The Halls of Arden Vul - First Session Report

 Yesterday I had the pleasure of playing in the first session of Tara's new in-person open-table old-school D&D game. I met Tara when she ran a B/X campaign of the original 1979 Keep on the Borderlands last year, which I was originally interested in as a weird long-form historical/academic LARPing exercise after spending way too much time reading OSR blogs on my phone at work. 

    Ultimately though I was impressed by the way she breathed life into the module by layering on her own evocative aesthetics, sense of character, complex histories, and intriguing secrets -- so when I saw she was taking on the 1,100-page megadungeon behemoth for her next campaign I was stoked to grab a seat at the table.

    I'm posting my log of the session here, which can hopefully be useful as a resource to future delvers... Delve on! I rolled up a human cleric named Ressona, an adherent of the new hotness Solarism, which I'll quote Tara's description of given the detail of religious society in the game:

   Solarism: This monotheistic religion, founded by the Ithruin philosopher Julian the Bronze, worships the Sun as the creator of the world and the sole God. Lady Alexia Basileos of Ra’ankh provides ample patronage to support its growth in Ithruin, and most devotees are easily convinced that the scorching midday sun of the desert is a natural candidate for worship. Solarites maintain a veneration of some pagan deities, but as human sages and saints, rather than gods.

    In the campaign Arden Vul is an ancient lost city of the current Archontian empire that's undergoing recolonization. Ressona is a fresh convert who's traveled to the lands of Arden Vul to loot and deface its priceless artifacts spread the good word of the one true god. 

THE RECAP: 25th of FEBRUARY, YEAR 2023 AEP

THE CITY OF RA'ANKH

     As the Most Literate among our Number I have taken it upon myself to Chronicle our company's exploits. Our boat arrived at the city of Ra'ankh and my compatriots gained the lay of the land. A scholar among our number informed us that this land was laid to waste in a civil war between wizards 300 years ago, in which the conservative faction prevailed; it was subsequently abandoned but was now being resettled by order of the holy Emperor.

     I made way for the immaculate Solar Temple in the city's holy quarter and made contact with a local priest, Mataph. He informed me that the Lady Alexia sought to establish a new Solarite chapel within Arden Vul, which I vowed to accomplish.

    Afterwards we met a strange man who forsaw our passage into a pyramid(!) in an invisible crystal ball. He told us something cryptic about the importance of traveling into the pyramid on south nort-facing stairs. He also sought whitecap cloudcap mushrooms. 

    My companions held audience with a mayoral figure in a nearby villa (Eusebia?) who asked us to locate Samantha the Red, an esteemed bodyguard of some sort who had gone missing several weeks ago.

    We regrouped at a tavern, the Centurion's Truncheon, and I heard tell of the following strange tales:

        > The Halls were built by toad men?

        > Somewhere in the ancient city is a gladiator pit, which has seen steady use throughout the centuries, despite reports of being abandoned (so said a one-armed man, who claimed he lost the other in said pit)

        > Something about a Lady (perhaps Lady Alexia) seeking evidence to unseat her brother, who might have been the Mayor?

        > PYRAMID!!! Atop the cliffs to the north! 

        > There were many passages into the Halls on the northern cliff face, but none were safe to traverse due to fell creatures known as Ghouls. I have taken it upon myself to Reason with these Ghouls and show them the errors of their ways.

        > There was an establishment ran by one Estelle past the northern side of the pyramid where safe lodging could be found.

        

        We passed the remainder of the evening in the Truncheon and set out for the ruins at first light.

THE ASCENT

    We walked north along the road to where it ascended the cliffs. Two massive statues of the historic warrior Arden and her sorceror-comrade Vul were set into the 1,500ft cliff face on either side of the ascending zigzagging road, next to a massive waterfall. A dwarf among our number noted something unusual about the construction of Arden's hand.

    At the base of the falls sat the ruins of an ancient tower. Buried under a pile of rubble in a corner of the structure we located a Cellar Door. Upon opening said door we were greeted by a frightful phantasmal figure who called out for one "Neaimah," who it claimed was "taken by a red priest". We closed the door, reburied it, and moved on, after providing ample Spiritual Comfort to the poor afflicted Phantasm and promising the swift return of its loved one.

