silent and the party left the room, pushing north and west.

The next chamber contained four columns, made from the perfect glass material they’d seen on the 1st level. Each column contain an element - one was filed with rock, another was green and had bubbles floating up from time to time, the third contained a rich red flame while the last appeared empty. On the floor was a mosaic map, that may well have been of the whole world. Something the none in the party, not even Bittersalt, had seen before. The mosaics meant the maps was fairly basic though.

This chamber lead to another closed to door, beyond which was ancient carpenter's workshop, covered in dust and with many rusted tools. Two simple coffins were lent up against a bench, and as the party entered one of the coffins started shifting slightly. A crossbow was fired a near point blank range into the coffin, and out burst a howling wight, screaming wordless curses and clutching a gladius. The party leapt into action, attacking the undead thing. The second coffins rocked furiously and a second wight smashed it’s way out of it’s rotting tomb. The party’s martial abilities showed off here, and apart from a horrible wilting wound on Errol the dwarf the party managed to destroy both wights, taking their heads as proof of their questing. Brother Spenzar’s powers against undead are brutal, when they work.

Another chamber, again with pillars presents itself next. Each pillar appears to made from one of the six fabled magical metals, and represents a fortune in gold. The columns are adamant (dull gray), areonite (reddish copper) azoth (silvery black), moonsilver (silvery white), orichalcum (golden bronze), and starmetal (silvery grey). Bittersalt is impressed by the display of wealth and power it represents. However since the party is reluctant to linger anywhere too long, and don’t have the easy means to take any of the metals they press on through doors and corridors until they reach the next room.

This area contains a number of strange devices made of metals and vitreum glass. Copper dials are attached to this tall devices, and within four hobgoblins, completely unmoving and lifeless. A dull hum resonants with the chamber. The party stare in wonder, and discuss what these machines represent. The don’t however tinker with them.

After deciding to start heading east, the party find what appears to be an alchemist's laboratory, still filled with odd glass bowls, tubes and pipes. Bottles of liquids line the counters, and cabinets hold containers of chalky tablets. Since there are no further undead here, the party return the way the came and north, rather than going even further east, where they suspect the hobgoblins are based.

A room with tall strange devices is discovered. These devices however more numerous, do not contain anyone inside, and is ignored. Yet another empty chamber lies beyond that, before the party find a odd room, with nothing but a huge tapestry in it. The tapestry depicts Terms Turmax, the thrice-blessed, stood nobly but with a fiery, winged version of him behind, as if in ascendance. Bittersalt sees a small fortune, while Brother Spenzar sees heresy and sets about igniting the wall hanging. As smoke starts to fill the room, the party notice that it billows further out into the room from one spot, and once the tapestry has been destroyed search successfully for a secret door. A small circular safe-room lies behind it, filled with nothing but wooden carved heads and a single stone statue head, that of the god Mavors.

We left it here. The group had raced through a good number of locations, and I’ve probably missed out some important details, so if anyone from the group remembers something, comment and I’ll update it.

The gang, and one of the other RPG groups in the background

A very enjoyable session, with a good mix of fighting, talking and wonder. There is plenty more of all three coming up. 

Hobby Holiday Day 3 - practice what you preach.

Todays goals were to get some paint onto the terrain, finish off the Gnolls and varnish a bunch of models that have been waiting to go into my RPG KR case, which doesn't now nearly have enough room for all my fantasy stuff. And then to head down to the HATE Club, set up and try out Dungeon Saga that Ronnie Renton from Mantic Games had kindly agreed to demo.

Once again my planning was sub-par and I hadn't counted on my tube of black acrylic paint not being anywhere to be found. I suspect I threw it out as it had dried up. There isn't much point using GW black on the scale I need it for for the terrain, so I went once again into Wood Green and found a large tub of Windsor & Newton black acrylic with really high pigmentation. The weather wasn't great, and started to drizzle, so I retreated back to the hobby-cave and finished painting the Gnolls, which have come out really well. I've been using fine gravel and PVC glue on black round bases for most of my RPG stuff, as it neutral enough to work for dungeons, caves and outdoors, and this worked very well for the Gnolls and Carrion Crawlers I needed doing.

Since it had dried up, I went and made a start on the terrain, using a mixture of black, white, dark brown, straw and occasional splashes of bronze. I've found this works really well for my Executioners Chapter Space Marine bases, that use the same scheme as the terrain. It generally creates a good dungeon stone feel, but with hints of warmth and interesting metallics. I use blister pack packing foam to sponge on the colour, in three layers - dark, lighter and highlights, one at a time. This means that there are four layers to the terrain, which might seem like over kill but it's very effective and since the resin is so nicely done it would be a shame to not take the extra time. There will be some time spent picking out detail and apply airbrush candle glow later.

The weather and having to leave the house meant I was running out of time though, so quickly got some dark layers on about a third of the terrain, did a lighter layer on a subsection for fun and matt varnished the models. All in all not a bad days hobbying.

Gnolls attack!

Dungeon dwellers!

