Saturday, December 4, 2021

The Mythic World of Urd: Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls!

The following is none other than the Arcane Alienists' post-session summary from our private social media group.  This esotericist has lots of great ideas about roleplaying games in general, and has been hard at work turning out episodes of his podcast, titled (aptly) The Arcane Alienist!! Check out the podcast here on Anchor.FM!

** Mythic World of Urd Campaign Page **

The party returns to the castle after executing the necromancer Viktora Ash. They bring the stone head of the orc chieftain to the wizard Olivere who informs them that if they had the rest of the petrified body he might be able to restore the orc to life. 

Harald suggests that this might go a long way towards keeping peace with the local orcs and getting information about what the necromancer has been up to. Roderick and Harald also suspect that the gunpowder was being manufactured for an assault on the keep, perhaps even to blow it up from within or below.

Ghouls Ghouls Ghouls!  Old School Essentials on Fantasy Grounds!
Moved to the OSE engine on Fantasy Grounds!  Love that graph-paper chic!

The party decided to return to the necromancer’s lair to retrieve the rest of the “statue” and also clear out the ghouls that remain there. Hagle is sent into the cave to scout and reports that after a short tunnel it opens into a wide chamber. There is a green glow coming from somewhere at the back.

The party cautiously makes its way into the cave. Suddenly they hear growling and movement in the darkness around them. Three ghouls come at the front different directions along with a pair of zombies (all are orc corpses). From the side chamber emitting the green glow, a ghast also emerges and sets upon Hedemar’s retainer, Volker. Volker falls dying.

Hedemar is able to turn the two zombies and the rest of the party slays the ghouls, but the ghast proves to be a bigger challenge. It is able to resist all attempts at turning by both Hedemar and Roderick. Fortunately everyone it attacks also manages to resist its paralyzing effects. It is finally slain by Dolly and Dominique.

The turned zombies had fled towards the green glow. The party catches up to them and kills them. The glow is coming from a crude alter marked with Chaos runes and set with a large jade gemstone. The party destroys the altar. Copper and electrum coins are scattered about the room along with a sword that turns out to be magical. Dolly claims the sword as a new weapon.

Ghouls Ghouls Ghouls!  Old School Essentials on Fantasy Grounds!
Filthy Harald patiently awaits a clear line-of-sight...

The party then obtains the headless statue and takes it back to Olivere, who tells them they can expect an audience with the Castellan to be forthcoming.

The next day, they are invited to a luncheon at the Castellan’s manor within the inner walls of the castle. The room is decorated in the maroon and gold colors of the Castellan’s banners and her family crest bearing a chestnut tree. They are first greeted by the elf, Maravek, who is the Castellan chief advisor. Maravek then introduced them to the Castellan herself, Lady Diomira Kastenienbraun. 

Lady Diomira asks them to recount their exploits thus far. They do so and also share their concerns about an attack on the castle itself. She tells them that her soldiers will be rescuring the tradeway and that she’ll look into any places where gunpowder could be smiled into or below the castle.

She would like to retain them for the time being to track down the final destination of all the gunpowder the goblins had manufactured. She also wants them to help the kobolds find their queen so they can return back to the underworld. 

Roderick suggests that they might make good trading partners and prompts Hagle to tell them what his tribe can trade with. He reports that the only other thing they had been doing besides mining sulfur was collecting guano from a cave in the forest. He also admits that he is not sure he can find the exact location of the passage back to the kobold’s home. They had never come to the service before and were herded out into the forest under duress and marched to the sulfur mine. Others of his tribe might remember more details.

The party departs the luncheon on the Castellan’s payroll and with two objectives. It seems they will be once again heading into the forest/ and caves to the north.