    Many strange and dark passageways into the caves among the cliffs were found as we ascended. In one hidden passageway after the path's third switchback we dipped inside, so that I might Shine my Lantern upon those Forgotten Places, but finding nothing but the scratchings of vermin we returned to the road and continued our ascent. 

    Our dwarf also noticed another concealed passage behind the waterfall roughly at Arden's shoulder, but it was ruled too difficult to reach, and we continued upward. 

    

THE OBELISK

    Once we reached the top of the cliffs we passed beneath the city's gates and its land stretched before us. Ruins stretched in the shadow of the Marble Pyramid including a four-story building and a Collapsed Villa. 

    Along the road loomed a Massive Obelisk which I stood transfixed by for quite some time. Its surface was decorated with reptilian creatures (toad men?), a surfeit of pagan deities, and culminated in the symbol of the Sun at its apex. It was covered in an ancient transcription which our scholar translated: "THE BEACON SHALL BE REVEALED TO THOSE WHO BRING MIDDAY LIFE TO THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE STARS". Clearly an object that Proved the Solarism of the Ancients.

    In a moment of deep contemplation I saw a holy light reflecting from a symbol atop the obelisk. It seemed an ankh-like symbol had been removed and the depression in which it once sat shone unnaturally--certainly a sign, a Divine Message. It seemed the monument had been defaced -- I vowed to recover the sacred ankh and return it to its rightful place.

THE INN

    We passed north through the ruined land, circumvented the pyramid, and found the rumored establishment, an inn beyond the city wall decorated with a looted depiction of Arden's head, part of a very modest settlement. We spoke with its proprietor Kronos and he was most agreeable. We learned that the top of the pyramid was the entryway into the Halls.

    Having observed that the entryway atop the pyramid was Tragically Roofed despite wonderful Proximity to the Sun I inquired with Kronos about the conscription of masons and daylaborers toward the efforts of removing it to better serve as a chapel for Solarites. He agreed to post an advertisement in his establishment detailing my request.

THE PYRAMID

    With some daylight remaining we decided to return to the Pyramid and ascend the steps to its peak, where apparently the Gateway to the Fabled Halls could be found. Upon rising we met a statue of ibis-headed Thoth presiding over a decorative panel in the ground. My companions rotated his articulated limbs and found in doing so different parts of the panel slid inward, revealing two separate downward staircases into the bowels of the pyramid, one heading north, one heading south. Recalling the strange sage's advice we took the south north-heading staircase.

    The stairs continued down for some time. We passed through a strange unnaturally-lit chamber and continued further downward. Eventually we came to a large room with myriad exits which I have dubbed The Crossroads.

    

A NEW ASSOCIATE

    A dead man slumped against the western wall -- ghastly. Statues and murals of Thoth dominated the room. My associates discovered that this statue's arms were also articulated and began to rotate them when we were accosted by a group of halflings hobbits brandishing weaponry and claiming we lacked the proper licensure to traverse the area. We nearly came to Wretched Violence but agreed to meet with their leader to arrange the proper paperwork.

    Upon being taken at swordpoint to their leader, one Plumthorn, who made his office from a chamber just east of the Crossroads, all were surprised to discover that this Plumthorn and one of our wizardly associates were in fact extremely good friends from back in college. Plumthorn called off his men and agreed to sign a License certifying our company's rights to traverse the area unbothered free of charge, which I have enclosed along with this Holy Chronicle for the Good Use of my Companions. Plumthorn also gave us information about the situation within the Halls:

    > A group of beastmen resides to the south, who Plumthorn called "Fucking Crazy". Their leader is called Demo.

    > Apparently the level below this one is dominated by a group known as the Cult of Sett, who seemed to Strike Fear into the Heart of good Plumthorn.

SIGNING OFF

  With our business concluded I pronounced myself exhausted and promptly left my companions to their affairs in the Halls. I have returned to Kronos' Establishment where I pen this Chronicle, and where I will reside in peace to Meditate upon the Splendid Obelisk and the many mysteries of this land. 

deadSun -MAXIMAL- 11 Scarlet Downtime Redux

 Times were hard for the Company as they rode out the rest of Lastmonth...

