This series chronicles our current D&D 3.5 campaign set in my home-grown world with Ptolus added to it. We’ve just started playing a heavily-adapted version of WotC’s Expedition to the Demonwebs pits.
As you may recall from last time, I had mixed feelings about the game and I had been going a bit heavily on the Sparling wine and Mexican beer.
In that session, the players were ambushed by Yugoloth mercenaries outside of the Styx’s Oarsman, the newest Inn and the first commercial establishment of the undead and fiend filled Necropolis. The fight was really harsh and all characters were down to their last HP when they finally prevailed. They then spent time with Doredian Mythlord, the city’s Elven leader to discuss the recent increase in Drow raids. That’s when we broke for the night.
This week, Franky was missing because he had to work evenings, much to his chagrin (Hey! That’s a French word!). As is our habit, we assumed that Cixi was out on a personal mission and we started the game.
As mentioned before, this week’s game was a test on playing it more free-form and let the players dictate where they wanted to inquire to unravel the adventure’s early hooks.
Much to my surprise, the adventure started with Eric telling me that the last fight against the Yugoloth had given his fearless Cruguer a taste of his own, very final, mortality. Say what you want of the troubles of having a psychodramatist/method actor in your group, I absolutely love them to make something of a harsher than expected game!
You see, Cruguer is a Hellbred, a “race” made up of repented Evil souls stolen on the way to Hell by the Powers of Good and given a second chance on the material plane. The clinch of that (oh so fluffy) race from the Fiendish Codex II is that if slain, resurrection is not a possibility. The character’s soul goes directly to the Nine Hells of Baator for some quality time with the Devils who own it.
Cruger spent the first part of the adventure reviewing his equipment and asking questions about fighting the Yugoloths and the Drow so he could better deal with the threat. All players joined in the fun and several items were sold and purchased.
Aravar offered the services of the Library of Iritidil’s House (The Elven ‘club’ so to speak) and a short discussion on the Drow was had. That’s when it was mentioned that the Drow had concentrated their raids on Emerald Hill (Elven neighborhood) and the Temple District (The city’s area where this campaign started).
That’s also when I told them that the four priests able to cast True Resurrection in Ptolus were slain and their cathedrals destroyed in the last few days. At each site a symbol of a stylized skull was found (See image Those who play Ptolus might recognize it, but I use it out of context since Ghul never existed in my campaign). Worse still, they could not be raised the lower level resurrection or Wish spells… Definitively bad news.
The players already had an idea where the Drow might be, based on clues I dropped last game. However they were enjoying asking CSI-type questions about where the raids were centered and whatnot. So I decided to lay a scene based on them patrolling the Temple area late at night.
I told them that there were lights coming from the abandoned elven temple where they ‘popped-out‘ 9 sessions ago. Not being the stealthy type, th group basically entered the temple going “Who goes there?”.
That’s when the saw a furtive humanoid huddled with a large one. The smaller one jumped up and ran away through a window leaving a sheepish Crystal Troll, looking quite guilty. Recognizing his ‘friend’ F’ing Genius Troll, Nogard (1/2 Dragon Barbarian) stepped forward and greeted him by asking “what the hell are you doing here?” while at the same time giving him a bunch of Rat tails (One of the city’s rumors had been that the invincible Troll terrorizing low level adventurers in the Undercity had vanished).
The troll perked instantly up by seeing his buddy with a happy ‘Pay or Die!’ . It then surprised them with a laborious “Me… here… safe… no Black ‘Pay and not Dies’!” It so happens that the furtive shadow was teaching the troll to speak common. The players had some fun discussing with the troll, with Nogard taking a sadistic pleasure of using words with more than 3-syllables and watching me deal with these linguistic curveballs.
It confirmed what the characters were suspecting, F.G.Troll had been displaced from his sweet spot by a bunch of drow.
When asked who the fleeing one was, the troll made a fist sign (meaning one of the many organization or religion in Ptolus with hands as signs) and said “He help me find job! Only 10 and 5 per…cent!” (Must be the Longfingers thieves guild) 
So the PC’s decided to go back into the sewers, much to the ‘delight’ of Lillie (Pixie Shaper). On the way, they met a Drow patrol made of 2 fighters riding Giant Lizard, which were rapidly dispatched.