Gauntlet-style view

After packing up, I went drove down to the club. While driving would have been a perfect opportunity to take some of my larger models for a big 40K game, I spotted that Mantic were demoing at the club again, and this time running Dungeon Saga, which definitely has caught me eye. So after doing my committee member duties - aka lugging heaving gaming boards around and collecting the fees and managed to get a game in. Even in the beginner game, which admitted was made harder by the addition of an elite dwarf zombie, it was clear what a tactical game it is, how fast the basic stuff is and how relatively easy it is to pick up, and at £50, I will be picking it up! EDIT - And I just heard Ronnie has offered Club goings a discount! On a side note, we had 19 roleplayers, in 3 groups playing 5e D&D, DCCRPG and Dark Heresy last night, which is a club record and means the RPG room was full. All in all I think 70 people attended, which isn't bad a for Wednesday night in East London.

Ronnie from Mantic with the Necromancer's (GM) rulesheet. 

In game action. This is the smallest map for the introductory adventure.

   

Hobby Holiday Day 2 - environmentally unfriendly

So yesterday was day two of my hobby holiday. I set out to base coat all of my Malice RPG dungeon terrain, and try and get a base colour tone down too. To start with, it all needed a wash, using warm water and washing up liquid, I fairly roughly removed any mould removal agent still on the resin. While doing this I discovered that some of the smaller doors hadn't had all of their pouring tracks removed. In general these terrain pieces are extremely clean and bubble free. They're really good quality, far better than is forged at a certain world renowned resin maker. So while the pieces dried I took off excess resin and started tinkering with hobby project #13747 - more on this later.

Drying terrain

Giving it 45 minutes, it was overcast so not ideal drying weather, I started using Halfords Matt Black car spray. This is a good primer, as long as the models have been cleaned. It gives a uniform base, rarely drips and is cheaper than modelling black primers, which I often find aren't as good anyway. I hadn't planned particularly well here, as one can did about 70% of the first run, and I had many more runs to do. Thankfully I also had most of a can of GW black primer, and most of can of Army Painter black primer. Unfortunately, it was pretty clear that this wasn't going to be enough either.

Half way through the action

Thankfully Wood Green near where I leave has a Halfords, so after lunch I went down and picked up two more cans, and of the course of another couple of hours I finished off spraying the dungeon terrain. I probably ended up using three and half full cans of spray.

I think I need to order more corridor sections. Customs duty is a pain.

All finished.

At this point is was beginning to drizzle, so I covered the spray table with a waterproof ground sheet and went inside to go and paint some more on my Gnolls. I didn't get to get any colour on the terrain, maybe tomorrow will be better weather.

These Gnolls are lovely models, but I really struggled connecting with them initially and wasn't particularly impressed with my test model. However experimenting with their skin colour and using a wet palette has produced results I'm much happier with. They look a lot more animalistic and menacing now. I hope to finish them off tomorrow.

Gnolls phase 2

So back to hobby project #13747. I recently picked up a two player set of cheap arcade buttons and joysticks as well as a Raspberry Pi 2. I've been fancying making an arcade emulator for a long time, so thought I'd get some bits together to give it a try. I also found a Raspberry Pi arcade emulator install image called PiPlay, making it all almost too easy. However it's early days for the emulator and did need some of my creaking old Linux knowledge to get working properly. Anyway, screen shots from my fledgling home arcade!

Home screen

Galaxians

Super Mario World, I'm already beginning to understand that the rom scene is very chaotic.

And finally, this one is also taking up some of my time, in a good way. 

Hobby Holiday Day 1

I've a week of holiday, between jobs and since my wife can only join me for a day, I've got four days of hobbying. Day one was a slow start, as had a dentist appointment, did some shopping prepared dinner. Since cooking is definitely hobby and some of the shopping was geek stuff, I still consider it productive. However I did manage to paint my second Otherworld Wight, make a start on the four more Gnolls and a tiny bit on my non-Otherworld Pig-Faced Orc.

There is another reason I'm going to be distracted this week, as we have a new member of family who joined us from Wood Green Cat Sanctuary on Sunday. She's without a name while we figure out her personality, which so far seems to be mostly cuddling and play fighting.

 

 

5e D&D Dwimmermount Session 14 - One rules lawyer to rule them all.

The group have been effortlessly dealing with missing attendees by blaming the memory loss on the effects of the spider venom, so Calphis’ player returned and roleplayed it out. I see this autonomy a real strength, and since I think my players now ‘get’ the thematic style of Dwimmermount I’m delighted when the do it.

The first order of the day was to go and revisit the game playing apparitions, since Calphis had spent some time reading the High Thulian book on the Dragonchess precursor game, popular 200 years before. After consulting their own maps, they correctly figured out the route and quickly made their way to the chamber. Calphis tentatively moved the chess pieces to their correct pieces, satisfy whatever ancient rules argument the apparitions had. They gently faded into nothing. With them gone, the whole party sensed a warm and appreciative glow enter their form and felt the blessing of the Asana, goddess of strategy, heroism and science.

Looking at their map they realised the set of double doors at the south end of the main corridor section hadn’t been explored. These doors were made from red areonite metal and were very impressive. Opening the doors they found a sacked barracks, with weapons racks and armour stands, cots and smashed tables littering the large round room. Movement caught Paulo’s eye and out scuttled massive centipedes. Then warm red glows appeared from giant fire beetles that also pushed themselves out from behind the mouldering woodwork. Erroll summoned fire with his burning hands spell and took out a couple of centipedes. The rest of the party rushed in and quickly put pay the giant insects, with very little injury, despite one of the beetle belching biofire. The room was search, and all that was found were air vents that must have enabled these critters to travel into and out of their lair.

