Dragora's Dungeon, Session 7

The session began with the party resting behind the massive locked doors of the ziggurat while their pursuers banged on the door outside. The room had a high ceiling with ledges above overlooking the floor. Two rope bridges connected the ledges. Everybody had the sense they were being watched.

After a short time two four-armed Tharkans appeared above and four more rushed out from hidden alcoves. One of the tharkans yanked a rope above that activated a swinging blade trap that swept from one side to the other, slicing some of the party before resetting itself. The party realized there was a blade trap every five feet to the end of the room and sprang into action. The large curtains on the walls allowed for climbing up to the ledges.

Hermiad and Not-Rurik rushed up to the ledges and caused grievous pain to the two tharkan "lobbers," and through concerted effort both were eventually yanked down to ground level. Bartix's Mage Hand extended to yank trap ropes to attack a few rows of tharkan. The last tharkan attempted to rush past and open up the doors to the pursuers outside but was cut down at the last instant.









The party recuperated and investigated a pool of water at the far end of the room which appeared to be a dedicated scrying pool that displayed what someone somewhere else was scrying. Its focus was the party's current location. Beyond the pool was stairs leading up, which the party mounted with trepidation.

Above was the skraeling priestess of Tiamat in a large temple room with many magical stones, entranced beasts, and a banquet table, at which she invited the party to sit. She introduced herself as Dragora, explaining that she had, indeed, ensorcelled the royalty of the two viking clans. Mendas ate the food and feigned wooziness to the poison within, but it was rendered inert by a charm of his.

Dragora continued to speak, while the clan kept their hands close to their weapons. She had assumed control of this city of reptile man by being human, just as the creators of the Tharkan slave race had been. With no other humans on the continent, her rule seemed unassailable, and then the viking clans had landed. She had sent out these magical first strikes to scatter the vikings before their colonies could take hold. She noted that she was surprised that the Norsemen had been able to track her down.

She also secured her leadership by being the consort of Mourninglar, a brass dragon which was acting as a living symbol of Tiamat. Of course, a metallic dragon was not the truest representation of the dragon goddess, and Mourninglar had been convinced to take magical unguents and drugs to bring more of the spirit into his frame. Eventually the priestess gave up on her half-hearted diplomacy and sounded the attack.

This was proven ill-considered as she was swiftly brought to the brink of death by a bunch of vikings looking for payback. As her entranced beasts attacked she called for her lover, a dragon with two grafted on talking heads. It put her on its back to flee when she was killed by, uh, probably Hermiad. Enraged, it fought to avenge the death of its mate. Multiple party members were knocked unconscious, and only the valiant efforts of Eric and Oddny were enough to bring them back from the brink.

Eventually Mendas leapt on the dragon's back to stab it repeatedly in the dragon eyes while Bartix locked it in place with a blizzard. The party ganged up on the dragon and beat the dragon-stuffing out of it before it attempted to flee through a conjured portal. At the very last instant Eric struck it with the power of Thor which felled it just before it entered the portal, winning the day for our intrepid heroes.





























The party left through a portal of their own, eventually returning to their home to learn that Earl Gaermund and his picked men had died and the clan was looking to the heroes for leadership. The party unanimously elected Rurik to lead the clan and there was much rejoicing and (presumably) mead.

Dragora's Dungeon: Session 6

It's our sixth session of the Dragora's Dungeon arc, based on the published adventure from Goodman Games. Marc took pictures, thanks!

In late 2009, we played game 6 of our modified Dragora’s Dungeon story arc, based on the Master Dungeon module of the same name by Goodman Games. I’ve modified the module to work for 9th-level characters, but the intellectual property is certainly theirs. Tonight we had Andrew playing Erik the cleric, Marcus playing Mendas the rogue, Marc playing Varin the warlock, Rebecca playing Oddny the paladin, and Zach playing Bartix the wizard.