Dark elves are a lot easier to kill than Fiends and their Spell Resisitance is much lower.
When fishing for loot (Drow have a lot of that), they stumbled on a tattoo…. the same Skull pattern found on the destroyed cathedrals. Nogard took out his dagger and took a ’sample…. (Yuck!)
The PCs then came up to the troll’s toll bridge (the D&D battlemap Drow Outpost) and our Pixie scout spotted a pair of Drow noticing the PC’s light approaching. They relayed the info to ‘her Highness’ so she could send her Ogre Zombies. (One of them was shambling just under Lillie, oblivious).
The fight was a massacre, mostly because the monsters were too spread out on the map. The Ogres and Dark Elves Barbarians fell under the onslaught of 1/2 Dragon breath weapon, the Crusader’s sword chop, the Arcane Archer arrows and the Shaper’s spells. The priestess was invisible but was eventually found when she cast invisibility purge, to root Lillie out, and a failed Confusion spell on Aravar. She was rapidly killed, curising them for the glory of her Queen, Lotlh! (I hate playing cleric NPCs!)…
While pilling the sizable loot of the encounter, they found a set of orders and a map. The orders showed various points to raid on Ptolus and people to kill (the high level priests weren’t on the list). While all target were relatively close to the spot where the drow were stationed, one assassination target was much farther… Rule of Three, Githyanki Portal Scholar found at the Styx’s Oarsman.
The map traced a path between the current location of the drow and a portal deeper in the city’s vast dungeons.
Faced with multiple choices, the PC decided to return to the surface and inform their various contacts of their findings. After that they decided to pay Rule of Three a visit and warn him of the threat on his life.
I think the players are warming up to this quirky NPC that always ends his sentences in triple comments that say the same thing, have similar meaning, share a common theme… He brushed aside the threat on his life and indicated that increased Drow raids are usually a sign that the Spider Queen has fiendish plans for this region.
He proposed that the players could drop by the Temple of the Celestial Eye and get a prophecy about what awaits them and the city. There an eye-shaped oracle construct is known to deliver prophecies provided some can convince the rather conservative Angelic keepers. Alternatively, he suggested they investigate the portal from whence the Drow came and ‘clear’ it so he could go and study it for them to see if it could be deactivated.
The players chose the prophecy and made their way to the Temple District. Oddly enough, the Temple of the Celestial eye sits just beside Nogard’s newly appointed, Dragon Shrine! (backed by House Dallimothan, a Noble house affiliated with dragons). What a Coincidence!
After a bit of wrangling with the distrustful angels, who reacted rather negatively to the mention of Rule-of Three, they got a 2 Stanza prophecy about slaying demons, gates to cross, keys to find and a queen to run away from. They discussed its possible meaning at length (much to my pleasure… it was a good sign that the adventure was taking root) but by that time Stef was falling asleep at the table and we adjourned for the night.
Bottom line, a great game that was satisfying for all. I’m looking forward to the next one.
Lessons Learned.
- Giving more liberty to players can be rewarding and lead to games where players feel more in control of the flow of the story. While my players are very railroad friendly (for which I’m thankful, given my natural director style), I think the change of pace was a much needed boon for the game.
- I like this type of DMing where I need to improvise scenes out of thin air (Troll scene, Drow patrol) backed on ideas I plan for.
- My Mark of Evil approach pays off and allows me to link events thematically.
What Players liked:
- Getting to decide what to investigate and what to do without having the DM scramble to use plot-driven doors.
- Having the unidentified loot pre-written on cue cards and item cards for easy distribution. Well worth the effort.
- Revisiting known NPCs and locales
What players dislike:
- Yan doesn’t like his Fireball alternative spell (A ball of shrapnel that takes a full round to conjure), we’ll need to shop for a better non-fire based Spread spell.
What’s next:
- The Drow Portal and deciphering the Prophecy.
First off the Styx’s Oarsman is a fun tavern. That I am totally using somewhere in my game as well. Secondly, my players have enjoyed items on cards. Like those from paizo. Except I make my own. Which I find rewarding creating myself. So its pretty win, win.
Glad you liked it.
Yeah those item cards sure are sweet. I actually have both Paizo cards (for magical loot) and Index Cards (for kits and mundane items).