The absence of the Orcs that had been so prevalent in the south made the party pause and decide to check the room the beastmen had made their station. They had spotted a door that they’d not looked into, and upon approach noted it was in remarkably good condition with the oak seemingly recently oiled. Without any sign of traps they entered to find an immaculately clean and tidy officers quarters. A solid pine desk with a leather writing cover also held parchment, strange wooden quills and fresh ink. Brother Spenzar used some charcoal to take a rubbing from the parchments and discovered a set of orders in High Thulian, ordering the deployment of Hobgoblins to disrupt the flanks of the rebels. Bittersalt takes the pristine blank found on the bed and the room is given a thorough search but reveals nothing further. It’s only when they leave the room that Calphis realises that his Light spell hadn’t diminished the whole time they’ve been in the room. They attribute the immaculate condition of the room to some sort of timelessness, but why it hasn’t been ransacked by orcs or other inhabitants can’t be explained.
 

Bittersalt suggest that the party go and collect some Azoth from the bubble room. She’s been carrying some clay pots and thought that if the bubbles were safely burst, Azoth might be collected in them. This plan works well, and the party have a clay pot full of the magical silver-black metal liquid. They investigate the doors off the bubble room, finding a latrine room, a dining room and a kitchen. Paulo spots a secret door in the kitchen, and the party push the wall section that must be on some sort of rollers along to the side. This reveals a blank chamber, except for another door and vicious red demon, with daggers for claws and spikes crowning it’s head and shoulders. It immediately launches itself at them, but the quick thinking wizard launches magic missiles into it, causing it to disappear immediately with none of the dragging back to the abyss sorcery they’d seen in their previous two encounters with demons. Warily they push into the room itself and open the second door, revealing a chamber with a single table in it on which lies hundreds of silver coins, several rock-gems and a strange triangular metal rod. Calphis recognises the ruins as been symbols of transmutation, and suspects this may be a magical rod of some kind.

Once they’re done the party decide to try their luck with the main corridor eastern doors. These are even more unusual. Made from a white material, with an almost pearl-like finish, it didnt sound like metal when struck and had a perfect door seem. On the side of the door was a square of metal with three pieces of the white material, two triangles above and below a circular section. The party tried to force the doors open using their combined strength to no avail. They also tried pushing the circle and triangles, but nothing worked. The triangular rod was pushed against the triangles with no result. Frustrated the party moved on to the next set of double doors in the far north of the dungeon. Behind these they found another barracks much like the room in the south but without the giant insects.

Finally they explored beyond the last door they had on their map. They found the room beyond had more apparitions in it, this time with Thulian soldiers, wearing solid leather armour, standing over human remains. The soldiers seemed to be taking orders to go and reinforce some part of the dungeon. Brother Spenzar decides to sprinkle holy water over the remains and give them the last rites on the bones, successfully releasing the apparitions and giving the party the blessing of Mavors, lord of the first level of the dungeon.

The Eldritch Dead

This guardroom also contained another door, which the party took. The chamber beyond was a large L shaped room with ten Eldritch Dead, These azoth encased skeletal warriors immediately formed up ranks as the party attacked. Once again magic was hurled in the party’s opening salvo. Zoilus entered a furious rage, while Flandar activated his dread Armour Of Hadar made powerful by his consumption of the waters of the moon pool. The backlash against the skeleton that attacked him disintegrated it on the spot. Brother Spenzar manages to turn three of them, despite their resistance to clerical powers. But their newfound prowess meant that this time the party dispatched skeletons very quickly.

However the warriors who had advanced into the further reaches of the room became overcome with false memories that flood their heads. A battle between Thulian warriors and hordes of beastmen led by red skinned elves, fighting within the dungeon against chaotics creatures, Guardsmen torturing wizards, a noble bearded man be led towards a headsman, other magicians leading warriors into battle against a ragtag army.
As these memories dim, the party realise that this final room contains another stairwell down, going further into the depths of the mountain.

It was here we left the session. The party had done a huge amount of exploration this session, and have now been everywhere on the first level. So, the question is what next. They have a number of magical items they have yet to identify. They’ve got a set of gems and some treasure to dispose of. And of course two different stairs going down.

The session was great, with lots of opportunity to embellish the text and reveal further history. I had driven down, which gave me the opportunity to take my 3d dungeon floor parts, and leave a box of RPG stuff at the club. This should reduce my load when I’m travelling from work, which is a very good thing. A box of miniatures, dice, a PHB, the dungeon itself, cardstock floor plans and pens weight a far amount, usually more than a 1500 pt Warhammer 40K army and rule books. As usual, I’m left really looking forward to the next session. I had half expected I’d want to take from DMing or 5e at this point, but that’s not materialised at all, and I wish we could play more often. We’ve talked about playing for a day one weekend, and I love the idea. However I’ve got a lot of painting to do now that the 1st level is done. I have to admit to a certain amount of pride in having every single model for a 68 room dungeon level painted, and many of them to a pretty decent standard.             

5e D&D Dwimmermount Session 13 - Bittersalt, trap detector extraordinaire!

