Friday, August 1, 2025

Dark Age of Eracost Session 17

 Party
  • Baron Fingol Innes, Navgarine Keeper of the Stars 4

    • Kilosz the Cataphract, Fighter 3

    • Iazhir, Dragonman 2

    • Ranenno, Forester-Bard 1

  • Baron Gregoire, Paladin 3

  • Saporobir Caan, Explorer 3

    • Bartosz, Fighter 2

    • Ileisan, Navgarine Warrior 2

    • Arananno, Navgarine Battlemage 1

    • Ransolnan, Navgarine Battlemage 1

  • Karmrakir, Tratkean Thief 3

    • Koreltos, Thief 2

    • Nalin, Assassin 1

    • Gregosz The Chosen One, 0-level man teenager

Recap

Sept 16, 427


We pick up immediately after the party had defeated a barrow of wights with a barrage of navgarine lightning and dragonman fire. The wight room was looted and produced a sword +1, which was claimed by Karmrakir (every other PC having already gained one).


The party proceeded down the circular stair to its end, now the 4th level of the academy basement. Here the central vortex of chaos had its source in a stone ring. Inspecting the ring we found a large stone with a curious indent, but could not determine its purpose.


Three doors exited the central chamber - south, east and north.


The north door was labeled SOURCE. Behind it Koraltos detected the sound of insect scurrying. Fingol deduced that this door would contain monsters and little else of value, just as the other source rooms had.


Inexplicably and without bothering to check the other doors, Karmrakir the foolhardy Tratkean decided to spin his fancy new magic sword to determine which door to open. This landed pointing north, and the brash non-baron immediately began convincing Gregosz that opening this door was the will of the Grand Marshall. Flabbergasted, Fingol ordered Iazhir to bar the door to prevent its being opened until the others were checked.


Finally Koreltos checked the others, finding the south door (marked STUDY) locked and the east (marked with a sigil of a raven looking downward) unlocked. Gregoire opened the east door, opening onto a short hall. The door at the end had an obvious blade trap in front of it.


Koreltos tried to pick the southern one while Sapporo tried some tricky stuff with a bag of flour to disarm the trap. The flour was unsuccessful, and Koreltos returned to inform us that he had jammed the lock - just as he had jammed the lock at the Nimonuin Trade Guild’s fence hideout. Thoroughly annoyed, we sent him to disarm the trapped door. Surely three natural ones in a row would not happen. A moment later he was sliced in half.


Karmrakir cried out that this was the Grand Marshall’s vengeance for ignoring his instructions (the astute reader will note that those instructions were entirely fictitious) and threw open the north door.


As predicted, there was massive trouble behind this door in the form of 6 Giant Acathaspis (and no treasure). Fortunately, the remainder of the party managed to salvage the situation by blocking the narrow door with the two bears (Gregoire’s hunting black bear, and Fingol’s plate-armored war-mount brown bear). A bit of lightning and luck helped too. The bears tanked 40+ damage between them, but the fight was won with no losses.


Now very low on spells, Fingol advocated for returning to the surface for the night. But Sapporobir, having perhaps been temporarily influenced by Tratkean insanity, wanted to sleep in the acathaspis room. So the party was split, with Fingol taking his henchmen and Karmrakir’s henchmen to camp in the forest, and the remainder planning to spend a peaceful night in the dungeon without any encounters.


Unfortunately there was an encounter, and Gregoire contracted rot from a wight.


Sept 17


With our illustrious paladin’s flesh steadily rotting, the expedition was called off, and the party set off for Siaro.


Sept 18


Arrived in Siaro, and Gregoire sought healing from the temple.

Strategic Overview

Experience

Reserve xp: 346

Fingol Keeper 4         12209 / 14560

Kilosz Fighter 3         5693 / 8000

Tavenna         Keeper 3         4140 / 7280

Iazhir Dragonman 2 2961 / 5120

Ranenno         Forester-Bard 1 401 / ??

Domain

Vigilant Keep

Barony of 1 6-mile hex

Population: 56 families

Stronghold value: 60,000gp

Mercenary garrison (282gp / month):

  • 10 light infantry

  • 14 heavy infantry

  • 6 bowmen


Notes:

  • Keep contains an alchemy lab worth 4100gp

Expeditionary Force

Fingol, Iazhir and Ranenno on riding mules

Renenno’s Wolf

Armored War Bear

Kilosz on Medium Warhorse with backup War Mule

Animal handler with 2 hunting dogs, 5 war dogs

Baggage train of 7 draft donkeys

Mercenary squad of 3 crossbowmen


No comments:

Post a Comment

Novalia Campaign Session 31: Kasumi's Journey

Novalia Session 31 is a 1v1 (one player, one DM) session featuring a new character and new area never before explored by the players. While ...