Holgard Campaign Session 8 - There and Back Again

 

Session 8 (3/07/2021)

Didn't really know how to prepare for this session, but it turned out... Interesting. Didn't feel like any 'adventuring' happened when really, 3 weeks of travel and interaction took place, with no real outcomes except a tale woven into the ever-growing campaign tapestry.

Characters: Rudolph von Schliefen, Bale Tyrannus, Domnall Brosnachain

Downtime Days 79 - 99 (day of session)
After blowing up a grate that granted access between the Rotfen Mire and the Sewers of Underland, Bale entered the city and approached the Guard Captain (who was expecting him for another job). Bale mogs the Guard Captain by threatening terrorism, admitting to blowing up the sewer grate, spills the beans on the Lizard King, and wants amnesty + 4 horses, a carriage, and a map of the Kingdom. The GC has no real options if he wants his life - the threat is convincing. Bale leaves with the lot, and the party leaves with their 'just' rewards for better prospects - the city of Thropsford. 6 day ride with the wagon, they stop at the town of Staminster about half way for a week, when a nondescript man, inconspicuous in every fashion, comes to them and gives them a note: (This was a Patron in the game)

"Dearest and fellow cunning mastermind. I find your actions very clever. Truly, you and I are of the same mind. As such, I have a proposal for you - should you ever find yourself in Underland again, seek out the man in red on Pipe Alley. You may write back via this messenger. Know that I greatly desire your services, and Gold would flow like a river to your pocket, were you to accept. Written fondly, your ardent admirer."

They ignore it and send the messenger away. Arrive at Thropsford with no other encounters and hang out for a bit, before the session start date on Day 99!
Day 99
Weather: Fine
The players are in the Iron City of Thropsford, the capital of the kingdom. It is a concentrically walled city, with each ring divided into four segments, forming districts. Their is a gradient of poverty outwards. They are hanging out in a standard wayfarer's tavern, notice some sketchy looking elf just beaming, and a craftswoman crying at a table among her peers. They don't care, and send Rudolph out to get some guard dogs. They find out that their guy is in 'The Slag Zone', the southern district of The Crust (the outer ring). It is colloquially referred to as 'The Slagz'. Rudolph pays 1GP to enter, it's total chaos. Kids killing some creature, dodgy exchanges and more murder happening, shabby huts, filth, debris. The gate has spiked trenches and 5 guards on the interior. Rudolph approaches a somewhat normal looking bloke in his hut, asks where to get guard dogs. "Down at the dog house". The man asks for some alactus root or payment, Rudolph kills him. His kid comes out crying, Rudolph ushers the child in and kills her. He checks the body but won't even take the 5 copper pieces. Heads over to the place - kennel and yard of vicious looking dogs fighting. This old scruffy dude comes out - it's Peter Caine Dog Training. All the dogs instantly heel and stop mucking around. Rudolph asks about buying two dogs, but Peter needs him to prove he isn't an agent of "Them" so makes Rudolph place 70GP payment on the ground, walk out to the road, prostrate towards the center of Underland, and lick the filthy road. This convinces Peter, and they make the exchange - the party now owns Skinker and Gutmuncher, two shepherd looking dogs with studded leather coats and spiked collars. Exceptionally trained. Rudolph heads back, paying an 11GP fee to leave the Slagz, obviously just the guards taking foreign orders.

Everyone meets back up - they realise Domnall is meant to be suffering from a fever in a few days due to the cockroach thing. So they have to go back to Underland... Before this, Domnall tries to talk to some of the Thropsfordian roaches - when one of the roaches learns he's from Underland things go south. They need to "speak away from prying antennae" and it's going to cost at least "7 vestibule quadrants of smoke", whatever that means. Turns out Domnall is pregnant with roaches - high honour, considered 'High Priest' status among the common roaches. Also discovered that the roaches have a tragic past - thousands of years ago, one man, tired of their ill treatment, grafted himself into some sort of hybrid. Fought for roach rights, founded the Cockroach Kingdom. This was the first Roachmonger. Anyway, over time, as more cities were built, and with the rising of the Iron Kingdom of Argond, there was a division of Roach clans, but the Roach King, the first Monger, formed a Confederacy among the clans. It wasn't to be, as the Roach King one day disappeared, and the alliances dwindled, with individual roachmonger franchises developing and global union lost. Alatola runs the Underland franchise, while Barbaloza runs Thropsford. Domnall commented on the immense culture of the Throspfordian Blattodeans, but his heart belonged to those of Underland.