Searching the dead dwarf, the party retrieve his magical suit of dwarven sized chainmail and functionally perfect magical warhammer.

A quick scout of the local caves is followed by a short rest to recover after the battle with the spider demon. The party have discovered a number of passages leading away from where they met the mad dwarf, and decide to press further into the caves rather than using a newly  discovered doorway or returning the way they came.

One cave, which is clearly the nest of the spider, contains a dwarven statue that is half twisted and melted. A heavy bronze chest is found to contain approximately a thousand gold coins and clearly represents the wealth the demon had collected. Another cave, which the party had ignored on the way through was crudely boarded up. After pulling down the woodwork, the party discover a statue to the luck goddess Tyche. She has her cupped hands outstretched in front of her, with several gold coins laying in her palms. The party’s response is mixed, with some adding to the coins and Bittersalt snatching from the pile. The latter unluckily coincides with the ceiling collapsing in on top of her, severely wounding her and trapping her. After pulling her out, Brother Spenzar replaces the coins that were taken.

The Moonpool

The party then travel back to the moonpool, where a very skillful throw results in the party have a climbing rope securely affixed and enabling them to climb up to the hole in the cavern's ceiling. Bittersalt works her way up, falls, climbs again and finds that the opening is as expected on the side of the mountain. From this particular vantage point she see that near the very summit of the Dwimmermount is a huge metal doorway, wider than it is tall. Due to the angle of the mountain, and the ledges before it, this doorway, which is possibly 60ft across wouldn’t normally be visible from most approaches to the mountain. There isn’t much space around the hole, spoiling the parties initial plan to camp on the mountain. Much is discussed about what this may mean.

The rest of the party investigate the water itself, and Errol risks a sip after remembering that the moon themselves are said to have arcane properties. A strange transformation occurs, and the gnome feels the strength of his magic grow, at the cost of the well of power that it comes from. Calphis immediately fills every potion and bottle he has with water from moon pool.

The final section of the cave system is explored but ends in dead end, that is for everyone but the dwarf. He continues walking straight towards the walls and then through them. The party realise a powerful illusion is upon the wall here, but that dwarves, or at least Erroll, is unaffected by it. The cave continues going up for awhile and then into a large, sealed cave. Once again, Erroll makes a comment about this being a new entrance to the dungeon, but only he can see the small entranceway that leads to the outside and a narrow path that goes down the side of the mountain. Clearly the dwarves have had a back entrance to the dungeon they’ve not let on about.

The party rest overnight in the cavern chamber hidden by the illusionary walls, although return to the moonpool once the moon is at it’s zenith to observe how it interacts with the pool. A beam of moonlight shines down, causing the entire pool and chamber to glow brightly in silvery light.

In the morning the party double back towards the doorway they discovered, leading they suspect back into the dungeon and indeed it does. They travel through a series of mostly empty rooms, the party are lucky enough to discover a human sized chainmail shirt that seems to be coated with the black and silver magical metal Azoth. They also come across a circular room that is covered in a mosaic depicting a map of the lands around Dwimmermount. It shows the ruined citadel of Winterburg and a ruined city named Lloraec. Many forts and military positions are also shown. Bittersalt opens a door to shot in the stomach by a poisoned dart of some size, however the chamber is marked by the presence of broad stairway down into the gloom.

We ended the session here. Will the party descend immediately, or will the follow up on the few remaining door and passages they’ve left unexplored? One thing I’ve really been reminded of is how useful a map is to the players, and how well they’ve managed to keep theirs updated. It was another really good season, and this write up doesn’t really do justice to the interesting locations and sense of exploration the session had. Also, these session diaries have hit the 10k word count, which is strangely pleasing.  

5e D&D Dwimmermount Session 12 - Paulo Must Die!

The party once again descend into the belly of the mountain. Their chatter is pulled up short by the discovery of severed orc heads sat in front of each statue in the entrance chamber. These heads show signs of combat, and are a couple of days old based on the smell. The party decide this is the handy work of the dwarves they met in their last foray.

Their own map once again comes in handy as they decide to avoid the central corridors and work their way back to the caves via the norther

n rooms, partially to avoid the orcs. They reach the area with the entrance to the caves without incident and a quick check of the map reveals a door they’ve not tried. Bittersalt in her usual style throws open the door, revealing a crumbling library room which has mostly been cleared out. However a quick a search reveals three interesting items, a handwritten copy of Ancient & Worthy Arts Of War, a set of rules for a precursor to Dragonchess and an arcane scroll of dispel magic. The group remember that the ghosts were playing some sort of chess-like game, and decide to return to them later. The fighters, who could all benefit from reading the manual set it aside for later use.

They approach the caves very cautiously, but find the first chambers empty. Returning to the lair of the giant crab spiders, they attempt to burn them out again by torching the massive of webs that cover the area. Nothing emerges, but the sound of bones and a few coins falling to the floor as the bundles of the dead unravel.

The chamber called by the kobold ‘the moon pool’ lies ahead, and this intriguing and unusual chamber does indeed contain a pool of the purest water the characters have ever seen. The party spot a hole in the roof of the cave, some 50 feet above them, from which sunlight comes in. While the party are interested, their nerves are a little on edge so they decide to return to the cave when they feel the region is safer so they press on, straight into an ambush.