Gus L, Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

- Gemini (he/they), 3rd Renown Violent

- Kestrel (they), 3rd Renown Deviant

- Ottavi (it), 1st Renown Violent

LOOT

- Grampy Pete's bandana (1/4 Slot, 1 DEFLECT)

DEVELOPMENTS

- The Company now holds a common debt of 7,549 copper zennies to a mysterious league of jackal-masked science-mystics, known as Symanthe's Vermomancers. They make their home/laboratory in a small complex in the desert south of Scarlet Town. The Company stands at an impressive 11 Reputation with them currently.

- Ottavi has reached 2nd Renown.

RUMORS

- There are few tomb robbers who don't succumb to Tomb Crystal poisoning one way or another; it's everywhere, and it's resistant to all remedies natural and sorcerous. They say there's a witch in the wilds that's the only one on the Frontier capable of curing it for good. They say you'll find her if you ride out to the Barrow Fields south of town with an offering of two hogs on a moonless night.

- They say a well-laden AEGIS Consortium caravan disappeared on the southern roads through the Pine Hells. Its bounty of pristine occulith has yet to surface on the market.

RECAP: SCARLET TOWN, LASTMONTH, 1V39

    Downtime commenced as the Company recovered from their lengthy travels. They earned just enough from treasure to pay off their debts to Scarlet Town's Innocents and have a bit leftover. The Event Die rolled a 'free' result and they gained a much-needed reprieve.

    Their associate Breezy Pete approached the Company and gave them "his most valuable remaining worldly possession," his Grampy Pete's ensorcelled bandana, which kept folded in his breast pocket allegedly saved him from mortal harm by blade and bullet many a time. He offered it to settle up after saving his life. The Company accepted the gift. Now that they were even, Pete made a business proposal, saying that it was the loss of his boys that turned him to a life of revenge and that he was looking to throw in with a new gang. He offered his services to the Company as a henchman in exchange for an even cut of the treasure; the Company replied that they would take time to consider his offer, agreeing behind his back on their intentions to ghost him. With the business concluded the Company were left to their own devices. 

    Kestrel spent the downtime tinkering with their massive assortment of salvaged weaponry and crafted something akin to a hand-cannon. It gained the Potent tag and the Unwieldy drawback, requiring a full initiative round to set up if not prepared before entering combat. 

    Gemini's Crystal Poisoning advanced in severity to its second stage, in which (quote Tomb Robbers) "Patches of crystal build up on bone, hair, and skin. They result in random bruises, stiff joints, and frequent aching pains. -1 SKILL." The resulting SKILL loss reduced them to 0 movement dice.

     Gemini used their Arcane ancestry ability to attempt to replace their destroyed arm with a fully crystal mutant limb; on a partial success they regained use of the limb but compromised their ability to resist further Crystal infection (DV +4 on future saves vs. Tomb Crystal, up to +6 now).

    Gemini sought a remedy and found little success; it seems most tomb robbers were resigned to accept it as incurable, as it resisted most forms of treatment. He heard tell of a witch who dwelled in the Barrow Fields to the south that was said to be the only one capable of curing it for good, and that she could be found by riding out with an offering of two hogs on a moonless night.

    Ottavi elected to spend the month engaged in attribute training by wrestling gigantic mutant catfish in the marshy shallows around Rat Creek; Gemini joined in, and Kestrel used the opportunity to test out their new hand-cannon. [The Referee neglected to notice the 1,000cp cost associated with attribute training until the plan was in motion but ultimately ruled in favor of the catfish wrestling scheme, promising to assert the cost next time...] Ottavi increased its PHYSIQUE and Gemini his SKILL by 1 each.

CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION

    With hardly a dozen gold coins to burn between them the Company began to party on credit, which naturally spelled misadventure for them down the line.

    Gemini indulged in rodomontade, loudly bragging across town about lifting Fort Auroch's portcullis with only the strength of his rapidly-crystalizing biceps. They netted a cool 1,200 XP.