We opened as the party approached the Wizard’s Tower of House Zamosh. The Vikings were met by three house elders in the ruined square around the skeleton of the tower. The elders explained the following:




The PCs inquired about the temple, and the elders confirmed that there was no where else that Dragora could be. They worked out a plan by which Zamosh forces could escourt the party to the temple. Zamosh would, in turn, strike a huge blow against House Vendrius if Dragora and the dragon Mouringlar were off the table. In the meantime, Zamosh was hesitant to commit their forces by outright joining them in the assault, but they were happy to point out a time at which temple entry would be possible.

The vikings agreed and set out for the temple. Some seven tharkans walked with them through the streets, with perhaps 20 more tharkans and various beasts shadowing through in the flanking buildings. They quickly reached the temple in the center of the city.

The only protection they saw were two guards at the doors of the temple. However, the area was clear, and it would be difficult to sneak inside. The vikings girded their loins and charged across the yard!

Before we rolled initiative, I brought out the map and gave everyone the terrain powers for the encounter. This is another awesome thing that DMG 2 introduced, and I've been excited to actually use it. In this fight, the characters could trigger squares of boltstone, they could shoot crystals and make them explode, they could push over the firey braziers, and they could push over stone columns onto enemies. I wrote up power cards for these effects and laid them out on the board.

What I really like about the terrain powers is that it takes what players could always do (due to DMG page 42) and makes it explicit. I've been struggling with getting my players to think in terms of scenery; I always want them to push dudes into fires and turn over tables, and it rarely happens. But I know that part of the problem is the size of our game; with up to eight players, you can be waiting a while for your action to come around, and you want to make it count. It's a bit of a gamble to push a guy into a wierd thing and ask, "What does that do?" Terrain powers meet the players half way and let them compare all their options with all the available information. I hope it gets my players thinking more about scenery, and it forces me to do so as well.

So the players charged forward, reaching the base of the steps of the ziggurat-temple. The two guards stood their ground, throwing their javelins and standing ready to recieve the charge. Then, behind them, they heard a tharkan voice. "Oh Tiamat, we throw these betrayers at your mercy!" The very escourt the vikings had arrived with surged forward to stab them in the proverbial back!

The party continued up the stairs to try and gain ground. They took some minor fire from the mages of House Zamosh, but were immediately flanked by charging Ridgerunner Drake. Still, basically two guards. But then, from the northeast corner, came a party of tharkan soldiers! "For Tiamat, for Vendrius!" Some seven legionnaires now threatened to sweep up the temple.

Now I don't want to give anyone short shrift, but this game was about two months ago, and I don't really remember a lot of what happened outside of my own plans. But Bartix did something really cool here that sticks out. The wizard darted out from behind a colmun and laid a Freezing Cloud, then an Icy Terrain, over all the soldiers. Nearly all the creatures were laid out, taking damage and falling prone. And though he didn't know it, the zone in which I was going to deploy more soldiers was now difficult terrain. None of these legionnaires were killed, but the ice pretty much shut down these guys for the rest of the fight.

The party was pretty much bogged down in this fight. The drakes had scattered and locked down Erik and Oddny, with Varin and Bartix constantly moving to avoid them. Mendas took the fight to one of the guards, swapping him into the nearby brazier... but the two soldiers were too much for a rogue to handle on his own. People were taking damage, and there were just too many creatures to finish off any one of them (not that the vikings really concentrated).

Then, at about turn four, House Zamosh deployed wave 2! A tharkan beastmaster brought in his thralls, two girallons and two banths! This communicated my message to the players: You've got to get through that door.

The vikings broke off with their combatants and went to work on those guards. One went down, and the other was pushed to the side. Varin worked to get the door open, and succeeded. The great brass portal opened up, and looked like it could be barred from the inside. As their hit points faded, the vikings ducked in and shut the door. Outside, the mobs converged at the temple portal, pounding furiously on the brass. But for now, it seemed as though it would hold.

Next game, we pick up inside the temple!