Paulo is the only one in the party spot the kobolds and spiders hiding within the next cave. With a warning shout he hurls a sling stone at a spider that’s sprung out from the deep recesses of  stone but in his panic misses. A swarm of kobolds surround the party, while a couple of giant spiders crawl across the walls to them. This time however the party are ready, armoured in superior protection and better trained they quickly dispatch the kobolds and spiders with fairly minimal injuries. Flandar the warlock wished to try out the dagger he’d taken from the fight with the shadow demon, but finds the blade didn’t appear to do anything special and it almost seemed disappointed in how it was used.

Statues of dwarves fill the next beautiful cave. It’s like a cemetery, except the dwarves are all young and appear unhurt. Brother Spenzar realises that the dwarves are aligned in a grid, and that 30 to 50 dwarves are missing. This room proves to be extremely puzzling for the party, who question Errol about his childhood. Errol of course is foundling, left at an orphanage and knows nothing of his dwarven heritage. There is a distinct feeling of unease, especially since Errol has start casting arcane spells; something no dwarf has ever done before. Bittersalt and the others suspect that these dwarves are somehow connected to the kobolds that infest Dwimmermount.

With no real conclusions, they push on. From up a steep slope the voice of a dwarf came, ‘who goes there?’. The dwarf beyond, who called himself Gundrun is a little unhinged. He talked about his children. He asked Errol if he had a child, and that if he did he didn’t need to worry as Gundrun with the queen’s help could fix them. With growing fear, the party knew that whoever this Gundrun was, he was responsible in someway for the kobolds. They drew their weapons and attacked.

The dwarf was surrounded by kobolds, but with more room to maneuver Errol’s fire magic immediately started to remove foes from the field of battle. Calphis and Paulo stayed at the back while everyone else moved in. Then from the dark corridor beyond a hideous voice called out ’Gundrun! Why are you disturbing my work?! Gundrun you little worm! What are you doing?’ and with that, reality split in front of them and a vast, fat spider with too many glowing eyes crawled out of the tear. Before the party was the Spawn of Arach-Nache and queen to the kobolds of Dwimmermount.

The party immediately throw everything they have at the creature, who bites Errol with it’s poisonous beak-mouth. His dwarven resilience protects him from the worst of the damage though and the returning attacks and spells do 61 points of damage in a single round of combat. 3rd level characters can start to put the pain on big monsters.

The spider reappears and bites Paulo

The queen slips back into the ethereal realm, but not before summoning four giant spiders in her place. The party are in combat in numerous spots in the cavern, with Calphis casting a sleep spell that targets the spiders, Zoilus engaging the dwarven fighter and Bittersalt and Errol switching between the two.

The queen returns and attacks Bittersalt, whose new found parrying skills win the day. Zoilus throws himself on the back of the beast in a frothing rage. Again they party score vicious wounds against the demonic spider, with waves of magic missiles from Calphis’ wand hurting it. Again it phases out of reality. Most of the kobolds are asleep or dead, with Flandar dispatching anything still breathing and Calphis trusting his armour and getting in close, leaving Paulo to hurl sling shots from the back. It’s then that spider thing appears, and sinks it’s horrible fangs into the lad, pumping venom into his small frame. Paulo is dying and trapped behind the enormous bulk for the spider. Immediately everyone swings round and attacks the spawn, and thankfully do enough combined damage to cause it to be sucked back into the abyss. Brother Spenzar leaps to the boys aid, and keeps him from death’s door. It was very, very close.

The Spawn Of Arach-Tache is dragged back to the Abyss

We left it there. We’ve got a new space to play in, which is well away from the 40k’ers who were having a loud interclub (HATE vs Titans vs Overlords) drinking/gaming match. I’m pleased to say HATE came last on points and 1st on booze consumed, as always. Anyway the space is really very cool, if on that particular night a little smelly and can fit four RPG groups. We’re expecting there to be 2-3 regular groups now, so this is very welcome. Everyone in our group are definitely becoming friends, and this leads to a lot of chat before and during the game. While a part of me wants to focus the group on the adventure because there is so much ‘cool shit’ ahead, roleplaying really is a social thing and I’ve really fallen on my feet with my players.

Our new RPG space, the 'cavern bar' at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club

That all said and done, I’m very much looking forward to the next session, and the revelations it may bring.      

5e D&D Dwimmermount Session 11 - Don’t eat the stuffing

The battle for the baby starts

Bittersalt got a 23 for her initiative and went first. Despite her usual uncaring bravado and swagger, her instinct is to save the infant, and rushes forward to snatch the baby away from the goat-man. Surprisingly weak, she easily snatches the baby and tries to tumble away but has overreached and only just gets past the blacked skinned being. This thing spins around and claws at her head. It’s fingers pass through her as if insubstantial, dragging fleeting filaments of sanity out of her mind, doing psychic damage. She then managed to get the baby into the arms of Paulo.

Errol bounds out of the forest, as most of the naked congregation start screaming and running. He smashes his hammer into the goat-man, and quick as a flash a transformation occurs. Standing before them is tall smokey shadow, all horns and gloating teeth, Brother Spenzar pales, and whispers “Shadow demon”.