    Ottavi indulged in frippery, busting out their insectoid carapace on the catwalks of Scarlet Town and breaking into the world of cowboy high fashion. They rolled exceedingly well and chalked up 4,050cp of debt on the Company register, failed their saving throw, and rolled the following result on the carousing complications table: "You wake up in a random adjacent hex, stark naked, in someone or something’s house/lair. Your friends have all your stuff. Roll a reaction roll for your host." More on that in a bit.

Worm Handlers from
Miyazaki's Nausicaa manga

    Kestrel indulged in wanton obscurantism concerning their new hand-cannon creation, basically tripping out on excessive research into their new potential life as an arms dealer. They rolled high, netted a debt of 3,549cp, and failed their saving throw. Apparently word of their dabbling got back to their previous employer Adipose Mab, who lost Reputation with the Company, potentially compromising her well-earned recommendation.

INTO THE SLUG PITS

    Ottavi awoke in a dark chamber, covered in slugs. From behind a glass pane, figures in hyena-shaped masks observed and scribbled notes onto clipboards while others played strange droning musics on didgeridoos and harmonized vocally.

    Once Ottavi rose to its feet, the head researcher called out for her gaunt associate to open the chamber and greeted Ottavi warmly. Very warmly. She offered a handshake and introduced herself as Symanthe. Ottavi asked, "What did I do wrong?", and Symanthe replied, "Nothing, except perhaps for being a particularly exquisite specimen." She told Ottavi that she "hoped you will find the changes to your liking" and handed it a note of receipt, detailing the Company's extensive new debt to one Symanthe's Swarms and Sundries, some sort of commercial enclave of reclusive vermomancers. 

    With that Ottavi was free to go and wandered bleary-eyed into the desert morning, the outlying tents and hog pens of Scarlet Town just visible on the horizon.

    Thus ended the month of Lastmonth, 1V39.

    

deadSun -MAXIMAL- 10 A Pete Retrieved

 Fatigue and unexpected circumstances cut this one short!

LOOT

    - 50gp (Syndicator Hostel's reward for freeing Breezy Pete)

END OF LASTMONTH, SPRING, YEAR 1V39

    We picked back up with Hipsap dead in the dirt and Gemini, Kestrel, and Yako the Blue astride the gang's hoverbikes. Fort Auroch was gathering its forces and moments from laying waste to the squatting mutant merchant groups. 

    Yako implored the party to lend their strength to his people's efforts against the soldiers. The Company responded by slaying the weakened clown where he stood, claiming the ninth and final soul to satisfy the sword god's bargain. They rode out into the night.

    They rode on and encountered a strange mutant butterfly person thing, who summarily joined the party, taking its place atop Hipsap's bike. It called itself Ottavi Pithoportha. The Company rode all night through a strange formation of seemingly-infinite monoliths (polyliths?) in the deserts and found themselves nearly back where they came at daybreak. They changed course and passed a massive swarm of slumbering hogs and made their way back to the cave at Rat Creek, where they had struck the deal with the sword god so many moons ago. 

    The ensorcelled Breezy Pete was busy picking over the corpses of duck-men for new sword components in the cave-temple's atrium. The sword god came to molten life in his statue form and told the Company he was impressed with the chaos they had sown across the land. With a flash of light Breezy Pete was released from his geas and dropped his swordsmithing materials. He immediately stuck his hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a greased comb, then ran it through his luscious hair.

    Pete was back, baby.

    The party each took a weird sword from the heaps as a souvenir. Gemini got a functional umbrella sword. Kestrel got a section of lead piping on a wooden hilt. Ottavi got something that was once a beautifully crafted paper-mache blade but was now a soggy mess of pulp, which they ate, like a weirdo.

    The ride home across the desert was uneventful and soon they returned to Scarlet Town's Syndicator's Hostel, where Pete bought the party drinks and was reunited with his boyfriend Crucius Dinommis a.k.a. Crucy D, whose job had kicked off this whole thing in the first place. Crucy slid the party their payment and promised that they'd eat free at the Hostel from now on.

    Thus the party holed up to ride out the rest of the month and take some well-earned downtime. 

deadSun -MAXIMAL- 09 Blood on the Canyon

 We're back!

