Dark Age of Eracost Session 8

 

Party

• Baron Fingol Innes, Navgarine Keeper of the Stars 3

• Tavenna, Navgarine Keeper of the Stars 2

• Kilosz, Fighter 1

• Baron Gregoire, Paladin 2

• Saporobir Caan, Explorer 2

• Æredan, Navgarine Warrior 1

From my perspective, playing as Baron Fingol Innes.

Recap

August 6, 427

Previously, we had halted near a broken down stone wall, where we had slain a small party of kobolds.

Now the party moved up to the wall and found an overgrown compound beyond. A stone keep dominated the grounds, with two ruined outbuildings and some plant growth that appeared to be infected with the evil of Gadaszin. That is, it was part flesh, much like the creature disguised as a sheep we had slain earlier.

The outbuildings were a dirt mound with a wooden door, and a crumbling stone foundation. Although everything was badly overgrown, there were clear trails between these structures.

“Do Pythagoras”

We moved into the crumbled foundation first, and dispatched a small group of goblins apparently keeping watch, then turned to the mound. Inside we could hear boisterous feasting and beastman language, so we threw military oil inside and held the door against them. This plan worked well and the 24 kobolds inside were nearly all killed. We dispatched the remaining few without trouble. The kobolds had a decent bit of treasure including an old, apparently enchanted, bronze navgarine sword.

Finally we approached the keep doors. A scouting attempt was noticed by the orcs inside, and they came boiling out, straight into an earth’s excrescence that caught nine of them. There were enough to make it a fight, and Æredan went down.

As the orcs were mopped up, Tavenna applied horsetail and Æredan recovered. He awoke with voices ringing in his ears, saying “they must not find the staff!” We don’t know what staff this referred to but I’m guessing it’s related to this incursion of evil fleshy plants. A follow-up cure light injury from Fingol got Æredan back in fighting shape.

Looting the orcs, we came up with another enchanted Navgarine sword. Quite a haul for our frontliners.

At this point I had to leave, but there was a bit of further action after I left the session. Apparently some rooms in the keep were checked, and more kobolds killed with caltrops and fire. 

Fingol’s Squad

Reserve xp: 125

Fingol Keeper 3 4271 / 7280

Tavenna Keeper 2 1864 / 3640

Kilosz Fighter 1 1769 / 2000

New Published Product: The Garden of Flesh and Blood

This week I'm finally publishing the ttrpg project I've been working on for the past four months or so - a new wilderness adventure site for ACKS II. Unlike my previous project which was a small 2-page dungeon, this one is 15 pages of content, complete with maps, art, six different sub-locations, new monsters, NPCs and unique magic items.

While progress on the project was slow because I'm a father of three with a baby and a full time job, I'm really happy with how it came together. My wife, Brooke, did some great original art that really brought it to life, and I was able to really delve into the customization tools in ACKS II to build out new monsters and magic items that are balanced and ready for sandbox play.

The adventure site is called The Garden of Flesh and Blood, and it's a dark, faerie-themed location with horrible monsters, tragic backstory, high danger and great rewards for the successful adventurer. Check it out on Drivethru RPG and support me if you're interested!

Dark Age of Eracost Session 7

 Party

• Baron Fingol Innes, Navgarine Keeper of the Stars 3

• Tavenna, Navgarine Keeper of the Stars 2

• Kilosz, Fighter 1

• Baron Gregoire, Paladin 2

• Baron Shevayron, Tratkean Fighter 2

• Saporobir Caan, Explorer 2

• Æredan, Navgarine Warrior 1

Recap

July 28, 427

The party spent a week in Rantal. Yet more war dogs and spiked barding were purchased, Tavenna learned her new spell (a lightning bolt spell that’s custom to this setting) and Saporobir hired a 1st level explorer named Bartosz, along with some mercenary horse archers. A new PC met us here, replacing Draeo - Æredan the Navgarine Warrior.

August 4

Party travelled north to Amtolosz along the road, meeting no trouble.

August 5

We set out north to investigate reports of kidnappings and dragonmen attacks. Farmers and traders met along the road indicated that the dragonmen attacks were further east, but they were very concerned about local disappearances.

Our hunting dogs alerted us to a strange smell along the road and we found a herd of sheep. One sheep acted strangely and stared at Shevayron. When he tried to zap it with a lightning cantrip, it transformed into a twisted plant creature. The creature was immediately torn to shreds by our war dogs.

We inspected the creature, found it was intentionally growing in the shape of a sheep to blend in. Tavenna, our historian, revealed that these monsters had been seen in part wars with Gadaszin, but had never taken stealthy forms like this. Ravenna, also being our animal expert, inspected every sheep but found no more monsters. We collected some ichor, and set our hunting dogs on the trail of the plant creature, which led us east into the forest.

Later in the day, Greg spotted something shiny in the grass… a diamond ring. He decided to try it on. Fingol cast protection from power on him in case of a curse, but it wasn’t enough. Greg was cursed and his strength halved!

Near the end of the day we came across some old Navgarine ruins. This had been a city of carefully grown trees, now overgrown and ruined. Æredan found some inscriptions, which allowed Tavenna to identify the ruins as the ancient city of Blessed River. We camped here after spending an inordinate amount of time convincing the noble paladin Gregoire not to intentionally get killed in the forest at night or try to start a forest fire.

August 6

We explored some paths through the dense forest ruins. We came across small groups of goblins and kobolds, and both were dispatched without much danger.

The goblin group was camped around a broken statue plinth. Our Navgarines read the inscription, which named an ancient Keeper famously slain by dragons.

After slaying the kobolds we approached a stone structure, which we guessed to be the keep of the ancient Navgarine city.