Brother Spenzar measures Heresy 

The leaders of the congregation draw weapons, the haughty woman bares a pair of shortsword and the cynical man has a scimitar and dagger in his hands before they know it. The burly thug had hidden a mace, while the other guard who had scouted ahead took off a huge longbow. Finally one of the followers, who remained at the edge of the group starts chanting. This cultist fanatic started chanting in a miserable droning tone, and cast a spell of holding on the elf. She however was of strong mind and resisted it.

Zoilus moved in, trying to keep his allies and the child safe by avoiding his infamous rages. A barbarian such is still a deathdealer when calm though. Calphis the warrior mage shot bolt after bolt of magical force into the demon from the wand he’d found in Dwimmermount, while the warlock pounded free standing targets with his eldritch blasts.

A mixture of vicious close combat and magical blasts fills the battlefield. Errol surprises everyone by launching a scorching cone of fire from his hands, worrying Calphis that the demon has somehow possessed him. Flandar summons the freezing void of the stars about him and encases himself in the Armour Of Hadar, to which the cultist has no response and is blasted in the face by the gnome. Brother Spenzar brings the pure light of Typhon upon the demon which reels from its lawful glare. The demon fails to strike again, and even with it’s abyssal essence resisting nonmagical attacks, it is brought down. Errol’s last glimpse of it is of it’s 6 fingered claws desperately clinging to reality as it is sucked back in the abyss.


However the remaining human fighters are clearly veterans and right with relentless accuracy. Even the goats are not safe, as a firebolt goes wide and cooks one off. The battle though is eventually won by the party, and all the cultists are put to the sword. Paulo, scare and hiding in the woods, has kept the infant safe so they return to Adamas and rest before meeting with Saidon in the morning. Bittersalt takes care of baby, asking for some milk in the Inn she is staying in. The racism that elves face rears it’s ugly head as the watch bang on her door demanding the ‘stolen baby’ be handed over. It takes invoking the name of Saidon the High Archivist to fend them off.

The next day the party pay another visit to the archivist. When they explain that the cult was some kind of front for a shadow demon the high priest is visibly shaken and shows far more concern than he previously exhibited. He said he wanted the party back in Dwimmermount and acting as his eyes as soon as possible. Taking them into his secret arming room behind his main chamber he gave them a single scroll of protection against demons and each a potion of healing. He also provided them all with horses to speed their journey back to Muntburg and Dwimmermount. On his own side he said that he’d heard nothing from Typhon’s Fists, the adventuring party he’d sent to Dwimmermount when he’d heard rumours of the fall of the shield around the dungeon.

The party left Adamas immediately, stopping in Muntburg to drop of the baby, who they’d named Olivar, with Paulo’s mother who they felt would be best placed to look after him. The blacksmith had finished the sets of splint mail armour he’d been making for Errol and Bittersalt, who were both impressed with his handy work. Then party left again for the vast stair before the gates of Dwimmermount, with the aim of destroying the spider queen of the kobolds.

We left it there. The combat session was fun, with the players being 3rd level they have more options now and it was a good gauge for me to judge what they can and can’t face. It was by far the most complex we’ve had, and certainly the shape of things to come as the dungeon wakes up and things more foul and magical start to make their plays within its depth.
 

Before initiative rolls

Late battle

The Shadow Demon appears!

5e D&D Dwimmermount session 9 & 10 - Roll For Initiative

Travelling with everything today. 

Due to work, holidays and numerous minor things we’ve played less D&D, and I’ve had less time to write session reports, so I’m combining the last two into a single synopsis rather than do detailed write-ups. It’s going to be missing things, and I hope my players will add comments to rectify this as well as let me know about any mistakes I make. It looks like we’re going to be back on schedule for playing and writing from this evenings session onwards.

The party decided it was time to visit Adamas itself, the nearest city to Dwimmermount and regional power base. The party were a bruised and sick from their disastrous encounter with the horrible crabspiders. They also knew they might find out more information about Dwimmermount by venturing further afield and they wanted to train.

The 4 day trek to Adamas was unevent, with the party staying each night at the barricaded inns that punctuate the road south west. The people of the region are hardy, taciturn and traveling with an elf will always makes folk suspicious, even after hundreds of years since the final defeat of the Eld. 

Adamas is a great walled city, with a vast population of 50,000 souls. It is almost solely human, but some dwarves and even a few elves do reside there. The despot of Adamas, Mahe Cheron, rules with a crushing fist and brooks little dissent, but the people seem generally to be willing to give up certain freedoms in return for safety against the beastmen and aberrations of the wild, or thieves and lawlessness at home.     

Physically the city is impressive, with clean, cobbled streets, sturdy two story houses and regional squares that serve as marketplaces. Guardsmen, dressed in the black and white livery of the despot and well armed patrol regularly in most quarters. 

The party secured lodgings of varying opulence and then went to find the high priest of Typhon. Saidon The Archivist was not what they were expecting at all, a thin rather frail older man whose collection of spoons were his pride and joy. However they caught a glimpse of the steel that made and has kept him a senior member of the church of Typhon. He warned that Dwimmermount was many things, but one of it’s functions was that of a dungeon, and that it was a jail for things from the black beyond. The words of the kobold and it’s talk of it’s queen suggested that indeed demons once again stalked it’s halls. 

