One More Room

GM: Andrew Szilvasy
Players: Nicholas Vlamis, Tim Jones
Characters: Cassius, Siobhan, Erkan, Aurelian, Poldmere, Nobbins Quickthumb; with Naganin and Kitsune

Gap note: The session before this one was never transcribed, so this record starts mid-dungeon. From the opening recap: the party had already fought the barrow’s ghost (jokingly called “the BBEG”), with Poldmere handling most of it himself, and Poldmere now carries the Holy Sword of Sir Brandon. The details of that fight are not in this transcript.

Summary

The party was in the second level of the Barrow Mound and ready to leave, but Tim pushed for “one more room” to the north. At a T-intersection they searched a room to the west: a scribe’s workshop with a desk (a pot-painting manual and dried paints), a rotting footlocker (picked open by Poldmere after Nobbins failed the lock; it held fist-sized rocks carved with shells and acorns), and shelves of old histories. Cassius found one standout, a gold-rimmed codex called Lives of the Saints, worth about 2,000 GP to the right buyer.

While they searched, faint clicking and barking came from the east, then a blink dog appeared in front of Nobbins. Poldmere hit it for 11 with the Sword of Sir Brandon (which does only +1 against non-evil creatures), and Erkan finished it with a magical shortsword. Aurelian took a vial of its blood. Kitsune was terrified of the dogs, and Naganin turned invisible and hid. Blink dog tracks and a ripped-apart giant spider in the next room suggested the dogs had been killing other things down there. After waiting 10 minutes, the party moved out and a second blink dog ambushed Nobbins at the secret door. Nobbins survived with 1 of his 2 HP, Cassius put it to sleep with a roll of 15 on 2d8, and the party decided to kill it rather than try to hold a creature that can phase away. Back upstairs they found the three goblins who had fled earlier torn to pieces.

In the niche room on the first floor they worked through the burial niches looking for seams. They found a jewel-encrusted dagger (about 200 GP) and then a secret door leading to a 10-foot hall and a small vault with a vine-carved chest holding a quarterstaff and monastic robes (relics of Saint Arthur, about 1,200 GP together to a church buyer) and seven gold candle holders (about 50 GP each). Encumbrance became a real problem, so they dropped caltrops and pitons, pooled loose coins to free slots, and spread the loot around, leaving them at 60 ft movement. They decided to stop searching, since they expected the next alcove to be one they did not want to open.

Naganin flew the party out of the barrow and dropped them a short way east of Brandonsford. The townspeople had assumed they were dead after two days away. Tad, one of the two dopey locals they had helped, had lost a hand trying to rescue them. Some locals, including Zach, want to burn the town down and leave, and several openly distrust non-humans. The party took a private room at the Golden Egg (Quinn’s inn) and wrapped their loot in a bedsheet, which Aurelian guarded with a Command glyph that makes any intruder leave and cluck like a chicken. They also plan to answer the anonymous admirer who keeps sending Warwick the smith letters, by telling her that he can’t read and that she should make herself known. Warwick himself has no metal and can’t make them a safe.

Nick read the codex and learned its magic: fae near the reader double over in pain at the sound of the reading, which could be very useful against fae. The session ended with the party deciding what to pursue next. Father William, a priest at the Clumsy Fox who hates the fae and charges Erkan double for healing, said he had sent Brother Dirk to the barrow two days ago to fetch Brandon’s sword and had heard nothing since. As far as the transcript shows, the party did not mention that they already have the sword. The townspeople fear the giant to the north but also keep a standoff with it, since it hates goblins and has kept them at bay.

Important Details Discovered

• The Holy Sword of Sir Brandon is a +1 weapon that is stronger against evil creatures (it was +3 against the ghost). It does only +1 against the blink dogs, who are not evil.
• Poldmere’s state: +1 to all rolls in the woods around Brandonsford (from cleaning the chapel statue) and 2 points of Constitution drained by the ghost.
• Blink dogs appear and vanish mid-combat, can attack from nowhere, and apparently follow the party between locations. If they act before you, they can strike and then blink away. Two died here, but there may be more. The party killed them mainly because they can phase out of any restraint.
• Alchemist wards: Aurelian can keep only one of each ward active at once. The Command ward works on whatever crosses its boundary. A new casting of the same ward elsewhere dispels the old one.
• Nobbins has only 2 HP (1 now). Erkan is at 4 of 8 HP. Both should recover with a night’s rest.
• Supplies: The dragon is cutting off shipments and metal to Brandonsford, so supplies are scarce and shops may not stock what the party needs.
• The giant: It has lived north of town for a long time, and the town fears it but has a standoff with it. It hates goblins, and most people who meet it don’t come back. During the flight to Brandonsford the party saw smoke rising from a very large house about halfway between the barrow and town.
• Faction attitudes: Father William hates the fae and mistreats non-humans. Zach and others want to burn Brandonsford down and move on. Brother Dirk (short, plump, rosy-faced, monkish) is missing and was sent to the barrow for the sword.
• XP: Treasure counts for XP only when brought somewhere safe. The two blink dogs gave 125 XP each. The GM expects significant leveling now that the party is back in town.

Treasure Found

• Lives of the Saints codex (gold-rimmed vellum, carried by Cassius, labeled “Brandon’s Hoard”) — about 2,000 GP; reading it aloud hurts nearby fae
• Robes and quarterstaff of Saint Arthur — about 1,200 GP together to a church buyer
• Seven gold candle holders — about 50 GP each (350 GP total)
• Jewel-encrusted dagger — about 200 GP (not magical)
• Carved runestones (shell and acorn shapes) from the footlocker — appear mundane for now; Tim wants to study them
• A vial of blink dog blood — Aurelian plans to experiment with it
• Combined estimate for the above sellable items: roughly 3,750 GP, assuming the party finds the right buyers

Next Session Plans

• Once Tim and Nick are back from Chicago, probably the following week, decide among the open threads:
  • Hogboon’s dragon: The party never went back to the dragon’s lair and still owes the goblin king a live dragon.
  • The giant: Learn why it hates the goblins and whether a standoff could be restored to help with the dragon.
  • The alchemist’s repose: Aurelian is very interested in finding it (northeast; the party’s exact route is unknown).
• Tim suggested asking around town for someone who can explain the giant, and then dealing with the dragon using Poldmere’s new sword.
• Sort out loot and inventory between sessions on a shared treasure tracker.
• Andrew said only a few threads remain in the current module, and that the group’s next game after it is Black Apple Brew, which Tim has been prepping and Andrew will play in.