The Dungeon of Graves - Session 7

   <- Previous session.

We've had somewhat irregular more rp based session this time.

The Story So Far

October 13th 2021

  • Sorbo, Half-Elf 1
  • Radish, Druid 1
  • Bogomir Gotfridovich, Dwarf 1
  • Grudge, Fighter 2
  • Milo Crest, Fighter 1, Retainer
  • Ezrus Farmer, Paladin 1, Retainer
  • Pumba, Young Boar, Pet

With several members afflicted by the mark of Orcus, the party decided to seek out spiritual help. Asking Ezrus, a local adventurer, they found out the Church of St. Octave in Newthorn, the capital of the Duchy, might have answers. As they were buying rations and equipment for the four day trip, Rasmus offered them a job of delivering a shipment of goods to his business partner in Newthorn. The shipment even included some pieces, party itself recovered from the dungeon.

The first couple days passed without an incident. As they entered the more densely populated area of the duchy, they even managed to find an inn to sleep at. Local villagers were greatly impressed by seeing an actual group of adventurers, hauling a cart full of artefacts no less. Party was warned to watch out for brigands attacking travellers from the forests.

As they were leaving the village next morning, Sorbo noticed a pair of hooded figures heading for a nearby forest. Believing them to be bandits, he made a case to follow them. Rest of the party disagreed and thought it better to continue on.

Shortly before the noon, they heard beating of many hoofs on the road up ahead. Riding against them was a unit of armoured horsemen. Lady Haralda, hailed them and explained they're looking for a pair of fugitives. By the description they were matching the duo, Sorbo saw earlier in the day. At first the party considered whether it be wise to divulge the information but after hearing the fugitives are wanted for patricide, they readily cooperated. After a quick nod of thanks the cavalry patrol departed.

Rest of the journey went without a hitch and by the late morning of the fourth day, they saw the fortified city of Newthorn. Single rocky hill jutting from the mass of buildings, on top of which stood the eponymous Castle Newthorn.

After being briefly hassled by the city gate guards, they made their way to Dariell Bhasaa, Rasmus' business partner in the city. The imposing building of the Bhassa Tradepost was already brimming with activity. Dariell took the inventory of the shipment, sadly foiling Sorbo's plan of nicking couple useful items from the cart. He was also very interested in the marble bust of a noble woman, they retrieved from the dungeon and which was part of the shipment. Dariell explained it to be a piece from Duchess' personal collection, lost after an orc raid against their hunting lodge. If they spun a believable tale of grand heroics they could easily get a generous reward from Duke and Duchess. Ultimately agreeing on splitting the reward fifty-fifty, Dariell went on to secure an audience with the duke and suggested that for the time being party rents rooms at the Menacing Gazebo Inn.

While they were waiting for their summons, party visited the Church of St. Octave. Well most of the party anyway. Sorbo passed and instead visited the slums of the city, gauging how susceptible would the lowest of the citizens be to teachings of Orcus.

In the church they let Ezrus do the initial talking. Kindly priests took them in one of the more secluded chambers of the church and examined Bogomir who admitted to by afflicted by the curse. Priests performed an identification ritual and informed the party, that removing the curse would unfortunately require costly reagents. One of the priests mentioned a possibility of finding the Chalice of Purification, an artefact last held by an order of healers some centuries ago. They disappeared somewhere within the Rappan Athuk region and the archives had contradictory accounts on what exactly happened to them and the chalice.

Weighing in their options the party returned to the Menacing Gazebo Inn and waited for the messenger.  In the meantime, Radish looked at his tattered and bloodstained attire and decided to splurge on new set of clothes. Soon they were summoned by Dariell and they met him in front of the castle. Dariell noted they should get their stories straight but Bogomir said he'll handle everything. And handled he did. As they stood before Duke Baduwin and Duchess Margaux, Bogomir spun a fantastic tale of slaying an enormous cyclops in order to retrieve the marble bust. Mentioning Grudges nimble footwork, Duke asked politely for a demonstration. Without a moment of hesitation, Grudge performed a perfect somersault despite him wearing a full suit of plate armour. Similarly Duke asked Radish to perform a presentation of his beast taming powers. Servants brought in a fierce old rooster to spar with him, but Radish's druidic powers did not fail him and he was able to pacify the beast.

Impressed by the group, Duke offered them a little side job. His cousin's son of law's son got lost somewhere within the city sewers and it would not do good for Duke's reputation were he not found soon. Party agreed to think about it and went to meet the castellan to receive the reward for returning the bust.

And that concluded our little scenic tour of Newthorn. Party had a new possible base of  operations and new leads to pursue. And they even earned some coin in the process.

Treasure/rewards acquired: shipment delivery (900gp), returning the bust reward (1600gp)
Monsters defeated/dealt with: none
Deaths: none

DM Thoughts

My schedule shifted slightly and unfortunately that meant moving the game from Sundays to some other day during the week. This, of course, clashes with schedules of some of the regular players. We'll have to see how it pans out going forward.

Sorbo's player really took to his new alignment and patron while Bogomir's player was somewhat conflicted throughout the session but eventually decided to work towards cleansing Bogomir of the curse. All people react differently to blessings offered by Orcus, it seems.

The highlight of the session for me was when Bogomir's story set up the Duke asking Grudge to perform some acrobatics. And of course in that moment, he managed to roll natural 1 on his roll under dexterity check. Impressing the Duke could not have gone better.

Initial idea for this session came from one of the players, who wanted to explore their options for curing the afflicted characters. This more closely approximated how west marches style scheduling is done, even though that's not strictly what we're doing. The games are simply open table but still scheduled almost entirely by DMs themselves.

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