Saidon agreed to provide the party with help and indeed cure the haunting soul drain that the wight had put on Bittersalt, but in return he asked a favour. He received reports from his inquisitors that a nature cult had started to take root within the city and that it preached a twisted litany against the stringent laws of the gods as well as beseeching its followers to take off into the forests and wild places of the world. Since the party were outsiders, they might be able to infiltrate the group, witness their heresy and bring justice to them. This the party agreed to do, and were told that the group meets at a marketplace in the roughest part of town.

Everyone in the party had enough experience to go to 3rd level, so they went about finding individuals in the city, and just outside, to train with. Everyone except Calphis decided to keep training in their original class. Calphis spent time with a fighter of renown and gain a fighter level. Errol has done the impossible and become an Eldritch Fighter, although he is tight lipped about how this came about. Several of the party also decided to train for their next level, meaning that they can get to 4th after a long rest rather than returning to civilisation to train for a week. 

The adventurers then went to see what was going on with this cult, who called themselves the Brotherhood Of The Pine. Some of the less confrontation members went to the first meeting, really just to scout out what was going on. A group of hooded people gathered around the oak tree that was at the centre of the square and spoke to cityfolk about how they’d be freer, safer and happier if they followed the path of nature. That the cities stifled humanity and that was from the woods that people had come. They blamed the gods and despotic rulers, who saw it was easier to command when people were cooped up together for the ill health and poverty that plague most people. Afterwards so of the party spoke to the group, who invited them to join them in a more intimate meeting the next evening.

Much of the party went along the next evening, with Brother Spenzar having to restrain himself repeatedly. They were blindfolded and led through a maze of streets to an expensive townhouse where a sumptuous dinner was served by unearthly beautiful twins. After further conversations with the attendees and the cult leaders, these women then danced and increasingly erotic dance.

The person who seemed to be the leader of the group, and who remained heavily hooded the whole time suggest the party might like to join them in a ritual that would show them the power of the nature. This ritual was to take place in the forest to the south of the city on the night of the full moon in 3 days. 

The party then arrange for the remaining members to head towards the forest first, find a place they can watch and tail the group, with the rest of them travel with the cult and their followers. This plan appears to work, as the main party head into the forest with the 10 or so cultists. 

The ritual, called the Dream Of The Moon Goats starts in a similar fashion to the evening event previous, with the same twins appearing and dancing, but this time the music and mood grows wilder. The leaders throw off their hoods, and reveal headpieces that have goat horns on them, while the main leader disrobes completely, and clearly isn’t human for he really does have horns, black skin and cloven hooves. The dancers start to engage in ritual, lusty sex with the leaders and some of the followers, and two goats, one male, one female, are brought out and joined into the orgy. Brother Spenzar is only barely controlling his fury at this point, and as the music and cultists start to reach a crescendo the horned man appears again clutching a newborn baby and a wavy, serrated dagger. 

“Roll for initiative.”

5e D&D Dwimmermount session 8 - Shot through the neck and you’re to blame, you gave elves a bad name.

The party retreated with their captured kobold, who hissed and spat at the dwarf at every opportunity. It spoke a debased form of low Thulian, swung from almost moronic to horribly insightful. The creature named itself Grimvart and it was a servant of the Queen with eight legs. It berated the party for allowing such a debased thing as Errol amongst them. It spoke of it’s many fellows, of a cursed place with quiet dwarves and a place called the Moonpool. It drew a map of the caves beyond and talked of treasure to the north. It pleaded to be let go, and wrote, in exquisite script a letter of introduction to the Queen, of whom it said was from the black worlds beyond this, an ancient and rare phrase meaning the Abyss. Another figure in the kobolds mythology was mentioned, a king called Guran which is a dwarven name.

Grimvart was taken to the prison they’d found near the entrance and locked up, then the party moved forward into a chamber leading to the caves of the Kobold that contained an oily slick in front of the far door. The party feared a trap, so tried to lure anything out that might live beyond the portal to caves. They were rewarded with success, a thrown flaming brand appears from the darkness and ignites the oil, creating a fireball that does no more than singe their cloths since they’d moved away from the trap. However Errol and Zoilus’ battle blood was up and the leaped through the fire to meet whatever lay beyond, with mix success. The barbarian got through, but the dwarf rolled a 1 and slips, burns and became prone facing a horde of kobolds. The desperate fight in the narrow confines of a rough hewn corridor is brutal. Bittersalt, whose player couldn’t make it this session, rolls a 1 and then rolls a 20, hitting Flandar the warlock with an arrow through the next, almost killing him. However the battle goes the way of the party, and the kobolds are put to the sword.

Entering the cave system properly the party find ancient and impressive stalagmites and stalactites. The stone had been worked, but with a very light hand, and to enhance it’s natural form. A cave to the south contained a triptych carved into the stone. It shows Thulian knights descending upon a city and executing it’s ruler.