LOOT

- One Yako the Blue

DEVELOPMENTS

- Much was learned about the Crimson Canyons:

    > None were being let through Fort Auroch due to a 'rampaging angel on the loose' in the eastern canyons.

    > Dozens of detained merchants were gathered outside the walls of Fort Auroch as an impromptu sit-in because one of their own, traveling performer Yako the Blue, was imprisoned within for the alleged murder of a guard.

    > The tomb robber Whiskey Dynamite claimed an ancient ruin on the northern lip of the canyon held a priceless artifact from ages past, known as the Board of Hiad.

    > Halaena Graf's gang, a rival to the Company, seems to have ties to Fort Auroch's Captain Mossak, and was seeking to make a name for herself by hunting and killing the canyon angel.

    > More... read on!

Image from Through the Valley of the ██████, though I remixed it a bit

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    - Gemini (he/they), 3rd level Violent, polearm-swinging sphinx guy 

    - Kestrel (they), 3rd level Deviant, gunslinging robot

    - Hipsap Sanvalli (she), 2nd level Occult, moldomancer and slinger of sorcery

RECAP

    We picked back up on the 7th of Lastmonth, 1V49, high noon. The company had just bribed their way into the imposing Fort Auroch, a remote military outpost on the edge of a crimson canyon region and the gateway to the Ultraviolet Grasslands.

    The Company got the lay of the land: the guards were testy due to tensions with the prisoner and the merchant groups. A few groups of adventurers were partying and passing time at an impromptu tent bar in the Fort's courtyard.

    They were then accosted by purple four-armed man who introduced himself as Girondo od Vode. Girondo was liquidating his caravan, seeking to get out of the business, and had a range of strange goods for sale for what he claimed were half-off, everything-must-go prices. Kestrel purchased a foreign blade "hammered under the finest steelsmiths of the City of Violet, far to the east." Seeking relief from their destroyed right arm, Gemini purchased a strange feather called an "ultra jay plume" that Giorondo claimed could allow them to ignore the wound for short periods of time if they jabbed it into their arm, apparently a favorite stimulant of the Fort's soldiers. 

    Hipsap haggled and gathered information and they spotted Halaena Graf's gang among the adventurers at the bar. Girondo filled her in that they were here to slay the canyon's angel. Girondo also pointed out a crew led by a man known as Whiskey Dynamite, who were partying it up, apparently having struck it rich; Hipsap recognized these as the tomb robbers they had let go on their way the night previous. The Company went to the bar to speak with them.

    Whiskey Dynamite and his crew were messed up off of a concoction of energy drinks purchased from Girondo and their homebrew moonshine (Quatro Quarazy). They were filled with granduer and high off their success, spilling the beans about their upcoming score: they were looking to pilfer the fabled Board of Hiad from a ruin on the northern edge of the canyon, and invited the Company to take part in their ventures as hired muscle. The Company responded that they needed time to weigh their options, which as a fellow distinguished businessman, Whiskey Dynamite greatly respected.

    The Company passed the time in the bar with their hats drawn low and their cloaks buttoned up, attempting to avoid notice by Halaena Graf's outfit. Around nightfall Halaena rose and headed toward the Captain's keep. With subtle handiwork and judicious application of sorcery, Hipsap casually bumped into Halaena on her way out, and managed to swipe her jeweled silver rapier from under her nose without notice, the very blade she had taunted the party about extracting from Murkvey's Rock many moons ago.

    The party considered a range of options -- they had few days remaining to kill three more people to release the sword god's geas on their quarry, Breezy Pete, and the tense situation at the fortress only made matters more complicated. Eventually they hatched a scheme.

THE SCHEME 

    Two guards were posted over the Hole -- a small grate over a ditch in which the Fort's sole prisoner, Yako the Blue, was kept. Gemini approached the two guards in the guise of one of Whiskey Dynamite's boys, pretending to be blasted out of his mind on Quatro Quarazy, while Hipsap and Kestrel approached from behind to slay them. The guards were on high alert and quickly noticed both Hipsap and Kestrel slinking behind them (who failed their stealth rolls). Initiative turns and chaotic melee ensued.

