Greyhawk Campaign Diary: From Darkshelf to Nessermouth
Over the last week, I finished my main preparations for last night's travels through the wilderness. That included plotting out all of the probable hexes they would travel through. I took one of Anna B Meyers' Greyhawk maps and hexed it out with approximately 25 mile hexes.
I plotted strongholds, rolled up lairs (and tons and tons of treasure), patrols, merchant caravans, etc. It easily ate up 16 hours and to be honest, I'm still not quite done.
I put in some detail for the city they wanted to visit and felt reasonably confident that I could handle whatever they threw at me that session.
So, we picked up after a disastrous attempt to besiege the Guardhouse at Darkshelf Quarry. A PC and a henchmen were slain in the attempt, and though the players took the lives of many, many more slavers remained. They staged a tactical withdrawal, and one of the Magic-Users used a Scroll of Sending to deliver a message to the group's patron, Rancent the Watcher. Covidia informed Rancent that things were going "tits up" over there.
The players knew that Rancent keeps tabs on them, but they didn't know what his assistance would look like. They hadn't dealt with him directly since the campaign began.
They seemed to believe that Rancent would rain death on their enemies from the sky at first, but when that didn't happen, they retreated and regrouped. They decided to try to ambush and interrogate anyone coming out of the Quarry's secret docks. After waiting some time, they spotted a boat with a few men and took them out swiftly. The men carried a missive for the masters of the Slaving operation in the wider network, a request for reinforcements, and a meager sum to pay for humanoid mercenaries. They interrogated the surviving messenger, learning that the operation seems to come out of Highport in Pomarj, and he provided them with information to get into the secret entrance of the Slavers' temple. Feeling satisfied, the PCs slew the messenger (mostly neutral), and decided to head to the nearest city OTHER THAN Darkshelf for training and further opportunities. They suspected that something was wrong at the Quarry.
After all, the Overlord of Darkshelf, Neistor, promised to rally a militia to bring Bazili to justice that day, but they never came.
Little did they know, Bazili had an agent in the village, as all criminal scum should. This one was a mildly talented assassin. He had a 70% chance to slay Neistor. With a 12, not only did he kill him, but he made it look like an accident. With Neistor out of the way, the Slave Lords can use their influence to get someone more agreeable to their operations appointed as Overlord.
So, once the players made their plans to use the boats they recovered to travel up the Pelyra River to the nearest city, we called it a session. Thus ends the previous session's recap.
When we picked up, they began their trip. They took turns rowing, giving opportunities for rest to the PCs in shifts. It wasn't long until Rancent came calling.
So, Rancent the Watcher earns his name because he uses a Crystal Ball with Telepathy, Scrying, Sending, and a network of spies and messengers to maintain a communication network. He employs agents to serve as his personal operatives and maintains a "hands off" approach in most conflicts. To think of him as a Varys with the aid of magic would not be an undue comparison. To me, this is a prime setup for a Patron Magician.
The Nyrondese Kingdom pays him to do this service, and Rancent, being LN, is obliged to do so because the stability of the realm is essential to his own prosperity.
Rancent informed Covidia through the Crystal Ball's telepathy that Neistor had been killed and the death would be investigated, but Covidia's team would be likely targets for assassination if they returned to Darkshelf. Covidia informed Rancent that upon Finn's suggestion, the party intended to take the river to the road, then follow that to Relpool for R&R.
Relpool is a minor port town, so Rancent could only recall one agent in that
area who could help them get their bearings: a fledgling Fighter named Boris (the dead PC's replacement). He said that should they get to Nessermouth, Bellor the Ratfaced owes him favors and will help them get established until the next job offer from Rancent. The party decided
to head to Relpool, then to Nessermouth.
At this point, I needed to make encounter checks. Since they decided to take the river and the road, they were dealing with 1 in 12 chances of an encounter 3-4x daily and 5 in 20 encounters would be Patrols, so pretty safe.
Over 2.5 days, they traveled ~50 miles with no encounters. They arrived in Relpool without issue.
Now, I was eager to get Boris in the game because I hate making players wait. This is one of those rare situations where I don't mind Quantum Ogreing. My plan was that if they triggered a random encounter on the way, Boris would be one of their captives, or he'd be hunting them, or running from them, whatever seemed most appropriate. In this case, they made it to Relpool without incident, so he met them near the city outskirts.
At this point, the new PC served as a fantastic means for a quick orientation to the city. I asked Boris' player how long he'd been in the city, he said "not long," and I told him he'd know where all the shops the party needs to know are, he'd know a decent tavern, and he'd know (after consulting Boris' alignment) where some shadier sorts could be found. Finn urged the group to immediately secure lodgings, food, and drink, but he and Covidia both had training on their minds.
Since we're using training rules (albeit kinder ones than the DMG prescribes), you don't level up until you've spent the adequate time and gold training under a tutor of your class, provided you have the XP.
Finn immediately sought out the vagabond sorts in the tavern. I put on my best weasely wise guy impression and worked out a deal with Finn. I said he can hook him up with someone who can teach him a thing or two, if Finn proves he's useful, willing to put some skin in the game. Finn agreed to steal a mahogany box from Chauncey the Smith's, which was always guarded by an enormous vicious dog, and bring it back unopened.