Following this immense news about the extensive political history of cockroaches the party decided to go back to Underland. They traveled peacefully for 4 days, passing a heavily guarded merchant wagon on the way, with Bale contemplating the explosives they have locked away in a padded chest. It is decided that Rudolph will take Domnall with one of the horses, as it will be faster, and he is starting to develop a fever. Bale will tend the rest, including the dogs, at the town of Orthorp. The two fly, and by nightfall the next day they arrive at a... Familiar... Roadsign - Steemham, to the east. As it is dark, the two head down - they see the same walls their other characters liberated last session. The players are peaking throughout this event, it could be really bad if they run into Sixtus Sunwalker. The guards out front insist that the sickly gnome should take the aid of the two holy men in the village. Rudolph and Domnall insist against this - but when they get to the Steemham Inn to rest, Brother Balor is there and tries to heal the gnome. He even calls Sixtus Sunwalker, who thankfully was asleep and didn't hear. Balor is drunk as. The two were going to sleep in the stables, and the party made jests about the birth of christ in the barn, and 3 wise men... Well, the antichrist anyway. They leave though, because it was getting scary so close to their other characters, so the two sleep on the road.

Day 104
Weather: Fine
At about midday, Rudolph and Domnall arrive at Underland. Domnall is stuffed into a sack, he is sweating heaps in the summer heat, along with his dreadful fever. In the morning he vomited black fluid and insect legs. Rudolph uses his assassin disguise to cover as a peasant entering the city seeking medicine for his wife. This is okay, and they pull up in an alley when Domnall attracts a herd of roaches, who sense the maternal pheromones and imbibe some of his sweat. They tell him Alatola is in the Shank in the Sage, so the two go over - with Domnall in the sack - this time Rudolph is claiming he claims he needs medicine for himself, and that he is too poor elsewhere. The guards insist he will catch worse inside, but don't deny him passage. At the tavern, they see Mungoia, not painting or sculpting, but creating some sort of contraption, giving it healthy doses of body fluids. She also has a disgusting baby half-orc she gestures to vomit up 'like mummy does'. She sounds like a cracked out Marge Simpson and is a terrible parent.

Anyway Alatola climbs in through a window, and takes Domnall, after informing him he may very well die from this event. So the very same journey he made all those weeks ago takes place - he gets knocked out and wakes up on a cold slab of metal in a cavern underground. It is dimly lit with very smoky torches. Cockroaches everywhere, and around him are Alatola and 5 other cockroach-man hybrids that look like those things from Terra Formars but with normal roach bodies standing upright. They speak a strange tongue even Domnall doesn't know. The ritual takes place - Domnall is coated in roach grease and his body cut with cryptic runes by the roach-men's spiny handibles. Some chanting takes place, and the regular roaches in the room join and coalesce into a humanoid shape - this hivemind speaks with a synchronised stridulation resulting in comprehensible speech - I don't even remember what it said, the experience was psychedelic and the gonzo palpable. It shoots an inky black fluid which enters every orifice of Domnall's body, including the runes, tattooing them to his skin permanently and sending him into a fever dream - he witnesses the evolution of the cockroach order. He wakes up. There is a whole conversation with Alatola about the implications of his new position - namely, 'Live by the Roach, die by the Roach'. Oh, he gave birth to a clutch of 100 roaches that Alatola will tend while they develop for 3 weeks. Anyway they keep talking about cockroaches, we all want it to end - Alatola gives Domnall some cockroach milk and shows him this Big Bertha Roach he has in a cavern that produces it. Tastes great. Domnall fills up his waterskin with it. Finally, Domnall leaves the Cockroach Caverns, now knowing his way intuitively due to the bond formed with the roach network. He has to go get the deadly Parwefag roach from the skull of a Catoblepas in the Rotfen Mire, this is his duty to Alatola, which cannot be shirked as an initiated Roach Monger. Rudolph is pretty annoyed about the whole affair, this it to say nothing of Bale who is now waiting idly by two towns away as his servant goes off on a personal spirit quest.