    Hipsap struck the guards with a 3d6 blast of moldy maleficence, which sent them both into a coughing fit and quickly ate through the metal bars of the grate.  

    The guards responded in force with their red metal polearms, bringing damage to both Hipsap and Gemini. Gemini choked out a guard with the handle of their lucerne. Out of position for melee, Kestrel threw a bag of valuable occulith gemstones at the feet of the remaining guard, attempting to trip him as if it were a bag of marbles; the guard passed his save and crunched 1,000cp worth of treasure beneath his boots, unfazed. Hipsap was hurt in the fighting and managed to run the remaining guard through with an enhanced true strike from Halaena Graf's rapier, but not before he let out a cry of alarm. She then made short work of the incapacitated guard, claiming two out of the three lives left to satisfy the sword god's bargain.

    Scuffling was heard from the barracks and the keep. A weak voice called up from the hole -- "Siblings, is it you? Have you come for me at last?". Begrudgingly Hipsap kicked through the corroded grate and tossed Yako the Blue a rope, seeing his face for the first time: a twinky blue elf looking like Punished Griffith with a ton of piercings, clearly not having a good time. Meanwhile, a searchlight was lit atop the Keep's observatory and swept across the courtyard, and the sound of the heavy iron portcullis beginning to close was heard from behind them.

    The team made a break for it, having one initiative round of free movement before reinforcements arrived. Gemini used their last combat dice to sprint the full distance (like 120' or so, an impressive roll) and, under the influence of ultra jay, attempted to prevent the portcullis' closure with his own rippling biceps. The difficult roll barely failed and I ruled it as a partial success; they succeeded in jamming the portcullis' mechanism but suffered significant harm as a result, pushing beyond the limits of their mortal form. They were reduced to 2 HP and had depleted the last of their combat dice.

    Kestrel and Hipsap made a break for their hoverbikes, parked on the opposite end of the courtyard, Yako weakly crawling after them. As Hipsap drew near the hoverbikes she was fired upon by two crossbowmen from the portcullis' battlements and nearly slain, but her Tough ancestry allowed her to push her luck, surviving at 1 HP. 

    Gemini fished in their backpack for the mysterious green metal cylinder they had looted from the biker bandits previously and pushed the button, lobbing it high into the battlements above the portcullis. A brilliant neon green explosion briefly lit the courtyard and hissing goo spattered the gatehouse, accompanied by the rippling screams of guards undergoing strange mutations in the dark.

  Hipsap powered on the Company's bikes and brought them toward the gate, linking up with Kestrel and Gemini. More crossbowmen rose to the walls and two halberdiers emerged from the barracks, the sound of more clanking metal armored soldiers filing in behind them.

THE CHOICE

    At this moment the Company was presented a choice. With the bikes secured, the portcullis jammed open, and the guards atop it slain, there was nothing standing between them and the open road to the west if all they sought was a quick getaway.

    Behind them, Yako the Blue writhed in the sand, the Keep's searchlight circling around him.

    Coming up on the end of the session I gave the Company a clear, one-and-done solution: if they wanted to escape, they were free to. If they wanted to make a run back for Yako, it would require a challenging roll to ride between a hail of oncoming crossbow fire without suffering harm.

    Hipsap took the odds and rode into the blinding searchlight, doing donuts in the sand, attempting to stir up a cloud of obscuring dust.

    Her hand met Yako's.

    She pulled him atop the bike.

    A crossbow quarrel sunk through Hipsap's chest. 

    She was on death's door. She would die in two turns -- roughly twenty seconds -- if untreated.

    Kestrel attempted a difficult cross-bike last-ditch medical effort to stabilize Hipsap with the guards on their heels, but no one had a healer's kit, and given the immense pressure I called for a roll.

    It failed. Hipsap was dead.

    In frustration Kestrel pushed Hipsap from the bike, sending her corpse into the mud beside a squatting caravanner's tent. Kestrel and Gemini and Yako rode on without her into the night. Thus ended the journey of Hipsap, becoming the first adventurer entered in the Halls of the Damned; thus concluded the session.