The next morning, the group hit the Smith's. Whizzlewig the Trickster concocted a plan to distract the Smith with a detailed pitch on building a helmet with mirrors that allow the wearer to see
behind them. I did some rolls. The Smith was in a favorable humor, working at the exterior forge, he had his dog with him, and with an 85% chance his wife would be tending the counter inside, I rolled an 89. The thing was COMPLETELY unguarded at the time of arrival.
Finn made some checks to slip inside unnoticed, grabbed the box, slid it in his bag, and split.
Whizzlewig was actually pretty invested in this helmet plan, so when I rolled for reaction and got "Uncertain, leaning 55% positive" and then rolled a 58, he was disappointed to learn that the Smith was already having trouble keeping up with demand and couldn't afford any side projects at the moment. Not a no, but a not right now.
Finn turned his loot in to Geoff, who introduced him to Winslow the Robber. Winslow agreed to teach Finn how to up his game in exchange for taking all the risk on targets of Winslow's choosing and keeping none of the rewards.
Meanwhile, Covidia found out a prominent Wizard, Nickar, was visiting the city and staying at the Mayor's manse. She found that a collection of other Magic-Users
were awaiting his audience, and took the opportunity to try to pawn off the Spellbook belonging to a dead PC (RIP Richter), which contained spells she either already had or could not learn.
As these were apprentice magicians, this was an enticing offer! They verified the spells using Read Magic and the bidding commenced, ending at 500gp in assorted gems. Covidia offered to toss in some fluorescent mushrooms if they make it 600, and an accord was struck.
After some time, Covidia had her turn getting an audience with Nickar, a
rather gaunt and affable Wizard with an impressively decked out bodyguard. He informed her that he was overseeing a construction operation so he had some time to kill, and he would be willing to teach her a few spells and help her improve her abilities in exchange for
a written agreement that she would repay him with a favor of his choosing at a time of his choosing. She agreed. What she didn't know is that Nickar is not as seemingly virtuous as Rancent. The paper she signed was enchanted, so failure to abide by the contract will yield
terrible repercussions. But those are tomorrow's problems.
Finally, the rest of the group got kitted out and spent the next week listening for rumors that could be lucrative.
They learned a few things. They learned about Korm the Ravager's Brigand forces terrorizing the roads between Relpool and Nessermouth. They learned that one of the lighthouses along the coast has gone dark, and a sailor swore he saw women dancing in front of lighthouse in the moonlight. They also learned that a merchant caravan would be departing toward Nessermouth soon.
By the time training was complete, they began plotting their trip to Nessermouth. I told them that they'd know they could go by ship or by caravan, but both would have costs, or that they could set out on their own and risk the roads.
Boris had another idea: "let's get hired
as escorts!" Some introductions, a reaction roll, and 5 days later, they were on the road serving as escorts to Molgar the Magnanimous, at the lead of Ellett the Myrmidon.
The players were astonished that Molgar hired them ON TOP OF over 120 Mercenaries.
One of them remarked "we're getting paid to sit on our ass, they won't even need us."
They gravely underestimated just how massive enemy forces can be.
For a 3-day trip, even though it was along plains primarily, it required 18 entire random encounter checks due to 100+ group size. I did it instantly using the dice bot where all could see. I procced one random encounter on the 3rd day, Pre-Dawn. After I confirmed it wasn't just a patrol, I checked the hex to see what laired nearby and rolled on that chart, and ended up with a force of 120 Orcs.
I rolled encounter distance and got 14", signaling that they were spotted when 140 yards away from the encampment.
With these massive numbers, I decided it was time to pull out the Chainmail rules to handle the caravan duking it out with the Orcs on a scale of 1:10.
I probably butchered the Chainmail rules, but the first round proved devastating for the Caravan. In one round, the Caravan was cut down to half its size, and the Orcs only suffered 25% losses. A few PC Fighters began engaging in the melee, and Whizzlewig employed a brilliant
morale tactic. He used Improved Phantasmal Force to make it appear as though the ground had raised behind the Orcs, trapping them into the melee.
The next round, the Caravan made a miraculous recovery, only losing about 20 more men while cutting the Orcs down to 30. The PCs were slaying their fair share as well, though they found that the projectiles kept missing.
The Orcs failed their morale checks and began to retreat. 8 Orcs surrendered as they believed themselves trapped between a wall of earth and the remaining caravan forces. The rest, slain.
The Caravan left with over 120 in their forces and arrived in Nessermouth with ~50, with 8 Orc prisoners in tow.
The players asked what was to become of the Orcs, and I told them interrogation and execution, as a lawful society requires. I told them that the rough location of
the Orc lair was unearthed, should they wish to inquire.
And so, they arrived in Nessermouth at the end of our session. I told them to keep in mind what they'd like to get into while they await Rancent's next offer. Rancent is a fairly benevolent patron, having no expectation that they continue working for him, only that they do what they're paid to do.
Where things go next, I'm not sure! I'll be fleshing out more to do in the city so they can go nuts, and I'll definitely be cooking up a dungeon adventure nearby.
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