It's Day 105 when Domnall is dropped off at the entrance to the mire at late-afternoon/evening by Rudolph, who won't go in with him. Domnall can't speak to wild roaches as they are 'uncivilised'. Heads in for the 'middle' of the swamp, ends up lost and back at the cave mouth that led into the grotto that hooks up to the sewers. Domnall scampers back to Rudolph in near dark, and they camp for the night.

Day 106
Weather: Fine
The two trek back in, end up getting lost again but made some headway into the mire. Came across a writhing mass of giant snakes in some marsh grass, didn't want anything to do with it. Camped on a small hill with some rocks and tall grass forming a wall of sorts. No fire.

Day 107
Weather: Rain & wind
They try to head north, into the core of the marsh. Domnall is sussing out for burrows to talk to some creatures. At about afternoon, from a high vantage point, see a huge pack of giant frogs romping around. Nearby, hidden behind marsh grass, are these disgusting looking humans in hides, Celtic blue tattoos, and spears. Some have these tall bronze horns. They charge the frogs, which croak out of there, but 4 die and the swamp people start digging in. These 'Norf F.C.' swamp people think they are tripping on berries, when a strange, 3' tall creature approaches and tells them it's on a personal quest to kill the Catoblepas. Big respect from Grug for this strange shamans destiny, agrees to lead clan in raid to recover their cave and treasure. The group treks fast through the dangerous marsh with swamp men navigation, arrive at the cave by night fall. Domnall has big plans - he knows the beast has a dangerous gaze, and he has... Gaze Reflection! There is talk of hiding, while the Illusionist waits outside the entrance, out of sight, to surprise it and cast the spell. They get all geared up, the swamp men start calling out. Nothing. Domnall lights a candle and enters to cave - cautiously - it's empty, except for a swag of treasure at the back. % in lair people! Grug says it's 'probs gone out' and he sends his boys back to the tribe to bring them home, but suss on Ogrugs sketchy behaviour around missus grug, gonna have a stern word when he returns. Grug eats some berries and lays on his treasure pile, while Domnall waits at the cave mouth, hoping to do the same thing he planned... He hears a dragging, heaving sound, and a splash as something slurps up some water from the lake outside. Deep breathing and grunting getting closer. It gets right near the entrance, when Domnall jumps out and casts the spell.

Before him is this horrific beast - the head of a deranged buffalo with lazy, bloodshot eyes drags on the ground. A long 3' neck, half on the ground, traces up to a stumpy, hooved body. A tail extends into the darkness outside. It's eyes widen in surprise as it squeals, and lifts it's head to impose its deathly gaze upon the gnome - but the spell went off first, and he had surprise - so the beast dies instantly!

Grug comes out. Pretty impressed. Agrees to cut it's head open so Domnall can get rags and gloves ready to grab the dangerous roach. It creeps out, a white and green body, with glowing red tips on the antennae. The gnome grabs it, and the antennae bump his hands (I rolled a chance of this happening, and then a poison save for Domnall, which he technically failed but the player reminded me he had gloves and rags over his hands/wrists, so it was all good) and it burnt a hole in his gloves. He throws the roach, rips the gloves off, then uses the sack to try to grab it. It starts burning through the sack - he then pours the roach milk on it. It calms down immediately, the antennae going to a dull green. He then carefully scoops it up. Grug won't take them back at night, so Rudolph and Domnall spend the night tending a smokey flame and keeping the milk topped up for this roach.

Day 108
Weather: Light rain & wind

Morning comes, the swamp people return. Grug takes all the credit for the kill, MIssus Grug wants some cave time, Grug tells her to ease up, he has business to take care of - punches Ogrug and smashes his head in with a rock - and offers Domnall and Rudolph positions as clan shaman and advisor. They refuse, and he agrees to escort them out of the marsh. They hit leg, and make it back in record time - by midday - with Grug just gunning it through the marshlands like it's a paved trail. They get into the city, get in alley - the cockroaches are too suss on the Parwefag to approach. Alatola crawls out of some rubble nearby, takes the roach, and guts it immediately, drinking the fluid gushing out. He also ripped off the antennae, then threw the corpse on the ground and spat at it...