Heading towards the cave to the north where Grimvart promised treasure, the party came across huge spiderwebs crisscrossing the floor and ceilings. Fearful of giant spiders, Brother Spenzar cleverly used his thaumaturgy again to vibe the webs in the centre of the warren beyond. After a few minutes a pair of giant wolf spiders emerge looking for their meal. Before the party could act a terrible cry came out from Paulo, the torchbearer. Spiders had encircled the party and were attacking from the front and rear. This turned into a desperate battle, as almost immediately Paulo, Spenzar and Flandar fell unconscious from the poison running through their veins. Calphis quit the battle immediately, and fled the caves while Bittersalt cut a way clear for the rest of the party to escape. She was cruelly bitten and also fell to the spiders venom. At this point the party were in rout, with Zoilus picking up both Paulo and Flandar. When Errol realised that Bittersalt was no longer behind him, he got Spenzar to safety and then bravely returned to pull the elf free from the spiders who were already starting to wrap her in silk. Slaying one and driving the other off ended the battle for the exhausted and injured group.
After a brief discussion the players decided it was time to return to civilisation, train and better equip themselves for whatever lies ahead. However as they journeyed through the great central halls of the dungeon, they were met by a party of four well armoured dwarves. These dwarves claimed they were here to seek the remaining party of dwarves that had come to find the dwarven cemetery. The party explained everything they’d heard from the kobold Grimvart, much to consternation of these dwarves who felt that they’d need to come back in even greater number to safely travel the corridors of Dwimmermount. Agreeing to travel together, the group went to check on the kobold only to find he’d been freed to an unknown fate. Leaving the dungeon the secretly retrieved their buried treasure and headed to Muntburg before then going onto the grand city of Adamas. The party of dwarves spoke of many things to do with Dwimmermount and the history of their people to Errol during the trek.

So next session looks like it’ll be set in Adamas, and I’m very much looking forward to putting in some prep work for that at the weekend. Yet another awesome session, with a really strong mix of roleplaying, exploration and battle. The party have hit 3rd level, which on paper looks like quite a jump in terms of power and resilience. The XP curve also quietens down here, needing far more experience points to get to 4th than the previous levels. I also need to get painting, the growing piles of beastmen, undead and ‘things’ for the levels below aren’t going to self-colour.          

It’s been bit of a struggle getting this session diary together, and a week is a long time for my poor memory, so I must get these done closer to the actual session. 

Dwimmermount - Errol's Book

One of my players, Tim, has produce the following as background to his dwarf fighter Errol. Since Tim is a talented graphic illustrator he also made some composite images from various source to represent pages on kobolds, lineage and indeed Dwimmermount from his heirloom. I'm totally blow away by both the effort and result.

Errol’s Book

"Sometimes, in my more idle moments, I wonder what it must be like to know from where you came and what came before you. I imagine the weight of history provides a Dwarf with a sense of being that I myself am devoid.

Nigh on 40 summers ago I fell in with a Dwarven stone cutting gang in Trachtenberg. They needed skills with the softer stone found in the area and I had just finished building a farmstead for a wealthy landowner who recommended me to the Baron they were being employed by. The pay was fantastic, and I was promptly installed as an advisor to the band of 30­odd masons. They were the first Dwarves I ever had the opportunity to know in detail, and since then I have shied from my people out of embarrassment.

These Dwarves came from near and far, from clans of all varieties, and with rich detailed histories of which they were positively saturated in. By day they would sing worksongs that spoke of the great halls and subterranean cities of their ancestors; by night they would tell stories of the heroic deeds, feuds, wars, and loves of their kin. I could only sit in ashamed marvel at this epic tapestry of history, of which I only held threads of knowledge.

One evening Ercanbald, one of the more gregarious of the Dwarves asked me why I had never spoken of my clan. I was glad of the firelight and the ale I had consumed already having reddened my cheeks, as they flushed further.

I told Ercanbald of my past.

I was found on the steps of the Vidda Commorancy, an orphanage in the town of Vidda as a baby with nothing but the cloth I was swaddled in and an ancient book. The Commorancy was operated by the Scions of Caint, an order of nuns that staff hospitals and the like across the land. They raised me well, and I can’t by any means say that I didn’t have a happy childhood. The book was unknown to me until I came of age and was too old to stay at the orphanage. Sister Haim, who had always been the most kind to me of all the nuns took me aside one morning and presented me with the tattered leather tome, obviously very ancient, and despite the damage it had suffered it had clearly been well cared for otherwise it would not have reached the age it had.

She told me of its provenance; that it had been the only item left with me and that the sisters had attempted to have it translated by some of the many learned Dwarves in Vidda. Unfortunately this had not come to much, Sister Haim said that all they had managed to discover was that it was a general history of the Dwarves, and specifically within that of one clan in particular. Much of it was written in a language unknown to the Dwarven scholars who had studied it, although they saw that it shared elements of Ancient Thulian and Elvish none was able to translate it with confidence.

What is clear is that the book contains a detailed lineage of a Dwarven clan that appeared to be intrinsically linked to the mountain of Dwimmermount and it’s fabled interior. Many of the book’s pages have been lost, be that by through negligence or design I have no inkling. The result is that I cannot trace my own part in that lineage of the Dwarven clan, but I can only assume that I play some part in it. This is why I choose to live by my forename that was given to me by the Scions of Caint only.

This is the driving force behind my journey to Muntberg and desire to explore the mythical mountain and hopefully learn of my history and eventually take my place in it, as after the two years I spent with the Dwaven stonecutters I felt I could no longer hide from my history as I had done for so many years before."

On kobolds 

Dwimmermount and dwarves

Lineage