Rudolph and Domnall resupply before heading back to Bale - it takes them a day, and Bale is definitely not impressed with how things went. For one, the two brought back nothing of value. Two, they did not investigate the one thing Bale wanted them to, namely, the 'man in red' on Pipe Alley. Domnall has conflicting feelings about his devotion to Lord Tyrannus and to the Roach Order. Bale also heard about some dwarf ruins to the north. They set off the next morning, for Thropsford, hoping that the session may actually 'start'... It had already been 4-5 hours at this point. They come across another heavily protected merchant wagon, and arrive at Thropsford on the night of Day 113...

Day 114
Weather: Light drizzle
Party asks who is in tavern, they notice the sketchy elf still there and a tough looking bloke with a battle axe. Speak to the elf, who tells them about a horror in Baeda Fells that killed his 4 companions and he fled. They went looking for its treasure. Nobody cares about this. It turns out the players have been scheming about founding an evil lair in the wilds somewhere! So Bale sends Domnall and Rudolph out to collect rumours about any troubles in the region, particularly with bandits. Turns out the Underland-Burnett road to the coast has a trade suspension due to large bandit raids taking over caravans. The players feel this is too big, so they keep trying. Domnall meets some a gnome called Al Gnomo (G pronounced) who tells him that the smurfs south-west somewhere under the Weald are having troubles with the Gnome-Eater Kobolds. Bale is not going back to Underland. Finally they hear about some minor goblin skirmishes causing the outskirt town of Warton, to the south-east, some trouble, but not enough to pique the King's action. Bale also hired a rough bunch of mercenaries - The Bloodied Boars. 11 in total including their Serjeant (Gygaxian spelling I swear!). Already I hear plans from my players to subvert the Serjeant's rule and take over the men for some great scheme. They set out at dawn the next day, as all this hiking around the city took hours...

They arrive at the town of Warton at nightfall on Day 118... The guards are ill-equipped and dubious of the adventurers, but let them pass. They spot the mayor leaving a building with a torch, and as soon as he sees them he quickly tries to flee back inside. They call out to him and he stops - when the party says they are here to help with some troubles he relaxes immediately. They ask about the troubles with the goblins - turns out their timber logging settlements along the river running past the Grywold have been suffering from goblin raids, and the King won't do anything about it. Not much more comes of this, and the party elects to sleep in some guys house nearby, a pseudo-inn of sorts, given the abrupt night arrival and a desire for rest.

Day 119
The party interviews some of the lumberjacks who have left their posts. Turns out they were 'clearing goblin settlements' to make their timber milling outposts. Also they are dissatisfied with the Mayor's 'incompetence'. Bale is plotting. They catch a barge down the river to the second (middle) settlement to hopefully investigate the problem further. Domnall and Rudolph go on a scouting mission with the dogs, who sniff a nearby dead goblin chained to a tree post and track into the woods - they just keep heading deeper, coming across some shoddy black arrows, damaged trees, etc. when the two turn back before it gets dark. The party concludes that they must live deeper in the forest, and I start hearing plans of subverting the mayor, raising a goblin revolution, taking over lumber villages etc. big ambitions. We end the session there... Except...

Day 120
Domnall wakes up differently. Small antennae buds have popped up on his head, his eyes have gone totally round and pitch black. His face has elongated and flattened. It is scary.

Character Role & Alignment Performance Ratings
Bale: (E)xcellent - Always tough, courageous, and prideful to a fault. Takes every opportunity to employ tactical knowledge. Dominant as, chafes at ever being submissive.
Rudolph: (E)xcellent - Clever and varied disguises, even bought some new drip for credibility. All around a vile being.
Domnal: (E)xcellent - Use of spell was very appropriate and clever. I don't count the cockroach stuff here, but... Literally huge campaign element now hinging on his 4HP.

Treasure
No treasure gained!

Experience Points
Domnall: 408XP
Rudolph: 408XP
Bale: No XP for this session but reward 1110XP retroactively for Lizard King fight in the Shank in the Sage during Session 5.

Observations
These characters are out of play until time catches up - namely on Day 120, or 24/07/21